"" = Normal Speech
'' = Mental Speech
[] = Skill, System, Announcement, etc.
———
[Defeat!]
"AHH Damnit!" He launched his fist forward at the computer screen but stopped at the last moment as he remembered he didn't own it and any damages he caused will be paid out of his own pocket.
"Hey, giving up already?" A goading voice came from the seat next to him where another person sat.
"Yeah. My skill is rusty. Like it had been three years since I played this game. It has been three years." He sighed and reclined on the chair and looked at the dark ceiling before closing his weary eyes from staring at the screen for five hours straight.
"You still work as a shop assistant at the supermarket?" The person asked and took a sip from an unfinished can of soda.
"Yeah, unlike a certain someone that just got promoted to a supervisor. This ol' me is still a bottom feeder as always." He chuckled at himself hollowly as it sounded.
"Damn." The person said with an expression of pity but he didn't dare show it because it would hurt more than it help.
"You know, if only… Never mind. Wanna go down and grab something to eat? It's on me." The person said and stood up from his seat, taking off the bulky gaming headphone from his neck and stretching his stiff body from a long gaming session.
"Of course, Ric. Let's go. I'm famished too." He replied before a timely growl made both of them fall silent before laughing off boisterously enough that the Internet Cafe owner got annoyed.
"Oi, Eric. Adam. Go out and laugh. Don't interrupt other customers that are still playing." The annoyed looking owner stood up from behind the counter and yelled at them.
"Yeah, yeah. Boss. We're gonna go down and grab something to eat anyway." Adam stood up and stretched his body too before grabbing his sling bag and turning to Eric. "Let's go."
"Yeah." Eric nods and they both exit the Internet Cafe.
Outside, they are greeted with the view of the city in the evening and the sun is on its way to clock out and it's the Moon's turn to stay up in the sky.
They both turned right and headed straight to the stairs and went down to the ground floor to be greeted with the smell of food. Next to the stairs is literally a fast food joint, selling stuff like burgers, hotdogs and sandwiches. It was directly below the Internet Cafe which made it convenient for the two hungry brothers in all but blood.
"So… the usual?" Eric fishes out his phone from his pocket and heads into the fast food joint with Adam trailing behind him.
"Yeah. I'll reserve a seat for us." Adam said before Eric could nod in reply and made a beeline to their favorite table at the back corner of the shop.
Adam sat down and took out his phone to check his notifications while waiting for Eric. The notification is as usual. A lot of automated reminders about money he owes. His rent, his utility bills, internet bills, family that is asking for money. Then again, tomorrow is his pay day. So, it's the usual stuff.
He unlocked his phone and immediately browsed some sites where he usually read manga and novels, looking for any new updates or newly released books that may be interesting to keep an eye on.
A few minutes later, a plastic tray landed on the table and Adam looked up from his phone to see Eric arrived with a big smile.
"Cmon, let's eat up."
"No need to tell me twice, bro." Adam smiled too and grabbed his food before immediately gorging them down. His appetite is quite big because he hadn't eaten lunch.
He finishes his double patty burger and a large fries in less than five minutes before he wash everything down with sweet tea.
"Ric"
"Hmn?" Eric put down his nearly finished grilled beef cheese sandwich and looked at Adam with a puzzled look.
"Nah, it's nothing. Just wanna thank you for today." Adam waved his hand before he sighed and placed his chin on his palm and his arm on the table.
"It should have been me that treated you today to celebrate your promotion. But instead it's me who got treated." He muttered in a grumble, and sounded dissatisfied with himself.
"No worry, I understand your financial trouble. Besides, I always wanted to bring you out to have fun. Like, when was the last time you left your home for anything aside from work and buying groceries?"
Adam stared at the wall with a contemplating look for a while before he answered.
"I think it's my birthday last year."
"Yeah. That's why. That's why I worry about your mental and physical health, dude." Eric voices his concern.
"You worried too much, bro. Don't worry. I'm not that eager to die yet. At least not until No Game No Life Season 2 gets released." Adam said and laughed.
"Nah, it would never be released because the author has died and there's no worth to make a second season." Eric laughed too and replied.
"Well, there you have it." Adam shrugs.
The conversation died there with Eric returning to finishing up his food while Adam played with his phone while waiting.
After the meal, they both looked at the time and realized it's already late. Both stood up and left the joint and walked to the train station a few hundred meters away.
Adam only intended to send off Eric because he lives at a flat nearby while Eric lives in suburbs at the edge of the city.
"Well, let's meet again next time, Adam."
"Next time? When?" He asked while Eric made a frown and lightly hit Adam on the shoulder.
"Your birthday, Idiot. Don't tell me you forgot about your own birthday in October." Eric sighed speechlessly while Adam laughed a bit.
"Sorry. Sorry. You know me, I'm very forgetful. But sure. Let's meet again in two months."
"Yeah." Eric nods before turning around and crosses the street to the LRT station across the street.
But suddenly Adam saw a truck speeding towards Eric and his buddy didn't realize or notice it at all.
