Live Dungeon!

Ever since returning to Earth, Tsutomu has come to painfully realize that his physical conditioning needed serious attention. He had continued the training regimen Garm had taught him, albeit watered-down just enough for his body to handle, but could not help questioning whether it was enough. Not knowing where to start, he reached out to someone in his circle of friends who at least looked solidly built, Akiyama, the guy from the university mountaineering club.

“Man, I’m thrilled you’re getting into climbing!” Akiyama said over the phone. “I’d love to show you the ropes in person, but… I’m in Tanzania right now.”

“T-Tanzania!?”

“Yup. Trying a solo ascent of Kilimanjaro! I’ll be back before summer break ends, so just do some light training till then. I’ll message you the routine later, so keep the LINE notifications on, yeah?”

“Right. Got it.”

Tsutomu ended the call in a daze. He had not realized that Akiyama, of all people, had become something of a minor celebrity in the mountaineering community. It was unexpected, but impressive. Until his friend returned from Africa, Tsutomu resolved to keep up with his self-training.

“Now, what’s the current Live Dungeon-like game that’s trending…? If any of my old friends are playing, I might get lucky and get some help.”

Physical conditioning was only part of the equation; Tsutomu also needed to polish his skills as a Healer. His rusty performance during his brief return to Live Dungeon had made that painfully clear. And now that the ideal game had shut down, if he stayed idle, he would fall hopelessly behind by the time he returned to the other world.

To that end, he searched through social media for the hardcore players, those who had once played Live Dungeon religiously, and reached out to a few who still seemed active.

[Didn’t think I’d actually get replies…]

Given how long it had been, and the fact that he had made a brand-new account just to reach out, he had not expected much. To his surprise, the old crowd responded warmly.

“I figured you offed yourself when Live Dungeon shut down.”

“Come on. I wasn’t THAT into it.”

“Says the guy who streamed for 52 hours straight. You’re still crazy, dude.”

“If you, Mr. Contribution Score Hog, weren’t that into it, I don’t know who was.”

“The clip of that time you roasted that kid with the voice changer is still up on YouTube, by the way. And it’s still getting views! There’s also your Healer rage vids. No one’s ever gonna forget that!”

“…Ugh, let’s not dwell on the past, all right? I just want to get back into it. Teach me about the current meta. I’ve got time, and I want to go all-in again.”

“For real? Then come over, man. The mechanics are different from Live Dungeon, especially for Healers, but I’ll get you up to speed.”

“Our team doesn’t have any open slots, but I can coach you through ranked matches. Once you hit a decent level, I’ll run scrims with you. Send me your friend ID later.”

Soon enough, Tsutomu was on voice chat, reconnecting with old friends and getting recommendations on currently popular games with MMO elements. From among those, he focused on the most globally popular one, honing his Healer skills through intense practice.

“It’s nice and all that this game’s eSports scene is super active, but Good God, there are WAY too many trolls in this bracket. I’m gonna snap.”

“Yeah, at that rank you’re better off just going full damage and rack up kills as fast as you can. Also, pray to RNG.”

“So, this Justice-Tension-Counter comp is the way to go?”

“It’ll be good enough to get you to Gold. After that, Healers actually start to matter. Push to Diamond from there, then prep for tournaments.”

“Got it.”

By the end of summer break, Tsutomu had improved so dramatically that he was able to participate in team-based competitive matches, thanks in part to receiving various tips from high-ranking Japanese players.

And when Akiyama finally returned to Japan, they met up and stocked Tsutomu with all the necessary climbing gear. To build up stamina for future exploration in God’s Dungeon, they decided to tackle a beginner-level mountain together.

“Dude! You’re killing it for a first-timer. You’ve really been training, huh? Next time, let’s hit a higher peak. Now THAT is where the cup ramen tastes amazing!”

[This is no joke… This is harder than that damn Valley in the Dungeon… I want to use > so bad.]

Thanks to his past flights through the Valley layers and his sessions under Garm’s training, Tsutomu climbed better than the average novice. But even so, just reaching the summit left his entire body screaming in protest, and the descent was its own personal hell. The next day, his muscles felt like they’d been shredded. He cursed his inability to cast >, but even then, he did not skip out on booting up his PC. There was a team match scheduled, after all.

