My name is Benjamin and right now I'm sitting at my desk, one of my close friends sat beside me, at the desk in front of ours sat my two other close friends.
We were in our first class of the day, before the start of school. We tend to come here to have some privacy so we can chat, the teacher is nice and friendly and allows us to relax and chat here.
It was Friday, the last day of the week before the weekend. I couldn't wait for it since we had planned to go out and have some fun in the city centre.
My friends were James, George, and Kai. They were good people. At the moment George and Kai were sitting at their desk, their chairs turned around to face us as we talked. On the table were a bunch of cards between me and Kai.
We were playing Magic The Gathering, Kai fucking sucked at it, he was terrible and I constantly kept kicking his arse with a Mono Green Deck.
As I won for the thousandth time Kai crossed his arms as he did his best pout and glare “I hate you so much” he said to me as I laughed.
Kai was an avid enjoyer of anime and games, all things people considered nerdy, he was average in looks when he actually made an effort. Usually though he looked like he had just crawled out of his grave.
Kai was brash, he said what was on his mind and never took anything seriously, it's what made him funny.
“Rematch me bitch!” he said as he slammed his hand on the desk quickly setting his cards back up as he glared at me.
“You’re never gonna win Kai,” the boy to my right said. James chuckled as Kai glared at him. James was your typical pretty boy. He had great grades, great looks, and a great personality.
Hell the only reason James was friends with me and Kai was because we’d known each other since we were babies, our parents were close friends and so we’ve been hanging out our entire lives.
James was kind, caring, handsome, and funny. Everything girls our age wanted. The main reason he didn’t have so many friends or so many people around him trying to talk to him was because of Kai’s aura of disgust, Kai treated everyone he wasn’t familiar with like they were a bug that was passing him by.
The other reason was the last member of our group. George, a delinquent in every sense of the word.
George was tough, rough and scary. He was approachable and aggressive, he’s been in many fights and loves to goad people into attacking him so he has a reason to fight them.
“Just hit him, that’ll teach him a lesson” George said as he leaned back in his chair, balancing precariously on two of its legs as he rested a foot on our desk, picking something from his teeth.
Kai looked at George like he was the stupidest person in the world as he sarcastically pointed at his thin arms that barely had any muscle on them.
George shrugged like it wasn’t his problem. The bell rang a few minutes later after I had beaten Kai again. Students poured into the classroom as Geroge and Kai turned around, George resting his feet on his desk instead of ours.
The teacher waited for the students to enter. Three students moved over to our desks before the class started, three girls.
The one in front moved over and waved to us giving each of us a smile, I nodded back, James gave a charming smile back, George scoffed, Kai ignored her.
Two of the girls sat on the desk beside mine and James’, the other moved to the desk next to Geroge and Kai’s.
The lesson quickly started, about 20 minutes in though, the teacher seemed to get a message and stepped out of the class to deal with it.
The girl who had greeted us turned to us as she smiled at us “hey guys” she greeted “how are you?” she asked with a smile.
This girl was called Yuki, a Japanese girl who had moved from Japan with her family to the UK when she was 7.
She was beautiful and incredibly popular in our school, for some reason she and her two friends had taken a liking to our merry band of douches.
James being the gentlemen he was immediately replied to her
“My morning was great Yuki, I know those two won’t tell you so i’ll just do it, George woke up and found out his dog had bitten a whole in his pillow so he’s not too happy and Kai was up all night again so he’s being his usual dickish self” James said with a smile.
Kai glared at James and George grumbled to himself “stupid mutt”. Yuki giggled and then turned her attention to me “mine was fine, same old really” I said.
Yuki then turned to her two friends and started chatting with them.
Our group quickly started talking while waiting for the teacher but unfortunately we would never see him again since before he could come back, a massive explosion tore through the classroom, ripping it and all of us to pieces, killing all of us instantly.
Benjamin slowly woke up, a weird lack of pain as he slowly sat up, the rest of his classmates sat around him in the same predicament as himself, they were all slowly waking up.
Benjamin slowly looked around as he took in their surroundings. They were in a world of white, you couldn’t see any end or start, the floor was white, the sky, everything was white except for himself and his classmates, their clothes included.
He slowly stood up, his attention immediately shifted as he heard an awe filled “woah” come from one of his classmates behind him.
