SIAW Vol. 2 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 – ALA (Anyplace Learning Area)
After a rather large-scale farewell ceremony, I finally departed from the Pioneers’ Village.
It was the first settlement I spent time in after being transported to this world; they welcomed me, despite my nebulous background and uncertain identity, but I made the decision to leave it.
Together with me was a pretty Fox Beastman girl who aspired to leave the village and become an adventurer herself too — Misha.
“Let’s go to the place we will use as a base for our adventurer work.”
“Alright.”
Misha nodded eagerly to my proposal.
I turned around and saw the villagers still waving at us, so I waved back.
In my past life, no one ever expressed missing me much, so I was genuinely happy.
We advanced a bit, until the villagers were out of sight, and entered Dimension Area — a subspace I had created with Space magic — and called Sil, my Silver Wolf familiar.
It would have been difficult to explain to the villagers why I had a Silver Wolf as a pet, so I kept him in the Dimension Area.
Sil happily ran up to me, so I stroked him a little, then we left again.
～
After about five minutes of running, we arrived at the grassland where I first landed, after being transported to this world.
I couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.
I died once at 33 years old, and was reincarnated in this world as a 14-years old boy called Tenma; in order not to die easily after being reincarnated, I was set to receive some training.
Such a preparation period was supposed to last three months, but for some reason continued for fifteen years instead; I could be actually reincarnated in this world only about one month and a half ago.
I was pretty anxious and worried at first, but the people of the Pioneers’ Village were nothing but kind to me. Some were a bit vain, others thought only about eating, so some annoying accidents happened, but generally it was possible to solve everything just by talking.
Among the people I met in my past life, it was possible to get along at first, but after a month or so they all started to bully or oppress me. It did not happen in this world, however: they continued treating me normally. It made me feel that the time spent at the Pioneers’ Village had been truly valuable.
I ended up setting out of the village to become an adventurer together with Misha, but…
I needed to renew my resolve, to prepare for what was awaiting us in the future.
The people of the Pioneers’ Village did not have especially high stats. There was no assurance that it was going to be the same for the people I was going to meet next, though.
I spent fifteen years cultivating my stats in the training facility, but with enough time, it should be possible to reach stats exceeding mine in this world, too.
In this world, people possess “natural talents,” ranked using the alphabet. If one possessed a natural talent in physical strength, they could improve it more easily than others; a natural talent in magic would let one excel in the use of magic skills, and so on.
There was a natural talent associated with each skill too: in case of SSS, SS, S, A or B talent, one would receive a positive modifier, making the Skill itself easier to learn. SSS provided the greatest modifier, obviously. C meant no modifier, while D, E, F, G and H gave negative modifiers, with H being the worst.
I set up my stats as to not have any specialties in any field, so my natural talent for every Skill was C. In other words, anyone in this world with positive modifiers had the potential to become stronger than me.
I wanted to become strong enough to protect those important to me, even if I had to face such a person one day.
That was what I was thinking while we sped through the grassland.
Hmm? Misha is looking tired…
I used Appraisal on her and saw that her stamina was half gone.
…hmm, she really needs to work on that…
She didn’t voice any complaints, however, and did her best to keep up with me. I was honestly impressed.
She wasn’t very expressive and didn’t talk much, so sometimes I didn’t know what was going through her mind.
So I really didn’t know how serious was about becoming an adventurer, and suspected she might start complaining pretty quickly. But if she had this much guts, then…
(My plan to turn her into the strongest fox girl in history could actually become reality…!)
So I whispered, making sure Misha didn’t hear me.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I used Appraisal again after one more hour of running, and saw that Misha’s stamina was less than 10%.
“Misha, drink this.”
I gave her one of the training potions I had crafted back at the facility. It recovered stamina and also a little HP.
Training with this potion let you improve your abilities without gaining excessive muscle; as I aimed to achieve a thin yet muscular physique, it was vital for me.
Misha followed my instructions without hesitation.
Okay, her stamina recovered.
I let her take a break and entered the Dimension Area.
I put away the table and chairs I had set out, defeated all the Horn Rabbits to use as food for Sil and stored them inside.
After that, Misha was in high spirits again, so we started moving again.
We were running along a river, heading upstream.
We advanced about one hour, picking up useful rocks along the way, and eventually arrived at a waterfall.
The stream of water crashing down, pushed by gravity, was a breathtaking spectacle.
I had found this place previously, thanks to the Map Skill.
It was surrounded by grasslands, so I thought it was peaceful and relaxing.
I used Earth magic to craft stairs, then climbed up the cliff next to the waterfall.
In fifteen minutes I could craft steps all the way to the top of the waterfall. I could look down at the stream and also see the path we had traveled that day.
Misha had followed me up the stairs, and seemed a bit tired.
“There aren’t any people around this area, and it is pretty rich in nature. I say we make it our base. Not that we’re going to live out here, though.”
I was going to make a duplicate of this place and use that as our base, actually.
I then explained to Misha about how Dimension Area worked:
- It was a Space magic spell.
- It could duplicate a specific location’s terrain and plants into a subspace.
- You could rebuild the subspace as many times as you wanted.
- The duplication required a large amount of magic power.
- Based on the caster’s level, it was possible to enlarge it.
- Weather, climate, day and night cycle depended on the duplicated location.
I explained the above points, using the simplest terms I could…but Misha didn’t seem to understand completely. She looked at me, puzzled.
