I was always told that you should never stick a fork in an outlet, and I kept to that rule, until of course the last moments of my life. Wait does it count as me doing it if I didn't physically stick a fork in an outlet? Hmmmm something to think about as I die. I suppose my life should be flashing across my eyes, but truthfully I think that trope was just meant to provide exposition… you know what fuck it, you want exposition I'll give you exposition.
I was just a normal kid, in a normal slightly upper middle class family, I had graduated from high school with the idea of becoming an electrical engineer. Boy had I been dumb, I thought I was gonna mess around with cool gadgets and gizmos, wire robots and such, but it was all a farce. Hours and hours of useless information was shoved into my brain, until it all just reached a boiling point for me. That day I just stood up in the lecture room and walked out, feeling embarrassed soon after I sped walk to my apartment.
As I was walking there though something caught my eye, it was a neat little ball of sorts, about the size of a baseball. In the middle was a line cutout running around the ball, picking up the ball from its throne of the newspaper stand I tucked it in my backpack and continued on my way home. I had always had a quirk for collecting things, that led to my room being the way it was, cluttered full of different things.
Opening the door to my apartment I placed my backpack on the dining table and took out the orb. With it now firmly in my hand I noticed that the top could be turned, so naturally I turned it to the right. And that's when a wave of something was shot out of the orb, it pushed me back against the wall along with the cutlery I had forgotten to put away after breakfast. Luckily for me the fork missed me, unluckily for me and as you might have already guessed, the fork hit the outlet next to me, electricity arced from the fork directly into my body.
The pain was unbearable, every single muscle in my body locked up and my jaw clamped shut. I could feel my teeth shattering from the force of my clenched jaw. Fortunately I died soon after, and that brings me to where I am right now. Directly infront of a god as I throw exposition at his face.
"I appreciate the exposition, but who are you talking to in there? That's beside the point, as you have already deduced yes I am a god, but not of your world."
'Well now I know it can read my mind, I wonder what it sees? Anyway if it's not my worlds god then why is it hear?'
I think, partly thinking that last part for the god to answer. The god had taken the form of a shadowy being wearing a white suit, conjuring a desk and two chairs on either side it sits in one. Getting the hint I sit on the other as the god shuffles some paper he conjured up and clears his throat.
"First I would like to say that you aren't special in any way, you were simply picked from a lottery. I have to say this in advance because many people picked like this tend to get big heads and think themselves on par with us gods"
I nod along. 'Makes sense, I hadn't really done anything special with my life, well there was that orb…'
"And that brings me to why we are here, you see that orb is from another world, the world I reside over. And since you were killed by it that technically means your soal comes under my purview."
I nod once more, a question popping up in my head, man it's so much easier to communicate when someone can read your mind.
'What would a god want with my soul'
"It's quite simple you see, I'm bored, and so I decided to spice things up a bit by throwing you at another gods world and having you shake up the place"
'What!? Your not gonna reincarnate me in your world?'
"Pfft"
The god laughs, his shoulders shaking as he pounds the table in his laughter.
"You think I would want you in my world…"
He once more erupts in laughter, slapping his knee. Eventually after a few minutes of him laughing he manages to suppress his joy and look at me.
'So do you want me to do anything specific in this world? Also can I get a background on this world please?' I say, a bit downtrodden from being insulted to this extent, but what am I gonna do? Tell the god off? Pshh yeah, maybe I'll ask for his manager.
"No you don't have to do anything specific, you just being there will mess with the timeline, and sure you can know about the world, you might even already know about it, the world is called Danmachi, or by its other name Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon"
'Oh, oh shit, ok that's certainly one of the worlds… I guess I could have gotten worse… like the Fear and Hunger world'
I look up at the god.
'Can I atleast have a cheat so I can survive in this world?'
The god thinks for a second then nods.
"You know what, I wouldn't normally do this but since you gave me such a good laugh then sure. I won't tell you what it is though, you'll have to find out yourself"
I nod, putting my hand out for a handshake. The god takes my hand and shakes it, and suddenly I'm in the middle of a bustling street.
"Get outta the road asshole!"
I jump away right as a horse and carriage come barreling through where I was just a few seconds ago. Patting the dust off my pants I mutter "so much for a good start", I clap my hands a bit before looking up at the Tower of Babel, a smile on my face.
"But that's fine, this is a new start for me, this world better watch out, because my journey is just beginning!"
*A few hours later*
"What do you mean you can't let me into the dungeon?!" I ask the clerk infront of me. The brownhaired half-elf before me shook her head and sighed.
