Dream Life Chapter 1: “Character Creation” Original

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　(Where am I? …Oh, this room is nostalgic. This was Akira’s room… Why am I here though?) (Yataro)

　I was in a daze, trying to figure out why I was in the room of my middle school friend, Akira.

　Akira’s room was empty except for me, and on the kotatsu on which he always keeps a TTRPG (Table-Talk RPG) manual and two ten-sided dice were sitting on the table. [T/N: テーブルトークRPG or Table-Talk RPG are different and they are considered borrowed English words/Japanglish/Wasei Eigo that only have meaning for Japanese people.]

(Ten-sided dice, huh? I missed this… the title is something like “Tunnels & Dragons”, or “T&D” for short. It got far for a rip-off.) (Yataro)

[A/N: Looking at the title, I thought of combining the two famous TRPGs, Tunnel & Trolls (T&T) and Dungeon & Dragons (D&D)]

“Hey, Yata, Yataro. Hurry up and make a character. You’re so slow!” (Akira)

　Suddenly, I heard Akira’s voice.

　I looked around and didn’t see him, but I didn’t pay any attention and replied.

“Yeah okay, but I haven’t even read the manual yet. Just give me a little more time.” (Yataro)

“OK. Get it done quickly.” (Akira)

　I open the T&D manual and read it.

　As I read through it, I realize that it is not so different from the TRPGs I know, and I skip over the rest except for the parts that caught my attention.

(I choose my race, set my stats, and determine my Character Points (CP), which can be used to acquire Talents or enhance my Status. …pick a Talent, and then pick a Birth Environment? Birth Family selection, from slave to royalty? Then, whether you were born in a fallen or wealthy household, in the frontier or a city. … I see. That’s surprisingly detailed. I guess it’s all decided by a roll of the ten-sided dice.) (Yataro)

　I started reading the status and setting section.

　There were ten statuses, not combat-specific, but instead, Strength, Reflexes, Body Control, Endurance, Magic, Mental Endurance, Intelligence, Craftsmanship, Appearance, and Charisma, and the numbers were to be determined from one to one hundred by rolling two ten-sided dice.

(I know what Strength and Reflexes are, but what is Body Control? What is this, “a status that affects the success rate of all things related to hit and movement”? For more details, see the “Combat” section…) (Yataro)

　The other statuses will be discussed further as I skim through the description.

　The manual said that for a typical human NPC, the average status is fifty and the standard deviation is ten.

(So, if ten is the standard deviation, sigma, it could range from twenty to eighty for three sigma. Then one to a hundred for five sigma? So, choosing it at random means you can have a character with an absurd status distribution. Well, since it’s the main character of an RPG, I guess it would be fine…) (Yataro)

　And then I find an interesting rule.

(You can reroll the dice only once in the Character Creation. However, the decision must be made on the spot. What, you can roll character points in the Birth Environment. That means the numbers rolled below the used points will be invalidated. Is it possible to do a re-roll? In other words, the more CP you spend, the more you can “cut off”. If you spend 30 points, the dice rolls below 30 become invalid, so you can roll again. I understand.) (Yataro)

　After understanding the rules, I pick up the ten-sided dice for the first time in decades.

(How nostalgic. This thing rolls well, doesn’t it? As usual, “0” should be on top…) (Yataro)

　I had a habit of holding the dice so that the largest number on the dice could land at the top.

　Feeling a little silly that I had not forgotten such a habit, I decided first on my race.

(Two decahedrons to choose a race at random from one to one hundred or… 100 Dragonfolk, 96 Demonfolk, 91 Elves, 81 Dwarves, 66 Beastfolk, 1 Human… About two out of 3 and I would be human? I haven’t got any CP, so it would be completely random. I’d prefer something non-human.) (Yataro)

　I’m a little, tense, with my first roll.

　With a lot of spirit, I roll the dice out onto the top of the kotatsu.

　The dice roll out “41”.

(Human… I can re-roll, but even if you re-roll, it’s going to be silly to be a human again. Let’s proceed as it is.) (Yataro)

　The next step is to set the status, but I decided to go ahead and determine the character points.

　Character Points is the product of three rolls of the dice. In other words, it could range from 1 to 1,000.

If you roll the dice normally, the number will be between one and two hundred, but it is better to use the reroll here. If the CP is high, I can compensate for status and I can take a lot more Talents. Also, it can be used in the Birth Environment.) (Yataro)

　First, to determine the CP, the dice are rolled one at a time.

