001

'Well, I will be damned...NO! Actually don't! This place is probably the in-between space for souls! I can't make weird comments or I will end up in purgatory.'

The person that was currently thinking this to himself was a sole soul that sat on a generic white chair with nothing close by or around at all.

There was literally just blank space wherever the person's eyes wandered and speaking truthfully it made him disoriented and all dizzy seeing this contrasting space of white everywhere.

Only his space around him seemed to dim a certain grey shade so that he could actually see the chair he was sitting on.

Why was he here in this place at all? Well, he got driven right over by a car with at least a few nitro boosts too many while crossing a street. Damn street racing fucks. Though he would probably do the same if he had the chance.

And that he lost his job right at that moment didn't make it any better.

Actually, could one even call being a part-time musician a real job? The gig he had to do before his death was just horrendously badly paid and as one can see, also resulted in him ending up right here.

But whatever reason. For him, the answer was definitely yes. Anyway, now the person just sat and waited. And waited...and waited.

"Okay! What is going on!? I'm sitting here for like what, fucking 2 hours already?" The person got mad after still sitting on this damn chair for so long. It was damn uncomfortable, mind you.

But just when he started bickering another greyish circular spot appeared right in front of him and just in a blink of a moment, a person with a black desk appeared right over the grey field.

That person was sitting behind said desk and looked over some papers with a clear annoyed frowning face.

Grumbling something intangible underneath his breath the person sighed and then looked over to the soul in front of it.

"Name?"

The guy on the chair was a little bit startled by the loud voice that came out of this particular young-looking man that had pink hair and even a pink suit with a blue shirt underneath it.

"Jack..." The soul answered truthfully and raised its brows suspiciously.

"Ah, yes. Here is your file. Died by a car crash. 20 years old, huh. No wonder you ended up here. Dying so prematurely is rather sad."

"Um...It's not really my fault? I would also rather be not here." Jack frowned at the comment the entity gave him.

"And still, we are here now, aren't we? Okay listen, I'm also pretty busy and already pissed off that I have to do this duty while also doing my own stuff."

The Entity sighed.

"Man~. The idiot deity that is normally supposed to be here died by a freaking world devourer, can you imagine? How in the world did he end up eating a parasite that slowly killed him from inside? Now I am the one being stuck here doing this crap."

Jack looked at the guy weirdly. 'What the hell is going on?'

"Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes, reincarnation. You will be sent to another world etc. etc. Lose, your memory and all that other stuff. Just sign here please." The entity wanted to hand him a paper but it suddenly stopped.

"Wait a moment..." The entity then took a closer look at the document it had in its hand when it flipped to the last page where he was supposed to sign it. "You died a virgin and never had a girlfriend or any lover for that matter?"

Jack widened his eyes in confusion. "Yes? But what does that have anything to do with the other stuff you just said?"

"What!? That is impossible!! Well, actually it is possible but it is Unacceptable! By my very name as the god of love, we have to change this, don't we? Let's see. Penis size is 18cm. Hmm, the girth is also meaty. That doesn't seem the problem I guess."

"Hey...What the hell is this sudden change in topic." Jack suddenly got a slight blush on his face. "And why the hell is there such private information in that document!"

"Huh? That is pretty normal here, you know. This biography basically tells me everything about the soul in question. Oh! I see the possible problem. You were only 1.60m tall? Rather short for a guy."

"Fuck you..." Jack was pissed being called short even by a fucking asshole god. "You aren't that taller either."

"Well of course not. I am Cupid. Haven't I said that already? Gotta be flexible enough to even poke the nastiest of lifeform to get them into love mode. Being small is an advantage in that. But for you it's not desirable."

"What stupid excuse is that again? You already said weird stuff before...Actually never mind. Back to the topic, okay? I was never really interested in sex. Just didn't seem too important for me. And love? Who cares about that? Never felt it also."

The god that now had revealed himself as Cupid looked at Jack as if it saw some weird rare animal.

"No, no, no. Lying is not a healthy thing to do. You can't fool me. Everyone at least once in their puberty gets horny enough to think about that."

Jack stayed silent for a little bit. "I guess but I still didn't care enough. Fuck, can we stop this conversation and do the stuff already? Why the hell am I sitting here and trying to defend myself against some sudden interrogation by the valentines pixie."

"That won't do. By my honor, I need to make this happen for you. Let's change this here and that there..." Cupid started to write something on the document intensely and after having a large smile he handed the document over and waited.

Jack frowned at him. "What did you change?"

"Who knows? Just sign and I will tell you."

"That is blackmailing, what the hell."

"Yeah, hell is the place you go if you don't sign it, actually. It's your choice, really."

Jack sighed deeply and just gave his signature. That something like this was even necessary or even work in this realm.

"Great! Well, now I wish you a lot of fun and go at them, tiger."

