The return trip felt less like a transition and more like a tear in reality. One moment, he was sitting with Ram, feeling almost at ease; the next, he was gone. The cold, mana-heavy air of the Re:Zero forest still clung to his skin — which felt weird. For some strange reason, the room, which was bigger than anything he had ever seen before, suddenly felt a little smaller. Or was it just in his head?
The sterile, high-end comfort of his room in the Arima estate washed over him — the same estate Isshin had signed over to him after the adoption, out on the quiet edge of town where the old man had said a boy deserved space to grow without a hundred eyes on him.
Jake exhaled, the tension of the last six weeks finally bleeding out of his shoulders. He walked to the center of his room. Wait a minute... how was he walking already? Or better yet, how was he standing upright on his own?
The silence was jarring and alarming. But then, the familiar, sharp ding of the System cut through the air — a sound he hadn't heard in what felt like an eternity.
Mission Debrief
The interface flooded his vision, scrolling through a list of accomplishments that made his head spin.
Scenario [First Summon]: Success
Mission [Survival 101]: Completed (Cave located, Goblins purged)
Mission [The Road to Town]: Completed (Entry to city secured)
Mission [Keep the Peace]: Completed (Mercenary group neutralized)
Mission [The Mage's Legacy]: Completed (Basement secured, Runic Crafting acquired)
[Botched Summoning Result]
Anomalous Data Correction: The initial summoning of Oni twins Ram and Rem was flagged as 'botched' due to cross-universal interference.
Resolution: The twins' memories have been successfully anchored to this timeline. Their Oni bloodline status has been stabilized, and their loyalty profile has been locked as [Bound: Absolute].
[Rewards]
EXP: +5,500
System Currency: 1,500 Saint Quartz, 500 Summoning Stones
Basic Supplies (Stored in Inventory): 10x Mana Potions, 5x High-Grade Rations, 1x Portable Barrier Generator
Status Update
Jake focused, pulling up his refined status screen.
Name: Jake [Protagonist]
Race: ??????
Age: 2 → 8 yrs (Forced Advanced)
Level: 15 → 8
STR: 18 → 8 | AGI: 15 → 9 | VIT: 20 → 7 | INT: 25 → 14 | WIS: 18
CHA: EX | LUK: EX
Available Stat Points: 20
Perks Available: [Rune-Master (Novice)], [Oni-Bond (Active)], [Akashic Sight (Locked)]
[Debuff: ERR_LOG 16 — ACTIVE]
Status: CRITICAL_FAILURE
DIMENSIONAL_ANCHOR: [UNSTABLE]
Mana_Pool: 0.00% [REDACTED/DRAINED]
Resolution: Forced_Regression.exe... [COMPLETED]
WARNING: Vessel_Stability_Low. Memory_Leak_Detected: [44%_CORRUPT]
Stat_Tax: ALL_EXCESS_POWER_RECLAIMED_TO_RESERVOIR_BY_PROTOCOL_16
>> RE-SYNC_ATTEMPT... [FAIL]
>> SYSTEM_STATE: BLEEDING
Loss of levels and stats in exchange for survival.
What the fuck just happened?
Before he could process the thought, a sudden, massive wave of lethargy crashed over him. His legs buckled. Jake stumbled sideways, his small body crashing hard into his nightstand and knocking the heavy lamp to the floor with a loud shatter.
"What is ha—happening to me...?" Jake managed to croak out.
The room spun violently. His eyelids felt like lead weights, dragging shut. No. Do—don't... don't fall asleep.
BANG!
A sharp burst of pain jolted him back awake. He felt something wet, thick, and hot trickling down the side of his face. His own blood.
St... sta... STATS! Jake roared mentally as his eyes started dropping again. Quickly — open shop!
The interface appeared, flickering violently in and out, completely unstable. He didn't check the prices. He didn't read the descriptions. With a final, desperate surge of mental focus, he slammed his intent onto the first survival item he could target, used it, and let the darkness swallow him whole.
The cold, medicinal smell of the room hit him first, followed immediately by a wave of intense nausea.
He weakly rolled over onto his back, a sharp hiss of pain escaping his dry throat as the movement aggravated a splitting headache. His fingers brushed against his temple — his scalp felt stiff and sticky with dried blood. Through the haze of his throbbing skull, he heard muffled, frantic voices in the background. Then came the sudden, weightless sensation of being lifted and carried. Before he could even register who was holding him, his vision swam, and he slipped right back into the dark.
