I.

"Hey, do you think we'll get a break after these exams? Man, I know how much our parents pay for this school, but my God, sometimes they really push us."

Edward looked utterly exhausted, completely ignoring the fact that they had been on a trip to Europe for almost two weeks, traveling from Lisbon to Berlin on a pleasant journey.

"I think the flight attendant is going to come and scold you if you keep slouching in your seat like that. Dude, I can hear you; you don't have to turn to face me."

"But I'm serious; this here was nothing. My cousin just came back from his second year of college, and my God, he told me some crazy stories. Sure, not all of them are true; I know he likes to show off, but if just one or two of them are correct, then we're wasting our time here. We could have continued the route to St. Petersburg; it would have been fantastic."

The young woman next to David, Annabeth, who was also a close friend of both guys, commented, "At this time of year? I couldn't stand Berlin anymore, imagine spending a few more weeks in that soul-freezing cold. No, we better get back home as soon as possible. Besides, university applications must be starting soon, and you know how much our school seems to care about that... But did you guys see what Lucas posted in the class group yesterday? Those idiots actually decided, instead of Edward's dumb idea, to go to Greece after Berlin. That would have been much more productive... but still, it's stupid. You can't just abandon school right now, can you?"

David responded to the young woman beside him, "I don't know if it really matters; most of our class will probably drop out, and of those who graduate, many won't even touch their diplomas. It seems like they just want us to spend even more on this nonsense."

"Here he goes again with this conversation, David. Sure, we understand that working as heirs can be a lot simpler, but... we poor mortals need a diploma from a good university... you know... it's important and all that."

Annabeth seemed too absorbed in her portable console to bother elaborating a more serious defense of university, leaving her friends in second or third place.

David gave Annabeth a disapproving look at this moment because she wasn't entirely wrong about it. Up to this point, David's future was almost entirely planned out, as the son of an important owner of a wealthy import company; his future and that of his children were already more than secure. However, he simply didn't care about that; it wasn't as if it really changed his view of the world, or at least that's what he thought of himself.

"Honestly? I think college sucks, just as David said. But, damn it, a year from now, I'll be studying medicine and going to most of the parties. Just cry, David, while you stay in your boring room doing what you always seem to do."

"Speaking of which, have you finished that last one?"

David looked seriously at Edward, who was squeezing between the airplane wall and the seat to observe David. This was a very private conversation between the two of them, as they had been friends for over a decade, and these hobbies of David's were best kept among their closest circle, which for David was basically Edward and two internet friends he had been talking to daily for over five years without even seeing their faces.

"In fact, I gave up on that drawing; it was too complex, and I needed to study for the calculus exam. Let's be honest; that was pure degeneracy, Edward. If you wanted that, you could have just searched for it on the internet. I don't want to know about those things."

Edward's eyes seemed to widen, and he said, "Hey, calm down, mister. You wanted to do it too; I'm not the only one to blame here. Don't put me in this position, David; if I go down, I'll take you with me."

Unexpectedly, Annabeth spoke in a way that seemed entirely natural but had an extremely morbid undertone.

"Guys... is that a dragon?"

David finally looked out the window, and to his unfortunate surprise, a giant black lizard, dozens of meters long, seemed to be flying close to the plane itself.

"What the hell is that..."

Before David could react incredulously and absurdly, one of the dragon's wings, which seemed the size of a condo, finally struck the plane, which in comparison was no bigger than a mouse, causing it to explode into thousands of pieces, killing the vast majority of people as quickly as possible.

David was not lucky enough to die instantly, and he didn't even faint. By some divine intervention, he ended up getting out of that situation relatively unscathed, only to find himself falling endlessly into the pure and absolute void of death.

The loss of friends? His own death? The only thing David could think of now was to scream and that there were dragons, ridiculously colossal dragons.

None of what is normally said happened to David; his life was not flashing before his eyes before he died, nor did the heavens open, and a celestial hand saved him from death. What happened was actually quite mundane: his body came into contact with water, which at this speed had the power to turn David's solid body into... nothing. A nothing that, after mixing with the water and being eaten by nearby creatures, might still exist and not be completely forgotten only by those he had once known, lived with, but who were still alive.

However, even after his entire body was simply shattered at a speed faster than his brain could process the pain, his consciousness still lingered, floating in that space of the sea for some time, maybe no more than ten seconds, as it only gave him enough time to read something that seemed somehow important:

[Game over]

.

.

[User: $@#@23k2ShQzWgjhEDwqS@#SADFGA@#A@...!!ESD231afaharofaspc Died]

.

.

[ERROR! Reincarnation failed. Criteria adjusted]

[USER BEING SENT TO ADMINISTRATIVE ZONE]

After that, his consciousness finally faded again, only to regain it after an indefinite period.

Now, he seemed to be in something like another part of the universe or even another dimension, as he found himself in a massive cloud that solidified to prevent him from falling. Everything above him was pure white, with light permeating everything, appearing as a natural aspect of that place.

When he finally got up, he noticed that there were several other people there, some of whom he even knew.

"Are these my classmates and some of the flight attendants? Did everyone who died on that plane end up here? Is this the afterlife?"

