Chapter 2 Reincarnation

My eyes started to open. I felt my head pulse a few times. I start to rub it. The pain from the throbbing decreased slightly. I notice there is an unusually small hand rubbing my head.

“That’s weird” I say out loud as I back away from the small hand. I look down and see it attached to me.

“Oh it just my hand.” I said out loud again. Wait. My hands weren’t this small. I jump up off of the futon I was laying on. I start to examine my body. Not only my hands are smaller than usual but my whole body seems to have become smaller. Conveniently there is a mirror in this small room. My face hasn’t changed a bit. The jagged scars still are there. What is making my heart jump out of my chest is my age. I look like I am barely 16 years old. I take a few deep breaths. I realize I am completely nude. I search the small room and find a closet. There were a total of 3 common robes in that little closet. A short sword and small staff was in the furthest corner of the closet. They both were a common quality as well. I equipped the green robe in the middle. I also took the staff and the short sword. I am not sure what lies out of this room better be prepared.

It becomes obvious to me that I was reborn. However regaining memories after being reborn so late is unusual to say the least. Usually those that are reborn either retain their memories from birth or forget them completely. I have never heard of anyone regaining them so late. I start to look around the small room. There is a desk with a wooden chair. The desk has a license plate and basic magic book on it. The closet is opposite of the desk. There is a poorly made wooden door next to the desk. This must be my room. I wonder if I have the same name. I grabbed the small license plate of the desk and examine it.

Lain

Level: 1

Class: Mage

Blessing: Unknown

Hp: 100%/100%

Mp: 100%/100%

Only level 1? Seriously how weak is this body. At least I have the same name. Wait did I see that wrong. Is my class really mage. Reborn are supposed to have the same class. Why the hell am I a mage? Damn it. I was born a berserker. I will somehow change my class. At the very least I will get berserker as a subclass. I hear a knock at the door.

“Hey Lain, we are going to be late hurry up and get your ass out here!” I hear a sweet sounding voice outside my door. Since it sounded friendly I decided to open the door.

“Are you ready? Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.” She said rapidly. I was stunned the way she looked. A light oval face, small nose and thin lips, it looked exactly like Luci. I gazed at her whole body. She has a slim figure covered in brown leather clothes. A short shirt clung to her little body. The leather pants armor looked like they were one size to big. I could still tell how toned her petite legs were through them. The skin exposed skin on her body looked flawless. It was like an artist great work decided to live a frugal life. The two common daggers hung at her sides. They didn’t have any holsters. They hung loosely and looked dull. The bright red hair was shorter than I remembered. It only barely touched her shoulders. Now that I think about it why would an angel have daggers?

“Luci,” I said unconsciously.  

“What?” She replied in her soothing voice.

“It really is you? I can’t believe you are still alive.” I whispered. I hugged her on an impulse. The soft feeling of her body confirmed to me that she was real. I was not dreaming?

“Of course I am alive. Have you gone crazy living alone?” She laughed while hugging me back.

I knew it was too good to be true. This isn’t the Luci I knew. The Luci I knew would have gotten.. I sigh inwardly at myself. They aren’t ever coming back. There must be someone messing with me. Haven’t I suffered enough? I need to accept the fact that the Luci I knew would never exist again.

I let her go from my embrace. I frowned as those thoughts crossed my mind. I could see her face got a little red.

“Lead the way.” I said.

I wonder where we are going. I followed closely after her. She runs faster than me. I can barely keep up. This body really is too weak. I get a brief look at my surroundings. I see self-made shacks everywhere. They are stacked closely together. Some even are stacked on top of each other. The road we were running on was made of dirt. It was uneven. I am sure that a sturdy cart would fall apart going down this road for too long. The few people that I see have solemn faces as they went about their daily business. There were a few other teenage kids that are running late ahead of us.

Where are we living? Even in my former kingdom the slums didn’t look this bad. Even they could afford to build houses. The shacks are a depressing site to say the least.

“I know you are weak but if you keep running that so slow I am going to leave you behind!” Luci joked.

I increased my running speed. I started to breathe loudly as I struggled to keep up. We haven’t even run a few miles and I am already tired. What the hell was this guy doing instead of leveling up?

