"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…!!" I screamed as I fell down what felt? or looked? like a tunnel or hole. It was like going through the universe. There were galaxies, stars, nebulas, and…is that a black hole!? I thought black holes were not visible because they don't let light escape. Well, I can't think too much about it because I'm still falling. I felt sick and dizzy from falling like this. I don't know what it's like to fall from a great height, but this must be it.
I don't know how long I've fallen for but eventually, I hit some kind of floor. It was a hard landing and I felt the wind get knocked out of me. I lay there for a bit to get my breath back and until I stopped feeling dizzy after I fell for who knows how long.
"You were falling for…let me see here…A long time. It probably felt shorter for you though. Anyway, welcome to your death! or something."
I look around at where I am and instantly recognize this place. It was the kitchen of my house. It was kind of small, but it had everything someone needed to cook with and eat. There was a small table for eating. The stove was next to the sink and the cupboards were above and next to the stove. There was also a refrigerator.
I got up and looked around. One thing I noticed was that it was way brighter than usual. Another thing I saw was that the doorways of the kitchen were completely white. When I tried to look out it was only a vast white expanse, like a white void.
"Uh…You know I'm still here right?"
I looked toward where the sound was coming from and I saw a bright yellow light. It looked like a lens flare. There were no discernable features whatsoever.
"You can talk, right? I don't know why you're staring so hard. I chose this form because it's simple to understand and I tend to do this to other people who end up here as well."
"Are you some kind of god or goddess?" I said to this…being. I can't tell if they're male or female, or what kind of being they are.
"Well, from your point of view, it would make most sense for you. But, I am beyond that. I go by many names, but the one that is most 'me', is more like a title." They speak in a dramatic tone.
"I get called… 'The Author'".
I can't see a form, but I'm pretty sure they are doing some kind of pose to try to make it cooler than it sounds.
"So…Can I just call you 'Author' or something?"
"Yeah, that's fine by me, also don't be so stiff. People who come here are always so stiff, anxious, and nervous. Just chill out ok? You're here for a reason and you're going to like it."
I don't why, but as soon as they said that, I felt an unknown pressure get taken off of me. I felt much more relaxed and calm as if I had reached some sort of enlightenment.
"See? That's better. Now let's get started on the process for your next life!" They replied in a very enthusiastic and happy manner.
This surprises me a bit since most beings that reincarnate people don't tend to be so enthusiastic and instead are kind of condescending or treat people like they have something better to do.
"I know what you're thinking and I know some of them, but while they might act like that, they still fulfill their roles. Even if some do try to find loopholes when granting people's wishes. But I'm trying my best to change that stuff and safe to say, they tend to listen to me cause I'm kinda strong and have a lot of influence. Anyway, is there something you want to know?"
"Why are we in a replica of my kitchen?"
"Well, this is what you are most familiar with. You loved cooking a lot in your life and you also loved to eat the things you made. People would also be jealous at how much you ate without gaining weight. So I used the kitchen in your house since this can be a representation of what you liked most."
"I assume you know everything about my life then?"
"Yeah. It's kind of a requirement for me to be able to do my thing you know?"
"Makes sense I guess. So what happens to me now?"
"Well, obviously we get you ready for your next life. Are you excited, because I am!"
"Uh…So how do we do this then?" They are really pushing this along. It must be the enthusiasm getting the better of them.
"It's pretty simple actually. First, you decide on what kind of powers and gifts you want and then you decide what world or type of world you want to go to. That would be the most direct approach, but you might not fully get what you want"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ok, so you know karma right?"
"Yeah, I do and I already have an idea about this is going to work."
"Good, you catch on quick. It's not exactly karma, but you can treat it as such. If you decide to have full control of what you want you will only get to spend the 'karma' you have now, but if you decide to forfeit some kind of control over your choices you can some 'bonus points' when it comes to your powers. Think of it as a trade-off. You can decide how you want to do it if you decide to go that route."
"Ok, I think I got it. So, what if…hypothetically…I leave everything up to chance, in like a lottery or gacha system?"
"Woah there. Me personally, I wouldn't do that, but I'll say this though, you would have a lot of bonus points added to your karma."
"Can I see the lottery system?"
When I say that, a blue holographic screen shows up with two wheels. One for powers and another for the world. I couldn't even see the options on there cause there were so many that it looked just like one solid color from all the lines overlapping. It was the same case for the other one.
"As you can see, you could do that, but even I would recommend you to think differently about this decision. You might have a bit of good luck, but that won't be enough to help you in this scenario. You should be more considerate of how you decide this. Take as much time as you need."
