NOVEL WEB Prologue: My Untimely Death Opening Doors
Prologue: My Untimely Death Opening Doors
My whole body felt like it was starting to lose its warmth, the blood coming from my stomach, chest, and neck leaked out as I lay there on the ground. Despite ringing the alarm for burglars I knew for a fact that I was going to die. It was already too late for me, was heaven waiting for me, was it hell? I didn’t know much about Buddhism to give an accurate picture of what the afterlife looked like over there. The perspective changed from being that of me being on the floor to looking down on myself.
“……?”
I could do nothing but express confusion at the sudden shift, was my soul leaving my body? I remained in the same place yet I could hear a great rumbling noise from above. It felt like the sky would be split open any moment from now, I stared up naturally to see what was coming. Was it the angel who was going to take my soul? For a brief moment, I could see a gap in the sky open up, from the inside I could see something enormous staring down from above and to the world below it. I couldn’t describe it yet it felt both good and evil at the same time, as for the thing that came down to this earth? It looked like a Tengu with black wings carrying a massive book in its hands, folding my arms at this predicament I was mentally preparing myself for the scolding I was going to get for living my life this way.
“I have come as God’s Emissary, rejoice for “
“Hold on. Aren’t you a Shinto kind of being? What the fuck are you doing spouting this stuff like an angel?”
“Thy death was not a part of this world’s death schedule, hence I have been sent to amend that. I have stopped the Grim Reaper himself from taking thy soul and keeping it as his own.”
The masked tengu spoke with a rather proud voice, I wasn’t amused by how he worded that and wanted to click my tongue at him but I chose not to.
“As procedures beckon me, for one such as thee a recollection of memory is to be recorded, relevant information of thine age shall also be recorded as well. Important events up until thy death shall be relevant, thine sins and good deeds shall be counted later. Now speak with a loud and confident voice, for I am writing a record for the Lord to see!”
Without my consent, I began to recollect my life up until my death.
☾
My name is Shinohara Yukiyo, I have lived in this world for a total of 21 years. I do not have any lingering regrets about the experiences that I had up until this point. I was raised by my single mother who died when I was young, I never knew my dad and thus I was raised by my relatives. I did not consider the loss of my mother as a point of me being the way I am today, that is a result of the circumstances I grew up. My relatives being a unique lot weren’t like other relatives who would use the opportunity to use the inheritance money left behind for me and deprive me of it kept it safe until I was the appropriate age to use it.
For them that meant my teenage years, they essentially told me to live on my own and decide what I wanted to do in my life. And so I did exactly that, I lived as I wished. If your question was: “What can a teenager possibly do with all of that money?”. Then the answer was very obvious when you considered the following:
1. I didn’t interact all that much in middle or high school
2. My interests were all internet-focused and centered around it (MMOs, scrolling through social media, watching videos, and anime, reading the manga and light novels I ordered online.)
And the result would be a NEET who never even left her house since everything would be delivered to her through online services. One could say that I lived poorly bereft of social interactions and meaningful experiences but I am rather proud of my reclusive hermit life. Even so, I had managed to work out and buy gym equipment so I did not feel sluggish and worn out. I think I am going off track and heading into my actual routine here. Information about the age I lived in was rather simple, the year was 2067, and the golden age of virtual realities had sprung up. Despite its sudden rise to all known technology most of it had managed to make closed worlds with limited senses involved.
Thus video games were open for that, companies began with that pitch in mind. Diving into a video game slowly but surely became commonplace with time, it didn’t matter what kind of genre game it was there was a dive version of it. This trend was not going away anytime soon, but the first to bank on this were MMOs that had steeped their toes into the river before everyone else. It had taken a long time but developers who worked on such games cracked the code for getting the five senses to function within this virtual world. This of course spread to other parts of the same technology, VRMMORPGs had revolutionized this and were now front and center of every tech nerd magazine and tabloid. One of those old MMOs I used to play that evolved into such a game was amply named Sword Fantasy. It was a typical magic and swords game with the associated races that existed within it. A player could choose between the three worlds: Aether, Nyx, and Hel for their character to live in and freely jump between the worlds. The free-form customization of appearance, jobs, and their skill trees as well as evolutions for some was the most unique aspect of this game.
There were many races I could have chosen to play in this game that I poured my soul into, but in the end, I picked elf at the time. As time went on I evolved into a dark elf which had high bonus stats to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Agility, as well as their cool and mysterious design speaking as an avid fan of elves in general. The art direction of the game was so wonderfully done, that one could commission artists to create their game characters for them and base their entire skillset around appearance alone.
