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Chapter Text

There’s no Tutorial in Game of Life for Bookworm

Urano prayed for the next life where she can read books, but she woke up as a little girl named Myne and now... she had a high fever, learned a new language instantly, got a family of three with funky hair colors and... had a glowing box to read * everywhere * instead of books.  Also- she couldn't read the glowing box! It wasn’t even in Japanese. 

“Myne, why do you keep looking above my head? Is there dirt or something?” Tuuli asked, patting the crown of her head. 

“It’s nothing Turi.” There were five letters glowing above her head in pale yellow, perhaps it was her name? She looked to the window, which was tightly closed because it was the end of winter. Something had to be defeated for spring to come? It was a fantasy world. It was November in Japan when she died, so it was a shock to find herself in rackety apartment with blizzard outside. 

“You are weird… using a stick to style your hair, asking for books and now this.”

Myne pouted, but ignored the cruel words.  She had bigger fish to fry.  “Tuuli, how do you write your name?”

“What the hell are you talking about?  Why would I know how to write, Myne?  That’s for rich merchants and stuff.”  Tuuli helped her sister out of bed, and they started on their morning chores.  Well, Tuuli started on her morning chores, and Myne started in on her chore - singular.  She was to sweep the apartment.  Actually, this chore was self-assigned, and very rarely completed.

As Tuuli was fetching water, Effa came in, back from the market, and Myne blinked in surprise at the similar looking - though not identical - yellow symbols hanging over her.

“Tuuli, chop up some potatoffel, won’t you?”

Sweeping away in the corner, Myne watched Tuuli scamper across the room and pick up a knife.  The symbols changed.  Effa stoked the fire and, as she threw something into their soup pot, hers changed too!  More importantly, they now matched Tuuli’s!

It was all so peculiar to her, and frustrating. Boxes that only she could see! Letters she could not even read! And worst of all, no books! She came across one book at the market but it turned out they were rare and only for nobles. Damn nobles!

So in between cleaning her environment, losing her shame as a pure maiden, and being bedridden the glowing box was her only sense of comfort. There were no books, and she couldn’t understand the letters, but just the fact that she could see a string of symbols helped keep her from the brink of insanity.

One day she joined Tuuli to the gate on an errand to give dad something. And then she saw it. Parchment! Ink! More strange symbols!

At last after frustrating weeks of glowing letters, her father’s subordinate named Otto enlightened Myne that indeed those strange symbols were letters of this world. They were also not logographic like kanji and closer to latin letters so they were much easier to memorize, there were thirty five of them! Together with this magnificent finding was also the devastating news that the parchment and ink commonly used in this world would bankrupt a lower class household like hers! 

Otto was nice enough to teach her some letters and even promised a slate, a small blackboard with chalk to write on the next time she saw him. Still, if paper and ink were expensive she had to forget making a book but backtrack on making paper first! 

Sounds of a bell rang inside her head, startling Myne out of her wits. It didn’t sound like a bell to signify time, but closer to a handheld bell from her old world. Like one held by those shopping district raffle stands. 

She looked up and a glowing box bigger than one she had ever seen appeared before her eyes! It was asking something and she couldn’t read it at all! But there were two buttons below that seemed to be a Yes & No or Accept & Reject… 

[🕭M̶̺̑i̷͇̓s̵̠͆s̴̳̽ḯ̷͓o̵͙̿ṇ̶̈ ̴͍́:̴̩̃ ̴̞̃Ń̴͓é̸̱w̷̳͗ ̶̤̓W̷̼̽r̷̳̾i̸̲͘t̵̜̀ï̸̠n̵̮̉g̵̬̕ ̷̝̃S̸̙̊ű̷̩r̶̓ͅf̵͎̒a̵̢͝c̸͔͆ẻ̷̙ ̸̥̀🕭]

