"Dead?" I repeat.
It doesn't feel real. Not because I don't believe it, I very much remember the sudden pain and would be shocked if I hadn't died. No, what has me surprised is just how mundane my current surroundings are. It looks like an office meeting room. I'm sitting in one of several rolling chairs around a large table staring at a shabby looking man in a stained button up and tan slacks. He's currently pointing to a projector image of my life information.
"James Halverson, correct?" He verifies.
Nodding slowly, I try to just take in the absurdity of it all.
"Then yes, you are dead. Welcome to the office. We are kind of like a staging ground to help souls like yours move on. Some call us Hell, others Limbo and so on, but we like to keep it simple and ... relevant. Thus, the office."
"Souls like me? What does that mean?"
"Well you made a point in life of rejecting all religions, but more importantly you fit the criteria for what we do here. Our main job is providing the souls who pass through our office the chance to be reborn and live a completely different life, often in a completely different reality."
"So it's like reincarnation?"
The man continues, "Exactly. Now every manager has a different way of doing it, but I prefer the illusion of choice. Though whether choice actually exists or not is a topic for another day."
My head is reeling at this point. So much to take in and accept in such a short time. "Ok so what are my choices, I guess?" Seems like the most logical thing to ask.
"Well," the manager pauses for a moment as if thinking, "Normally we have a pretty long list but since you are pretty late to the game, so to speak, there aren't many choices left. Upper management has been wanting us to have more diversity in reincarnations as of late since the whole genre has gotten pretty popular. I'll give you the updated list."
After a moment, he hands me a long piece of paper with a printed list that has lots of crossed out items and notations. I glance through it and recognize several of the reincarnations types.
At the top read items like:
* Summoned Hero to kill the Demon King (I swear all of these are thinly disguised Z*lda stories)
* Villainess (Overdone)
* Lazy Lord (next manager who picks this will die)
* Side character, royalty (Boring)
* Side character, commoner (Basically the same as royalty version but with more steps)
* Character in an ultra-difficult video game with a tower (No more until all the current ones finish, I can't keep up)
As I went down to the bottom I saw that the remaining options were not only more random but they also had been given slots. Though once again, most were taken.
* Spider (1/1 Needs a second season.)
* Slime (1/1)
* Vending Machine (1/1)
* Tree (1/1)
After moving down further, I finally found the last available options.
* Dust Speck (0/1)
* Envelope (0/1)
* Light Ray (0/1)
* Candle (0/1)
* Slight Breeze (0/1)
* Door Nob (0/1)
"This is it? Seriously?"
"Yeah, as I said you kinda are a bit late to the game. All the other options have been taken."
"There are no other options? Not even just a regular human being?"
"Heavens no, that one was banned almost immediately. It was either too OP or boring. No in between. Upper management had to put a stop to it or... Well nevermind. Would it help if I showed you some projections of what your potential is in each life?"
"Is there any potential? These all sound awful. Like I thought a tree and a vending machine sounded bad, but these are unbelievable."
"How about this, I'll roll a dice to decide for you in exchange for giving you a starting skill bonus to make sure your life isn't absolutely awful. Who knows you may even become as famous as R*muru."
I don't even want to know. "I think Hell might be a more fitting name than the Office." I grumble more to myself than the manager. "Alright fine, roll the dice and tell me my misfortunate fate."
He raises his hand in a cuping shape and turns it to allow the die to roll on to the table with a soft clatter. I am positive he didn't have a die in his hand before raising his arm. I ignore the confusion, focusing on what's more important, the dice roll that determines my next life.
This is so stupid.
"Look it's not all bad!" The manager was trying to cheer me up but I was still in disbelief. "Here take this skill bead, it's a starter gift of sorts that will help you make the best of your reincarnation."
"Alright sure," I take it from his outstretched hand and examine it in the light. " Am I supposed to eat it or what?" It looked like a glass marble with almost a shifting aurora of colors inside.
"Sure, most people prefer to crush it in their hands but any method is fine. I can't even be sure what skill you'll get but I know the bead's magic ensures that you get the skill perfectly suited for your needs."
At this point I just feel numb and accept what I'm told. I don't think I can handle much more world shattering revelations right now. I pop the bead into my mouth and feel it crunch between my molars before dissipating like cotton candy.
"I don't feel any different. Is that normal?"
"Of course. It'll be apparent later. Are you ready to move onto your next exhilarating adventure?"
With a dry look of disbelief, I ask "Adventure? As a speck of dust? So far that has been the most unbelievable thing you've said."
"We shall see." With a wry grin, the manager touches my forehead and mumbles some words I don't quite understand. My vision begins to fade and I realize I can't feel my toes. Have I been able to feel them at all since arriving here? I'm not sure. I'm dead after all so maybe this isn't the time to panic about not having toes.
As I'm fading out, I hear the sound of a door opening and a new voice speaking. "Manager Kim, you could've at least told him the truth. I wonder what the vie" ...
Everything fades to back and it feels like I'm falling without any sign of stopping. Hours seem to pass in this black void. Did it fail? What's going on?
As if in answer to my question a blue info screen appears in the darkness. [Reincarnation successful. Soul Transfer Complete. System booting]
Oh. Thanks.
[System online. Loading skills for form: Dust Speck... None found.]
[Loading skills for profession: null... None found.]
[Loading external skills... 1 skill found.]
[Reincarnator's Blessing. Passive. Increase experience gain by 5%. Increase luck by 1. Improve relevance of skills upon leveling up.]
[Loading core skills... 2 skills found]
[Meditative Trance. Active. Voluntarily enter a state of meditation for a predetermined time. Gain 1 experience points for every day spent in meditation. If the trance is not ended early, experience points gained will be multiplied in proportion to time spent in meditation.]