That was particularly me and my favored artist who was also an Elf fan. Our interests aligned and that is how α-Ω (Alpha Omega) was born. She had long platinum blonde hair and strong and stern crimson eyes wearing a white dress-like battle armor, her range of weapons included the bow, the dual blades, and the long sword. There was plenty of versatility and flexibility to learn other weapons. Because of this, I gained somewhat of a reputation in Sword Fantasy because I would usually be involved in a lot of the events and quests the game had to offer. Down to the point of the name 「Dark Snow Princess」sticking whenever my character appeared in any world lobby.
Within the game’s lore, the Dökkálfar (dark elf) could live far longer than the elf, they were more agile and dexterous, and they had an affinity for darkness. This would land most players who chose this race into positions that are more likely to encounter dark guilds and gain dark-themed equipment. Depending on the player they would normally go against the Law faction of the game.
I loved dark elves but that didn’t mean I hated players who played as Ljósálfar (light elves). To go on a tangent for a brief moment. The traditional nature-loving blonde-haired elf was just as beautiful as the dark elf. With recent trends, the petite elf is disappearing and they are being replaced by more thick elves even on par with the dark elf.
I apologize I seem to lose myself when it comes to elves. I invested a lot of time in Sword Fantasy playing it daily for 5 to 7 hours at a time and logged out to play other video games. Nearing the exact moment where I lost my life it occurred during the playtime of Sword Fantasy our guild was a cozy hub that had a bar, a karaoke platform, as well as a lounge. I was now getting ready to leave just as another guild mate of mine arrived at that exact moment, Ethan the Orc.
“Yo”
“Sup”
I replied to him with a smile waving at him as he was glad to see me before he too logged off.
“I am doing alright. Just finished a quest.”
“Ah, you’ve evolved again haven’t you?”
I was right about him logging off but I had seen something that made me see that he had leveled up. I could pick this up due to a passive skill I had in the game.
“Uh, how you’d notice that? I am quite surprised really.”
“I can see the undead aura of skulls floating around you. Dark Elven Vision and all.”
Ethan sighed as he sat down and ordered some ale to drink before he left the game. The guy was a salaryman and he needed to wind down by playing this game.
“I forgot that you had that skill, to be honest. Ever thought of changing races lately?”
“No?”
“I mean I was human for a very long time before I became an orc.”
Ethan replied honestly as he loved to switch races on the fly when he wanted to fit the theme of the character story he was going for. His beginning race was Beastkin and Dragon afterward but now it was an orc.
“Not exactly. Game characters are not like social media profile photos that you can just change at any moment, if one wants to stick to something they have to do it for a long time. But I cannot be a judge for that really since I did change races after all.”
“Man back when you were a ljósálfar everyone used to follow you like a herd of ducklings. You almost landed the name and I quote “Heroine of Purity” Hahahahaha!”
Ethan said that title with the most pretentious voice that he could come up with. I know he can’t get drunk on digital booze but he certainly knows how to maintain the attitude and atmosphere of someone who drank.
“I mean I had the great potential of becoming an elven faction leader for the Law group. And I could have very much led those guys into victory in many events. But I grew to love the numerous lore about dark elves. So I switched sides and met all of you guys.”
“You could have stayed Ljósálfar, you were so pure and cute back then. How the times have changed…..”
“Shut up”
The fact I had changed races at the time was aesthetics and I was becoming older and wanted something that I was sure I was going to keep up with other than the “UwU I love everyone with all of my heart” aspect.
“Also I would have died of cringe from just doing that constantly”
“Yeah, I could see that honestly.”
Ethan took another sip of his ale and smiled as he honestly felt relieved to talk to me late into the night like this.
“Anyway, how is work? Are they still whipping your back harshly?”
“Great, though I can say I am glad I am not being overworked to death. As for you?”
“The usual.”
I replied with a shrug before tapping the table and smiling as I stared at him drink the last drop inside of his cup.
“Sometimes I wish I had your luck kiddo.”
“Well too bad you don’t old man. It’s about time for me to log out. I’ll see you later at the Dómaldi Winter event”
“Same here. See ya and thank you as always.”
I logged out of Sword Fantasy and just like that we’ve caught up with the events leading up to my death. Feeling thirsty I headed downstairs to drink some water, grabbing some snacks and watching videos.
Instead of an empty kitchen what I saw was a burglar with a large kitchen knife in his hand as he was about to put it inside of the large bag pack he was carrying. Having seen me he quickly rushed towards me before I could make my futile attempt at running away stabbing my chest, neck, and stomach several times. Well, I had already done a horrible job at protecting the household from thieves and such. In my final moments, I was able to alert the authorities by pressing a button for such emergencies. The pain only increased until I blacked out in creeping coldness.
☆
“And those are the events leading to my death as well as information about this world.”
“Much appreciated”
There was something off about this guy but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Was it the glitchy effect he had going on from time to time? Or the fact he was a Tengu from a completely different religion speaking as though he were an angel from Christian mythology? He closed his book after writing and stared at me for a good while.
