"Where am I?"
As the mist surrounding his thoughts slowly cleared away, the memories came rushing back to him like the tide before a tsunami.
This man was the great king of Aragon, a ruler with an iron fist, incredible cunning, and, if he had a say in the matter, a very luscious mane of deep brown hair. At the moment, his kingly self was trapped in complete, deafening darkness. He could not hear, see, taste, nor smell anything, although he could feel a soft, cool surface beneath his weirdly spherical body.
Having no way to speak, the king pondered his current situation in his mind, slowly becoming more distraught, "Have I been paralyzed? Entered into a coma? Ground up into a meatball and ready to serve to a giant by my distrusting subjects??!! I was a good king, so why would any of my subjects do this to me? Although I was strict, I loved my citizens like my own children!"
"Alright, I've got to calm down,"The king reprimanded himself. This situation was a breeze compared to what he had experienced throughout his life; wars, famine, betrayal, and disease were abundant when he was king. "At this point, my only tool to discern my current situation is touch. Focusing on my body, I can perceive the smoothness and contours of my spherical self. I can also rule out the meatball on a giant's plate idea, as I can feel small blades of grass lightly bending beneath my squishy body, making me feel as though I was trapped inside a beach ball lying on a cool lawn just after the morning's dew." In addition, it seemed that he actually was around beach ball size, judging by the blades of grass underneath him. The king tried to move and found out that if he leaned to one side he could roll around due to his spherical shape. As he rolled from side to side, he realized that he could roll his entire beach ball-like body upside down, yet it felt like he never rolled with his body, almost like his brain had a gyroscope that prevented it from tilting. It was a very disconcerting sensation.
[ *Ding* ]
A sound like a small silver bell chimed, pulling him out of his thoughts and resounding throughout his mind. Interestingly, he still couldn't use four of his senses including hearing, so he was surprised when the quick chime sounded, almost as if it was coming from inside his own head.
[Welcome, user.]
"OH MY GREAT EMPEROR!! Have I started to go mad? What is happening to me!? Why is there a voice in my head??!!" He proclaimed in surprise, hearing a deep, wise sounding voice permeate his body.
[I am the system, and you have died.]
"I died?!! Then how am I still thinking? Also, what is a system?" His emotions were running rampant, as most people's would, finding out that they had died.
[You have been reincarnated. The system has been designed to aid the host in his path to be an emperor.]
He searched his memories, furiously scrabbling for any information that would help him understand his current situation. The king in him was not one to be caught unawares without careful calculation.
The king began to piece together what had happened to him. The year had been 1276, and his kingdom was in shambles. Over 50 percent of the king's citizens whom he had loved so dearly were in their homes, feverish and with chills wracking their bones. The black death had come to the small kingdom of Aragon. The king had done everything in his power to save his people once they had fallen ill, yet he cursed himself for not seeing the signs. In March of 1276, he had received a message of a new plague, but in his greed, he had been blinded. The king had not wanted to close the border to stop the plague because doing so would halt trade, Aragon's main source of income. Unfortunately, this decision led to the death of thousands of his citizens and eventually, the king himself. He remembered lying in his chambers, wrought with unbearable pain. Black sores formed all over his body while his fingers and toes deteriorated and fell off one by one. He had died, alone on his bed, hoping that he could do it all over again, and not fail his subjects. His dying wish had been that, if he was to be reincarnated, his citizens and he would no longer suffer from such trivial maladies such as the black death. In his next life he would build an empire, greater than any that had come before!
"My wish has actually been fulfilled!" He thought with glee. He could hardly wait to explore this world and start his new kingdom! "This new world may even have magic and fantastical beasts!"
At this moment, he also remembered that this was not the first time that he had been reincarnated! It was very fuzzy, but, before he was king, he had been a broke college student in the 21st century. He remembered something very similar to what he was experiencing now⌠ah yes, he was an avid manga lover! This was very similar to those system novels that he had read in the past, so there must be some kind of menu that tells him his status!
"Umm⌠system?"
[...]
"Open the menu!"
[...]
"Alright, let's try again. Open sesame!"
[...]
"Gosh darn it! How do you open your status?"
