[Name: Shai @*&!">~`@]
[Level: -1]
=o=o=o=
[Physique: F (1/6)]
[Mind: F (1/6)]
[Spirit: E (2/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Physical Growth: F (1/6)]
[Mental Growth: D (3/6)]
[Spiritual Growth: F (1/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Sensitivity: F (1/6)]
[Combat: F (1/6)]
[Creation: ? (0/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 1)]
Looking at the screen, Shai was baffled. He had just woken up and this was what greeted him. In a room that was not his own. With a face he could not even begin to identify.
"Who am I?"
"Where am I?"
"What am I doing?"
For a moment, Shai was unable to locate his memories. In his stupor, he knocked down a glass of water. The crashing, shattering of glass resounded in his room.
No one took notice.
Then, the memories returned.
"I'm Shai. Myself. Someone who has lived on Earth for a good twenty-seven years."
That, he was sure of.
As for the screen...
"This ornate design should be from... Chronicles of the Wizard's Tower..."
A realisation dawned upon him. Memories of his own death appeared in his mind. The warm blood. The cold pain.
The shooting.
Shai quickly shook his head. The monsters of trauma were a haunting vision.
"Have I reincarnated?" He muttered, astounded by this revelation.
—Ding.
It was the sound of a bell. Crisp and cheerful.
[Quest: Hell-mode Survival]
[Description: Survive! At all costs! No matter what! In despair and desperation! Crawl like the worm you are!]
[S-Rank Clear Rating Reward: Reincarnation]
[A-Rank Clear Reward: Painless Death]
...
...
...
[F-Rank Clear Reward: Painful Death]
...
...
...
[Failure Reward: Eternal Damnation]
"..."
Such a screen would siphon the words out of anyone who would bear witness to it. Shai was no exception. The numerous deaths that he would be 'rewarded' with were terrifying. However, such was his original fate, so he did not mind it much.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
It seemed like someone stopped time just moments before his soul was snuffed out.
"Reincarnation..."
Shai felt a wave of excitement wash over him.
Perhaps, getting the S-Rank Clear Reward was worth a shot.
"But the hell-mode difficulty..." Shai grimaced. A shiver ran through his spine.
Shai looked back at the familiar status window hovering in front of him. Its unmoving, ethereal nature was the only solace he had.
"But, what the hell am I supposed to do with a negative level?"
Shai wanted to scream. Survive? In a world where all paths practically led to death?
In a game where no character was supposed to make it to the end, other than the protagonist?
In a game where the main quest was reduced to a bare minimum requirement — life?
The devs themselves decided to make hell-mode impossible to clear. It was his fate to perish no matter what. When Shai played Chronicles of the Wizard's Tower, all he could do was make it so that the way he died was fancy. It got him a lot of views on the internet, so it could be called a minor win.
Other than that, he had nothing.
"...Save for cheating."
There was a mod that he had installed in his version of the game.
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 1)]
It allowed a player to redistribute their stats whenever they wanted to. Unfortunately for him, just as he was coming home to have a go at his newly installed mod, he died.
In quite a brutal and unjust way at that.
Shai stopped himself from reliving that moment once again. The existential dread that grasped at his heart like a malicious witch was nothing sort of discomforting.
—Ding Dong!
—Ding Dong!
—Ding Dong!
The school bell rang thrice. Shai realised that he was in a dorm room. At a school that he had grown familiar with over the countless hours he had poured into the game.
Shai shook open his wristwatch to check the date and time.
"Today... is the day of the opening ceremony."
A dreadful day for someone like him with stats at F-Rank. The lowest of the low. The most mundane of the mundane.
"How did I even get enrolled in the first place?"
The school he was in was prestigious. To the point of being heralded as a school that only let the children of the gods within its grounds. Geniuses and prodigies were abundant. Talents beyond imagination intermingled like it was nothing.
This was a congregation of those at the pinnacle of the world.
"No wonder..."
