Upon hearing Aqua's unexpectedly persuasive pitch, Hayashi couldn't help but glance sideways at the dimwitted goddess, thinking to himself, 'If I hadn't read the original work and known what that so-called "other world" was really like, I might've actually fallen for her nonsense!'
Seriously, though the anime was titled "Give Blessings to This Wonderful World!", that world was anything but wonderful! Sure, Kazuma Satou and his gang seemed to be living it up, but that was only because those guys were all carefree idiots.
But then again…
'Well, whatever. I came here to scam some cheat skills anyway.'
Hayashi shrugged and turned to Erina and Hisako beside him. The three of them spoke in unison:
"We choose to go to the other world!"
'YES!' Aqua clenched her fists in excitement. 'This is a huge win! Woo-hoo, I'm soaring straight to the top!'
Forget just recruiting three qualified heroes to the other world—this alone would give her a solid performance boost. In Aqua's mind, Hayashi and the others had already been labeled as "fanatical believers = allies."
Heh heh! Looks like my Axis Cult can expand its reach in the other world once again!
"Excellent!" Aqua nodded with satisfaction, her excitement barely contained. She glanced around conspiratorially before whispering, "I'm only telling you this because you're my followers—"
"Mhm, mhm—" x3
Hayashi and the others played along perfectly, indulging Aqua's desire to continue.
"Earlier, I said that going to the other world now would grant you a special ability, but normally, you'd have to pick from a list provided by the goddess—" Aqua cupped her hand to her mouth, adopting the tone of a gossipy aunt. "But in reality, the gods decide which abilities are even on that list!"
Damn! They can rig it like that? No wonder the divine realm had produced both Aqua and (the padded-bra) Eris. You guys really are something else!
"So, what you're saying is—"
Hayashi looked at Aqua, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"Heh heh! Normally, I'd just randomly pull some abilities for you to choose from. But since you're my followers—and you're gonna spread my glorious name—I'll bend the rules just a little for you!" Aqua planted her hands on her hips, grinning smugly. "Just name whatever ability you want, and I'll make sure it's on the list for you. How's that? Pretty awesome, right?"
"Ooooh! As expected of Lady Aqua!" Hayashi couldn't help but clap his hands against his belly before casually asking, "By the way, I'm kinda curious—what if we name an ability, but it's not in stock?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Aqua wore a look that screamed "I knew you'd ask that." She scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "The divine realm has been around for ages! We've sent at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand, heroes to other worlds. There's no ability we haven't seen before! I'm telling you, there's nothing you can think of that the divine realm can't provide!"
"That impressive, huh?"
"Of course! After all, it's the divine realm that nurtured a gentle and intelligent goddess like me! Heh heh heh hahaha—"
Watching Aqua puff up like an inflated pufferfish, Hayashi couldn't help but ponder for a few seconds.
"Lady Aqua, is there an ability that can make enemies within a ten-kilometer radius uncontrollably... relieve themselves?"
"?"
"Or perhaps one that turns hair gel into cow dung."
"??"
"Failing that, maybe an ability to make chocolate taste like poop or poop taste like chocolate."
"???"
To be honest, even Aqua couldn't help but question: "What the hell is going on in your head?"
Are these the kinds of abilities a sane person would ask for? Turning hair gel into cow dung? What were you thinking? To mess with Lord Aizen? Transform his famous hair gel move into a cow dung hand?
"Well, you said any ability was possible, so I just casually asked..."
"You could've at least asked for two normal abilities!"
"Alright, alright—"
Hayashi pouted. Seeing that the setup was sufficient, he casually mentioned his real goal: "Then is there a skill that can increase all your ability values after killing monsters?"
Aqua looked utterly confused. "Huh? Killing monsters already gives you EXP, and leveling up increases your ability values!"
"No no, what I mean is—" Hayashi scratched his head. "Even without leveling up, as long as you kill enough monsters, you can still grow stronger!"
"Hah? What's the point of such an ability?" Aqua dug at her ear with a finger, looking disdainful. "Killing tons of monsters just for a slight increase in ability values? Sure, it sounds like endless growth, but where would you even find that many monsters to kill?"
