"Arthur? Are you Arthur McKinley?"

A girl wearing pajamas with blonde hair looked at me impatiently, snapping her fingers while I sat silently in a daze.

"Y-Yeah... That's me. W-Where am I?"

"Ah... You're in the Heavenly Court. I'm Illyria, the Goddess assigned to you."

"Heaven?"

I looked around me, trying to see if there's anything here. In the end. all I found is just a white space that stretched out in all directions. 

Earlier, I was walking home from school after doing some errands for the student council. I know I was just a few streets away from my house before... before...

"Ah... right. I got killed earlier..."

"You got stabbed by a mugger after you made a wrong turn."

"Oh..."

That's pretty fucking sad. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I thought about how I wasted my life. Wait a minute...

"H-Hold on! Are you telling me that I just died after I finally decided to go to school?!"

"Yes. Yes, you died after trying your best to make up for your month long absence."

This isn't fucking funny. Holy shit, after I finally got motivated to go be a productive part of society, I fucking died! What the hell is wrong with my luck?!

"My family?! W-Wha-"

"They're fine. It's been a month back on Earth after you died. They're... handling it pretty well. On the bright side, one of your friends fulfilled one of your dying wishes!"

"Dying- Oh, that... Did it, did he do it properly?"

The goddess leaned back on her chair with a smug look on her face.

"Rest assured, your computer and your phone was destroyed by him with the permission of your sister. The books under your bed was also burned by him."

"That's good then. Ahhh, I have no regrets anymore."

I said softly as I laid back on my chair, ready to accept what this goddess will do to me.

"You know, that's a huge fucking lie right there."

Wait... What?

"I can see your soul, you know? I can see that you still have regrets over how you wasted your life in your room."

"Ahh... W-Will something happen to me because of that?"

The girl laughed as she stood up from her seat.

"No, not really. It's just a fun thing to point out... Anyway, about where you're going..."

The girl pulled out a large book and brought it over to me. 

"I am giving you a choice. Go fuck off in Heaven, get reincarnated back on Earth as a baby, or..."

"Oof! W-What the hell?"

The weight of the book squeazed out the air in my damn lungs. Why the hell did she toss it to me like that?

"If you want, you can go through that book and pick out some power that's available. It could be a divine sword, a blessing, or anything."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm telling you to go and choose something to help you out in the next world. If you want to go to another world that is."

I scratched my head while I looked at Illyria. She had that tired and annoyed look on her face while she looked down on me.

A sigh left my lips as I began to scan through the pages of the book.

"I knew otakus like you are gonna choose that option."

"Shut up. Anyway, I thought I'd be meeting St. Peter or Jesus... Why the hell did I meet you?"

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Ahh, those guys are off in Heaven... Anyway, just go ahead and ask me anything you want to know."

What's with her damn attitude and smug face? It's so damn annoying. 

"Yeah, this other world. What's the deal?"

Illyria smiled and sat on her table.

"Typical fantasy stuff. Magic, various races, Medieval aesthetic, and a Demon Lord that's trying to kill everything."

"What?!"

"Yeah, we send people there to deal with this Sauron looking motherfucker. We've basically been sending anyone we could over there but the guy is still walking around down there."

Illyria said those things nonchalantly while she twirled a strand of her blonde hair around her finger.

"What the fuck? And you want me to go there?!"

"Yeah. I'm giving you a chance to fulfill your power fantasies right here, right now."

Her smug tone as she said that really pissed me off, and she knew that. 

"Arthur, in your hands is the list of all the possible shit we could give you to level the playing field in the next world. Don't tell me you're gonna go ahead and abandon that c hance to lounge around in Heaven or spend another life on Earth behind a monitor."

"Ugh, shut the fuck up... Why the hell are you so fucking pissy?"

"Because you're wasting so much of my fucking time. There's like a hundred other souls in line waiting for their chance to meet their loved ones in Heaven or reincarnate to some rich family."

"Fine, I'll make this quick..."

I went through pages of the damn book looking for a great power while Illyria scrolled through her phone behind me. I could feel the occasional glances she would throw at me from time to time but I didn't pay it any mind. 

This is my second chance at life, and I'm not gonna fuck this up.

