Chapter 2 - The Value of a Life

[Total Cosmic Essence Calculated; Displaying Life Achievements...]

Here goes nothing.

[For reaching 24 years of age, you've accrued 24 Cosmic Essence!]

[For receiving a formal education of a higher tier--College Tier--you've accrued 10 Cosmic Essence!]

[For having a stable career for 3 years, you've accrued 6 Cosmic Essence!]

[For leaving your home and surviving on your own, you've accrued 5 Cosmic Essence!]

'Surviving is rather dramatic, but I guess not everyone could afford to live on their own', Diann thought to herself.

[Accrued amount of Cosmic Essense from Life Achievements: 45 Cosmic Essence...]

She stood there, allowing the orb to display her life. It felt a little strange to her. Seeing the value of her life's accomplishments. It was rather demoralizing.

This surely couldn't be it. Is that the total of her first life's worth, 45 points?

"Hey Orb. Surely there's more right-", she spoke only to be interrupted as a new screen flared to life.

[Life Achievements displayed. Now displaying Life Experiences adding to your Total...]

Relief poured out of her after reading that. According to her new boss, the other Reincarnators got more powerful from accruing Cosmic Weight. So getting more than only 45CE could only be a good thing.

[For surviving and reaching past your biological prime, you've accrued 6 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Hale & Hearthy] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For learning 2 languages, you've accrued 2 Cosmic Essence! The Skill [Bilinguilism] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For spraining your wrist and recovering, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The Perk [Durable I] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

"Oh wow, I completely forgot that even happened," she mumbled to herself. She had been young and her first attempt at basketball was a failure. A bigger teammate of hers had pushed her and she failed to catch herself on the ground properly. She had a small suspicion that Sarah Lynn had done it on purpose.

She had vowed to never do sports again after that.

More curiously though were the words 'ability', 'skill', and 'perk'. She had played enough games to guess what they meant. Perhaps that was how she would gain power between lives, as this was most likely what her Cosmic Essence would be used for.

[For voluntarily staying secluded from other members of your species without descending into madness, you've accrued 2 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Reclusive Spirit] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

"Ok, that's exaggerating things a bit, Orb. I might have preferred staying to myself, but it wasn't that bad." Diann complained.

[For struggling to make friends during most of your life but still trying, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The Skill [Natural Flow] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

'...'

[For never finding a mate, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Pleasent Scent] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

How does this even affect my Cosmic Weight, it doesn't make any sense!

She was dead and yet she was still getting insulted. To rub salt into the wound, the things she unlocked seemed like they would help her fix what she lacked. Useful things perhaps, but it still stung to acknowledge.

[For not reproducing despite reaching past human sexual maturation age, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Reproductive Control] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

Oh? That sounds like an ability people would kill for.

[For living with and constantly using advanced technology throughout your life, you've accrued 4 Cosmic Essence! The Skill [Tech Savvy] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For finishing a higher education, you've accrued 4 Cosmic Essense! The Skill [Studious] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For finishing a degree in business, you've accrued 3 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [An Eye For Profit] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For working at a job you loathed yet still staying for 3 years, you've accrued 5 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Perseverance] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For repeating the same tasks for 3 years, you've accrued 3 Cosmic Essence. The Ability [Autopilot] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For constantly doing calculations on the job for 3 years, you've accrued 3 Cosmic Essence. The Skill [Improved Mental Calculations] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For spending 3 years on a job without acquiring any promotions, you've accrued 2 Cosmic Essence! The Ability [Valued Labour] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

To think her miserable job would actually be useful for once, for anything besides paying her bills. Diann's asocial tendencies were the reason for her not moving up the office ladder. Therefore she was relegated to doing the same tasks for the past years.

It had become such a repetitive routine that she could just turn her brain off for most of the time and spend it daydreaming instead. The ability 'Autopilot' wasn't that far off from what she had already been doing.

[For consuming and enjoying a lot of films and TV shows, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The skill [Creative Storyteller] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For consuming and enjoying a lot of games, you've accrued 1 Cosmic Essence! The skill [Game Enthusiast] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[For dying a violent death due to not noticing a rapidly incoming object, you've accrued 3 Cosmic Essence! The ability [Incoming Threat] has been unlocked to your Codex!]

[Calculating total Cosmic Essense accrued... The total Cosmic Essence accrued in your first life is; 88!]

