On the continent of Saltera, in a forest near the small town of Rito lay a young boy clutching his head in pain. The boy looked to be roughly 9 years old, he had an average build with short black and clear red eyes. Not a single person could be seen near the child, though this was the norm for this child, as ever since he could walk the boy loved to adventure out on his lonesome paired with nothing but a small bag of biscuits his mother baked for him and a wooden sword he got his father to make for him.
Thankfully, his escapades never worried his parents too much since the forest bordering Rito belonged to its guardian beast, the necklace the boy wore on his neck had a few strands of the beast's hair, telling any predators to not have any idea of having the child as snack.
His name was Loren Rito, as any commoner born in his country would always have a surname matching their town. Loren was currently rolling around in the grass, every cuss word in his vocabulary bellowing out from his mouth, drawing confused looks from the various wildlife surrounding him. He had just been frolicking about without a care in the world swinging his wooden sword as he imagined himself as a brave knight before he knelt over in pain.
"OW OW OW OW!!!"
The splitting headache attacking Loren was due to the memories of his past life being unlocked, crashing into his 9-year-old brain like a flood slamming into a dam. After a good 10 minutes of rolling around, causing his clothes to be covered in dirt and blades of grass, he finally sat back up, rubbing his teary eyes. He murmured under his breath.
"Wasn't there a better way to do that?"
Loren began to sit in silence, taking in his situation. He was really reborn! Just as Goddess Salferia said, a second chance at life! He decided that once he got home he would kowtow 100 in front of the Goddess' statue to show his thanks, maybe even give all his biscuits as an offering to the Goddess...
Well not all of them, like half...
Actually just one or two would do.
"I guess I didn't get to have my memories from the moment I was born. Well, that's fine, I'd rather not spend 3 years watching my parents clean my crap off of me."
He quickly jumped up with all his might, beginning to shadow-box in his glee, startling the animals that looked at him in worry.
"HAHAHA! LET'S GO! REINCARNATION! HERO! THIS IS SO BADASS!"
Each of the various beasts he would always play with tilted their heads.
'I always knew that kid was insane.' Each of them thought.
"Ok, let's do this, I can't wait!"
Loren sat back down, crossing his legs, his eyes absolutely beaming in excitement. He took a deep breath, ready to say the same words said by the various protagonists in the novels he'd read.
"SYSTEM OPEN"
As the words left his mouth, a bright blue digital screen appeared before his eyes, accompanied by pleasant ringing.
[Host Recognised]
[Beginning System Start Up]
"It's here! It's here!"
Loren continued to talk to himself, not noticing that the animals were now looking at him with pity in their eyes.
[Please Wait For The System To Initialize]
[Currently at 1%]
As the system began to count upward to 100% Loren felt his tension rising along with it.
[Currently at 5%]
[Currently at 12%]
[Currently at 27%]
Jumping up and down like a rabbit and laughing like a maniac, Loren was euphoric. This was the dream for both his lives, to get a gateway that allowed him to adventure and explore the world as much as wished. It wasn't long before Loren began howling in ecstasy.
'Sh-Should be bring him to the master? She can use healing magic.'
'No, no, he's too far gone. Poor child.'
[Currently at 88%]
His eyes glued to the screen, Loren watched as the number from 97 percent to 98, to 99, to finally...
[Now At 100%]
[The System Will Soon Open]
"HA, ALL HAIL SALFERIA!!! WOOF WOOF!"
[ERROR ERROR ERROR]
???
'What?' Loren blinked twice and rubbed his eyes but still saw the same word repeated thrice.
[Analizing Issue...]
[Error Found]
[System Has Been Fragmented Due To Too Many Hosts]
"Too many hosts?!! What the hell do you mean?!!"
[Due To Too many Hosts Being Chosen By System Designator The System Has Been Split Evenly Between 5 Hosts]
[Only The Fragment The Host Has Received Is Functional]
"WHAT?! So she accidentally chose too many people?! What a dumb bit-" Loren stopped himself from swearing at the woman responsible for his second life and took a heavy breath.
"Is-Is there a way to get the other parts?"
[Impossible Each Part Of System Has Been Linked to The Hosts Soul And Can Not Be Removed Even In Death]
Loren felt a sharp pain attack his chest.
"Well... At least I still have a part of the system right? I can't get mad at the Goddess, after all, she gave me a second life, at least I'm better off than I was before."
Steading his heart and silently reciting multiple mantras to himself, pushing his anger deep, deep into the corner of his soul, Loren tried to be as optimistic as possible.
"OK, so what part of the system was I given? Any part of a system will put me 10 levels above anyone else in Altera in terms of talent anyway." He asked as he forced a smile.
[The Host Has Received The System Guide]
...
The eerie silence spread from Loren as he watched his hopes and dreams be completely crushed into smithereens.
"THAT UTTERLY DUMB ****!!!!!"
If one had looked at Rito from afar that day, they would've been able to see the various fauna of the forest rushing away in fright from a tiny 9-year-old asura.