AN: I found an old story I had written a while back and was not sure what to do with it. I've decided why not just post it? There are other chapters but like this one, if I am going to post them, they need to be fixed a bit. Of course, I am not the best person the revise and edit stories so more than just a few mistakes will slip past me.

The main character's name in his modern life will not be revealed. As for whether or not this is a reincarnation story will be unconfirmed to you and will be explained later. Nothing much to say besides I'll try to get a few of the other chapters out. Reviews are a nice thing too by the way!

Professional people are very intimidating. Normally, they exceed your skill in whatever field it is they work in. It's threatening, the fact that someone out there could surpass another so easily. It is something to really focus on and maybe even utilized to motivate one's self. Use your ambition like this and you just might become one of the best at your craft.

Now let's look at the professional. Peer closely and you will realize that most of them excel so much due to the fact that they enjoy what they do. It's not as easy as you'd think. Finding what you love out of all the other options in the world can be tedious. Now after finding your dream, there is another thing to keep in mind of: Don't be a lazy ass. How does one expect to get better if you simply do not try to do so? A person can love the idea of losing weight but they never want to go out there and run.

Of course, look at a lot of the gamers out there. Championships and massive tournaments done solely on a computer screen or console are pretty big for some of those people. They are what most would label a professional. How could you not? They're meant to be the best of the entire populace. That's why they're competing in the first place. It's pretty simple, this labeling system. Those playing in the big leagues are meant for it and those who fail to do so simply do not fit into such things.

Now here's something you my friend should listen to very closely. It may be Minecraft but it's something a great number of people take very seriously. The amount of time spent in front of the damn screen worries even me, but I do not care enough to really act upon it. I know this game inside and out, every lick and detail. Every update is studied heavily with scrutiny and every occasion to get on is a chance to experiment. I wasn't the only one with this mindset. There are hundreds, hell even thousands with this mindset.

It's not surprising a great number of us decided to band together. The inability for most players you meet to simply play the game right irritates most of us. There are those who are filled to the brim with patience, but in the end, they prefer those who understood each other any day. Welcome to the Willenskraft. That's German for will power I believe. The owner really never explained it to me but I overheard him chatting on what of the party calls that he chose it more for the ending which was coincidently "kraft". A lot of the players who joined took it the wrong way and thought his name was Willens in real life of course.

Logging on today was not really what I was expecting. There were around couple hundred players? That was a really low considering that this server was around the five hundred count. The only issue is that the moment I logged in, the chat located near the left bottom corner decided to have what looked like a mini volcanic eruption of death messages. I could barely get a glimpse but it looked like it was just going down the list of players logged in. Even staff who were normally in a game mode where normal entities could not harm them (it was to complete server tasks such as maintenance and what not) were caught in death parade.

Then instantly, my character died.

"Oh, you're shitting me sideways…" I grumbled as I noticed the re-spawn button was dulled out. The only answer was a hacker. I'd voiced by concern with Willens as we all called him more as a joke a few months back and was assured that there had been enough safety nets and defenses installed to keep the server protected from any major server breaking hacks. A few I knew on the staff had even said some dumb ass attempted to DDOS the server. Apparently, Willenskraft barely felt it.

Discord was a very nice thing for gamers. It was a simpler way to have a voice chat with people you wanted to. It was a nice alternative to Skype and Team Speak. I was not surprised when half the staff team was inside a chat. For me, I was one of the older players on the server. If you didn't even recognize my username, then you were obviously a very fresh person to the server community.

Joining in, I was hit with a barrage of numerous voices practically yelling over each other. A moment later, I left the channel and hopped into another that wasn't as occupied. Staff really didn't need me on the job. Connected to the channel that wasn't me was another familiar username.

"Welcome to my lonely channel, Dauntless," he said. I smirked at the slightly older guy and flipped on the microphone next to me.

"I'm pretty sure that this is called Lounge 7 and not WeedleBeatle's Crap Hole," I shot back. WeedleBeatle or just Beatle as most people called him was another long time player. I'd probably joined a mere week before he did. Safe to say both of us were damn good players. Maybe I was not as experienced in player versus player or PVP combat but we both knew the game well enough to understand what each of us were doing.

