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In an eerie underground labyrinth, filled with white mist and the dim light made by small torches attached to the paved and mossy walls, the growls and screeches of hellish beasts resonated.
Creatures resembling large invertebrates, crabs, crickets, centipedes, and spiders, which exoskeletons were made entirely out of steel were fighting against a smaller humanoid figure.
It seemed to be covered entirely of a bluish and mildly rusty armor, it moved its arms hysterically while releasing small rays of light magic to make the beasts back down. Cracking noises from within the armor could be heard, alongside the voice of a young woman.
Using her shield and gauntlets, she tried her best to fend off the hellish and voracious invertebrate creatures, but as some fell, new ones would surge from within the countless corridors.
"This is the worst…" she muttered, as she evaded the sharp bite of an armored spider while running towards the nearby stairs.
As she moved, her armor emitted loud noises, which ended up alerting even more creatures that crawled from the ceiling and walls.
The hellish creatures were capable of eating steel as if it were tender meat with ease, her entire armor was pierced several times, with large gaps and holes from within its pieces… yet, inside of it, there wasn't a wounded body with wounds wide open leaking rivers of blood while gasping for air with her pierced lungs.
There was nothing but a small semi-transparent mist inside... however, there was also a blue slime and a small crimson eyeball with bat wings…
"It is rather convenient that I lack a flesh body… but I still lose HP when my armor is damaged… I need to run… I need to run… I have to survive, even if I am a Living Armor, let us go, Aqua, Shade!"
"Veronica recover your wounds first!" said the voice of the crimson eyeball with bat-like wings, Shade a Spirit of Darkness and Light.
"I know, but I will do it while running away! Aqua, please use Stealth and Camouflage again!"
"Guu!" said Aqua, a Water Slime, expanding her body around Veronica and making and activating the aforementioned skills, allowing Veronica to run away undetected for a few minutes.
She could not waste her third 'life' after all. Because it had given her an amazing opportunity.
The opportunity that several others who had fallen through their tragic destinies desired over anything else.
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Veronica could be considered an ordinary woman.
Most of her childhood was spent in rural areas with her parents and grandparents, although she learned many things from them, she did not develop many social skills.
However, due to some circumstances in life, she was discriminated against due to her shyness and physical appearance.
She went through her years in school alone, always had lunch alone, and went home alone, she was a loner.
When she grew up and began to work… it was not any different.
Although her physical appearance had changed, she became prettier and claimed the attention of her male coworkers. However, because of her already developed asocial behaviors, she had a hard time talking with people.
Veronica's actual dreams were always of having a family, marrying a nice man, and having children.
But every time she went back home, there was no one waiting for her except for her cat. She sat down in her bed and read novels until she fell asleep, waking up again for work the next morning.
She had recently taken a liking over fantasy romance novels, and slowly shifted to action-fantasy novels when she began to lose hope for her dreams to ever come true.
She often dreamed of just dying and reincarnating into a pretty princess, or a gifted noble girl, surrounded by handsome men.
Her life went by like this, for several years.
Until one day this tedious routine changed, Veronica had already given up in her dreams and was now accepting that she would die lonely, but a group of her coworkers invited her to a party after work.
Veronica's heart bloomed with hope over finally creating relationships and bonds and perhaps finding a nice man to love.
Her coworkers were always distanced from her, only talking with her when it was absolutely necessary. But now all out of a sudden, they invited her to a party, although she found it weird, she was happy that fortune had finally smiled upon her.
"Sigh… I hope that I make some friends. I have to stop being so shy and talk for god's sake!"
Going through the streets towards the large restaurant where her coworkers were waiting for her, she was lost in her imagination, daydreaming.
She imagined the handsome executive who was always nice to her and that invited her to the party, she was married to him, and lived as a housewife, while taking care of their little children.
And just as she was getting closer to the restaurant, her coworkers waved their hands, calling her to join with them.
Veronica could not be happier at this very moment; she showed the brightest of smiles.
But just as she was about to step inside the restaurant, the loud noise of cars crashing filled her eardrums as a sharp pain blossomed in her entire body.
Her bones were crushed by the immense force of a car, her internal organs busted, and her mind blacked out. The last thing she heard and saw was the car entering the restaurant and the cries of help of countless people as their corpses flew through the air.
Veronica died, crushed by a car that was hit by another car in an accident.
The car drifted towards the restaurant and killed all of her coworkers and several other innocent people.
On that fateful day, the news alerted of an accident that killed 36 people. Only a car that drifted inside a restaurant somehow killed every single person it hit.
Some authorities could not believe that only one car did so much damage, it seemed as if the driver had intentionally moved the car to make sure that he had crushed enough people.
But the driver of the car was mysteriously never found.
This accident was called the 'Ghost Driver Incident' by authorities and the country where this happened, and after some weeks, the people completely forgot about this and kept on living their daily lives.
