Chapter 2 : The Role of an Extra

Ritak Methyl was an NPC who had existed ever since I first started planning Weapon of Infinity.

A genius pharmacist who had single-handedly established all kinds of theories in pharmaceutics and alchemy, and who could make any medicine imaginable.

With the materials obtained during adventures, he could create all sorts of medicines, and the number of types and recipes alone easily surpassed several hundred.

But perhaps I had put far too much attention into a character who was not even the protagonist.

At the time, my supervising professor had suggested cutting down Ritak Methyl’s functions significantly.

“It’s a combat game, not a potion-making game, isn’t it? I think it would be more interesting to focus on the combat elements.”

After losing his system and being left floating in the air, the extra’s role became simple.

He would be killed by the bad guys in the early story, leave behind a clue leading to the next quest, and that would be the end.

That’s a role I absolutely don’t want, you know?

I clutched my head and let out a silent scream.

That was when it happened.

Ding!

The door to the healing shop opened.

As soon as I snapped my head up, I saw someone stepping inside.

A man carrying a dull-looking greatsword on his back and wearing a gloomy cloak.

Between his pitch-black hair, beast-like eyes flashed.

“Ritak. I want to request an appraisal.”

The voice that slowly lodged itself in my ears was cold.

It was not a difficult sentence, yet my head became complicated.

After all, an adventurer whose face I had never seen before had called my name as naturally as someone who knew me.

Thanks to that, I could easily guess his identity.

If someone comes to request an appraisal at this timing…

John Doe.

The protagonist of WoI, who would eventually face the calamities appearing in this world.

“Ritak.”

I jerked my head up.

His bright yellow eyes were staring straight through me.

“Ah… right. A request, you said?”

“Yes. There is an item I need you to look at.”

“Wait!”

I thrust one hand forward and stopped him.

John Doe froze with his hand still inside his coat, as if he had been about to take something out.

“I’m really exhausted right now, you see? I think I might even have a fever. And some strange man, whoever he was, already left me a request earlier!”

“…So?”

“I-I’m saying I should rest today?”

I knew what he was trying to leave with me without even looking.

It was the seed of calamity that held the energy of another world.

Since it would look like a jewel never before seen in this world, he must have come to have it appraised.

But I die if I accept that request, you know?

The future where a band of thieves barged in after the jewel was vividly clear in my mind.

There was only one reason why the healing shop NPC had an appraisal ability that did not suit him at all.

So that the jewel entrusted to him could be stolen by a bandit group, and so that he could leave a clue at the scene of his murder.

He was nothing more than a device meant to guide John Doe toward the calamity.

Now that I’m in his position, this feels absolutely disgusting.

I swept up the annoying hair in front of my face and let out an irritated breath.

Who cared whether the game’s story needed an incident or not?

Thanks to that, I was about to die right now.

“Understood. I hope your condition improves tomorrow.”

John Doe placed a few blades of grass on the table, then readily backed down.

I used Appraisal on the item left there by itself.

“Sourgrass. It is bitter. Can be used as an item crafting material.”

Whatever the purpose behind the setting was, Appraisal was pretty useful.

After all, it let me know the exact facts without having to worry about whether it was the item I knew or not.

Ding!

John Doe left the shop.

The moment the door closed, I leaned against the bar counter.

I had only delayed it by a day, but either way, I had bought myself some time.

“…Phew. So even the protagonist is here.”

The place where I had opened my eyes was, without a doubt, the world of Weapon of Infinity.

A world with a clear protagonist.

Well, reality isn’t any different in that sense.

There was no need to go as far as presidents or actors.

Even in an office, there were people who seemed like protagonists, while ordinary people became supporting cast.

Maybe that was why the fact that I had opened my eyes in a game world as an NPC was not bad in and of itself.

Actually, I love it.

To think I had become a character in the world I had made.

If I were being honest, I wanted to run out into the street and kiss the ground.

But this world was not kind enough for me to simply rejoice.

Because the guy whose body I had ended up wearing was soon going to be brutally murdered in the story.

I was lucky enough to survive once. I can’t die again.

I had opened my eyes in the body of a guy who was going to die soon, but fortunately, there were two good things.

One was that I already knew how Ritak Methyl, the NPC I had possessed, was going to die.

The other was that I was not the protagonist.

In other words, as long as I avoid the bandit group, I’m safe for now.