"Fuck! ERIC!"
"Huh?" Eric turns to Adam after hearing his distressed scream.
"MOVE YOU IDIOT!" Adam dropped his stuff and rushed to Eric and pushed him away but he took his place instead and by the time his mind processed that, the truck was only a few meters away while his tensed body refused to move as he stared at the incoming truck like deer in the headlights.
The next moment, Adam finds himself staring at the starless night sky caused by the light pollution from the city lights. The blurry face of his buddy Eric hovers above him, shaking while his muffled voice is heard by his ears but Adam couldn't comprehend what his friend is saying. He felt his body become weightless and colder each passing moment. He felt tired and wanted to sleep but that bastard kept shaking his body like he owed him money or something.
"Don't you dare die on me, bastard!" Eric kept on shaking and trying to keep Adam awake but it was too late. The truck sent him flying and landed on his head on the pavement, cracked and bleeding severely.
In his last breath, Adam realized what was happening to him as his adrenaline finally wore off enough for a coherent thought and recalled what just happened.
"Sorry, ric. Looks like I'm taking your spot to be Isekaied by Truck-kun. I leave everything in your hands." Adam used his last strength to reach for his bag while muttering with a smile before his eyes lost their light.
After that, Eric put down his friend's cold hand and reached for the bag and took his phone. Both of them joked once that if either of them died first, they would have to inherit the other one's game account so the characters wouldn't be abandoned.
It's a silly thing to do. But for both of them who are basically loners and only have each other as real friends and family. Those game characters are not seen as mere lifeless game characters. They are their companions outside of the real world. They would feel devastated if Adam suddenly stops visiting them anymore or worse, the account gets deleted and all of them will die.
It's just a sentimental thing. But Eric will honor the agreement they did and find a worthy inheritor so they wouldn't feel abandoned. That is the least he can do and let Adam pass away without any regret.
———
(Adam PoV)
A moment ago, he was dying in Eric's arms. But suddenly he is in this limbo-like space.
"Is Isekai really a lie?" He looked around the dark void-like space with nothing else but himself and sighed.
"Fuck." He cursed and continued to make a fuss.
"Oi! God! Where are you! This isn't what I promised to myself! I demand an explanation! Gimme my Isekai!" He continues to shout until he eventually gets tired and bored.
This is torturous. He can't feel anything. Not even the passage of time. He didn't know how much time had passed. It felt like he just arrived here but also like an eternity had passed.
But then, something or someone answered.
"You want to be reincarnated?"
A voice reached out to him and asked. Adam kept looking left and right but couldn't find anything and thought he finally went insane.
"No, you are not insane. I can assure you that. Now answer quickly or you will miss your only chance to get your wish answered."
"Yes! I want to get reincarnated! Take me out of here please!" Adam immediately answered, disregarding if it's really real or just him tripping from the boredom that drove him to insanity.
"Good. You can see me as a ROB. You are familiar with this already right? Then that saves me the time to explain."
The scenery suddenly changed and he was dragged into an unknown place where a Black Cat and a giant towering human in golden armor is discussing something. Before the giant human was sent away leaving only him and the cat.
"So, here's the deal. I'm giving you what you wished for. A Reincarnation. However, it's not for free. You have to help that guy just now to fix his shits. Sounds easy right? But of course, I'm not sending you to your death either. Your task wouldn't be easy. For that, I will provide you with the necessary tools to fulfill your mission. After your mission is done, you will earn your freedom and travel the multiverse as you wish."
"Now, if you agree to my offer. Please sign here." The cat flick its paw and a verrry long scroll, at least ten meters long from the look of it that looks like some kind of magical contract appears along with a bottle of ink and a fountain pen.
"Can I read this first?"
"Go ahead." The cat nod.
Adam read the scroll from the top. The content is what he would expect, the agreement between him and the cat. What he needs to do in exchange for the reincarnation but very long because it includes long ass detailed descriptions. There also the promised power and their explanation and method of usage. Then finally the clause that stated he will only earn his freedom when he succeeded in his mission. Otherwise, his soul will be bound to the material world and reincarnated endlessly until his mission is done. Basically endless respawn which is good because he will have numerous attempts and not just one life.
Adam then took the pen and signed it. Unaware of the sinister smirk on the cat's face. Once he is done, the cat's face returns to a smile and retrieves the contract.
"Good. I wish you a wonderful and fulfilling time in your next life." The cat flick its paw and Adam felt himself pulled away.
After Adam left, the cat laughed sinisterly.
"Entertain me with a good show, Adam."
———
(Adam's PoV)
Opening his eyes, he found himself in a dark and dilapidated place. But that isn't the focus of his attention. Instead, it's the floating screen in front of him.
Name: Adam Black
Title: Reincarnator
STR: F
VIT: F (-)
AGI: F
INT: C (+)
WIS: C (+)
Assessment: A pitifully weak child born within the Underhive. Not even a worthy cannon fodder. However, possessed decent intelligence to survive the harsh environment of the Underhive
Ability:
[Indomitable Spirit, S]
A very useful and necessary ability to possess to resist the corruption of the Ruinous Force and the Hellish Warp infested with Warp Spawns and Daemons.
