Light (M), A Hero in a World Similar to The Rising of the Shield Hero

I was awoken by the sound of thunder crackling in the night. Red rain pouring down outside as far as the eye could see. I looked outside wondering why this strange weather was occurring. I closed the blinds and went to bed. I hear the loud snap as a tree falls over somewhere outside. I look up from my bed to see a pair of silver eyes as a black sword stabs through my chest. I screamed out in pain as he takes the sword and stabs it through my neck. As my vision faded to black he could the words.

“My work is now done.”

…

I was swimming in darkness for a long time. I couldn’t tell you how long it was since I couldn’t move, breathe, or really feel anything. I just knew I was alive as I drifted across space and time. Eventually, all of a sudden a light appeared and overtook my vision. The next thing I knew I was back in my twenty year old body before I was killed that night. Something that was different though was the fact that I had a gun in my hand. I look up to see a luxurious throne and a young man with short blue hair and blue eyes, probably in his late twenty's, looking down at me with a smile on his face.

“Greetings, hero from another world.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m the King of Lazuli. This is my kingdom and I have summoned you here to fight the waves. I know that you didn’t ask for this but my world needs you. Please allow me to express my condolences and humbly ask you to fight for my people.”

I’m still a little disoriented from my trip but I don’t want to fight what I’m assuming monsters though. I also doubt that I’m going to be able to go home without doing it.

“I’m Light and I’m assuming I can’t go home without defeating the waves.”

“That is correct. I’m sorry but I really need you. There were other hero’s but there in other kingdoms and we were the last to summon a hero because of many political reasons that you probably don’t want to hear about.”

“I see. Well it seems that my best option is to help save the world, so I’ll accept your offer.”

“Thanks, it means a lot to me and my nation’s citizens. Come on, let me show you to our armory.”

The king personally escorted me to the armory where I saw various metal armors and weapons of many shapes and sizes though it seems like guns didn’t exist in this world. I couldn’t use any of them though because my weapon was designated as a gun. I looked through the various armors to see which one was best. As I was scanning the armor, a menu came up in front of me showing the stats of every equipment in the room and what requirements I needed to equip them. Some had level requirements that I obviously didn’t meet because I was level one and some had stat specifications that I didn’t meet yet. That only left three options that I could choose from. Thankfully, none of them were classified as heavy armor and would decrease my speed in combat. There was some leather armor, a beast armor (Lesser Shark) that gave me a boost when swimming, and an armor made of a salamander’s scale that provided some fire resistance. I decided against the leather armor since it was the weakest one out of the three and focused on the other two options. The other two armors had similar defense but the shark skin gave me a decent speed boost in the water as well in the rain. On the other hand, the salamander armor gave shortens the time it takes for an egg to hatch with the ability flame body. Just the mention of eggs gets me more than a little excited. Maybe I could obtain a dragon’s egg and have a pet dragon. Even if its not a dragon, I could get a messenger bird that could help me scout in my journey. Either one wouldn’t be a bad option. I decided I was going to go with the Salamander armor. I grabbed a random bag in the armory and placed the armor and my gun inside. The king showed a bit of surprise when I picked the Salamander armor over the Shark armor. He explained that usually people pick the shark armor cause it looks cooler and gives a boost in the water. I told him that it was mainly because of the ability to easily hatch eggs.

“I see. Well, if your into hatching eggs then you should check out Tom. He’s in town for the week but he travels around the country exploring various dungeon’s and wild areas for the sole purpose of finding and hatching eggs. I told him that his talents could help in the literal end of the world but he ignored me. Anyway, if your looking to get a powerful beast companion or a pet for your journey then I would go see him. Now, lets head to the treasury. The least I could do give you an extra boost to your combat abilities before you begin your journey.”

We started walking through the castle again when I asked him about the Lesser Shark description on the the other armor.

“Oh, that’s just how some of the monsters in our world is classified. The lesser description means that it’s a slightly more powerful animal than normal. It may be that there faster, stronger, or have a special ability that distinguishes then from a regular beast. There are also the greater description which means that they are at least 10 times stronger than a lesser beast. Its almost guaranteed that they have a special ability or trait to help them in combat or to escape. You should run immediately if you encounter a greater beast at your current level. I’ll also tell you this, if you somehow run into a boss monster, then run in the opposite direction as fast as you can and don’t look back. It doesn’t matter how strong you and your team are, they are not to be taken lightly.”

We reached the treasury room and I didn’t see piles of gold like I thought I would. Instead, the room was filled with various gauntlets, swords, rings, masks, and more. I looked around not knowing what to choose. The screen that appeared before to help me determine the best armor wasn’t showing up. I quickly realized why when the king explained that the room as anti- detection magic placed on it. The king told me that I could pick one item in this room for myself. The king explained that he’ll let fate decide what artifact I end up with. I looked around the room glancing at all the these magical treasures. I didn’t know what was better or worse than others so picked out some black shoes.

“Good choice. Those boots were taken from troublesome thief around twenty years ago. They double the users speed so the faster you are, the more effective the shoes are. Here let me give you something else.”

The king walked over to one of the nearby shelves and took a silver box on one of the shelves. He open it up to reveal a silver bracelet with a golden N on it.

“Someone brought it to the castle claiming that it was magical but no one has managed to detect any magic or special properties from it. For all I know, it is a normal ring. However, the man who told it to me is trustworthy so I believe him but not knowing what it does I feared it falling into the wrong hands. I decided to keep it here in this room. The box has a certain spell on it that makes the person subconsciously ignore it. It doesn’t work on me but it works just fine for a majority of people. Anyways, take it, maybe it’ll help you on your journey.”

“Thanks. You’re being really nice to someone you barely know.”

“It’s a part of the job, besides after introducing your teammate and giving you some money there’s not much more I can do for you. Let me show you to your room for tonight, its getting pretty late. We can finish up everything else tomorrow.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan.”

The king takes me to my room which is much fancier than my old room and I lay down on the bed. The king leaves me as I stare at the bracelet. I concentrate on the bracelet to scan it like I did with the armors but I got a warning message instead.

AN EXCEEEDINGLY POWERFUL ARTIFACT CAPABLE OF ANYTHING. USE WITH CAUTION.

I looked at the bracelet in shock but then in disappointment because I have no idea how to use it. Well, that was for another time. I put it on my wrist as it changed size to fit my wrist perfectly. I scanned my jet black gun that looked like a hand held pistol but unlike regular guns this one had a purple gem on the side of it. This gun is very powerful and I know that analyzing stuff is probably only a fraction of its true capabilities. I slowly close my eyes and fall asleep in this brand new world.