Nago was laying in his bed, in the cell that he had been in for the last 15 years. The stay was tedious, often boring. But his daily routine was essential. Work out. Eat. Read. Write. Work. Keeping his mind active was a challenge with the limited activities but at the end of the day, he got through it. The hope of getting out early was snuffed out by a judge several days ago, but not all hope was lost. Only 5 more years, and he would get another chance at early release. Sure, that was a long time, but better than serving his entire remainder of 15 years. Going the entire 30 years wouldn’t end all hope either. He had always strived to get out early, but knew the chance of it was slim. So he was going to have to finish the entire library, get ripped, and continue his education for when he got out. As mind wandered, he realized it and snapped back to his book, he went back a paragraph and re-read it. 

A while later, Nago looked up from his book as three men entered his cell. Each one was wearing a government issued orange jumpsuit, just as he was. But the man in the center, Danny, the one calling the shots at the moment, had the torso part wrapped around his waist. Nago made eye contact with Danny, and then Tom, the one on the right. He sat up, laying his book under his pillow then asked. “What’s up? Do you guys need anything?” As he finished standing up, Jim, shorter than the other two by a head growled back “Stay out of this.” And planted a hand to Nago’s chest and slowly pushed him down to his bunk. 

The other two, Danny and Tom, started to reach above Nago’s bunk. They grabbed and pulled at Ronny, Nago’s upper-bunk mate, a 22 year old kid who just got 60 days for drug trafficking charges. Nago had thought it was a short sentence for the crime, Ronny had explained that he had a good lawyer and it was a first time offense. As they pulled, he quickly woke up, and muttered “What the Faaa..” Not finishing due to the floor knocking the wind out of his lungs. Nago’s eyes widened as adrenaline rushed into every part of his body, quickly jumping up. He knew this was going to be really bad for Ronny. 

Nago knew he wasn’t an angel. He knew he deserved his sentence. But the last 15 years Alabama Federal Penitentiary had changed Nago. He knew what was about to happen was wrong. At the very least he could take one of the guys out to lessen the beating, or whatever-ing was about to go down. Quick to his feet, he took a step forward, hands out in a disarming manner. “Stop, think, you know you’ll get more time for this!” 

Darkness and then stars appeared in Nago’s vision as he stumbled over Ronny’s body. His eyes came back to him, and he braced before his head hit the end of the toilet. Close one, I almost had my skull split open, Nago thought. Jim, that motherfucker punched me. He was always a ‘quick to anger’ kind of prick, but what did I do? “Stay down this time, bitch” Jim snarled back. As Nago stood on wobbly but quickly returning legs, he swung his head back upon hearing a muffled scream. A familiar heat started to resonate out of his chest as he looked towards Danny. 

A shiv made from what looked to be the splinter from a broken chair leg was leaving Ronny’s gut. Not a second passed before the heat and adrenaline took over as Nago rushed Danny. Jim and Tom had their backs to Nago, one holding him down, and the other in the process of kicking and stomping Ronny’s head. Danny was mounted to the side of Ronny, pinning the left arm down with his knee and pulling the shiv from the second stab. He looked up at the last second as Nago’s shoulder made contact with his chest. Dumbfounded, Jim and Tom quickly sprang up and pulled Nago off of Danny, pulling him off and throwing him back behind themselves. Danny had his eyes closed and a pool of blood was quickly dripping from the back of his head, on the floor below. The tackle had been hard enough to bring Danny to the entrance of the cell, the back of his head smashing violently into the corner of the door frame. A dull steel edge stained by thick red blood.

Jim and Tom’s eyes both widened as they turned back towards Nago. Fury boiled in both men, until an even more shocking sight took hold. The shiv they had made from the old stool in the basement laundry area was sticking out of Nago’s chest. Confusion, then the gravity of it all took hold before they dashed out of the cell. 

Pain. It was a constant throughout Nago’s life. And now was no different. The left side of his chest burned with every heartbeat. The sound of footsteps quickly faded, as did Ronny’s screaming. The world seemed to lag. It was a movie being played one frame at a time. The burning had transformed from an incredulity induced rage to a painful beat being played to the rhythm of his heartbeat. The pain comforted him, whispering “you’re alive,” as it had for much of his life. 