Veronica's mind had blacked out, as she felt all of her senses disappear, she was in a similar state as an induced coma.
But just as her senses disappeared and her mind blacked out, they came back.
She found herself in a white space, which was filled with small, yellow-colored flames floating everywhere.
The voice of an old man resonated within her hearing senses, even though she did not even possess a physical body neither ears.
"Rejoice, you've been selected for a special Reincarnation," it said.
And just as Veronica was about to ask what he meant by actual reincarnation; a holographic window appeared in front of her sight.
Ding!
[Samsara System Starting up...]
Ding!
[Inserting System Synapsis inside 'Host' Soul…]
Ding!
[Complete]
"Well, you see… usually, souls would get their memories deleted and then randomly reincarnated into a living being, but because of my master's whim, you will be reincarnated with this special System I have recently designed… I need Beta testers after all. In the meantime, all of you will help me out with a few worlds filled with troubles" said the old man's voice.
What? Helping him with troublesome worlds? And Beta-testing a new System?
Veronica couldn't even comprehend what was this old man thinking about, why would normal people be even capable of saving 'troublesome worlds'?
Couldn't he reincarnate stronger willed people instead? Or just reincarnate people from those same troublesome worlds who would be capable of dealing with the things happening in there way better?
She wanted to protest, to bark like a mad dog, but she could not, she didn't have a mouth.
"By doing the mental command of 'Status', you can check your parameters, levels, skills, and information. In there, you will find a skill named 'Memory Retention', this is the power that will help you retain your memories from previous lives. Aside from that, I have left each one of you with a special 'cheat skill' to help you better in your quests. Ah, all of your stats will be zero but do not worry, whenever you obtain a physical body, the numbers should increase exponentially" said the old man's voice.
Veronica could not do anything else but obey him, as she mentally sighed and said the 'Status' command through her mind.
After having read many fantasy novels where this thing happened, she hoped with enthusiasm for a powerful Cheat ability that could make her next life easygoing.
[Name: None (Veronica)
[Race: Soul.
[Type: Ethereal.
[Rank: None.
[Level: 0/0
[Job: None.
[Level: 0/0
[Health Points: 0/0
[Mana Points: 100/100
[Strength: 0
[Defense: 0
[Magic: 10
[Resistance: 0
[Agility: 0
[Passive Skills]
[Memory Retention; Level 1]
[Special Five Senses; Level 1]
[Soul Form; Level 1]
[Mana Enlargement; Level 1]
[Magic Enlargement; Level 1]
[Active Skills]
[Hardworking; Level 4]
[Appraisal; Level 1]
Hm? But didn't that old man said something about stats being zero?
Why did she have one hundred Mana Points and ten Magic?
And she has a 'Hardworking' Skill at Level 4? What could that represent?
Veronica assumed that it was because of the Mana and Magic Enlargement Skills and the Hardworking Skill was because she had worked too hard in her previous life… but aside from that, she did not have anything special and out of the ordinary.
She did not have any flashy power, neither magic nor swords skills, she only had 'Appraisal'.
The Souls surrounding her glanced at their holographic windows, and Veronica took a peek of some, finding some Souls with Skills such as 'Divine Sword Technique', 'Masterful Assassination Arts', 'Ignore Defense', or 'Time God Magic'.
Meanwhile, Veronica just had 'Appraisal'! That is her cheat! This damned old man had filled her nonexistent heart with hope only to shatter it!
If Veronica could, she would slap that old man… whenever he was.
She could only hear his voice and could not see him anywhere. There was not anyone else other than the several souls surrounding her, which she had already assumed to be her coworkers who died close to her.
"Ahem… Very well then, see ya," said the old man, without any other introduction, without explaining anything at all.
Unwillingly, Veronica was sent to another world.
Veronica had so many questions… she wanted to know about her parents, about her coworkers, about her life… she was not even ready to say goodbye to everything she had lived on Earth.
But fate was not too fond of Veronica, whenever something nice, that could finally change her life happened, fate would backstab her and make her suffer even more.
This is the tale of Veronica, the story of a common woman who had lost all of her dreams fighting against fate, and the lives that she will experience.
Will she one day grasp her own destiny?
Who was this old man? Was he a god? Was he the devil?
What did he mean by Beta testing a System?
Who was the mysterious driver that killed Veronica and all of her coworkers?
As the souls disappeared from the white space, the entity released a sigh of relief.
"This should be the last beta testing before the Samsara System is finally refined! I will be able to use it on Earth, just as Master has wished… Though… he really has a soft spot for these creatures… to the point to go to such length to allow them to survive in the apocalypse that is coming for them. Oh well, I have no power over such things," said the entity, going elsewhere.
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First Life, Earth, born in the year 1995 and died in the year 2018.