'ding'
[ Round 1/3 of [Soul_Erosion] has been completed... CONTINUE Y/N? ]
"Fuuuuuhaaaaaa"
With a deep breath, Kaley did his best to calm down, having questionable success. Taking a look at the box in front of him, he felt the anger rising once more.
"Who the f #k would wanna go through another round of that!"
Shouting at the stupid thing, he thrust his finger at the 'N'. An emotionless female voice sounded out next to his ear, startling him.
[ Cancellation request of: [Soul_Erosion] confirmed... Contacting Main_Server. ]
He snapped his body around, ready to face the person who just spoke. Well, he tried to at least. His balance was off and he had to use his hands as paddles to slowly turn his body. After flailing his arms for about a minute, Kaley somehow managing to fully turn around. He stared with a searching gaze for the owner of the voice not finding anything amiss. He was still alone in this vast, black void.
"Hello? Anyone out there?"
His voice echoed strangely in the space. Just as if it rebounded in a small, enclosed room. The strangeness was lost to Kaley, though.
"Haaaaaa"
With a sigh, he took the advice of the voice and contemplated what he was gonna do now. He obviously couldn't keep floating here. He guessed this place was something close to a rest stop. Somewhere you could take a little breather before continuing your journey, but if you tried staying more permanently well...
The place was like a beautiful venus flytrap. The sweet nectar pulled you in, but death loomed above. Outstay your welcome and pay the price. And Kaley got a thorough taste of what that price entailed. A sudden shudder came over him, as a flash of repressed memories resurfaced. With panic rising within, cold sweat started dripping down his back and his hands got clammy.
"I'm okay. It's over. I'm okay."
Chanting this mantra over and over, he didn't notice the small box as the minutes turned into hours.
'ding'
[ Connection to: [Main_Server] established ]
Hearing the female voice once more, Kaley abruptly awoke from his dazed state. Having a faint guess to what was happening he just waited for the continuation. The voice soon returned, bringing another piece of the puzzle.
[ Querying database. PLEASE HOLD ]
After leaving those words the voice once again went quiet and something suspiciously close to elevator music started playing.
Annoyed and tired at the corporate approach of this 'game', Kaley just waited for it to continue.
[ Task completed ]
[ Attribute: [Karmic_Merit] above value [50]. Cancellation of [Soul_Erosion] approved. ]
Kaley heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed like if you had low Karmic Merit you didn't get a chance to reincarnate. Judging by the 1st round, being forced to go through all three stages of soul erosion really sounded like a fitting punishment for the wicked. He shuddered just thinking of it. He was so done with this afterlife and wanted to start his new one so could forget all about this nightmare.
'ding'
[ Welcome to LIFE: The RPG! (Beta) ]
Out of nowhere the sound of a war drum was heard, beating a steady beat. It was soon followed by a harp playing a certain tune, making Kaley flabbergasted.
"F #k! Isn't this the Morrowind theme? And what's with the 'Beta' tag?"
While speechless at this shameless game, an assortment of instruments starting playing. A fanfare of epic proportions sounded out, reminding him of days long past.
While reminiscing, visions appeared before Kaley's eyes. Scenes out of every walk of life along with familiar scenes out of different games, movies, and animes he'd played or seen. The only thing out of the norm was his own figure inside them. Sometimes a protagonist, other times the antagonist or a supporting character. The visions sped up. A lover, a father, a trader, a doctor, a scientist, a soldier, a general, a King, a God. Every possible scenario played out in front of him and in all of them, he saw himself. What he could be if he just applied himself.
It was like they were all whispering: "This could have been you.", making him tear up.
"What the hell do you know!?"
Clenching his fists tightly he shouted at the game, it's mocking of his life too abhorrent to endure.
Regrets filling him, he swiped his arm across the visions, making them disperse. The music also stopped with their dispersal.
Once again alone in the void, the silence was deafening. Dispelling his foul mood, Kaley took a look at the 'Main Menu' that had been hidden behind the visions.
[ New game ]
[ Options ]
[ Save Game ]
[ Load Game ]
[ New Game]
[ Exit (1/3) ]
Every option except 'New Game' and 'Exit' were greyed out, telling him that there was some way he could enable them. Maybe there were actual savepoints he could find, enabling him to go the save scum route. He obviously couldn't load if there was no saved file. And the 'New Game'... He hypothesized that if his score got high enough he could enable that along with 'Options'.
Pointedly ignoring the 'Exit' option, he clicked on 'New Game'. A new blue box appeared in front of him, covering his entire vision. At the top was his amount of 'Points' along with a few different tabs. His points were somehow higher than he remembered. Maybe he got it wrong.