When Jake woke up again, the room was dimly lit.
He groaned, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position. Every single muscle in his body ached, a deep, radiating soreness that made him grimace with every micro-movement.
He blinked, trying to clear his blurry vision, and paused.
Sitting on a notoriously rigid, uncomfortable wooden chair by the corner of his bed was his butler, fast asleep. The older man's head was tilted at an awkward angle, his frame looking completely out of place on a chair no one in their right mind would ever use on a normal day.
Jake frowned. What... what actually happened? Why am I in this state? How long have I been out?
Heart hammering against his ribs, he mentally called for the interface. A faint, unstable flicker of blue light materialized in front of him. When he checked the log of his blind panic-buy, a cold sweat broke out across his skin.
He hadn't bought a healing potion. In his dying moments, his desperate, blind command had purchased a high-tier System Purge & Lock. It had saved his life by forcefully halting the dimensional bleeding — but it had left him hanging by an absolute thread.
He pulled up his full status screen, and his jaw dropped.
Status Update: [Stabilized / Near-Death]
Name: Jake Arima???
Race: ??????
Age: 2 → 8 yrs (Forced Advanced)
Level: 8
HP: 1/250 (Status: Severely Injured / Extreme Concussion)
MP: 0/150 (Status: Drained)
Available Stat Points: 20
System Currency: 500 Saint Quartz | 500 Summoning Stones (Emergency purchase consumed 1,000 SQ and 500 Stones)
Skills & Perks
[Rune-Master (Novice)] — Allows the basic carving and activation of minor Norse Runes. Current State: UNUSABLE due to 0 MP and physical trauma.
[Oni-Bond (Active)] — A soul-deep connection with the Oni twins, Ram and Rem. Current State: FLARING. The twins can feel your extreme physical distress.
[Akashic Sight (Locked)] — Access to the records of the world. Current State: Partially unlocked. Requires Level 20 & System Restoration for full access.
Active Debuffs
[SYSTEM PURGE LOCK]
Effect: All active dimensional bleeding has been forcefully sealed.
Penalty: HP locked at 1/250 for the next 24 hours. Any physical damage taken during this window will result in permanent death. Natural healing is suspended.
Beneath the warning, a countdown ticked steadily downward in the corner of his vision: 14:56:45.
Nine hours, he realized, doing the math. I've been out cold for nine hours and I'm still not even halfway through the lockdown. The thought sent a fresh, painful jolt through him.
Jake stared at the screen, his breath catching in his throat.
1 HP.
He was quite literally a single stubbed toe or a sharp breeze away from dying permanently. The 20 stat points sat there, a tempting lifeline, but with his system currently locked down and his body in this fragile state, dumping them in without knowing how his body would react was a massive gamble.
He looked back over at his sleeping butler, then toward the heavy wooden door of his room. The Oni-Bond was humming, vibrating with a tense, worried energy that wasn't his own.
Recovering in a sickbed because of his own stupidity and impatience, he burst into laughter — half genuine amusement, half disbelief that he'd nearly died doing something he hadn't remotely been ready for.
The sound woke the butler with a start.
"Young master Jake!" The old man straightened so fast the chair nearly went over with him. "It's good to finally see you awake — you gave all of us quite a scare. Isshin-sama just left a few minutes ago. He's been visiting constantly, all this time, wondering when you'd wake."
"How long has it been, Ryūjin-san?"
The butler's face did something complicated — relief, grief, and something gentler all at once. "Six years, Jake-sama." A pause, like he was still getting used to saying it out loud himself. "It warms my heart to see you awake, and grown so much besides. For a while, most of us had started to lose faith you ever would." He straightened, composing himself. "But that's a conversation for another time. For now, you need your rest. Press the blue button on the wall if you need me, or anyone else. I'll see you tomorrow."
Time Skip — One Day Later
Jake woke up with a headache that had downgraded from "skull-splitting" to merely "unpleasant," which felt like genuine progress. The countdown in the corner of his vision read a solid string of zeros before blinking out entirely, replaced a heartbeat later by a cascade of fresh notifications.
Ding. Ding. Ding-ding-ding.
