[You have died.]
That was the last thing he saw before he died.
* * *
Groaning in pain he slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He was on a vast green field. Except for grass, there was nothing around.
[Calculating karmic points accumulated... Calculation complete. Opening death choices.]
[Automatic Message! You might be confused about what happened. Well, you died. After a person dies they come here where they will somewhat manipulate what they will receive in the next life. But you can't simply make yourself the most handsome/powerful or anything else for free. During your life, before you died that is, you have done good and bad things. They formed what is generally known as 'Karmic Points'. With these points, you will be able to purchase different things that you will receive in your next life. I wish you good luck poor soul!]
"What..." he didn't even get to finish his sentence when more windows started appearing one after the other.
[Karmic shop unlocked.]
[Unlocking memories from before death.]
[Please proceed with buying your desired items. You need help just ask and the system will reply to you.]
With the sudden flux of information inside his head, he finally remembered who he was and what happened. He was Lucas Rey, he was 19 years old and started working not that much long ago. His parents died recently and he had to start caring for himself. As such, he got himself a job, but before long an accident happened, that caused his death it seems.
He was checking the inventory in the warehouse of a shop that he was working at when one of the shelves with materials suddenly collapsed on him. Before he died everything started to slow down. At the moment of impact, he knew that he will definitely die so he stopped struggling. As his vision started fading that window appeared and he woke up here with all of these windows.
'This is not what I imagined it will happen. Usually, there is a beautiful goddess waiting for you here, or an old man giving you a cheat like power and sending you on your way. But it seems that what I am experiencing is what everybody will experience after they died. *Sigh*' thought Lucas with a sigh escaping his lips at the end.
"Umm. Mr. or Ms. System, how do I open the so-called shop?" Lucas asked out loud hoping that the window from earlier didn't trick him someway or another.
[Please say either out loud or in your head the words 'Open Karmic Shop'. This is how you usually issue a command. And I am a woman. Despite the fact that The Creator can command me, I have a body and sentience too.]
The last one was an interesting one, but it's not that important at this moment.
'Open Karmic Shop'
[Karmic Shop]
[Available Karmic Points: 12750] (Remark: That's a lot of points.)
[Categories]
[Abilities - Received after the awakening ritual]
[Skills - Received upon first status opening]
[Talents - Received upon birth]
[Bloodlines - Received after the awakening ritual] (Remark: Buying two bloodlines could result in a conflict which might lead to death.)
The Karmic Shop was neatly arranged and easy to use by the looks of it. Lucas clicked on the 'Abilities' tab and a long list appeared in front of him. Names of abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, synthesis, metal manipulation etc were presented in front of him.
Looking over the list, Lucas was dazed by how many of them were. Their prices ranged from 10 KP to tens of thousands. For example, the ability to revive somebody dead was 70.000 KP. When comparing the number of points that he had with that price it seemed that he had a rather pitiful amount. But then again that ability could revive anybody for an unlimited amount of times. There was a lesser version for almost every skill, even for revive.
Quickly checking the other three categories and seeing that every one of them had a similar looking list Lucas was amazed out of his mind. To think that there could exist so many types of abilities it was unfathomable to him.
* * *
A few days later Lucas finally finished reading through the list and decided what to pick. It was fortunate that in this dimension or rather that in his state, he couldn't get hungry, thirsty or sleepy. It took great effort to look at what everything gave him and to calculate their total price.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
In the end, he decided to pick the next items:
[Synthesis]
Type: Ability
Version: Complete
The ability to combine any two or more skills and/or items to create a skill.
Price: 550 KP
[Devour]
Type: Ability
Version: Complete
Gives a certain chance of getting a part of the status and/or some of the skills that the eaten creature had when alive.
Price: 1000 KP
[Lucky Cat]
Type: Ability
Version: Complete
Raises the luck attribute by a huge amount. (Remark: Lucky Cats are creatures that have very high luck. They are in very few numbers and are impossible to meet since they are scared of everyone.)
Price: 1000 KP
[Undying Body]
Type: Ability
Version: Incomplete
Makes the host almost undying. The host can still be killed by having his body destroyed completely instantly, getting his soul annihilated.
Price: 1500 KP
[Identify]
Type: Skill
Mastery: Mastered
The ability to identify any object or living creature in your field of view.