[ Points: 9000 ]
[ Worlds ] [ Abilities ] [ Difficulty: Hard ]
[ Confirm ]
Clicking on 'Worlds', a massive list appeared. Every option having a colored border and a point cost attached to it.*
Every conceivable world of fiction was there, most being greyed out.
Looking at the list he guessed green border meant unlocked, red border purchasable and grey border was either locked or too few points or both.
The only green option was his old world, titled [ Mundane world - Mana 0/10, Qi 0/10 ]
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
It had a small note saying 'Previously Selected' next to it.
The Mana and Qi parts also had plusses with a point cost next to them. Each increase cost 500.000 points.
Most of the worlds on the list had ridiculous point costs. Ranging from 10s of thousands to several hundred million points. The few worlds with costs below 10,000 were worlds like Berserk, Hellsing, Dark Souls, Bloodborne etc. Those worlds had costs around 500-1000 points, making them suspiciously cheap. Suppressing a shudder, he ignored them. Once again choosing the 'real' world, he switched to the 'Abilities' tab.
There, he was greeted with a long list of ridiculous abilities. It started out quite normal with abilities like [5% Int gain D] 500pts and [Mental Math D] 500pts. As the point cost grew, so did the ridiculousness of the abilities. Some of the more ridiculous ones were:
[Paralell Thinking A] 750.000pts/Thread
[Energy Vision S-] 2.000.000pts
[Photographic Memory S] 4.000.000pts
[Telekinesis SS] 40.500.000pts
[Regeneration SS] 100.000.000pts
[Teleportation: SSS-] 200.000.000pts
[immortality SSS] pts
[Divinity ?] ?pts
There were plenty of abilities with massive point costs, that he had no idea what they did.
Looking over this list, he felt his score was really way too low. Clicking on the button to hide any abilities he couldn't purchase, the list was dramatically reduced. Checking the various abilities, two particular ones caught his eyes and they both had a weird ranking to them.
[Status ? (-?)] 2500pts and [Shop ? (-?)] 5000pts
If they did what he thought they did, he would be set for life. In his past life, he was just normal, but since there were abilities for purchase with increases to certain attributes they probably got automatically distributed according to his personality and actions. But if he had the 'Status' ability, he would be able to manually distribute them.
The 'Shop' ability spoke for itself. He would be able to access this shop while still alive. Being able to spend the points as he acquired them was definitely overpowered.
Selecting both of them, he changed the tab to the 'Main Menu'. Gritting his teeth, he kept the difficulty at 'Hard' and clicked 'Confirm'.
Another box asking him to confirm his selected appeared. Once again confirming it, all the boxes disappeared, as a brilliant white light enveloped him.
Closing his eyes, Kaley waited for his new life to begin.
'ding'
[ Manual Override by [?] initiated. Reincarnation aborted. ]
With the return of the female voice, the light surrounding him began to fade. When it had faded completely, he was back in the void. Speechless, he looked around, searching for this [?] person so he could give him a piece of his mind.
As he turned around he saw a small white orb floating not more than few meters away from him, pulsating continuously.
"Ahem, is this thing on? Testing, testing. 1 2 3, 1 2 3."
A high pitched voice sounded out, sounding like a young girl. Kaley just stared blankly at the orb, not knowing what to say.
"Hey is this thing on or not. Didn't you say this would connect there, Sebastian? Are you treating me like a kid?! Think you can trick me just because Mother is not here, huh?"
"Milady, there's nothing wrong. It is currently transmittin- gefuu!"
"No excuses!"
Sounds of arguing and what suspiciously sounded like a slap, followed by a distant explosion, came out the orb.
"Ahem what was I supposed to say again...? Right!"
Something was wrong with him. Since the voices started arguing he had this weird feeling.
"I knoweth thee can hear me, mortal. This one's name is ⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ and we art here to grant thee mine boon. Bow thy head and be greatfu- Ahh! I bit my tongue."
What was this weird feeling welling up inside him? He wanted to hug the orb and squeeze it to his chest. What the hell was this adorable thing?
Suppressing his impulse he decided to play along. Bowing his head, he spoke reverently to the orb.
"Oh great one, what have I done to deserve such a great honor from one such as yourself?"
"G-great one... Umm. Ahem. A-at least thee hath good taste, mortal"
Sounding slightly flustered the voice spoke again.
"T-thou hath entertained us greatly with thy actions, mortal. Thy humorous reactions and thoughts aside, few stayeth sane after experiencing the soul-erosion. Thus this great one shalt grant thee a boon. Speak thy wish and this great one shalt grant it!"
