Chapter 64: Writing
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
In the end, the three of them went to another store in order to purchase a set of suitable clothes for Seiji.
Although Chiaki seemed dissatisfied, time didn’t allow for her to continue picking clothes for Seiji, so she could only compromise.
Seiji and Mika both felt that the clothes Chiaki had picked out were pretty good.
After buying herself and Seiji a matching set of clothes, Chiaki also bought some clothes for Mika—despite the latter’s vehement protests—and forced Mika to accept them.
After returning home.
Seiji opened the [gifts] option in the system and discovered that he had received 8 points from the clothes Chiaki bought for him in addition to an item card!
[Full recovery card—Encouraging Heart].
According to his system’s explanation, this card contained the feelings of beautiful girls who had encouraged him to return to his spirited and energized state again. After using this one-time item card, his physical energy and mental state would be instantly restored to its peak!
‘Wow, isn’t this the full-recovery medicine… the ultimate potion, Elixir!?’
Seiji widened his eyes in surprise.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it wouldn’t cure any external injuries he had. Instead, it would restore his physical energy and mental state… but even so, this was still quite powerful!
It was akin to a divine medicine—if he used it at a critical junction!
Seiji considered why this item had appeared. Upon mulling over the matter, he concluded it was probably related to seeing Yui Haruta.
After he saw his sister, both Chiaki and Mika were quite worried about him and even encouraged him. That was why this item had appeared in his [gifts] menu.
‘Thank you so much, Chiaki. Mika, you as well… this card must also contain your feelings.’
Seiji truly felt grateful towards the two girls.
In addition to this, 8 points was quite a considerable sum to him. He had now stockpiled 35 points.
[Academics—writing activation card] only required 30 points, and he was now able to exchange for it.
He unhesitatingly made the purchase!
After making the exchange, as usual, a new card flashed into existence. It depicted a moving shadow, which was swiftly writing something while sitting at a desk. The shadow’s movements seemed to flow smoothly and beautifully; it flourished its pen majestically with each stroke.
Seiji lay on his bed and observed the card for a little while longer before taking a deep breath. He was bursting with anticipation as he finally used the card.
The card turned into a flash of white light as it pierced into his brain.
Once again, Seiji steeled himself for the uncomfortable learning process…
After an indeterminate length of time, he finally regained consciousness.
‘It’s still a little painful, but I’m getting used to it.’ He rubbed his aching temple as he leaned up from his reclining position and rose from his bed.
Seiji then walked to his desk and took out the thick notebook he used for writing his diary. He seated himself on the chair before he began writing.
The moment his pen touched the paper, a wondrous sensation poured out from within him.
He was able to visualize a scenario in his mind.
A crimson full moon hung overhead while a young man in extravagant white clothing rested on the edge of a skyscraper’s roof. He clutched a broken sword in as he gazed thoughtfully at the night sky…
Seiji’s right hand started writing at a furious pace; it almost seemed as if he wasn’t the one controlling it.
Every stroke was swift and precise—his writing speed was top-notch, and each word flowed smoothly out of him onto the page!
Seiji continued working his imagination. A girl in a red gothic dress appeared on the roof of the skyscraper directly opposite the boy and slowly unsheathed a pair of twisted longswords—seemingly carved out of bone—from her dress…
Words unceasingly appeared on the page as Seiji wrote in his preferred style, breathing life into the concept in his mind.
Writing swiftly… Finished!
Seiji flicked the pen exaggeratedly as he finished writing the final word.
‘That was… wonderful!’
He inwardly praised his newfound ability as he reread his own words.
Amazing…
The words he had written in his notebook perfectly described the image in his mind in just the right style he desired—mysterious yet romantic in addition to containing a hot-blooded yet cruel fight scene.
This [writing] ability that he’d activated was too powerful!
If a normal person had tried to write this scene, it would probably turn out to be at only the embarrassing level of a middle schooler’s fantasy.
But after Seiji gained the [writing] ability from his system, this scene would make a reader feel passionate as if their blood was boiling; it was like the words on the paper could come to life, assisting the reader in visualizing such a moving, interesting story!
Thanks to his otaku experience from his past life, Seiji was certain that his current writing level already reached that of a story like "5 Centimeters per Second" from his previous life. Even a normal slice-of-life story would give readers the feeling of that type of moving story!
*Cough cough.* Perhaps he was exaggerating a little too much?
But ever since he activated the [fighting] card, he’d obtained martial arts capabilities which seemed to be at the peak of what a human body could achieve, so it only seemed natural that activating the [writing] card would give him such amazing writing skills… right?
After all, Seiji’s [academics] stat had already surpassed 50 points thanks to his incessant grinding in school!
In summation, his current writing level was more than adequate to write something like a light novel.
The only obstacle that remained was the limits of Seiji’s own imagination.
Since [writing] only improved his writing ability and not his imagination… To clarify, it only helped him write down whatever was in his mind, but it didn’t have the power to create the entire story and its characters for him.
He would need to come up with his own story, world-building, character settings, background, and so on. Only after organizing his thoughts was he able to write them down and create a final product.
That was how it worked.
Seiji could feel his blood beginning to boil already. In fact, he could barely restrain the urge to begin writing his own original story; but first, he still needed to check his system.
As he expected, new options appeared in his system, just like when he’d previously activated the [fighting] card.
The [writing] subsection was a new addition to his [academics] menu, and it contained options such as [self-creation], [imitate another author], [studying writing techniques]… and so on.
His [actions] now included [write an essay], [write a poem], [write a story], [write a song]… and so on, with various prerequisite stats.
New [items] appeared as well, including [speed writing card—writing with a pen in each hand], [cryptography—encryption techniques], [writing on the computer—typing]… and so on.
Seiji browsed his new options.
‘[Writing on the computer—typing] is the next one I need to aim for, or it’s going to be inconvenient if I can only write on a notebook.’
Although his newly acquired writing skills were undisputedly amazing, there was still something strange about it—he had to put pen to paper in order to utilize his newfound skill.
System, why were you so inflexible?
In this day and age, leaving aside other types of stories, light novels would always be typed on a computer, and publishers also used digital editions.
Of course, the most popular method right now was to post your story on the internet, hoping to get published after gaining popularity and being chosen by a publisher.
Even though using a pen to write seemed romantic as well as unique, Seiji would prefer to directly type out his story as it seemed like a waste of time to write a story on paper then type it out again.
However, the [writing on the computer—typing] card required 55 points.
Hey, wasn’t this was more expensive than the ability cards under the [fighting] tree!?
Seiji subtly felt as if he’d fallen into his own system’s ploy…
55 points seemed like a lot, but with his [gifts] and additional [actions] now available to him, it should be easier to grind than before, right?
So let’s test out the new [actions]!
Seiji mulled it over before he ultimately decided to pick [write a story] from his actions menu, which had a prerequisite of 40 academics and 25 communication, and began writing the story in his mind.
‘Yep, let’s make the story’s title "I’ll die if I don’t become handsome!"’