"This is my first time encountering someone like you... Are you the type to actually read the terms and agreements on a website?"

"Shut up, I don't want to go to some fantasy world with a generic shit item like an OP sword or mastery over all magic. I need something good."

"Weirdo. People already have shit in mind when given a chance like this. You're pretty fucking strange..."

Illyria laughed as she continued watching me scan through more of the items.

"It might be interesting to watch you..."

Before I could ask what she meant by that, something caught my eye.

"Blessing of... Illyria?! Hey! This is yours, right?"

Illyria's eyes widened and she immediately scrambled to my side.

"Oh, it is. I forgot about this..."

"Revival?! It says here you can revive me after dying! How the hell could you forget about something like that?!"

Illyria looked away in an effort to hide her flustered expression.

"People always ask for some crazy stuff like swords that can kill instantly or some strange power, okay?!"

Still, the fact that I could go and die a couple of times sounds pretty nice... 

"I'm choosing this one."

"What?! Are you- Are you suicidal or something?!"

"What?! No! This is a fucking overpowered power even by my standards. It's basically a respawn mechanic."

A puzzled expression was all I could see on Illyria's face. 

"Fine... Who am I to argue over someone else's choice. But man, you're gonna end up being pretty weak you know..."

Illyria snapped her fingers and the book in my hands immediately disappeared. 

"When you get there, you'll have the knowledge on how to speak and read the language of the world sent directly to your brain. Since you chose a non-combat skill, the knowledge on how to wield weapons will not be given to you so you're on your own with that..."

A faint and warm light slowly surrounded me while Illyria clasped her hands together in front of me.

"With my Authority, I grant you life! Go forth and slay the enemies of the Heavens!"

Despite being in her pajamas, Illyria looked cool as she said those words. But before I could properly take a look at the goddess in front of me, I suddenly felt myself being hurled backwards.

----------------------------------------

The sensation of soft grass and the wet ground was the first thing I experienced. When I opened my eyes, all I could see was just thick foliage and the sun just barely peeking through the leaves. Everywhere I looked, it was just trees and grass everywhere.

"Holy shit, this is not good."

Those words didn't do justice to what I currently felt.

The rustling noises everywhere just made me feel uneasy.

"So... is this like Minecraft? I just have to punch a tree or something?"

I looked at the birch tree beside me while I curled my fists in anticipation.

"Not a good idea."

The best course of action for me right now is to walk. Walk and hopefully find civilization.

While I did my best to walk through the woods, I would occasionally break some of the branches to keep track of my path. I've been dong this for the past fifteen minutes now and I am still surrounded by trees. Luckily, I found a path a few metres to the right of me and I have been following that for the majority of my walk.

"I could really use some water right- Wait a minute..."

The faint sound of running water ahead of me made my throat a little dry. 

"Water is good... Yeah, let's go towards it."

I said to myself as I picked up the pace. Thankfully, the path towards what I think is a stream is starting to get cleaner and free from bushes and low hanging branches. 

As I continued along the path, the sound kept getting clearer and I could hear the faint sounds of fire crackling. As I got closer, I could definitely spot the stream running through the woods along with the smoke of a camp fire.

"Finally! I could get out of this place!"

I said loudly as I stepped into a clearing beside the stream.

There was a fairly large tent made out of animal hide and some people eating beside the fire. But before I could get closer, I noticed the animal skulls hanging around everywhere. In fact, there was a funny smell coming from the people around the fire.

"E-Excuse... me..."

"Uruah? Uguwah! Uhua! Uhua!"

I stopped dead in my tracks as one of the people around the fire noticed me and started pointing at me. The others immediately dropped what I think was cooked rabbits to turn and look at me. I noticed thier large, wooden clubs beside them when they picked it up.

The people I thought were campers looked funny. They looked sorta green and pretty fucking uncivilized based on the way they were on guard towards me. Then it fucking hit me.

Oh shit. These aren't people...

Green skins, clubs, ugly faces.

"Orcs? Orcs?!"

Before I could run away, one of the large Orcs threw a large stone at me. Thankfully, it missed me and it instead took out a large chunk of the tree behind me.

"Fuck my life."

I muttered out as I immediately bolted the way I just came from as a group of Orcs chased after me.