Wish... What do I wish for? Unbidden to him, the visions from the title screen reappeared in his mind. Slowly but surely, a wish took form in his mind.
'Yes, I wish to be the hero for once. A protagonist to surpass all protagonists! Ahh but that would be super troubleso...'
"Hoh-ho. The protagonist of protagonists, huh? What a big wish thou hath, mortal."
'No no, you need to listen until I fini...'
"Very well, this great one shalt grant it! Don't regret it later."
After getting interrupted once again, Kaley sighed and resigned himself to fate.
But really, saying such difficult and archaic words with that voice... Is this the so-called 'gap-moe' spoken of in all those animes? This voice was way too adorable. It was hard containing the squeal building inside him. He never knew he was this kind of person. It was slightly disturbing finding out about this side of him.
"R-restrain thy thoughts, i-idiot. This great one is not adorable!"
A ripple of power shot out, startling Kaley out of his daze.
Noticing his train of thoughts having gone off the deep end, Kaley apologized profusely.
"My apologies, oh most wondrous one. And thank you for your gift."
"Hohohohohoh. Thee shouldst not thank us, mortal. Thy wish shalt bring thee great suffering."
Power started gathering at the location of the orb, rippling out. An ominous feeling welled up inside Kaley. Maybe he shouldn't have phrased it quite so.
"To be the protagonist to surpass all protagonists, thee must put in the appropriate amount of effort."
A powerful pressure bore down on him akin to a mountain, pressing him down. As predicted, his feeling was right. He definitely shouldn't have phrased it as he did. The voice sounded almost smug.
"Thee shalt have the opportunities needed, along with their dangers. Fate shalt guideth thy hand, mortal. Entertain this great one thoroughly and we might meet again!"
As the voice finished its words, the power that had gathered around the orb, exploded towards Kaley in a wave of power. If the power he felt before was akin to a firefly, then this one was a sun. Kaley felt truly tiny before this monstrous power coming towards him.
As the wave reached him, it wrapped him up and started spinning with him in the center. A veritable cyclone of divine might.
Hoping it wouldn't obliterate him, Kaley gritted his teeth and let it wash over his soul, drinking it in. The cyclone grew smaller, closer to his body. Once it made contact, the power started entering through his pores, forcing them wide open.
A gasp escaped his mouth, as liquid lightning poured through his veins. Convulsions rocked his body and several 'dings' went off in his head. Pain coursed through his entire body, even the non-existent parts. After the entire cyclone had been absorbed and his body stopped convulsing, Kaley just laid there, gasping for breath. He felt... different. He looked down at his body, instantly breaking out into joyous laughter.
He had legs! And feet! He thought he'd never see them again. Admittedly his body was a lot more transparent now, but at least he had all four limbs! Experimentally he tried moving them and they moved just as normal!
Controlling the impulse to start jumping around, he checked his gains. There were a few new boxes in the air, notifying him of the changes.
[ Ability gained: [Past Memories A] ]
[ EX Ability gained: [Protagonist ?] ]
[ World forcibly changed to: [Dragonball Multiverse S] ]
[ Race forcibly changed to: [Saiyan (Elite grade) SS-] ]
[ ERROR. Unable to repair damage to object [Soul]. Attempting countermeasure... SUCCESS ]
Putting off the ridiculousness that was his new ability. I mean [Protagonist], really? Sure, he had asked to be one but he didn't know there was an actual ability like it.
He also got to keep his memories. Although he had some unpleasant ones, the knowledge about the Dragonball universe would prove priceless.
Dragonball, huh. He knew that story well. Having watched every released episode up to the end of Super, he knew quite a few secrets that he could exploit. Also becoming a Saiyan wasn't half bad. Depending on when he'd be born, it could go both ways. If it was just before Frieza destroyed the planet it wouldn't be that fun.
The voice tiredly sounded once more, interrupting his introspection.
"Now go forth, mortal and entertain this great one! I expect much from thee!"
Blinding light consumed him, and he was no more.
----------------------------------------
Somewhere, in a grand white mansion suspended in space.
"Ahh, that was tiring! I hate talking like that. I even bit my tongue."
On the big pink bed in one of the rooms, a small girl laid sprawled out, looking exhausted. There was a suspicious looking hole on the side of the door but it was nothing strange. The girl looked to be around 12 years old with long silver hair and large golden eyes. Her petite mouth parted in a wide grin, exposing her teeth.
"That mortal was so interesting. It's so boring here, so I happened to watch as he reincarnated. I wonder how he'll entertain me from now."
Full of expectations for the fun to be had in the future, the girl drifted to sleep.