As JJ slowly came to his senses, the first thing he became aware of was the pervasive sense of blue in the surroundings. It was both a color and a feeling. It swirled around him like currents in various hues, while far brighter blobs seemed to float by at random.

He felt as though he was submerged in water, and yet he felt no terror, no urge to breathe, simply a gentle calm caress over his entire body.

The blue that flowed around him seemed to exist within the water itself that currently submerged his resting form. The bright blobs in his perception were small, jelly like creatures that wandered mindlessly while absorbing tiny amounts of the blue in the environment. As he felt his own form absorbing this mysterious blue substance, he finally realized what he was looking at. Mana.

As he focused harder, he noticed shades of brownish mana flowing through the ground beneath him. This mana was much slower, much harder for him to sense, and did not seem to be readily absorbed by his body. Minuscule amounts of different unknown colors of mana were floating about in his surroundings, or even popping in and out of existence.

Feeling like he was waking from a fantastical dream, JJ finally came to the unsettling realization that his body was not the same one he was used to. He had no hands to grab with or feet to walk, not even a head with which to see, simply a spherical blob that jiggled around as he tried to move.

Finally shaking off the last of his stupor, JJ willed his astral form up and out of his current form in terror, flying out of the lake and taking in an aerial view of his surroundings.

Seeing a beautiful lake, a lush forest, and a plethora of cute wildlife creatures surrounding him would have been quite calming in normal circumstances, if it wasn't for the one thing he couldn't find. His body.

'I really died. My classmates are gone. Captured? Enslaved? Worse? I don't know. And my body is nowhere to be seen' JJ grumbled to himself as he recalled the series of events that led to his current situation.

'Then what is this? The afterlife? What am I now? Am I even still alive?' he wondered. 'I'm not. Definitely. I'm dead. Gone. But, I'm not gone? What do I even do, now?'

Before he lost consciousness, JJ had hyper-focused on the thoughts of revenge and survival. His fight or flight response didn't allow him to ponder such questions of existential dread, but now they were coming back with a vengeance.

Taking a closer look around, he began to catalogue everything he could see, whether in the hopes of gaining answers or perhaps in the hopes of avoiding answers he didn't want to acknowledge, JJ himself didn't know.

Water flowing.

A beautiful sun shining.

Slimes meandering.

Trees waving.

Birds flying.

Lizards crawling.

Bushes shaking.

Rocks doing whatever rocks do.

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Goblins frolicking.

Goblins? JJ paused and looked back again as he saw a couple of small green-skinned humanoids frolicking on the water's edge, waving crudely fashioned spears back and forth at a couple of water slimes, as another sat on the shore and barked at them in apparent mirth.

'Haha! I see what's going on!' JJ laughed 'It's a second chance! Haha. Isn't this like character selection? Pick your creature, then explore a beautiful fantasy forest, improve your skills, and seek out tales of great adventure with a future plot-line of revenge against diabolical and super-powerful late game enemies? Haha, it's just like those games I used to play! Hahaha, what an amazing turn of events!'

'Hmm, I'd better pick wisely if I want to complete the revenge quest' he nodded to himself seriously.

'Wait a second' JJ's eyes widened 'I don't have to pick wisely! With my ability I can 'play' as many characters as I want! Hahahahahaha.'

Throwing himself into a passing bird in his excitement, JJ suddenly felt the wind flowing past his feathers, the sun on his back, and a tiny bundle of thoughts in the back of his mind begin to fight off his control.

With help from his experience of possessing the guard in the past, he quickly subdued the much inferior mind of the bird he was currently inhabiting.

He felt a brief rush of exhilaration at his success combined with the joy of flying through the air, before his thoughts turned upside-down.

To be exact, his entire viewpoint turned upside-down, and then began spinning wildly out of control, as JJ plummeted towards the ground. 'Oh no! The bird was flying, not me! I don't know how to fly!'

Pulling himself out of the bird in fright and back into his astral form, JJ watched his previously possessed bird rag-doll through the air before miraculously righting itself mere inches from the ground. Its squawks of alarm echoed through the forest as it flew off.

'Note to self. Flying animals are hard mode or maybe nightmare mode. Let's pick something a bit easier this time.'

JJ turned his attention back to the goblins who were still stabbing at any slime unlucky enough to wander into their range. 'Wouldn't humanoids be much easier?' he wondered.

He briefly considered the moral implications of possessing a humanoid creature, before remembering the information he'd seen published on goblins through the internet before his untimely demise.

While most of the alien societies Terra had come into contact with had refused to give away any information they considered valuable, the traits of common monsters had been widely shared. Two of those common monsters were slimes and goblins.

Slimes: Very fast spawn rate in mana dense regions. No intelligence. Very low threat rating. Exterminate as needed.

Goblins: Moderate spawn rate in mana dense regions. Fast breeding rate. Instinctively malicious with low cunning sapience. Exterminate immediately.

Happy to find that his new 'character option' did not prick at his conscience, JJ chose to approach the lone goblin sitting on the shore. It wore a single loincloth, a crude necklace made out of teeth, and waved a large wooden club made out of a gnarled root above its head as it continued to shout at the other two.

As his astral form entered the target, JJ felt the resistance of a mind somewhere in the middle of the bird and the guard. The brief glimpse at its emotions shocked him, a raging pool of cruelty and sadism, before JJ firmed his control over the monster.

The two other goblins looked back as the goblin that was now JJ stopped shouting and began to assess itself. 'This club is actually quite heavy. Or am I just that weak?'

'My fingernails are chipped and probably infected'

'My eyes are terrible' JJ squinted as he tried to observe the two other goblins walking slowly towards him.

'And what kind of horrible rash is this?' he thought he scratched at his body in agony.

At the very last moment, he heard the battle cries of the approaching goblins and looked up, just in time to see them run him through with their crude spears.

'Agh! Pain!' JJ tried to shout. The only thing that came out of the goblin's mouth was “Ahhh Paaaa.”

'I still feel the pain of my characters! What a crappy game! I don't need this much realism, okay?' he thought as he quickly fled the dying goblin's body and hovered in astral form.

'But how did they know I possessed their friend?' he wondered, as the two goblins raised a victorious cry.

He watched as one of them looted the fallen goblin's loincloth and promptly tied it around his head like a hat, before also taking his necklace of teeth and draping it over his shoulders.

The second goblin hefted the gnarled root club, waving it precariously over his head as it shouted excitedly.

The two goblins then dragged their deceased 'friend' into the lake and scampered away, giggling all the while.

'Huh, permadeath is turned on, I guess.' JJ looked down sadly at the goblin corpse. 'Murdered by goblin mutiny. Here lies... Hey, wait, I didn't even get to name my character before I died! Talk about hardcore.'

Feeling the start of a headache that indicated the overuse of his ability, JJ decided to return to the lake filled with slimes.

'I guess it's time to embrace my identity as a filthy casual. Easy mode slimes it is!' he resigned himself as he slipped back into a motionless water slime resting upon the lake floor. 'I'll name this one... Aqua I guess. But first, a quick nap to get rid of this headache.'