1 Life Before and a Life Now--Also A System!

I felt...groggy. Like I was covered in sludge that slowed both my body and my mind.

Memories kept coming to me. Memories of two lives, actually. The first life, I was already very aware of.

Born to a Clan of 'Nobles', I was named Seth by my foreign mother while still keeping the 'Noble' name of Imagawa from my father. I had two older siblings - a brother and a sister - and I was what you'd consider the black sheep of the family.

You see, the Imagawa Clan are descendants of the Minamoto Clan. A very big clan that has a lot of historical relevance. Specifically, the Imagawa Clan was brought into existence to be Samurai and glorified Bodyguards to the Genji Clan which it was also descended from. It's all a bit complicated but long story short: The Imagawa Clan are the muscle bound idiots who get killed on the front lines when war breaks out so they can protect their superiors. Or at least that's how it was in the past.

Of course the training of sword play and martial arts is still taught in the modern day but the Imagawa Clan have actually rose up in recent years. Recent being in the last 200 years.

Taking advantage of the economic boom after the second world war and America coming in to help out after nuking the place and feeling bad about it, the Imagawa Clan grew to the point that they had their hands in all the right cookie jars that led to them growing in monetary wealth quite quickly. The head of the clan at that time was my Grandfather and he was leading a decently big clan of what could pretty much be called security personnel. They used their martial training and bodies that were pretty much bred for fighting at this point and they made money out of it - it was that money and reputation that was used to make even more money during the economic boom.

By the time the economy fell back into normalcy, the Imagawa Clan had set up businesses in multiple different areas and business was booming. Plus their deep history in Japan...and it shouldn't surprise you to say I have a few past relatives who've been Prime Minister of Japan.

But, alas, being born in such a powerful family comes with harsh expectations. Ones I couldn't fulfill.

I mean, I had the strong body and I really liked fighting...but none of the clans techniques fit into my head. Sometimes I liked to think my mother had cheated on my dad and I was the product of some other clan and if I were to go there, I'd be able to shine with talent. But, again, I was just too...normal. I wasn't talented. Even my strong and robust body wasn't to the level where it would help me become a professional athlete.

Put in any other normal family and I'd be able to live a peaceful and most likely fulfilling life. But put in such a big clan like the one I was? It was hell, honestly.

I was treated like literal trash. So, as soon as I was 18, I left the clan. Got right out of there like the cesspool of arrogance it was. Yet the damage to my psyche had already been done. An inferiority complex brewed for 18 years couldn't be banished just because you left the place where it was made. So, I pretty much became a NEET.

...Yeah, I know--cliché of clichés, right? Exiled Young Master who wasn't talented goes and locks himself in an apartment, leeching off of the clan for what little he needed. But what else could I have done? This wasn't an anime, a manga or a light novel. There wasn't a way for me to rise up and get revenge. And revenge for what? Sure, I was treated like trash by my family but I was never abused by them. Not physically anyway--I mean, if I had the chance to beat the shit out of my brother, I probably would. But I can confidently say a lot of people in the world would say the same thing. I'm not unique in my suffering, after all.

I guess if I had the power I'd probably just choose to forget about my clan. I'd rise up and shine so fucking bright they'd be forced to see me above them. But...fat lot of chance that's ever gonna happen.

So, like I said, I became a NEET. And I died a NEET too.

Huh.

Death hadn't really ever bothered me. Or rather it'd be better to say I never really thought about death and my own mortality. I guess you could say I accepted life for what it was:

The prelude to death. You can't escape it. Everyone dies and everything eventually fades away.

That's just the natural way...but to think I'd die at the age of 20? From a heart attack, no less. God, I should've really kept up with my exercise, huh? But before I could make any deductions to where I was or what I was doing here in this dark abyss filled with sludge...I felt another flow of memories. From a life similar but also different to the one I'd led.

The same in the sense that I was born to the Imagawa Clan still and I was as normal as ever in a clan of talented freaks and high expectations. But in this life, I was fostered to a more normal family. A rare act of compassion and empathy from my mother, it would seem, who thought that I wouldn't fit into the hierarchy of the family and would only suffer because of it. Well, she was right about that, and I was fostered off to a nice family at the age of 12.

Only for the next four years to be peaceful and all that...until this version of me was hit by a truck and put into a coma.

...Huh.

I was gonna try and contemplate on why the hell I had these new memories but I felt some sort of suction coming from below where I was. I was equal parts curious and terrified because below me was the sludge and if there was suction force from there...it'd probably be bad, right? I mean, are there sludge sharks in it or anything? I don't know. But there probably is.

