"Where am I?" he mumbled, his voice slightly shaky, but it was still his own. His breath came in steady gasps as he sat up, and as he did, he took in his surroundings.
The landscape was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Far in the distance, towering mountains rose toward the sky, their peaks hidden by the swirling mists that clung to them. The air around him was thin but rich with an earthy scent, a sharp contrast to the smog and dust of the city life he had known.
The sky above was impossibly blue, stretching endlessly in all directions, and the sun shone down with a warmth that felt comforting yet strange. It was neither the harsh, industrial light of the city nor the gentle, soft warmth of home—it was something else entirely, as though the sun itself had a different nature in this new world.
The world around him seemed... pristine, untouched. There were no sounds of traffic, no bustling streets filled with the noise of modern life. Instead, the air was filled with the soft rustling of leaves in the distance, the chirping of unseen creatures, and the faintest whispers of wind through the grass.
A forest lay nearby, its trees stretching high, their leaves a vibrant green that Karl had never quite seen before. The flora and fauna in the distance were exotic, each plant and animal having a strange, almost otherworldly feel to them.
The more Karl looked around, the more he realized that everything here seemed to pulse with life. The very ground beneath him seemed alive, as if the earth itself was breathing in time with the rhythm of nature. It felt surreal, and Karl was beginning to understand that this was no ordinary place.
"Okay..." Karl muttered to himself, his mind racing. "I've been reincarnated." He remembered the voice—the god Eros had chosen him. The god of love, of desire, had gifted him with a system.
The weight of those words began to sink in, and he instinctively pressed his hands to the earth beneath him, a mix of confusion, awe, and a strange sense of responsibility filling him.
He was alive. Again. But in a new body, in a new world.
He looked down at his hands. The skin was smooth, unmarked. His fingers were slender but strong, the nails well-groomed but not too perfect. His arms were lean, but they felt capable—he could feel the strength in his muscles, the pulse of blood flowing through him. But there was something different. Something that felt... refined. His skin had a faint rosiness to it, a glow that didn't match the dull complexion he'd once had. It was as if he had been crafted anew, reborn with a vibrance that contrasted against the dullness of his previous life.
As he flexed his fingers and rubbed his hands together, Karl noticed something else—his senses were sharper. His eyesight, for one, was remarkably better. The clarity with which he could see the far-off mountains and the delicate details of the distant foliage astonished him. His vision had been ordinary in his previous life, a regular human range of sight.
But now? It was as though his perception had expanded beyond normal human limits. He could see further than he ever had before, as if he was seeing the world in layers. Each detail, each movement was more vivid, more distinct, more real. The trees in the distance weren't just blobs of green; he could see individual leaves fluttering in the breeze, veins running through them, the play of light across their surface.
"What... is this?" he muttered in shock.
But it didn't stop there. His witness range—that was the term that came to mind—had expanded as well. He felt like he could perceive things happening around him with heightened awareness. The rustle of the grass underfoot, the distant chirp of creatures, even the minute shifts in the wind—it all seemed to register with his senses in ways that were both overwhelming and fascinating.
Karl blinked again, absorbing his new surroundings. He was still getting used to the realization that he was no longer bound by his previous limitations. His mind felt sharp, focused, and clearer than ever. But this clarity only raised more questions.
Looking around again, Karl's gaze landed on the rolling fields surrounding him. The landscape stretched endlessly, rich with vibrant, wild colors he had never seen before. Lush, rolling hills blanketed in a wide variety of flowers and grasses that swayed with the wind.
The flowers were of every imaginable color, bright blues, radiant yellows, deep purples, and even reds that seemed to glow with an internal light. The colors were far more vivid than anything he'd ever witnessed in his past life. The air was cool and fresh, far removed from the pollution and noise of the cities he had known. It was a natural, almost magical paradise.
Karl's breath caught in his throat as the full weight of his reincarnation hit him. He had been given a new chance, a new life in a completely different world. There were no familiar streets here, no comforting buildings to return to. This was an unknown, untamed land, full of potential but also full of uncertainty.
"I've been reincarnated into another body," he whispered to himself as he took a deep breath and looked around. The realization that this wasn't a dream, that this was real, began to sink in. The last moments of his previous life—fleeing from the boys, being struck by the car—seemed so distant now, almost as though they had happened to someone else.
His attention turned to the horizon. To the distant mountains, and then to the thick forest just beyond the field he was lying in. He felt an odd pull toward the trees, an instinctual tug that urged him forward, as if something in that forest was calling him. But before he could act on it, another wave of realization hit him: he needed to learn about his new situation.