̶̺̄B̴͙͂r̴̥̚ĩ̸͎n̶͉̆g̵̪͝ ̶̨̈́n̵͕̈ê̸͚ẅ̷͍́ ̸̟̚t̸̨̛ȅ̵̹c̶̙̐ḧ̵͎n̸̘͆o̸͌ͅl̸̪̈́ȯ̵͇g̶̪̏y̴̳͗ ̸̯̐f̴̣̚o̷̱̔r̵͓͌ ̵͔̿c̸̹̎h̸̪͂ę̷́à̶̟p̴̱͒ḛ̴̓r̴̰̓ ̶̦̈ă̴̙n̶̩̿d̸̥͊ ̸͈͐b̸̺̌e̴̲̽t̸͔̉t̸̼͠e̷̥̍r̵͖̀ ̷͍̀w̴̡̏r̴̺̾i̶̮̓t̴̫̔ȋ̷̩n̶̐͜g̸̺͒ ̴̮̆s̶̩͑u̶̠͘ṟ̵̄f̶̯̑a̷͍͒c̸̖̅ė̵̲ ̴͍̉y̴͈̒o̵̹̎u̶̅ͅ ̶͕̔c̶̻͛a̷̛͇ṉ̵͝ ̵̛̝u̷͇̒s̷̘̎é̷̲ ̵̯̾t̸͇́o̴̥̿ ̵̢̕a̴̱̽c̶͈͒h̶̩͆ḯ̸̺e̸̫̋v̶̘̚e̵̼̔ ̷̣̆ẙ̴̘o̸̳͘ȕ̷̙r̷͇̂ ̵̝̿d̸͎͂r̷̼͝e̴͖̕a̷̼͛m̸̙̈,̵̯̏ ̵͔̾r̶̜̄ë̶̲́w̴͎͗a̵̼̓ŗ̶̍d̶̽ͅ ̴͙͝f̸̭̓r̵̻͑ö̶͚́ṁ̸̗ ̵͓̏G̵̈́͜o̸͔͒d̸̥̚d̴̢͑ę̶͌ș̵̒s̷̨̒ ̶̙̈́ö̷͚́f̷̥̔ ̵̻̓W̷͎̽i̵͙͛s̸̩̓d̷̼̐o̴̻͊m̶̞̐ ̵̢̌i̴͓̓ṡ̶̤ ̶̜̚w̵̗̉a̸̭̾i̵͈̕t̷̯̀i̶̽͜n̴̫͠g̸͖̍ ̸͓́f̷͇͌o̸̯͝ŕ̵͎ ̴̪͝ỷ̸͙ö̴̪́u̶͉͝.̴̻̀ ̸͌͜

̸͔͠Y̵͙͛e̷̛͖s̴̼͒/̸͈͗N̷̞͝o̷͇̓

Chapter Text

Gamer Bookworm Can’t Read Her Mission 

Could this be… she was actually stuck in a world with game mechanics and she just had her first mission? What kind of game was this?! At least give her an ability to read before giving her a mission! 

“Let’s just reject it first!”  She had no idea if there was any punishment if she failed the task she couldn’t even read. She pushed the no button which was usually on the right but only for it to be greyed out! “Why did I get an option if I can’t refuse in the end?”

So she had no choice but to push the [yes] button and the voice of a young woman echoed in her ears,

[🕭Mission Start : Creating new writing surface🕭] 

Another glowing box appeared and this time it had two sections that seemed to be a list, Myne saw numbers- first section had plus and second one had minus. “Even though I can’t read it’s obvious what they are…” 

Her rewards and penalties!

Maybe she could get a book by completing the mission!  Thinking back to her death, she had asked to spend her whole life surrounded by books; wasn’t that how stories like this usually went?  She’d be able to achieve her dream by following the script!

Or maybe it was some stupid reward like money or increased stamina.  Actually, those would be pretty good too.

Though if she failed... Well, no use thinking about it.  She didn’t know what the penalty was, couldn’t get out of it now, and honestly couldn’t imagine things getting much worse anyway.  Given her pathetic state, it seemed likely that she’d just die, but that was the same risk inherent in opening a window for her. 

Creating a new writing surface, huh?   Thinking back to the origins of writing back home, the first thing that came to mind was clay tablets, but you couldn’t really write on them; they were more like engravings, so they might not even count.  She could try making papyrus… She wasn’t too sure about the process, but it was woven if she remembered correctly.  But weaving generally took a really long time; what if there was a time limit?

Paper would be ideal.  She knew the most about making it, and it was what she was used to anyway.  The problem was, there was no way a barely-breathing kid like her could do that sort of hard labour.