"So you got hacked too?" Beatle asked.

"Everyone online died. I'm pretty sure the ass got the server and not every individual player"

"Yeesh, I though Willens said we were safe from this crap," Beatle grunted before a ding rang through the discord channel, signifying another person had joined. I checked the tab and found that one of the staff had switched over to join us.

"You boys enjoying yourself without me?" Flow purred. She was actually really just Flower_Power followed by some random numbers but I never really bothered. She showed up in chat as merely Flow.

"Not much to enjoy when you favorite server is down. What's going on? I thought Willens had thing in place to stop crap like this from happening," I stated, leaning back in my chair. I watched as the text chat on the right side flew up in ridiculous speed as people from the server asked what was going on. It had gotten to the point the channel most of the staff were in locked so only those with permission could connect.

"Hey, we're all as surprised as you were. Console doesn't even show anything being run. Just a sudden stream of death's," she replied. I could almost imagine her holding up her hands defensively. "If it helps, we can reset the server to restore all items lost."

Items were dropped on death here. Some servers ran with a game setting called Keep_Inventory set on true, meaning you would lose nothing on death. If you knew how to play the game, you had no need for such cheap things. Of course, items would de-spawn after a few minutes. I was sure by the time this mess gets fixed, that it would all be gone.

"What about this re-spawn thing? Any idea what's going on with that?" Beatle inquired. I glanced at my own dulled re-spawn button in dismay. I'd never seen a hack go this far before.

"We've got nothing on that either. This is all pretty new to us. Even our older staffs who've dealt with server wide hacks before say they haven't seen anything like it. There's no trace of whatever caused this."

"Well shit," I said plainly. I heard Flow sigh and disconnecting to rejoin the staff channel. Beatle then went silent for a few seconds before I heard him cough in surprise as if he had been drinking something. "You choking on your spit again?"

"No you dumb ass. Look at your screen!"

"Okay, fine…" I mumbled before pulling my Minecraft window back up. The surprising issue was though, the death screen had changed. There was normally a large text stating "You Died" and your score beneath it. Then there would be two clickable buttons. One would be Title Screen and the other re-spawn. When the hack had gone through, the re-spawn was dulled out and no longer clickable. Now, the re-spawn button was as it was supposed to be. Except this time, the Title Screen option just wasn't there. It was gone.

"You see it?"

"Yeah… did this just appear?"

"Don't know. I wasn't really paying attention," Beatle said "Shall I click on it?"

"I don't see why not. I guess maybe the problem is being fixed by the staff. I'll see you on the server," I stated. Suddenly, Beatle disconnected from the channel. Had he thought I meant I was going to leave the discord channel to hop back into the game?

I grabbed the small mouse to my right and brought the cursor over the button. It was a simple choice really. Just click the re-spawn option and your player will re-spawn back into the world. It was nothing new.

Click!

And all hell broke loose.

…Drowning…

That's what I felt like. It felt like I was in an infinite pool of water. No that wasn't right. It was as if I were at the bottom of the ocean. You could kick, scream, and do all you wanted but you would never be able to swim back to the top. I could not see a single thing. I felt oddly as if I were feeling what a blind man did. My screams fell on deaf ears, those being mine. I could not hear a thing. Everything had a slight tinge of numbness and I had a horrible feeling.

Did I just have a stroke or something? Was it a Seizure? I was not an expert in the medical field. I was just a mere young gamer.

Then, like Jesus was descending from heaven to greet me, a light shown from up above and I could see. I looked up and the cold feeling etched all over me began to drain out. It was then that I decided that it would be best to reach this light. I swam and kicked up closer to the light in this infinite water until the cold was replaced by warmth. That warmth turned to heat which began to burn painfully.

When I registered the pain through my numb body I attempted to go back down; anything to get away from the pain. I wasn't exactly someone who was used to getting hurt. Sure I had played some sports but I was more of a home body. That was beside the point. The point was, the light actually hurt. Swimming away seemed to lessen the pain up to the point I began to float back up closer on my own. It was like that damn tractor beam from that Star Wars movie.