Admittedly, Aqua made a fair point: the real world isn't a game where monsters endlessly respawn for you to farm. But the thing was—Hayashi could travel between worlds!
"Whether there are monsters or not isn't important. I just enjoy the feeling of growing stronger by killing them." Hayashi said earnestly, staring at Aqua. "Goddess, just tell me—does such a passive skill exist?"
"Fine, fine, I'll check for you." Seeing Hayashi insist on choosing a "trash" ability, Aqua pouted and grumbled, "Honestly, I even offered to pull strings and get you a flashy, cool ability..."
Hayashi twitched his lips. Given Aqua's tendency to spend massive skill points on uselessly "elegant" abilities, he suspected she'd recommend something truly "cool"—and he wasn't wrong!
The skill Aqua planned to recommend was an SSS-tier ability called "Thanks to You, the World is More Beautiful." Its effect was to generate manga-style backgrounds and special effects based on the user's emotions. For example, if Hayashi felt exasperated, his background would turn dark purple with black lines hanging over his forehead.
Admittedly, it was utterly useless—but hey, at least it was stylish!
Under Hayashi's gaze, Aqua raised her head and said, "There are indeed two skills that meet your requirements—one is [Blessing Power], and the other is [Monster Hunter]. I recommend you choose Blessing Power!"
Hayashi didn't trust a single word of Aqua's recommendation, so he immediately asked, "What's the difference between these two skills?"
"Although Blessing Power has a growth cap, its progression is extremely fast. Even if you defeat weak monsters, you'll still gain a guaranteed increase in Ability value," Aqua enthusiastically pitched. "On the other hand, Monster Hunter has no growth limit, but its progression is much slower. Plus, if the power gap is too large, no matter how many monsters you kill, your Ability value won't increase!"
It had to be said—though Aqua was a bit of an idiot, she had at least sent off enough reincarnators to have some basic judgment. If Hayashi were truly just a reincarnator in this world, following her advice and choosing Blessing Power would indeed be more suitable:
First, despite the growth cap, the rapid progression would allow Hayashi to quickly move past the beginner phase.
Second, even defeating weak monsters would grant Ability value, avoiding the awkward situation of insufficient high-level monsters.
—But as the saying goes, Hayashi could cross worlds!
"I choose Monster Hunter!" Hayashi declared firmly. "How fast it grows doesn't matter—I just really like the name of the skill!"
"That's right—" Erina and Hisako nodded in unison from the side, chiming in, "We also really like the name Monster Hunter. Let's go with this one!"
"You—you—!"
Aqua felt like she was about to explode from anger. For once—for once—she had decided to be kind and grant her believer a boon, only for them to completely trample all over her goodwill!
"Monkey-Fly, you'll definitely regret this!"
"Danzo, we're the reincarnators here!"
...
...
After successfully obtaining the skill "Monster Hunter," which had the effect of "enhancing all attributes upon slaying monsters," Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako smoothly passed through the reincarnation magic circle and arrived in another world.
"Alright! Special skill acquired—let's just bounce, yeah?" Hayashi stretched lazily, then clasped his hands behind his head and said cheerfully, "I'm saying, let's head to a world where grinding monsters is super comfy—that world has a clear hierarchy of monsters from weak to strong, and they're practically endless!"
Paired with Monster Hunter, wouldn't that be insanely good? Who needs Blessing Power? Trash! Not even dogs would pick it!
"Master Hayashi, I actually have a small suggestion—" Hisako timidly raised her hand at this point, glancing at Erina before continuing, "Actually, after you went back to your room yesterday, Erina and I rewatched Konosuba and discussed something."
"Oh?" Hayashi looked at the smug expressions of Hisako and Erina. "So what brilliant idea did you two come up with? Let's hear it."
"According to our statistics, this world possesses incredibly powerful buff magic like healing, purification, and support spells, as well as highly practical combat magic such as enemy detection, clairvoyance, inferno, thunder strike, and explosion," Hisako suggested with a serious expression. "So why don't we stay in this world for a while, learn some useful skills, and then move on to other worlds?"
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