Moment to moment his thoughts were snapshots of the hurricane that was his life. Riding his bike down a hill, only to fall and smash his face into the gravel road. Miles from home, crying until no more tears came. Learning at 6 years old that the pain went away after a while. At 8, learning about death when his favorite person in the world, his grandmother died. The fear of dying haunting. Forgetting to turn off the lights at 9, and being beaten by his father for it. The belt lashing across his ass, and on occasion an alcohol influenced miss, searing into his back instead. A fight in middle school, one of his friends and him fighting over a girl, what was her name again? A thump, more pain. 

I’m fifteen and my mother is teaching me how to drive. She tried her best to raise me right. But I was too hard headed. She always was the most beau… Wait. What did she look like again? I’m sixteen, pumping gas, and driving away due to the daring of my friends. Seventeen, smoking weed with those same friends under a bridge. Nineteen, we started selling weed to make money. We all finished highschool with garbage grades and had no prospects. Twenty, we start selling cocaine, then somewhere along the lines start using. Another thump, even more heat, even more pain. I’m twenty one and we start robbing liquor stores and gas stations. A cocaine, alcohol and weed induced mental state, we were on top of the world. 

I’m twenty two, and we came up with a plan. We’re gonna make it big with this next one. Big boy club kind of score. Tony, my best friend, got a job at a jewelry store to stake it out and after a month we hit it. We went at around midnight, nobody was supposed to be there. Thump, pain. Tony unlocks the door and enters. I walk in, followed by the rest of my friends, Rob, Tiny and Bud, with Maddy as our getaway driver. Broken glass, silent alarm, bags being stuffed full of diamonds, gold rings, silver necklaces, then we hear. “Freeze! Put your hands up! Tony? What the fu..?” Bang! I shot him. Tony’s boss. I will never forget his name Alister Welchburg. A good family man. He ran his business for 11 years. He had three kids. A wife. The look on Tony’s face when he looked at me. Thump, more pain. Why is it getting worse? Why am I cold? 

Six days of fear and drug induced bliss, then they find me. My share of the jewelry, and the drugs, and the money. Jail to court, then back to jail. I’m so cold. Three months of withdrawals and stress later, I’m sentenced to 30 years in prison. I spent six months depressed. I thought my life was over. But it wasn’t. At some point, I started talking with my old bunkmate, Arnold. His wisdom helped me escape the cage my mind was in. I started speaking with him daily. A year in I started to read, get educated. A year and a half in, I started working out regularly. Running, jumping jacks, shadow boxing, weight training and anything else I could do with that blissful hour of yard time. In my cell I would do yoga and calisthenics. Eleven year in Arnold dies. Arnold the man who had been there for me, more than my own father. He helped me see the light. I was never religious, but over the years he taught me to see the light of God. Thump.

Last week, my parole board meeting. I tried to convince them that I was a changed man. But they didn’t believe me. It was a sad day for me, but I got over it quickly. I knew I deserved to be here. This wasn’t anything I would consider unfair. I killed a man, a really good man. I regret it. Thump. It's so dark. Why are they turning the lights down? And I’m so cold, I feel like I don’t have any body heat anymore. I’m so numb. I feel the shiv in my hand, but I can’t feel it in my chest. Isn’t someone coming to take me to the hospital? Just then, I hear a voice so clear it might as well be in my head “A second chance, you earned it.” I’d never heard anyone speak so clearly, but why were all the other sounds muffled? Why is it so dark? Faint footsteps, the boots the guards wear, come across my consciousness. Finally, they’re coming, but this is gonna suck. I’m not gonna be able to work out for weeks, maybe months. But hey, it’s a change of pace at least. I’ve been in this room 22 hours a day for over 15 years. Finally something different. Wait, what was that voice? 

