"Mmh… I'm… delusional, great… haah" he sighed while simultaneously clambering to his feet and rubbing his blurry eyes. "The hell is this!" despite the slight vulgarity it was quite the appropriate reaction to his surroundings, namely a bleak, never-ending expanse of white- pure white. Feeling the bumps sprouting over his arms he assessed that while not blinding, the strange purity of the colour gave an extremely unnatural, eerie feeling causing him to square his shoulders slightly.
Taking a sweeping glance once again, this one more closely, he seemed to perceive a slight irregularity within the surroundings. Pondering for just over a minute he concluded "got nothing else to do, do I?" and with that the young man ambled towards what appeared to be a small off-white bump in the, in all honesty, off putting landscape. Much to the peeved youths dismay the whiteness inhibited his ability to judge distances; and what he expected to be a short trek turned into 3 and a half hours of walking. "DAMN! I cant be bothered!". After a healthy dose of cursing and complaining much to an unnoticed observers chagrin the man eventually came to what appeared to be a pedestal for a giant. What under normal circumstances may have been awe inducing, had a complete opposite reaction. The slight embers of hope even unnoticed to the young man were instantly extinguished.
Just as complete despair was to take over at what seemed to be his completely useless not to mention arduous journey, he noticed a small silver bell, akin to one seen to call for a hotel lobby attendant or staff in an old-school American diner. With excitement bubbling within him the man pressed on the palm sized contraption and a crisp, smooth melodious note rung out.
"Hello there chil- "I KNEW IT, LETS FUCKING GO". A slight pause enveloped in deafening silence permeated the still surroundings. A miffed expression flashed across the previously silent observers face before he quickly morphed it into a wry smile he presented towards the teen babbling under his breath. "three wishes…". "Well actually young man, you see you don-"."hmmm what should I get… I guess… nah… ". "Are you listening child? you actually only-". "Oh! I know! I can probably fuse the two and get it passed him… that usually works…". " Please listen up young ma-". " Maybe I should get a system… he probably wont realise the valu-"LISTEN TO ME HUMAN!"
…
"Ah sorry gracious R.O.B, can you please explain what I'm doing here and where I'm going to reincarnate to… Oh! and the limits to my wishes". The observer was livid yet puzzled, the child seemed to understand his situation albeit in a misinformed way. However the child seemed to believe that he could both grant him requests of untold power and would, for some reason, be unable to hear his thoughts. Quite frankly the young man seemed to have no regard for his power and was being rude within his own mind with no real basis for believing his mind wouldn't be able to be read. The observer felt as if it would be understandable if the young man came for a civilisation with some form of mind exercises; yet despite being from one of the lowest forms of a sentient society he thought himself to be unreadable. It was baffling and was certainly not improving the already insufferable reputation he had built within the mind of the observer; for his earlier and continuing transgressions.
"While it's true that it is my duty to reincarnate you…". A beaming smile gradually rose as the observer spoke "…you seem to think that there is some sort of three wish standard at play here, alongside a choice of your body and destination". At this sentence a small sense of foreboding formed a pit in the young man's stomach "what do you mean" he spoke in a slightly unsteady manner. "It's untrue. If my records are correct, your karma score is on the higher side of the Low – mid grade wish category" "What-" cutting of the young man and feeling slightly vindicated the observer stated "To explain your karma score is the sum of your behaviour, accomplishments and circumstances. You throughout your life achieved a, forgive my rudeness, insignificant karma score based on these categories"
"No, no, wait my circumstances were horrible, my behaviour was impeccable and my achievements were decent; HOW IN GODS GREEN EARTH DO I BARELY GET A FUCKING WISH".
"Its simple really. Your circumstances were admittedly poor and yet there are people far worse, people have been born blind, deaf, unable to feel and unable to walk.". His tone, while still indifferent turned regal as he discussed the youths previous life. "Do you dare argue your circumstances were worse. These people accepted their circumstances far better and strived for greatness despite them, you were content with using them as an excuse. Your behaviour was, and still is, below average. People with no legs are grateful they can see, people with no eyes are grateful they can hear and deaf people are grateful they can walk. You on the other hand complained incessantly about any misfortune in your life, much of which could've been changed with admirable efforts"
They young man was livid, he was indignant and he was appalled; appalled at the fact that somehow his life was being dissected in a completely unfair manner. The truly awful part was the indifference and the emphasis in which it was explained, almost as if this was something that even the lowest of intellectuals could understand. Bolstered by his angered he all but shouted back "Then what do you make of murderers those who rape and abuse. How can I even be on the bad side of the spectrum when people like that exist… existed". An odd sense of misery crashed into him extinguishing much of the fight within him as he reminded himself of the fact that all he had ever known had been left behind. Regardless of his lamentation of the unfairness of his previous life he still felt saddened of his loss of it.
The observer responded with maddening indifference "Good and evil is arbitrary not a spectrum. Regardless, you speak of great evil yet disregard simple good. True, people murder and rape and yet people smile and cheer on others, people help others often at the expense of themselves. While what you said was true, notice I said you are below average, I never once said that you are evil."
The youth was shocked at this admission and felt that he may have been too aggressive 'kinda puts it in perspective'. While he couldn't honestly say that it was all good and he would forget his suffering now, he could admit that it broadened his view. He would later come to regret his current feelings of remorse towards the being for his anger. As mythology from his previously life suggested "to underestimate the pettiness of gods is to fundamentally misunderstand mythology". Regardless, now slightly pacified by the admission the youth asked, "then what about my accomplishments surely they have some merits".
