[YOU DIED.]
Fuck, where am I? Is this a dream or something?
I couldn't look around, as I didn't have eyes or a body anymore.
Ah well, whatever.
So what's this? Is it talking about me? Am I the 'you' in this situation? I died?
Oh.
Fuck, man.
I didn't particularly feel anything at my own death and non-existence, probably because I couldn't remember most of my life.
All I could recall was just general knowledge about myself, and the media I enjoyed.
Was this all the afterlife amounted to?
[REINCARNATION IN PROCESS…]
Huh? Reincar—
…
…
…
"Wahhh! Wahh! Wahhhh! Wah! Wahhhhh!"
Fuck that's annoying.
My mind suddenly switched back on without warning, and my ears were almost immediately assaulted
I wanted to cover my ears and block out the sound of a high-pitched baby crying, as it was incredibly grating on my nerves, but my hands couldn't move. I tried again and found that my hands wouldn't move no matter how much I willed them too.
I tried opening my eyes, but the world was too out of focus for me to see anything. What is this? A hangover? I hadn't drunk much, so I never had a severe hangover before, but the fact my ears were extremely sensitive and I couldn't see clearly led me to think I was suffering from one.
[Rebirth: Complete!] - [Welcome to Remnant, Noire Schnee!]
Seriously?
I wondered if I hit my head and was having hallucinations, and then I remembered seeing this screen thing just a bit ago, and apparently I had died.
Oh.
Remnant?
Noire Schnee?
Ah, wait, now I remember.
Just as a passing thought, I had once imagined what if I was reborn in RWBY, and as the twin brother of Weiss at that. I didn't actually think further than my birth, because I quickly decided I didn't care about fighting or managing a business, so I discarded that idea and never revisited it.
And now I'm here, in this doomed world.
I wasn't inclined to fight, especially not when the big bad was immortal, but I didn't really want to die when Salem started attacking the kingdoms, so I needed to be at least strong enough to defend myself.
Hey System-thing, what can you do?
[Current OS: 'Status Report' can report on your current status.]
Anything else.
[Negative.]
Oh.
Can I exchange you for something useful?
[Scanning Soul & Mind…]
[Scanning Soul & Mind…]
[Scanning Complete!] - [Installing OS: Support.]
Will that be useful?
[Replacing OS: Status Report!] - [Installing OS: Support.] - [Progress: 0.0000000000000001%]
Wh— How long will that take?
[Installation Estimated Time: 18 years.]
Fuck.
[Installation Estimated Time: 5 minutes.]
Sitting at a desk with a computer, in an almost barren bedroom, I finished clicking away at a keyboard and completed some work, then I just stared at the countdown.
I would've expected to be a little nervous, I had been waiting for this since the day I was born, but honestly I just didn't fucking care anymore.
I hadn't just been sitting on my ass and twiddling my thumbs waiting for this moment. No, I started training young and even though I couldn't manage a single Glyph, I surpassed Weiss in Aura/Dust usage and could match her in pure swordplay.
Of course, Weiss was a fucking natural and just picked up the sword seven years ago, whereas I've been training for ten years, and she could also kick my ass with just a single Glyph. I tried not to let my emotions show on my face, but I probably scowled at her unconsciously after every sparring session.
I had my petty revenge by surpassing her in every academic field, but I doubt she even noticed. The shining blue eyes of admiration were always aimed at me whenever I tried gloating about my scores. And when she thought I wasn't looking she'd just pout at her own scores.
She was supposed to be envious of me, not sulking about herself, so I tried demonstrating the difference in our intelligence by tutoring her. That failed too. She'd just listen intently and eagerly write down what I explained to her.
It was still weird to think about the fact that Weiss Schnee was my twin sister, born just seconds after me, and that I was in Remnant, but I never really cared to think too much about it.
Going about my new life like it was normal wasn't particularly hard.
Sure, I wasn't happy to have a mother that was drunk most of the time, and a father that was a shrewd bastard, but they were a lot more neglectful to me than anything else, so I hardly saw them. Honestly, I didn't even try and pretend to be normal, but I doubt anyone even noticed.
