Chapter 2 - A New Start (Soon)
"How do I get out of here?"
「Before you can leave, you must create the body you will reside in.」
Ah, so a character customisation, huh? I wonder how detailed I'll be able to customise myself. Wait, if I'm able to customise myself, what age will I be when I get reincarnated? Answer that for me system, thanks.
「Your age will be decided in the 『Body Creation』menu.」
Ah, so I'll be able to choose then. Right, pull up the character customisation menu.
『Name:
Age:
Gender:
Speciality:
Hair Colour:
Eye Colour:
Region of Birth:』
...That's surprisingly undetailed. And here I thought I would finally be able to be rid of my short height. I sighed.
"Better luck next life..."
Well, no point crying over spilt milk, I'm going to customise the best (short) character I possibly can! Starting with the name. Hm... I feel like something unique would be cool... something like... Ruby? No. That sounds stupid. What about Black? Eh... too edgy for me. Uh... should I just go with John or something? Yeah... no.
"...Thinking of a name is so hard... can I just have no name?"
『Name: None (Currently)
Age:
Gender:
Speciality:
Hair Colour:
Eye Colour:
Region of Birth:』
Oh. That actually works. Huh. Well, next on the list is age. Easy. Not too young, not too old. Sweet 15. And also boy for the gender, please. Even though me becoming a girl would be kind of funny, I don't think making a life-changing decision for the sake of a joke would be the smartest thing to do.
『Name: None (Currently)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Speciality:
Hair Colour:
Eye Colour:
Region of Birth:』
The next one... speciality? Like a job? I wasn't old enough in my last life to get a job and I wasn't very passionate about anything either... The only thing that I've ever even thought about wanting to do was being an...
"Astronaut?"
「'Astronaut' is not a valid Speciality.」
...Meh. Was worth a shot.
「Would you like an explanation of what a Speciality is?」
You can do that? Yeah, sure.
「A Speciality is the element your mana can be moulded into. Your Speciality is chosen at random at birth and there are no ways of changing Specialities.」
...Wait. Mana? Is this what I think it is? Magic? No way. Is the boring life I thought I was going to have again actually going to turn out to be something different? No, no. Before I freak out, let me check that this is actually magic and not just some weird use of the word mana. What Specialities can I pick, System?
「The Specialities available are:
- Thundercast
- Firecast
- Watercast
- Galecast
- Heavencast (Life Energy not high enough)
- Illusioncast (Life Energy not high enough)
- Terracast (Life Energy not high enough)
- ??? (Unknown)」
I. CAN. USE. MAGIC. Dude. That's so fucking cool! Wow, wow. Calm down, me. Excuse my language there. But seriously, that's so awesome! Do you even know what this could mean? There are literally endless possibilities, for example, if I'm able to control my magic will I be able to create whatever I want? Kind of like using clay to create structures. Or at least that's how I think this magic system will work, of course, after all, not all magic systems are identical and the magi-
「Please select a Speciality.」
...As I was saying, the magic system may be completely different from the traditional ones I'm used to-
「Please select a Speciality.」
...Is this your way of telling me to shut up?
「Please select a Speciality.」
That hurts, you know. That really hurts, system.
「Please select a Speciality.」
Alright, alright. I'll stop talking and start thinking. Or stop thinking and start...? I don't know, semantics.
Right, serious mode now. At first glance, the most viable options seem to be either Watercast or Firecast. Watercast obviously because of how water is literally one of the most important aspects of human life and Firecast because of how it's a light source, you can cook with it and because it's cool. Mostly because it's cool though.
Galecast would be useful if I was somehow stuck on a ship with no one around me to help. However, somehow I don't think that's a very common occurrence. Wait. With the ability to control wind, would I be able to... fly?
...
This is going to be a lot harder than expected, huh?
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...My brain is fried. There's so much pros and cons to every magic type that I can't just choose one and be happy with it. If only there was a way to obtain at least two magic types...
