Let me tell you something.
Dying is not fun. Like, seriously. It is painful, messy, and generally uncomfortable.
One moment, you're staring at the stars, breathing in the cold winter air, and enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in your hands, wondering some mind-altering stuff. The next, you're falling a hundred feet, wondering what the hell just happened until your body collide with the concrete ground in a one bloody, and messy heap. The last thing you saw was someone staring down at your soon-to-be flatten falling body with a maniacal grin.
Oh yeah, you heard that right. Some murdering asshole pushed me off of my apartment building, probably celebrating my death somewhere. But the thing was, I'm not like, really mad or depressed about it.
I mean, my life was pretty mundane so far. Grew up with loving parents and two little siblings, went to an okay school and met my highschool sweetheart, had kinda high grades and a job that has great pay. The only remarkable about me was the fact that I have gaming addition.
Now, I'm in this fancy-looking cathedral hall, wearing a outfit that looked like a Hanbok and Kimono at the same time. I looked around, heavenly light fluttered through the windows with church music in the background. Was this the afterlife? Never thought it would this peaceful. I walked around the area, my bare feet somehow not getting cold from the quartz tiles. Soon, I found that I wasn't the only person here.
There was a man — at least, they looked like a man — with long white hair in a flowing ponytail. He wore a white and blue Japanese yutaka, the sleeves had a sea serpent design in royal blue. The feminine man turned to face me, his snake-like eyes were warm like the sun.
"I've been waiting for you," He said, walking towards me. Eyes golden as sunlight, skin pale as snow. He was beautiful, like a painting drawn by the most skillful artist.
He gracefully gestured at a Victorian-styled table with two chairs made of silver, "Please, take a seat."
Siting down at the table, an assortment of sweets, all from different cultures, appeared out of nowhere. Aiko Dango, Tea cakes, macaroons, chocolate mint-chip cookies, and many more. The man sat across, holding a cup of matcha tea. He took a deep breath, smelling the scent of matcha and stared at my eyes with a smile.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Hakuyuki, a Yōkai and your faithful guardian from now on." Hakuyuki, which means Snow Dragon if I'm correct, sipped from his cup and then continued. "You have been chosen to be a Gamer] and given a second chance to live."
Hakuyuki observered my confusied expression, amusement in his gold gaze. "Are you still with me?" He asked slyly.
I quickly snapped out of my trance, and shook my head. "Kinda? I mean, I knew that I died and stuff. But a second chance to live? Isn't death supposed to be like, boom! You're dead! Game over." Hakuyuki just signed, taking another drink of his matcha tea.
"Yes and no. You are dead, but one of the great deities gave you a chance to live as a Gamer]. You'll be recarnated in another world, get stronger, and travel to different dimensions. Being a Gamer] means life is like a video game. There's things as [Levels], [Skills], [Stats], and many more. As you level up, more opinions are unlocked and you can choose whatever you want to be. Do you understand?"
As Hakuyuki explained to my dumbness, a thousand thoughts ran through my head. I died, and now, some unknown divine being gave me a second life as a game character? Those kinds of thing only happened in fanfiction and Asian comics. Also, does this [Gamer] ability similar to the Manhwa, The Gamer?
I heard a cough, and immediately paid attention to Hakuyuki's face.
I nodded slowly, trying to memorize every word. "So, what you're saying is that I can be any character class, to be a good guy or villain, and be a battle mage or a dragon archer?"
"Umm.. yes, exactly like that," Hakuyuki raised a perfectly trimmed eyebrow at the ever growing shit-eating grin on my face, probably wondering if I was crazy or mentally ill. But in reality, I was actually planning on what character class should I play, and my goals.
My first goal is obviously getting stronger, powerful enough that whoever dares to challenge me gets curp-stomp into another universe. Second goal is getting my own empire, or possibly, my own independent nation. Yes, I know that those ideals are very cliché and would take a very long time to achieve, but I'm a sucker for clichés, so suck it.
Next is how to become an overly powerful Gary Stu. Yeah, I'm a boy. A kinda feminine one at that, slim body with long hair and a frustrating inability to build up muscle.
The first option is being an assassin, a class fit to my flexibility and slimness. But, I really want to be a Mage, or to be exact, I want to be a Battle Mage. Now, the difference between a normal Mage and a Battle Mage is that Mages specialized in long range attacks, support, and high mana efficiency, while a Battle Mage specialized in long, mid, and even close range attacks with high mana efficiency, magical resistance, and defense. I also want to summon allies like in those games where you can get characters through Gacha or even special quests.
"So.. is there a tutorial?" I took a snickerdoodle from a plate of cookies, biting into the cinnamon goodness.
"Only a few beginners' quests, like fighting, loot, and knowing your special main menu." Said Hakuyuki.