Have you ever eaten something hotter than you expected and it burnt your tongue? Remember how your tongue would feel a pulsating numbness on your taste buds. Imagine that all over you in every single exposed part of your body and multiply it. I screamed in silent pain as I drew closer, thrashing in the water until I was before the scorching light. I should've probably have gone blind.

Just like that I made contact and the entire blackness around me was blasted into oblivion with a white glorious light.

For a moment, I could not even think. My mind had gone numb alongside the other sensory aspects of the human body. It was a strange feeling as the pain washed away and was soon forgotten. When you're numb, it's like your floating… and maybe falling. It was frightening at first, this feeling. It was so foreign. I had experienced a numbed limb when I had rested my head on top of my arms every once in a while. That was nothing compared to what I felt now. It was almost peaceful.

Peaceful?

Was I dead?

No…

No…

NO…

NO…

My vision began to clear slightly, the white diminishing into more specific colors. What I could clearly see and pick out were the colors of green. The second color that I noticed was blue. It was a pretty blue, one that I felt oddly affectionate towards. Like how I felt now, the colors around me felt peaceful. There were no ugly colors on the opposite ends of the color wheel clashing against each other.

I began to make out objects now. The green were surrounding what I could make out as a bright brown color. They were trees and these trees loomed over me as I lay in something I could not recognize. Not yet anyways. The blue was obviously the sky and what little of the white in my vision formed into the clouds floating above.

I could breathe perfectly now. My heart was no longer racing and I could begin to feel my surroundings. The only thing was I could not move. Perhaps my body was not yet in control of itself yet. Waiting a bit would be the perfect thing to do. It gave me time to think. Now what exactly happened?

I was in my room in front of my computer and now I am lying somewhere outside paralyzed with no memory of any of it. Had someone drugged me? If so, what had I consumed that they could've drugged? I doubt they used anything as advanced as a dart gun or somehow used a needle without me noticing. Maybe they used gas? Who the hell would even go as far as to use gas on me? It makes no sense, what could I possibly have to offer?

Was it possible that everything around me is nothing more than an illusion? Maybe I was still sprawled on the ground in my room, glaring into the ceiling with my tongue lolled out. That was not a pleasant thought. If I didn't come down for dinner, my family would come up and see me. I wonder if they would think that I was high on drugs… That's an amusing thought actually.

I was startled when a head loomed over mine. At first, the details were blurry until my eyes were able to focus on the features. The woman above me looked down at me with a soft smile. She had dark hair almost pitch black but it had a certain shine to it that really stood out. I found no blemishes upon her face, no moles, no scars, and no pimples even. Then a second person appeared beside her.

This one was a male. This one was tall and looked even intimidating. Wide shoulders and a decent body proportion really brought out his physique. Dirty brown hair layered over his forehead as his eyes bore down on me intently. Even with the fierceness behind the man, I still found a goofy smile etched upon his face.

What? Do I have something on my face?

"Oh, you must be tired already. Mommy has you," the woman said. I was about to attempt to fling a few insults at her along the line of asking someone to give her a reality check but was promptly surprised when she picked me up and held me in her arms as if I were a little child. "Shhhh…"

I heard the wailing of a little child but I could barely tell where it originated from. It sounded almost as if…. It came from me. When I tried to move, I realized I could not. It was not due to the fact that I was still not in control of my body but more so because I was wrapped tightly in something that prohibited just about all movement.

This frightened me… and the wailing grew louder.

The mother stood up, a worried frown on her face as she could not understand why her baby was crying… why I myself was crying. Neither did I to be honest and I really did not care. What was more important to me was the fact that I was now a miniature little useless thing wrapped in the arms of this woman.

My heart tightened when I realized something. I had heard a few friends talk about some of the different religious beliefs on what was to come after death. One had to do with reincarnation. What really struck me as the most likely was that I had died… except I died right when I had clicked re-spawn. Beatle had suddenly disconnected when he did so as well.

"Here, I have an idea. Let me see that mirror, Hun?" the man requested. I saw the woman pass over what was obviously a mirror to the man who then brought it close to me. It was there I got a good look at myself. The crying stop as the fear and confusion racing through me momentarily halted as I got a good look at myself. Of all things I could've thought, I am ashamed to have mentally commented on what I did.

