KonoSuba: The Champion of Blacklight

Alex stopped for a second to get used to the sounds and smells inside the Guild. The smell of food and metal ruled here – as strange as it was – but she could still smell blood in the air. The voices of the people were much louder than expected, Alex could hardly resist to close off her eardrums.

The Main Hall of the Guild was lit by a combination of torches and light from outside. The walls were made of white brick, like all other buildings, and were decorated with wooden ornaments, the wooden ceiling was supported by the same wooden columns. The floor, too, was made of wood, full of small scratches and dents from the boots and weapons of the Adventurers.

On the wall to the right, there was a bulletin board with several Adventurers, while the far wall had the windows where the workers of the Guild stood. Alex noticed that there was a much longer queue for one window than for all the others – hell, there was no queue at all in front of some windows! – so she calmly approached the worker and smiled when she noticed her surprised look.

The girl behind the counter looked… plain, to be honest. Long brown hair, freckles on her cheeks and a slightly upturned nose. She was taller than Alex, which hurt her pride a little, but she decided to remain silent about that. She liked how she looked and wouldn't change herself just because of stupid envy.

"Hello. I was hoping you could help me." The young woman – Eliza, her name was written above the window – smiled back and nodded.

"Of course, what can I do for you?" Eliza wasn't surprised to see a teenager here, but she was a little surprised that she didn't approach Luna, the Guild's most attractive worker. Usually all newcomers go through her, and no matter how insulting it was for the rest of the workers, it still held true. Eliza could only hope that this teenager didn't grow up to be a pervert like all the other Adventurers in this city. Considering that even some of the women here were deviants, she wouldn't be surprised if the girl did.

"Well, I'm in a rather embarrassing situation." She began by readily telling half-truths that she had come up with a couple of minutes ago. "Some crazy bitch kidnapped me from my camp and shoved me into a strange pentagram on the ground. At one point I was in the mountains, but as soon as the circle sparkled, I ended up in the forest nearby. There I passed out from fatigue and woke up in a strange Goblin village – it's three miles away – I don't even know what continent I'm on, so I need any help you can give."

The woman frowned and pulled a thin book from under the counter. "I'll need to put up a quest about that village. But your way of travel sounds like a random teleportation spell." She mumbled. "I can't help much, but I'm ready to send a message to the city you're from. Ah, right, I never asked your name."

"Alexandra Mercer." She said, and didn't notice how the eyebrows of the worker rose in surprise. "Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to send messages to, my entire family is… unavailable."

Sympathy appeared on the woman's face and she nodded. "Mercer… Never heard that name before. Are you from a noble family?"

Alex shook her head. "No, or at least I don't think so. And please, call me Alex, Mercer is my father."

Eliza sighed heavily and placed the thin book on the table. "Then I can only suggest registering as an Adventurer so you'll have an ID, Alex. We don't have special procedures for commoners, so…"

"I can't count on help from any Authority or the Guild in that matter." She finished her thought. "Well, then I'll register and go to the library to read about just how far from home I am."

Eliza smiled faintly and put a crystal ball on a strange stand on the table in front of Alex. "Alright, the registration is worth a thousand Eris." She frowned. "You probably don't have money, do you? If not, we can always-"

Her words were cut off by the sound of jingling coins. Alex smiled back and placed a small bag of money on the table in front of her.

"Most of my money was in my bag that I left in the mountains, but I have a couple of coins on me." She counted out a thousand Eris and paid for the registration.

Eliza nodded and began to prepare the device for… Alex didn't know what for, but she was sure it was for something useful. "As you most likely know, Adventurers are those who kill monsters outside of the city. Unfortunately, no one wants to mention that the job of an Adventurer often includes other quests of a different variety. It can be said that "Adventurer" is a broad term. It covers both the most common jobs and highly specialized ones. You may be asked to either exorcise an evil spirit or mow someone's lawn. Anything you can think of can be a job for an Adventurer."

