[You have died.
Game Over.
Calculating Score...]
Jeremy opened his eyes, flickering all around him before landing on the floating blue screen in front of him.
"…Huh? Game over? What game? Where am I? What score?"
He looked down on his body, only to see that he was as naked as the day he was born. But more importantly, he was not standing on the floor. Actually, he was not standing on anything at all. Jeremy realized that he was floating in the middle of an endless sea of green. The colour reminded him of the garden in front of his childhood home – a humble 28 room mansion, one of many owned by his family.
He belonged to the world-renowned Rothschild family, one of the wealthiest families in the world, and his own networth was already in the billions the day he was born.
"Right, this is a dream, of course. I remember watching that documentary they had made about me on Netflix. Some inaccuracies here and there but I suppose it would not be possible for them to get the full unadulterated truth after all. I must have fallen asleep halfway through it. Watching a documentary about yourself might be the most boring thing to do in the world after all."
Jeremy turned his attention back on to the screen, which had a curious white loading wheel on it.
"Boring movie, boring dream I suppose. This is what they would call lucid dreaming isn't it? When you realize that you are in a dream and thus have control over it?"
He looked down at his willy hanging free, musing to himself, "Well some clothes would be nice. Underwear at the very least."
Jeremy was woken from his thoughts by an audible 'ding' sound that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire void, and found that the blue screen in front of him now contained more text than before.
[Calculation complete!]
[Alignment: Lawful Neutral]
[Overall Karmic Impact: Unparalleled Positive!]
"Calculation complete? Heh, are they calculating my life score? Unparalleled positive sounds exaggerated though."
Jeremy continued reading the text.
[Score Breakdown]
[Individuals helped (indirectly): 8.694 billion]
[Congratulations! You have helped the greatest number of people in the history of humanity! Granted 100 Wishes!]
[Individuals helped (directly): 138,711 ]
[Lives saved (directly): 0]
[Lives saved (indirectly): 3.424 million]
[Legacy: Hero (Mythic)]
[Congratulations! You have achieved a mythical heroic legacy! You have cemented your place in the history books as a legendary hero! Granted 100 Wishes!]
[Subtotal Score: SSS+++ (Leaderboard rank: 1)]
[Congratulations! You have achieved the highest score in the history of humanity! Granted 100 Wishes!]
[Altruism multiplier: 0.01x]
[Your score and rewards have been multiplied by 0.01x!]
[Final Score: S+]
[Congratulations! You have achieved a Final Score of [S+]! You were a great person when you were alive!]
[Tallying Wishes…]
[You have earned 3 Wishes! Please state your wish!]
"8 billion!? When the hell did I help 8 billion people?" Jeremy shouted in shock. "Wait, indirectly… is this thing saying I helped over 8 billion people indirectly? Right, it did say I helped over 100 thousand people directly, but what's the difference? And more importantly, how did this thing get 8 billion from?"
Jeremy frowned, deep in thought. "8 billion… that is as many people as the entire world's population put together." He thought back to his past actions, "Ah, I got it! I was the one who pushed for and funded the research that invented the terraforming thingamajig. If I remember correctly, it was called… the EDEN project."
It was a tiny think-tank that had approached him, what, 8 years ago? Their head researcher claimed to have an idea that could potentially solve to the rapidly worsening climate change, a solution that could save the world, but needed some funding to begin the research process. The science behind their theories at the time was almost nonsensical, bordering on science fiction, thus Jeremy had been dubious, not to mention slightly inebriated at the same time.
But he had to meet his annual charitable donations quota for tax deductions, and so he wrote a check for 3 million dollars right then and there.
The poor guy had collapsed in relief, stating that this had been his last attempt at finding a sponsor for his research as the research team had already been denied across hundreds of other organisations and individuals. The other members were already receiving lucrative job offers and that day was his final deadline to find some semblance of funding to continue their research.
Jeremy could not fault the other investors, as the man's claims had been so ludicrous only someone with literal billions of disposable wealth and a willingness to throw away millions down the drain would have done what he did.