Quickly, David began to look for his old friends, but people were so crowded, and many seemed to be in distress, crying, or still shaken from their deaths, that the search was in vain.

When he was about to give up, David, along with everyone else, started hearing a mysterious voice originating from their own heads.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I think you must have already realized this, but unfortunately, I have to tell you that you're all dead."

Who is speaking?

Where are you?

Where are we?

What are you?

Suddenly, all the people there started asking various questions, some were even shouting.

"Oh... right."

After the mysterious voice said that, a massive explosion, at an incomprehensible distance, was seen, and from it, what seemed to be a colossal man, or rather, a gigantic man, finally revealed himself. His proportions were unknown because it was impossible to determine how far away he was.

"I apologize for this; I simply forgot that you only see in three dimensions... but it doesn't matter."

This man, with more Caucasian features, a grand black beard, and completely bald, was in a strange meditative position and didn't seem to be moving while communicating with the humans.

"So... I guess I have to apologize for something else. In fact, you guys kind of died because of me. Nothing serious, but I owed a favor to that dragon, and he asked me to be sent to an infinite dimension, and by some pure and statistically impossible chance, he ended up in your world, probably killing you without even realizing the presence of your plane."

He seemed to have intentionally stopped talking to allow those humans in front of him to think about it and understand what had really happened. However, everyone was just shocked; they weren't two-dimensional characters in some cliché story and didn't know what this being could do if he became hostile, so they didn't say anything. Furthermore, most of them had already understood that there was no way for them to come back to life, and they were simply waiting for what the afterlife might be.

However, one of David's former classmates, who seemed to have fewer neurons than the rest, couldn't bear the injustice and started yelling.

"How could a god do something like this? Weren't you supposed to be good? And now, we're just going to die without even having a way to defend ourselves from such injustice."

Unfortunately, as humanity works, those weak speeches seemed to light a candle in the hearts of others, who also began to complain about the situation but soon stopped when the great being communicated again.

"I understand the discontent you feel; it's not fair, and the way the worlds work, I can't just resurrect you. But I brought you here because, even though it was a silly mistake, it was still my fault. To redeem that, I was thinking of giving you a second chance. Of course, reincarnation exists, but here, I'm asking if you want a second life while maintaining your own consciousness, being born into wealthy and prosperous families. This is just a way of compensating for what happened."

The same young man who had now become some kind of leader of a small group said, "What do you mean? Reincarnate in our world, but now as rich people? Sorry, but I would have inherited an entire successful airline company; I don't know if that can be called compensation."

"No, it's not that. Due to the way you died, you can no longer be reincarnated in your previous world because your souls were already corrupted by external energies that did not exist in your world. So, the only thing I could do is send you to a universe where this energy is much more common, so your souls won't suffer from a lack of resources and simply explode."

Souls explode? David really asked himself that. He wasn't a great theosophist or philosopher, but he found that comment somewhat disturbing.

"Wait... are you offering us... an isekai?"

"I guess I don't know that term, but I'm proposing that you be born into worlds where mystery is much more tangible than you could have imagined in your old world. Not only that, but I will also ensure that you all have a good start in life and can choose what you want to become afterward."

After hearing this, everyone seemed to enter into a discussion, and David finally seemed to have found Edward and Annabeth, who were already together.

"Hey, I finally found you guys; dying sucks, doesn't it?"

Annabeth quickly hugged David, and after that, they talked.

"Did you hear that? This god is offering us a chance to be reincarnated in a fantasy world. Isn't that too absurd?"

"You and your strange books... but is it really possible? You know, having a life as an Amazon warrior, or something like that, wouldn't be so bad," Annabeth said to Edward and David.

"We don't know what the world would be like, but do we really have another option? We either accept this and have a good start in this new world, or we refuse, and if what the man said is true, we'll be reincarnated in this world anyway, but now without memories and without a practical start. We have to accept it. It was never really a discussion, and this god knows that."

"Well, I think you're right, but if I could choose, I'd like to be born as an elf or some kind of long-lived species. But would elves even exist? I don't want to reincarnate into a fantasy world only to find out that fantasy is just that, a fantasy, and that instead of elves and girls with animal ears, I'd be some alien blob surrounded by other alien blobs."

David thought about it for a moment and replied, "If this god appears in this human form, maybe there's a pattern, or maybe he just uses this form to make us feel somehow connected, and our future will be extremely grim."

"Very reassuring, David."

The god finally communicated again.

"So, have you decided what you want? I really need to get back to my work; managing trillions of sentient souls every moment is not as simple as I may seem."

...

"Well, I think we all agree here that what you said makes sense, and this really is the only way."

After no one else said anything, the god spoke again.

"Alright, wait your turn; I will communicate with each of you separately."

From that point on, David began to see people disappearing from time to time, every few minutes.

During this time, he talked extensively with Edward and Annabeth until Edward seemed to lose consciousness completely and, after some time, simply disappeared. Next was Annabeth, and now David was alone, waiting for his turn.

Until unexpectedly, he was there, alone.

And after several more minutes, nothing happened, and he only had himself to understand what was going on.

"Hey, god?..."

David was simply screwed.