He turned and saw the reason, a man was standing a few metres from the group, he had pure white hair that blended in with their surroundings. He had a strong looking body, lean but muscled.
The thing that seemed to captivate everyone was his eyes, they radiated calm and appeared to house mini galaxies in them.
The man had a pleasant smile on his face as he gazed at each of us “hello” he spoke, his voice soft yet strong, it seemed to easily reach your ears no matter the distance between you.
Benjamin was suspicious, he warily watched the man. The man seemed to notice this as he gave Benjamin a smirk “my name is Kami” he said.
Kami then gave the group a bow before he continued “you all are going to be a part of an experiment of mine, all you need to know about me is i’m very strong, a god” he said.
Everyone around Benjamin had different reactions, some were terrified, some were in awe, others were suspicious and Benjamin… understanding hit him, it seemed to hit his three friends as well, they all shared looks as Kami smirked at the four friends seemingly capable of reading their thoughts.
As it settled in what was about to happen, Kai started getting excited, George was indifferent, James was slightly mad and Benjamin was… sad.
He knew he was about to leave everything behind and Kami confirmed it with his next words.
“You all have died, an explosion caused by a gas leak destroyed most of the building you were in, you lot weren’t the only ones killed, you’re the last group i’ve talked to and so i’m going to give you all the offer I gave the others, I won’t be telling you what the others did.
So instead of being reincarnated, your souls get resetted and thrown back into the cycle of life. You can choose instead to be reincarnated with your memories intact into another world, a Fantasy world with magic and monsters”. He confirmed our thoughts.
The reactions were surprising, a lot of people seemed to be excited, Ben wasn’t sure if it had settled in their minds that they were truly dead yet, or they didn’t want their memories erased and so they were latching onto the opportunity to love in, Ben wasn’t sure.
He knew Kai would love this, he looked over seeing the boy in question with an excited grin on his face. George then stepped forward “why do you want to reincarnate us” he asked.
Kami let out a chuckle as he looked at George “for fun mostly, I like watching people being reincarnated in new surroundings, having lived as long as I have you tend to take whatever opportunity you can to have some fun.
But the reason you’re being sent to this world in particular is because the Minor Goddess that rules over it asked for help. You see the world she inhabits and watches over has a separate dimension attached to it, one where I locked away an asshole of a God, he pissed me off and so I threw him in there with nothing to do so he’d slowly rot away.
It seems he hasn't rotted away because of the hate he holds for me, he has been amassing an army of creatures to break out of his prison, and recently he has managed to create a breach to the planet you’re being sent to, Avia.” he finished explaining as he smiled innocently.
“Then why don’t you just seal the breach” a girl asked from the front of the group.
Kami walked over and gently patted her on the head like she was a child that asked a dumb question “because that’s not fun child” he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kami then stepped back and clapped his hands together “enjoy your new lives!” he said as he waved at us, we obviously had a lot more questions but he didn’t seem to care “enjoy the system!” he said as he clicked his fingers and then we were gone.
I felt nothing for awhile as I floated in something, I had no idea what I was but I knew I had been here for awhile, I kept blacking out but recently I had been able to stay awake for longer.
I couldn’t really move either and I had no feeling in my body, as I felt the walls around me start to move, I cursed in my head as I realised what was happening.
As my new baby body was being pushed out of my new mother's womb, I cursed every single fanfiction writer that made me believe that childbirth was painless for the baby.
I could tell that in the back of my mind the pain wouldn’t be much for my old self in my old life but because my senses had been numbed whilst in the womb then suddenly being able to feel, hear, see, and feel pain, everything was amplified, and it sucked balls.
I would like to say I was only crying because my baby body couldn’t do much else but that would be a lie, this was shit, it was horrible and If I never experience this again then it would be too soon.
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I was quickly taken by what I thought was a nurse, all I saw was white and black smudges, my senses hadn’t settled yet so I couldn’t really hear much, see much, I could feel though.
It wasn’t long before I was in my new mother’s arms looking up at her as she cooed down at me, moving her fingers in front of my face as she gently rubbed my cheek, I couldn’t help but feel warm inside at the love she displayed.
I didn’t have parents growing up, they died when I was young I think around 1 to 2 years old, I lived with my aunt most of my life. My Aunt didn’t really want to look after me, but she also didn’t want to send me to an orphanage, so she took me in and raised me until I was about 7-8 then she taught me how to look after myself and we just went on with our lives.