But thankfully he did as just a year after the team made a major breakthrough that marvelled the scientific community – a machine that could systematically drain greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at a global scale while converting the collected gases into energy.
It was an unprecedented achievement that was only made possible through their very first investor – Jeremy Rothschild. The man in question, admittedly having completely forgotten about the research team, grabbed that opportunity by its neck, as have been taught by his parents who were taught by their parents before them, and milked that recognition for all it was worth.
The Rothschild family also capitalized on Jeremy's initial investment and consequent launch to fame to fully fund the next steps for manufacturing the machine, intent on branding themselves as the family who found genius where it had been neglected and made possible the salvation of humanity.
The theoretical machine was subsequently engineered, and prototypes produced, after just 5 years the effects of global warming had been reversed to a sustainable level and the end of the world was prevented.
While the Rothschild family and the research team garnered widespread recognition for their efforts, it was by Jeremy's meticulous design, with the aid of his PR team of course, that awarded him the most credit for the invention.
Through liberal usage of his family's massive network of media connections, the world began associating Jeremy's name and face to the EDEN machine that diverted the course of humanity's future.
Fortunately enough, the head researcher who damn near single-handedly invented the whole thing was not at all interested in the fame and fortune behind his creation. He had also corroborated the narrative Jeremy and his team had spun for the global audience, that without Jeremy the whole project would not have been possible. Which was technically the truth, as without that initial 3 million dollars Jeremy had nonchalantly and dismissively gave, the team would have disbanded, and the idea buried.
"Right, the EDEN project would not have been possible without my funding, thus I indirectly helped 8 billion people. And the ones I helped directly were all the other random charitable donations I made throughout my life or maybe even the people I employed. And the lives I saved indirectly must have been through all the millions of dollars in donations to the charities that were helping the vulnerable or impoverished around the world. Leaderboard rank 1 makes sense I suppose, if it deemed that I had indirectly helped billions of people."
"Hah! Legacy hero mythic? My name has got to be going down in history as the man who saved the world right? But wait, what is with that altruism multiplier? Hmm… my best guess would be that this calculation takes into account whether I had altruistic intentions when helping or saving people."
"Ah shit, the reason behind my funding wasn't to help people at all, it was for tax reduction purposes so that I could pay less money to the state. And any subsequent money invested was also just to monopolize the fame and goodwill associated with such a project."
"Ugh, a 0.01 multiplier means that my subtotal was divided by a hundred, right? That's why I got an S+ instead of SSS+++, and what's with the three pluses, just looks and sounds ridiculous. Well, my intentions may have been impure, but the significance and impact of my actions are undeniable, that must be why I still got a really good score at the end. That head researcher guy is probably going to earn a shit-ton more points than me because his motivations were not as corrupt as mine."
Jeremy appraised his scorecard appreciatively. He was self-aware enough to know the results were not wrong and he had never been in denial that he was an intrinsically 'good' person. His motivations were selfish, but so was everyone else's.
No one could truthfully claim to have absolutely zero selfishness when doing any good deed, be it virtue signalling when sharing social justice tweets or helping the homeless so you could get into heaven, or even simply for the sake of the happiness or fulfilment one would feel from doing a good deed. No good deed was intrinsically selfless. That is probably why there was a multiplier which deducted points based on how 'good' your intentions were when helping or saving anyone.
"So… what now? What's up with those wishes- "
At that word, the blue screen in front of him changed again, this time leaving only a single line.
[You have 3 Wishes left! Please state your wish!]
"Huh? What am I supposed to do with that? I would really appreciate just a little more clarification."
[You wish for a little more explanation for the wishes. Confirm?]
"Whoa- wait, does that count as a wish?"
[You wish for an answer to your question: does that count as a wish. Confirm?]
"Now you're just making fun of me."
Jeremy paused in thought.
