CHAPTER 2: NEW BODY

Born in a small village, Lid was lying on his back under a cliff.

　Blood flows freely from his fractured skull due to the impact of falling from the cliff above him.

　The ground is dyed red after being soaked in Lid’s blood.

　Far above, away from Lid’s sight, three people are standing. On top of the cliff are three adult men from the same village.

　Clement, Robert, and Tuck.

“Ain’t he glad, he’s gonna meet his parents?” (Clement)

“He…he…” (Robert)

“Who’s going to help that cursed brat? Die you little shit.” (Tuck)

~Lid’s Perspective~

　Looking down on mefrom the cliff, the adult men left with rotten smiles plastered on their self-righteous faces.

　I no longer had the strength to move my body. Standing up is impossible, I can’t even lift any of my limbs.

　Blood is flowing from the back of my head and I’m paralyzed. I am stuck on where I am currently lying, under the cliff from where I fell.

　The cliffs are very high. He’ll never be able to climb even if he’s not injured.

“If this is where I end, I should have done it…” (Lid)

　I should have killed them.

　I wished that I could have killed the people who killed father and mother.

　However, I can never avenge them.

　I don’t even have the strength to slay my enemy.

　As a result, I was knocked down by them and now left injured and dying.

“…Ku” (Lid)

　Tears of regret and sorrow burst from my eyes.

“Daddy…Daddy!!” (Lid)

　As his tears dry, Lid the curtain closed on his short 16 years of living.

○

~Toru’s Perspective~

　I opened my eyes as I regain consciousness.

　The white emptiness can’t be seen, but now the sight of a cave replaces it.

“This place…”

　My body aches, probably from lying on the bare rocky floor. As I raise my body in a sitting position, I touched the back of my head

“Hmm?”

　Something sticky is covering my head and palm.

　I move my hand toward my face, dreading what I might find. As I looks at my palm, I found it covered in blood.

“Oh!”

　I hurriedly touched the back of my head. However, there is no sign of any wound there.

“I knew my body would be from a deceased person, but it is certainly surprising if there’s blood when you wake up. So this person died from an injury, right? Is the injury completely healed?”

　It seems that the injury was healed completely when my soul was transferred.

　Well otherwise, my second life would have been over in seconds as soon as my soul is transferred. It would be an extremely short second life.

“Am I really in a different world?”

　I stand up and scouts the area around. My first impression is that I am in some sort of limestone cave.

　I was slightly disappointed. I thought that the scenery of a different world would be vastly different from Earth.

　The appearance is not much different from that of the Japanese limestone caves I visited. There is no feeling of coming to another world.

　It was quite a disappointing reality, but then I noticed that the area was strangely bright. So I looked up at the source of the light.

　There.

“What is that?”

　The tip of the stalactite, which has filled the ceiling, was shining slightly.

　Each one has the same amount of light as a firefly, but because there are countless stalactites, the entire limestone cave shines as if it was illuminated.

“Oh. The stalactites are emitting light naturally.”

　At last. I stand up and stared excitedly at the otherworldly scene that I found.

　However, my body does not move the way I expected.

“…Ah, that?”

　About to fall again, Toru fixed his posture.

　The reason the awkwardness of his motion is not because his body is difficult to move but the opposite.

　His body is moving too easily.

　The height is about the same, but have his skin has a very healthy complexion.

　The back of the hand is smooth without any wrinkles.

“Was I de-aged?”

　I was moving my joints, from my shoulder to arms. Everything was moving smoothly. Not a single awkward movement, nor is there strain in my muscles.

　I tried jumping to his as hard as I can. My body feels like it is floating.

　The performance is completely different from that of my original 32-year-old body.

　When I flipped my shirt up, I saw well-defined six-pack abs.

　As I feels my body with new very dexterous hands. There is only the feeling of well-defined muscles under firm skin.

“Oh, my body is in peak condition again…”

　It seems like a waste to him.

　A sigh leaked voicing a mixture of complex emotions that envy, joy, and regret.

“How old was this body’s owner?”

　While I was wondering, the number 16 appeared in my brain.

　It is the memory of the owner before my soul is transferred. If that is the reality, I am now 16 years old again…

“…”

　I sighed once again.

