Chapter 2: A second life! How to use Appraisal!
As the darkness around Warren slowly lifted and his consciousness started to return. He found himself unable to move, breath, or anything at all really. After a brief panic, he calmed down after coming to and understanding of the situation. He realized that although he couldn’t move or breath, he's not dying. The surrounding was warm, fuzzy. Feelings of intense protection pervaded his body. He thought back to what that Yaksa said:
“You'll reincarnate as a baby. I'll plant your soul inside the womb of a pregnant woman. The fetus would usually die before it gets to the world, however, using your soul's power after being here it will certainly survive. So it's not like I'm killing any life form if you might think that. The fetus is like a bud, without a soul it will wither."
"Guess that bastard really did say such a thing. Conclusion: I’m in the womb of my mother and I’ll be here for a while then..”
His mind once again grew fuzzy as he had burned the little energy his body holds.
"I’ve been conscious a few times now. I wonder when I’ll be born in this world. Hope I won’t be conscious during that."
A chill ran down his small spine. It would be a very painful thing to experience. He suddenly found himself glad he couldn’t remember the pain of his birth in his former life.
It’s seriously better to not be aware of the pain later. Like when you were younger and you broke a leg or arm. Truly horribly painful but after time passes it becomes hard to imagine how much pain you went through at that moment. However now with the consciousness of a 34-year old, experiencing birth would be... Crushingly painful? He couldn’t imagine. He even made a silent prayer to Yaksa, asking for a quick delivery, painless for himself.
“Well, the bastard is probably just having fun with my misfortune. And like always, gods don’t answer prayers. Don’t really expect much from that god. Seems like an irresponsible prick.”
He added that last part out of spite. He was seriously angry for being reincarnated so suddenly at the end of their conversation without any further information on his ‘gift’. Thinking Yaksa might be easy to provoke because of his somewhat odd personality of being
sometimes serious, sometimes mischievous, he wanted to provoke Yaksa into answering. He. however. had no luck whatsoever in this. He’ll have to find out what his ‘gift’ is as soon as he can. Reading novels in his free time had taught him how important these godsend powers can be. They could give the MC a definite advantage during his reincarnation. Massive amounts of mana, multiple elements to manipulate, summoning strong fighters.
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Any of these made the MC a complete behemoth during his life, almost effortlessly sweeping the continents, creating their own legends. Having his very own greedy personality he somewhat wished for an OP cheat-like gift. During this pre-birth time, he started to think what he wanted to achieve this life. His former life ended with him living under a bridge. Not quite something he wanted to repeat. He was still rather attached to his former riches and life of comfort. However, he despised those above him coercing him into bad deeds. After thinking this through, over and over again he started to form a goal: “I want to be wrestled free from the constraints of others. I want to live a comfortable and rewarding life. No more grinding for others. I’ll live for myself. I’ll gain the power to live for myself, by myself.”
Needless to say, being alone with your thoughts for a long time can be a bit depressing. His thoughts warped from his own pride and his attachment to riches and power. He started craving for these things. He started to believe that if he had more power, more money, he wouldn’t have ended under a bridge in his former life. His self-reflection was malfunctioning at some time. His thoughts spiraled out of control at some time. Only after once more being reminded of Yaksa he returned to some more behaved thoughts.
“Since there’s a god. And I more or less gained this extra life on a whim of luck, I should make this a good life. Thinking back on my previous life, I can only see myself making bad decisions. I should properly reflect on this. But whenever thinking of it, I get immensely pissed of taking the fall. A full frontpage covering my exploits, including a shot of my face.. Ruined everything. At court. nobody even listened to me telling them at my superiors. The Lawyer even told me that the police investigation hadn’t found any evidence whatsoever of me being coerced. He even told me that it would be better for me to plead guilty. Get over with it. Only later I found out he was also in defenseof those scumbag superiors. I guess he god a massive paycheck afterward. A corrupt police force, a crooked lawyer... Money truly is the root of all evil."
"Though it also opens up the possibilities to do anything you’d please. There’s no absolute evil, your actions should determine what you are. Perhaps my former life made me evil. I don’t know. Saving that poor girl at the end did seem to help me with reincarnating. Even Yaksa mentioned that it was the only good thing coming forth from my life. I wonder how my wife, well ex-wife and children are doing. Will they mourn their deceased father? Or would she marry another prick with money? Thinking back I misjudged her a lot. She dropped me the second things turned bad. My beloved children. I still want to believe in them. I hope they can forgive me for everything. I don’t think I’ll ever know. Reincarnating on a different world.. I should focus on the here and now. Even though my memories are harsh to process, even after all these years they still haunt me. Perhaps only now do I have a chance to really start over. After everything that happened I wouldn’t be able to live another good day on Earth. I should at least try to do better this time. Gather some karmic luck I suppose.”
After several months, which when alone with your own thoughts seems like an eternity, Warren was reborn on Aerth! If he had learned speech at this moment, he would've been the first baby to come to this world cursing. His parents were happy though; A crying kid is a happy kid. He did however faint after a bit, unable to process the pain. Unable to even take a glimpse at his new parents.