This was probably one of those genies wishes, right? And it said in the beginning that I died? Well, I have got to hand it to my brain, it really came up with a weird ass dream. Well, I have watched enough isekai anime to know what my first wish was going to be.
"I wish to be reincarnated in another world with my memories."
It was not like my previous life held any more meaning for me. I had already accomplished all that one could achieve: fame, fortune, women, saving the world; what else could a man ask for? And since this is a dream anyways, might as well ask for something more fantastical than reincarnating back into plain old Earth.
[You wish to be reincarnated into another world with current memory. Confirm?]
"Confirm."
[You have chosen to be reincarnated into another world. Checking Karmic merits for option limitations…]
"Karmic merit is probably referring to the overall karmic impact. Does that mean based on that my options for what world to reincarnate in will be limited?
[Result: Unparalleled Positive karmic impact – option limits: limitless]
[Please select your world.]
Limitless? Holy shit, so unlike those isekai animes where the protagonist is randomly chucked into some generic fantasy world, there was no limit to what kind of world I could go into! The smartest and most meta choice would probably be…
"A world that lets me go into any other world I want." Something like that would give me an endless number of anime or comic book worlds to explore right?
[Parameters unspecified! Please select your world.]
"Parameters unspecified? Doesn't limitless mean that there shouldn't be any parameters? Ugh could you at least specify what options do I have or what kind of requests would be within your parameters?"
[You wish for an explanation for reincarnation world selection. Confirm?]
"Oh come on! Be reasonable! Great, now it's going to ask if I wish for it to be reasonable…"
[…Request acknowledged. Please restate your question.]
"That actually worked? Damn, I should have tried that sooner. Could you explain how selecting a world works?"
[Your selection of a world to reincarnate must be one that exists. You can choose an existing world to be reincarnated in.]
Jeremy threw his hands up in frustration. "That sucks! If I can only choose a world that exists, doesn't that mean my only choice is the one I came from? One that actually exists?"
"Wait, define exists. What do you mean by an existing world?"
[The system cannot create the idea of the world from scratch. It can only generate from an existing universe that has already been created by humanity.]
"This is just confusing, what other existing universe are there? And what do you mean by 'created by humanity'- OH, HOLD UP! Existing universe created by humanity does not literally mean created by humans. It just has to be something that came from the imagination of people! So existing universes is referring to the fictional worlds that have been created through the imagination of their creators, right?"
[Correct.]
"Alright, I get it now. So let me clarify my question, and I am emphasizing that this is a question, not a wish. Could it be possible to reincarnate in the Marvel universe for instance?" Those Marvel movies were something I thoroughly enjoyed when I was younger.
[Processing… Yes, it is possible to reincarnate in over 1,000 different realities in the Marvel Multiverse.]
"Oh hell YES! I probably can't choose an amalgamation of different fictional universes like the one I first asked for, the parameters as this thing says, would be too unspecified. Then the limitless options probably means that I have an there aren't any limitations on which world I could choose due to my unparalleled positive karma, while for someone with lower karmic merits can perhaps choose only one of those 1,000 different realities."
Now was the hard part, choosing which world to go to. Harry Potter? Not bad but a little bit boring. Marvel worlds were out, I barely remember any of the plotlines of those movies or comic books, I would be totally clueless. Besides, those worlds had godlike cosmic entities that were just too unpredictable.
My choice would have to be a world that is both exciting, fun and somewhere I am knowledgeable about. If there was one such fictional story that I have watched multiple times over, its plotlines I was very familiar with and characters I would recognize – it would have to be Naruto! I was a huge fan of the anime, especially since I functionally grew up with it. I never had the time nor interest to watch the Boruto sequel, but I was confident in my knowledge of the Naruto universe.
"I wish to reincarnate into the Naruto universe."
['Naruto' Universe selected. Verifying…]
[Select timeline.]
The selections were not displayed on the screen, but it somehow appeared in my mind. I knew what choices were available intuitively. The time periods I could be born in ranged from the inception of chakra itself, the establishment of the elemental nations, the warring clans' period, all the way to Boruto's timeline. But there was only one that actually interested me, which would of course be the canon timeline.
