“The more time that we waste here, the more time your sister has to discover and grow her power.”

The office noises returned all at once and he stopped drilling into my eyes with that gaze. He turned around and pulled out a stack of papers that was damn near as tall as me, which he slammed on the desk where it swayed side to side in a way that defied gravity.

“Now then, as a participant in the Second Chance Reincarnation Program, you are to be sent to a fantastical world of your choosing, with a class of your choice. There you will do battle against whatever calamity is currently plaguing it. Once that world has been sufficiently saved, and you’ve amassed great power from your journey, you will be returned to Earth to have a final showdown with your sister and end her evil for good!”

So he was essentially saying that I was going to live out the fantasy of every Japanese dude in the world. Was I getting fucking isekai’d? Reincarnated into another world, given awesome power, then a chance to dunk on Yuki? That sounded like a pretty damn good deal to me. There wasn’t any reason I could see to say no. What was my alternative? Permanent death?

“Uh, Mister Johnny—”

“Please, just Johnny.”

“Right, Johnny. What happens if I refuse?”

“Why would you refuse? This is your chance to save two worlds!”

“Humor me?”

“Well, I suppose we can’t force you to go along. Your soul would be sent on to the appropriate afterlife, which is…”

He flipped through the papers, and then found what he was looking for.

“Oh… That’s not ideal.”

“What?”

“I really shouldn’t say…”

“Oh come on! Where am I going!”

“Lets just say that if you do save two worlds, it will definitely give you some brownie points with Management.”

Son of a bitch. I was going to Hell? For what!

“Alright. Fine. I’ll save the world. Show me the list.”

“Excellent! I knew that you’d make the right choice! Here you go!”

He handed me a smaller stack of papers which had a massive selection of worlds to choose from. Each had their name, a description of what they were like, and what I’d be up against. There was a dystopian cyberpunk world where I’d wage battle against a mega corporation. Another which was exactly the same but with magic. Yet another but with steampunk.

I took my time reading through, setting a few to the side as prospective picks. Johnny tapped his fingers while he waited and watched.

“Oh, this looks like it might be good.”

The world of Abfalle, medieval fantasy in a world of swords and magic. Save the world from the tyranny of the twenty Lords of Destruction and their leader, the Chaos Emperor Aradante. I handed it to Johnny, who looked it over and smiled.

“Not a bad choice if I say so myself. Not too difficult, but not so easy that it’d leave you unprepared for the battle with the Antichrist. As for your selection of available classes, the setting would of course limit your choices a bit. Only because it wouldn’t make much sense to let you have abilities involving automatic firearms or giant mech suits in a world that has neither of those things! You will still have an impressive list available to you though!”

That made sense. What was the point in saving the world if I accidentally ruined it by introducing advanced tech?

“Quick question? How do these classes work exactly? Is it like a video game RPG system?”

“Heaven no! We used to have such a system in place across the worlds we manage. It kept track of one’s abilities in numerical stats, and you could unlock new skills and such by ‘leveling up’, but that ended up being far too complicated for us to oversee up here.”

He sighed, a slight battle-scarred look to his eye.

“We kept running into this problem where the newly reincarnated would stumble on some silly number loophole or broken ability that we’d missed, and then they’d just break the whole system. In fact, if you look through that stack, there are a few worlds were it got so far out of hand that now we have to send other people there later to fix it.”

“So no more system?”

“Indeed! It took a long time to faze it out, but nowadays we have a much more simple method. When you pick your class, your mind and body will be implanted with the skills and powers that you need. As your journey progresses and you meet certain milestones, such as defeating a powerful enemy or uniting the people, more and more of your power will be made available to you.”

That made sense, I guess. I’d read a lot of light novels about reincarnation that involved a system. I always thought that it’d be a pain in the ass to implement and work around in reality.

“I guess I’ll stick with Abfalle then.”

“Excellent!”

He ticked off a box on a form he was holding before brandishing a thick leather-bound book at me.