We arrived at the tattered gates of the school. They were full of broken bars. Even a full-grown adult can probably fit through the gap. We passed the gates. Even the school looked worse. There was a small school building in the middle of a large dirt field. The building was falling apart. The small school building was barely bigger than a normal two story house. The earthlike walls contained more dirt than the ground. They also were unstable. I wouldn’t be cautious entering in my old body but since this new one is weak. I am not sure if I will survive if the building collapsed on itself.

I enter hoping the worse doesn’t happen. There were no chairs or desks. The students were sitting on the floor or leaning against the wall. Luci goes and leans herself on the wall close to the potential teacher. This can it really be out teacher. He has no common equipment but ones that had to be at least made by a [Complete Blacksmith]. They don’t make even the simple things for cheap. Equipments tiers are usually orders like this: Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Demigod and God. A regular [Blacksmith] best work will never exceed an Epic. A [Complete Blacksmith] best work will never exceed a legendary but there worse work will never be lower than an Epic. As for the class above it I am unsure. I heard they were called [Weapon Forger] however I have yet to meet one. They are few in number. I could count on my hands how many were known to exist in the world before I was reborn.

The middle-aged man was frowning. There was a bottle next to his side. I got closer to Luci. I stud beside her when a strong smell of alcohol hit my nose. The man in the Epic equipment smelted like he was born in a brewery. He rubbed his hands through his gray hair while using the other to take a big gulp from the bottle beside him. He must be a warrior or soldier.  I could tell by his muscular body and the short sword by his side. I am not sure about the status of this kingdom but he must not be a regular soldier. A simple soldier or warrior would never get enough funds by regular means to even contact a [Complete Blacksmith]. Let alone convince them to make Epic armor at an affordable price.

“Damn it.” The teacher spoke in a masculine voice. “Why do I be here?” After he said that he sighed deeply. He finished off the rest of the bottle in one more gulp. That was slightly impressive. That bottle was not small. It had to be at least a gallon or two.

“Well….” He purposely spoke in a drawn out tone. It was condescending to say to the least. “I am James. Don’t forget my name. I will only be saying it once.”

“I am sorry. I didn’t hear that. What was your name again?” I asked in a questioning tone. I did hear it however I don’t like it when people talk to me like I am stupid.

“It is JAMES. It is J-A-M-E-S. James.” He repeated exaggerated the parts he spoke with his name in.

“You brat. Don’t test me. I am not in the mood. I didn’t come here out of the goodness of my heart.” He spoke sternly. He glanced at his empty bottle of alcohol. A slightly disappointed expression stuck on his face.

“I made the grave mistake of drinking a rich merchant’s alcohol.” James said.

A random student raised his hand. He appeared to be a notice soldier.

“If it was only alcohol surely that merchant is overacting.” The novice soldier said.

James laughed loudly. He glanced at the novice soldier with a piercing look. The novice soldier look visibly scared as he took a few steps back.

“If only a cart full was considered a little. I only drank 3 of them. I left him a cart but he was furious. Even though was the one that offered me a drink.” James gritted his teeth. “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s get this over with already. What are your questions? Do you guys want to advance your class or do you want to remain as trash the rest of your life.” He got a serious look on his face.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

This guy is obviously an idiot. He only offered you a drink not a cart. However he looks serious about teaching us. Despite him being an ass I consider him a person of honor. He takes even his punishment seriously. I have to take this opportunity to learn how to become a berserker. I was born into the class. I never had to learn a class before because I only focused on being a berserker. Why would I ever need a subclass when I was born into such a great class already? Now I will have to learn how to unlock it. If I cannot replace this weak mage class I will at least get it as my subclass.

“Hey James. Do you know how to get the class called berserker?” I asked.

He looked at me with a weird expression on his face. He took a deep breath before speaking slowly.

“Brat, Berserker class is for those with an unusual amount of strength. You would have to train for at least a year to get your strength up to par. I can tell by looking at you your strength is not even close to 14. Can you even wield a broadsword?”

The classed started to stare at me and whisper. I didn’t pay them any mind.

“Not yet but I will soon. It will only take me a week at most.” I said confidently.

“You are a mage. Why not get a class that complements your first one.” He said while staring at me.

“I want to be a berserker.” I said slowly drawing out each word.

“Fine. However if you fail to wield a broadsword in a week then you have to buy me a drink. Don’t worry I know you can’t afford much. I will not drink more than a cart full,” He sneakered.

Does he think I will back down from such an easy challenge? Fine I will take him on.

