Chapter 170 - Jan's Previous Life and New Life

Third person POV

(Flashback, back in his previous life, somewhere in Quezon City, the Philippines, minutes before his death…)

 Jan, as Benigno Caridad, was eating breakfast with his family, which consisted of a wife and two adult children, both working. Their home wasn't a decent one; it was a small house made of concrete and wooden, with metal roofing on top. The family was in the lower-middle class but had some debts to pay, partly from the payments for the construction of the house and Benigno's expenditures for his ice cream vendor business. Even his children, who both worked for a normal firm, had meager salaries to pay for everything including living expenses and utility bills. The family was tightly knit and loving to each other.

 But later, before anyone in the family would go to work for the day, a robber came to the house and threatened them with a knife, demanding money from them. That robber must have been a gambling addict or a drug user, but neither Benigno nor his family knew about him. The family gets scared, but Benigno, a 49-year-old man, steps and blocks the robber, punching the thug out. But the degenerate robber regained his balance and stabbed Benigno in the chest, shocking the family in horror. As Benigno collapsed to the floor, the robber fled the house, and Benigno's family came to his aid while crying that the head of the household would die. His wife went out to call for help, but Benigno was dying. So, the middle-aged man looked at his crying kids and said, "Good luck. I'll be dying. Please, stay strong and don't give up in life…"

With that, the stab wound proved to be lethal, and Benigno passed away, wishing to continue his life as an ice cream vendor somehow.

 Later, his soul was transferred to Ester's Hall of Reincarnation Cycle, where he stood before Ester. Ester reviewed the 49 years of his previous life and saw that Benigno had lived a decent life. There were some hardships and a few bad decisions he made along the way, but life was good in general. Benigno, not knowing what was going on here, expressed his wish to continue working as an ice cream vendor.

 "I see…" Ester said to him after reading his scroll of Life Account, which recorded a person's previous life before the first reincarnation cycle, "…well, since you live a relatively normal life, I'll be give you another chance to do that, in a new world with a new body."

Benigno was stunned. "Really? You will?"

Ester then nodded. "Yes, you'll have the body of an 18-year-old, and I'll be giving you a Primary Novel Ability known as Ice Cream and a Secondary ability known as Frost."

Despite not knowing what those abilities are in magic terms, Benigno accepted it, wanting to live his wish.

 "Okay, that settled," Ester said to him. "You'll be Jan Huston. You may choose where you'll live in that world, but live your life according to your wishes, okay? Don't waste it."

Benigno then nodded, and so, Ester reincarnated his into to the new world, shrouding his soul with a flash of light as a sign of his new life.

(In the new world…)

 Benigno appeared in the middle of the forest somewhere outside of Ionawood City, standing in the middle of the field. Seeing that he was truly reincarnated into that new world, Benigno was stunned, and the Renad System screen appeared before him, informing him that he had been reincarnated as Jan Husten, an 18-year-old man with white loosed hair and green and purple eyes and wears a commoner's clothes. His reincarnation cycle was placed in the Special Category. It also added that Ester had given him a Styrofoam of ice cream with wafer cones and ice cream equipment and tools, as well as a metal, handheld bell for catching the attention of potential customers and a magical staff. Jan was stunned and looked in front of him on the grass, only to see his free equipment lying on the soft green.

 "Woah…" his mind said in stunning.

Jan then picked his equipment up and carried them on his shoulder and back, before the system screen showed him his current stats and rank, which were beginner-leveled.

His current rank is B, and his current level is Level 1.

"So…I had to do a lot to level up and survive?" Jan asked himself.

The system screen then gave him some tips and to level up and go to a higher rank, including doing side quests and jobs to gain extra points for his level and rank.

It then gave him a Renad Trait in the form of an ID-sized card, where it listed his identity and current stats, level, and rank.

His Trait is called Courage, a tribute to his bravery of protecting his family back in his previous life.

Jan received it with both of his hands, and the system screen also informed him that his Trait would update his current stats, level, and rank whenever he leveled up by doing various things.

