Fantasy Realm [One Piece] [Harry Potter] [Naruto] - [Progression] [LitRPG]

Chapter 17: Exploding Boogers - Mr. 5 Appears

Alex suddenly yanks Roja down behind a rock. "GET THE FUCK DOWN!" he whispers urgently.

Roja, startled and about to slap Alex, hisses, "What the hell is wrong with you??"

Alex, peeking carefully around the rock, is shocked. "Don't you know who that is?" he asks, incredulous that Roja doesn't recognize the dangerous figure they've just seen.

Roja raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "Why would I know? I don't waste time watching silly animes all day. I only bothered with the important ones and main characters during my prep for this. I know you man-children enjoy that sort of thing..."

Alex is floored. She knew about this world beforehand? Not like him, he got run over by a BMW and died, forced into this crazy game. "Wait... so you willingly entered the Fantasy Realm?"

Roja just shrugs, avoiding the question. "Anyway, who is he?"

Alex doesn't have time to process her revelation right now. He urgently whispers, "That's Baroque Works' Mr. 5. As in, the fifth strongest agent under Crocodile! He ate the Bomu Bomu no Mi. Dude is a literal explosion human."

Roja's expression doesn't change much, but the gravity of the situation sinks in. Without a word, she pulls a crystal from her inventory and prepares to use it.

"Wait, let me use that," Alex urges, stopping her hand.

Roja looks at him skeptically. "Why?"

"My luck stat," Alex explains, quickly sharing part of his status with her:

Alex Kerber: Lvl 0
HP: 50/50, MP: 50/50
STR: 5, AGI: 5, PHY: 5, SNS: 5, CHA: 5, MNA: 5, INT: 5 SPR: 5, LUK: 5

He continues, "My innate skill is pretty unique. Right now, it's kind of useless, but it tweaked my stats and gave me high LUK. So I have a better shot at making the crystal work. Besides, you can't have higher luck than me, right?"

Roja hesitates, then hands him the crystal, curiosity flickering in her eyes. "Interesting... alright, go ahead."

Alex takes the crystal, feeling its cool surface in his hand. He peeks carefully over the rock and uses it, concentrating on Mr. 5 without making a sound. The crystal shatters silently, and a status screen appears.

Mr. 5 (Gem): Lvl 0
STR: 10, AGI: 8, PHY: 7(-2), SNS: 6, CHA: 3, MNA: 21, INT: 4 SPR: 3, LUK: 1

Alex stares at the numbers. "Huh, it looks like his level is scaled down for the tutorial. Everyone is level 0 like we are. I guess that makes sense for balance. But even with lower stats, he's still a beast."

He analyzes, "His stats aren't insanely high, except for that crazy MNA, thanks to his devil fruit, I bet. His INT is low, though, which matches his fighting style, he's all offense, no brains. The good news is that your skill weakened his PHY, so even though his explosions pack a punch, we can take him down if we strike fast."