I didn’t really have much to miss since the only people I cared about were my friends and they were with me, I just had to find them.
It seemed my ne- my mother realised my mood was declining so she started rocking me gently and humming a quiet tune.
A Year Later
It has finally been a goddamn year and I have learned a lot!
First of all, I don't know my mother’s and father’s name, but I have seen my entire family, guess what?
I have 5 fucking siblings, we live in a massive mansion, it seems to be a bit broken down in some areas though.
Anyway, I had 2 sisters and 3 brothers all of them older than me.
I don’t know any of their names yet but the oldest looks to be about 5 years old and was glaring at me for some reason.
I didn’t have a clue what language they were speaking, and I couldn’t even tell when they were referring to me so I couldn’t tell what word my name was.
My Mother was a kind and caring soul and incredibly beautiful like ridiculously so and my Father was kind as well but he seemed more serious and looked really strong, he was also incredibly handsome, which means I have really good genes.
I should look good in the future which makes me happy.
My mother was beautiful. She had long flowing white hair and bright red eyes that shined, she had a defined and symmetrical face, and her body was in great shape. She looked around 5ft 7.
My father had Bright Blue hair cut short on the sides and back, with the top a decent length enough to where some of his fringe could reach to his eyebrows, he had a sharp and stern face, and looked battle hardened like he’d been to war. He had sharp eyes with a soft green colour. He looked around 6ft exactly.
My Siblings were a mixture of their looks. I had no clue what I looked like though.
I had showed to my parents that I was smart, as soon as I could comfortably crawl, I started walking, it was a bit tough at first, but I got it down pretty quick and I was only 8 months old, I said my first word at 9 months old and by how happy it made my mother I assume I had said mommy or something like that.
I was kept in my Parents' Bedroom with them, I slept in a crib, I never woke them up crying or anything because I felt the first time I did it when I saw how out of it my mother was.
They seemed a bit worried when I didn’t make a fuss at night, but their worries turned into slight annoyance when I started pestering them in the morning, they just assumed I didn’t need it.
Breastfeeding was almost as worse as being conscious whilst being birthed. I pretty much demanded regular food as soon as I threw a fit for the first time in my life, it took my parents by surprise since I hadn’t cried since my birth.
They had no clue what was wrong until my eldest brother walked in with a sandwich wondering what was going on, so I stopped crying, crawled over and pointed at his sandwich and my mouth.
They seemed to realise what was wrong then and started giving me solid food which felt amazing to eat again but I still had to drink breast milk, I just didn’t have to drink much anymore.
My Father wasn’t always around but my mother was, she watched me like a hawk, she played with me and kept me company.
Just like that time flew by.
2 Years Old
I was now 2 years old, and I had been moved to a bigger crib, although my parents seemed to regret it because I had learned how to climb out of my crib, I found out I had a lot of energy, and I didn’t sleep much.
I had nightmares about what I thought was my death, but that made so I was bored waiting for my parents to wake up, so most of the time I would climb out and do stuff.
Sometimes I would be really bored so I would either climb in bed with my parents and try to sleep or I would be a little shit and wake them up by jumping on them.
The first time I did that, I almost pissed myself laughing at my father's grumbling and pissed off look.
He proceeded to betray me, he said something to my mother, and she quickly grabbed me and started trying to hug my soul from my body from the way she was squeezing.
As my dad started walking away, I quickly shouted after him “Dad! No!” I had learnt a few words from observing them talking.
Anyway, about when I was 2 years and 5 months old, my parents woke up to me laying on the floor, the pillow from my crib resting under me as I tried to read a book through just the pictures, my legs kicking back and forth.
That quickly dissolved into a scolding and praise from my mother, for climbing up onto the drawers to be able to reach the shelf where the book I was reading was on.
I managed to convince my parents to start teaching me how to read.
5 Years Old
Anyway, my mother’s name is Alina Avernus, my father is called George Avernus and I am Benjamin Avernus.
I had learned a lot, this world was one of cultivation, a fantasy mediaeval world, I knew a lot now, because I had managed to sneak past the few maids we have and managed to get to the library unnoticed until my mother came out of nowhere and smacked me on the back of the head.
I did the smart thing of course and ran away, managing to outrun and outmanoeuvre her until she took off her high heels and proceeded to catch me in about 30 seconds, by the way she was wearing a dress that reached the ground. She spanked me for that.