「Your soul's energy is too weak to wield two Specialities.」
Way to rub it in my face, system.
Well, I haven't been sitting around here doing nothing. In the past few hours - would it be hours? I've got no real way of telling the time here so really I'm just going by my own innate perception of time. Well, to sum it up, I've been here thinking for a long ass time and I've narrowed my possible Specialities to only two elements: Watercast and Firecast.
These two are the most diverse of the four elements and can prove to be really useful no matter which type of world I end up in (I hope). That said, the usefulness of both these Specialities make it so hard to choose between them... unless.
"Hey system, do you know what rock, paper, scissors is?"
「Yes. I have access to all of the memories of you-」
"Alright good. Also slightly creepy but I digress. Let's play a quick game of it. If I win I'll choose Watercast, and if you win I'll choose Firecast."
「Understood.」
"Alright then. On the count of 3..."
"3..."
"2..."
"1..."
"RO-"
「Paper. It seems I have won.」
"...You could've let me finish. You cheated didn't yo-"
「No.」
"...Right. Well, Firecast it is I guess."
『Name: None (Currently)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Speciality: Firecast
Hair Colour:
Eye Colour:
Region of Birth:』
That took way longer than necessary. I almost feel relieved now that's over.
"Should be smooth sailing from now on, right?"
Right. Let's see... Hair colour? I want something cool this life... nothing too extravagant though. Black is boring and any colour in the rainbow is out of the question. Hm... maybe something like...
"Silver?"
『Name: None (Currently)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Speciality: Firecast
Hair Colour: Silver
Eye Colour:
Region of Birth:』
Yeah... I've always thought characters with silver hair looked cool anyways. It might make me look a bit old but who cares. Next. Eye colour. Black. I like black eyes. Plain, simple but cool.
『Name: None (Currently)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Speciality: Firecast
Hair Colour: Silver
Eye Colour: Black
Region of Birth:』
And finally, region of birth. This is also debatably just as important as Speciality. Hey, system. Could you pull up a list of all the regions I could be born into? Preferably with a description too? Thanks.
「The regions available are:
- Zandar
A powerful kingdom with a rich history full of both conflict and prosperity. Zandar is mostly ran by The Church of Azal, however, soon the heir of Zandar will be ready to take his throne and when he does, a war will most likely follow.
- Novella
A kingdom that neighbours Zandar. They were once a prosperous nation with power that rivalled that of Zandar, however, they were the ones who had been impacted by "The Great Avalanche" the most and have slowly been trying to recover since. A ceasefire has been agreed between them and Zandar.
- Silvan
The kingdom of fairies. They do not accept humans and will attempt to kill any they see. Do not choose this unless you desire death.
- Congelatis
A ruined kingdom. It once was a happy place, home to millions, however, ever since "The Great Avalanche" it has become infested with demons. There are still some survivors but they do not trust easily.
- The Dead Lands
Only the most foolish of creatures dare come here. Only death awaits.」
Wow. These all suck. Are you trying to kill me?
「Please choose a region.」
Yeah, I got it. So, right off the bat I'm taking out Silvan, Congelatis and The Dead Lands out of consideration as I'd like to actually have a chance of survival leaving on both Zandar and Novella as options. It seems Zandar is the safer option as Novella seems have become poor now because of this "Great Avalanche"...
"Hey System. What's the "Great Avalanche"?"
「"The Great Avalanche" refers to the collapse of the Frozen Kingdom of Congelatis. This small but happy country was destroyed when a seemingly endless hole appeared in the centre of the country, collapsing the icebergs that held it up. This hole also spewed out both monsters and demons, infesting and turning the land into a paradise for death. Not many people survived this event, and the ones that did often wish they didn't.」
...What am I getting myself into? This world that casually has monsters running rampant and causing havoc seems slightly unsafe.
...
System. Give me a honest percentage to how likely I'll die in the first week of me being in this new world.
「According to both your intellectual and physical abilities, my estimate is 70%.」
Well. That's not fun.