“Now you can pick your class. There are hundreds of great options available to you! Just as some examples, you could be a paladin who smites evil with the power of the gods! Or a ranger that snipes foes from afar with your bow. Maybe you want to be a wizard that blasts your enemies away with overwhelming arcane might? Of course, some classes in there are locked to you, because you are to be a hero. Things like Blood Mage and Death Knight are obviously banned. I don’t think you’d like them very much anyway.”

Huh?

“Wait, why are those classes even in there if I’m not allowed to pick them?”

“Because those are for villains!”

“Isn’t this a reincarnation process for heroes?”

Johnny just cocked his head at the question, like a dog when its confused.

“Never mind, I’ll just look through the list.”

It felt like I spent days sitting there reading through all of the options. Johnny let me borrow some tape and a pencil so I could bookmark the options I liked.

There was one in particular that grabbed me like a vice grip.

Telekineticist: Is capable of teleporting themselves and other objects, along with manipulating objects remotely.

Like holy shit. About half of stage magic is making things move in ways that someone doesn’t expect, so why wouldn’t I pick it? Sure, there were other classes that let me control the four elements or heal people or summon hordes of monsters. None of that appealed to me like this did.

“Alright. I pick Telekineticist.”

“Great choice! Now, at the beginning you’ll be able to teleport yourself or a small object about ten feet in a given direction, or move a small object with the force of about fifty foot-pounds.”

“That doesn’t sound like very much.”

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“Well, that’s just starting out! As a hero, you are going to grow in power significantly faster than anyone in that world is capable of, and to a much greater level. Besides, we’re not going to just dump you in the wild and wish you good luck! We stopped doing that ages ago.”

“I guess that makes sense then. If I show up too powerful that’ll kinda ruin the point of me having some training arc?”

“Exactly!”

He ticked off another box on the form with a flourish without looking.

“Now there is just one more thing that we need to settle before sending you to the new world. Most folks in Abfalle have a very European style of naming, so your first name might be a bit out of place there. Would you like to pick a new name for yourself or would you prefer to constantly deal with odd stares by the locals when you introduce yourself?”

“Huh… A whole new name… New me, new name? Sure.”

I thought back to when my laptop still functioned. There was an MMO that I played during my breaks at work.

“Lord Ferillion.”

It was not the most heroic of names, but it was leagues better than using my own name since I was being given the chance to pick. My parents had picked just about the worst name they could’ve.

No, I won’t be telling you what it is.

“Very well, ‘Lord Ferillion’, just bare in mind that the title does not grant you any actual claim to nobility or holdings.”

“Oh, yeah, right, I didn’t really think about that. I just thought that the honorific sounded cool.”

“In that case, we are all wrapped up here! I’ll be sending ahead a divine messenger to tell the world to begin preparing for your arrival. He’ll be letting them know about a week prior to your actual appearance.”

“Ok.”

“You will be placed in the capital of the Kingdom of Damadell. They will help you along your quest. It is custom among worlds where we send heroes that they provide you with gear and currency to help you get started.”

It was nice to know that I wasn’t going to be a homeless bum, and have a nation backing me. A golden portal opened beside me, the event horizon was blinding.

“Once you step through that portal, everything on this form is set in stone and cannot be changed. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I can be!”

“Are you sure? Do you want to check it over?”

“There’s no sense in wasting more time by second doubting myself! You said it yourself, the more time I waste here the more time Yuki has to gain power.”

“Alrighty then! When you exit the portal your body will have changed around a bit to accommodate your new class, so don’t panic!”

“Wait, what do you mean change?”

“Oh, just small stuff like building muscle for warriors, growing of mana conduits for mages, that sort of stuff.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Nope!”

“That’s good…”

I stepped toward the portal and tested it with my fingertip. It felt tingly.

"Actually... One more thing? What happens if I fail? Like, if I die?"

"Oh, in that case you'll go straight to your designated afterlife as normal. No third chances around here."

“Right... Well, no time like the present. Bye Johnny!”

