Chapter 3: Prologue [3]
I woke up with a gasp in my room.
My heart beating fast against my ribs like a trapped bird inside a cage. I jump up and sat on the bed with clutching my chest, my eyes darting around wildly.
I look around carefully that is this my room.
I was in my room. I turn my head to look on table where my computer is placed .
After looking and seeing the thing are in places , I sigh a with a relief.
'Yes it there where I left before on messy desk was exactly as I left it. The smell of stale coffee still lingered in the air of my room.'
"Sure it, that was a dream," I whispered, collapsing back onto my sweaty pillow.
"Just a dream....Jesus, Alex, you need to go outside and relief your stress....as I don't want to dream such a weird dream again ."
I get up from my bed and went to washroom.
I first on the tap water to wash my face first.
I collect the water in hand , smash in my face with this cold water, as I wash my face my eyes felt relief , and less stress.
than i look at the mirror, see my clear...non handsome face with crinkle, as I see my more and more.
I saw the creepy white silhouette smiling at me...
I was taken aback...and I rubbed my face and look again and saw nothing as my reflection. 'It felt real. Too real. The silhouette's smile still burned in my mind.'
I spent the next day in a daze. I went to the publisher's office. I signed the papers for the final royalty distribution. I talked to my editor, who congratulated me on the ending. I nodded, smiled, and shook hands, but my mind was elsewhere.
G̵̨̨͈̺͍͈̞̞̲ͫ͒ͮ̀͒͌̚͢͟͞_͙̩̤ì͔̖͢ͅv̶̧͔̤̣̙ͪ͊̍̀̿͠e͉̖̽̿͋̀͡ m͎e̹̯͐ͨ͗͞ th̶̘̹̟̦̝̍̃̔́͂͋ḛ͙́͐ͭͨ͊ͫͬ̆́_̛͉̼̘̮́̍͂ͣ͊͌͆ͯͬ c͓͖̗͖̖͇͕̈́̽͌̽͋̌ͣ̈ͅo̷̯ͥ̆͆ͬ̆_ͬṕ͈̯͎̖̺̬͂̉̒̍ͣͦ̐̾͋̐͡y̸̵͔̪̱̟͈͉͉͇̥͎̼̙ͬ̓͛ͮ̂͂́ͨ̂̓̀́̚̕͝r̳ͫ̌̏̽̐̇̒̓̋͢͢͡ì̢̭͈̗͇̬͚̱͓͚̩̠͊ͨ̏̑̏ͨͭ̀̇̐͒̉̊͢͞ḡ̗̠̞̬̄ͫh̰̰̤̘̬̋͗̈̍ͭ̍͗͊̀̊̾̓̅͒̆̇ͫ̊̄̐̃͡͝ͅ_ͫt͙͇̀̑.̵̻̩ͣ̂̇̓̈́͒_̦̱̮͈̇̇ͪ͗̔̅͗̋̆̔̆ͬ̕͟͠
Had I sold my soul in a dream?
------------------
Evening came.
I walked out on my way to home, the city lights blurring in my vision. The crosswalk signal turned green. I stepped out.
Honk.
A blinding light.
Chreeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkk
He heard the sound of screech of tires. Then he look at road side then he saw a huge truck came toward him, the Diver already used break but the speed of the truck didn't stop.
Alex whole life was flashing before his eyes at that moment, he knows that this is the end for him, may be there is still 1% chance to live but he knows that after this accident he will be in a handicap or in coma . so non less he just want to die not living any difficulty for his life.
Then the massive truck hit him, metallic impact.
Alex close his eyes as soon as the Truck reach Infront of him.
He was thrown out of the road to a near electric pole , and his head hit the pole, the blood started to flowing behind his head.
Pain? No. There was no pain. Just a sudden, violent ejection.
Then, darkness.
The same darkness. The same void.
Ah. Truck-kun....You cliché bastard.
I floated in the nothingness, a disembodied consciousness. I wasn't breathing, but I didn't need to.
So, I'm dead, I thought, a strange calmness washing over me. At least the novel is finished. My only legacy is secure.
DING.
A sound. Crisp, digital, and utterly distinct.
A blue, translucent panel materialized in the darkness before me.
[Wish Granted Author Privilege Confirmed.]
[System Initialization...]
[Binding Host to Omniscient System...]
[Binding Complete.]
I stared at the floating text screen. My heart or whatever I had now skipped a beat.
"It wasn't a dream," I whispered. My voice echoed in the void, just as it had before.
[Ding -Host status: Deceased in Origin World.]
[Transferring to Target World: The God Chosen Hero.]
[Special Authority Granted.]
[Host has been granted Special Authority to customize initial parameters: Birth, Race, Location, Name, Lineage.]
The text scrolled, replaced by a new menu. It looked like a character creation panel screen from an RPG games, but more complex.
[Host, please input your command.]
I looked at the screen. This was it. The entity wasn't lying. I was the Author and now I was going in to live in my own world.
"Okay," I said, my voice steadying. "Let's build my race."
[1. Select Race]
A list appeared human, Elf, Dwarf, Beastkin, Dragon, Vampire, Mermaid...
I hesitated.
Dragons were powerful, naturally S-rank at birth. But they were hunted, arrogant, and slept for centuries, I might become powerful but dragon has to live 100 years in dragon form , so after that they can transform in a demi human .
Too boring.
Elves? High magic affinity, long life. But their society was rigid, isolated, and honestly, kind of racist in my lore.
