Published: August 31, 2025
"Hello, this is Suzuki. If I get too lonely, I might just die."
I was seriously starting to crave human contact.
After hitting the highway, it seemed the route decided by stick-picking was wrong, because even after seven days, I hadn’t reached any human settlement.
Come to think of it, my skills had quietly increased—I now had "dash," "three-dimensional maneuver," "jump," "singing," "camping," and "laundry" skills.
That said, none of these had any skill points allocated, so they were all still at level 0 and grayed out.
I think I learned "dash," "three-dimensional maneuver," and "jump" after the second meteor shower, but I must have missed the log due to being flustered.
Around the time I was playing with the gun, I switched the wide-area map and logs to icon display because they obstructed my view, so I didn’t notice. Judging from the logs, it was probably when I slept in a canopy bed...
But that wasn’t really camping, right? I want to call that out.
â—‡
On the eighth day, I finally spotted what looked like a village on the wide-area map.
I dashed down the highway toward the village. However, the wide-area map didn’t show any human presence. Maybe they evacuated or the village was abandoned due to depopulation. But even if they evacuated, it’s been a week—they should’ve come back by now.
Eventually, I reached a fork in the road from the highway to the village.
There was a crude signpost on the side road. It was an ordinary construction: a 1.5-meter pole with a board nailed to it. The destination written on it looked like it was done with ink.
"I can’t read this..."
I couldn’t tell what language it was written in; it was totally unreadable. At least it wasn’t any script I knew from the real world. It felt more like a fictional cuneiform from a game.
The wide-area map was showing the fork at maximum zoom.
A little frustrated that I couldn’t make proper use of this clue, I tapped the fork on the map with my finger. It was a meaningless gesture, but this time it seemed to work.
"It says 'Welcome to Enikei Village,' '32 km to Seryu City,' and '105 km to Kazo Kingdom'... Wait, this is Japanese!"
Pop-up text appeared over the map, translating each phrase into Japanese. Was this the effect of full map exploration? Convenient plot device, hooray!
For now, the closest place called Seryu City pointed back in the direction I had come from, which was a bit painful.
Still, I decided to stop by the village. I knew no one was there, but turning back straight away felt like admitting defeat, so that wasn’t the reason!
Maybe there was a hidden quest or something!! If it’s my dream, there should be!!!
In just about five minutes, the village came into view beyond the fields. The fields stretching along the narrow side road looked like they had been abandoned for at least a year. Weeds ruled the fields.
It was obvious even from afar—the village houses were all burnt down. The common detail was that the roofs of every house were completely burned away.
Judging by the location, this was probably a village abandoned after a dragon attack.
Thankfully, there were no skeletons lying around, but maybe they evacuated in a hurry—harvesting baskets, wooden hoes, and other farming tools were left scattered about.
As I casually stared at the farming tools lying around, I had a small inspiration—not quite a divine revelation, but an idea.
"If I get the laundry skill from washing clothes, maybe I get some skill from cultivating farmland?"
I pulled out a hoe and planted it firmly in the soil.
] "You have gained the pioneering skill."
] "You have gained the cultivation skill."
Just as I expected, the log showed that. Pioneering was unexpected though.
Feeling a little proud, I decided to try out a few more things.
I stepped into the field and harvested some leafy vegetables peeking through the weeds.
] "You have gained the harvesting skill."
I was starting to have some fun.
Still, this easy mode is ridiculous.
By the way, what kind of leafy vegetable is this? Spinach or komatsuna?