"Oh, come on," Jake muttered, wincing at his own volume. "One at a time, I just came back from the dead."
[System Notice: Purge Lock Lifted. Natural regeneration restored. Vessel stabilization confirmed at 71%.]
[New Mission Available: Summoning 102 — Expand the Fold]
Description: Your summoning function has stabilized enough to attempt controlled draws. Summon new companions, servants, Taimanin, or other qualifying entities from across the fold.
Reward: 10,000 Saint Quartz, 3 Legendary Tickets, 10,000 Gold
[New Mission Available: Ascendant — Reach Level 10]
Description: Your current level is dangerously low for someone carrying this much anomalous baggage. Fix that.
Reward: 3,000 EXP, 10,000 Gold
[New Long-Term Objective Logged: Cartography of the Fold]
Description: Determine the number of distinct worlds/universes folded into your current multiversal instance.
Current world difficulty setting confirmed as: NIGHTMARE (Permanent Lock).
Progress: 0% — Insufficient data.
Jake stared at that last one for a long moment. "Permanent," he repeated flatly. "Not 'currently set to,' not 'until further notice.' Permanent."
No response, which felt like confirmation enough.
[System Notice: Currency Restructure Complete]
Summoning Points have been deprecated and fully converted to Saint Quartz. Saint Quartz is now the primary system currency for all Gacha, Shop, and Summoning functions.
Rarity Tiers (Ascending):
Common — Green
Uncommon — Blue
Rare — Purple
Epic — Gold
Legendary — Platinum
"Somebody's been reorganizing while I was busy dying," Jake said, mostly to fill the silence. He didn't hate the color scheme, honestly. Platinum for the top tier had a nice ring to it.
He pulled up the shop next, mostly out of morbid curiosity, and immediately regretted underestimating how much had changed.
[System Shop — Skills & Perks]
[System Notice: Noble Phantasm and Reality Marble categories unlocked. Trigger condition met: Contractor status (Roswaal L. Mathers) detected via proximity exposure to an active Gospel-bound entity. Threshold satisfied.]
Jake blinked at that one twice. Come again? Roswaal, completely without knowing it, just handed me a shop upgrade by existing near me. He dragged a hand down his face. That man is going to be insufferable if he ever finds out. Good thing he won't.
He scrolled into the newly unlocked categories, mostly to see what he was working with.
[Noble Phantasm: Category Unlocked] (Access granted — individual entries remain level/acquisition-gated) — the crystallized legend of a hero, weapon, or feat, made manifest. Most listings still locked; several are attached to specific summonable Servants rather than purchasable outright.
[Reality Marble: Category Unlocked] (Access granted — individual entries remain level/acquisition-gated) — a personal inner world made manifest over reality itself, temporarily overwriting the battlefield with the caster's own soul-scape. Extremely rare, extremely expensive, extremely likely to attract attention Jake did not currently want.
Both categories, once opened, were still mostly grey — locked behind levels, Bond thresholds, or specific summons he didn't have yet. But unlocked still felt like something. A door cracked open, even if he couldn't walk through it yet.
Further down, one tab remained stubbornly closed, the label unchanged: [Mature Content — Restricted Category], the note beneath it also unchanged: Deferred pending vessel stability and age-scaling protocols.
Jake looked at it exactly as long as it took to decide, again, that he had zero interest in touching it right now, and moved past it without comment. Later problem. Much later problem.
[Shadow Extraction] (Locked — Lv. 40) — draw a fraction of a defeated enemy's strength into a loyal shade. Source: unspecified, though Jake had a pretty good guess.
[Predator] (Locked — Lv. 25) — passive combat analysis, reveals enemy weaknesses over repeated engagement. A tomb raiding king's signature trait, apparently.
[Food Chain] (3,500 SQ) — consuming a defeated enemy grants a percentage of their abilities, resistances, and physical traits, scaling with the gap in strength between predator and prey. A very particular slime's favorite party trick. Less "get smarter," Jake thought, more "eat your problems, literally." Extremely useful. Mildly upsetting.
[Cursed Technique: Domain Compression] (Locked — Lv. 50) — a miniaturized, personal-scale barrier technique, said to trap a target in a private hell of the caster's design. Origin: some jujutsu sorcerer's answer to overkill.
