TRPG Rule Breaker

Chapter 3 : Destiny and Encounter

Chapter 3: Destiny and Encounter

§§{Character}

Name: Daisu

Overall Level: 1

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Class: Player Lv.1 [0]

Experience: 0 / 100

HP: --

AP: --

MP: 73 / 73

Attack Power: --

Willpower: 16 (+0)

Defense: --

…

Range 2: --

Height: 175.5cm

Weight: 64.0kg

Status: --

Eye Color: Jet-black

Hair Color: Jet-black

Body Type: Skinny Fat

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

…§§

In the AaA series, there were also campaigns where one could operate multiple characters and their corresponding character sheets at the same time.

But never before had there been a case where a single character used multiple character sheets like now.

‘What’s with this “Player” class? And why are the status resources and status stats like this…?’

Status resources referred to HP, AP, and MP, while status stats referred to the elements listed below them.

Even if these entries were reduced to zero, it didn’t mean they would be left blank like they were now.

Only MP and Willpower were being displayed properly.

I wondered if it meant the mind was separated from the body, but then again, the idea that Daisu and Dicendel’s minds were distinct also felt strange.

To figure that out, I needed to check the abilities.

The character sheet in front of me wasn’t arranged with turning pages but rather with scrolling and tabs.

The moment I thought about opening the Abilities tab, the stats appeared first, along with three sub-tabs.

§§{Abilities}

Strength: 7

Perception: 6

Intelligence: 27

Constitution: 6

Magic Power: 4

Dexterity: 7

Charisma: 13

Immersion: 5.0%

Bonus Points: 0 §§

Considering that, during character creation, the base abilities for a level 1 human were all set at 10 points, these numbers were a pitiful reflection of my current physical condition.

‘No HP or AP, yet all the ability scores are here? Why do I even have Magic Power? Did it just set some arbitrary minimum? And judging from the fact Dicendel’s remaining bonus points don’t apply, does this mean Dicendel and Daisu level up separately?’

Right above the bonus points, however, something strange caught my eye.

That “5%” Immersion score.

Immersion was a score the Game Master gave to evaluate the player. It wasn’t something normally displayed in the abilities, and even less so as a percentage like this.

‘Honestly, in my current state, even 0% feels high. How am I supposed to immerse myself in a situation like this? And besides, without any dice to roll, what does immersion even matter? No, if they bothered to display it, there must be some reward tied to it.’

§§…

Immersion: 5.0% → 4.9%

…§§

In the original games, Immersion was merely a mechanism to give extra modifiers to dice rolls when used.

Therefore, having low immersion at the moment wasn’t particularly bad, so I decided to ignore the fact it was dropping in real time.

Next, I moved on to the Traits tab.

§§{Traits}

Human Adaptability Lv.1

Oratory Lv.4

Trauma Manifestation Lv.2

Paranoia Lv.1

Nightmare Resistance Lv.9

Bonus Points: 0 §§

‘This is truly awful.’

One notable point was that and overlapped with Dicendel’s traits.

I wondered how exactly these would take effect in this kind of situation.

Next, I decided to check the Skills tab.

§§{Skills}

Acting Lv.3

└ Observation

└ Falsehood

└ Imitation

Contemplation Lv.1

Prospect Lv.1

Projection Lv.1

└ Thought Transmission

Languages

└ Korean

└ Spanish

└ English

└ (Acquirable)

Bonus Points: 0

Acquirable Skills §§

Among the displayed skills, both and , much like the “Player” class, were ones I had never seen in the rulebook.

They were indeed things I was actually good at, but I didn’t expect even something like these to be listed as skills.

‘Let’s start with… …?’

To understand its detailed function, I repeated the skill’s name in my head.

Then, the trembling that still lingered in my body vanished instantly.

At the same time, my mind felt as if it had been honed sharp like a blade.

‘And now, .’

I felt as though my mind was floating, and my vision changed.

It was as if I were stuck to the ceiling, looking down at the room—when in fact, I could clearly see the top of my character Dicendel.

I tried to shift my view by moving my mind as I would my body, but I couldn’t move forward, backward, or sideways; I could only spin in place.

I could move my mind vertically, but if I hit the ceiling or floor, it felt blocked and I could go no further.

Instead, when I tried to move my actual body, my body moved accordingly.

It was like controlling a game character from a bird’s-eye view.

‘Well, I suppose that’s exactly what it is.’

Lastly, was also a skill I had never seen before, and unlike the previous two, it didn’t seem to have much to do with my past experiences.

