Chapter 1 - Fresh start
Orario, West District.
A boy dressed in plain clothes squatted by the roadside. He picked up a water bottle, took a big gulp, and then gnawed on a hard piece of bread.
"Lain, failed again?" the uncle at the fruit shop next door asked with great interest.
The boy waved his hand dismissively. "Don't even mention it. Last time, I could at least go inside and take a look at the Ganesha Familia. This time, the Loki Familia had a sign hanging at the door that said: 'No Outsiders Allowed.'
The fruit shop owner couldn't help but burst into laughter. This kid really had ambitions that far exceeded his expectations. The Loki Familia, one of the strongest Familias in Orario, wasn't so easy to join.
"I'm not trying to be mean, but with your talent, you could succeed in anything. Why are you so fixated on being an adventurer?" the fruit shop owner asked.
He had personally witnessed Lain save a shop from bankruptcy using a very clever method.
It was a general store that had overstocked goods, causing its cash flow to dry up. The owner couldn't even pay the next month's rent. The idea this young man suggested was to hold a lottery.
Customers could participate in a lucky draw for a very small fee, with a 100% chance of winning something. However, the second, third, and fourth prizes were things like glass marbles and paper, items the store couldn't sell otherwise.
The first prize was the shop owner's equipment from his adventuring days, known as the best sword in the village. It was worth millions of Valis and immediately attracted countless low level adventurers.
Of course, no one actually won the first prize, but the unsold inventory was completely cleared out, and the shop owner made a fortune in just five days.
Lain took a small cut as a service fee.
The other shop owners were crying with envy and soon followed suit. This lottery method quickly became popular throughout the city. However, only a few people knew that it was the work of a fifteen-year-old boy.
The fruit shop owner could tell that the boy's wealth of knowledge and experience was completely mismatched with his youthful appearance.
"You don't understand," Lain said with a melancholy look. "I just wanna be an adventurer."
The fruit shop owner couldn't understand those peculiar words, but he could sense the boy's determination.
"Never mind. Do you want an apple?" The owner pointed to the newly arrived stock.
Lain shook his head vigorously, turned around, and left.
He was a transmigrator!
In his past life, he was an ordinary office worker in the financial industry. After working the grueling schedule, he encountered a dump truck.
This world was from the anime he watched in his previous life: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Rather than simple transmigration, his situation was more like reincarnation. However, when he was three years old, his parents were killed by a monster that rushed out of the deep mountains, destroying their home. In the blink of an eye, his parents were dead, and he had neither a valis nor a house.
He was adopted by the village chief after being left all alone.
Using knowledge from his previous life, he helped the village develop rapidly over the years. Half a month ago, he finally persuaded his guardian, to let him leave the village and come to Orario, the Labyrinth City known as the center of the world.
Thousand years ago, a labyrinth suddenly appeared in the lower world—the Dungeon, one of the world's Three Great Unexplored Regions. Countless monsters emerged from it, threatening the world.
Most of the entrances to the Dungeon have since been sealed off, with only the entrance beneath Babel in Orario remaining.
The gods gathered here, bestowing their blessings upon the people of the lower world. Those granted extraordinary powers were called adventurers, embarking on thrilling quests into the Dungeon.
With the knowledge from his previous life, Lain was confident he could become a wealthy man, but what would be the point?
Who doesn't dream of becoming extraordinary?
However, after arriving in Orario, he was slapped in the face by reality: he was a big shot in the countryside, but a nobody here in the city!
After being rejected by seven or eight Familias in a row, Lain realized that he was not the kind of protagonist who could stand on the side of the road and have countless people kneel down to him just by exuding an aura of dominance.
Elves, a powerful magical race!
Chienthropes possess an innately keen sense of smell!
Werewolves possess incredible speed!
Dwarves are incredibly powerful!
Amazons are all women, warlike and uninhibited, dressed scantily, and known to seek out strong men to reproduce.
...
With so many excellent options, why would they hire a teenager who is just a Muggle?
Moreover, he was a Muggle among Muggles.
Raul Nord of the Loki Familia had no skills or magic, nor did he have any outstanding basic abilities; his magic power was essentially zero.
Yet his alias was High Novice!
Lain felt he was more of a mortal than even Raul.
Perhaps his last hope lay in that system that hadn't finished loading for over a decade.
[Panel Awakening 99.8%... 99.9%...]
Lain waited anxiously. This damn progress bar had been stuck at 99% ever since he was nine years old, and the last 1% just wouldn't budge.
Today, however, he suddenly noticed the progress bar moving!
[…100%, Panel Awakening complete!]