Regardless of what I was feeling, the intensity of the suction continued to grow and I found my feet already sinking into the sludge I had been floating above. Then my shins were pulled in. Before I knew it, I was hip deep in sludge.

I didn't have anything to pull me out and struggling only made me sink faster...so I just stood there and let it suck me deeper into the sludge. Sludge sharks or not.

But when I was fully submerged in the sludge-like substance...I found myself feeling like I was waking up. That special sort of grogginess that you get in the morning and you're not too sure exactly where you are. I was beginning to feel that.

And then my eyes opened.

My eyes were blurry and felt...crusty, so I brought a hand to my face and wiped away the sleep collected in my eyes. Blinking a few times to push the blurriness away, I came face to, uh, hand with my...hand. On a normal day, that wouldn't be too surprising. I saw my hands everyday--I used it everyday for just about everything I did that required touch!

Which is why I could instantly see the problem with the hand in front of me.

It was too thin. Smaller than what I was used to, even. But then I saw the scar on the skin webbing between my thumb and index finer, and it suddenly all made sense to me:

This was my body...but I was younger. This--This was my younger body! Woahwoahwoah--Those memories. They stopped after I was hit by a truck, right? That would make this my 16-year-old body...which means I'm in some sort of parallel world, right? A different Earth and I'm in the body of a different me...Freaky stuff.

Internally panicking and trying to figure out what the actual fuck is happening, I was stopped right in my tracks by...by a fucking screen appearing in front of me!

[Huh? Oh, you're awake, host,] the screen said and spoke to me at the same time, speaking in what was a gender-neutral voice, [You must be pretty confused...Well, fret not, you've got the Potential and Talent System on your side now! PaTS for short! Any questions?]

I just looked at the screen, my subconscious mind screaming and screeching while my conscious mind had ground to a halt, "...Uhhh," I managed to get out before some semblance of composure came back to me, "...Yeah, sure, PaTS...right, well, care to tell me what the hell I'm doing here in this seemingly parallel world?!" I gave a harsh and sharp whisper to whatever that screen was--I know, I know, it's PaTS or whatever...But for all I know, I could be undergoing a mental breakdown. Probably am, honestly.

[Where to start...Well, you've got the first part correct! You're on a parallel Earth! Just that this Earth is filled with all sorts of powerful people that'd make your old Earth's strongest martial artists look like mob characters!] the screen wrote but also spoke to me - an odd feeling, like I had subtitles or something - and it's voice was energetic as hell, [You're here because of a mistake the Gods made and I'm here because Chaos thought it'd be fun to watch you grow strong, or try to at the very least, and I'm your way of growing stronger!]

"That's ominous as hell. Chaos? Yeesh," I let out a chuckle, my voice hoarse but also slightly higher pitched than I was used to. It was an ever stark reminder that I was in my younger body. "Gonna be a tough crowd if this is real...Speaking of real, how do I know this isn't some crazy dream? Or that I'm mentally ill and just imagining all of this?"

I entertained the idea of being a fun thing for a God (or Concept-level Being) to watch because...well, not like I could do anything about it. Not like I wanted to complain about it either. If this was all true...I'd pretty much been given a second life and a system that would no doubt help me grow stronger. Isn't this, like, a dream come true or something?

I smiled to myself as the system replied, [Real, huh...Well, I can start by unlocking what talents you naturally hold! You have quite the good bloodline for a human, so there should be some good stuff to unlock!]

"Huh? You can do that?" I replied with a smile, "Go ahead then!" I gave the go-ahead and the screen instantly disappeared replaced with one I didn't hear but could only read.

[Awakening Talents...In Progress...]

[Hidden Talents Found...Excavating...]

[Talent Creation and Implementation...Complete...]

[...Talents Awakened!]

Instantly I felt a rush of heat flood through my body. Though it wasn't painful in the least. More like how you felt when you fully submerged into a hot tub or a hot spring. I just felt warm all over and full of...life.

I could get used to this.

Within a few more seconds, the warmth began to cool off and I was back to feeling normal after a few more seconds. Looking down at my body, I noticed very little was different--maybe a bit more muscle definition?--clenching and then relaxing my hands, I instantly felt a difference. It was small and nearly unnoticeable...but it was there. Clear as day to me.

That's when the door to the hospital room I was in opened...and I just realized I'd been speaking, decently loud, to myself.

...Ah, shit.