***************
"Ok. I think I have something for how I wanna decide this."
"So for the powers wheel, can I chose to have it decide on a character and then get their powers? And for the world I want to leave it as is."
I decided it like this since if I get a strong character, I can make them stronger with the bonus points I'll get when customizing their powers and if I get a weak character I can amp them up as much as I can.
"Is that your final decision?"
"Uh…yeah"
"You don't sound to sure about this. Are you positive?"
"Yeah"
I don't know why, but I'm sure they were looking at me closely, examining me for every little detail.
"Well, whatever you say, it's your life, but I guess i could throw you a bone or two, cause there were a couple of ways you could have gone about this better. Anyway, lets get started!"
The power wheel changes its name to "Character Wheel" and it glows a little, but there is only a slight change. It still practically only one solid color cause of all the choices present on there.
"So, what do you want to decide first, character or world?" They tell me in an excited tone.
"I want to decide the world first." Knowing what world I would be in is important since I can adjust the powers of whatever character I get.
The wheel immediately starts spinning very fast. If "The Author" didn't tell me it was spinning I would have thought it was staying still. After a few minutes, it starts to slow down until it finally lands on a world.
"That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime."
"Wow look at that. I guess you lucked out a bit. There were a lot more dangerous world you could go to. Well, that's not to say this world isnt dangerous, but it's…more 'manageable' you can say. Alright, lets get to your character!"
The wheel spins again and what it lands on brings joy and excitement to my face. This character would be very good in this world.
"Artoria Pendragon."
'Sensational.' I thought to myself looking at the selection.
"Woah. You lucked out big time here."
As they say that, another smaller wheel pops up with numbers on it. It spins and it lands on the number three.
"Wow, are you blessed by luck or something?"
"Um…'Author' what does this mean?"
"Ok, let me start from the character wheel. You landed on Artoria Pendragon, but you'll notice that it doesnt specify which Artoria. You know like, if it's her Saber version, Lancer version, etc. And since you left it up to chance, the smaller wheel rolled for how many versions of Artoria you can combine into one that lets you harness more power from all the versions you choose. You basically rolled a wildcard Artoria template for yourself."
"This is exciting! Now go on, make your choices! I can't wait to see what you come up with!"
Now, Artoria is a very strong character, and some obvious choices that come up are her Saber and Lancer versions, so that leaves me with a third option. Well, there are really only two options for my last choice. Caster Artoria or the Goddess Rhongomyniad, even if she is a little like Lancer Artoria, but she's a whole different version for a reason. She is also a goddess, so yeah I have my choice here.
"I pick Saber, Lancer, and Goddess Rhongomyniad for my three choices."
"That's about what I expected. Anyway, this is where the fun begins."
The holographic screen suddenly changes its display to an empty box filled with nothing except headlines like skills, equipment, and things like that.
"Ok, first things first choose your appearance based on your three choices."
"I choose Lancer Artoria for my appearance." I immediately respond to them with probably a little too much enthusiasm and excitement.
On the holographic display appears Lancer Artoria wearing full armor while riding her horse, Dun Stallion.
"The Author" stays silent about my decision. I feel like they are staring hard at me. Like they are judging me or something like that.
"You have a sort of type and preference, don't you? I don't really mind though, it's never wrong to appreciate the beauty of an attractive person."
"What! No! It's not like that! I chose her because…Uh….S-She is…taller! Yeah, I chose her because she's taller!"
"What's with the stuttering then? And also you are being a little defensive about this whole thing."
"You're the one that's being all pushy about this and making it a bigger deal than it is." I quickly say back to them. Although I feel like I'm blushing. Wait! Blushing? Really?
"Haha, you should have seen your face! I'm just kidding. Now that your appearance is chosen let's get to customizing your skills for your new world."
"How will this work? There are a lot of things to make skills from each of them."
'That is true, but there are many similarities between all three of them. The first main difference would be their choice of weapon, but they all have used Excalibur and Rhongomyniad, so eh, it depends on how you see it. Look let's not get into super deep detail and technicalities. Feel free to ask me to include any skills, powers, or abilities. Just have fun with it. I'll tell you if something is beyond your karma or when you've reached your karma limit."
"Alright, can I ask for Excalibur, Rhongomyniad, Avalon the Sheath of Excalibur, and the Armor of Lancer Artoria?"