“Thou are eligible for soul collection, there is no need for the God of Earth to examine thee. Please wait patiently.”
“God of Earth?”
“May thou rest well”
I remembered the thing that opened up a gap to let this guy enter through, I couldn’t even make up what it even looked like. Before I could form another word about it the Tengu rang a bell and immediately after I fell unconscious.
It felt like having a long dream, my body felt like it was floating in a massive ocean that I could see no end of. The memories of recollection stayed in place as if keeping my entire being together. All I could see was the pitch blackness that surrounded me, was this what waited for me in the end? A realm of nothingness where my soul would waste away in its waters? At first, I wanted to panic but then something unprecedented happened.
“What a fool he is. I’ve always known him to be an ignorant idiot but this is rather glorious to behold.”
A mature female voice echoed out from somewhere, I didn’t expect anything at the end of the line like this. That Tengu did say something along the lines that someone was going to collect my soul. Suddenly there was light in this abysmal darkness and I could feel my body being scooped up by massive hands, the voice belonged to a beautiful woman. She looked evil at a glance, having snake-like golden eyes, a solemn face that now smiled slightly, and long black hair that seemed to emulate a star-filled sky.
“It seems I am not the only one who has noticed your potential. Rather for you to be picked up by some servant of that idiot god, I’ll let you fall into one of the worlds under my watchful gaze. You’ll not remember this encounter but you certainly remember my voice”
And like that the beautiful goddess (?) let me go along with the waters of darkness. My drop into that ocean of darkness was immediate, I felt a gaze from multiple eyes coming from one being staring at me. A bright light cracked from below, I turned around and could see it was blinding me. I had to swim through it all as tough as that was. Once there I let myself get enveloped by it.
"♪"
A song from an unknown source echoed and that was the moment I felt my consciousness awake. It was as if I had woken up from a nightmare. It was rather alluring and mysterious. I could swear it was being sung in Japanese at the same time it wasn’t, much like how game developers mix two languages to make a new fictional one. To say I didn’t try to move my body would be a lie since I tried everything in my power to even fall forward. But it seemed like that wasn’t possible for my current state as I am right now.
“♪”
The song seemed to be getting weaker and weaker by the moment until it eventually stopped altogether. That feeling was now more evident than anything else, my senses were a mush and I couldn’t understand what was going on for a good bit. Did I successfully reincarnate or something like that? I wasn’t sure about it for quite some time. So I decided to focus all my time on doing one thing: stabilizing my senses and allocating them to where I thought my body parts were. If I could not move, see, hear, smell, or even feel anything then I should attempt to work on that before I could do everything else. After a bit, I finally got the sense of touch but it felt weird, the sensation was as though my skin was spread out on the floor like a mat.
【It doesn’t feel like I am surrounded by some kind of fluid nor am I hearing anything except some drops falling to the floor but I do wonder what my status would be like right now?】
As soon as I had spoken out those thoughts, a familiar game menu appeared before me.
『
• Name: Yukiyo Shinohara
• Age: 0
• Race: Slime
• Title: None
• Job: None
• Level: 1
• Job History: None
○ Attributes:
• HP: 100/100
• MP: 100/100
• Strength: 180/180
• Agility: 0/15 (Immobilized)
• Stamina: 190/190
• Intelligence: 50/50
○ Skills:
• Area Scan Level 1
• Absorption Level 1
• Dissolve Level 1
• Object Detection Level 1
• Appraisal Level 1
• Minor Sense Control Level 1
• Minor Body Control Level 1
○Passive Skills:
• Enhanced Strength Level 1
• Low Physical Attack Resistance Level 1
• Low Magical Attack Resistance Level 1
』
This was more or less Sword Fantasy’s status screen, how I could see it was a big mystery to me but it was right in front of me. Not only have I successfully reincarnated but I have also become a slime, I have minor control over my body huh? That’s interesting, well I just have to wait until I recover my agility. Despite that, I wanted to complain to the God of Earth that I am not even a dark elf in the next life. Oi, God, this ain’t a joke you know?!! Despite having no mouth I wanted to shout that out but alas I could only calm down for the time being. I am something that is killed without a single thought as a grinding tool after all.
【If I am a slime that must mean I have a core, which makes my job of combining sense control and body control into one】
After waiting for 15 minutes my agility had recovered from its immobilized status effect, and I began to concentrate on at least making a human shape using my core as a focus point of it all. After collapsing and standing up several times over I heard a familiar voice which startled me.