I raised an eyebrow. Special main menu? As I thought about my gaming possibilities, a light blue screen popped into existence beside the table.
【Beginner's Quest (Part 1/4): Find out more about your Main Menu, Stats, and the Gamer's Store!】
【Congratulations! You have chosen to be a Gamer by one of the great deities! Get stronger by leveling up, choosing your Character Class, and complete quests!】
【To get to the Main Menu, just say 'Main Menu' and it will appear! Each Gamer system is customized and special to fit to their Gamer's needs. Don't worry! If you're in public, just think about the Menu and it will work just the same!】
【NOTE: Only you and your party can see these!】
【Rewards: 300 EXP, (Bronze Rank) Gacha Gift Box, 25 Stats Points!】
'That's neat.' I thought to myself.
Surprisingly, Hakuyuki just glanced at the notification and smiled. "Oh? A quest already? And you have some pretty nice rewards if you complete it."
"Wait, you can see those things?" I asked, another screen appeared, this time, it was royal blue with white fancy text.
【Ｍａｉｎ Ｍｅｎｕ】
【Status Screen】
【Inventory】
【Skills】
【Imformation Log】
【Gamer's Store】
【Gacha Giftshop】
【Game Settings】
"Of course. After all, I am your guardian and guardians are considered to be party members." Hakuyuki nonchalantly took another drink from his matcha. First things first, I clicked the Status Screen button, only to be blocked by a random grayish-purple screen.
[This feature is locked until you created your character!]
"Ah, I forgot to tell you that. Just say 'Create Game Character'," Alright then.
"Create Game Character!" Immediately, a huge royal blue screen overcast all the other screen, a full-body mirror proofing right next to it. My reflection greeted me, my own eyes stared at myself with judgement. I faced back to Hakuyuki, who just went back drinking his matcha and looked again at the mirror. I stood up from the table and turned to the large floating piece of glass with smaller blue screens, each one had some text like, Hair length or eye color, and underneath the text was different slide dials for tweaking body parts.
I took a long look at myself, but was taken back by the reflection's appearance. It was me before I died, navy blue hoodie, tousled black hair, denim jeans, and slight eye-bags behind a pair of square-framed glasses. Everything else was the same, Hakuyuki just gave me another smile by using the mirror.
"I can... change everything, right?" My heart pounded when Hakuyuki nodded. I willed the screens closer, my hands already sliding the dials up and down as they got near. My hair grew until the front reached my ears, slowly turning dark blue from the roots. My glasses were gone, my now exposed eyes watched themselves became bright as the sky on a cloudless day. Sunkissed skin turned into soft pure snow, shoulders now a bit defined. Staying true to my mixed Asian nationality, my suburban garb morphed into a loose-fitting yutaka-like outfit with the jacket being navy blue and the rest a light blue. My thin hands were covered by fingerless gloves, a golden earring dangled from my right ear.
I whistled at my reflection's new appearance, with Hakuyuki was clapping gleefully in the background. I happily pressed the comfirm button, shivering as I felt my body changed.
"What do you think?" I asked the probable dragon, my voice now airy and a bit high-pitched. My smile grew a bit bigger when Hakuyuki nodded in approval, an odd sense of satisfaction came upon me. The mirror dissolved into pixels, quickly reconstructing itself into a holographic wall.
[Please insert character information.] What it said, a single blinking line below the text.
I paused, now hesitate in my actions. Truth be told, I never liked anything about myself, so I always play RPG and MMORPG games. Actually, I play any game that lets you roleplay as another character. I hated how dark and brooding my eyes were, how my hair tangled and be dry, how my voice sounded dead and angry. It was like my siblings got everything good from my parents, and I was struck with the bad stuff, the leftovers. Of course, I worked with what I got and became more talented than my family, so it didn't matter anyway.
I decided. Forget about my past! I lived and I died, that's that! If I'm starting a new life, better to start from the very beginning.
A keyboard manifested before me, fingers began typing out my new identity in bold text.
[Y U K I O]
[Creating New Character...]
[Character Creation Completed!]
[Welcome, Gamer Yukio, to Multiverse Mania: World Royale!]
[Please wait as the God of RNG give you your stats.]
[ERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERROR]
[Congratulations! The God of RNG gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Congratulations! The God of Wealth gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Congratulations! The God of Combat gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Congratulations! The Goddess of Creation gave you a Cheat Perk!
[Congratulations! The Goddess of Magic gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Congratulations! The God of Collaboration gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Congratulations! Genesis, The Ultimate One, gave you a Cheat Perk!]
[Due to so many Cheat Perks, You have gained the title of 'Genesis' Champion'!]
"Uh, is this normal?"