Nago awakens groggy and blinded by the lights. “He’s breathing again! A soothing female voice squealed in obvious relief and excitement. He was sure that hospital lights were bright, but why couldn’t his eyes focus? And what was that voice? He tried to look around but the muscles in his neck, back, actually all of his muscles felt very weak. He tried to say “What’s going on,” But it came out very wrong. It was the sound of a baby. Suddenly his vision changed. His eyes weren’t seeing anything new or different, but overlaid on top of his vision was some text. Soul has been installed into a new body. Body’s pre-existing damage has been healed. Custom System integration completed. “Wait he’s not crying, why isn’t he crying? The same soothing female voice pleaded. “It’s alright. Sometimes the baby doesn’t cry when they’re born. It’s quite normal. Why don’t you try feeding him?” Nago’s mind tumbled in confusion. Between text popping up, to the voices he was hearing all around him, he just could not figure out what was going on. Suddenly something hit his lips, something soft, and by some reptile brain reflex, he started to suck on it. A few seconds later the dopamine overwhelmed his mind. He couldn’t focus. He was eating from a breast. The urge to scream ‘What the fuck is going on?’ was quickly dying in the back of his mind. A minute later, sleep took him. 

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nago woke to a somewhat clear vision. He looked around. A giant, yet pretty head was looking down at him, smiling and humming a song he didn’t recognize. His mind once again started racing, but as it did, he realized that the entire situation was very alien to him. Not only the text, and not only this giant lady, but also his whole body. There was a strange tingling, like spiderwebs grew within every part of his body, with electricity running through them. It was not painful, but the sensation made him feel like he wasn’t himself. Almost like he was in an entirely different body. Nago then remembered the text he had read before he fell asleep. He focused on the text again. Soul has been installed into a new body. The puzzle pieces were coming together in his mind. The only part that was troubling him was how there were puzzle pieces? How could this happen? He read on. Body’s pre-existing damage has been healed. Custom System integration completed. That didn’t make sense. How could his body be damaged, wasn’t he a baby? And what was this system? He wondered what this system was and how it worked, and just then, almost as a response to his thoughts, the text updated. This is a custom system installed for ease of integration into a new world. This world is very different from your old one, and might be quite difficult to acclimate to. Therefore due to your actions in your previous life, you have been reborn in this world. This system has many functions, and might be difficult to operate, would you like to enter the tutorial? Think Yes or No.

Nago took a deep breath. How could he be in a different world? How could his soul be in this body? Wouldn’t that mean his original body was.. “I died?” he thought. The shiv was in his chest. His left side. A paralysis took over his mind and his body. A minute later he regained both a sense of calm and his cognition to, what he assumed was, his new mother’s humming. Nago then decided to clear his head of all emotions and questions. Just think and act logically for a moment. He was in a new world, in a new body, with a new family, and a second chance at life. He thought Yes.

Welcome to the System tutorial. Please go through each part of this tutorial carefully. First let's start with your Status area. This is in the top right. You can see your health, mana, stamina, and general body information. Think continue when you’re ready for the next section. Three bars showed up in Nago’s vision. The first one was red, for health. The second was blue, for mana, and a third for stamina. It was yellow. Below the three bars was a three dimensional rendering of his own body. As he breathed, so did the rendering, and as he waved his hand back and forth, so would the rendering. The feeling of having visuals over his vision was strange, but completely seamless. He could see everything behind the text and images, but could also see, or maybe feel them too. Almost like the opacity of the overlay was turned down. “Continue” he thought. 

The next section will be on your bottom right. This is the system world map, you can only see an area you have visited before on the map, and only as you saw it last. You can add to your world map without visiting the area by studying a map drawn by a cartographer. Continue? Sure. 

The next section will be your Skills and Titles tab in the top left corner. You have a list of the most basic stats. 

Soul Map: 

Supremacy Hound

Bloodline:

Apex Sage

Titles: 

Prolific

Fighting Skills:

Melee

Archery

Magic

Augmentation Skills:

Woodcutting

Mining

Fishing

Farming

Foraging

Blacksmithing

Cooking

Crafting

Herbology

Body and Mind Temperament Skills:

Agility

Strength

Vitality

Charisma

Intelect

Universal Communication (Planetary)

Sixth Sense (Astute)

You can gain more skills through practicing different activities. For example, if you practice playing an instrument, you can get a skill called Musicality. 

You have unlocked two extra skills: Universal Communication (Planetary) and Sixth Sense (Astute). This is due to your Soul Map: Supremacy Hound. 

