The blood around his mouth began to slither towards his chest, coalescing there before rising into the air.
"Here it comes!" a voice shouted from somewhere beyond his dimming vision.
Allen's eyes rolled back, the last thing he saw was a beast made of blood standing on top of him. A wendigo.
[Loading profile scene...]
When Allen's vision returned, he found himself in an infinite white void. The only objects in sight were the chair he sat on and what looked like a surgeon's table beside him. Strange tools lay scattered across it, covered in a purplish liquid.
"What... is this place?" he whispered.
"Allen McCown," a cold, robotic voice echoed around him. "That is your human name, correct?"
Allen whipped around, coming face to face with a boy wearing the same school uniform as him. But it wasn't just any boy—it was him.
His mouth hung open in frozen confusion.
The double tilted its head, eyes scanning him with clinical precision. "Your nervous system is already trying to recover," it stated matter-of-factly. With a wave of its hand, a glowing holographic board materialized in the air, covered in symbols and graphs Allen couldn't decipher. "You are indeed, a fine specimen."
Allen swallowed hard, forcing himself to speak. "What—what is this? What's going on? Am I... dead?"
The double glanced up. "Religious?" it asked. "Your records indicate you were atheist," the double said, before tapping on the board. "But humans have been known to convert right before death."
"So I am dead?"
The double held its hand out, and the board floated toward Allen. He flinched but caught it, realizing it looked eerily like a stat card from a video game.
╔══════⋆⋅☼⋅⋆══════╗
⋆『Profile』⋆
[Name]: Un-named
[Rank]: C-
[Class]: Universal
[Ability]: Unlisted
⋆『Status』⋆
[Vigor ▾] : D
[Agility ▾] : D
[Processing ▾]: B-
╚══════⋆⋅☼⋅⋆══════╝
Allen read over it quickly, it really was just like a game, or one those web novels he used to binge. "So what? I was reincarnated into a game?"
"Above average processing has made you more flexible to your shift of reality," the double said, its robotic voice slowly becoming more natural. "However, you are incorrect."
The double snapped its fingers and three doors appeared, one blue, one green, and one red.
"You have been selected by your planet's Andora System," the double said. "By me."
Allen went silent once more. None of this felt real—it couldn't be. Maybe he was still unconscious, still dreaming.But there was something... real, about the way his double looked at him. All-encompassing. All-knowing.
The double tilted its head as if reading his thoughts. "I am not all-knowing," it corrected. "But within this quadrant of the empire, I am the most knowing."
It turned around to look at the three doors.
It turned to the doors, extending a hand toward them. "Now, as many before you have, you must choose."
[Trial quest initiating...]
[Choose your path.]
[A. Door of Serenity]
[B. Door of Reflection]
[C. Door of Burden]
There was no description to the doors, but Allen still understood where they all led. Each option came with a single memory, each one holding a flurry of emotions that pulled him in different directions.
"Why do I have to choose?" he demanded "What is this even about?"
The double looked back at him. "Because you have been choosing all this time. Even not choosing is a choice," it replied. "And this?" The double gestured around them. "This is about everything.
"Now choose."
Allen looked up at the doors. 'A strange magical being... or alien maybe, three magical doors, and a weird silver haired girl. Either someone put high grade drugs in that energy drink, or I'm the main character of a shitty novel."
His gaze settled on the green door first. It hummed faintly. It was welcoming, like a breath of fresh air. It reminded him of his days as a child, not a care in the world, back when just existing was enough.
However he shook his head. It was a nice feeling, but he was not drawn to it.
Next, his eyes shifted to the blue door. It released wisps of blue energy. Its color was deep. It reminded him of a time he visited the ocean with his mother. That was the last trip they had ever gone on before she... It felt heavy, like a burden he did not want to carry; if anything, he was repulsed by that door.
Then there was the red door. It was crimson, the shade of fresh blood. It emitted a comforting warmth.
"Have you decided?" the double asked him.
Allen walked closer to the door. Each step he took came with even more heat, until it felt like his skin would sear off.
'My father,' he thought to himself.
The door reminded him of the time he had to put down his dog. His father had made him do it.
He was still a child then. He'd been too young to understand mercy, too young to comprehend anything except loss. Thinking back on it, it was cruel. He still remembered the feeling of his dog's warmth leaving its body as he cradled it.
The red door pulsed, its heat almost unbearable now, as if daring him to reach out.
"I've chosen."
The double looked at Allen. Even though it was using his face, he couldn't decipher its expression.
"You have indeed," the double said. With that, the other two doors disappeared.
"It seems your brethren are struggling outside," it said, right as the red door opened. "They are in need of a savior... of someone who can offer the mercies of war," it said, before thrusting its hands.
A strong force shoved Allen through the door, and he was swallowed in darkness.
"Till we meet again..."
[Profile complete.]
[You have been registered on Planet 425B's Andora System.]
[Your social class is: Milites.]
[An additional point has been added to Vigor substat: Durability.]