-Luck of the Reincarnated—
(I own nothing, but my OC)
W-What is this…?
Where am I...?
Who am I…?
"Congratulations. You have been chosen for a special reincarnation package. This was completely random so… lucky you! I am designated 5t3v3, but you can call me Steve. I was created to help the receiver of this package function, not only in the next world, but also possible future worlds."
My head was pounding with the weight of 1000's of memory crashing down on it. What hurt the most though was the memory of my death. Getting hit by a truck. Having numerous bones in my body break. Bleeding out ever so slowly. Not pleasant.
With that memory, I realized the full weight of my situation though I am weirdly calm about all of it. Maybe it was because I didn't have anyone important to me in my life. My parents died before I knew them. My foster family was a group of abusive assholes. Friends? At best associates. Significant others? Too busy grinding. It was equal parts reassuring and depressing knowing that I had nobody.
Maybe that was part of the reason I stuck to gambling after all. My life had nobody in it. It didn't matter what happened to me. I could lose everything I owned, and it wouldn't matter to anyone. Nobody would be disappointed in me. Nobody would think anything of it.
Eh, maybe I just liked the anticipation and money. Who knows?
Steering myself away from my depressing thoughts, I looked at the small pop-up in front of me. It was a list. The only problem was that there was only a single name on the list that wasn't grayed out. I squinted at the grayed-out names, but for some reason, I couldn't read them.
"What the hell."
"That is the world list. It is a list of all the possible worlds you could visit now and in the future. Due to this being the start of your reincarnation package, only one option is available. Please select the [Percy Jackson Universe] to continue reincarnation."
I paused for a moment. The voice was real? I thought I had just finally gone insane. Eh, it'll happen eventually. So then was what the voice said true? I looked around for a second before realizing that everything around me was just a black abyss. Well, I still have the memory of my death. That and the dark abyss thing make me inclined to believe the voi- err Steve.
Thinking about it for a moment I see no other real options for me other than to select the name on the list. First, though, I had some questions.
"Uhh, Steve was it? About the world list thing… You said that I would have to reincarnate into this world, right? So… how am I supposed to survive in the world of Percy Jackson? There are monsters everywhere and if I'm a demigod then I'll be attracting them like moths to a light."
"The reincarnation package and the system that comes with it allow you to start right after exiting the Lotus casino as a sixteen-year-old. Up until that point, you won't exist. This way you don't have to experience the miracle of birth from the baby's perspective. We have had some serious trauma happen previously."
"I'll pass on that," I said
"Also, despite your assumption, you technically don't have to choose to be a demigod. I doubt that you would choose anything else though given you're an adrenaline junkie who picks up a new way to get high as often as possible."
"Fair enough," I said before tapping the name of the world.
Another screen popped up not too long after that.
"This is the character creation part of your reincarnation. The first step is selecting your name. After that, you are able to select your godly parent and get the perks associated with them. There are also perks that you got from your past life that will be transferred over."
A name, huh? Should I go with my previous name? Nah. My past self died. Something new is good. Something cool though.
"Ezekiel," I said.
"Hmmm. Fitting name all things considered," said Steve as an empty box on the screen in front of him was filled with his new name.
"Now onto the fun bit."
A huge list of gods showed up in front of me. This was more options than I was expecting. The first thing I needed to do was narrow down the list. The first gods that I crossed off my list were the gods that were not part of the Greek pantheon. The only reason I know anything about Percy Jackson is because I read those books and the heroes of Olympus. My admittedly meager knowledge would be useless if I wasn't part of the Greek pantheon. Then I crossed off the minor gods and goddesses. It wasn't anything against them, but they were kind of weak in comparison. Lastly, I narrowed it down to be between two gods. Hermes and Zeus. On one hand, Zeus was supposed to be the most powerful of the gods. On the other hand, Hermes probably fits me the best. Could I take two?
"Is there any way to get the perks of multiple gods?"
"Gods? No. However, you could have one demigod and one godly parent."
"Could I get Zeus as my godly parent and a daughter of Hermes as my mother?"
As soon as I stopped talking, the empty boxes for heritage were filled in.
"So, what perks did I get?"
"Unfortunately, you will have to go into the world and reincarnate before you can see your perks. That being said, are you ready?"
A slight grin tugged at my lips. Despite my mind telling me I was an idiot; I couldn't help but feel extremely excited for what was to come.
"Made ready. Or at least… I will be," I said as the abyss slipped away from me.