『Skills fused to form a new skill: Minor Sense Control and Minor Body Control have fused to become Minor Form Alteration Level 2!』
I swear I could hear the fanfare in that but that could have been my bored mind, it was now easier to make a vague human body. I looked around and it seemed I was inside of a cave, it seemed natural for a slime to be born in cold and damp places. That said I should probably make use of my skills, Area Scan and Appraisal seem good. Can these two be used at the same time just like in Sword Fantasy? I was willing to test that out.
【『Area Scan』 ,『Appraisal』】
『Now scanning the area and appraising all within the area scan radius』
The same voice spoke out again, at first I thought it was speaking in a rather unknown language but now I realize it was speaking in Japanese. I am sort of glad because I don’t necessarily understand foreign languages all that well despite learning them for online play.
『Area Scanning Appraisal complete. 』
So they do combine just like that game, is this a world based on Sword Fantasy? If so I might have a good advantage, I was a top player after all. This slime build will be focused on being a tank that shoots acid at stuff.
『15 Goblins Levels 4, 8, 10 (0.4 miles).』
This is going to be fun, I began to make my way to the goblins using a vague sense of direction of where they were. I had exited the cave and now entered a forest, the sun shined down in this sea of trees which was comforting, to say the least. The goblins were a little further and I arrived at my destination in due time, they were a disorganized group who were bickering and comparing weapons they stole. I pointed my hand at the ones who were in the rear and shot acid from them, they fell seemingly dead from that surprise. 5 of them having gone down quite easily and then it hit me when I least expected it.
『LEVEL UP!』
It felt like a surge of power welling up from inside, these were living beings I was killing and yet here I was being intoxicated with the power that their lives granted me. One acid gun wasn’t enough, two, three perhaps four as I slowly made my way to the rushing horde of goblins whom I shot down with ease. Some of the higher-level goblins took a few shots but they fell all the same, I dissolved the arms and legs of these guys cause it was much faster to take advantage of them that way. By the end of it, I had managed to kill all 15 and felt rather proud of myself.
【Status】
『
• Name: Yukiyo Shinohara
• Age: 0
• Race: Slime
• Title: None
• Job: None
• Level: 22
• Job History: None
○ Attributes:
• HP: 3,000
• MP: 3,000
• Strength: 280
• Agility: 100
• Stamina: 290
• Intelligence: 100
○ Skills:
• Area Scan Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Absorption Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Dissolve Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Object Detection Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Appraisal Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Minor Form Alteration Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
○Passive Skills:
• Enhanced Strength Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Low Physical Attack Resistance Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
• Low Magical Attack Resistance Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
』
The jump from level 1 was apparent and I could feel it through my body, I had finer control over my body as I now changed it from being a vaguely human shape to being more or less what Alpha Omega looked like minus the armor and weapons. It felt easier to move now than before, I wanted to learn more about this world. I wanted to fight more stuff in this world, there was so much that I wanted to do, and felt a sense of adventure that I had never felt before.
【That also means the range of Area Scan has increased, and the effectiveness of Appraisal has jumped up. Rather useful if you did not know the world before.】
Quick to test it out I decided to Area Appraise everything within a large vicinity.
【『Area Scan』 ,『Appraisal』】
『Now scanning the area and appraising all within the area scan radius』
『Area Scanning Appraisal complete. 』
【?!】
『Water Dragon Lv 115 (7 miles). Giant Lv 109 (6.5 miles). Orc King Lv 97 (11 miles). Goblin Chief Lv 50 (3 miles). Corpse Lv ??? (0.9 miles) 』
【Uwah there’s a lot of scary monsters ahead of me, just how much of an area did Appraisal-tan span out?】
I began to walk(?) towards the corpse that Appraisal couldn’t scan the level of. Let us hope that it’s a human-like body at best. I wonder if it’s an animal, since this could be a forest it might be a horned wolf or a two-tailed fox. I wanted to be those as a child, oi don’t think of myself being a furry I just liked those animals I didn’t buy a suit! When I got close enough Appraisal-tan rang me up again. I was at a reasonable distance away from the body, just barely making out an outline of what it looked like.
『Skill: Absorption Active! Begin Absorption? Yes or No』
【The Skill Absorption means I can more or less absorb something into myself and gain skills from it. That includes the form of the body that those skills came from right? 】
But it was rather quick to active which sort of surprised me in a way. I could pass off as a human from what I saw in the distance. This was a rather easy decision to make, I accepted.
『Absorption has begun. Required Time To Process and Incorporate Physical Appearance, Skills, HP and MP, Fusion, and Evolution of Specific Skills: Absorption, Area Scan, Appraisal, Object Detection Into Main body: 24 Hours. Now Entering Cocoon State 』
【HOLD ON! WHY IS MY VISION OBSCURED AGAIN?! WHY IS MY BODY MOVING ON ITS OWN?! WAI-】
I could feel my conscience beginning to fade once more as my current body covered the corpse which was then wrapped up by a cocoon. And then I blacked out completely.