Thus began a strange but disciplined lifestyle. He alternates between video games and hiking, training both mind and body. In its own way, it was a life of balance. But then, as his time as a university student came to an end, that chapter, too, was closing. Tsutomu had begun preparing for employment. And in the midst of that, he stumbled upon an unexpected clue that might just guide him back to the other world.

[…Wait, is this Magic Bag actually working?]

Hoping to gather funds for the future, Tsutomu had been looking for a way to convert the gold coins he had brought back. At one point, he spread everything out on the floor to assess how much he had, and noticed something odd: the size of the Magic Bag did not seem to correspond to the amount stored within it.

While testing the bag’s capacity using spare change, he got curious and slipped a 10,000-yen bill inside. The moment he did, he heard a sound… like a coin clinking into an already-filled piggy bank.

Through continued testing, Tsutomu discovered something curious: when he placed not only coins but also thousand-yen and five-thousand-yen bills into the Magic Bag, they did not remain in their original form. Instead, they transformed into foreign coins: silver and copper, not gold. From this, he concluded that the Magic Bag was capable of converting Japanese yen into the currency of the other world.

[So then… does that mean I need to earn money, too? If filling this Magic Bag is the condition for returning, how many decades would that even take? Would a lifetime’s earnings even be enough?]

Tsutomu had lined up a job offer at a fairly standard trading firm, so the salary would be nothing exceptional. Even if he were to funnel every paycheck into filling the Magic Bag, it would still take an absurdly long time. Judging from its capacity, which seemed enough to be half full with the gold coins he already possessed, he would not see the bag brimming for years, possibly decades.

[And the time difference between this world and the other… No, I doubt that shitty God would be considerate enough to slow it for me this time. I want to return before three years pass, but how the hell am I supposed to make that kind of money in such a short time? I’m not dealing with Live Dungeon anymore, dammit!]

In the other world, where Live Dungeon theory had real-world application, he might have been a rare and wealthy prodigy. But back in reality, the most he had ever earned was a gift card from winning a fan-run tournament. His living expenses had always been covered by his parents, and he’d borrowed equipment or leaned on others when needed. Making money himself had never been necessary.

[If I can’t return without earning money, I won’t even have time to train. But even if I do go back now, I’ll need weeks or even months of rehab just to get into shape again. Reaching the front lines would take even longer. I can’t leave Garm and the others waiting for years. So how…? How am I supposed to make a fortune in just a few years?]

The login screen stared back at him as questions spun through his mind. There was virtually no chance that the Magic Bag was unrelated to the conditions for returning. Yet imagining himself amassing that kind of wealth felt laughably unrealistic. And even if he could manage it, he’d still have to train his body and refine his skills as a Healer. Without that, there’d be no place for him on the front lines, even if he did return.

Whether he was savoring a cup of instant noodles Akiyama had bought him at a mountaintop rest stop, or celebrating a hard-won victory against one of Japan’s top teams in a ranked match, Tsutomu’s thoughts were always elsewhere, fixated on this single, looming problem.

[…Maybe I should just buy a lottery ticket. I AM the Lucky Boy, right?]

It was a half-joking thought, sparked by a massive CARRYOVER banner outside a lottery kiosk near the train station. But the more he crunched the numbers, counting every Gold he had and estimating the exchange rate to yen, the more he realized that that kind of absurd windfall might be the only realistic solution.

[Well, it’s not like I have that kind of luck left in me. I must’ve used it all up the moment I got teleported to that fantasy world the first time. I can’t rely on Garm or the others anymore. This… this is something I have to figure out for myself. But how?]

He nearly let himself be drawn into the lottery queue, surrendering to the temptation… but in the end, he resisted. Instead, he dragged his exhausted body home, sore from another long day of hiking, and collapsed into the chair in front of his PC.

[If I want to go back, I have to solve both problems at once. So I’ll do what I can, starting now…]

Tsutomu never once considered giving up. No matter how steep the odds, no matter how impossible the solution seemed. Between the demands of the real world and the need to prepare for the other, he searched for a way to do both, and committed himself to pursuing his goal with everything he had.