Beastkin? Strong bodies, but politically marginalized.
Vampires? Sun allergy, Hard pass. who want be hiding from morning and just live in darkness, it not like all vampires hide but there is an evolution period from a normal vampire to Noble vampire and lastly to pureblood vampire . These two are not affected by sun and doesn't have drink blood for survival.
"Human," I said.
It was the secure choice, but in my world, Humans had the highest adaptability and potential to be stronger than other races because human has no restriction, they have always room for growth . They had no inherent weakness to specific elements, and they dominated the largest, most prosperous continents. If I wanted a comfortable life, human was the right way to go.
[Race Selected: Human]
[2. Select Birth Kingdom / Continent]
A map appeared , it's my map. I recognized every coastline, every mountain range because it took me nearly 15 days to finalized the draft drawing the map of my novel, at first didn't thought it would have any need but my editor always asking for the map and eventually I draw it before the end of First Arc.
"Ansalonds Continent," I said immediately. "Avalon Kingdom."
It was the starting location of the novel. The most stable human kingdom with High magic density, advanced infrastructure, and the center of the plot my novel revolt around in first arc to third arc. If I wanted to keep an eye on things without getting involved, this was the place.
[Location Selected: Avalon Kingdom]
[3. Select Name]
"Alex."
Why change it? It was a good name.
[Name Selected: Alex]
[4. Select Family]
This was the big one which will decide my life. next the list of family were written and the first option is the Royal family of Avalon Kingdom. I needed wealth ,status, protection but I didn't want the responsibility of a Crown Prince or the scrutiny of a Royal.
I scrolled through the noble houses of Avalon.
[Starborn?]
Starborn? The Royals...Too much drama...Succession wars, Poisonings, No thanks.
[Stormfang]
Stormfang? Northern barbarians, they are too cold and this family is more passionate about physical training and showing muscles, not enough brains.
[Frostheart]
Frostheart? Mages and Reclusive nature and there home is a creepy castles.
[Cornwall]
Cornwall? They are Wealthy family, but corrupt and in the third arc they were exposed by the protagonist....so, no.
I skip cornwell and scroll down many names appeared, some from count, merchant, viscount and some commoner but one name that my eyes landed on that name.
[Reinhart]
With this name only one character appear in my mind, that wrote in my novel.
Duke Garrick Reinhart.
The Sword King and one of the pillars of the kingdom.
In my novel, Duke Garrick was a tragic figure. He was infertile so, he had no heir but later he poured his resources into the protagonist, Ethan, treating him like a son, only for Ethan to essentially use him as a stepping stone and a connection tool to reach his connection to royal family with backing him up.
Garrick was honorable, immensely powerful (Saint Rank), and wealthy beyond measure. His wife, Duchess Lillian, was a High Elf hybrid—brilliant, kind, and desperate for a child.
If I became their son...my life will be more comfortable as ever and be loved by both parents.
If I born wouldn't it be eventually fix their tragedy. I would inherit a Duchy with the strongest military might in the kingdom. I would have a Saint-rank father and a genius mother and the best part is that the Reinharts were known for being neutral in court politics.
Reinhart were important for defended the borders of the kingdom , so both side doesn't want Reinharts to choose between the crown prince or the Second Prince and for that ,they didn't do any scheme for Reinhart family and Protagonist grow outside of Political circle of the kingdom.
So this is the perfect family for me to live a peaceful life. I didn't hesitate, as I told my choice to system.
"I choose the Reinhart family," I said. "I want to be the only son of Duke Garrick and Duchess Lillian."
With this Alex complete his selection.
The system didn't respond immediate .
[calculating lineage compatibility...]
[Compatibility: High.]
[Family Selected: Reinhart.]
A new window popped up.
[Character Sheet Generated]
[Name: Alex Reinhart]
[Age: 0]
[Race: Human (High Human Variant due to Author Privilege)]
[Potential: ???]
[System Note: The Omniscient System will enter a dormant state upon birth to prevent infantile brain overload and full activation will occur at Age 10, during the Awakening Ceremony.]
"Wait, for ten more years?" I frowned. "I have to be born as baby and grow slowly for ten years without the system?"
[Correction! To ensure Host survival and 'Overpowered' status, a pre-awakening buff will be applied.]
[Buff Granted: 10x Gain.]
[Description: For the duration of the dormant period (0-10 years), all actions taken by the Host will yield 1000% results in learning, physical training, mana sensitivity, and nutritional intake will be amplified by a factor of 10x.]
I stared at the screen.
Ten times gain.
If I read a book, I'd learn it ten times faster and if I did a pushup, it would count as ten. Even eating... my body would absorb nutrients ten times more efficiently.
This wasn't just a buff , damn this was a real cheat code.... it is like snowball effect by the time I was ten, I wouldn't just be a prodigy like the main cast but I would be a monster among monster....This is what I called overpowered Extra .
"Perfect," I grinned. "Start the transfer."
The blue screen shattered into particles of light. The void swirled, pulling me in.
[Transferring...]
My consciousness faded, replaced by a warm, rhythmic pulsing.
After quite period I feel warm and next second I saw blur light with my eyes closed.
Now the warm sensation disappeared and replaced with cold air.
As I was adjusting the sudden shift of atmosphere.
Slassppp
A slap in my butt wake me up and it really hurt and a cry that wasn't my own, yet came from my throat.
" Congratulations , my Lady , the next duke has born"
I was born.
(To be Continued)