[Timeline selected. Verifying…]
[Select origins.]
Again, the choices automatically appeared in my mind. The options were diverse, I could choose to be born in any country, in any particular village, and even any specific clan. If I was going to rely on my memory of the canonical meta knowledge and thus use them to my maximum benefit, it had to be Konohagakure in the Land of Fire.
As for which clan, the most overpowered ones could only be the Uchiha, Senju or Uzumaki clan, since those were the only two bloodlines that stemmed from the Rikudo Sennin, the legendary primogenitor of shinobi.
While the Senju clan held the mokuton bloodline, it was also clear from the anime that not all Senjuclan members awakened the kekkei genkai. Whereas the Uzumaki clan possessed abilities that was arguably the least useful amongst the three. The most cheat-like ability would definitely go to the Uchiha clan's Sharingan eyes.
Just the base form allowed one to copy jutsu, incredible dynamic vision and predictive capabilities. Not to mention all the subsequent evolutions – the Mangekyou, Eternal Mangekyou and even the possibility to somehow awaken the Rinne-Sharingan in the future. Without a doubt, this was the best of the three choices.
However, Jeremy was hesitant to be born in the Uchiha clan, given his foreknowledge of the Uchiha clan massacre. Furthermore, it would be difficult trying to hide his maturity and adult intellect amongst family members.
Jeremy assumed a contemplative smile, in his 'previous' life, he lived a life of exorbitant lavishness, without wants nor needs. Perhaps, this time he could try roughing it out with a tougher childhood?
[You have selected: Naruto Universe; 'Rookie 9' time period; Land of Fire; Konohagakure; Uchiha Ancestry; Orphan. Confirmed?]
Looking through it once more, Jeremy nodded. This was the best possible choice. "Confirm."
[Wish granted. You have 2 wishes left. Please state your wish.]
Jeremy grinned; the next two wishes was obviously going to be the 'cheat' he would bring along with him to the Naruto universe. He had to make sure the wish had to be as cheat-like as possible. Jeremy searched through his memories, trying to think of something from an anime or manga that would serve that very purpose.
A few years back there were this anime that was extremely popular, and they had very similar concepts. It was called The Gamer and it featured a protagonist that somehow or another acquired 'gamer' like abilities that allowed him to become stronger with an RPG-like interface. That was a 'cheat' that had limitless possibilities.
More specifically, however, he had his eyes on the Gamer's Body and Gamer's Mind ability. One would recover all injuries and status effects after a night's sleep and the other ensured he would be able to face the potential dangers he was going to face calmly and logically.
Afterall, he didn't want to be permanently disabled or shit his pants when placed in life threatening scenarios, even if this was all just a dream.
"I wish to be reincarnated with the abilities of The Gamer."
[You wish to be reincarnated with the abilities of Han-Jeehan, The Gamer. Confirm?]
"Confirm."
[Verifying… Error. Modifying… Completed.]
[The Gamer abilities have been re-balanced for suitability of host and selected world.]
[Certain inherent traits based on previous selections have now been quantified.]
[Due to The Gamer system interference, potential abilities and powers previously limited based on selected origins have now been made available and can now be accessed.]
"Re-balanced? Can I get a list of the changes made to what I know of the Gamer system?"
[You wish for a list of changes made to the Gamer System. Confirm?]
"Oh come on. Be reasonable."
[You wish for a list of changes made to the Gamer System. Confirm?]
"Tsk. Worth a shot. Fine, forget it then. I ain't wasting a wish on that." Jeremy frowned, thinking of a way to maximize the benefits of his last wish.
He turned to the screen, "Is it possible for me to hold on to the wish for now and use it later when I really need to or when I have thought of how to use it?"
[Yes. Patching…]
[You can now use the Wish whenever you want to through the Gamer System interface.]
[Rewards have been distributed. Proceeding to character creation.]