“What happens when I win?” I asked.

“When you win it will rain fish,” He joked.

“What do you want if by some chance you get lucky?” He questioned.

“I want a rare broadsword from you,” I said causally.

He started to sweat visibly. He stared at me like I was insane.

“Do you know how much that would cost me? I wouldn’t be able to drink for a week,” He said while staring daggers at me.

“You told me there isn’t a chance of me winning. What are you afraid of?” I taunted him.

He stared at the empty bottle for a long time. After a few minutes of silence he finally spoke.

“Okay. I agree to your conditions. It is not like you have a chance of winning anyway,” He smiled.

That sword is as good as mine. I walked out of the classroom after he agreed. I felt someone grab me from behind.

“Luci?” I said.

She looked at me with a sad look on her face. She crossed her arms. Then she got really close to my face.

“Are you crazy? How are you going to be able to afford a cart of liquor? Let’s go back now and apologize. Maybe he will let you off since you woke up crazy this morning.” She said while trying to pull me back into the school building. I resisted her pull however even this simple task required a lot of strength. Damn it. How weak have I become to be pushed around by a rogue?

“No. I can do this. Don’t you trust me?” I said in a low tone.

She stopped trying to drag me inside.

“I do but this is,” She paused. She stood there turning slightly red. The beautiful young face of hers nearly started to fully turn red before she spoke again.

“I don’t want you to..to.. I only wanted… Never mind,” She said with her voice trembling.

“Okay. I will trust you but can you at least tell me how you are going to do this. If you need my help I am here for you,” She said with a new look of confidence in her eyes. She put her hand on of my shoulders.

“I only need one thing. Do you happen to know any Priests?” I asked. I may have a lot of different techniques that improve strength but they are very taxing on the body. This frail body will definitely get injured. I need to increase its recovery. The faster I can recover the more I can improve.

“Yes but she cannot heal more than twice in a day,” She said while she had her hand on her chin. I was shocked to say the least. I have never heard of even a novice priest not being able to heal more than 10 times a day at least. What could possibly be hindering that priests progress so much? Maybe the priests of this world have declined greatly.

“That is fine. Thank you. Have her meet me here near the school building,” I said. I started to distance myself from the school building. I will start to train in the simplest technique I remember right away.

“Wait. This means you own me a favor,” She yelled out.

Is she really going to make me do her a favor? Aren’t friends supposed to help each other out?

“Of course I will,” I replied. I started to take the most basic stance once I got towards the walls surrounding the school building. The school may be small but the area around is large enough for the whole class to train. Our class had about 50 people from what I could tell.

I started to train in the 3 step technique that young warriors first learned. The first step is for defense. It requires me to step once to either side. This not only widens my stance to take hits better but it also leads into the second step. The second step is for evading. With a successful use of the second step I can travel a few meters in seconds. The third step is for attacking. Making a successful use of the third step cannot only increase the power of my slashes two times but also be used at the same time as the other steps. It makes it easy to attack and defend at the same time. Of course being a basic sword technique it has multiple weaknesses when facing other stronger techniques however when mastered it still can be used in more advanced sword fights.

After a few minutes my hands are already shaking from performing the first step of this skill. I really cannot believe my stamina is so bad. It is like I am practicing in a newborns body. I continue forward ignoring my bodies pleads to stop. The shaking increased greatly after an hour passed. It looked like I was caught in an earthquake. I preserved on. I have to go on until I knew the limit of my current strength. Another hour passed as I performed the first step of the 3-step technique my hands won’t listen to me anymore. I lost my grip and the short sword fell to the ground.

I now know I can currently only perform the first step of the technique only for two hours at maximum. I rest for 30 minutes. Now it is time for me to see how long I can perform the second step. The second step technically doesn’t even need me to grip the sword as it is only evasion. However I grip it regardless. I can’t let my sword go in the middle of a real battle. Why would I start now? I forced my hands to grip the handle. They have stop shaking a much since the second step doesn’t require it to hold the sword high. I swiftly used the first step and lead it into the second step. I tried to use as much strength as I could to pull it off however instead of being able to dodge a few meters away I ended up only half a meter. This is it. I used all the strength my legs could muster and only half a meter. I grit my teeth tightly and try it again. The result is even slightly lesser than the one before. No. At this level it will have to do. I will improve it. It will take a bit more time that’s all.

