I looked at the man with a gun with fear and anxiety. I wasn't the only one, all of my classmates were terrified as the man laughed hoarsely and approached us, eyes blazing with madness.
My name is Leon. Born in a middle-high class family, I was always privileged. Not necessarily spoiled, but I definitely never lacked basic necessities.
Whenever I heard about terrorists attack, I would always smile weakly, thinking that it could never happen to me. And yet, here I was. Facing a man with an automatic rifle who could end our lives in an instant.
Our teacher, a middle-aged lady who had a knack for making fun of kids she 'liked', was facing the man as she shielded us with her own body.
"What do you want?" She asked, her voice quivering. I felt like I was looking at a true hero, someone who stands up when the time is right.
And yet, despite my feelings, she was gunned down in an instant. After her death, a couple of the girls cried and some tried to run away. And yet, the man was obviously a trained professional, rarely missing a shot as he hit our vital points one after the other.
While everyone was being gunned down, I sat there, under my desk. I felt like my world was ending, and there was nothing I could do.
Finally, my turn came as the man eyed me for a split second and then shot me in the head. Thankfully, there was no pain. It was an insta-kill.
It felt strange. The moment I felt my consciousness fading, I also felt a strange call. I wanted to ignore it, but the call turned into a roar that sucked me toward it, willing or not.
When I woke up again, I tried to look around but found that I couldn't. I was in absolute darkness, without a hint of light. Furthermore, I felt extremely light. Weightless, so to speak.
My mind raced for answers, and it didn't take long before I realized I must have been in some soul-like state. I giggled to myself as I realized that souls truly exist. I had been wondering for a while about that.
Just as I was starting to come to terms with what had happened, a majestic voice rang out from the void.
"Welcome, children. I am Kadox, a representative sent from the Council of Gods. You all have met an early end at the hands of unfairness, hence, us gods have deemed it opportune to gift you an opportunity for a better and more fulfilling life. Whether you take that choice or not depends on you." The voice paused for a second, and I felt as though it was examining me... no, us.
So I wasn't the only one like this. A shame, I liked the idea of being unique and special.
"Your first option is to be reborn in a world where magic and monsters exist. We will give you a full-grown body, and even gift you special abilities unmatchable by anyone native there. We won't put any restrictions on you or force you to do anything. All we ask if for you to... live? Just don't die too soon, as that wouldn't be fun."
"The other option is to disappear forever, your consciousness will disperse and your existence will be forgotten. You won't ever be able to become sentient ever again, and you won't be sent into reincarnation. Take your choice" The voice was extremely smug as it said this.
I scoffed a bit. Choice? Where was the choice? I don't wanna disappear. But how do I tell the voice that I pick the first one?
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"Good. I can read your mind, child. Good pick, good pick..." I heard someone whisper in my mind.
I cried out in surprise or at least tried to. The voice laughed in my mind and then began explaining.
"Since you have chosen the correct choice, I will now proceed. You can choose the race you will be reborn as, but it cannot be a human again, 'cause that's dull. Your special ability will depend on a mixture of race choice, personality, past, and destiny. Here child, take your pick..." the voice said as it faded away, leaving a small screen in front of me with many names and explanations.
1) Skeletal Dragon
2) Death Knight
3) Hellhound
4) Giant Turtle
5)Elemental Tiger
6)Dryad
7)Light Angel
8)Fallen Angel
9)Ouroboros (pick this one child)
10)The Swarm
My eyes bulged as I looked at the list. I hesitated for a moment, but then reached out with my mind and clicked on the Ouroboros one.
A small explanation popped up and I anxiously read it.
Ouroboros - The evergrowing snake. Starts out small, can devour planets and destroy stars if maximum potential is reached.
Racial Abilities - Devour, Major Regeneration, Magic Resistance, Poison Immunity.
I smirked as a small window saying 'This or not?' popped up. I clicked the not, wanting to check out the other races.
After looking through every other one, it was safe to say that the Ouroboros stands at the top of the list despite being near the bottom. Other than it, the other notable picks were the Swarm and the Skeletal Dragon. The Swarm seemed to be borderline invincible, and that it could become so powerful that literally, nothing could stand against it.
However, it would also destroy my own mind, I would become a computer of sorts, and I didn't want that. The other choice, the Skeletal Dragon, was pretty neat, but I still found the Ouroboros to be better.
Hence, I clicked on the Ouroboros again and hit This.
The moment I did so, my mind was sent spinning and I quickly lost consciousness as I was sucked into a new, foreign world.
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Waking up was not fun. I groaned as I looked around, finally able to move. I looked at myself with a sad smile as I understood that everything that happened had been real.
I was a snake. A beautiful one at that, though. I had beautiful silver scales lined with black and white patterns that made me look like a treasure.
My previously broken ego was stroked quite a bit, and I felt somewhat proud. I was never particularly good-looking in my other world, not that I cared. However, now that I looked so good, I could afford to be proud.
My body was that of a normal scale if the color was ignored. After a bit of thinking, I deemed myself to be around 2 meters long.
After checking myself out, I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to call out to the status screen that I was confident existed.
My hopes didn't go unanswered and a row of text appeared in front of me. After going through it, I smiled savagely. Not that my face could convey emotions easily.
Name - Leon
Race - Ouroboros
Age - 1
Level - 4
Skills - (null)
Abilities - Devour, Major Regeneration, Magic Resistance, Poison Immunity
Innate Cheat - Oblivion Body
After clicking around and a lot of reading, I understood about 3/4 of everything on the screen.
Apparently, levels represented the overall power of an individual. Although I couldn't compare myself to anything yet, I knew I wasn't weak.
Meanwhile, skills were the things you can learn, like magic and swordsmanship. Abilities are things you are born with and are far more powerful than skills.
Innate cheats... The name should say it all. The system said that only us, those who were reborn, had them and that they were extremely powerful.
I clicked on devour, curious to see exactly what it did.
Devour - User can devour the flesh and blood of others and use it to grow/enhance his/her body.
I raised an eyebrow, which I didn't have, at this. While I knew that my peaceful life would never again come to be... this... was a bit extreme.
I didn't refuse the idea outright, but it still felt strange.
Next, I clicked on Oblivion Body.
Oblivion Body - With a body originating from the Oblivion, this creature is capable of withstanding the most powerful of attacks. Damage from all sources is reduced by 90%, regenerative powers increase by 500%, soul attacks and mental attacks are rendered null.
I took a deep breath. Now I realized what it truly meant to have a cheat ability. This was beyond powerful.
After a couple moments of deep thinking, I decided to get something to eat for now. Everything else could wait.