The sound of a hammer pounding against the top of a nail was what I've been hearing all night. I had grown used to the sound by now that I pounded it in the same pattern to create a nice beat.
"You're almost done, big guy," I muttered while wiping the sweats on my forehead with my arm. "Just a little more and you're fully dressed."
I grabbed a few nails on the ground, keeping one in my hand, and clipped the three in between my lips. I had been working on building my own shop for months. How it took that long was because I had no money to buy materials in dressing this shop, which I believe would be the start of my career as a business tycoon in this imbalanced world.
"Ah! God damn it!" I winced as I accidentally hammered my finger, making me drop the hammer and nail to blow on it. My finger throbbed and swelled almost immediately until it felt numb.
Shit!
I cursed through my gritted teeth, glaring at the hammer when, in fact, it was innocent. Not that I cared. I just needed something to push the blame for my recklessness.
"I guess I have to call it a day, for now, Bedo." I gazed at my little unfinished shop, mostly built on piles of rubbles. Even under the moonlight shining down on this fortress, my shop lacked in appeal. But everyone had to start with something.
A shallow breath slipped past my lips as I collapsed on the dry ground. The shadows of the canopies danced over my face while I gazed at the sky that had two full moons.
"How long has it been since I came into this world?" I wondered, tracing the time I first came into this world called Aslesia. That was... twenty years ago because I'm already around that age.
Yes. I was reborn in this world after my untimely death on Earth.
Back there, I was a salesman who was doing okay at my job; not as remarkable as that former colleague of mine who used to humblebrag at every turn he got, but not as terrible as to not reach my monthly quota. My previous life wasn't that eventful. It was more like recurring events of working, playing, watching, reading, and just whatever I wanted to do to kill boredom while I wait to die out of old age.
Well, it was obvious that I didn't die out of old age since the motherloving truck-kun chose me like how Ash chose Pikachu. The next thing I knew, I was in this world as a cute baby with knowledge of a thirty-year-old grown-up.
"Man... I got my hopes up back then," I muttered in disappointment, thinking I was on the road to greatness like those stories I read.
I envisioned myself conquering the world, face slapping everyone who would look down upon me, and getting all the hot girls. Although the last part wasn't really my priority, it just crossed my mind, because why not?
To my dismay, all that hope and dreams were shattered once I get to know this world more.
The world of Aslesia was filled with powerful individuals. And when I said powerful, I meant the dragons which I was seeing right now flying around in the sky like a butterfly reigned the sky. I've never seen one up close, though.
Sea monsters and sirens ruled the ocean. I've seen a siren before, although she wasn't a beautiful lady who sings beautifully to attract men. It was an old hag. I actually thought the ocean in Aslesia was filled with trash when that old hag tried to seduce the ten-year-old me.
"I still get goosebumps every time I remember her." I shivered when the old hag's face suddenly hovered in my mind. I had to shake my head to get her out of there.
Anyway, even though they were already rulers of the sky and sea, the land of Aslesia had no king. Why? Because there were so many MC candidates and the people in here were far too egotistic. I could say I was one of them. That was why, until now, there was no unity in this land.
Vampires had their own territories where they party and prowl. Werewolves and elves had also lived deep in the woods. Witches and warlocks had lived in seclusions where they practice voodoo. Magicians and mages could be seen anywhere since there were too many magic towers where they could enhance their gifts.
It would be pretentious to think that a normal human wouldn't survive in this world. Some humans who didn't have mana or innate talent in magic also had their cards. Humans in Aslesia were born with different sorts of systems. If I interview just any random human, I was pretty sure I could come up with a system novel in a blink.
"Only in Aslesia don't consider other humans human if they didn't bear the same gift, though," I mumbled, thinking that magicians considered system bearers a different race and vice versa.
Honestly, I believed I was the only cursed being in this world. I had no mana, nor was I born with a built-in system. All I had were my freaking memories of my previous life.
I didn't accept this fact at first since I had my memories and held onto the little hope of those wonderful novels that gave me. But reality didn't just slap me, it beat me up into a pulp, leaving me black and blue to make me realize I was not born to be an MC.
"So, yeah, you are my one and only hope, Bedo." I turned my head to my hopeless-looking shop. "I may not have the chance to be the strongest man in Aslesia, but I will be the richest man in this world. I mean, we!"
The corner of my lips stretched from ear to ear. One could say it was a delusion of a desperate man on a brink of insanity, but I needed a goal to keep myself sane in this wild, wild world.
I pulled myself to sit upright, picking up the nails and the hammer near my foot.
"I will finish you tonight and tomorrow, we will roll, Bedo!" I gazed up at the piles of rubbles, grinning brightly before the sound of my hammering picked up its rhythm once again.