I am one hellishly chubby baby…

"See?" the man chuckled over to the smiling woman… or now my mother. Who else would she be? I do not believe it is common for someone to pick up newborns off of the grass and care for them as your own almost instantaneously.

"How'd you know that would work?" she breathed, rocking me slightly. It was unusually comforting hearing her voice. I heard newborns were naturally bonded to their mothers at birth.

"I remember seeing a few creatures having a blast when they see their reflection. I just thought maybe Tusk would react the same way"

"You did not just compare our baby boy to animals, Jerry," my new mother shot playfully. They both chuckled to themselves while continuing to stare at me. I really wished I had the ability to speak; to tell them that there was intelligence under all the blubber and baby fat. Sadly, my vocals were nowhere near developed and wouldn't be for quite a while.

For now I was stuck here and had to humor the couple until I became a more capable creature. Until then, it was best I try and learn my location. I had to be in America still. They spoke English fluently but the accent was off. I didn't recognize it from anywhere. At first I thought it was southern but the tone was different from the casual southern citizen.

I could think about that later when I was in a better position and not wrapped up in silk blankets. The… slightly stupid but effective method used by this Jerry figure who I also guess is my new father worked to calm my nerves slightly. If I want to assess the situation, I must keep a level head. Nothing will get done if I panic like a fool. For now, I must sleep. I can feel this body grow drowsy. Likely a common thing when you're a newborn of course.

I feel quite accomplished for the amount of things I had learned in three days. The fact that I was stuck in a wooden crib most of the time when I wasn't be held by someone made it quite difficult, but it gave me much time to ponder my situation. Trust me, there was indeed much to ponder or more so scrutinize.

My given name is Tusk and my so called birth parents are Jerry and Teresa. They lived on the outskirts of what I heard was the Alkaline Kingdom. If I remember correctly, Alkaline was an element and kingdoms weren't very common at this day of age. So I had to be somewhere very remote from modern civilization. What supported this fact was the lack of recognizable technology… or any tech as a matter of fact. Imagine my surprise when I found Jerry to be using a torch and not a flashlight. I was unable to learn of any family lineage but that could come later.

From the snippets of conversations I could overhear, it was obvious to me that this area was very under developed. When I had been taken out of the house once, it became apparent that this couple lived in more of a small village. Dirt paths replaced the pavement I was used to seeing and brick houses with wooden and stone structures. There was a stable I could pick out and even a blacksmith's forge near the edge of the town where smoke fumed out the chimney.

Our own house wasn't really anything special. It included two small rooms, one with an old bed and a crib for me and the other with a table and other such living instruments such as cooking utensils. The roof was made of more wood than anything and a large wooden support beam that annoyed me a tab bit by the mold growing at the base held it up in the center of each room. A few lamps hung from a post here and there and there was a few windows built into each side of the household.

There were no maps in the house I could catch a glimpse of when I was carried around. I doubt there would be either. My new parents did not look like the travelling type.

Speaking of parents, what about my own? By my own parents, I mean my first. By now, they should've found my deceased body in my room… if I had died at all. For all I knew, this was just my conscious being forced into another vessel, putting my own in a catatonic state. If that were the case, I needed to get back quick. I know what happens when the pay for life support becomes too great.

How would I get back either way? I was still a small child and I would have to age until I was old enough to travel. Even then, I would have to find a way back. This place seemed as if it was cut off from the world. With no airlines or transportation, how would I get back? Even if I did somehow manage to get back, how would they react? A random boy comes up claiming to be your son would seem more of a disgusting insult more than anything else. What if I never get back home? I might be doomed to these lands for the rest of my days… or the new days I have been given.

That was a very disturbing thought.

What also disturbed me… what that stress and worry seemed to leave me the moment I felt it. No normal person could go through what I was and be as calm as I could. Something was wrong with me. I did not feel nearly as much fear as I should. I wouldn't say there wasn't any at all, but it was comparable to a dimmed light. Maybe it was the fact that I was an entire life of one person stuffed into a foreign body. Had this brain been unprepared for the memory and… damaged itself? I had the brain of a child working over-drive to think through everything. Maybe as time went on, these emotions would come back to me.