　The first roll was a “9”. I was so happy with my good fortune that I decided to strike a guts-pose.

　The second roll was a “10”. With this, I secured at least 90 CP.

　Then came the third throw. With a “Tei!” I roll the dice enthusiastically.

　In front of me was a ten-sided dice with the number “2” facing up.

(What? “Two”? …well, that’s fine. I guess I’ll have to re-roll. The chance of something lower is one in ten, and the chance of rolling something higher is eight in ten. (The return completely outweighs the risk…) (Yataro)

　I threw my third roll and chose to do a reroll.

　Then I got fired up again, sent a prayer to the ten-sided dice, and rolled them.

　The dice stopped rolling with a “clank” sound.

　The number that came out was “9”.

(Yeah! The number that came out was “9”. Nine times ten times nine is 810. I can recoup even if my status is quite low. I’m sorry everyone, but I’m going to make him a cheat character. Hehehehe…) (Yataro)

　I looked at the numbers, chuckling.

　I wondered if he had seen me like that, and said, “Hurry up. You’re taking too long,” I heard Akira’s voice rushing me.

“Sorry. I got carried away.” (Yataro)

　I hurriedly got to the status section.

　I start with Strength.

　I roll the dice enthusiastically, and come up with Strength: 35, Reflexes: 82, Body Control: 83, Endurance: 20, Magic: 96, Mental Endurance: 41, Intelligence: 99, Craftsmanship: 45, Appearance: 87, and Charisma: 81.

(That’s a pretty good collection of numbers. Looking at this alone, he is a perfect magician-type character. I’ll leave the physical work to someone else.) (Yataro)

　Feeling good about the good numbers, I moved on to the section on Talent Acquisition.

　The description of Talent stated that there were “Talents” and “Special Abilities” each of which could be given to a character using CP.

　Talents are those related to natural talents such as Martial Arts, Magic, Production, and so on, and just because you acquire a talent does not mean you can use it right away. It is not immediately usable just because one has mastered a talent, but it becomes usable through training and education.

　Another special ability is related to basic abilities such as Toughness, Disease Resistance, and Poison Resistance. Then there are the truly “Special” abilities, from something obscure like “Previous Life Memory”, and something like a help button like “References”.

(There are more than 10 Martial Arts alone. Magic has eight attributes. Oh, and there are also another eight advanced attributes. With 810 CPs, it’s like I can take as much as I want… Right? There are levels of talent? One is the best in the village, two is the best in the town, three can be considered a master, four you’re a genius, and five is a once-in-a-century genius. It’s hard to understand. Oh, there’s an example here. Let’s compare it to baseball. One is a star local baseball player, two is a star player at Koshien, three is a professional second-class player, four is a professional first-class player, and five is an MLB Hall of Famer. The higher your talent, the faster your skill level increases… three or more if you want to make it your main job, and one is enough for you to be able to use it daily.) (Yataro)

　I took advantage of my character’s status and acquired more magic-related talents.

(I don’t really understand how to give Magic. It costs 50 CP, and I don’t need it if it’s only related to the Production-type…) (Yataro)

　I should take Physical Enhancement-type as high as possible. I also decided to get some Martial Arts Talents so that I could at least learn to use some self-defense techniques.

　List the talents I have acquired,

　Martial Arts: Sword Arts 1, Unarmed Combat 1, Evasion 5

　Magic: Mastery of All Magic Talents, Improved Magic Efficiency, Magic Defense

　Production: None

　Others: Body Arts 3, Horsemanship 1, Animal Training 1, Negotiation 1, Detection 3, Stealth 3, Trapping 2

　Special Abilities: Toughness, Disease Resistance, Poison Resistance, Mental Resistance, Enhanced Eyesight, Deadly Force, Previous Life Memory, References

　Even after acquiring all these Talents, the CP is 570.

(I got Evasion to five, so it’s like shooting magic in a flash while evading. This is a character who could use the line, “If it doesn’t hit you, it doesn’t matter.” I’ve got the talents needed for an adventure/campaign down, now it’s time for the birth environment. First is the Birth Family.) (Yataro)

　There are different classes, starting from royalty and all the way down to slaves. 70 and above are the ruling class, that’s knights and the upper nobility; 40 and above are merchants; 15 and above are peasants; and 5 and below are slaves.

