There was no light, I was surrounded by a infinite black void. Dying was quite the storm of emotions, 1 part anger, 1 part sadness, 4 parts regret. Though I was feeling a bit better now.

I felt like I was floating on a cloud cradled in a pleasent, soft warmth. I tried to move, but found I was not able to. My body is gone, replaced by a bright glowing brown ball that expands and contracts, pulsing rhythmically like a beating heart. it was the only color in this pure black abyss. It was quiet, to quiet, not like the pleasant quietness of the mountainside I died on, devoid of the noise of the city. No, this silence was absolute, nothing. the creepy kind, the kind that eats away at a mans sanity, degrading their mind till their rambeling to there imaginary friend Bob about why all politicians are lizards.

was this hell... limbo? Did I do something to deserve hell? I did break my dads favorite lamp once... I stole a dinosaur shaped eraser off the kid who sat next to me in the 7th grade when he was in the bathroom, I still had that on my desk at work... I dropped a candy wrapper and did not go back to pick it up... No that should not be nearly enough to go to hell. At least I hope not. At least thats a small comfort. But even if this is not hell If im stuck here for a long enough time then this might as well be hell. I can only hope this is not permenant.

"Welcome Child" a calm feminine motherly voice rung out suddenly from the void. I look around but I can't see anyone else in the void. Im dead right? "Yes, you unfortunately met a early and unpleasent death" Dammit "but you will at least get your final wish" what do you mean? "A second chance, thats what you asked for right?" thank god "you will be reincarnated in another world, one with magic and monsters" wait really? That sounds amazing.

"unfortunately you cant be reincarnated as a human" well thats not so bad, I could be an elf or something, right? "No, unfortunetly there are rules around reincarnation, some are more flexible than others, but there are some things even I cant change." I have a bad feeling about where this is going "all humans reincarnate when they die, but normaly your soul is wiped clean, and as such you lose your memories from your last life, for the most part. often times a trace of some of personality traits of the preivious person are left behind on the soul and inherited. In very rare cases even more is left behind, such as some of the memories of the last life." wait so some of those frauds claiming to have memory of past lives may not have been lying? "yes" wait does this mean I have to lose my memories? "No I shall bestow a blessing upon you which will allow you to keep your past experiences, memories, and intellegence" thats nice but im not even that smart to begin with is keeping my intelegence as is a blessing? "yes it is. The caveat of this is that I cant send you back to your own planet if I allow you to keep your memory that is why Im sending you to a different planet" why not? "we made an agreement not to" whos we? she does not answer, did she just ignore me?

"the unfortunate part has to do with how you died" Buried alive? "yes you died to an act of nature by means of soil and rocks" yeah why is that important? "the way you die affects what you can be reincarnated as, your soul is extremely saturated with earth tainted mana due to your cause of death and the fact that before you died your soul already had alot of earth mana in it, that part of the reason you felt and atraction to nature" so why does that mean I cant be a human? "if your soul was mostly pure mana with only some of the earth mixed in you could reincarnate as a human with a strong earth affinity. But there is so much tainted mana that a level 1 human body is simply incompatible, a level 1 elf, demon, orc, merman, and many others are also incompatible, even a subterranean, which are like a human but blind, shorter, and possess large claws, thick skin, and sharpened senses of hearing and smelling, they live almost exclusively deep underground, and even they arent compatible" well then what am I suposed to be? "There are only two things I can reincarnate you as, please make your selection" a box suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of me startling me.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Select a race to be reincarnated as.

Living Rock

A rock.

Cannot move. Mostly low stats. High defense. High hp. Strong mana sight. Relies on mana sight due to lack of other senses. High mana regen. Very high earth affinity.

Muddling

A small earth elemental composed of mud, It has a core which if destroyed will result in the death of the elemental.

Mostly low stats. Flexible liquid body. Hp regen. physical attack resistance. Very high earth affinity. Low intelligence. Really great hearing.

This is... These both seem like shity options. Like a rock? seriously? I want to go with the Muddling which also seems weak but at least its better then being a rock. but the part about low inteligence scares me. Am I going to be forced to return to monke after I reinccarnate. "no you will not, thats why you keeping your intelligence due to your blessing is so important, While muddling's are very weak a muddling possessing human intelligence should not be as pathetic, and will allow you to grow, amd to achieve your wish. Unless you want to be a rock, that is an option" no i'm fine, i'll be a muddling.

Before that I do have a question, normaly in the novels I used to read when something like this happens they get a op power, or something along those lines. "you will get some advatages due to my blessing, partly to make up for you getting reincarnated as a muddling, and with those you hopefully wont die immediately. But it's nothing ridiculous, do you really want an op power?" what do you mean by do I really want power? I mean I want power right... No your right I did not make my final wish with the intention of wanting everything to get handed to me. I wanted to achieve things, not just be a charity case. I dont want you to give me op powers, I will get them myself. "That is why I chose to help you" I swear she was smiling as she said that, I could hear it in her voice.

Atlas has selected Muddling as their race

I had made my choice. the glow coming from my body suddenly increased in intensity and the rythmic beat got faster. I could now hear a thumping noise reveberating from my soul. the light lit up the void as everything started to fade to brown.

wait who are you? "me?" I need to know who granted my wish, I have not even seen what you look like. A flash of bright white light blinded me for a second and then I saw her. She was the most beutiful woman I have ever seen, she looked like she was in her early 30s. She was perfectly symetrical, tall with large breasts, a skiny waist, slender arms, wide hips, and large thighs which tapered of into slender lower legs. She had pale white porcelain skin, and all of her features where delicate and and refined. she had waist long flowing white hair that seemed to sway in a breeze that did not exist and her eyes had pure black irises. Every inch of her glowed in a holy white light. on her back she had 2 sets of large pure white angle wings one right below the other on the back of shoulders. And though she was floating in the air the wings did not flap. she was wearing a simple long dress made out of a simple but beutiful pure white fabric that like her hair seem to be constantly wind swept. She was barefoot, and she had a black obsidian ankle bracelet around her left ankle. She was smiling, It was a loving smile like a mother would give her child. "You may call me Oriana. I am the goddess of the beginning. Bye Atlas, We will meet again someday, I wish you luck with your second life."

the brown glow got so bright that it was all I could see. I could feel my self falling asleep. I will not be life's bitch like I used to be, this time I will make life my bitch. With that final thought I fell asleep.