"I simply cannot let you go seeing how unprepared you are, you don't even belong to a familia and you expect to fight goblins?"
I nod with acceptance and look up at Eina.
"Are there any familias that are hiring now?"
Eina nods and sighs in relief, happy that she was able to make some progress in this suicidal adventurer infront of her.
"Yes many familias just starting out are accepting members, we have a book of all the familias let me get that for you"
She leaves the office for a few minutes and comes back lugging a huge book with her. Slamming it down on the table she wipes some sweat off her brow and motions for me to look. The book had many familias from different pantheons such as Anubis from the Egyptian pantheon and Soma the Hindu god of the moon.
'Hmmmm, right now I'm not sure which familia I should join, I could always go with Hestia but I feel like that's to much of a trope in fanfics, so purely because of that I won't be joining. Maybe Miach? No I don't really plan on becoming an alchemist'
An hour passes as I flip through page after page of the book Eina helping me with any gods I didn't know, but none of the gods apart from ones in the anime caught my eye. After a while I close the book and look up at Eina.
"I figured out who to join, I'll see you later, thanks for the help"
She nods and gets up from her chair, opening the door to let me out she hands me a small 20 cm dagger and leaves me with a few parting words.
"Ok good, remember to come back to me once you have your insignia, I'll be sure to train you so you'll be ready for the dungeon"
I smile and nod in acknowledgment before walking out. Exiting the Pantheon I look up at the setting sun, my arms clenched at my side.
'Fuck that I'm going in the dungeon'
The guards at the entrance to the dungeon didn't do anything as I walked by them to the stairs. As I walked down I could see many parties heading back up from their dive, many looked tired and some looked badly injured. Eventually I reached the first floor and made my way through the dungeon. After a few minutes of walking I notice a hole open up on the dungeon walls, I ready my dagger as out pops a goblin already ready to fight luckily it wasn't wielding a weapon.
'I'm not really sure how I match up against these so just to be safe I'll use hit and run tactics'
Having already spotted me the goblin shrieks and starts running at me, taking a deep breath I run toward it too, and once I'm close enough I throw my dagger at its stomach and dive to the side. The goblin wasn't able to react in time and was only able to veer its claws slightly to me which just barely missed me, my dagger on the other hand managed to penetrate the goblin. Having gotten back up from my dive I eye the goblin which was trying to slow down from its initial charge.
'I need to get that dagger from its body quick, once I pull it out it'll start to bleed which will hopefully slow it down more'
Not wanting the goblin to pick up speed I charge at it, getting close enough I kick forward to try and knock it off balance, my foot did come into contact with it but I wasn't able to do much, my strength combined with my height of about 5'5 made it so I was only able to push the monster slightly. Still though the goblin was slightly off balance, so taking advantage of that I make for the dagger in its stomach.
Sadly the goblin was able to recover quickly and managed to scratch deeply into my arm as I was pulling it out. It was painful sure, but seeing as how I would die if I didn't react quick enough I just grit my teeth and took multiple steps back from the goblin. It tried to close the distance between us but I kept stepping around it until it tired itself out. After a while it collapsed to the ground and stopped moving. Just to be sure it wasn't a trap I threw my dagger at it again but it made no more movements so I retrieved my dagger and used it to dig into the goblins body to retrieve its magic stone.
Once the stone was gone the goblins body disintegrated. I pocket the stone and stand up, looking at the wound on my arm I decide to rip off some of my shirt and wrap it around the wound, it wouldn't do much in the long term but it should let me keep going.
'I need to come out of this with atleast a few stones, otherwise I won't have a place to stay'
After walking for a few more minutes I come across another goblin, this one already out in the dungeon though. Seeing that the goblin had its back turned to me and hadn't noticed me yet I crouch down and devise a plan.
'I need someway to throw off the goblin, that way I could stab it once and then move back'
As I muse I look down at the strips of my shirt around the wound on my arm, getting an idea I stand up. Taking off my shirt fully I shout at the goblin to alert it to me. Seeing me the goblin charges at me, I smile at seeing it repeat the same thing the previous goblin had done. I stand still and wait for it to get close, once it was a few feet away I take a step to the right and hold my shirt out to my left. The goblin barreled through the shirt which covered its head. Seeing my chance I stab it in the back and quickly back up, grabbing hold of my shirt as I do so.
Now all that I had to do was kite it around until it lost enough blood, which only took a few minutes, after which I took the stone from its body and continued my first dive. The first of many.