A lifelong gamer frustrated that every new release feels too easy, Kenichi Yamada jumps at an unnamed MMORPG's hardest option: Hell Mode, a setting that demands a hundred times the normal grind to level up. He wakes up reborn as Allen, an infant serf with access to a mysterious Summoner class and no game manual to explain how any of it works. His first summon is a single grasshopper. The light novel that started the Hell Mode franchise follows Allen's slow climb from absolutely nothing.