“Get offa meh, ya little shits!”
In a bustling city, where everyone was too busy with their own matters to care, a booming shout could be heard from miles away. And, if by any chance, there was a kind soul who actually had time to kill, they would notice that this sound came from a place no one would have expected - a local hospital.
Peering inside the building, one could see the source of the strange sound. In a certain room filled with all sorts of healthcare machineries lay an old man. Though he remained only skin and bones, the former about as wrinkly as a dried plum, the flare in his eyes was much more impressive than the average person.
That man was a veteran soldier, having served and survived both world wars, and even having the luck to not sustain any major injuries during his time in the army. “Then why was he in the hospital” one might ask. The reason was extremely mundane compared to the man’s virtues - age just got the better of him, and even if he was fortunate enough to not suffer from any incurable disease, at some point in his life, his body failed him.
Well, his body might have failed him, but his voice sure didn’t. And anyone close enough to the man - namely, his children and their families - would be glad to tell you such.
“Dad, please!” A well-dressed man in a black suit pleaded. “You’re too weak already! Just let the hospital treat you!”
“Shut the fuck up… cough!” The old man shouted once more, but this time, the strain was too much for his vocal cord. “I ain’t going in that damn machine!”
“You’re not ‘going in’ anything!” Next to the suited man, a woman placed her hand onto the old soldier’s trembling hand. “It’s just a heart monitor and an oxygen mask!”
Her kind gesture, however, was promptly swatted away like a pesky fly. “Yer all damn looney! That’s what they want ya to think! These good-fer-nothin new-fangled tech are all like that! They lure ya in with their ‘convenience’ and ‘healthcare’, all the while they’re sucking the life outta ya!”
If he was as healthy as he was loud, the old man would have been making air quotes as he went along to prove a point. But now, all he could muster in his ancient bones was a light raising of his half-lying body.
However, the old man’s fate was only so much.
In a split second, as if a higher being had flipped a switch to his functionality, the old man… stopped. His body fell onto the bed, completely devoid of life. His eyes completely closed, while his limbs grew cold. Ironically enough, had he had a heart monitor like his children had advised him to put on, they would have realized that he was dead, right then and there. But the veteran’s words proved to be true - the younger generation was too poisoned by the technology around them, and when he finally fell, his children mistook him for being too tired and falling asleep, only to receive the painful truth the next day.
What were the man’s last thoughts, one might ask?
Ah, so this is where my time ends… I had a good life; served the army, won a few wars, killed a couple filthy foreigners… and now, ,my children are all grown up and can take care of themselves. Couldn’t have asked for anything else.
The man thought that his life was finally coming to an end. And so, one could only imagine the sheer shock and horror on his face when he realized that amidst the darkness that he walked, his eyes opened.
“Congratulations, it’s a healthy baby boy!” In his position, the old man saw a lady in her fifties carrying a wet towel and a bucket of steaming hot water - an appearance very similar to a wet nurse, but her long dress implied that it was a long ancient time before the man was even born.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Aw, look at him!” The next thing he knew, he was lifted up in the sky by another man around his son’s age, again in the kind of fashion only seen in the distant past. “Your name is… Righ!”
“The what?” In a state of pure confusion, the old man, now in a baby’s body, spoke. And needless to say, it caused a turmoil like no other for everyone present.
“Oh my God!” The man exclaimed in joy. “Look, dear, our boy is a genius!”
“He truly is!” Exclaimed the woman, who the soldier only realized was still lying on the bed where he came out of. “To be able to learn [Speak] as soon as he is born, our child is destined for great things!”
***
Time flew by, and three years had already passed. The old soldier, now a toddler with golden locks befitting a king, scratched his head and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Okay, so let’s recap everything again,” he mumbled to himself. “Three years ago, I died of old age. But instead of actually getting the eternal sleep I wanted, I got reincarnated in this… world. I don’t even know where the hell I am exactly - I mean, it looks like medieval Europe, considering my current parents named me Righ Leonhardt of all things, but do you have any idea how little that narrows things down?”
His hand moved in the air hesitantly. The man, now a boy named Righ, struggled to continue his movement, as if his entire world view would be shattered in just a single flick of the wrist.
“Ugh! I can’t do it!” In the end, he held his head in frustration. “I refused to admit it! This is stupid! It’s not real!”
“Righ, what’s wrong?” In his monologue, Righ didn’t notice the sound of his father’s footsteps on the stairs leading to his room. Only after the man opened the door did he embarrassedly stop whatever he was doing, and quickly hid his hand in an attempt to bury this secret of his to the grave… again.
However, his father had already caught a glimpse of it, and let out an adorable smile:
“Aw, you’re trying to open your stat screen, son? Here, I’ll show you!”
“No, no, no! I can do it myself! Don’t…”
But Righ’s pleas fell to deaf ears, as his father soon grabbed his arm and guided it around in a star-shaped pattern. Before he would like to admit it, a holographic rectangular screen showed up in mid air:
[Name: Righ Leonhardt. Age: 3
Skills: None]
“... Don’t be disappointed, son,” after an awkward moment of hesitation, his father patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure it’s just a bug. After all, I know you’ve learned [Speak], [Walking] and [Utensil Usage] already! In the future, you can just go to an Appraiser, and…”
“Dad, it’s just speaking, walking and using a fork and knife!” Righ interrupted his father with an embarrassed shout. “There is no skill! Anyone can do those kinds of simple things!”
“No skills? What are you talking about?” Righ’s father tilted his head in confusion while waving his own hand in the same kind of star pattern that he guided the boy.
In front of him appeared another holographic screen, but this time showing his own status:
[Name: Arthur Leonhardt. Age: 26
Skills:
Wood-cutting, level 4
Axe Proficiency, level 5
Archery, level 3
High Stamina, level 8
Cooking, level 2
…]
The list went on and on. Righ had never really counted the number of skills his father had, but he could guess that it was easily reaching the hundreds. For the truth of the matter in this world that he never wanted to say was still there.
Unfortunately for him, even though he himself didn’t want to say it, there were many, many people around him who would be more than happy to remind him. In this case, it was his father, Arthur.
“Everything in this world is a skill.”
“And there it is!” Defeated and pissed, Righ raised his hands towards the sky and let out a frustrated shout. Little did he know, this sort of incident wouldn’t be the last that would follow him through the rest of his new life, and it certainly wouldn’t be the most asinine.