After doing a total of 12 dodges from the second step my legs couldn’t take it anymore. I collapsed right on the spot I was standing. I was wheezing loudly. My body ached. I made some progress. I knew now that I have no problems with the accuracy of performing this technique. The result is just many times reduced than if I had the strength of a normal solider.

Learned [Blood Pact]-convert your HP into strength

Decreases 5% HP every 5 minutes for 20 strength gain

Wait. That skill isn’t a normal soldier’s skill. It is a beginner berserker skill. How is this possible I don’t even have the berserker class unlocked yet? Plus this skill is a lot less powerful than my former [Blood Pact]. It will do for now. Now training will be a painful walk in the park. Losing HP hurts in general however through [Blood Pact] the pain is excruciating. I don’t even have my other skills that reduce pain greatly this time around either. I am going to see how I perform now that I have it.

[Blood pact]

My body gets covered in a light red mist. It is so mute that if I didn’t look closely even I wouldn’t have noticed it. My body feels like there are small swords stabbing all of my pores at once. I rip off part of the sleeve of my robe. I put the cloth in my mouth and bit on it. I don’t want my teeth to be harming each other from my constant clenched jaw. I performed the first and second steps of the technique flawlessly. They were perfect. Even the second step improved by leaps and bounds. I was able to dodge 5 meters to either side. This is a massive improvement from the 3 meters it is supposed make. I started to do the third step. When I attack a brief afterimage of my sword was left.

This is amazing. I will be able to hunt monsters soon. After a few successful strikes of the third step I started to mix in second steps. My body danced across the school field with my sword in harmony. I went a bit overboard. My HP got dangerously low. If I haven’t stopped in that moment I might have accidently been killed by myself. It was only a short hour of me practicing with it on. I have to be more careful in the future but it was too fun. I was able to wield a sword again even if it isn’t a broad sword.

I waited completely spent for the priest to show up. Every bone in my body was aching. I was sprawled out on the ground. My lungs sucked in as much air as they could with every breath. I could barely move a finger. I closed my eyes for a moment.

I could feel somebody touching my face.

“Lain wake up,” A sweet concerned voice said.

I opened up my eyes to see Luci kneeling toward me. I am not a shy guy but her face was a little too close to mine. I sat up quickly.

“How long was I sleeping?” I questioned. It was starting to get dark out.

“What the hell have you been doing? Can you even stand?” She said while she scowled.

“ Tay. Please heal him,” She turned to a figure that was standing next to her.

A white light enveloped me. It only lasted for a few seconds. I felt better as soon as it started.

“Thank you,” I said as I stood up quickly. That priest might not be able to heal properly but it is better than nothing.

I glance at the girl that healed me. She had white eyes and dark gray hair. She was a little taller than Luci and had a curvy figure. Her face wasn’t as attractive as Luci’s but it wasn’t ugly either. Despite her pure looking appearance she had a busty chest. It was barely contained in the pure white robe she was wearing. The robe looked a bit short for her as it didn’t completely cover her light brown ankles. Her skin was light brown and looked smooth.

I stood in front of her before introducing myself.

“My name is Lain,”

“umm… Okay. ni..nice to meet you. I am Tay,” She said nervously.

She is so polite and shy. I will have her heal me every day I train. I am little curious how she learned how to heal.

“Which book did you learn healing from?” I asked.

“Book?” She said while look towards the side. “Only a few are able to get a hold of books with knowledge of how to heal. I was taught by my mother.” She explained.

That is why. Most classes can learn from masters on how to use skills. Even some can learn skills in combat and training but priests and mages are different. They need skill books. Not only books increase their intelligence massively but it provides a base which they can build on. It is like a bird trying to learn how to fly without wings.

“This will not do. If you heal me for this week I will find a way to get you a skill book for your class,” I announced.

I saw her eyes open wide as her face went blank. After a few moments of silence Luci bud in.

“Hey don’t promises you can’t keep. Sorry Tay he has been crazy since this morning,” Luci apologized.

Tay’s face relaxed. She smiled at Luci. Then she turned to me.

“It is okay you don’t have to,” Tay declined. “I will heal you anyway.”

“No. Leave it to me. It won’t take long,” I responded.

I ran home shortly after waving goodbye to them. I decided to call it a day for now. Tomorrow I have to be up early.