The crystal ball lit up and a blank card slowly emerged from the stand, looking a lot like a bank card. Alex realized that most likely it was an Adventurer's card.

"So, first you need to touch this card so you can see your stats and choose a suitable profession." Eliza placed the card in front of Alex. "By killing monsters or other creatures, you will gain experience points, which will allow you to level up. After that, skill points will become available to you, which will allow you to learn new skills."

Alex touched the card with interest and it lit up with a white glow. "How then did the people of old times learned skills? I doubt they had such cards."

Eliza was about to say something, but her eyes fell on the card and she stopped. It looked as if she forgot how to blink and could only stare. Alex frowned and looked at the card too, and to be honest, the results were strange.

[Name: Alexandra Gabriel Mercer?]

[Gen: █?] [Age: ██.] [Rac: V█r██?] [LV: 3.]

[Active abilities: C̸̦͙̕ò̶͈̊n̶̦̥̈́s̴̰̃u̶̱͍͛̈m̸̳͋͜e̷̊,̸̥̈͂ ̵̙̋ͅB̶̭͉͐i̶̘̓ͅo̵͖̍m̸̝͒a̶̳̐̓s̸̡̕š̵̢̯ ̸̞͐͠c̸ö̸͉́n̵͙̐͌t̶̰̏ͅr̸̈̆ǫ̸̑l̸̟̋͠,̵ ̴̡̘̈͠S̵̨̠̆̃ḩ̵̆a̴͇͎̋p̶̱̞̈e̸̛̲s̷̭̀h̴̅ͅi̶̲͕̊f̸̣̗̀t̸͖̺̐̏.̵̫̻̾]

[Passive abilities: Blacklight.]

[Strength – 215]

[Health – 452]

[Magic pow – 0̷̤͎̖̂̅̑|̶͇̠̱̋͠██]

[Dexterity – 215]

[Agility – 215]

[Luck – 24]

Alex looked at her status for quite a long time without even blinking. But suddenly the card flashed again and showed a new result.

[Name: Alexandra Gabriel Mercer.]

[Gen: F.] [Age: 14.] [Rac: Human.] [LVL: 3.]

[Active abilities: – ]

[Passive abilities: Blacklight.]

[Strength – 214]

[Health – 451]

[Magic pow – 0]

[Dexterity – 214]

[Agility – 214]

[Luck – 24]

Alex and Elise looked at each other, utterly baffled. The Adventurers around weren't interested in their problems and continued to talk among themselves, while Alex tried to understand what the hell was going on.

"... I think it is better for us to pretend that nothing unusual happened." Alex finally said.

Eliza stared at her in disbelief. "Yes, let's completely ignore whatever that was and move on to why do you have such high stats at level three and no mana at all. People can't survive without mana, it's just not possible!" Eliza muttered, but it was clear that she was barely holding herself back from screaming.

Alex thought for only a second and blurted out the first thing that came into her head. "It's a family curse." This caught the panicking girl's attention and she looked at her with interest. "Generations ago, my ancestor was cursed by a Daemon. None of my paternal ancestors had Magic, but they had incredible physical characteristics." Lies dripped from her tongue like honey and Alex saw that Eliza believed her.

"I see…" She rubbed her chin. "Without Magic, most skills become unusable, so I can see why you call it a curse." She already felt sorry for Alex. Even with these stats, she won't be able to find a Party, people always look at the skills that others have and ignore everything else. Maybe she will be lucky and she'll be able to find allies, but it was very unlikely.

Alex breathed a mental sigh of relief. To be honest, she didn't want anyone to know about the Virus and she certainly didn't want to explain that she was from another world. 'I'd better come up with a suitable backstory for myself before people start asking too many questions.'

"Well then, your possible jobs are: Thief, Assassin, Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, Adventurer and, surprisingly, Bard."