You have gained a new title. Prolific. This is based on your Bloodline: Apex Sage. 

You can gain more information on each skill and titles by focusing on them in your mind. 

When you’re ready to move on to the next section, think continue. 

The amount of new information was hard to process for Nago. The entire tutorial was like an actual tutorial from a video game. Although the information was something he never could have imagined seeing in this context, he could still understand what was going on. Maybe this was the ‘custom’ part of the system. Was it made this way just so Nago would understand the new world he was in? Sure, he could probably figure some of this stuff out, but not like this. This was a huge advantage. Did everyone else have this? Maybe. “Continue” he thought.

You have a system inventory of 28 spaces. The items you had from your previous life are inside. You can gain more inventory space by wearing ‘Outer-Dimensional Items.’ Think inventory and it will show up, you can grab an item out by willing it, and grabbing it in your hand. You can try removing an item now. Think continue to move on to the last section. 

“WHAT? I can hold 28 items in another dimension? Soooo cool. Trying this now would probably be weird, due to the fact I’m a baby. But this is… Wait.  I wouldn’t have been caught if I had this.” That last thought made Nago laugh to himself. “Aww, how adorable. He’s laughing.” His mother commented. “Really?” a male voice replied. A man’s head entered Nago’s vision. Was it the doctor? Maybe his father? Unsure, and uninterested at the moment, Nago thought, “Continue.”

The final section will be the quest area. It will be in the bottom left. You can open and close each section with a thought. You can try closing and opening each section now. Nago decided that all of the information wasn’t taking up space, but just wasn’t quite as neat as just his own vision. He closed all of the sections. All of the information that was crowding his vision left, but a tiny image appeared for each section. They looked like buttons, so he decided to call them tabs, like when using an internet browser. He opened the quest tab and continued reading. 

Here is where your quests will be. Each quest you gain access to, start, and complete will be stored here. You may get access to a quest from almost anywhere, anyone and anything. It can be as simple as hearing some complain about something, or it can be a formal request. There are no requirements for quests, but some may be very difficult or impossible to do at certain parts of your life or without specific skills, items or information. Some quests have rewards from the system in the form of experience, and completion of some quests may be required to start others. 

To congratulate you for completing the tutorial, and reincarnating on to the planted Lunche, you are being rewarded three quests. 

Prodigy - Gain 5 levels before you turn 5 years old. These can be in any skill. Reward: Ask the creator of your system any 5 questions.

Paranoid - Do not tell or let anyone figure out you’re reincarnated until you turn 20 years old. Reward: 10000 experience in Intelect. 

Aspiring Monk - Meditate for a total of 1000 hours. Reward: Learn the skill ‘Mana Manipulation.’

Nago’s eyebrows rose upon reading the three quests he was given by the system. His eyes paused at the reward for Prodigy, being able to ask the creator of the system any 5 questions. This was obviously an incredible reward. He didn’t know who the creator was, but obviously it was someone or something on the level of a god or deity. The ability to ask this God, or whoever, 5 questions was not something to be wasted. And the reward for Aspiring Monk was interesting as well. The ability to manipulate mana was probably something that everyone in this world could do, but it seemed like it was something he was being pushed towards through the quest, so it might be wise to learn early on in his life. His new life. 

Nago’s mind wandered, thinking about the fact that he was reincarnated. Getting confirmation there was life outside of Earth. There was even magic, and possibly even a god. The possibility to speak to a god, as limited as it was, had been offered, and he had to make sure he didn’t squander it. Should he use it for personal gain, ask something like “What’s the easiest and fastest way to take over the planet,” or “How do I become the wealthiest person on the planet?” He immediately vetoed those possibilities. No way this god would be happy with any of that. And those things weren’t something that Nago wanted as much as he used to. Sure, would it be great to have power, or to be wealthy? Yeah of course. But at the end of the day, he had grown past those fantasies. Nago really didn’t believe he would enjoy either option, and most likely didn’t think he would be happy doing the things he would probably have to do to achieve either one of those goals. He would have to think about this some more later.

Nago closed out the quest tab. His mind was getting tired. His mother had been in conversation with who he had now confirmed with his father for a while. They spoke for a while longer, as Nago soon drifted into sleep.