- Great resistance to negative mental effect
-Immense resistance to corruption of Warp.
- Immune to Psychic attack of Daemon Champions and below or equivalent.
- Able to greatly resist the Psychic attack of Daemon Prince or equivalent.
- Upon receiving fatal damage, gain [Battle Continuation, S], all Physical Parameters gain a (+) and immunity to all non fatal damage for 1 minute.
[Soul Brand, EX]
Soul that is already owned by a higher dimensional entity and branded with its mark.
- Soul is excluded from the Cycle of Reincarnation and will be revived after death.
- Soul is unable to be stolen, taken or exchanged with another entity weaker than the owner of the brand.
[Eternal Arms Mastery, D]
A Combat Art once belonged to an illustrious knight of a legendary knight order.
- Automatically learn how to wield a weapon upon touch.
- Able to wield any weapon with novice mastery.
- Combat skill will remain at its peak regardless of the mental state experienced.
Adam looks at the screen with his eyes basically twinkling and salivating.
"Is this real? Damn!" He imagined his grand adventure and slaying great enemies like the heroes of myth.
"Heh, back there I'm just a bottom feeder of the society. But here, I will carve out a glorious future for myself. My isekai adventure." He said before picking himself up and looking around but the very dim surrounding with barely any light left him feeling left and right, trying to make sense of where he was.
After a while, he explored his surroundings and found himself probably in a shack no bigger than a toilet in his previous life owned by the previous soul of this body.
The shack itself is bare with only a rag on the ground where this body slept and a few things that are an oil lamp, a battered dagger and a pile of metal scraps. From this, he concluded this place is definitely a slum of some sort and from his own System, this 'Underhive' place definitely sounds like a slum. The previous owner of this body is definitely a scavenger that looks for scraps to sell for money.
Not the best start he hoped for. But he will make do. His motivation is sky high, excited for his new adventure. He picks up the lamp and dagger to explore outside the shack. But before he could, he heard heavy footsteps outside along with some unknown noise.
In the next moment, something ripped his shack apart and the outside is still dark as the inside. However, he could see the dull golden surface of the creature.
"Be honored, human. The Master of Mankind seeks for your presence and I shall bring you there." A voice boomed out and its giant arm picked him up like picking a small object.
In his panic, Adam tried to resist. But he can't even move a muscle as he is helplessly grabed and kidnapped.
———
An untold amount of time later, Adam woke up feeling dizzy as if he was administered anesthesia and the drug just wore off.
The place surrounding him he saw with his limited vision looked uncannily similar to an operating room of a mad scientist or something. Tools laid in tables surrounded the table he was strapped on with vats and jars filled with unknown chemicals and organs.
A few moments later several figures in red ceremonial robes and one in black priest-like robe bearing a staff with a golden eagle on top.
The one in black robe took a glance at confused and yet to fully conscious Adam and turn to the one in red robe with a lot of machines attached to his body and said,
"You shall fashion him with gene-seeds prepared by the Emperor and do not worry if they fail. The recipient is a Perpetual and as long as his body is repaired, he will be revived upon death.
"It ShAlL bE dOnE." The one in red robe replied with a deep guttural electronic filtered voice.
Then those in red robes walk up to the drugged and helpless Adam and begin the torturous human augmentation operation. They even keep him awake without anesthesia to immediately see the results of the implanted Gene-Seed. The ability that he praised betrayed him, keeping him from dying from the sheer pain or insanity brought by it. It keeps his mind sane and intact throughout the long and torturous operation that he wishes he simply would turn insane and die from as he screamed until his voice turned hoarse and mute as his throat bled.
After an uncountable amount of time, the operation ended and by then. Adam had long grown numb to pain that he barely showed any reaction when his heart was cut out and replaced and his skin flayed open to be implanted with whatever black material they put underneath. He just stares with his dull eyes at the tall ceiling and watches as other details change on his Status Screen following another organ implanted into his body.
In his mind, he continues to contemplate his decision again and again. Why would he trust and sell his soul away to a demon if not worse.
—————
(AN Section)
Well first of all, everything in this chapter is subjected to changes in future because I am not set yet with the setting.
While this is a remake of the previous Interdimensional Mercenary, nothing is the same except the setting like the general goal of the objectives given to the MC by System.
Also, while we started in Warhammer Verse. I do not plan to write much of it because this is just a prologue and the real story is when MC liberated from the contract he signed. So, yes. This the Warhammer Verse is just an introduction to the MC and his powers.
Also, to those that wanna bitch about OP MC. No, he won't be that OP in the sense he can kill god with a fart like Ray in my other fic. But undeniably he will be strong at the start of the real story because this is intended as a continuation to the previous Interdimensional Mercenary fic but under different main character like Naruto to Boruto. Kinda.
As for update schedule... We talk about that when I'm done with prologue or have a steady writing schedule. But for now, it's undecided because a lot of planning and character crafting.