Shai looked at himself in the mirror. What was staring back at him was an amalgamation of pixelated flesh and colours, dressed in a school uniform of the void.
"I'm a glitch. I shouldn't be here."
***
"I need to think,"
Shai bit his lip, even if it wasn't shown in the mirror. He knew that he couldn't appear before anyone in this state. He had to make a decision, and the only hint he had was a certain line in his status screen.
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 1)]
Perhaps this was the mercy of the heavens indeed.
With a thought, Shai invoked the usage of his Specialty.
[You may now redistribute your stats.]
"Alright, let's see what we can do..."
[Name: Shai @*&!">~`@]
[Level: -1]
=o=o=o=
[Physique: F (1/6) ] [+] [-]
[Mind: F (1/6)] [+] [-]
[Spirit: F (1/6)] [+] [-]
=o=o=o=
[Physical Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Mental Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Spiritual Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
=o=o=o=
[Sensitivity: F (1/6)] [+] [-]
[Combat: F (1/6)] [+] [-]
[Creation: A (6/6)] [+] [-]
=o=o=o=
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 0)]
=o=o=o=
[Confirm? Y/N]
"To sacrifice my growth for the sake of magical crafting..."
Shai felt like he had gone insane.
In the game, [Creation] was a stat that dictated how well a person was at making things with magic. Whether it be for alchemy, forging, arrays, or even cooking, [Creation] was the stat that one would need.
However, Shai was not satisfied. Mods were a rule-breaking entity. Since he added it, he would abuse its features. The plus sign still existed.
[Name: Shai @*&!">~`@]
[Level: -1]
=o=o=o=
[Physique: ? (0/6) ] [+]
[Mind: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Spirit: ? (0/6)] [+]
=o=o=o=
[Physical Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Mental Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Spiritual Growth: ? (0/6)] [+]
=o=o=o=
[Sensitivity: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Combat: ? (0/6)] [+]
[Creation: !@$*# (11/6)] [+] [-]
=o=o=o=
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 0)]
=o=o=o=
[Confirm? Y/N]
With a manic cackle, Shai made his decision.
"Confirm!"
—Crack!
The moment Shai made his changes, he felt his entire body burning away. Dissolving into atoms. His mind seemed to dissipate. His consciousness waned.
Every fibre of his being had been reduced to nothing.
But the system panel still existed.
—Ding!
[You are the first in existence to have achieved ?-Rank in Creation!]
[You are the first in existence to have achieved !@-Rank in Creation!]
[You are the first in existence to have achieved $*#-Rank in Creation!]
[You are the first in existence to have achieved !$*?-Rank in Creation!]
[You are the first in existence to have achieved !@$*#-Rank in Creation!]
[You have been endowed with the title: One True Maker]
[You have levelled up.]
[You are now Level: 0]
[You have levelled up.]
[You are now Level: 1]
[You have been born. Distributing basic stats.]
A slew of screens appeared in Shai's face, disrupting his vision and flooding it with a gleaming blue.
[Name: Shai | "One True Maker"]
[Level: 1]
=o=o=o=
[Physique: F (1/6) ]
[Mind: F (1/6)]
[Spirit: F (1/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Physical Growth: F (1/6)]
[Mental Growth: F (1/6)]
[Spiritual Growth: F (1/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Sensitivity: F (1/6)]
[Combat: F (1/6)]
[Creation: !@$*# (11/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 0)]
=o=o=o=
Shai's brow twitched.
"A flat one in all stats aside from Creation... I have been reborn as a regular person..."
What kind of luck did he have? Shai wanted to cry. However, he did not dwell much on this aspect.
Looking at the mirror, he finally found a familiar face staring back at him. His face, his body. Jet-black hair and sly features like that of a smiling snake. A lean body that was built for agility.
"It's good to be back."
Shai laughed, simply happy to be alive once more. Yet, even this joy was short-lived.
—Ding Dong!
—Ding Dong!
—Ding Dong!
"...I'm late!"