Judging from the fact it had sub-skills, it was probably an exclusive basic skill I gained when I acquired the Player class.

‘.’

I tried using the skill, but nothing happened.

In such cases, it was highly likely there simply wasn’t a target.

If so, I’d leave for later and focus on practicing the other abilities first.

[Notice. The Player’s immersion has dropped to 0%, and great misfortune is now in effect.]

The moment I heard the notice, I hurriedly repeated the words “Contemplation” and “Prospect” in my head to cancel the skills.

“There’s no such thing in the real game! If you’re going to add something new, at least give me a warning first, you bastard…!”

In the original game, low immersion never applied any penalties.

But “misfortune”?

And not just any misfortune—“great” misfortune.

I immediately grabbed the staff leaning against the window and the shield on the desk.

Then, I raised my alertness to the maximum.

‘I don’t sense anything yet.’

But I couldn’t relax.

To resolve the current situation, I had to raise my immersion again.

The simplest method was to role-play the character perfectly, just like in the original game.

‘Let’s see…’

“I am Dicendel Rio!”

§§…

Immersion: 0.0%

…§§

Even with self-suggestion, the immersion didn’t budge.

‘Tch—so it’s no good after all.’

If that was the case, the next option was to act like Dicendel.

In the current situation, the easiest thing to do was probably to use a skill.

‘For example, ’s .’

was the most basic servant of the World Tree, summonable from at level 1.

Its speed was slow, but it was extremely useful for a wide range of strategic purposes—attack, defense, and restraint—allowing for optimal responses against any opponent.

‘No… better to hold back for now.’

The phrase “great misfortune” bothered me.

Judging from what happened when I used and , there was no actual “dice roll” anyway.

But since this person applied penalties for low immersion, I had no idea what else they might pull.

And then—

[Player’s Dice: 00, 0]

I had just made the mistake of repeating a skill name in my head.

‘Huh? There was a dice roll—?’

[Notice. Dice roll result: 0, critical failure.]

[Notice. You have completely failed to use the skill. As a result, a harmful causality occurs.]

[Player’s Dice: 00, 0]

[Notice. Type of critical failure: Catastrophe.]

[Player’s Dice: 10, 3]

[Notice. Type of catastrophe: Mana Rampage.]

[Notice. Mana Rampage occurs. An additional catastrophe will also arrive.]

Rumble-rumble—KWAANG!

In a split second, right after I saw the illusion of two 10-sided dice rolling three times in succession along with the notice—

A massive vine shot up from beneath my feet like the head of a viper, accompanied by a violent tremor.

Whoosh—CRASH! CRACK! BOOM!

It then swung sideways, smashing all the furniture and walls in the room before rushing straight toward me.

Swoooosh—!

[Target’s Dice: 40, 2]

[Notice. The target difficulty is 42.]

[Player’s Dice: 50, 9]

[Notice. Adding modifier equal to the difference in Perception score between the player and target: -14]

[Notice. Adding modifier from : -10]

[Notice. Dice roll result: -7, failure.]

[Notice. You failed to react.]

Because of my low Perception score and the trait, my reaction was delayed.

[Player’s Dice: 40, 6]

[Notice. Adding modifier equal to the difference in Perception score between the player and target: -14]

[Notice. Adding modifier equal to target’s Dexterity score: -18]

[Notice. Adding modifier from : -10]

[Notice. Dice roll result: -38, failure.]

[Notice. You failed to defend.]

I clumsily lifted the shield in my left hand.

Because of that, the struck me squarely in the chest, wide open and unguarded.

[Notice. The attack deals 280 damage.]

[Notice. Applying modifier from previous dice roll result: ×0.9]

[Notice. Applying modifier equal to player’s Defense: -25]

[Notice. Player takes 227 damage. Additional effect: Bleeding.]

THUD! —BOOM!

“Graaagh!”

Crack.

My body was flung back violently, smashing through the door I hit—

and colliding with someone who had been standing in the hallway beyond.

[Notice. Impact damage is…]

[…Player takes 13 total damage.]

[Target’s Dice…]

[…Target takes 87 total damage.]

“…Kghhh!”

“Kyaaah!”

We rolled across the hallway several times in a tangled heap before finally coming to a stop after slamming into the opposite room’s door.

When I strained to look down, I saw the leather armor was badly torn, blood seeping from my chest,

and the shield had completely broken from some bad collision.

“Ugh… you… what the hell was that…!”

The person who had rolled with me quickly stood up and drew a whip from their belt.