To be frank, I appreciated the calm mindset. It allowed me to think things through better either way. So one step at a time, I'd keep things going. First would be getting a map. This map would likely give me a general idea of the land. I need to study it very closely and try to see if any shapes are the same as those on the map offered by the modern world. If I could find a similarity, I could possibly mark a way home. After that, getting to that point would be the next step.

Air transportation was an obvious no go. These people look like they just barely got a grasp of science. I'd seen horses pulling wagons on several occasions. If I were to travel like that, it might take months, even a year to get to where I needed to go. Despite that, I would be willing to do it. It couldn't be that much different than waiting to merely age out of this useless body of mine and into someone who could actually work independently.

If I were to leave, that would also mean leaving behind this new family of mine…

They're a nice couple by all means. They're sweet, kind, caring, and seem to be very competent people. I would think they'd deserve better than a child who would just grow up to run off somewhere. I regret deciding to do this, but I must. Even if this goal might take decades even. It was not their fault another conscious had been shoved into the mind of their baby boy. They called me Tusk and honestly hearing that makes me shiver.

I was not familiar with reincarnation as much as others. I wasn't really sure if this was actually reincarnation in the first place. Had I been born into this body or had I hijacked it? The idea of shoving out another conscious, despite being heavily… childish, was a very disagreeable with me. It makes me feel as if I had maybe killed their baby.

I need to return to the matter at hand. To travel I would need supplies. That meant food, water, equipment for first aid if that was even a thing here, a wagon and horse to transport me across the lands, and maybe even a guide. Shit, that was a lot to get as I am now. Even later, it would likely be a challenge. I would need to be able to pay for the supplies and that would require a job. A job would require apprenticeship in some sort of practice which lasted years. I was born into this world with absolutely nothing on my per-

A white box suddenly appears in front of me, making me baby cough suddenly in surprise. My… mother I guess glanced over to me in worry and approached the crib. I saw her hand reach over and pass right through the floating white geometric plane and rub my back affectionately. I appreciated the rub, but the thing in front of me right was the immediate concern.

There was a familiar two by two box in the upper right hand corner with a grey arrow on the right side pointing towards another box. The major portion of the box was filled with a, yet again, familiar four rows of grey boxes, nine in each. The bottom had a slight indention between eh one above and there were four more boxes in the top right hand corner with a blacked section where I could see myself clearly. Next to my reflective image on the right was the last box with an image similar to a shield.

I am one fat looking baby…

The words above the two by two boxes were very clear: Crafting

This was a fucking Minecraft inventory, something only seen in a digital video game. This was not something seen in the real world. Had my rebirth had some other side effects such as hallucination?

Either way, I found this… amusing? My mind must really be jacked up. Well what really caught my attention at first was the diaper in the leggings slot. It makes sense seeing as that was the only article of clothing I was equipped with, but just looking at it made me want to chuckle. The second thing I saw was that a health bar and a hunger bar had appeared hovering in the air around me. Unconsciously, I grabbed it… and moved it to the right.

Interesting…

I then grabbed my inventory and shoved it to the left so that neither was in my way in terms of vision. It's not like they blocked off anything on my sides. They were heavily translucent, but it would be very distracting having it in your face all day. Of course there was also something else I decided to test, something which I would use to confirm whether or not my head was really in a bad shape.

My mother was very confused by my seemingly random hand motions. She of course decided it was nothing more than a baby deciding to explore its surroundings a bit. When Jerry called, she hurried off after giving a quick peck on my head which I unconsciously smiled on the inside to. It was not my fault that every person desired to be loved. A minute later and she had left the bedroom to join Jerry in the main room where he was requesting help with something.

Next to me was a small doll made poorly from stitches and yarn. A pair of buttons was strewn to the head with a large creepy smile plastered across the face. I grabbed it and held the object in my hands as fast as a baby could achieve in terms of speed. Just like that, an image of the doll appeared in my "hot-bar" which I had moved off to my right. So far, this could've all been a figment of my imagination… if all this reincarnation mess wasn't.

So then how would I put this item into my… inventory?

