Prologue: A cup of coffee, and maybe a mistake.
Well, I guess introductions are in order. My name is Lucas, and I am a minorly successful business consultant—or at least I was before I woke up after falling asleep on a plane in an empty white room with a small smiley face on a wall.
“Wha-what happened”
The smiley face glowed. “You died. Unfortunately, heart attacks are quite sudden, and most definitely not healthy when you do not have proper medical attention.”
In shock, my rear hit the floor. “If I am dead, then why am I here?”
Hesitantly, I say, looking at the face, “Are you… god?”
“I am one of the ninety-nine reincarnation admins.”
I was feeling overwhelmed, but something seemed to calm me down. "Reincarnation... so the Hindus were correct? Also, why the odd number? Could you just round it up?”
“Some of your world’s religions were on the correct track. And if I could answer why there is not one more, I would not be stuck babysitting Nascent Souls.”
"Before you do whatever, am I able to ask questions?”
The smiley face stopped smiling. “Sadly, you are permitted to”
My eye twitched. "So what's this whole 'nascent soul' thing?"
“Whenever an older soul dies, admins create a ‘new soul’ and give it a body; these Nascent Souls have no previous memories or lives they have lived.”
It continues to say, “Older souls die when they become corrupted and need to be purged.”
Momentarily after it paused, a blue screen appeared in front of me.
Please choose from the following options
1. Dungeon Core (Recommended)
2. Living Forest
3. Labyrinth (Not Recommended)
4. Random
| Help? |
Glancing awake from the screen, I say out loud to Smily Face, “Hey, what is this screen?”
Sounding distracted, it said, “Pick a form or use the help option.”
Feeling silly, I reach out to touch the holographic | Help | button on the screen, which is floating in air.
A new, more robotic voice begins to speak.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
[The recommendation takes into account the number of times a soul has reincarnated with memories intact]
[Due to you being a new reincarnator, the more difficult ones are not suggested, The ones that do not have a suggestion are simply the medium difficulty, simply think of it as Easy, Medium, and Hard modes from your world's video games.]
Once I read over all these messages in my view another blue screen appears
| Warning: time limit almost passed |
“What?!”
The smiley face spoke again, “Ah yes, you have a timer before you need to reincarnate. Otherwise, your soul will unravel here.”
“Uh alright, lemme see… it is a bit strange I cannot be a humanoid but oh well.”
Going off face value, I do not want to be stuck as a Labyrinth.
Since that only leaves two choices, my inner nerd was reminding me of all of the dungeon core books I read, urging me to click that option.
“Hey, Admin?”
“What.”
“Which one of the two do you recommend personally?”
A long pause follows, and then the face lights up again. “Pick the Dungeon Core. It has the longest average lifespan.”
“While all these options do have a technically infinite lifespan, some organic life forms go out of their way to slay these types of beings; starting off underground would help in the defending of your core.”
| Final Warning |
The blue screen dissipated, and hear the other robotic voice count down.
[ 5 seconds remaining ]
[ 4 seconds remaining ]
[ 3 seconds remaining ]
Do I go with it and become a dungeon?
[ 2 seconds remaining ]
Ah, screw it, either way, both are fine...
[ 1 seconds remaining ]
Reaching out, I quickly click Dungeon Core.
Once I pressed it, I saw a build-up of blue particles swirling around my hands and body.
The Smily Face glowed once again and said, “Alright, see you next time.”
I waited a few moments for the blue particles to whisk me away.
…
The blue particles spun for a few more seconds but slowly dispersed into the air.
Was something supposed to happen?
The smiley face glows, sounding tired it says, “Finally, that soul is gone.”
Wait, what? Doesn’t it know I am here? I decided to speak up.
"Hello?!? I am still here!"
The smile dims, and simultaneously, the voice fades, “I am going to go check on my coffee; it should be done by now.”
A slight panic seeps into my voice. "Can it not hear me?"
“…What happens if the admin leaves before I go?”
Admin console: automatic log-out
Running cleaning protocols
"Well, crap... I guess I am going to find out soon.
...
The robotic voice begins ringing out in an eerie tone, warping into something other than english.
[ Error ]
....
[ Error ]
....
[ ER$&@ ]
....
[ @&#$@ ]
....
An ominous red screen appears.
A sev=re error has @ccurred.
The Rein#a%*ati@n Sy&tem is att@mpting to patch the issue.
Y@u will be unconsci^us while it attempts to fix the e!ror.
Sarcastically, I manage to squeeze out a "Great. Just my luck."
And after my little remark, I promptly disappeared from existence.