It seemed the novelty of childbirth wore off because as soon as I turned 4 and started not doing exactly what she said, she became much sterner and more unforgiving, it was not nice being punished for the first time. My siblings looked at me real smug like when I came out of my room rubbing my arse.
But I kept pushing my luck, I wanted to read more books, so I kept sneaking off to the library and it worked eventually, the punishments were hard to endure but I kept getting better at sneaking, I kept getting better at escaping from my mother which brings us too now.
She had caught me reading a book on cultivation which we were all banned from reading except for Damien, my eldest sibling at 9 Years old.
So, I ran because I knew if I didn’t, I would get the shit kicked out of me.
I managed to escape her for a while until she kicked in the door I had barricaded, the furniture going everywhere.
“Benji, why are you running dear? I am not mad” her words were kind but there was an underlying tone that scared me to my core.
So, I did the only thing I could, I started running towards the window
“No! Benji!” her voice wasn’t angry, it was worried, she sounded scared.
I couldn’t stop myself and I tumbled out of the window, in the chase I hadn’t realised I had gone up to the 3rd floor and that I wasn’t on the side of the house with the vines.
I had used this tactic a lot, I would jump out of the window, grab the vines and slide down, my body was light enough, and I was fit enough from having to run from mom so much.
‘This was it I was going to die again’ that was all that crossed my mind, images started going through my mind of my mother, my father, my siblings, the maids I had befriended, the friends I had yet to find and finally my first death.
I had subconsciously pushed the memories down and it came back in full force, tears dripped from my eyes as I realised I would never see my friends again.
I wouldn’t die again ‘NO!’ I tried to get into a position to do the roll free runners do to negate some of the force from falling but something felt different and as I hit the ground and rolled over, rising to my feet in one fluid motion, I realised I was completely unharmed.
I looked up and saw my mother staring at me in shock, as she stuck her head out of the window, I looked down at my hands realising what she was looking at, my body was covered in a white wispy energy and just as I realised it was there and what it was, it receded back into my body.
It was QI, the thing cultivators use to become power houses.
My mother was quick to jump down, landing easily and she ran to me sweeping me in a hug “don’t do anything like that again, please” she sounded worried, I hugged her back tight “I won’t, I promise” she moved back and smiled at me.
Before she quickly took me back into the house before saying she had to go and talk to my father and that I should wait for her in my room, so I did.
Alina Avernus POV
I quickly made my way to George’s study/office. I didn’t bother knocking quickly, walking in and sitting on the seat at the other side of his desk.
He looked up from the document he was working on and took in my expression “why do you look like that dear?”
“Benjmain almost died whilst running from his punishment, I caught him reading a basic cultivation guide, but that isn’t what's important” I sighed out.
He looked mad and betrayed that I would consider something more important than that but then his expression went back to his straight face when he realised, I must have had a good reason to say that.
“Benjamin is an Instinctual Qi User; he survived the fall from the 3rd story by using Qi Cloak”
George’s face turned from straight to an absolute shell-shocked expression “really?” he asked in disbelief.
I nodded “I saw it myself and sensed him use his Qi, his Qi moved faster than I can move mine now”
“This changes a lot,” George said, and I couldn’t help but agree.
Benjamin’s POV – just after Alina left him.
It was an amazing feeling, being able to move my Qi so easily, I was sitting on my bed as I watched Qi slowly swirl around my hand.
I was an instinctual Qi User, an incredibly rare phenomenon, you see it took time to be able to control and move Qi around your body, people started training at 5 years old.
But an IQU could control their Qi with no prior training, it was like breathing for me and it felt fantastic.
I had been distracted by my new life, I had pushed the memories down of my friends and of Kami because I didn’t want to entertain the thought that I may never find them in this world.
With those memories came the reminder I had a system of some kind, so with the knowledge that I was an IQU I pondered on how to open the system.
“System” I said, nothing happened before I started saying a bunch of things “Open… Status… Stats… Menu” Menu worked as a screen flashed in front of me.
Menu
Status
Inventory
Skills
Perks
Companions
Gacha
That was a lot of information to take in. I clicked on Status with my finger, I didn’t seem to be able to control the screens with my mind.
Status
Name: Benjamin Avernus
Level: 1 (0/1000) (Peasant Tier 1)
I nodded as I read it, I then opened Inventory, it was empty of course, then Skills which was also empty.