Alex raised an eyebrow and looked at the card like it personally offended him. "A Bard." She said slowly. "I can't even rhyme two words together, why do I have this option? And isn't it focused on magical support?"

Eliza shook her head and smiled softly. "Yeah, and I really don't know why it's here. So, what is your choice?"

Alex went deep in thought. She immediately took out Bard and Rogue, she didn't want to have trouble using magic, and she certainly didn't intend to attack from a distance. Her abilities made her a killing machine in close combat.

As she understood from the long explanation of the remaining jobs, the Adventurers were Jacks of all trades, but Masters of none. Barbarians relied too heavily on their rage, and Fighters… well then, Fighters were interesting.

Every Fighter can swing an axe, fence with a rapier, wield a longsword or a greatsword, use a bow, and even trap foes in a net with some degree of skill. Likewise, a fighter is adept with shields and every form of armor. Beyond that basic degree of familiarity, each Fighter specializes in a certain style of combat. Some concentrate on archery, some on fighting with two weapons at once, and some on augmenting their martial skills with magic. This combination of broad general ability and extensive specialization makes Fighters superior combatants on battlefields and in dungeons alike.

Alex fit that description perfectly, especially since she could create weapons from her body whenever she wanted. For her, it was the most suitable profession of all.

"Well, it looks like I've made my choice."

---

The library of the city of Axel, country of Belzerg, was full of useful information for beginning Adventurers, people called Axel "the city of beginners"

 not just because it was safe. But unfortunately for Alex, each book was written not only in Romanji, but also in a strange font. She had to spend a couple of hours staring blankly at the book to decipher this mess, but after that, collecting information was easier.

The owner of the library, an old half-elf named Boone, let her in without question and helped collect the necessary books. He and Alex struck up a conversation, where Boone said that he was one of the first to open his business here.

Boone was so old that he saw the creation of this city. His bones creaked with every step he took, and his skin was so dry that it was a miracle that sand didn't fall out of him. Alex imperceptibly asked him about Japan, to which she received the answer: "Ah, that… I saw a lot of strong idiots in my life who said that their home was in Japan. I never believed them, and I'm not going to start now – some bullshit about other worlds – ha! I always thought that they brought more problems than solutions, damned Demon spies."

Why exactly he thought Japanese were Demon Lord's spies wasn't clear, but Alex still decided not to bring up the subject of Japan anymore. As a result, Alex had all the necessary books to study this world and its dangers.

To begin with, she read the information about the kingdom in which she ended up. The Kingdom of Belzerg has been at war with the Demon King for over a hundred years now, but neither side can surpass the other. The Demon King had an Army and almost infinite resources, and humanity had Heroes. After the start of the war, in the Kingdom Heroes suddenly began to appear. They laid down their lives on the battlefield trying to defeat the Demon King.

Alex was almost 100% sure that the Gods had been calling people over and over again to deal with the problem calling itself the Demon King but no one had succeeded.

As the Kingdom of Belzerg is the only country whose borders overlap those of the Demon King's Territory, their border is heavily protected. In order to help them, surrounding countries send soldiers to join the border guard, with Elroad being the only exception, assisting with defense costs instead because of their country's wealth.

Elroad is the kingdom of casinos, and, while financially strong, is militarily weak due to its massive focus on its economics. Therefore, on the matters of Belzerg's defense, instead of soldiers they provide monetary compensation.

Everyone in the country was addicted to gambling, even the royal family. How they had not yet lost their country to one of the Demons, Alex didn't know, but she was sure that sooner or later something like this would happen.

The Kingdom of Brydle provided Dragon Knights to the war effort against the Demon King and still provides humanity with significant air power. They have a good relationship with Belzerg, and have sent multiple delegations over.

There was a story about a Dragon Knight who eloped with a princess and is now hiding somewhere in Belzerg territory, but the author lived a hundred years ago and it was impossible to tell how true the story was.

Arcanletia is a city in Belzerg that serves as the patron city of the Goddess of Water Aqua.