As Myne sighed to herself, that same bell sounded in her head and another indecipherable mission popped up.  Again, refusing was a dead end option.

“[ 🕭Sub-Mission Start: Securing Assistance🕭]”

That made so much sense, even if papermaking was not going to be something Myne invented out of nothing, retracing the steps would be something she needed help with. Problem was, who could she get some help from? She didn’t even have any money to hire helpers, but food she helped Effa and Tuuli with was a big success after Linshan. So maybe she could use that. 

But then, at best she could only get kids. Which was the most optimal choice, adults were busy and wouldn’t want to help her experimenting with gooey paper pulp. 

“So… Tuuli, are there any kids in the neighborhood who would want to help me with my personal project with the reward of a buttered kartoffel or linshan?” 

Tuuli was now no longer surprised by her weird request, after all many of them had nice results. Her sister was clean most days with shiny hair. “Ralph’s younger brothers maybe, like Lutz… since whoever is older than Ralph would be busy in their carpentry apprenticeship.” 

“Oh right, their family is from the craftsmen line of work.” 

Dad returned home the next day with the slate Otto promised, and three chalks! Several text appeared and Myne could tell it was announcing she received useful items. As much as she wanted to play with slate and write the bedtime story Mother told her for example, she had a mission! 

“So I need…” Since this was her personal list, it was fine to write in Japanese. “Soft and young wood, axe or knife, steamer, some ash to wash… suketa, frame…” There were so many tools not even her neighbors who agreed to help could make. Perhaps the steamers and frames, but the suketa would be a delicate work.

“Hm… what should I do?”

Myne completed her task of securing assistance by secretly feeding Lutz a buttered kartoffel. Tuuli’s network was amazing, informing her that Lutz would be the easiest to bribe since the blond boy was always hungry and often sneaking bites when foraging in the forest. 

“I can ask around for suitable wood Myne needs, but these tools… I think we need nails and tools. I can borrow some from home but we can’t just take pots.” Lutz pointed out. “Seems like we don’t have all of them.” 

“...Hm, is there any adult we can ask?”

“Try asking your Dad, as a soldier he knows a lot of people.” 

Turned out Dad indeed knew a lot of people, but he directed her… to Otto. “The guy is an ex- travelling merchant and I think his brother in law is a big merchant?” 

Myne was happy, ‘Thank you Dad!” 

“Ask the guy anything! If he gets you in trouble I can deal with him.” 

Wow Dad, that's workplace harassment! 

Of course, having Otto secure a way to meet with the elusive brother in law wasn't a simple matter, Myne had to ensure that it didn't seem too out of the ordinary, so she bid her time helping Otto with paperwork in the gate, securing both another piece on her budding network and learning properly her letters, soon she would be able to understand the labels above the people, which could help her understand them better.

The next big "problem" happened once the new apprentice guards reached the gate. The kids had become soldiers by both referral from their parents and a desire to get the excitement guard duty brought to them, so, when they learned that writing was essential to their job, most couldn't keep the attention required to learn.

"Very well, it's time to switch to math."

Said Myne, clapping her hands once she noticed that the boys couldn't focus on the writing anymore, which she noticed upon watching how they started to look bored, one even was drooling as his head lolled up.

"Okay! Let's switch subjects now! It's time to do some math!"

Said Myne happily, clapping her hands as she did so, of course, this idea surprised Otto, as his usual method implied having them work for a bell, yet, once they did change the subject, the boys seemed to focus again, the change in subject had renewed their interest and the studying went far smoother than ever.

[Ding- You receive title “Tutor”] 

Oh, it had been a while since she had this notification. A voice of a young and chirpy girl, which was weird since in game usually they had operator like voice. 

[🕭Tutor🕭]
The one who teaches + 3 INT +2 WIS 

Apparently doing certain task earns her  titles. She had noticed this before, when she try cleaning the house and making rinsham. Unfortunately she was illiterate back then, so she had no idea what was it. So far she had this “Tutor” and “Feeder” for feeding Lutz. 

This was the first time a title had some other benefits, or at least she thought they were benefits. They sure sounded like benefits. ' +3 INT and +2 WIS sure sound like good benefits but should a title really be so easy to get I just studied with them for a bell ' she mused