The Isekai Lie

-"We encountered a natural quest mechanism. It's called a 'World Quest'. We took it on but as soon as we did – my skills got locked. Nana is unaffected by this. Perhaps it is because I'm the one who activated the quest…"

As I keep reading out loud, I notice some pages are missing in the middle. I go back a bit and there are probably some missing in the front too.

-"The quest takes your actions into account. This is the second one we encountered. This time, in the far north of Learslake forest. 'World Quest: Are you prepared to take the path of greed? YES/NO'. Nana tried activating it. It did affect her this time. She wanted to do it. For me..."

I can almost feel the distress reading this.

-"I prioritized some support magic to boost her and since I didn't raise any other skills yet, the quest locked on a support magic preference. After activating this new quest, Nana's skills weren't locked. Instead, she has got a strange ability to take stats from others, but also, to give them away".

-"Rune, this is what the guildmaster was talking about. She probably gave away all her magical capacity to him, and he may have given her all his other stats that a mage doesn't need", Luna explains.

"I see. Wait… Where is the rest?" I notice a huge number of even more missing pages, most of the entire diary, possibly…

I flip to the end as it's the only thing left.

-"Those skills… There are overpowered completely! Nobody can know about this. The war is almost over, I know it. But if people knew about these 'World Quests', they might chase that power. They may start new conflicts and strive for control and conquest. We need to disappear for a while. All seven of us…"

I close the diary.

-"Rune, doesn't it sound like…"

"It does. I can't believe I didn't realize my father's real name".

-"Your father? Is Treeza your father??" The shop owner asks in sudden panic.

"My father's name is Ichi, as far as I know… But it was brought to our attention that it is just a nickname".

-"Do you think… You could help with the fight against the monster?"

"Yes".

-"Follow me", the shop owner says. He leads us to a carriage he owns in the back yard of his shop. –"My horse is old. But it can make it. It might take a while but I think can get there in time", he explains.

He prepares the horse, and we get on the ride.

On our way, Luna and I discuss the skills.

-"Rune. Today is your birthday. You know what it means?"

"Yes. I'll raise it right now".

I open my skills menu and raise the "Homing" skill with my newly achieved skill point.

-"There are still some skill points I saved", Luna explains, -"I'll use them now.

She raises a few levels into area healing and shielding skills. Luna has achieved an all-around ability as a mage. It's amazing as she did it despite normal people being unable to get to that level of efficiency. I doubt there's anyone who managed to surpass her ability without world quests.

-"Okay, I think that would be best. I'll save 1 skill point just in case", she says.

Suddenly, there's a weird darkness in our vicinity. The sun is blocked, and we look up to the sky.

Something flies there. It seems like a black lump with wings. It then begins to disappear.

The shop owner stops the carriage and looks closely.

-"I can't believe it…" He says. -"It flips its' scales, changing their color to white, that's why it looked like it's disappearing".

-"An elemental dragon…" Luna confirms. -"The strongest of them all. It can change its' element at will…"

The shop owner quickly keeps going, motivating his horse: -"Keep going friend! We have to make it!"

We continue riding as fast as possible, and we finally arrive.

The entire city is in turmoil. People are running and screaming. Chaos is let loose. A bunch of buildings are on fire, some even got destroyed completely.

An entire wall of the Quadmountia guild is missing. The monster is inside. The elemental dragon.

We go inside from the entrance. We see a bunch of warriors… And… My parents…

-"Rune what are you doing here??" My mother yells at our direction.

-"Get away from here, Rune, this is way too dangerous. Leave it to us!" My dad shouts as well.

I see them. 6 out of the 7 they were. Ichi and Nana - my parents, Ni and Roku - who gathered everyone, Go - the town guide, and the guildmaster, who I assume they name San, since they spoke about Yon… As if he was their deceased friend. They are standing on the front line. I can see it. As if I was there in their past. They make a magnificent team.

"No. -I reply. "It's too dangerous. Leave it to us".

-"Rune, I'm buffing you, then I'm going to shield them. You can throw your dagger!"

A glassy dagger appears in my Hand. I glow. I Immediately throw my dagger. It should hit… But… The dragon quickly flies back and outside. It was so fast, almost like teleportation. I keep throwing but that huge monster keeps dodging. It then flips its scales.

When its scales are white - they create a flash. It's even harder to hit as the dragon keeps doing it.

"Luna, I don't think I can hit it".

-"Hit it once, I'll raise my last point in buffing critical hit chance. It's a weak skill, it only Increases your critical hit chance by 5%, but…"

"But I'll go beyond 100% even before I strike. I will one shot it!"

She raises the skill and buffs me. -"You can do it Rune! Get it!"

In that moment, the dragon barely lands for just a second. I quickly aim at its head, and it quickly flies upwards, as the dagger misses its head and scratches its right leg. It deals 2 damage.

A dagger spawns and homes in on the dragon. Another appears by the duplication buff Luna cast. They hit although it tries to dodge. Multiple daggers spawn, hit, and retrigger. A barrage of daggers overwhelms the dragon as a deadly rain of misery. For a few seconds all everyone can see is daggers appearing continuously, targeting the dragon. Eventually, although it took some time… It dies.

A few years pass

"I can't believe our guild level is 5!" I say to Luna.

-"Sneaky grandma… For more than a year she officially made her requests through the guild, paying for its service, just so we will get the status progress…" Luna replies.

We sit in our new house, in the village we came from, not too far from our parents' houses.

We haven't seen grandma for around 3 years. We are 25 now. We have a pet slime that lives with us. I call it 'Rival'. After defeating the elemental dragon, I got a skill: "Elemental boost - Converts all damage to elemental damage, and doubles it".

"When you hit a monster that is weak to your element, usually dictated by your weapon, if you are not a mage – you will deal double damage. If it's stronger than your element - it will deal half. Since this skill doubles it anyway… It just gives me possible increased damage at times, depending on the monster.

However…

The slime is the only monster in this world that isn't elemental… So, if I use my dagger…"

I slightly poke it with my dagger…

"It doesn't deal damage…"

It says "Null" in the damage line.

Me and Luna are the only ones who know... That the strognest in the world... Is actually that slime.

Luna goes to the kitchen to bring us some coffee. -"Behave you two!"

The slime suddenly makes an enraged menacing face towrds me.

Luna comes back and the slime quickly turns to absolute cuteness.

She drinks from the coffee and says: "I wonder what it would feel like living in a futuristic world… With no monsters, no guilds, no stats, no skills?"

I suddenly come to.

I'm in a modern shower.

I feel like I'm hypnotized, standing in the shower, as the powerful flow of water hits my head and back. After a few minutes I get out.

I put on clothes from my sports bag in the locker room. I go outside. It's the gym.

I see a beautiful girl, with red hair and eyes that are black as opal. She is using one of the machines next to me. She then finishes up and gets out of the gym. I heard some people talk to her, calling her Lena.

I walk outside and spot a nearby coffee shop. There are huge buildings and skyscrapers all around. The cars are making some noise. It's the middle of the city. I go into the coffee shop, and I see her sitting there.

Instead of thinking of a conversation starter, I just talk to her.

"Hey, I just saw you in the gym. I heard them calling you Lena".

-"Yes, nice to meet you, I'm Lena. What is your name? Your eyes are very pretty".

"My name is Bruno. Mind if I sit down?"

In your life, failures and achievements will accumulate like stacks.

When you are fully stacked, that is when you are the best version of yourself.

Your Isekai is right now.

-The end-