As he stared around at the world, frozen as if someone had pressed pause, Lancer felt his luck had taken yet another nosedive recently.
Why did it turn out like this...?
Passing the civil service exam on his first try, and even getting along well with the girl his family introduced him to—two happy events overlapped, and that double happiness should've brought him even more happiness. It should've been dream-like bliss...
Yet, why had it become like this...?
'Ultimate Lancer Training System'—this was Lancer's so-called "cheat," but sadly, it didn't have any adorable system sprite, nor did it have the legendary beginner gift pack that protagonists usually got. All he had was a cold, emotionless mission panel and the default skill: "Spear Mastery F."
And just as he was looking around hopefully for a beginner's gift pack that might or might not even exist, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his head.
[Countdown 30 seconds.]
[Mission commencing soon.]
[Host, please prepare.]
Prepare? Prepare for what? All he could do now was check his basic stats once more.
[Host]: Lancer
[Gender]: Male
[Age]: 22
[Combat Power]: 16 (Average Adult Male: 10, Lack Of Exercise: -4, Spear Mastery F: +10)
[Weapon]: None
[Personal Skills]:
Spear Mastery F — Basic Weapon Skill. Fundamental spear techniques; can be upgraded via training or combat. Higher levels become progressively harder to attain.
Lancer's Fate EX — Luck permanently set to E. In exchange for this abysmal luck, greatly increased spear-skill experience gain and spear-skill attributes.
[Secret Techniques]: None
[Titles]: None
[Ultimate Moves]: None
[Equipment]: None
[Mission]: None
[Overall Rating]: F
…
Reading his status, Lancer felt an overwhelming headache. Sure, this system did strengthen him, but it merely upgraded him from "an otaku who could be bullied by one normal guy" to "an otaku who could be bullied by several normal guys." Right now, with time around him frozen, he had no idea what he would face next. No matter how he looked at it, this was terribly unreliable. He just hoped it wouldn't be a spawn-kill.
Worse still, there wasn't even a quest yet. He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to do next.
But clearly, this so-called "system" had no intention of waiting for him.
[Countdown complete.]
[Mission started.]
[Main Mission: Survive the world's main storyline for more than 150 days.]
[NOTICE: Leaving Tokyo is forbidden during main storyline.]
As soon as the voice ceased, the world around Lancer resumed its flow as though the pause button had been lifted. People began moving again, while he stood like a puppet next to a tree, utterly dumbfounded.
Though he wasn't literally a doll, he definitely had a look of utter confusion on his face. He still had no idea where exactly he was. He recognized the name Tokyo, but he doubted he was still in the same Tokyo that was just a few hours away by plane from his home, because his task was to survive.
Forget it. First things first—I need to figure out what world I'm in.
With that thought in mind, he walked towards an alley by the street. Why an alley? Well, knowing nothing about this world, not even his own identity, he figured it would be safer to avoid crowds for now.
But as soon as he stepped into the alley, he immediately realized something was off.
If the street had given him the feeling of being out-of-place, the alley made him feel like he was being watched. Instinctively, he tensed his muscles, cautiously scanning his surroundings. He trusted his intuition—after all, it had saved him countless times when he was secretly playing with his phone in class.
But intuition alone was often useless—sometimes you could see danger coming but still couldn't do anything about it.
Puchi—!
Before he could even react, he felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder and then—
"Aaahhhh!! Mmmph—!!"
Although he'd transmigrated, the fact that he was just an ordinary, slightly chuuni young man a few minutes ago hadn't changed. The searing pain in his shoulder made him scream involuntarily, but unfortunately, his attacker clearly didn't want him causing a racket. A hand immediately clamped down over his mouth, lifting him off the ground.
Papap—! Papap—!
He kicked frantically at whoever was grabbing his face and holding him up, but whether it was just his imagination or not, it felt like he was kicking solid stone. After half a dozen kicks, all he felt was pain in his foot.
Bored of this game, his attacker hurled him ruthlessly against the nearby wall.
BANG—!
At that moment, Lancer felt like every bone in his body had shattered, especially his spine—it felt like it had turned into spare parts.
The pain was so overwhelming he couldn't even open his eyes. But he refused to accept it! He refused to die without even knowing why!
With the last ounce of his strength, he forced open his right eye. All he saw was a figure with glowing red eyes, approaching step by step with a malicious grin. Lancer knew his attacker could easily snap his neck. So, should he just give up? No! He didn't want to die yet!!
Lancer, sprawled in the trash pile, desperately searched around for something—anything—like a beer bottle. When faced with death, humans become hysterical. Realizing he might die anonymously in this alley today, he resolved to leave his attacker a permanent "mark."
But despairingly, he couldn't find anything resembling a weapon. The attacker seemed bored of tormenting him and grabbed him by the neck, hoisting him upward.
Suffocation set in. He could barely control his limbs. But at that moment—
Puchi—!
"Ugh—!!"
The sharp pain in his right shoulder made him want to cry out, but with no air in his lungs, it turned into a distorted whimper.
Yet this agony temporarily cleared his muddled consciousness, and his frantically waving hand suddenly grasped something like a pole.
Even if I die, I won't let you have it easy!
Even the most harmless creature becomes hysterical when faced with death, and Lancer was no different. He didn't know where he summoned such strength, but with one hand, he ruthlessly stabbed the pole-like object toward his attacker's abdomen.
Chii—!!
"Aaaargh! Bastard!! You dare injure me? I'll devour you while you watch!"
BANG—!!
It was the first time Lancer heard his attacker's voice. Immediately afterward, he felt another brutal blow to his already shattered spine. This time, he really was about to lose consciousness. Yet, at that moment, he saw a blurred figure appear at the entrance of the alley.
Before losing consciousness, all Lancer glimpsed were three tentacle-like things…
---
T/N: hiii future me, i know there's already a translation of this but that one seemed to be dropped! and if you're looking for type-moon stuff, no type-moon stuff tbh (for now) it's mostly just training to be a spearman and lmaooo E-Rank Luck and system has some inspiration from it! anyway continue and enjoy readinggg!