The awakening of Theodore Strange was neither cinematic nor heroic. Instead, it was confusing and painfully mundane. His eyes opened slowly, met by a light wood surface, grained and marked with cracks that drew abstract shapes.
"An unfamiliar ceiling..." - Theo muttered in a raspy voice, letting out a small, dry laugh.
He couldn't help the cliché. He had read enough transmigration stories to know that was the mandatory line. However, the reality of his situation hit him quickly. He sat up in bed, which was little more than a straw mattress covered in coarse linen sheets. The room was small, austere, and smelled faintly of pine and dust. Aside from the bed, there was only a rickety wooden table, a chair, and a narrow window through which sunlight streamed, looking almost too bright to be real.
He remembered Seleneia, the Moon Goddess, and the deal he had accepted. 'System,' he thought forcefully, hoping it would work like in the novels.
Almost instantaneously, a translucent, glowing blue screen vibrated in the air before him. The panel showed three main tabs: Missions, Gacha, and Inventory.
Theo tapped the Missions tab. It was locked, showing a grayish tint. In the center, a digital counter was ticking down with precision: 29 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes.
"A month of vacation before forced labor. Not bad," he commented to himself, though his analytical mind was already calculating how much time he would need to understand the rules of this new world.
He closed the tab and opened the Inventory. Upon doing so, he let out a sigh of disappointment. There were only six square slots available. In the first one, a small icon represented a package wrapped in brown paper with a golden bow.
"Only six slots?" - he grumbled, frowning. - "What happened to the infinite inventory of Isekai protagonists? If I want to collect loot, I'm going to have problems."
He grimaced but quickly shrugged it off. His grandfather always said not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and since he had been dead just minutes ago, having six slots was better than carrying everything in a cloth bag.
To take the item out, Theo simply focused on the image of the package. As if it were an extension of his own will, the gift box materialized in his hands with a light weight. It was surprisingly small, fitting perfectly in the palm of his hand.
At that moment, another holographic screen, smaller than the previous one, appeared before his eyes with a direct message:
Do you wish to open the Welcome Gift Pack?
[Accept] / [Decline]
Theo didn't hesitate and pressed [Accept].
The box began to vibrate and emit a white glow that intensified until it exploded into a shower of digital particles and sound effects reminiscent of a classic RPG video game. When the light dissipated, the box had disappeared, and Theo found himself holding several objects at once, forcing him to drop them onto the bed so as not to drop anything on the floor.
A list of names appeared on the blue panel to confirm his gains:
* Leather Armor (Basic)
* Iron Sword (Common)
* 100,000 Eris
* Skill: All Speak
* x1 Gacha Ticket
Theo felt a wave of relief. His eyes widened at the sight of the "Eris" figure.
"One hundred thousand..." - he whispered, picking up the leather pouch that felt heavy with metal. - "Eris, Eris... where on earth does that name sound familiar from?"
He remained thoughtful for a moment, scratching the back of his neck. The name felt familiar, like a word on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't quite catch. However, his pragmatic nature took over. Whatever it was, he had money, a way to protect himself, and most importantly, a ticket to test his luck.
He turned his attention to the new skill. With a thought, the description of All Speak unfolded:
[Skill: All Speak (Passive)
Allows the user to speak, read, and understand any dialect, language, or tongue, provided it is not of a magical or divine nature. The user does not need to study to communicate.]
Theo nodded, satisfied. It was a convenient solution. He had wondered if people here would speak Spanish or English through some kind of environmental magic from the goddess, but getting a specific skill for it felt more "real" within the system rules.
"Right, now for the important part" - he said, rubbing his hands with contained excitement. - "The gacha!!"
He entered the Gacha function, and the screen changed to show a starry background similar to the space where he met Seleneia. There were two main options: a button that said "x1 Ticket" and another that said "x10 Tickets (plus one guaranteed)."
Theo made a face of self-disgust. He knew perfectly well that although the ten-ticket option was the most logical and efficient, he didn't have the willpower to save them up. He was the type of person who spent his savings as soon as he saw something even mildly interesting.
"Patience was never my thing" - he admitted with a resigned sigh.
He pressed the x1 button.
The animation began. A flash of blue light shot toward the top of the screen as the selection options slid down and disappeared. The flash exploded into a tiny, vibrant blue supernova, and a new image appeared in the center of his vision, accompanied by text that made his heart leap with joy.
In the image, two modern firearms were visible, with a stylized design and a bluish glow that gave them a futuristic or magical air.
* Semi-Automatic Dual Pistols (Rarity: Rare / Blue)
[Origin: Fortnite]
Short to medium-range weapons that fire two consecutive bullets with each trigger pull.
* Body damage: 41 per bullet (82 if both hit).
* Head damage: 82 per bullet (164 if both hit).
* Rate of fire: 3.96 shots per second.
* Magazine: 18 bullets.
* Reload time: 2.8 seconds.
* Ammo: Medium bullets.
Theo stared at the weapons with a mixture of surprise and skepticism.