[Opening Status.]
"Well okay then," The former king said, as a small blue window containing a matrix of letters and numbers popped up inside his head. The numbers and letters first appeared almost alien, he had never seen anything like it back on Earth. Yet, as he looked closer, the letters seemed to morph into a language that he could understand.
[Name: *Please Input Name*
Species: Lesser Slime
Stats:
Toughness: 1
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Int: 10
Wis: 5
Luck: 10
HP (Health Points): 1/1
Mana: 5/5
Stat Points: 5
Skills:
Increased Energy Absorption-1
Gluttony-1
Mana Sense-1
Roll-1
Body:
Squish-1]
"Oh no. That does not look very good. My strength, agility, and toughness are all at 1? Are you kidding me?!!" The newly established slime retorted. "And I'm a slime! If I remember correctly, those were the worst monsters in all of the MMORPG games that I played in my first life. Those little monsters were simply a ball of slime, held together by a core. They have almost zero attack power, and judging by my stats, that seems to be true in this world as well! Why did I, the widely venerated king of Aragon, get reincarnated as a lowly slime? And a lesser one at that!"
[Answer: Host wished for a body free from sickness before his death.]
"Well I guess that is a plus," sighed the lesser slime, starting to calm down. His goal was to become a great emperor, and he would never give that up, even taking into account his current situation.
[User, please choose a name by which your future subjects may refer to you.]
Now this interested the slime. In each of his previous lives, his name had been decided by his parents upon birth, but now he could choose any name he wanted. Speaking of which, did slimes even have parents? Did he just pop out of the ground? Was he spawned from a dungeon, like most monsters in the books he had read? He had no way to tell because he had no senses enabling him to discern his whereabouts.
He pondered for a while, trying to think of a name that would resonate fear in his enemies and respect in the hearts of his citizens. "Ah yes, of course. I know the perfect name. One which has withstood the test of time and is still taught in the 21st century as one of the greatest emperors who has ever lived. I will take up his mantle myself. System, my name shall be Alexander," he proclaimed.
[Welcome Alexander, to the world of Isedor. I wish you luck on your journey.]
Yes! Finally, he could set off on his journey to become emperor! "In commemoration of my reincarnation," proclaimed the very excited Slime, "I am naming you, the system, Bucephalus, after Alexander's horse!"
[...]
"Wait a minute Bucephalus," Alexander realized suddenly. "How am I supposed to form an empire without four of my senses?"
[System suggests using skill: Mana Sense.]
"Hmmm, okay. How does one use Mana Sense?"
[Mana Sense: Allows the user to sense their surroundings by discerning the flow of mana which resides in all things. One may activate the skill by absorbing the latent mana in the atmosphere, and condensing it into a mana core.]
"Alright then. I'll try my best." He said, sounding very skeptical that he would be able to absorb mana. He turned focus in on himself hoping to be able to sense a mana core. After he sensed nothing he turned his focus outside of his taut, squishy body and into the mysterious world around him. Soon, Alexander started to perceive a blue threadlike substance that seemed to flow around the outside of his body. He wasn't sure how such a thing was possible, for he had no eyes to see these threads, but it was something different from sight. He felt these threads, and he knew exactly where each of them was, although he could only sense the threads that were within about five feet of him.
He reached out with his mind and pulled on one of these threads. Instantly, a gushing of energy entered his body, digging through his slimy skin and burrowing in the center. The energy continued to condense and he cried out in pain as the center of his body expanded. The pain was over sooner than it began, and it was replaced by what he guessed was his core: a small blue orb, slightly smaller than a marble, containing the pure, condensed mana.
The second the pain stopped, the world was awash with blue light. He was still unable to see, but this was so much better than simple sight. He could now feel everything around him at once, 360 degrees around his body. He could feel every blade of grass, the solid, textured bark of the trees, and every blemish on every pebble. The sense extended around ten feet in every direction. He could now discern that he was surrounded by dense forest, and he had been deposited into a small clearing. He now noticed that every leaf, plant, and even rock in the forest was connected by a small thread, and each contained that same blue light enclosed in his core.
[Mana Sense has leveled up: 1 -> 2]