"What? Hey! Tell me what you changed, damn it!"

"Oh, just some details. You will know soon enough I guess. Bye-bye" When Cupid waved him goodbye the world suddenly went dark for Jack.

And the next thing that happened was him waking up with a lot of discomfort in some seat.

Looking around with a tired expression he saw that he was inside some bus. When he looked to the front where the next location was written on a digital board, it read Summerville.

'What the hell? Where am I?'

Ding!

[Good Morning, Host. The current location is inside a long-distance travel bus that is heading to the town Summerville.]

Jack opened his mouth lightly when he heard a crisp voice inside his head.

'I got a system?'

[Yes, Host. I am the assistant in your journey to find love! I'm the Cupid Internal System or CIS for short.]

'....For fucks sake.' Jack only rubbed his forehead for the incoming headache. 'Well, at least I am alive again...And I actually got my memories intact. I think that god made some blunders. Or was he more of an intern anyway?'

That little thought got him chuckling a little.

'Well, what can you do, CIS? Also...your name sounds suspiciously like the CIA...Are you actually spying on me for that guy? You know what, it doesn't matter. How about calling you KISS instead?'

[Do you want to name me as such?]

'...Yeah, that should be better. It would also suit more to the theme of that damn pink bastard anyway. So, what about my question?'

[I have the duty to follow the Host's soul until death occurs. But until then I am to help Host to make himself better in any way possible to receive the chance for true love.]

'Scrap that crap. I will deal with that when the time comes or I get interested. At least you are not completely useless. Do I have some sort of status or something like that?'

[Yes, showing status now.]

----

Jack Frost - Male - 18 Years Old

Level 1 - Exp 0/10

- Attributes -

Strength: 8 (+5)

Agility: 10 (+2)

Endurance: 8 (+4)

Intelligence: 9 (+5)

Looks: 17 (+5)

Charisma: 13 (+2)

- Traits -

Herculean: +5 Strength, +2 Endurance, 2+ Agility

Beautiful: +5 Looks, +2 Charisma

Genius: +5 Intelligence

Fecund: +50% Fertility, +2 Endurance

- Skills -

N/A

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

Overall Evaluation: A very healthy and attractive teenager with a bright mind.

----

'Jack Frost? Seriously? Well, anyway. Thank god I don't need to start from the toddler stage. But what are those stupid traits?'

[Traits are genetically inherent modifiers. Meaning those could appear in your offspring as well.)

'That's not what I....Never mind, are those stats good or bad?'

[The average human is around 7. 10 being a good value. 20 would be a human first limit and considered a high-end state. With my help, Host can reach 20 in each of these attributes easily and even break the limits much easier and go further beyond that. Host could also do so with the help of allocating attribute points in them.]

'Damn, so I am already at 22 in looks? Or are those already counted in?' Jack tried to figure out how the calculation went.

[That is correct. Host already surpassed the human natural limit of 20 in looks with his trait and is considered a very aesthetically pleasant human.]

'Damn...and how do I get attribute points?'

[Through solving random appearing quests, of course. Host could also first max out the soft cap by natural activities like training.]

'I see. I think I got the gist of how this works. Now where the hell am I and what date is it? Do I have something that could tell me?' Rummaging inside his pockets he easily found a smartphone in his possession.

'Huh, looks like it's rather modern? Let's check the calendar...'

With a few button presses and KISS's help in finding the right PIN for his own phone, he saw that it was still the year 2008 and his birthday was approaching late next year.

Hell, he only became 18 a few months ago in August.

That was interestingly pretty far back considering he came from the year 2021. Should he consider himself lucky or unlucky being an older generation now?

His phone was no apple product either.

'Cherry Phone? What the fuck?'

There were literally two cherries bound together by their stems on the back of the phone. Guess brands were different in this world. But Jack had to be an idiot if he couldn't figure out what brand this actually resembled.

Luckily after looking through some content about other smartphones, he figured out that the competition wasn't sleeping either. Though it doesn't look all that large and Jack could find himself back in knowing what model was new and good.

'Crap! What about music!?' He instantly panicked a little and used his phone to get into the internet and search for his favorite bands. He was a musician after all and loved listening to music.

He would very likely end up still doing the same profession even in this life. But if his favorite genre didn't exist, he would go mad. A life without rock music in it, would be a sad one. Come on now!

Luckily he found his favorite genre. Some bands were called weirdly just like the brands but some actually remained the same.

Looking at all those bands and listening to some of them got him all nostalgic feelings.

It even brought a smile on his face and small laughter came from him.

'I could make or just take a few songs from the future and sing them here. There are a few bands that don't even exist here also. Such a jackpot~. You know what, Cupid. I forgive you for just throwing me into this world just for that one fact.'

Making a deep sigh out of relief made him lean back and wait until the bus would finally stop at its destination. Though he couldn't stop himself from wondering where he would end up.