My head felt like it was splitting open. Again…
I have decided that I hate mind or soul transfers. They're evil. Give killer headaches.
Coming out of my stupor, I started realizing what was happening.
My name was Ezekiel Dark. I was already 16 and a full-fledged teenager. I escaped the casino a week ago. Now, here I was, on the streets of Las Vegas, with nothing. No food, water, or money. I had thought the system would reincarnate me right at 16 or something, but my birthday was months ago.
[Task initiated: get food, water, and money.]
Woah. I looked around for a second before realizing there was nobody else there. It didn't sound like Steve either. What was that?
"That was the task generator. It generates tasks based on a variety of factors. Firstly, the task must have a certain level of difficulty. The second condition is that it must be assigned by yourself or someone around you. They will not appear out of thin air. The final condition is that you must accept the task."
"Wait, Steve! I thought you were just part of the whole reincarnation thing."
"REINCARNATION! PACKAGE! Also, as the reincarnation package's system, I will be here for a while. Technically you just reincarnated, so you're stuck with me until the reincarnation package finishes."
Huh…
Well, at least now I have an objective. Wait, before I forget-
"Hey Steve, what else can this reincarnation stu– err, package do?"
"Imagine a screen in front of you."
I do as Steve says and slowly a screen starts to appear in my mind.
[Skills]
[Traits]
[Perks]
[Tasks]
Dang. I was expecting… something else. Where's the status? I've read gamer fan fiction before, and they always have a status.
"There is no status. This system is based on you. It can allow you to manage and improve your skills much easier. However, unlike those gamer systems, this system focuses on augmenting your abilities. For example, most demigods' potential is limited, both because of their parents and other factors. However, your potential as a son of Zeus and Grandson of Hermes is practically unlimited because of the system. You could theoretically become as powerful as Zeus with enough time."
Oh damn. Could be as powerful as Zeus? Hehehe, then no one would be able to try and beat the shit out of me for taking all their money.
No point in counting chickens before they hatch though. The system said I could become as powerful as Zeus. Not that I would. For now, I need to check what skills and stuff I have. When I tried to think about looking at a list of [Skills] it worked.
Skills:
[Electrokinesis lv. 1.0 – control, power, and overall effectiveness of electrokinesis
Subskills: none]
[Aerokinesis lv. 1.0 - control, power, and overall effectiveness of aero kinesis
Subskills: none]
[Gambling/betting lv. 45.3 – Risks and bets have a greater chance of success
Subskills: none]
[Running lv. 17.1 – How well you can run, but also how well you can dodge, evade, and move
Subskills: none]
[Driving lv. 16.1 – Cars are easier they are to drive and maneuver
Subskills: Streetcar Racing, Get Away Driving]
[Firearms Proficiency lv. 7.3 – Increases accuracy
Subskills: Pistol Proficiency, Shotgun Proficiency
[Gaming lv. 63.7 - can think and react faster while playing games
Subskills: Board Games, Card Games, Video Games]
[Thievery lv. 1.0 – Is more likely to go unnoticed while stealing, and successfully picking locks or pockets
Subskills: Lock-picking]
[Money Sense lv. 1.0 – The ability to sense how rich or poor someone is, which stocks will rise or fall, how valuable an item is etc.
Subskills: none]
"…"
"This is the main benefit of the system. You can develop skills to the peak of human ability and beyond easily. You can even gain more benefits from your godly heritage."
I'm starting to see how I might be able to be as strong as Zeus. Also, what is the level cap?
"There is no level cap. Your skills will get progressively better until they're the best and then keep going. There are no limits because of the system."
Now I need to check traits and perks...
Traits:
[Powerful Athletic Demigod Physique – Depending on your divine heritage, your body naturally grows to resemble a type of Greek warrior. Large multiplier to strength, dexterity, perception, and any other physical abilities.]
[Natural Thief – You can steal almost instinctively.]
[Gambling Addiction – Compulsion to make some sort of bet for something. Can manifest in suicidal-like actions such as driving around 120mph in the city and getting rammed by a truck…]
[Adrenaline Junkie – While you might not get off on it, you certainly enjoy life-threatening situations and anything that triggers adrenaline.
Triggered by: Gambling, Fighting, Racing(Fast Modes of Travel)]
[Lightning Resistance – Lightning does almost nothing to you.]
[Fatal Flaw Stubbornness – You do not back down. If you do back down, it is only to come back at the problem harder.]