"Fortnite? Seriously?" - he let out a brief laugh before shrugging. - "Well, at least it's not a stupid dance."
He analyzed the statistics. Being objects from a video game, the damage was numerical and fixed, which was strange. In real life, a bullet to the heart kills anyone, regardless of whether the "damage" is 41 or 100. But here, the rules seemed to be a mix of reality and game mechanics. Still, having firearms in a world of swords was a massive tactical advantage, despite them only coming with 36 bullets in total.
"I have to use them only as a last resort" - he concluded, storing them back in his inventory.
He put on the leather armor, which turned out to be a reinforced vest, forearm protectors, and boots. He stored the sword in his inventory since he didn't need it for now. He opened the money pouch, took out 99,000 Eris and stored them in one of his inventory slots, leaving only 1,000 in the small pouch hanging from his belt.
"A thousand should be enough to get around today" - he thought.
With his gear on and a feeling of nervousness mixed with curiosity, Theodore Strange opened the door to his room and stepped out into the hallway of the apartment building. He was ready to see what kind of world awaited him outside.
Theo walked down the wooden stairs that creaked under his new boots. As he crossed the building's threshold, the fresh air hit his face and his senses were bombarded.
The street was not asphalt, but well-worn, irregular stone. The landscape was straight out of a storybook: timber-framed houses, reddish-tiled roofs, and horse-drawn wagons passing by, leaving a trail of the scent of hay and leather. However, it wasn't a small, quiet town; it was a vibrant city. People walked with haste, many of them wearing capes, wizard robes, or armor that made his own leather gear look like civilian clothes.
"It's... incredible" - Theo murmured, stopping for a moment to observe a water fountain in a nearby plaza.
Despite his awe, his rational side took control. He needed orientation. According to the unwritten rules of any self-respecting fantasy world, the center of all growth was the Adventurer's Guild. Theo hated talking to strangers; he would rather spend three hours walking in circles than admit he was lost, but he remembered he only had one month before the System forced him to work. Time was money.
With a sigh of resignation, he looked for someone who didn't seem too busy. He saw an elderly woman carrying a basket of vegetables and approached with his best "extrovert-for-convenience" smile.
"Excuse me, ma'am" - Theo said, noticing with relief that his All Speak skill worked perfectly; the words came out of his mouth naturally. - "I'm new to the city and I'm looking for the Adventurer's Guild. Could you tell me the way?"
The old woman stopped and looked him up and down, pausing for a second at his appearance which screamed "ROOKIE."
"A new adventurer?" - she smiled kindly. - "Welcome to the city of Axel, young man. It's an excellent place to start. And as for the guild, just go straight down this street and turn right at the second intersection. You can't miss it; it's the largest and noisiest building."
Theo froze. The name "Axel" echoed in his mind like a loud bell, and suddenly, the name of the currency, "Eris," clicked into place like a puzzle piece.
'Axel... Eris... It can't be' - he thought, feeling a cold sweat. - 'I'm in Konosuba!!'
He had watched the anime, which gave him some knowledge of this world. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!, or simply Konosuba, was a world that functioned exactly like a role-playing game (RPG), with levels, stats, and adventurer cards. But it wasn't an epic, serious world; it was a chaotic place full of eccentric characters, absurd situations, and above all, a Demon King who threatened peace while the "heroes" sent from Japan tended to be guys with protagonist complexes or idiots with broken abilities they didn't know how to use.
Despite the internal shock, Theo maintained his mask of tranquility. His years of introversion had made him an expert at not showing his real emotions.
"Thank you very much, ma'am. I appreciate it" - he replied with a polite bow before continuing on his way.
As he walked toward the indicated direction, his mind was going a mile a minute. He knew that in this world, the protagonist was a guy named Kazuma Satou, a cynical type who ended up with a useless goddess named Aqua, an explosion-obsessed mage, and a masochistic crusader. The anime was fun to watch from the comfort of his couch on Earth, but living there was another story. It was a world where a giant toad could eat you if you weren't careful.
"Wait..." - Theo reasoned as he analyzed his situation. - "If I'm here and I have a Moon Goddess System, my rules are different from the natives or the reincarnated Japanese. They depend on skill points and world levels; I have the Gacha and dimensional missions"
He let out a long sigh, relaxing his shoulders.
"It's not worth getting worked up over. While those crazies handle the Demon King and cause explosions all over, I'll use the system to grow stronger. With the System and rewards, I should be able to surpass anyone if I play my cards right."
Finally, the Guild building appeared before him. It was imposing, with double reinforced wooden doors and the bustle of laughter and clashing beer mugs filtering from the inside. Theo stopped for a second in front of the entrance, adjusting his sword belt and making sure his leather armor was properly fitted.
He wasn't the protagonist of this world, nor did he want to be. He was Theodore Strange, a goddess's experiment, and this was just the first step of a much longer path. With a determined look and hiding his nervousness behind a facade of confidence, Theo pushed open the guild doors.
His adventure had just begun.
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The chapters will be uploaded one per day; today I'll only upload these two.
I hope you liked it.