Blood was streaming from both nostrils, so I couldn’t be certain—

But the burning golden eyes, long straight hair, pretty face, and sharp yet shorter-than-elf ears…

‘Galanuel…?’

It was without a doubt the utterly broken character I had created—‘Galanuel Tudil.’

I was about to speak, but dizziness overtook me, and I lost consciousness.

“Haa—ah!”

When I came to, I immediately scanned my surroundings in alert.

“Oh? You’re awake?”

A short distance away, a stunning elf woman approached me, speaking.

Her long, silky black hair flowed like silk, and her large black pearl-like eyes seemed to draw everything in like a black hole.

Her looks could rival Galanuel’s from earlier.

“How’s your body?”

Judging from the situation and surroundings, I must have been taken to a hospital right after fainting.

“Yes, it hurts a bit, but it’s bearable.”

What came out of my mouth was a language I had never heard before.

Come to think of it, what she had said earlier was the same.

Yet I understood the meaning perfectly, and the words flowed out naturally from my mouth.

It must have been Elvish—or perhaps the Common tongue—manifested due to the game becoming reality.

“Is that so? This is the school infirmary. By the way, I’m Instructor ‘Eleina Silond’ for the Healing Arts course. Do you know you were so badly injured and bleeding that you almost died? You’ve been asleep for a full day!”

‘Did she just say “almost died”?’

I quickly called up my character sheet.

§§…

HP: 193 / 260

AP: 46 / 46

MP: 0 / 184

…

Status: Mana Rampage

…§§

Among the three ways to recover HP in AaA—‘healing,’ ‘rest,’ and another— the fact my HP still wasn’t full even after applying healing and rest meant her words about almost dying were true.

On top of that, I had also been inflicted with the “Mana Rampage” status ailment.

This status imposed a huge danger on the caster and their surroundings, and even afterward, it locked MP at 0, preventing recovery for a time.

The reason I ended up like this was because my dice roll had been a critical failure.

In AaA, all dice rolls were standardized to “2d10,” determining the success and degree of actions with results from 00 to 99.

Here, “2d10” meant using two 10-sided dice.

For example, if the die for the tens place rolled 40 and the one for the ones place rolled 7,

the final result would be 47, meaning the action succeeded clumsily.

But Mana Rampage occurred when you rolled “00” for a skill check, then rolled 00 again to trigger a catastrophe, and finally rolled 13 or lower to manifest it.

It was an absurdly low probability.

Fortunately, whether it was due to the incident or not, my immersion had risen, meaning I was safe for the time being.

§§…

Immersion: 32.5%

…§§

‘Still, I didn’t expect one of my other characters to appear here…’

—Notice. The campaign is divided into multiple chapters. Each chapter, except the first, takes place in a specific character’s background location, and you must recruit other characters as party members after discovering them. Remaining questions: 0 times.

That was the answer I had received from the Game Master right before creating the character Dicendel.

I had used that answer to deliberately steer this chapter’s setting, but a slight misunderstanding had occurred.

I had thought that “except the first” also applied to the latter part about “discovering and recruiting other characters.”

In other words, I assumed that none of my other characters would appear in this chapter.

‘And it had to be Galanuel, of all people.’

Galanuel Tudil was a money-obsessed half-elf woman I created for a short-domain management campaign I once ran.

For this character, I invested not only the default bonus points from creation but also extra bonus points gained from penalty traits, creating two custom traits: and .

At the time, I used those traits and capital points to purchase a wide variety of creatures, operating them as a corporate-style dungeon to earn even more money.

Around mid-campaign, I even drove all the dungeons I owned into overdrive to crash the prices of mines, forestry sites, and roads within the campaign, buying them at dirt-cheap rates.

By the end of the campaign, I had taken control of all resources and distribution channels in the setting.

With that money, I hired dozens of knights and adventurers, defeating the final boss with ease.

Of course, that boss was no match for a long-campaign final boss, but considering Galanuel’s low level and the campaign’s progression at the time, it was a remarkable feat.

Above all, I still remembered how the final battle was such a spectacle that even a single turn took more than ten minutes to play out.

And now, that same character had appeared in a seminary completely unrelated to her original story.

This had to be the Game Master’s scheme.

“…And apparently, you attacked Galanuel first when she came to invite you to join a club? Then she retaliated.”

Even as I considered the Game Master’s intentions, Eleina continued speaking.

‘A club?’

Well, at least I had a rough grasp of the current situation.

At the time, Galanuel had been passing through the freshman dormitory hallway to invite someone to join a club.