Price: 100 KP
[Storage]
Type: Skill
Mastery: -
An infinite space that has the time frozen in which you can store anything you want.
Price: 100 KP
[Blacksmithing]
Type: Talent
Grade: Highest
You can learn and comprehend any blacksmithing related knowledge and skills.
Price: 700 KP
[Enchanter]
Type: Talent
Grade: Highest
You can learn and comprehend any enchanting related knowledge and skills.
Price: 1200 KP
[Alchemy]
Type: Talent
Grade: Highest
You can learn and comprehend any alchemy related knowledge and skills.
Price: 1000 KP
[Swordsmanship]
Type: Talent
Grade: High
You can learn and comprehend how to use a sword a lot easier.
Price: 200 KP
[Magician]
Type: Talent
Grade: High
You can learn and comprehend how to magic spells. You can raise your affinities faster than normal.
Price: 400 KP
[Dragon]
Type: Bloodline
Grade: S
Density: Royalty
Upon awakening, your bloodline will enhance your body in a way similar to a dragon.
Perks:
* Race change from X to Dragon-X (Remark: X being your previous race.)
* Stronger body constitution
* Maxed Mana Affinity
* Aging Immunity
* Higher attributes (Every attribute received is more than normal)
* Unknown talent(s)
* Transformation Skill
* High Regeneration Ability
* Flight Skill
* Abnormal Strength Ability
* New attribute: Comprehension
Price: 5000 KP
What Lucas selected can only be said to be a cheat. Excluding everything else, just the bloodline alone is already overpowered. But this doesn't mean anything. As [System] said to him when he was looking through the list of things he could buy, there are existences that can destroy the whole planet that he will reincarnate in a single punch.
It's true that what he selected is overpowered but only if he knows how to make use of them and is strong-willed enough to pass the trials that will be set upon him.
Coming back to what he selected. The abilities, they come in complete and incomplete versions. For fear that they will never be purchased, the [System] make incomplete versions of them. The complete version includes all the power of the ability. The incomplete on the other hand comes in multiple forms, there are incomplete forms that have not even 1% of the original power, and there are other incomplete forms that have 99% of the original power. The one incomplete that Lucas has chosen has around 80 to 90% of its original power.
The grades for talent are Lowest, Low, Intermediate, High and Highest. The Highest grade signifies that you can comprehend anything related to said talent given enough time. The next lower one is a bit worse but not by much.
Bloodlines, on the other hand, are split into two. The grade and the density. The grade range from I to S. The density is pretty self-explanatory of what it is. The density grades are Thin, Normal, Warrior, Lord, Royalty. From the lowest to the highest. The higher the density the more power can the owner access.
If you leave unused points they are automatically deleted. The points are as mentioned above gained by doing good or bad deeds. From good deeds, you gain points while from bad you lose points. But as to balance it the system made so that you gain more points from good deeds than you would lose from bad deeds.
For example, if you save someone life you can gain let's say 100 points. But if you kill a person you will only lose let's say only 10 points.
All this said, Lucas simply pressed the purchase button on the window. Once pressed the window disappeared a new one appeared in its place.
[Congratulations on your purchase! For spending more than 10.000 Karma Points you are now qualified to keep your memories after you reincarnate. I wish you a good new life.]
A few seconds after the message appeared Lucas vision went blank and he disappeared from his spot.
* * *
In a room made out of redwood, with paintings and nice carved wood furniture, a woman was laying on a bed surrounded by other women wearing maid clothes.
By the looks of it, she was trying to give birth. By her side, a robust man with a refined air around him was looking at her with gentle eyes and a loving smile.
"Give your all, dear. Soon, our child will be born," the man encouraged her. As soon as his words left his mouth she issued a sharp scream followed by the scream of an infant.
As the baby was born she slumped on the bed with a fatigued smile on her face. She and the infant were both cleaned by the maids surrounding her and the man.
As she was carrying the infant in her arms looking at it with a loving motherly gaze she said to the man, "As he is a boy let's name him Lucas."
The man smiled and looked at his newborn son and gently patted his wife on her shoulder, "Yes, I have a feeling that his future will be something we can't even begin to describe."
The infant seemingly trying to fight his urge to fall asleep tried to open his eyes without success, falling asleep in the process.