“Good luck Lord Ferillion!”

With that I leapt into the portal, committing to my new life as the savior of Abfalle. The light was all-consuming. My hands began to tingle to no end. I couldn’t even look down to see what was going on.

As I traveled through and the portal began closing behind me, I swear I heard something along the lines of, “I che— th— wro— box!”

I’m sure it was nothing important.

For a few moments when I came out the other side it felt like I was staring straight into a sunlamp, and no matter how hard I closed my eyes the light refused to dim. I was convinced for a second that my eyeballs would be burnt clear out of my skill. Just as I was giving up hope on ever being able to see again, and started pondering a career in Law and Vigilantism, the blinding light finally gave way.

It took a moment longer for the spots to clear from vision, but when they did the sight before me was something to behold. I found that I was standing in the center of a circular stone platform that raised about five feet from the ground, right in the middle of a massive grand courtyard. Statues of knights and heroic looking figures lined the four brick-paved pathways that lead to each of the gargantuan doors that must have led to the castle proper, or to the outside.

Rows upon rows of knights in gloriously shining armor stood to both sides of the path right before me, easily two hundred of them stood in perfect formation. Just behind them, standing packed shoulder to shoulder, was a crowd of men and women in the most regal looking of medieval nobility attire. All of them were clambering to get a look at me. Between the two formations of knights sat a elaborate golden throne that looked like it was meant to be hauled around just for public occasions such as this.

Seated there on a pile of fancy pillows was an elderly man, his hair white as the clouds above and his face weathered and scarred. Even from where I stood I could see that his eyes still shimmered with the wisdom and spirit that dwelt within him. His purple robes were fringed with golden tassels, and underneath he sported an engraved golden chestplate. The crowd was in an uncontrollable uproar, their cheers pierced the heavens above.

The singular thing that could calm them was the act of their king rising from his throne and lifting his hand as a command to silence. Much like a classroom full of rowdy kids who were scolded by their teacher, they shut right up.

“Welcome Lord Hero to the Grand Kingdom of Damadell! We have long awaited the prophesied day of your arrival, for you to save us from the tyranny of the Chaos Emperor! I am the ruler of this blessed land, King Gordeldin, and I swear that I shall do everything in my power to grant you whatever assistance you’ll need during your quest!”

The crowd let out a cheer, and quieted for him to continue.

“Even as we speak my royal blacksmiths and enchanters are working together to finish a set of armor and weapons worthy of your use. The Holy Church has agreed to unseal the vault of the legendary sword Flashedge, so that it may take its rightful place in your hand!”

He let the crowd cheer longer this time, as the mention of the sword seemed to rile them up.

“The greatest champions of this land are being gathered as well, to join you in your battles!”

The ground itself felt like it was being shaken by an earthquake from the sheer uproar of the crowd. Yet even they would silence for their king to speak.

“Tonight a grand feast will be held in honor of your arrival! Do you have any words for those gathered here, any great message you wish to spread to the corners of the kingdom?”

The ground itself felt like it was being shaken by an earthquake from the sheer uproar of the crowd. Yet even they would silence for their king to speak.

“Tonight a grand feast will be held in honor of your arrival! Do you have any words for those gathered here, any great message you wish to spread to the corners of the kingdom?”

The audience grew so loud that it was starting to give me a seriously splitting migraine. I already wanted to get this introduction over with so that I could go inside and sit down, maybe have something cold to drink. Imitating the king, I raised my hands to silence them and cleared my throat as I prepared a short speech.

“Citizens of Damadell, I—”

I was cut off by a woman’s shrill scream that drilled into my ear. They sure were excited to hear from their hero, weren’t they? I was about to continue when more of them began to scream. The knights started drawing their weapons, pointing swords and spears in my direction. All of the color in the king’s face drained away, and he tripped backwards over his throne as he tried to back up. He fell into his seat and started to stammer.

“Who, who are you! What have you done with Lord Ferillion?”

“What?”