　I feel quite sad when I think that a child who is only half my age has just lost his life.

“…I will use this body and this new life with care.”

　I gave a prayer of gratitude to the soul who would no longer be here.

　After praying, I immediately checked the power I received from the self-proclaimed god.

“But how can I summon that out?”

　I tried to pray, but it does not appear.

　I raised my hand forward and breathed a little.

“Go!”

　But it didn’t work

“She said because I have a serious personality…!?”

　Cold sweat runs through my new body.

　I am now remembering my time in that white space; I recalled it and said…

“-Skill board!”

　Suddenly, a transparent plate appeared soundlessly in the space in front of me.

　The skill board is voice-activated.

“That is good. It came out properly…”

　I was relieved that it worked, that self-proclaimed God looked like she was fooling around.

　Refocusing, I confirm the details on the skill board.

○ Status

Toru Minasuki

Level: 1

Race: Human – Job: Hunter

Rank: Ⅰ – Skill points: 1000

“Hey. This was the body of a hunter. No wonder it’s fit.”

　I murmured at the job column.

　I was an office worker in Japan. Of course, I was not a hunter. I don’t have such skill or knowledge.

　In other words, this job column seems to be calculated from my physical data, not my memory.

　Next, I looked at the skill points.

　I believed that the skill points could be used to improve my abilities.

　There is no confusion as it is a common system for RPG games.

　It is much complex than that though.

“What does rank mean?”

　Since there is “I”, it can be expected that there will be “II” and “III”. But that’s it.

　(I don’t even know if I am high or low.)

“There is no explanation even if I tap on it…”

　(I touched the-ranks with my fingertips, but the explanation did not appear either.)

　In these cases, when you click on a skill or item in-game, a description usually appears.

　This skill board doesn’t seem to be designed to be user-friendly.

“I should probably ask that self-proclaimed God the next time we meet?”

　The self-proclaimed God said they could meet in the future.

　(I have no idea what the conditions are for the meeting, but I’ll keep it in mind and remember to ask when we meet.)

　I shift my focus to the next item on the board.

　Below rank and skill points, sets of passive and technique trees are visible. I tapped it to gain access.

○Passives

[Complete Enhancement] [Body Enhancement] [Magic Enhancement] [Natural Recovery] [Enhanced Resistance] [Stamina][Magic][Strength][Dexterity][Agility][Intelligence][Luck] [Limit Break]

○Techniques

[Sword Art] [Spear Art] [Staff Combat] [Unarmed Combat] [Magic Art] [Training] [Methodology] [Detection] [Secret Maneuver] [Intimidate] [Provocation] [Intuition] [Language] [Poker Face] [Oration] [Incitement] [Conviction] [Concealment] [Animal Husbandry] [Cultivation] [Sewing] [Couture] [Jewelry Creating] [Alchemy] [Metallurgy] [Blacksmith] [Various room] [Chant Revocation]…

“Oh… I have so many.”

　The released tree was packed with passive and technical skills. The passives are still on the screen. But the techniques don’t end, no matter how much I scroll down.

　The skill tree seems to be lined up with all the things that can be called technique, old and modern.

There are things that you can imagine such as [cultivation] and [sewing], but some are hard to understand.

“What should I pick?”

　As a test, tap [Increased Night Vision]. Then, there was an item called [storage] its function is hard to identify.

　Toru taps it. Then [Increased Night Vision] disappeared from the tree list.

　The missing [Increased Night Vision] was stored at the bottom of the tree in the newly created [Storage] section.

“So that’s how it works, but it’s a pain to sort out all this…”

　(There are thousands in total. You have to tap each one to store them. If you do it properly, you can sort it out a little faster. However, it may store skills that I might need.)

“Well, I’ll do it slowly later.”

　Giving up on storing unnecessary skills at the moment, I plan on selecting the necessary skills first.

　Basic skills required different points depending on the type.

　For example, [Complete Enhancement] [Body Enhancement] [Resistance Enhancement] [Magic Enhancement]. It can be imagined that all three enhance the body.

　However, [Complete Enhancement] requires 100 points to raise by one level, whereas [Body Enhancement] [Magic Enhancement] requires only 10 points.

“Hmm, why is there a discrepancy?”