[This is way too much. At this rate, if I have to go repair it later, it'll take at least an hour and a half just to make the weapon!]
After seeing it was the same old routine again, Saiki Kusuo got so angry in one breath… extremely furious.
Although Saiki's expression didn't show any change, a hint of rage had started to appear in his eyes. Outside, the weather gradually darkened, and a thunderstorm began.
After fuming for a bit, Saiki obediently started chopping the diamond again.
Saiki chopped until the wooden club's durability was down to just one point, then stopped completely. He controlled the character back to the spawn point, and the panel popped up again.
[Current wooden club durability: 1 point. Can be repaired. Please follow the path to repair.]
It gave him another fishing rod. Saiki picked it up and went to the marked spot indicated by the big arrow, starting to fish again.
Saiki frowned, watching the familiar actions.
[Why fishing again? Don't tell me fishing repairs the weapon!]
Just as Saiki thought, after catching a fish, the character ate it again, and the wooden club's durability jumped from 1 to 2.
[Hey, wait, why does eating fish restore the wooden club's durability?!]
Even though he was complaining, Saiki still spent nearly two hours and finally smashed the so-called diamond to pieces. After the diamond exploded, a tiny fragment appeared on the ground. Saiki controlled the character to walk over and pick it up.
[Detected: current diamond and wooden club can be fused into a weapon. Fuse?]
After Saiki chose to fuse, golden light flashed across the screen and covered everything. After the screen shimmered for a while, a slowly enlarging, rotating pattern of a "hammer" emerged from the golden light.
[Fused weapon — Sumeru Hammer]
[You're calling this little hammer a Sumeru Hammer?]
Saiki looked at the hammer he'd worked so hard to make and felt a bit speechless, but to test its power, he found another piece of diamond and swung once.
The diamond dropped from 200 HP to 190 HP. That one hammer clearly dealt 10 damage, and his hammer's durability didn't drop at all.
After sorting out his equipment in the game, a golden light like a teleportation circle appeared in front of him.
[Brave one, congratulations. You have prepared your equipment. Now please head to the beginner village to begin your journey.]
[Finally, I can go to the beginner village.]
For the first time in a while, Saiki showed a smile. He controlled the character step by step toward the golden light. Right at the moment of teleportation, Saiki's screen and all the lights around him suddenly went out. Not just Saiki's place—the entire building's lights went dark. Clearly, a power outage.
Saiki's smile froze, unchanged.
"Beep beep."
Saiki's phone rang. Keeping the same expressionless face, he picked it up and opened it. It was a message from the apartment manager:
"Sorry, tenants. Forgot to mention earlier—after 9 PM today there might be a power outage for a few hours. But no worries, electricity should be back by midnight at the earliest or morning at the latest."
Saiki's smile gradually faded. His eyes stared fixedly at the phone, and the thunderstorm outside seemed to grow even more violent, turning from an ordinary storm into a full-on raging thunderstorm.
"Boom!!"
A bolt of lightning struck from the sky, splitting a tree in front of the apartment in half.
"Ah!! What what what's going on?!"
"Why is the thunder so loud all of a sudden? Did something get struck?"
"Mom, it's scary!"
...
[Heh, a mere game thinking it can break my defense? Impossible. It's just a small setback. Nothing can stump Saiki Kusuo.]
Saiki controlled the character to horizontally slash the diamond with the wooden club until it finally dropped equipment that fused into an axe.
[See? Easy peasy.]
By the time the sky brightened, it was already 10 AM. This time, Saiki waited until morning, ate breakfast, rested properly, got everything sorted, and opened the game again. Same result—he chose Hard mode once more.
Saiki stepped into the sacred golden light to teleport to the beginner village. The familiar gate appeared again, golden light pouring out as it opened. The next second, he was teleported beside a peaceful village.
Saiki controlled the character to turn around. He saw a wooden sign next to the village with the big words "Beginner Village," and beside it stood an old man with a big beard pacing back and forth.
[Great, finally at the beginner village. That old man wandering around must be the village chief!]
Saiki picked up the game box and looked at the character introductions on the back. The village chief's card showed a kindly, refined-art-style old man. The description said: Beginner Village Chief, Guide. Traits: kind and gentle. Remember every single word he says closely.
[Setting aside the art style, every word has to be remembered? Is there some hidden quest or something?]
Just as Saiki controlled the character to approach the village chief, several demons suddenly ran out from beside the chief, circling around him. The chief was lying on the ground—the scene looked exactly like kids roughhousing.
[Please rescue the village chief. Defeat the monsters.]
Saiki didn't hesitate. He controlled the character forward. The monsters moved from around the chief to in front of Saiki. The chief picked up his staff, stood up from lying-on-the-ground mode, and stood beside Saiki. The old chief even made a sound—several words appeared on screen.
"Young man, let me help you."
[Oh, didn't expect that. This village chief can actually fight alongside you.]
After Saiki marveled for a moment, he swung his hammer and smashed toward the monster in front. The monster had 20 HP total. One hammer from Saiki dropped it to 15.
[Yare yare daze, not bad.]
Meanwhile, the old village chief beside Saiki also swung his staff at the monster.
[Let me see how strong this old chief really is.]
As a result, the old chief's attack only deducted one bar of HP from the monster. Very disappointing, but Saiki didn't mind. As long as he was the one dealing damage, the old chief adding a tiny bit up front didn't really matter—whether he did or not was irrelevant.
But the next second, a monster attacked the old man. The chief's HP bar instantly emptied. He fell to the ground, spitting blood, and reached out toward Saiki.
"Young man… live on!"
Then he died on the spot.
[He just died like that? What a shame. This old man was pretty polite. Anyway, there'll be other guides later. I can handle it alone from here.]
After Saiki's character dodged the monster's attack, he swung again—but something felt off. Ever since the old man died, the surrounding monsters gradually turned red. One hammer only deducted two bars of HP now. The monster's HP bar had jumped from 20 to 500.
[What the heck is this?]
[Old village chief has died. Monsters have entered berserk mode. Combat power, speed, and HP surging.]
[This isn't right? Why does an ally dying increase enemy combat power? Shouldn't it boost me instead?!]
Saiki dodged while attacking the monsters, but with so many of them, plus the massive increases in speed, HP, and attack power, he didn't last long before dying. The screen gradually grayed out, and the familiar line rang again.
[Character death. Victory and defeat are common in war. Great hero, please try again.]