I had spent most of my time in the library or on the internet, just learning as much as I could about this world from an insider's perspective.
When I had free time, I mostly just hung out with Weiss. She would probably be my closest weapon if all else failed, so I was definitely counting on her to save my ass if the time came.
When she started training, I read up on everything I could get my hands on to help her control her Semblance. I probably scowled at her during those sessions too, it fucking sucks that I couldn't use our family Semblance, probably because of my stupid System-thing.
I tried bonding with Winter, my older sister, and Whitley, my younger brother, however circumstances didn't allow for a lot of time between us.
Winter hadn't exactly been a caring older sister when Weiss and I were babies or kids, she mostly just eyed me with a frigid gaze. Though she still took some time to train Weiss with Glyphs, but after one sword duel with her, she never fought me again.
I don't think she even said anything to me when she officially joined the military.
Whitley was mostly raised, taught, and monitored by servants around the clock.
I was pretty sure that when Winter had left, our parents decided to be extra strict with his education, so even the small amount of free time he had was cut short. Even before that, my attempts to build a connection were interrupted by his studies.
I gave up both Winter and Whitley, then I declared that Weiss was the most important as I shifted my entire focus on her.
Anyway, growing up in Atlas wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. The technology here is only functionally advanced, as in they just did everything modern tech did but with a bit more efficiency.
Their culture was also spotty, their relatively young kingdom and cities hardly had any history that was cultural, and mostly focused on combat, survival, and inventions for those purposes above all else.
The thought about recreating some manga I remembered from earth for some spare cash had crossed my mind, but that would probably take up a lot of time. So instead I recreated some famous book series, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as examples.
I did use a pen name though to keep my identity confidential. I didn't really want to be associated with some books I plagiarized, I just wanted some easy money. I was pretty sure I would be disowned, or have my accounts frozen, if anything happened, so I wanted my own source of income.
Over time, I did learn some various useful skills, just some general jack of all trades type of things, in case I ever found myself in a pinch. I tried learning hacking, but the computers here weren't really intuitive, and coding here was also needlessly complex, so I gave up on that.
[Installation Estimated Time: 5 seconds.]
Now I felt nervous, my heart pounded and I held my breath. I rubbed my suddenly sweaty palms on my desk, and tapped my foot on the floor repeatedly.
Whatever this was, I waited eighteen years for it.
[Installation of OS 'Support': 100%!] - [System Installed!]
[Spend 10 Coins for 1 Gacha Roll!] - [Spend 100 Coins for 11 Gacha Rolls!]
[Account: 10 Coins!]
Spend coins?
Gacha?
As if a tsunami crashed into my brain, my previous experience with the hell that was gacha games came flooding back to me.
Days, weeks, months of grinding for nearly every waking moment, and then watching all my hard work disappear as low level results came flooding in.
Oh, but you could level up the basic stuff if you had enough and you get pity points too, it can't be that bad.
Fuck that! Fuck all of that! I didn't care about combining low level things to get mid level things. Fuck low cost Craft Essences! Fuck low rarity Servants, Operators, and everything else! Fuck bronze and silver equipment!
As my fist slammed down on my desk, a memory flashed through my mind. Of clumsy hands sliding a bullet into a chamber on a desk.
"Six chambers, one bullet, five times. What are my odds? What's my luck? Let's find out!"
After a session of endless grinding, I failed to get my desired result. In my sleep deprived state, I spent every cent from my life savings, and still failed. The words 'roll again!' were grayed out, I was out of currency, I couldn't roll again.
Why did I play gacha games? Sure, I read the stories and played with every character, I was even at the level cap for most of them and caught up to the latest updates, and yet none of that was the reason I played.
An addiction. Simple as it can get, I was addicted.
My life was pretty boring, when I got lucky and rolled the best characters, I also got a hit of dopamine. And over time, a simple good roll wasn't good enough, I needed something great.
My desired result from the game I wasted all my money on? Simple, I wanted to see a ten draw filled with only the highest rarity.