"Yes, but do you want just the weapons or also the skills that will correspond to them? The equipment minus the armor can have ultimate skills applied to them. Well, actually if you spend all your karma as well as the bonuses for leaving everything up to chance, you will only have enough for the equipment you asked for and two ultimate skills corresponding to them."
"What if I only want one ultimate skill and a couple of unique skills and the rest of the equipment can stay as is?"
"You could do that, but they are ultimate skills you know?"
"Yeah, but if I have more unique skills at my disposal I can get more ultimate skills later if I can manage to get an evolutionary process or something similar. Thinking about the future and long term you know?"
"I guess. Anyway, so you want Excalibur, Rhongyomyniad, Avalon, and the Lancer Armor. So what ultimate skill do you want from the options and what grade do you want the weapons to be? Also, whatever piece of equipment you choose for your ultimate skill will automatically be given a 'god' or 'mythological' grade. Think of it as the 'bone' I said I would throw you earlier"
This choice, for me at least, comes down to either a lot of offensive firepower or possibly the best defense out there. I will choose defense this time. Honestly, with how strong these weapons are and their corresponding ultimate skill, it would just be personal preference really.
"I want an ultimate skill for Avalon and I want the grade of the rest of the equipment to be legend grade."
'Author' lets out a small whistle from hearing my choice. The screen updates with the equipment I requested along with their corresponding grades. The skills tab also gets updated with only one skill on there called "Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia" categorized as an ultimate skill.
"Do you want an explanation of what it gives you?" They ask in a knowing tone, confident that I will let my curiosity say "yes" for me. And they are right.
"Yes."
"Well, it's simple really. It only has four subskills, but one of them is really the meat and potatoes of the skill. It also comes with a lot of resistances as a bonus as well, but that should be obvious given what Avalon is and all that. Take a look as the screen for the skill details."
I look at the screen and see an arrow next to the Avalon ultimate skill. I tap it and the four subskills are shown.
[Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia
-Immortality
-Multidimensional Barrier
-Infinite Regeneration
-Land of Fairies]
It looked pretty self-explanatory to me and it also looked a bit retrofitted to the world of Tensura. I click on the Land of Faires skill, which I'm one hundred percent sure is exclusive to this ultimate skill, and see what it does.
'I see so it's like that. While the other subskills are kind of passively activated all the time unless I decide to deactivate them, Land of Fairies would be considered the 'active' part of the skill and it's probably the best defense ever if I take it at face value. I can basically activate it and I get transported into…well, the land of fairies, where it says 'nothing' can get past the barrier, and that's its basic function. I can also control how the land of fairies activates and I can take others with me, it also heals any and all damage to everyone inside.'
'Should I be all 'Domain Expansion: Land of Fairies' and then make a super cool hand sign and then absolutely annihilate anyone I'm fighting all while being dramatic and intimidating? Nah, sounds a bit much and I probably won't look and be as cool as I think I would look.'
"Well, while you're going over all the ways to use your Avalon ultimate skill, it's time for you to make your unique skills. You can 'only' make four and it would be more, but considering what race you will be its fair."
"What will my race be?"
"You will be part divine spirit and part dragon. You know because the dragon part with her magic and all that and also cause of Lancer and Goddess Rhongymiad."
"There are some intrinsic skills that will be given to you, but other than that you have free reign over your four unique skills. You can name them what you want and choose the skills that go along with them. You can choose from what skills you know of from the anime or make up your own, or a combination of both."
'Only four unique skills huh?' I should choose skills that showcase what and who Artoria is. Maybe a "King of Knights" skill. Oh! What about an "Instinct" unique skill? That's an important part of her powers. She is also good at fighting so maybe a skill that revolves around fighting? Something like "Battle Master" or something like that. Nah, doesn't sound that good. She is good with a sword and lance, but I can't do something like "Swordsmanship" or "Lance Master" since they can go under one unique skill. Something that encapsulates both a sword and lance as well as her other fighting skills. Maybe "Adaptable Balde Combat". Yeah, that sounds good. Ok, that's three down now for my fourth one. Oh, can't forget about her dragon part. She has part of the red dragon in her so maybe "Element of the Red Dragon". Well, technically it's all Albion since he's the red and white dragon at least in Fate lore that I know of. Ah, doesn't matter.
"I have decided my choices for my unique skills. The names for the skills will be "Instinct", "King of Knights", "Adaptable Blade Combat", and "Element of the Red Dragon".
"Wow, those sound like borderline ultimate skills. Now it's time to decide what subskills you want to add to those. Now, I will let you chose some sub-skills and let you know when you can't add anymore."