“Well, I guess it’ll be faster to just show you. Wait a moment, okay?”
I started by resetting the Dimension Area. I then copied the location we were in, in a square with sides 500 meters long, and made it into a new Dimension Area.
Hmm, I might as well bring out more depth from the waterfall.
I thus poured more magic power on top of the waterfall, expanding it two kilometers further.
I then entered the new Dimension Area, together with Misha and Sil.
Sil could barely wait: I told him he could run around freely, and he happily obliged.
I used Earth magic to create training grounds to practice Throwing. I attached hardening and self-recovery effects to it, took out a table and chairs and set them next to it.
The Throwing training arena was complete, for starters.
“Misha, please practice Throwing here. You don’t have to push yourself too hard today, though.”
Yes, at least not today…hehehe…
Misha nodded and started training immediately. I went back to the entrance of the Dimension Area, excitedly thinking about my plans for the future.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
In order to improve its comfort, I used magic to organize a bit the environment inside the Dimension Area.
First, I flattened the terrain and made it firmer. I then cut up the rocks I had picked up along the river in blocks.
Okay then, I suppose I should make a house for Misha and Sil first.
I piled the blocks and made a two-floor building. I was generous with the size, so it wouldn’t feel cramped.
I built stairs inside and made it possible to climb up to the roof.
There was a rich natural scenery all around the building, so I turned part of the roof into a sort of viewing platform.
I made handrails and set up stone benches, to make it possible to enjoy the view in all four directions.
At night, you could relax here while stargazing…it was a nice luxury spot.
Next to this building, I made a smaller one with only one floor: it was going to be Sil’s new house.
I added an external set of stairs here, going up along the side of the house, and made a terrace on the roof. I also crafted a stone oven and a table large enough to accommodate eight people, so the roof could be used as a barbecue space.
I went inside Room, the subspace I had created for myself, and took out of the storeroom some building materials, furniture and magic tools I had made during my time in the training facility.
“Looks nice enough.”
The buildings were made, so now all that was left was to furnish the rooms inside.
To the left of the entrance of Sil’s house, I made a bathing space with bricks — a “Clear” space — and set up a magic tool. Pouring magic power in it created an effect just like the Clear spell, so it worked as a substitute for a toilet and shower.
On the opposite side, next to the wall, I made a step and cleared enough space to put a king-size bed.
On top of it, I placed a mattress made with Slime Gel — a jelly-like substance created by partially removing water from a Slime’s body — stuffed into a cover made from Frog-type monsters. I then placed a cover made from Black Ox leather, a higher tier cow-type monster, so that the mattress won’t get ripped. Black Ox skin had great durability but was also very pleasant to the touch, so it wasn’t going to break by being scratched from Sil’s claws.
The stone building was still a bit drab, so I laid down a wooden floor.
Just then, Sil came back.
I first took him to the Clear space.
“Sil, this is your Clear space.”
As I spoke, I poured magic power into the magic tool.
Sil glowed in a white light: the Clear spell had activated without a hitch.
I wanted Sil to become able to use it on his own, though.
“Can you touch the magic tool, with your paws or nose, and pour magic power in it?”
“Woof!!”
Sil barked back, as if saying yes, and touched the magic tool with his nose.
His body then glowed white again.
Sil was really smart, after all…he seemed to understand what I said perfectly.
I was rather surprised by this, but Sil seemed to be even more surprised than me. He activated Clear again and again, a puzzled and shocked expression on his face.
Looking at him, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Don’t do it too much, or you’ll run out of magic power. Use it when you’re dirty or when you’ve done your business.”
“Woof!”
Next, I took him to his sleeping space.
I urged Sil to hop onto the bed, but he only touched with its front paws, then backed away.
The feeling of the Slime Gel probably put him off a bit.
“This is your new bed, Sil. It’s safe to get on, come on and try.”
I sat on the bed first, to show Sil it was safe, and invited him to do the same.
Timidly, he climbed up too.
He looked at his paws with a bit of puzzlement at first, but eventually the soft texture probably won over him, and he started rolling around.
Looking at him, I just had to do the same.
Recently I hadn’t had any time to cuddle with him, so I took the chance and decided to enjoy his soft fur to my heart’s content.
“Gotcha!!”
I grabbed Sil and fondled his body all over, savoring the texture of his fur.
Sil enjoyed being cuddled at first, but eventually succumbed to the offensive power of my fondling attacks, and attempted to run away. I didn’t let him escape, however.
“Tenma.”
I rubbed my cheeks against his fur.
“Tenma!”
I heard my name being called and raised my head, to find Misha glaring at me.
“What’s wrong?”
Misha flatly replied to my question.
“Sil is a boy, you know?”
“Hm? Of course I know that.”
Misha sighed heavily. She decided to change the topic, apparently.
“It’s getting dark, so I came to ask what we should do.”
I looked outside, and it indeed was getting pretty dark.
“Right…there’s no need to work too hard today, so we might as well relax.”
“Okay. Anyway, this Dimen…shun? Area is really something!!”
Hmm, yeah, it’s not an easy name to remember, I guess…right!
“It’s a difficult name to pronounce, so why don’t we call it “Anyplace Learning Area” – ALA for short?”
Misha cocked her head to the side.
“Learning?”
“Yeah, it means training, basically. Thanks to this area, we can train no matter where we are, so.”
“Okay then. This ALA is really something!!”
Thus, the Dimension area was redubbed “ALA”.