Perks however was not empty.
Perks
Instinctual Qi User:
You are an Instinctual Qi User, a very rare ability to possess.
It allows you to use your Qi like you have been practising controlling it for years. You can control your Qi as easily as breathing.
Next Companions was empty and then I clicked Gacha.
Gacha
[Equipment] [Skills] [Perks] [Companions] [Special]
No Gacha Tokens.
I couldn't use it since I had no tokens, but this was enlightening, I had a gacha, I had no clue how it functioned but I’m sure I’d soon find out.
I then noticed something else on the menu, a small bell icon that had the number 2 on it.
Notifications
Achievement completed:
Use Qi or Mp for the first time!
Use your Qi or Mp for the first time (Complete).
Rewards: 1 Gacha Token.
As you are an IQU, you immediately gain access to the [Qi Cloak] Skill.
I nodded, the Gacha Token was now in my inventory so I quickly pulled up the Skills menu.
Skills
Qi Cloak (Lvl 1):
A basic use of Qi, you simply push your Qi out and cover your entire body with it.
Abilities:
Increases Physical Capabilities
Can protect against attacks at the cost of your Qi.
Gives a Regeneration Factor whilst active.
I nodded, my father had told me about Qi Cloak since he planned to start training me soon. The training has definitely changed now that they know I'm an IQU.
Now onto the Gacha, let’s see.
Gacha
[Equipment] [Skills] [Perks] [Companions] [Special]
Equipment, Skills, and Perks were obvious.
Companions were most likely creatures I could summon to help me like familiars.
Special I had no idea about, I'd have to roll it in the future to find out.
I was going to pick one of the first three, Equipment was out because I had no need for any Equipment as of right now.
It was either Skills or Perks and I knew which I wanted more. I clicked Skills.
Rolling Rarity…
Rolled Rarity Complete…
Rolling Skill…
Skill Rolled:
Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist (Lvl 1):
This style involves understanding and re-creating within one’s body the flows of torrential and undulating forces, putting this into the user’s fists.
This style is the perfect blend of offence and defence.
Level increases understanding and mastery of the style and can unlock techniques created by User’s of the style at higher levels.
Techniques:
My eyes widened as I stared at the screen, that… was perfect.
You see in this world there are two types of energy you can train in, Qi and Mp.
Qi is to do with physical power, with Qi you can increase your body’s physical capabilities immensely, but Qi has its limits, it can’t get that far from your body it will just cease to exist if it does so Qi’s range options are limited and Qi doesn’t have much utility.
Mp, Magical power or Mana on the other hand is a lot more versatile, it allows you to control the elementals, erect barriers or ward off an area. It can do a lot but most of what it can do doesn’t affect your body. The magic that does, doesn’t do much.
There is no clear better option, it mostly depended on how you wanted to fight. Usually your parents decided which you would have since they’d have to train you in it.
Mother and Father had decided that their sons would train in Qi with their father and their daughters would train in Mp with their mother.
Once you start training with one, it is impossible to be able to use the other naturally. You can usually choose which you want to train in unless you were an instinctual user of one.
I was an IQU instead of an IMPU so I was locked in on Qi. I wanted to pick Qi anyway so that was fine.
It wasn’t long after that when the down to my room opened, I quickly closed the menu via the X at the top left of the screen, I wasn’t sure if people could see it after all.
My mother and father walked in and over to me, my mom had a smile on her face but my dad had a serious expression on his face.
“I assume you know what you are Benji?” He asked, I nodded “an IQU” I said in response.
He nodded as well “You also know, you were supposed to be joining your two brothers to start training to unlock your Qi, that will no longer be happening, you will instead be joining Damien who is just beginning training in using his Qi” my father said and I nodded, excitement filling me.
“Make sure you’re at breakfast in the morning, we will be doing physical training as usual which you will now be joining, then we will split off, your mother will take the girls away, Andrew and Tuck will be training their control and you and Damien will be learning how to use Qi Cloak” he said before he nodded to me.
“Get some sleep now son” he said before he left my room, mother quickly moved over and gave me a kiss on the forehead, smiling at me before she left as well, shutting the door behind her.
I sighed as I flopped back on my bed, my head resting on my pillows, a massive grin quickly appeared on my face, I would get strong, to protect my new family and to rub my strength in my friends faces.
I laughed to myself before I fell asleep not long after.