'88 Cosmic Essence...Not bad,' she thought to herself. Most of the heavy lifting seemed to have been done by her career and education, which made sense since they gave one more access to influence the world around you. A thing that Cosmis Weight seemed to reflect according to the conversation from earlier.

Oddly enough, reading about the truck that had ended up claiming her life resulting in an ability did not affect her as much as she thought it would. Perhaps all the time she spent raving against death in limbo had helped her process it somehow. Or she'd just become numb to it...

Seeing as how the display had stopped showing her anything more, Diann asked the orb about what to do next.

[Evaluation for your first life: "D" - Received +10% boost to Cosmic Essence; Total CE is now... 97!]

Reading that the final grade for her life was a "D" felt like a huge slap to her face. She already knew her life had amounted to nothing, and being reminded of it hurt a lot.

[Would you like to access your Codex?]

"Yes, please." She answered, latching on to anything to distract her mind.

"Codex"

[Perk List] [Ability List] [Skill List] [Domain]

"What's a Domain?" She quickly asked. That was the only word she was unfamiliar with.

[Domain refers to the place we're currently residing in. Options on the Domain tab offer ways to expand, enhance, and improve this area for the Reincarnator's enjoyment between lives.]

Looking around, she noted that the empty sky and neverending flooring really was a lackluster place to relax in after dying. However seeing as she had only 97 Cosmic Essence to work with, using it for things other than luxury seemed more pragmatic.

Moving on she focused on the other entries.

"Orb, what's the difference between a perk, ability, and a skill?" Diann asked.

[Perks offer bonuses and benefits to aid you in your lives, meanwhile, Abilities give you a form of power or advantage. Skills on the other hand offer intuitive understanding, new knowledge and-or boost the proficiency of the user.

Once purchased, they will remain with you throughout all of your lives across the Omniverse.]

"All right, thank you Orb."

Having her questions answered, Diann excitedly tapped on the first three tabs displayed to her. They opened up from top to bottom displaying all the things she could purchase with her Cosmic Essence.

"Perk List

[Durable (Ⅰ) ]: Improves your effective durability by 20% - 20CE

Ability List

[Hale & Hearty]: Moderately improves your recovery rate from diseases and injuries during the juvenile stage. Bonus vanishes after reaching biological adulthood - 150CE

[Reclusive Spirit]: You find it much easier to relax when alone. Not meeting your quota for socialization does not affect your mental health negatively - 50CE

[Pleasant Scent]: Your scent makes you more attractive to potential mates. Improves your chances of courtship - 25CE

[Reproductive Control]: You gain a minor ability to influence your reproductive biology - 50CE

[An Eye For Profit]: After researching about a market, its products, and customers, you gain a strong intuitive understanding of how to make a profit in that same market - 75CE

[Perseverance]: When performing a task you loathe or find difficult, you will find it significantly easier to persevere through it - 50CE

[Autopilot]: When performing a task you've repeated many times before, you can allow your body to perform it automatically. Therefore freeing your whole mind to focus on other things - 100CE

[Valued Labour]: After finishing a task, the chances of others noticing and appreciating it are greatly increased - 50CE

[Incoming Threat]: You gain a sixth sense for when something that could threaten your life rapidly approaches - 75CE

Skill List

[Bilingualism]: Vastly improves the speed at which you pick up the first two languages you are exposed to during each life - 25CE

[Natural Flow]: When conversing with another, you find that the right words come naturally to you - 50CE

[Tech Savvy]: When interacting with technology or basic machinery, you intuitively understand what they do, how to use them, and their purpose - 100CE

[Studious]: When actively studying a subject, your learning is accelerated by 30% - 60CE

[Improved Mental Calculations]: You can hold large numbers in your mind and calculate them with a much higher proficiency - 30CE

[Creative Storyteller]: When weaving a tale, you find it significantly easier to know when, what, and how to implement things to your story to make it more enjoyable - 25CE

[Game Enthusiast]: After trying a round of a game for the first time, you automatically understand how it works and reach a decent proficiency in it - 10CE "

The first thing Diann noted was how short the 'Perk' list was, with a solid but single entry. Perks must have been harder to unlock.

The second thing she noticed was that most of these entries were affordable to her. Leaving only [Hale & Hearty] and [Autopilot] as the only entries she couldn't get. The former's cost made sense as it seemed powerful. It would increase the chances of her survival until adulthood, a stage at which she would gain the freedom to truly explore whatever world she would end up in.