"For my Insiticnt unique skill, I want the subskills Thought Acceleration, Predictive Calculation, Universal Sense, and Foresight."
"Alright, that makes sense. What's next?"
"For my King of Knights skill, I want the subskills Torrent of Light, Inspire Forces, Charismatic Authority, Riding, and Strategy and Tactics."
"Woah, that's quite the 'skillset' there."
I stare at them not laughing at their joke or pun. Just a deadpan type of stare. It was kind of awkward just being there no talking between us for a few seconds.
"Tough crowd tough crowd. Anway, continue on."
"Uh ok. For Adaptable Blade Combat, I want the subskills Lance and Sword Technique, Future Attack Prediction, Analytical Appraisal, and All of Creation"
"Huh, it's a little iffy at All of Creation, but I can see where you're coming from when choosing that skill. You're really stretching the adaptable part of the skill here."
"Language is an art and can carry a lot of power, but this is only something simple. I wouldn't call me a 'master' at it or anything like that."
"Little sneaky there huh? No matter though, go on to your final skill."
"Alright, for Element of the Red Dragon, I want Magic Manipulation, Magical Core, Chant Annulment, and…uh" I'm stalling here. Why can't I think of another type of skill?
"Need a bit of help? Well, considering that you are trying to think of skills for this dragon unique skill, why not pick something dragon-related? It might not be the Artoria you know, but that's that and this is this. Do your own thing, you don't have to stick one hundred percent to what you know. There are a lot of things you can add that will still fit in with Artorias 'identity', but be different enough to still make someone think 'Oh that's just a different version of Artoria.' and things like that. Well, you dont have a lot more you can add, but that's my bit of advice for you."
'Yeah, they are right. So what's a skill name that I can use to give me dragon abilities? Something like 'dragons breath'? It sounds cool, but that's probably the only thing I can add. If I try to combine too many skills into one that would count as a unique skill and I can't add any more. I guess I should add a really cool dragon skill then, and 'dragons breath' does sound cool to me. I'll go with that.'
"I want to add Dragons Breath for my last skill."
"Not too bad there. Well, that's about it then. Take a final look at your skills and equipment. I also added your race as well as your intrinsic skills and resistances."
The holographic display updates and shows me the overview of my powers.
***************
Name: Artoria Pendragon
Race: Divine Spirit/Dragon
Weapons and Equipment:
-Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory (Legend Grade)
-Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia (Mythological Grade)
-Rhongomyniad: The Spear That Shines To The Ends Of The Earth (Legend Grade)
-Lancer Armor (Legend Grade)
Common Skills:
-Though Communication
Extra Skills:
Intrinsic Skills:
-Spirit Transformation
-Invisibility (When transformed into spirit form)
-Intangibility (When transformed into spirit form)
-Presence Concealment
-Dragon Haki
Unique Skills:
[Instinct]
-Thought Acceleration
-Predictive Calculation
-Universal Sense
-Foresight
[King of Knights]
-Torrent of Light
-Inspire Forces
-Charismatic Authority
-Riding
-Strategy and Tactics
[Adaptable Blade Combat]
-Lance and Sword Technique
-All of Creation
-Future Attack Prediction
-Analytical Appraisal
[Element of the Red Dragon]
-Magic Manipulation
-Magical Core
-Chant Annulment
-Dragons Breath
Ultimate Skills:
[Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia]
-Immortality
-Multidimensional Barrier
-Infinite Regeneration
-Land of Fairies
Resistances:
-Physical Attack Nullification
-Holy-Demonic Attack Resistance
-Spiritual Attack Resistance
-Pain Resistance
-Abnormal Condition Resistance
-Natural Effects Resistance
***************
'Woah. Looking at it all come together really shows just how strong this is and I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job at picking skills, but I could not have asked for a better start to my new life.'
"You must be happy looking at all those skills, but unfortunately, it's time for us to part. I wish you best of luck and have fun in your new life!"
"What? Just like that?"
"Yep!"
"At least let me say than yo-" I couldn't finish what I wanted to say before I felt like I was pulled into the ground at extreme speeds. It was like falling into the tunnel that brought me here, but now it's me falling backward instead of face down.
I kept falling until I hit the ground before me but this time I didn't feel anything. I know I hit the ground at fast speeds, but I didn't feel like I was hurt or anything was wrong with me.
I got up and immediately noticed that I was lying on some grass. Looking around I saw a sea of trees around me and a small path that looked to be made naturally.
"My best guess is that this is the Great Jura Forest. Now that I know where I am, I need to know WHEN I am."