Armoured Dragon Calendar, Year 412.
It was the year Rudeus Greyrat ascended to the rank of Water Saint. It was also the second year since Roxy Migurdia had settled in Buena Village to serve as his tutor.
South of the Red Wyrm's Jaw. The northern edge of the Fittoa Region.
Darkness pooled beneath the dense canopy of the forest, broken only by the pale wash of moonlight filtering through the leaves. A mountain wind swept down from the gloom of the Red Dragon Mountains, threading through the gaps in the timber to dance with the orange flames of a campfire.
The firelight flickered across a face that was still young, yet held a premature gravity.
A burning branch snapped with a sharp crack. The boy blinked, the reflection of the flames dancing in his dark gray irises. He lowered his gaze to the map of the Asura Kingdom spread across his knees.
His finger traced the parchment to the northern border of Fittoa, circling a specific location with red ink. Inside the circle, four characters were written in a script from another world.
Buena Village.
The boy rested his chin on his hand. Despite his youth, his expression was steady, anchored by a pair of sharp, upward-slanting brows that gave him an air of stoic determination.
"At this pace... just one more day on foot. Then I'll finally see Rudeus."
Allen. A transmigrator.
In his previous life, death had found him during overtime. He had been conducting road tests for an autonomous driving system at an internet-based EV company. He had full confidence in the safety algorithms he had helped code from scratch.
So much confidence, in fact, that he had pulled out his phone to slack off and read Mushoku Tensei: Redundancy.
Perhaps the driving system sensed his passion for isekai stories and decided to be compassionate to a weary corporate slave. The speedometer spiked. Three seconds to hit 100 km/h. A beautiful, drifting entry into a corner—
Straight into a heavy-duty truck that had been waiting there like destiny.
When they found him, his phone was embedded in his forehead, eyes wide open. He did not go peacefully. He was twenty-five.
He had been reborn into this world as an infant. Nine years had passed since then.
Coincidentally, his name in this world was phonetically the same as his previous one. The 'Human Tongue' of this world shared a sentence structure remarkably similar to his native language, allowing him to master it with unnatural speed, unburdened by the habits of his past life.
Allen rubbed his temples, a wry smile touching his lips.
"It's a shame. I was only four when Rudeus was born. I couldn't exactly trek all the way to Buena Village to witness the first 'Major Event' of the main storyline."
As he spoke, lines of text, resembling drifting smoke, materialized in the air before him. Allen had tested this phenomenon many times; the words did not exist on his retina, but were a hallucination observed directly by his soul. To the rest of the world, there was nothing there.
[Mushoku Tensei Transmigration Guide]
[Objective: The Host must participate in the 'Major Events' of the Mushoku Tensei world. You must carve your mark into the torrent of this era, and into the eyes of the protagonists and antagonists alike.]
[Evaluation criteria are based on Rudeus Greyrat's growth trajectory (Infancy — Tutelage — Adolescence — Adulthood). You must achieve a Participation Score of at least 60/100 in each phase. Failure to reach the passing grade will result in the revocation of Host status. Consequences are unknown, but likely involve temporal rejection and existential erasure.]
Allen stared at the system interface, the corner of his mouth twitching.
When he first realized he had been reincarnated, he was ecstatic. Sure, the truck death was gruesome, but the standard orphanage starter pack with a chance to respec his life was a supreme gift.
Who wouldn't want a mother?
More importantly, crossing into another world meant no more waking up at dawn with dark circles under his eyes to punch a clock. Right?
Then, while his infant vision was still too blurry to even make out his new mother's face, his soul "saw" his true parent in this world—the System.
The word [Erasure] on the panel was bolded, underlined, and highlighted in red.
So much for heartwarming.
Allen pushed the thought away and scanned the text further down.
[Current Phase: Infancy. Cumulative Participation Score: 2 Points.]
[Growth Path Selection:]
[Path of the Magician (Discarded): Acquire the Demon God Laplace Aspect. Increased Mana Capacity. Mana Affinity. Magic comprehension doubled.]
Gift: A head of beautiful emerald-green hair.Cost: The body cannot be coated in Touki (Battle Aura).
[Path of the Swordsman (Selected): Acquire the Dragon God Orsted's Dragon Saint Touki Core. Reduced Mana consumption for Touki conversion. Touki Affinity. Swordsmanship comprehension doubled.]
Gift: A robust, reinforced musculoskeletal structure.Cost: Mana regeneration rate is equivalent to Orsted's (extremely slow).
[Current Sword Style Proficiency (Based on the global average of ranked swordsmen. Automatic updates occur when the Host's skill falls within a 10% variance of the next rank's average):]
Sword God Style: IntermediateWater God Style: AdvancedNorth God Style: Intermediate
Even after nine years, and seeing this panel thousands of times, reading the words "Beautiful Green Hair" and "Robust Musculoskeletal Structure" still conjured a vivid mental image.
It was like the Goddess of the Lake rising from murky waters, holding a trap-crossdresser with bright green hair in her left hand and a dark-skinned muscle-bound brother in her right.
Young Host, which one did you drop?
Allen felt a headache coming on.
Why did he choose the Sword Path and give up the Laplace Factor, abandoning the route of becoming Rudeus 2.0?
First, in the worldview of Mushoku Tensei, swordsmen were generally stronger in direct confrontation. "Sword" here was a catch-all term for bladed weaponry. From a personal bias, Allen preferred the visceral reality of steel against flesh.
Second, the Dragon God's "Dragon Saint Touki" was too tempting. Orsted was the combat ceiling of the main story. Choosing the Laplace Factor over that felt illogical.
It definitely wasn't because the [Beautiful Green Hair]—a mark of the Superd race and a magnet for discrimination—had influenced his rational judgment. Definitely not.
"In the original timeline, Roxy is scheduled to leave Buena Village this year. I wasted months wandering the mountains... I hope I'm in time to see her."
Back in the winter of 411, Allen had decided to head for Buena. Since he had missed Rudeus's birth, he was determined to catch the start of the relationship between Rudeus and Roxy. He was young, but to escape his original environment and insert himself into the plot, he had prepared extensively.
But accidents happened. He had been forced to roam the Red Dragon Mountains for months, only arriving near Buena Village in the late spring of 412.
"If I miss this, my score for the Infancy Phase will hang entirely on Sylphiette, Rudeus, and his family. That's risky. Roxy is too pivotal to the lore..."
Allen waved his hand, dispersing the smoky text. He brushed a knot of hair away from his forehead.
He gripped the hilt of his sword and stood up.
The firelight stretched his shadow. Though only nine years old, he stood at 1.6 meters—a testament to the system's "Gift." His physique was proportionate and lean, filling out his tattered swordsman's tunic with distinct definition.
He had no time to admire his own growth. His eyes narrowed, snapping toward the periphery of the camp.
Beyond the circle of firelight, the viscous darkness shifted with the wind.
Four figures detached themselves from the shadows, stepping silently into the light.