When all else failed, I got drunk and took a revolver to my head, then played some roulette. I placed a single bullet in the chamber and planned on pulling the trigger five times. I'm not sure what I wanted, because even after the fifth pull and I was still alive, I pulled it again.
I had heard about bullets being duds, and about bullets ricocheting around a skull without killing a person, and I took my chances.
Then I died.
Ah.
Well, that's embarrassing.
My frustration at getting this as a system was mostly overwhelmed by the fact that I had killed myself over a gacha game. I can't let anyone ever know about that, I think I'll kill them and then die of shame if someone found out.
I don't see anything about rarities, so I doubt this'll spark an addiction in me.
After suppressing any memories of my death, I decided to roll the gacha.
[Result] — [Ice Fairy (Cost: 5)]
[Select Subordinate] — [Weiss Schnee (Cost: 0/20).]
I didn't really understand what was being asked of me, but I just went along with whatever it was and tapped on my sister's name.
Almost immediately I heard a scream from across the hall, from my twin sister's room. Without a second thought, I jumped up from my seat, grabbed my saber off my wall, leaped out my doorway and rammed straight into Weiss' room.
She had her rapier pointed at a tiny ice-blue fairy with snow-white hair that was floating towards her. It wasn't troubled by her sword slashes or her Glyphs, everything just passed right through it, and the fairy just kept floating towards her.
Oh.
"Calm down Weiss, it's just a fairy." I dropped my sword to my side as I understood what was happening. "Can't you just be happy about your birthday present?" I immediately thought up an excuse.
"Pardon? Noire, what are you talking about?" Weiss was walking in circles trying to stay away from the small fairy with snowflakes drifting off its small body. Her eyes darted to me and back to the creature tailing her.
"It's a gift from me to you, happy eighteenth birthday. It's an Ice Fairy, it should function the same as Ice Dust, and it probably won't run out for a few years." I was mostly just pulling the explanation out my ass, but I have no problem being wrong.
Confusion and then contemplation covered her face, and then she silently held out her hand, the blue creature sat down gently in her palm. Wonder filled her face next.
"Okay, well, enjoy it and have fun, or whatever." I guess it was okay, if it meant she would get stronger I wouldn't complain… too much. A fucking fairy would have been great to have.
"Ah wait!"
Weiss suddenly jumped up from her daze and frantically looked around her room. The Ice Fairy was drifting behind her as she searched for something before giving up with a slump of her shoulders.
She sulked over to stand in front of me with her eyes downcast and her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. "I-I uh, don't have a gift to give you, the date slipped my mind. As my p-punishment, I-I'll b-be y-y-your m-ma-maid for today."
"Uh, fuck no." For some reason I'm now suddenly seriously concerned about my sister's mental health. "Do you have a fever? That's a pretty fucking weird thing to say. You didn't drink anything did you? Fuck Weiss, wait a few more years, jeez it's not that hard. Or what, you trying to get a head start and catch up to Mom? Anyway, I don't need a present, so don't stress about it."
With just a few steps, I walked back to my room. There was only a few more days until Weiss and I left for Beacon. I guess I should be glad that I wasn't tied down by any expectations and was able to decide my future without having to fight for my choice.
Oh, odd.
Weiss didn't sing her mirror song at her farewell concert. Looking back on it, she didn't really have any of her signature cold or isolation themed songs.
Odd, I wonder what changed.
I hadn't noticed at the time, mostly because I couldn't remember a timeline of her music career ever existing. So I probably subconsciously thought she would eventually sing it, and when she missed the debut, I didn't notice until now.
Okay, so how do I get more coins?
[Gain Coins from Completing the Story.] - [Next Step: Leave Atlas.]
I sighed, this'll probably take a while.
What else can you do for me?
[Subordinates]
[Weiss Schnee - Trust: 200% - Boosts: 100% MGI, 100% ATK, 100% DEF.
Equipped (Cost: 5/20): Ice Fairy (5).]
Oh, cool.
She has a lot of trust in me.