With a pop, the doll flickered in a blue flicker and it was gone. I glanced up and saw that the doll had been placed into the top bar of my inventory. I had not said anything or even moved my hands. The realization hit me and I wished I had the ability to slap my forehead without looking like I was yanking an invisible string up. It was all connecting through my mental state. It all made sense now, especially why this menu had appeared. I had been thinking of the possessions I had on me and it must've brought forth a list of items I had on me… nothing but a diaper.

Though if I can mentally move items around in my inventory does that mean I can equip and re-equip my attire at will?

*flash!*

A soft breeze around my nether regions made me frown. So I could take things off at will… how would I equip two articles of clothing in the same slot then? A sock under a boot or trousers under my pants were things I would normally choose to wear. Unfortunately I did not have any other clothes in my possession. That was something I would experiment with later on. Putting my… diaper back on, I found another idea come to mind: crafting.

This was real. I could manipulate a game inventory, practically breaking the laws of physics. If I had the ability to do so, then could I take a simple stick and two bars of iron and just yank a sword out? If that was true, things would be so much easier for me. Except what about items which were foreign to the game? Take a barrel for example. There was no such thing that could be made in the plain Minecraft. Would I be unable to make such things as a barrel or would a more… improvised recipe be formed?

Crafting was a very simple thing in game. Each creatable item had what most called a recipe. You would normally make these items at a workbench which would provide a three by three box menu in substitution for the two by two found in your own inventory. With this, you were allowed more complex recipes. Each one had specific items which would then be arranged in a certain way. A shovel would be two sticks, one on top the other and the type of material you wanted the head to be made out of on top. A bucket would simply be three iron bars or ingots placed in a V shape. Now say a barrel, which was never added into the game and therefore has no recipe was to be given a recipe by whatever the hell mystical power had reincarnated me with the powers of a game. I would not know this recipe. Would I be forced to then experiment in a workbench until I randomly chanced upon it?

I was surprised when Teresa suddenly picked me up.

I am unsure how to identify my new parents. Should I call them by their names or Mother and Father? It did not seem right with there already being a set of parents for me out there already.

"Ooh, you're so heavy," Teresa teased as he brought me to her chest and carried me to the other room where Jerry was waiting. He was already dressed in clothing that… appeared to be much cleaner and well kept then his usual attire. He had his boots on and a worn hat resting over his head. He put an arm around his wife and the kissed quickly. "We're all ready. You ready for your first church sermon, Tusk?"

They had a church in this place? Well it was a pretty decently sized village with a nice population. The religious beliefs of this place were actually something that would be pretty interesting to me. It might be a chance to learn a bit more of the culture in the surrounding area. Who was I to complain?

It seems that any children who still required the assistance of parents every few minutes such as newborns were taken care of what appeared to be modern day nuns. They had the black and white silky robes over themselves and kept their demeanor in a very calm way. A number of them were to take care of the children while the adults attended the sermon. Of course, that meant this entire thing was of no use to me and I was just wasting time… or was I?

They kept us in a room in the back of the large church where it looked like young toddlers were normally kept. There were a number of dolls and toys lying around, some being chewed on already by the youngsters. I grimaced at the sight of the shiny slobber sliding down on a wooden block. That child would get splinters at this rate. I was lying in a crib of course, most muscles not fully developed so that I could even crawl. Sure I could turn my head a bit but… it was quite difficult.

I wasn't three days old though. I had merely become conscious within this body three days ago. If I had heard Teresa correctly in one of her many hushed conversations, I was nearly four months by now? I'd been told once that an average baby learns to crawl at around six months. Maybe with gained intelligence, I can start crawling sooner than later.

A small tap on my head brought my attention over to what I noticed was… another child. A small baby girl who looked like she was still struggling with mobility peered down at my eyes. I merely glared at her with one thought in my mind that I furiously transmitted through my eyes: Do not drool on me…

You…

Will…

Not!

The girl instead did something else I would've rather avoided. She just suddenly dropped on top of me and giggled madly as I began to flail my arms and legs underneath her weight. The evil bastard! The nuns nearby watched in silent amusement as I continued my battle for freedom. The helpful lot they were…