The boy was stunned!
"H-hold on… You mean I've reincarnated before?"
"Are you dense? Of course, that's what I meant." The guardian angel sighed, shaking his head while staring at him pitifully, almost as though he could see his gloomy future. "Tch… And here I thought you were a bright lad."
He really couldn't believe it!
He didn't remember anything from his past life or anything of the sort.
"Why don't I—?"
"—Remember anything? Of course, you wouldn't remember. No one remembers their past lives. That's how this works."
"W-wait, really? Even this reincarnation? It'll be the same? I won't remember anything?"
"Of course, you won't. I mean, there's a minuscule chance that an error might occur, since this is a beta test and all, but the probability is too low. It's 99.999999999 percent guaranteed that you'll lose your memories."
The boy couldn't believe it!
'T-this isn't what I read about in those novels!'
What the old man was saying, and what this entire situation was driving at, was simple.
He, the way he was at the moment, would cease to exist the moment he reincarnated.
That was unfair!
"That means I'll really die!" He yelled.
"But… you're already dead."
"Oh…"
It was a harsh reality check, but the old man was right.
He was dead already.
'I don't like this, but what can I do?'
Absolutely nothing!
The most he could do was ensure his next self had better luck in his next life.
As he had this thought, something else hit him.
'Hold on… something is off!'
If everyone who reincarnated, himself included, got to choose their stats right before they were born, then wouldn't that mean he had gotten this opportunity before?
"But I was average in life! Everything I did was average. I lived a pretty average life, too."
Why was that?
"You're probably wondering why your life was so average, huh? Well… maybe I ought to educate you a little." The old man smirked confidently.
And so he did.
Apparently, some self-proclaimed geniuses like his past self chose to allocate equal Stat-Points to all their Stats, thinking they would be perfect all-rounders in every point of life.
How wrong they were…
In actuality, they were setting themselves up for a life of mediocrity.
What did "average talent" or "average luck" mean?
NOTHING!
It meant nothing but simple equivocation.
As a result, those who chose to spread out their Stat Points were going to be an average joe, contrary to their expectations.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, there were people who were either born with immense talents, intelligence, physical attributes, charisma, or even luck.
Those were the ones who chose to forego the notion of balance and selfishly invested in one Stat Point more than the other.
"In essence, if you want to be someone noteworthy in life… You have to be skewed in your selection."
While the boy did not appreciate most of the old man's words and tone, he could not help but see reason in all he said.
'I can't make the same mistake I made in my past life!'
That meant he had to choose at least one Stat Point over the rest.
But which one?!
"Good luck choosing the perfect one, kid. Every Stat has its positives and negatives. Just hurry up already."
"Yeah… I'm coming." The big grumbled as he stared hard at the screen.
And then, suddenly, it hit him!
Something the old man said resonated with him… down to his core.
'Every Stat has positives and negatives? But… what if it doesn't have to be that way?'
There was one Stat in particular that ensured that.
'LUCK!'
In his past allocation, he must have set his Luck to average, but now that he thought of it, that was a stupid decision.
There was "Good Luck" and "Bad Luck"… but there existed no such thing as "Average Luck."
If something like that existed, it was useless since it bordered on the realm of equal probability.
Bullshit!
"Luck… I choose you!"
Without thinking any further, the boy splurged all 10 Stat Points on the single Stat that was Luck.
"W-what the—?! What in the world are you doing, you idiot?! Did you not see the advice the system gave you?"
The old man's angry voice surged through the blank room, but the boy felt a strange sense of satisfaction as he heard it.
"You told me to hurry up. I did. Now I'm ready."
He truly did not know why he felt so confident about his choice, but the boy gave a broad smile and held his chest up high.
'What's done is done anyway.' He told himself.
"Haaa, whatever. You'll learn the hard way… the consequences that follow your action."
As the old man sighed, he snapped his fingers, causing something akin to a magic circle to appear underneath the smiling boy.
"… Not that you'll remember any of this, anyway."
As the words echoed in his head, the boy couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret.
If he knew his life was going to end like this, perhaps he would have made more of an effort to enjoy life more.
It was a shame he would lose his entire memories and personality, especially when he had just found out about something so interesting.
'I guess it's up to the new me to enjoy this new life that awaits.'
As the bitter smile on his face became overshadowed by the bright light emanating from beneath him, the boy had a faint line of thought.
'Good luck with this new life… ME.'
[System Alert]
~Character Reset will now commence…~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~Recommencing Sequence~
~.............~
<..............>
~Character Reset Bypassed~
{Good Luck, Dear Reincarnator}
[… You'll Need It!]
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[A/N: While this might seem like a rather unimpressive start to a story, I wonder what it will turn into down the line. I just want to have fun with this and see where it leads. Who knows what will happen next… Haha!]