The bandit group was one thing, but I needed to avoid the main story altogether.

After all, if I had to deal with demonic beasts or calamities, even several lives would not be enough.

It’s fine if one NPC drops out, right?

I decided to leave the fate of this world in the hands of the game’s protagonist.

He was a guy created from birth to save the world.

He had extraordinary physical conditions from the moment he was born, infinite growth potential, and could skillfully use any weapon?

It was such an overblown setting that comparing him to a mere extra would be embarrassing.

So I’m leaving.

As long as I left this village, I should be able to survive for now.

And if I made potions and sold them, I should have no trouble making a living.

Ding.

When I opened the shop door, I saw a street with hardly anyone around.

The lined-up buildings were small, and the village was so quiet that I could even hear the yawn of an old woman sitting on a tree stump.

This was Root Village, where the protagonist’s journey began.

It’s been implemented well.

Unfortunately, I had no time to sightsee.

If I took my time, who knew when the bandit group might barge in?

Following the signposts, I hurried toward the entrance of the village.

But the entrance was strangely noisy.

“To think a brown bear would suddenly attack the village…”

“Urgh. It probably lost its senses because it had just woken up from hibernation. We gave it a proper beating, so it should stay quiet for a while.”

“Oh, dear! Don’t get up. Stay still. We’ll bring a healer soon.”

People wearing cloth armor were looking after one collapsed person.

Judging from their appearance, they were members of the village militia.

A brown bear attacked?

That was definitely part of an early-game quest.

After stopping by the healing shop, John Doe returned to the place where he had found the jewel.

This was a mandatory quest blocking his path there, but…

That bastard, where did he go instead of doing the quest?

If the story had flowed the way I knew it, the protagonist should have resolved this incident.

But he did not show up, and thanks to that, it seemed the militia had taken the whole burden on themselves.

He’s pretty badly hurt.

The fallen militia member’s face was dyed bright red on one side.

Should I say it was fortunate his head had not been blown off?

If they left him like that, he might die of excessive bleeding.

“Wait. Let me look at the wound.”

I squeezed my way between the militia members.

Then they blinked in surprise, but still made room for me.

“Ritak Methyl? What is that guy doing all the way out here…?”

Is this your first time seeing an NPC walk around?

I snatched the waterskin hanging from the militia member’s waist.

Splash, splash, splash!

“Urgh!”

When I washed his face with water, the injured man bit his lip.

Each time the militia member frowned, the long cut stretching from his forehead to his cheekbone twitched, and soon blood started seeping out heavily again.

Because he had been hit in a place with thin skin and plenty of blood vessels, the amount of bleeding was no joke.

Still, fortunately, the wound itself isn’t deep.

Click.

This time, I took out the health recovery potion I had made.

But the moment I was about to use it, doubt suddenly raised its head.

Can a potion like this really treat a person?

I did not have to think about it for long.

One of the militia members naturally took the potion from me and poured it over the wound.

“I’ll inform the lord so that the payment can be made to you later.”

I haven’t even said I’m giving it to you yet, though?

Well, I had already decided to treat him anyway, so it did not matter.

More importantly, the militia member’s wound was what mattered.

Srrrk…

The blood that kept seeping out visibly began to stop.

Then, before long, the wound closed, leaving only a red trace behind.

At this level, wasn’t this a revolution in medicine?

The militia member, who had been feeling his own face, lowered his head.

“Thank you. Truly.”

“Forget it.”

If anything, I was the one relieved that the militia existed.

I might have been the person who ran into that brown bear, after all.

It’s a minor detail, but the game story is already getting twisted from the start.

Just as I thought I should hurry and leave before things became even more dangerous, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

…What if things don’t unfold the way I know from here on either?

If I left this village, I could avoid my immediate death.

But what came after that?

What happens if the protagonist dies?

The enemies John Doe would have to face in the future were, quite literally, calamities.

Disasters that did not follow the laws of nature and destroyed the world.

It would be difficult to overcome them with outstanding skills or good items alone.

There’s no guarantee John Doe will save the world.

This calamity might be around tutorial level, so perhaps he could get through it.

But the difficulty of the calamities he would face in the future was brutally vicious.

Could John Doe really get through all of that by himself?

“We’ll help you up. One, two!”

I watched the militia members support one another as they moved away.