 Jan was surprised and was happy. "Now I'll live my life to the fullest!" After the system scream gave him a good luck greeting and disappeared into thin air, Jan tucked his Renad Trait into the pocket of his commoner's chemise shirt and started walking in this new world while carrying his equipment. Later on, in Ionawood City, the reincarnated ice cream vendor was ringing his handy bell while calling for anyone to come to him for ice cream. Some of the people around him were astonished at his strange container and equipment for scooping out ice cream and went to him out of curiosity.

 "Hey, youngster," one of them, a potion maker, asked him, "what do you have?"

Jan stopped walking and said to him and the other people who gathered around him. "Oh, I am selling ice cream. It's a cold and sweet treat that is perfect for hot days."

 "Oh, um…" another resident, a baker, "…can we have some?"

 "Do we have to pay for it?" another resident, a housewife, added.

 "Yes, sure, hold up," Jan positively replied back, before crunching down to put his Styrofoam box down on the pavement to open it.

But when he did so, a bright light flashed before him for a few moments, showing ice cream, in the vanilla flavor on one side and chocolate flavor on the other side.

 "Woah!" Jan was stunned.

 The Renad System screen appeared before him and informed him that he had unlocked his Primary Novel ability, Ice Cream, an S-ranked one, and as a result, he leveled up for 1 level. Jan was astonished and eventually became happy at his minimum effort, grabbing his ice cream scooper to get some of the ice cream for his first few customers. He then put them into wafer cones neatly with 4 scoops each in a stack, before giving them to the people around him. "Here, what is the currency of this land? Because I need to know it so I could charge you for the ice cream.

 "We had three most commonly used currencies in this country," replied the housewife. "These three are gold, silver, and copper."

 "Oh! So Gold is more valuable than Copper, right?"

 "Yes," replied the baker, "Gold is more valuable, so it was used in small amounts for everyday transactions."

With that, Jan charged them 1 gold coin, 2 silver coins, or 3 copper coins for each ice cream.

His customers were stunned that the price for it was so cheap and pulled out their money from their pockets and wallets to pay for their ice creams.

Jan received the payments. "Thanks. Enjoy!"

 As the people left while licking their ice creams delightfully, Jan leveled up for the second time, and the Renad system screen informed him that he had leveled up again, this time, to Level 3, much to his delight of his hard work. After that, Jan gathered his belongings and went on his way, living his new life to the fullest with willingness.

 And so, for the first few months, Jan hopped from one place to another across the Southern Plains, exploring different places, selling ice cream with his Primary Novel ability, and eventually started training his Secondary ability Frost for the dangers ahead of him. Jan also started introducing new flavors of his ice creams to introduce something new in this world. This included the Bicol Region's Sili Ice Cream, which was made from jalapenos, but his most best-sellers are chocolate, ube, vanilla, and cheese. Along the way, Jan earned enough money to stay in inns for a few days and buy food and supplies for himself. On average, he stayed in one place for a day or two before moving to the next place on foot.

 Eventually, Jan settled in Rane Town, Yanela Province, the Zale Valleys, and registered into the country's Crystal Bits Guild as an adventurer. Due to his Frost ability, he was given the role of ice mage, much to his delight. But before that, the guild needed decent proof of his worthiness, which was mandatory for new members. So, Jan demonstrated his Ice Cream ability by summoning and introducing a big buffet of ice creams, all on wafer cones and in different flavors, to the guild's mess hall. This astonished the life out of those who saw it. Once Jan said that it was a free-for-all and out of charge, the guild master and everyone in the mess hall scrambled to get some of his ice creams to try them out. Some loved most of the flavors, while others loved the other ones. Some of them even found their new favorites. So, Jan was considered worthy and was given his license under the guild's jurisdiction, much to his joy and relief. Ever since then, Jan has been the guild's official member, and the reincarnated ice cream vendor has been juggling between his ice cream selling and quests and duties as an adventurer and ice mage.