(I definitely don’t want to be born a slave. I want to allocate CP to my Birth Family as well, but as long as I’m not a slave, it’s fine. The rest is a balance between my Birth Family and my Family Environment. Even if I become a peasant, if I set the environment to “Rising”, I should have no problem growing up, and I should just maintain a family lineage to just avoid being a slave. Even so, the probability of 5 and below is one out of twenty. Well, it’s a small price to pay if I consider it insurance…) (Yataro)

　I spent only five CPs to invalidate numbers less than five.

　Then I rolled the dice and got “3”.

(So close! If I hadn’t used CP, I would have been a slave…) (Yataro)

　I rolled it again with a lot of enthusiasm and got “71,” making me a knight of the ruling class, albeit a member of the lowest in that social class.

(Okay, good! I was born in a knight’s house. It’s hard to be a magician in a house of knights. Maybe I’ll review my Martial Art Talents later?) (Yataro)

　Next, determine the condition of my household.

　I used 30 CP so that there is insurance for an environment ranging from Rising to Declining and since with 30 and above it is not considered fallen.

　The result was 38 “Declining”.

(I spent 30 CP, but I only got 38. I feel like I’m wasting my saved points. Well, let’s just say that the character setting is a declining knight’s household, so he became an adventurer in order to rebuild his house on the brink of falling.) (Yataro)

　I took it lightheartedly as I thought about it.

　Then I chose my birthplace, which also ranged from the capital to the unexplored wilderness, and I didn’t spend CP on this one either.

　The result was “the Frontier”.

(From a falling knight household living on the frontier. The hero sets out in search of fame and fortune. A perfect setting isn’t it…?) (Yataro)

　The Birth Environment is also done, and my remaining CP is 205.

(Should I allocate this to status? Or do I take more talents or …… review my Martial Arts first?) (Yataro)

　Being from a knight’s household, I have raised my Sword Arts to three, and have also acquired one each in Throwing and Shield Defense. I also added a special talent called “Magical Combat” which allows me to use magic power to attack.

(Now there are only 140 left. I’ll have to improve my status…) (Yataro)

　I read the manual again.

　The description of how to acquire talents and skills said that training was required to acquire skills by the time one reached adulthood (age 15 in this game).

　It also said that to acquire skills through training, one must have a family environment (a wealthy family and a teacher) and a successful training assessment.

　Success in training at an early age is judged by a number at or below Mental Endurance. The number of times training is conducted is up to the number of Endurance per year.

(…This means that the speed of skill acquisition in training during childhood depends on Endurance and Mental Endurance…A person who has a strong body and perseverance will be able to complete the training. That feels strangely realistic… Both of them are low on my character. I’ll go out on a limb and raise both…) (Yataro)

　First of all, I raise my Endurance from 20 to 80 and my Mental Endurance from 41 to 80.

(After that, I’ll either improve my weaknesses or develop my strengths. I have enough talent, so I should use up the rest of my CP to raise my status.) (Yataro)

　I thought of that and made Strength 35 to 50, Reflexes 82 to 90, Body Control 83 to 90, Magic 96 to 100, Intelligence 99 to 100, Craftsmanship 45 to 50, and Charisma 81 to 82.

　The final numbers were: Strength: 50, Reflexes: 90, Body Control: 90, Endurance: 80, Magic: 100, Mental Endurance: 80, Intelligence: 100, Craftsmanship: 50, Appearance: 87, and Charisma: 82.

　If you list the talents you have acquired,

　Martial Arts: Sword Arts 1, Unarmed Combat 1, Throwing 1, Shield Defense 1, Evasion 5

　Magic: Mastery of All Magic Talents, Improved Magic Efficiency, Magic Defense

　Production: None

　Others: Body Arts 3, Horsemanship 1, Animal Training 1, Negotiation 1, Detection 3, Stealth 3, Trapping 2

　Special Abilities: Toughness, Disease Resistance, Poison Resistance, Mental Resistance, Enhanced Eyesight, Deadly Force, Previous Life Memory, References, Magical Combat

　Exhausting all the Character Points I check it again.

(Fufufu… A status average of 80. Five Sigma, two status points for every hundred thousand up to six status points for every thousand. Nothing is below average. What a cheat. He’s rich in talents, and he’s a very worthwhile character to raise….) (Yataro)

“Akira, I’m done…” (Yataro)

　Just as I was about to tell Akira that it was over, I suddenly collapsed onto the top of the kotatsu. Then, my consciousness became cloudy again.

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