"Ah… no. accomplishments are judged on many factors, with two being the most weighted; societal and galactic. To cut a long explanation short few have gained a significant societal merit and the highest that a person has gained through it was a High-Low tier wish equivalent (of karma). Which was easily balanced by his extremely good circumstances and extremely poor behaviour. In terms of galactic merit only one man had gained that- Albert Einstein. It was truly a shame, had he been born on a better developed society he may have gained a peak tier wish equivalent-"
Still subdued the man interrupted "that's interesting and all but can you explain why I'm only getting a low wish".
"Yes well, shockingly you only had significant merit in one factor really and that's personal. It's surprising. Most humans, even those considered 'evil', generally had at least another significant factor; most commonly charity. Since your personal merit was not particularly high you eventually ended up with a Mid-Low tier whish and then that's only because your circumstances balanced it.". Feeling extremely saddened and infuriated by his loss of karma on someone he no longer considered worthy he went on to say "yet I personally sacrificed my karma to boost you to a Mid-Low tier wish equivalent, all because of your pitiful whining I heard as you died". It was an odd thing as never in his long servitude had a mortal ever twisted his feelings; 'and a truly delightful specimen that brought me' he thought sardonically.
Feeling elated with wide eyes, the youth struggled to find words to express his feeling, thus he simply settled on "thank you". Little did he know that his gratefulness simply stoked the observer's annoyance and firmed the budding thoughts of petty revenge developing within him. 'Hmmm… it's just over his karma budget… annoying…. But its just a little extra karma…. It will fuck him right over as well… and it despite its potential, the massive drawbacks will make it cheap all I will need to do is give a few freebies'. With new determination the god imitated the pretentious, idiotic beings known as R.O.B's he saw within the youths mind. "Amazing… It's been so long since I heard such sincere gratitude". The youth was touched "really". 'imbecile, higher gods help me'. "Yes" he started in a slightly sleezy still indifferent tone that went unnoticed "In fact for such sincerity I will sacrifice my personal karma to promote your wish to Low – Mid tier and I will help you pick the best way to spend your karma".
"I don't know what to say, except thank you"
'Why is this mid tier locked, I understand its potential but no one in their right mind would consider it… which is why its perfect'. Using knowledge stolen from the youths mind the observer began his manipulations. "Every reincarnation needs a system" he began. "Right!" the boy enthusiastically responded. "Now I will offer you two choices" despite knowing what he will pick, the observer still framed it as a question, "do you want a stable system, one that safe and steady or… one with a near unlimited potential?". "I wan-". "Before you speak, know that hardships accompany potential". "I still want the second". "Accepted".
Hiding his grin the observer was elated, he had overcome the one obstacle to him meting out just desserts, as per regulations all karma spending must be expressly authorized by possessor of said karma. By framing it as a question he evaded the fact that he had essentially spent the youth's karma for him. That too on a system with high potential but lacked the something-for-nothing factor other systems had.
"You do not have a lot of karma left, not enough for what I consider a good wish" Smoothly evading the regulations about lying with half truths and relative statements he continued "I'd recommend getting body and background customization, getting both will make it cheaper and will perfectly use the rest of your karma". Astonishingly with the 2 truths and a relative truth the boy accepted the advice "then that's what I'd like.". "Accepted" 'I never lied but I also didn't say that I'd waste the karma on cell level customization.'. Satisfied the observer decided to take some pity and offer genuine advice "You will be reincarnated into a world with the name designation being 'Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka', keep that in mind when customising and make sure you give yourself an advantageous start".
"Uhhh I've never heard of that world so I wouldn't really know…. Thanks anyway?"
"I believe it is colloquially known as 'Danmachi'"
"Ohh! Okay thank you, ill keep that in mind". The abnormal politeness was honestly quite jarring considering that just minutes considering that the youth was fuming at the observer just moments ago. He had seen unknown to even the observer the frustration across the observers face as he was interrupted. However, he chalked the tone of their conversation up to the fact that he was acting a lot more well behaved and that like any normal person the observer had simply forgiven him. Little did he know how wrong he was and how stupid he would call himself upon reflecting in the future.
After a long period of deliberation, the youth had finally finished his customisation. He voiced it out to the observer which was, unknown to him, unnecessary. After a short pause the observer and youth faced each other.
"I know we didn't get off to the best start, but I appreciate your advice." It pained him to admit it but "I guess I did kinda ignore the better parts of my life just because a lot of it was bad."
'This actually makes me feel the smallest bit bad, not enough to stop my justice but nonetheless I pity him' Although he felt it strange that the mortal youth spoke as if they were equals. He ignored it and comforted himself thinking of the mortals future struggles. Regardless he responded simply "Blessings and best wishes for your next life mortal".
Authors note: Hi thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions or questions please write them in the comments I will read them all and respond to all. Any criticism will be helpful and if you have trouble understanding anything please ask.
Also keep in mind that the MC is interacting with a (supposedly) divine being so their perception of things and ideas of petty revenge will be on a godly scale. Again the reason that the MC got 'freebies' (body customization and background and memories) is because the system has huge drawbacks. It has extremely potential so it's a mid-tier wish exclusive, but its actual karma cost is cheap. So, the observer sacrificed his karma to get it into a low-mid tier, gave him the (relatively) cheap system and then tricked the MC into wasting karma on a super detailed body and background customization rather than another decent wish.
[2364 Words] (Should i write the word count?)
Thank you reading Chaps and Chapettes:)