After allocating his free attribute point into Physique, Natsuyū experienced firsthand that feeling he’d always read about in web novels — the warm current rushing through his body, the unmistakable sense of growing stronger.
It was like stepping out of a northeast-style public bathhouse after a thorough scrub, slipping on a fresh pair of cotton underwear on New Year’s Day, then sinking into a perfectly comfortable Simmons mattress and sleeping until you naturally wake up.
His whole body felt weightless and warm, like he could jump two metres in the air without even trying.
Just 0.1 in a stat, and the difference was this noticeable?
Natsuyū rolled his shoulders, revelling in how light he felt, genuinely surprised.
When he thought about it, though — 0.1 points was one-ninth of his previous Physique.
That was actually a huge jump.
He checked his inventory again.
[Natsuyū: Level 1 (EXP 0/15)
Physique: 1.0 (Very healthy adolescent boy)
Soul: 1.3 (High mental fortitude)
Charisma: 1.3 (All creatures: Hostile)
(Average healthy adult baseline = 1)
Ability: Resource Gathering.]
“Looks like grinding stats is going to be important.”
He glanced over at the shimmering clockwork gate.
His best guess was that this thing had been what brought him here — but he had no idea whether touching it would take him back home or land him in something worse.
Natsuyū looked away.
Not worth the risk.
He’d leave the clearly supernatural gate alone for now, and turned his attention instead to a four-metre-tall oak tree not far off.
Should be doable.
He raised a fist and gave the trunk a light, exploratory knock.
Thud.
The oak shuddered with a resonant knock.
Nothing else happened.
Natsuyū’s eyes lit up.
He’d barely put any force into it — definitely not enough to make an oak tree tremble on its own.
Resource Gathering was working.
Taking a page straight out of Minecraft, he began pounding the trunk continuously.
Wait — when the tree comes down, is it going to fall on me?
In the game, getting hit by a falling tree just shaved off a bit of health.
In real life, it could kill him.
His mind wandered for a moment before he snapped it back.
He bent his knees slightly, ready to dodge, and kept swinging.
Twenty hits in total.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud!
With a loud crack, the section of trunk he’d been hitting suddenly transformed into a short, round log and dropped to the ground.
The remaining parts of the oak collapsed too — breaking into two more logs, while two acorns fell from above.
Natsuyū jogged clear, felt the heavy thud shake the ground beneath him, then came back to inspect.
All that remained was a stump.
Three logs about a metre long and twenty-five centimetres in diameter lay on the ground, along with two fist-sized acorns.
The leaves and branches had vanished entirely.
“It really is a rule-based ability.”
He marvelled at it, crouching to hoist one of the logs with both arms, testing the weight, then slowly lifted it onto his shoulder.
[Congratulations on unlocking the achievement “Get Wood”!
Shout the incantation “Get rich — punch trees!” out loud to claim your rewards: Crafting Table Recipe, EXP +10.]
[Basic Achievement Tree — new advancement unlocked:
Open Inventory → Get Wood → Wait, is that a Crafting Table?!
→ ?]
I know this one!
Four wood makes a Crafting Table.
From there you can make an axe, a pickaxe, a sword, armour — the works.
Natsuyū was practically buzzing.
This feeling beat even the first time he ever played Minecraft — because the stats here were real.
Being powerful in a game meant nothing.
Being powerful in a world you’d transmigrated into — that was the real deal.
Incantation, incantation, go.
The first time, he’d been awkward about it, too embarrassed to commit.
Now?
He didn’t really mind.
Because shouting the incantation got him abilities and EXP, and he’d started enjoying the little ritual of it.
Besides, Kushida Kikyo was still asleep.
Nobody watching meant no social death.
With that thought, Natsuyū threw his arms out and yelled:
“Get rich — punch trees!”
[You have received: Crafting Table Recipe, EXP +10.]
An instinct rose in him, as natural and certain as knowing that 1+1=2: one log breaks down into four planks, stack them together, and you get a Crafting Table.
It was just basic knowledge.
[Natsuyū: Level 1 (EXP 10/15)]
The EXP bar needed for the next level had increased, so no level-up this time — and no new stat points.
But the next achievement, “Wait, is that a Crafting Table?!”, only required him to actually make one.
Level up was right around the corner, and then — equipment.
Natsuyū looked at the wood with fire in his eyes.
“Um… what are you doing?”
A soft, bewildered girl’s voice came from behind him.
His whole body locked up.
He turned, stiff as a wind-up toy, and found himself looking straight into Kushida Kikyo’s wide, glossy crimson-purple eyes.
When did she wake up?
How long was she watching?
Please tell me she didn’t hear the incantation.
Natsuyū mentally stepped into Kushida’s shoes — watching some guy with a log on his shoulder shout “Get rich — punch trees!” at the top of his lungs — and already felt secondhand embarrassment on her behalf.
The tragedy was, that guy was him.
He acted like nothing had happened, walked back to the glowing clockwork gate, and said to her:
“You’re up.”
Kushida’s expression wasn’t the look-at-this-idiot stare he’d been dreading.
She’d probably just woken up.
He quietly exhaled.
“Um, hi — could you tell me where we are?”
Kushida stood, her expression tight, looking up at the boy who towered a full head above her.
Her eyes were wide and pitiful, like a startled little animal.
Internally, she was screaming:
What the hell?!
Where did I end up?!
This guy looks vaguely familiar, and he’s not carrying any weapons, so it probably wasn’t him that brought me here.
Whatever.
Figure it out later.
For now — play cute, make friends with him…
Seeing her reaction, Natsuyū was fairly certain she hadn’t caught his embarrassing moment.
He relaxed and kept his tone easy:
“I don’t know where this is either.
Someone was talking in my head before I fell asleep, and I woke up here — only a few minutes before you.
What about you?”
Kushida thought back, one fingertip pressing lightly against her lips as she pouted:
“Same thing happened to me!
I was about to go to sleep and this voice appeared out of nowhere — it scared me so much.”
“It asked me, ‘Do you crave the meaning of life?
Do you want to be friends with everyone?’ And since my dream has always been to make friends with everyone, I said yes… and now I’m here.”
“How about you?
Did you say yes too because you wanted to be friends with everyone?
I’m Kushida Kikyo — let’s be friends!”
Kushida closed the distance between them, her cute face entirely non-threatening, and clasped both of his hands in her soft ones, lifting them in front of her.
Her big crimson-purple eyes sparkled, gazing up at him with pure expectation.
Damn.
Even the maids at the Rurikawa estate who were trying to climb the social ladder couldn’t hold a candle to Kushida Kikyo.
To be continued…