The latter was an ability she dreamed of having so many times in her life. It was more of a luxury than something she should truly spend her points on. It went into her wishlist though.

She immediately dismissed [Reclusive Spirit], [Pleasent Scent], [Reproductive Control], and [Valued Labour] for almost the same reasons. Useful, but rather situational and not something worth spending her limited amount of Cosmic Essence on.

That left only [An Eye For Profit], [Perseverance], and [Incoming Threat] as the abilities added to her 'maybe'-list.

Anyone wishing to get rich would have killed for the first one as it would give them a solid idea of how to start a profitable business. But the thing is, she wanted something more than money.

Diann had seen magic for god's sake, during the illusion show that being had shown her. If she ended up in a magical world, 'how to make a bunch of money' would be the last thing on her list of priorities. The other two abilities meanwhile appeared more useful. She decided to remove [An Eye For Profit] from her 'maybe'-list.

[Perserverance] seemed like it would help with motivation and help her get through rough periods in her life. As she would be reincarnating and therefore be living a bunch of lives, an ability like that seemed much more valuable.

[Incoming Threat] would on the other hand help her spot immediate threats to her life. Compared to the other abilities, it was the only one that actually sounded like a real superpower.

Moving on to the skill list. The only things Diann wanted from there were [Bilingualism], [Natural Flow] and [Studious]. The first one is because learning languages from other worlds would be annoying, as she would have the disadvantage of having to learn them manually. Children learned languages naturally and automatically growing up as their bodies and minds developed, but she would never be a normal baby would she?

The second skill she wanted would help her tremendously with building relationships, a thing Diann struggled with. Finding the right words has always been an issue of hers, as she seemed to only be able to say the wrong things. Or her mind just going silent and therefore leaving her clueless about how to carry on with conversations.

[Studious] would help her learn stuff 30% faster, almost an extra third of her usual pace. That was a no-brainer, but it cost 60CE. It would leave her with no room to purchase one of the two abilities she wanted.

So on Diann's list of stuff she wanted were: [Durable (Ⅰ)], [Perseverance], [Incoming Threat], [Bilingualism], [Natural Flow] and [Studious]. If she planned it right, then she could leave here with more than one thing. But what should she get?

"Orb, what do you think I should take?" Diann asked. She wasn't alone here, and hearing someone else's opinion could be helpful.

[I think you should take whatever you find most desirable.] The Orb supplied rather unhelpfully. She desired all of them after all, that was the problem.

Diann reframed her question to get a better answer.

"What options do you think would better aid me in my duty as a Reincarnator?" she tried. Getting a much more helpful answer this time.

[Your duty is to fight back against the death of the Omniverse by accruing Cosmic Weight. Therefore I think taking the options that increase your chances of survival and prolonging the time in which you have to accrue that weight would be most beneficial.]

'Whatever increases my chances of survival...' She thought to herself. If that was how she had to judge which options were best, then...

"Orb, I want to take the perk [Durable (I)] and the ability [Incoming Threat]. Thank you." She announced. The +20% boost to her durability and the extra sixth sense would be the most immediately valuable to her survival.

[Affirmative. [Durable (I)] and [Incoming Threat] have been purchased for 95 Cosmic Essence! You have only 2 Cosmic Essence left!]

[Would you like to reincarnate now?]

'This really is it, huh?' she thought to herself. A second, nay, an almost infinite amount of chances at living again. The soul-crushing regret she had felt while taking her last dying breath was still present deep down inside of her. She regrets letting her life slip her by and amounting to nothing, she literally had abilities on offer more expensive than the total amount of her life's worth.

Diann could not mess this up. The being had told her he would be back after her fifth life to see if this role fit her. She couldn't afford to fail. Her only job was to accrue Cosmic Weight by living life to the fullest. A thing she had promised herself she would do if given a chance while relentlessly fighting back in limbo.

She would live and make the most of her life, acquire magic if it was available no matter what, and explore whatever world she found herself in.

With her decision made and her resolve solidified. She answered the Orb with the magic word "Yes."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a pull. Before darkness could take her, she received her last words from the Orb.

[As you travel the Omniverse Reincarnator, remember your purpose! Be strong, but, most importantly, live long, Diann O'Hara. For that is your Duty!]

After that final goodbye, Diann's world went black and she disappeared.