[Cursed Tool: Playful Cloud] (Locked — Requires Cursed Energy stat, currently 0) — a folding, bladed weapon capable of cutting down curses and sorcerers alike in the right hands. Jake didn't bother reading the flavor text past that.
[Malevolent Shrine] (Locked — Lv. 60+, Special Grade) — greyed out so hard it was barely legible, with a small note underneath: Recommend acquiring a spine of appropriate density before considering.
Right below that sat an entry that made Jake's scrolling thumb stop cold.
[Yami: Absolute Darkness] (Locked — Requires Special Acquisition, not purchasable) — devours matter, gravity, and light itself into an absolute void; wielded, according to the flavor text, by "the closest thing this multiverse's seas have to a devil wearing a man's face."
Jake read that description twice, and then, without really meaning to, closed the tab a little too fast. Nope. Noted. Filed under 'things that should stay a rumor.' He'd read enough manga in his old life to have a pretty solid guess who that entry belonged to, and none of his guesses made him want to keep scrolling.
Further down, greyed out entirely, sat the shop's crown jewel — the kind of item that existed mostly to remind you how far away you actually were from mattering:
[Great Sage — Complete] (Locked — 70,000,000 Gold) — full parallel processing, total thought acceleration, and near-instantaneous skill analysis and replication. Source: an isekai slime with genuinely unfair reading comprehension.
Jake stared at the price tag for a solid five seconds, doing the math twice just to be sure his eyes weren't broken.
"Seventy," he said out loud, to the empty room. "Seventy million." A beat. "Gold. Coins. Not Saint Quartz. Not some abstract currency I can grind out doing quests. Actual, physical, seventy million gold coins."
No one answered. There was no one to answer. That silence, more than the number itself, was the part that actually got to him.
"I have two thousand four hundred gold coins to my name right now," he told the ceiling anyway, mostly because the alternative was sitting there doing math in total silence. "I just spent six weeks feeling rich because I had ten thousand. I bought an estate and cried internally about the price. This is a joke right?. I mean it has to be. Show me a god-tier brain upgrade and slap a number on it that no human being will ever realistically hit — real classy, whoever built this shop."
He let his head fall back against the pillow, hard enough to jostle his still-tender skull, and immediately regretted it.
"Seventy million gold. Sure. I'll just get right on that." A short, slightly unhinged laugh escaped him. "Right after I finish being eight years old and concussed."
He lay there a moment, staring at the ceiling, letting the small, private crisis run its course. It was strange, doing this without commentary — no dry system remark to bounce off of, no smug little note correcting his math. Just him, alone with an absurd number and a headache. He missed the noise more than he expected to.
"Moving on," he said finally, voice flat, and scrolled past it before he could do the math a third time.
He skimmed the rest mostly for names he recognized — a scattering of things that sounded like they'd wandered in from half a dozen different anime and games he'd burned through in his old life: something that smelled distinctly of a certain golden-armored king of tombs, a passive that reeked of Elden Ring's runic bloodlines, a couple of entries obviously Marvel or DC in origin but carefully scrubbed of any name that could get anyone sued. Nothing he could actually afford yet, not with his stat points still sitting unspent, his levels freshly gutted, and one very large number now permanently living rent-free in his head.
He closed the shop and pulled up his status sheet instead, staring at the twenty unspent points sitting there like they were judging him.
[Available Stat Points: 20]
Alright. Let's not be an idiot about this twice in one week.
He put five into VIT first — no argument there, not after nearly dying from a stubbed toe's worth of bad luck. Five into STR, since goblin-punching had gone considerably better with a bit more muscle behind it. Three into AGI, mostly so he could actually dodge something next time instead of relying on Rem to save him.
That left seven sitting untouched.
[System Notice: Stat allocation registered. Host remains critically INT/WIS-heavy relative to physical durability. Classification: Glass Cannon (Improved).]
Jake stared at the readout for a second. No sarcastic follow-up. No commentary about his taste in dying poorly. Just the cold, clinical fact of it, sitting there.
"Yeah," he said quietly, to no one. "I know."
He left the remaining seven points unspent for now — better to see what Summoning 102 actually dragged in before committing further, rather than build a body around a plan that might not survive contact with whatever came through next. Better, too, to have something left to figure out on his own, since apparently that was just the situation for the foreseeable future.