"...wasted too much time." The old man that was on his death bed stared at the dark ceiling of the senior living center that he was trapped at for the last part of his life. Now, don't get me wrong he had a normal lifeâif not a great life but he felt like he could have done more, maybe have make more time for himself but, time waits for no one. The old man turned his head to look at the clock, 11:59 pm, he forced his eyes to stay open a little bit longer and watched the second hand slowly move closer to the 12, tick, tock, tick, tock. When all the hands were on the 12 the old man turned back to look at the ceiling, smiled one last time, closed his eyes, and peacefully fell into internal slumber.
The old man woke up in pain and also very confused, he tried to get up but collapsed in pain it was then he realized that he was outside. Before he was able to do anything a Siri-like voice spoke, "Congratulations on being picked for a rebirth. You will be granted me to serve as a guide in this new world called, Novae Terrae. Questions."
The old man was in pain, confused, and now was about to have a mental (and physical) break down. But then suddenly, "You died and were randomly picked to have your memories implanted into a vessel that could handle your memories. You do not need to scream. If you do choose to scream then monsters from the surrounding area will come and eat you."
After a moment or two, the old man finally asked, "W-who are you?"
"Think of me as the RPG systems you have in your first life."
The old man thought back to when he played those types of games, then said, "If that's the case then...am I-...is this...did I?-
"-before you malfunction I will say that you are indeed in those comics where the protagonist gets reincarnated into a different world. Let me also addâreincarnation is a lie. The only thing close to that is what you just experienced, which is just getting your mind implanted into a different sack of meat." The System interrupted the old man.
"...you just destroyed my childhood." The old man remembered all the times he dreamt of going to another world and the voice which came out of nowhere and just crushed all of that...well kinda.
"Too bad."
The old man was confused, "Wait, why are-"
"-any more questions."
The old man pushed that thought away and focused on getting information. "How can this pain I feel go away?" He expected a long answer but just got a lukewarm, "Time."
The old man groaned but gave up as the pain faded until he was able to move without collapsing in pain. But now comes the most important question, "What the hell am I?"
"You are a cat."
"Yeah, I know that but like a household cat or?..." The old man trailed off hoping the answer wasn't what he thought it was.
"You are a domesticated cat."
The old man groaned, "This is absolutely swell...where the hell am I?"
"You are currently in the deep part of the Monster Forest, which is in the territory called, Iccuthis."
"I will never be able to remember that name (and neither will the author) and I thought that the names would be in Latin?"
"What gave you that idea."
"Well, because this world is called-" The old man was about to say that the name of the world he was in literally means "New World" in Latin before the system cut him off again.
"-too long, say status."
"Stop interrupting-"
"Status."
The old man had more questions but realized that he wouldn't be able to get any of them out so he just said, "...status."
Name: N/A
Race: Domesticated Cat (Felis catus)
Lvl: 1
Hp: 10/10
Mp: 0/0
STR: 5
ATK: 10
DEF: 3
AGI: 10
DEX: 5
Luck: 5
Skills: [Bite] Level 1, [Scratch] Level 1, [Sneak] Level1, [Night vision] Level 1, [Enhanced senses] Level 1
"Whoa..." A blue see-through screen popped up in front of the old man, "How weak am I?"
"Weaker then some of the plants in this forest."
"That was...alright, whatever." The old man looked around a bit before, "Question? Why is my vision...normal?" The old man looked around more, finally able to walk around because the pain was mostly gone.
"Your vision was modified to a human need so that you won't complain."
"Well, you're not wrong." The old man stretched a bit then ran up a hopefully safe tree because he did not feel safe just standing exposed in a forest where literally everything was stronger than him. "...status?" He weakly said status again hoping that's the word that gets rid of the screen that's blocking his vision, and lo and behold it worked.
"So, if my memory serves me right, I have to fight to get stronger and slowly work my way towards civilization. Now...do I have a map or do I have to get one as a skill?" The old man looked down at the plants and barely contained his excitement, is was his dream at one point in this previous life.
"Yes, you have a map that shows just the different territories and where you are right now. Say map."
This time the old men didn't argue, "Map." And right after he said that a non-see-though map popped up in front of him. "The more you explore, the more detailed it will get."
The old man nodded, "Makes sense, map."
"Just say, close."
"Mmm..." The old man laid down in the most comfortable position he could find before asking, "Why me?"