For some reason, it was now being said that the reason she and I were both injured was because of a fight between us.

“…No, that was just an accident.”

“Is that so? Actually, a disciplinary meeting about you and Galanuel is being held right now. Once you’re discharged, someone will come find you. Try to persuade them well. I’ll also put in a good word. My instincts tell me you’re not a bad kid.”

When I returned to the dorm after being discharged, my original room and the surrounding area were completely destroyed, so I was assigned a new one.

Thankfully, it seemed someone had moved all my belongings for me.

Among them, I spotted my leather armor, now nothing more than a rag.

Knock knock.

That must be the “someone” Eleina had mentioned.

The person knocking was a middle-aged elf man with calm green hair and eyes that stood out.

“Student Dicendel Rio. I heard you were discharged.”

“And you are…?”

“Ah, I am ‘Medes Holimdrasir,’ head instructor for the Botany course. I also serve as the chairman of the disciplinary committee. I’m here to inform you of the meeting’s proceedings and outcome…”

To summarize what the man calling himself Medes said—

Both I, who had allegedly preemptively attacked Galanuel when she came to invite me to join a club,

and Galanuel, who overdefended and inflicted serious injury upon me,

should rightfully have been expelled. But for some reason, it had been decided to overlook the matter.

‘For some reason?’

“Well then, I’ll be on my way. I need to deliver the same message to Student Galanuel Paladeltion.”

“Paladeltion, you say…?”

The surname I gave Galanuel wasn’t something like “Paladeltion” but “Tudil.”

Medes, about to leave, turned his head.

“You didn’t know? Three years ago, she entered this seminary to compete for succession within the great house of Paladeltion. At present, she’s the most likely candidate. In any case, I regret that something like this happened right after your enrollment.”

It seemed the story was heading in a direction that would undermine my reason for choosing an academy setting.

I still didn’t know what kind of family the Paladeltion house was, but if Galanuel succeeded in inheriting it, she would become impossible to recruit into my party.

And that meant failure to clear the campaign—in other words, my death.

In that case, I needed to make a move now to change the situation.

Using the hint the elf in front of me had subtly dropped, along with my knowledge of Galanuel—

“Instructor Medes! If you help me, I’ll try to keep Galanuel in check.”

“…I’m not sure what you mean. I have no reason to keep Student Galanuel in check. Besides, she is the most outstanding student in Alvheim Seminary’s history. How exactly would a freshman like you manage that?”

Medes spoke as if he had no interest, but there was a subtle glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.

As I thought—he had taken the bait.

“The school—or at least the disciplinary committee—has already been bought off by Galanuel, and I also know you’re finding it hard to simply stand by and watch, Instructor.”

The very fact that things had turned out this way was proof enough that someone’s influence was at work.

It was also the kind of move I often made when playing Galanuel.

Most likely, they intended to use this incident to gain some sort of advantage.

And this Medes fellow’s attitude was not that of someone supporting Galanuel.

His expression, though composed, occasionally flickered with traces of disgust and shame.

“You misun—”

“You don’t have to worry about me. If you’ve seen the wreck of my old room, you’d know I’m no pushover. More importantly, I have a secret plan to defeat Galanuel.”

“…Then why, Student Dicendel, are you…”

“She and I have been tangled in a bad relationship since long ago. That’s why we ended up fighting this time as well. Please help me, Instructor.”

“……”

[Target’s Dice: 30, 3]

[Notice. Target difficulty is 33.]

[Player’s Dice: 60, 1]

[Notice. Adding situational modifier: +10]

[Notice. Relationship with target is neutral: +0]

[Notice. Target is negative toward player’s opinion: -20]

[Notice. Adding modifier equal to the difference in Intelligence score between player and target: -51]

[Notice. Adding modifier equal to the difference in Charisma score between player and target: +3]

[Notice. Adding modifier from : +10]

[Notice. Adding modifier from : +20]

[Notice. Dice roll result: 0, success.]

[Notice. Successfully persuaded the target.]

Thanks to being possessed by both Dicendel and Daisu and triggering in overlap, the dice roll succeeded.

‘So traits can be applied simultaneously…! I can already think of a hundred fun ways to abuse this.’

“…Everything you said is correct. And honestly, after seeing the collapsed side of the dormitory, I felt a shameful sense of anticipation as an instructor. I wondered if a student had appeared who could restrain Galanuel. If things keep going as they are, this sacred school will end up as nothing more than a single student’s business operation. …What would you have me do?”

“Well, I have a good idea. Could something like this be possible?”