[Speed of Hermes – With your mother being the daughter of one of the fastest gods, the speed of Hermes was passed down to you through her. Allows the user to alter how fast they can run by
Base running speed (56 mph) + running level/2(85.5) = Speed of Hermes Max Speed (141.5 mph).]
[Sky Creature Communication – As a son of Zeus, you can talk to all the creatures in his domain.]
Perks:
[World traveling/Reincarnation – After death you will have the ability to reincarnate into a new world. You also might be able to travel worlds before death if [REDACTED] happens. You also get some of the skills you had show up in the skill list]
[Son of Zeus – Gains: Electrokinesis, Aerokinesis, Powerful Demigod Physique, Lightning Resistance, and Sky Creature Communication]
[Grandson of Hermes – Thievery, Lock-picking, Money Sense, Athletic Demigod Physique, Natural Thief, Speed of Hermes]
[System Benefits – Infinite Growth, Displayed Skills, Displayed Traits, Displayed Perks, Task Generator]
Gods, that is a lot of insane stuff. All I have to do now is use them enough to get them to a high enough level and then-
"Unfortunately, that won't be possible. Again, this system only augments your skill. Say you had a level 1000 pistol proficiency skill. It wouldn't do anything for you if your aim was terrible. It would make you 1000% more accurate, but a 1000% increase to 0 is still 0."
Eh, that's fine. I just need to focus on training instead of throwing out random lightning bolts to boost my level. Not too hard. The first thing I need to do though is to get out of this alley.
After getting out of the alley, I look around and manage to figure out where I am. Now onto the task I got. Basic as hell. The first thing is getting a backpack. Can't just carry it all around with only two hands. There is a school somewhere around here, right?
20 minutes later…
Whelp, that was easy. High schools don't exactly have top-tier security. That instinctively perfect lockpicking is cool though. I stopped by a hotdog stand on my way back to my alley, ordered a hotdog, and ran off without paying. Now, I need to steal some water from a grocery store. I also pickpocketed someone's wallet. I even got thievery up a couple of levels. The downside though is that I also became a bit of a kleptomaniac. Turns out it gets the adrenaline pumping.
[Adrenaline Junkie – While you might not get off on it, you certainly enjoy life-threatening situations and anything that triggers adrenaline.
Triggered by: Gambling, Fighting, Racing(Fast Travel), Stealing]
But I did find out what tasks to give.
[Task completed: Get food, water, and money.
Reward based on completion: +10 lv. Thievery, Pickpocketing, +.2 lv. running, Shoplifting.]
Since the rewards I get are levels based on the way you completed the task. Pretty cool that you can get levels from the action and complete a task through that same action. Anyway, with my adrenaline junkie tendencies sated temporarily, I need to solve my other urges. I got 47 dollars from the wallet before I tossed it. Now, I was off to gamble it away. Where should I go though? After all, there aren't any casinos in Vegas or anything to go to… I would like to have some more money though first.
It might not seem like much, but there are some chess and checkers boards at a park a few miles from me. Sometimes, some money makes it in there as well. It just so happens that there is an obnoxious moron who is ready and waiting for me to take his money. He had just beaten his opponent on a 20-dollar bet, so he was bound to be overconfident. Alright, it was time to pull my best innocent and naïve kid act.
"Excuse me, sir," I said as he turned in his chair to face me.
"What is it?" he said while making his annoyance as clear as possible.
"Um, well, I got some money, and I was wondering if I could play a game," I said, laying on the dumb kid act as thick as possible while showing him the 40 dollars.
"Really? Alright then, but if I win, I get the 40 dollars right there. Also, if by some miracle you win I'll give you 40 bucks as well. Sound fair?"
"That's great!"
I walked away from that chess match with an extra 40 dollars in my pocket. Of course, the guy I beat was being a big crybaby, so I had to run out of the park. 56 mph as a base speed is insane. The wind pressure was kind of annoying, but I will probably be able to solve that later when my Aero kinesis gets to a high enough skill level.
Which brings me to my next problem. A place to train. I know the mist is a thing, but somehow, I don't think it would be wise to throw around thunderbolts in the city. For that though, I need some supplies.
Alright well, I'm gonna try this again. No chapters 2500 and none 5000. I'm not sure if I'll have time for this, but I can try to make something of it. Honestly, I didn't even glance at this story, but they did. I'm also making this an AU for a bit of creative freedom to mess around with.