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[Assimilation. Passive. Upon direct contact with objects of similar or lesser size, the object will be assimilated into the main body.]
[Reincarnation complete.]
...
Year 0, Day 1
I still can't see anything. The falling sensation seems to fluctuate slightly now but I can't notice any other change. I wait for several minutes and nothing happens. This must be the life of a dust speck, I suppose if I have to pass the time, I might as well gain experience for it.
I notice that if I think about my skills, the blue screen reappears and shows me the relevant information. Only one experience point a day? That doesn't sound like much, I wonder how much it takes to reach the next level.
[Reincarnator: James Halverson
Form: Dust Speck LVL 1
Size: 1 μm
XP: 0
Next Level: 300 XP]
Oh. That's good to know. So let's try meditating for a year then. I've got nothing better to do.
Activate Meditative Trance for 365 day
I feel my mind fading as it did before and I slowly enter what feels like sleep.
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Year 1, Day 1
[Meditative Trance ended. Calculating experience.]
Surprisingly I come to consciousness quickly with no grogginess. Must be a perk of not having a brain. How am I thinking then? The system cuts off my thought process having finished the calculation.
[748 experience gained. Reincarnator has leveled up.]
[Skill acquired - Weak Attractive Force. Passive. 5% more likely to attract smaller or equal sized objects that are less than 10 μm away when active.]
So this should help me get larger in combination with my Assimilation skill. I wonder if anything happened while I was out.
[Merged with 1 piece of dust, size increased.]
Okay, it seems to be extremely unlikely to increase my size at the moment. I check my base stats to see how much more experience is needed for my next level. Hopefully leveling up again will improve my abilities some or at least give me a skill that will help make this life more interesting.
[Reincarnator: James Halverson
Form: Dust Speck LVL 2
Size: 2 μm
XP: 448
Next Level: 900 XP]
448? I thought I had gained 748 XP.
[Experience Points used to level up are not counted towards later levels.]
That makes sense. So you can answer questions? What happens if I keep leveling up? Can you give me anything to look forward to?
[At level 20, you receive the option to evolve based on current circumstances and the makeup of your core.]
So I might be able to become a dust bunny... Yay. Well it's my only hope, so let's take it one step at a time. I'm tempted to try and calculate out how long it would take, but I want to keep track of any possible changes as I level up.
Since I gained a little over double the XP compared to the days spent, it's probably fair to assume that spending at least a year doubles the XP gained. I'm not sure how that would change if I spend less than a year but I can try and figure that out later.
Activate Weak Attractive Force
Activate Meditative Trance for 365 days
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Year 2, Day 2
[Meditative Trance ended. Calculating experience.]
[748 experience points gained. Reincarnator has leveled up.]
[Weak Attractive Force has improved by 1%. Range improved by 1 μm.]
[Merged with 5 pieces of dust, size increased. Now large enough to assimilate pollen grains.]
[Acquired skill - Core Membrane. Passive. Prevents unspecified materials from coming into contact with the core. Only one type of material may be chosen.]
Interesting. Lots to take in here. I'm really curious about the skill, it seems to imply that what I absorb into my core affects future options. The problem is I don't know what I can currently assimilate or how each will affect me.
[Current materials of equal size or lower: Bacteria, Viruses, Dust, Clay, and Red Blood Cells]
So no info about how they will affect me. Also I don't remember much from my science classes but I thought there were atoms and such that were way smaller than a dust speck, why aren't they on the list
[Weak Attractive Force is not currently strong enough to counteract nuclear, electromagnetic, or atomic forces.]
I don't know nearly enough about stuff at this scale to fully understand it so basically my skill isn't strong enough yet. Let's check my stats now.
[Reincarnator: James Halverson
Form: Dust Speck LVL 2
Size: 7 μm
XP: 296
Next Level: 1800 XP]
Okay so I'll need around two years of meditation this time to reach level 3. Man this is going to take forever. I want to think through my new membrane skill first. Since I can only allow one kind of material through if I want it active, I should consider my options. Bacteria and Viruses both sound like a quick method to turn my life into a game of Plague Inc. I don't think I want that much suffering on my conscious.
Blood cells might be a good option towards a more organism like life but I also run the risk of not encountering any blood. I don't know what kind of world I'm in and odds are, I'm trapped under a bed or on a glass in the back of a cupboard. I may also fall down the path of like necromancy or medicine and despite how good those stories are, it's overdone and I'm really not interested in either. That leaves Dust or Clay. Honestly they both sound about the same and I couldn't say how either will affect me.
It doesn't say I need to turn it on, right? Maybe let's just leave it up to fate and handle the Membrane when we get larger and have more evidence where we are going. That feels true to theme so far and I can't think of a better idea so let's leave it alone for now.
Activate Meditative Trance for 2 years
Into the darkness we go.
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[Reincarnator: James Halverson
Form: Dust Speck LVL 2
Size: 7 μm
XP: 296
Next Level: 1800 XP]
Skills
Reincarnator's Blessing. Passive. Increase experience gain by 5%. Increase luck by 1. Improve relevance of skills upon leveling up.
Meditative Trance. Active. Voluntarily enter a state of meditation for a predetermined time. Gain 1 experience points for every day spent in meditation. If the trance is not ended early, experience points gained will be multiplied in proportion to time spent in meditation.
Assimilation. Passive. Upon direct contact with objects of similar or lesser size, the object will be assimilated into the main body.
Weak Attractive Force II. Passive. 6% more likely to attract smaller or equal sized objects that are less than 11 μm away when active.
Core Membrane. Passive. Prevents unspecified materials from coming into contact with the core. Only one type of material may be chosen.