If I did not want to die, I should have left the village, but my feet refused to move.

In any case, the seeds of calamity existed all over the world.

Even if I left the village and avoided the imminent dog’s death waiting for me, wouldn’t that mean danger was ultimately lurking everywhere?

Now that I had fallen into the game, it was too late to run, and there was nowhere to run to.

I need a fundamental solution.

What did I need in order not to die in the game?

I had to become stronger.

…Of course, there’s a certain amount of risk involved.

I knew better than anyone how to grow stronger in this world.

I clenched my fist tightly.

There’s nothing to be scared of. Who do you think made this game?

The Root Mountains, located right behind the village.

Since it was the game’s first starting area, the path was reasonably smooth.

But I had no intention of going deeper.

After all, my business was at the entrance of the mountain.

“Found it.”

At a glance, it looked like a dead-end wall, but if you looked closely at the part hidden by tree leaves, you could find small hairline cracks, unlike the other sections.

“Let’s see…”

As a test, I knocked on it a few times with my fist.

Naturally, there was no reaction.

If it were a wall that would collapse just by knocking on it like this, someone would’ve found it long ago.

Originally, after the story progressed a little further and an earthquake occurred nearby, the wall would collapse and reveal the hidden cave.

But there was a way to open this place before that.

Destroy the wall’s durability in a single blow.

If you can’t deal a certain amount of damage in one hit, you can strike it as many times as you want and it still won’t open.

On top of that, the bladed weapons that carried early-game play would not work either.

You had to carry over a giant hammer to even try.

But I did not need to go through that kind of trouble.

“It should be nearby.”

When I looked around, I soon spotted a tree full of bright yellow fruits resembling lemons.

“Fruit of Passion. When eaten, it temporarily increases strength by a very small amount. Can be used as an item crafting material.”

I picked a Fruit of Passion and held it in my hand.

“Use Medicine Crafting skill.”

Ding!

Along with the sound of the skill activating, a voice that was starting to become familiar reached my ears.

“Using the Medicine Crafting skill. Please select materials.”

The medicine I was going to make this time was a Strength Boost Stick.

Of course, I knew the recipe.

“One Fruit of Passion, two Sourgrass.”

The fruit and grass in my hand broke down into fine pieces and swirled together, and in the blink of an eye, the completed product in the form of a long stick was in my grasp.

The dull yellow stick, about the length of my palm, looked like jerky or jelly.

It could’ve just been a potion with a different color, you know.

In the early stages of development, when I had packed Ritak with all sorts of settings, I had put effort into every single medicine.

It really had been nothing but a waste of planning power.

After all, the medicines and recipes had ended up buried somewhere in the back end of the game as chunks of code, hadn’t they?

Since the player can only choose combat classes anyway.

It was no big deal.

I was making good use of them now, so that was enough.

I used Appraisal.

“Strength Boost Stick Lv1. Upon consumption, increases Strength stat by 10 for 10 minutes.”

A Strength stat of 10 produced enough damage to blow away the wall’s durability, even barehanded.

After all, it dealt about the same damage as wearing the lowest-grade weapon at 1 stat.

Chew, chew.

The moment I chewed the Strength Boost Stick, my brow furrowed hard.

It tasted similar to the red ginseng stick I had accidentally eaten when I was young.

It was even more bitter because there was a subtle sourness mixed in.

But the stat increase should be sweet.

Flash.

A faint yellow light lingered around my hand, then vanished.

It was hard to tell whether the effect had been applied or not.

There was not even the usual buff duration icon. Seriously.

“Hmm… Status window?”

Only a cold wind blew.

I decided to give up my useless lingering attachment.

I have no choice but to check directly.

I stood in front of the cracked wall with my legs spread wide.

When I thrust out my fist, a sharp sound of wind rang out.

Bang!

Was it because I had received the Strength stat correction?

My fist did not hurt at all.

On the contrary, a heavy, pleasant sensation of impact rang all the way up to my shoulder.

Rumble…

“This actually breaks.”

I clenched and unclenched my fist, which was overflowing with strength, a few times.

I straightened the corners of my mouth that were rising on their own.

I’ve only opened the door. It’s too early to be happy.

I looked at the entrance of the cave that had revealed itself.

Inside was the most efficient shield in Weapon of Infinity.

For now, I had to get that thing first.

(End of Chapter)