Chapter 4: My First Summon

Chapter 4: My First Summon

"I triggered a mission just from opening the Beginner Gift Pack? Seriously... Forget it. Getting stronger is the most basic thing anyway. Even without a mission, I'd still do it myself. Weakness is a sin. That's not just some empty saying. Countless novels have already taught us that lesson."

Although Toma said that aloud, he had other thoughts in his heart as well.

His ordinary life back on Earth had already made him painfully aware of just how powerless an otaku like him really was...

Without strength, there were things you simply couldn't do.

If he couldn't even beat some random thug, then forget about saving a beauty like a hero or living out some protagonist fantasy...

Every boy had dreamed of becoming a hero at least once.

Toma was an otaku, but he was no exception.

He had his own heroic dreams.

But he also understood one simple truth.

Without strength, you couldn't become a hero.

You'd just end up becoming a joke instead...

So even without this mission from the System, Toma would still have chosen to become stronger.

He had finally obtained an absurd cheat like a System after transmigrating.

If he still refused to become stronger after that, even the heavens would probably strike him with lightning...

Although his mind was wandering, his hands weren't idle.

Toma took out the Beginner Equipment Set.

What appeared was a set of RPG-style leather mercenary clothing and an iron sword.

The moment he saw the clothes, Toma didn't hesitate.

He immediately put them on.

At least they were warm...

As for his boxer shorts and white undershirt?

He decided to store them inside his Personal Space as souvenirs.

They had accompanied him during his transmigration, after all.

Even if they hadn't accomplished anything else, surely they deserved a little credit for that.

Toma kept the iron sword on him.

He didn't know how to use a sword, but hey...

A sword was still a sword.

He looked himself over.

Everything was OK.

Preparation complete.

Toma nodded in satisfaction.

"Everything's ready. Now it finally feels like I've actually transmigrated. Which means next... it's finally time for the summoning system I've been waiting for, right?"

Opening his System, Toma easily found the panel used for summoning.

What?

Why was he so familiar with navigating it?

Come on.

Even if you've never eaten pork, surely you've seen a pig run—

Actually...

Most modern people probably had never seen a pig running around either...

It wasn't like pigs wandered freely through the streets nowadays.

But that wasn't important!

Toma was an otaku.

And the System interface looked almost exactly like a standard online RPG menu.

If he still couldn't find the Summoning Panel after all those years he had spent playing games...

Then all those hours of gaming really might as well have been fed to the dogs.

Wait...

Could you even feed something like that to a dog?

…

'Why the hell am I thinking about this useless crap?'

'Just look at the Summoning Panel already.'

Hmm.

Pretty ordinary.

It had the standard Summoning Panel and Exchange Panel that appeared in countless novels.

Come to think of it, back then he had only selected a System capable of summoning beautiful girls.

Yet it actually came with an Exchange Panel too?

He'd seriously hit the jackpot...

Toma had already prepared himself for the possibility that the System would only be capable of summoning beautiful girls, while he himself would have to learn things like battle aura or magic to become stronger.

After all, it was supposed to be a summoning system...

But now it came with an Exchange Panel as a bonus?

Definitely full marks!!!

Toma briefly looked through the Summoning Panel and Exchange Panel, staring at the countless characters, equipment, and abilities from fictional worlds…

...…

Toma looked at his Summoning Points and Exchange Points...

Then helplessly sighed.

The difference was way too damn huge...

There was no point going into detail. Toma himself hadn't bothered looking too closely.

After all, everything there was either something he couldn't summon or something he couldn't afford.

He had no resources and no money right now, so why bother looking?

It would only make him sad...

After recovering from the sadness that had lasted all of 0.01 seconds, Toma asked the System about the Random Summoning Coin.

Just from the name alone, he could already make a pretty good guess about what it did.

However, there was something he wanted to test from all those novels he had read.

So this time, instead of speaking aloud, Toma silently asked inside his mind.

'System, what can the Random Summoning Coin summon?'

[Random Summoning Coin — Randomly summons one female fictional character with a Personal Evaluation between D and B.]

'Ooooooh~~~~!'

It really worked!

Looks like those novels weren't complete bullshit after all.

At the very least, his System really could communicate with him through his thoughts.

That was actually much better.

Otherwise, if he had to say everything aloud and someone happened to overhear him, things could become troublesome...

But none of that mattered right now.

What mattered was...

'Finally!'

'I can finally meet a fictional girl for real! This is awesome~~!'

Toma could barely contain his excitement.

Anyone who wasn't an otaku would never understand the mixture of anticipation and nervousness an otaku would feel upon realizing he was about to meet a beautiful fictional girl in real life...

That's right.

Nervousness.

The excitement obviously didn't need explaining.

Any otaku understood the love an otaku had for beautiful fictional girls.

But the nervousness was easy to explain too.

After all, those girls had always been unbelievably beautiful and charming in anime.

But if they actually appeared in the real world...

Would they still be just as beautiful as they were in animation?

Toma didn't know.

He could only admit that he genuinely had no idea...

But whether he knew or not didn't matter.

He was about to find out for himself anyway.

Suppressing his nervousness, Toma held his breath...

And used his one and only Random Summoning Coin.

At the same time, a complicated magic circle appeared in front of him, glowing with brilliant white light.