…

That's all Alex read about this city, she was not going to go there even under the threat of death, so why would she need to know anything else? Just in case, she looked at the location of the city on the map so that she would never even think of going in that direction.

It's safe to say that Alex held a healthy dislike for all Gods, but especially for Aqua. It's hard to feel something positive about a bitch who refused to let you die. 'Sounds strange without context.'

Next, she began to read more about the proud Axel itself. In the entire kingdom, this city was the safest of all. The city was far enough away from the war that the Demon King was not interested in it. Alex thought there was something else in play, but she couldn't be sure.

The city was built on a river that was surrounded by forests and clearings full of weak monsters. Goblins, Giant Toads, Three-eyed Moose's, Horned Rabbits – who loved to eat human meat (it was a very strange topic with all the monsters, why did they prefer to eat people?) – Alligators, and more countless strange mutants. Looking at the city map, Alex noticed that the city was landlocked and sighed in relief. She had nothing against the seas, but she knew perfectly well that a Leviathan or two could be dwelling deep somewhere.

Most of the city's inhabitants were civilians, but one-fifth of the population is made up of Adventurers. In part, this can be attributed to the labyrinth of some Necromancer near the city, where chests full of gold were restacked every month. Why exactly this happened, no one knew, but Alex was very interested.

Alex also read about the creatures that inhabit this world, but there were too many of them to remember. The only thing she burned into her mind was that the slimes were dangerous fucking bastards. Oh, and there were enough monsters in this world to keep up her Biomass level without eating humans.

This was another problem that Alex had to deal with. Blacklight in her body developed with every second and required more energy, and it would continue like this for about a month, maybe even more – given that she knew about the Virus, Alex wasn't surprised. Just by sitting and reading books, she used up a quarter of her reserves. She felt like every minute her body was changing, almost unnoticeable, but still changing.

Her mind also began to slowly change, but how can one notice such a thing without the words of loved ones?

Given that she didn't have much Biomass to begin with, the cost didn't seem significant, but Alex knew that she would need to gather a lot more if she wanted to survive in the future. She wasn't in life-or-death situations on a daily basis, so the Blacklight didn't boost her body as much as it could and therefore didn't waste much Biomass.

She closed another book with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. Even after reading a mountain of books, she wasn't tired, and Alex wasn't sure how to feel about that. She sat at the back of the library, surrounded by books. Some of the books were open for cross reference, some were used as coasters, but most just stood around her like a wall.

There were no unread books around her, so now Alex just lay on the floor near the shelves and digested the information she had read. After a couple of minutes, she heard footsteps approaching her from the entrance. A shadow appeared in her view and Alex lifted her head only to meet the eyes of the librarian who let her in. "You've been sitting here all night? Man, if my son was a bookworm like you, I wouldn't have to worry about who I'm leaving the library to." The old man muttered and helped Alex to her feet.

"Sorry, Boone." Alex chuckled. "You know, I'm in an unfamiliar place and my only reliable source of information is books."

Boone patted Alex on the shoulders and frowned. "Don't say things like that, or one might think that you don't trust people at all."

"You could say that…" She muttered and cracked her back.

Boone just shook his head and started collecting books. He was interested in the young girl who appeared out of nowhere and began to read books faster than anyone before. Alex was one of the few Adventurers who actually read about the enemy beforehand, and didn't just go and learn about their habits through third parties.

Boone was about to say something, but seeing that Alex was already lost in her thoughts again, he chose to stay silent and just continue to work.

'I don't even feel sore after a night of reading. And how didn't I notice that the sun was gone?' Alex thanked the old man and started collecting books too. 'Most likely I can see in the dark or something like that, at least I have no other explanation why I didn't notice the disappearance of the sun. How much has my body changed already? I need to test this. Didn't the books talk about Giant Toads living near the city?'

Alex left the library with a quiet promise to return. Now she needed to find out just how much power she had.