Reincarnation is a scam.
At the very least, anyone in this situation would think their reincarnation was a complete scam.
Never trust a random omnipotent being who claims they killed you by mistake. Huge red flag.
If they were truly omnipotent, they wouldn't make mistakes. And if they couldn't overturn the mistake, that's another red flag.
Never mind that at the very least.
But let's give them the benefit of the doubt—after all, authors have portrayed them in different ways.
However, the one who reincarnated a certain unlucky male had a kind exterior, but his work was a piece of art.
"Brrr—How cold."
A young male thought, shivering as he trudged through an endless expanse of snow.
Each step felt heavier than the last, yet he continued.
Even though they were buried in the thickest of coats, it couldn't mitigate the extreme cold he was feeling regardless.
To put things into simplicity. The world had ended.
That is to say, this world was different from his previous world.
Originally, he had died in his previous life due to the "mistake" of a a certain suspiciously incompetent omnipotent being.
And had foolishly accepted the reincarnation deal.
Naturally, upon finding out that fictional worlds existed as actual realities in a far distant reality no doubt got him all excited.
Information across reality is shared, and as such, there was a possibility for all realities to exist together.
At least, that was according to what he'd heard from the Omnipotent Being.
It wasn't a stretch for someone to dream about a distant world that already exists in a distinct reality.
Reality and fictions were blurred.
With this in mind, it would also explain why some series made references to other series while they were both fictional worlds with no reason for their realities to intersect.
All this above sounds like bullshit, so here's the deal with this in short.
Fictional Worlds exist.
And for the unlucky one who had been deceived by the omnipotent being by power and hax, the stupid one had gone up and accepted the deal.
However, his deal with the omnipotent being was unlike anything he'd promised.
Fourth Calamity.
An ability was bestowed upon him on reincarnation.
A blessing/curse ability, depending on how you want to see it.
But it was no doubt this ability had caused the end of the parallel world he was reincarnated into.
He had always been unlucky, even in his past life, but this ability had made things worse.
On the very day he reincarnated into this world, scientists observed that the planet had begun shifting away from its axis.
They'd speculated reasons as to why this was happening, however, no matter how much they tried.
Nothing.
They found nothing.
Before they'd know it. The climate had kept changing as the world moved further away from its axis.
And in the span of two months.
This world was doomed.
Slowly, this world had first begun to lose its sunlight; the only light anyone could make out was the colourless glow of a sky locked in perpetual morning.
Climate change hit Earth as the oceans, rivers, and seas froze solid.
Without water or warmth, plants too withered.
Trees froze over into brittle husks that could easily shatter at a touch.
Snow was draped over everything, drowning streets and buildings alike.
People had frozen over and had crumbled into dust.
Frostbite spread like wildfire, and hypothermia claimed anyone unlucky enough to breathe too deeply.
In this world, finding a source of heat is like getting a 0.1% chance rare item.
Such a world he was stuck on now.
"This sucks."
He rubbed his hands together, trying to chase off the creeping cold. But no matter how much he tried, it was futile.
It was like rubbing two pieces of dry ice against each other.
His skin was pale, with blue lines that stretched towards his neck.
That is to say, his blood itself had frozen over.
Then when he glanced down at himself.
Thin.
Malnourished.
Was what was left of him.
His once-average frame had withered to skin and bone.
There was no food left to generate fat, and even if there were, everything edible was frozen beyond repair.
He'd spent weeks gnawing on frozen candy bars he'd scavenged from long-abandoned stores.
His teeth, already in terrible shape, protested with every bite.
And now, there was nothing left.
Every store had been empty for years.
"Haah."
His breath fogged the air, only to dissipate in the biting wind.
GROWL~~
His stomach roared, gnawing at his insides. He clenched his jaw in frustration.
Even opening his mouth felt like a chore in this cold.
"Cut me some slack."
He thought as he struggled forward.
His body swayed slightly as exhaustion set in, and he huffed again, watching his own hand drop to his side as if it belonged to someone else.
He had left the place he'd camped at; after all, he wasn't a fool to stay inside a crumbling building.
The cold had reached the point where it could freeze molecular bonds.
A mere tap could collapse an entire building.
Hence, he left and now, at the very least, hoped to find a better place to stay at.
Player: ???
Ability: Fourth Calamity (EX)
Authority Level: 1
Stats:
- Strength: 3 [–1]
- Speed: 4 [–1]
- Wisdom: 16
- Physique: 4 [–1]
- Spirit: 20
- Negentropy: [Locked]
Ah yes. A system status.
However, unlike what you'd think, this system was different.
It had a different levelling system, which was the [Authority Level].
And as for stats, they couldn't be gained by doing missions.
Nope, this one never once assigned one to him.
Hence, everything has to be done by his own hard work.
It was a management system, not a growth system.
Now, one could simply argue he should train.
Sure, training would really help—but try lifting weights when your body temperature is constantly below freezing.
Good luck with that.
At least... he couldn't die. That was the one thing going for him.
No matter how many times he starved to death or froze solid, the Fourth Calamity would activate, dragging him back to life.
Really, this much is only to be expected of an [EX skill].
Some might call it a gift.
To him, it was a curse.
'How many times has hunger killed me now…?'
If he could keep count, the statistics would be grim: 60% of his deaths were from hunger.
He'd given up trying to maintain his sanity long ago. At one point, he'd even tried eating snow just to fill the hunger.
Yeah. That too didn't work.
And on that note. The other 40%? Death by freezing.
What did you expect?
And 100% of the time, hunger by death and freezing.
'Even if I take those words and kill myself now, I'll just wake up again. Same old story.'
He was stuck in a cycle—revived endlessly by an ability that didn't let him stay dead.
No matter how cold, no matter how hungry, he kept coming back, over and over again.
'I'm tired.'
He tilted his head back and stared at the endless, grey sky above him.
All that dwelt above was just a dull sheet of clouds that shifted lazily.
The light was fading.
Soon it would be night.
Night? What a joke.
Such didn't exist anymore.
There was no need to continue anymore, right?
He could just die here like always and wake up again just to meet his end again, right?
After all, it's been like this for more than ten years now, hasn't it?
No. To say ten years was an understatement since he no longer had any means of knowing.
The earth had left its orbit, so using normal calculations wouldn't matter.
Yet. It was lonely.
Absurdly lonely.
Sometimes it felt like he was going mad.
However, he'd tried to distract himself from his madness.
Counting each second that passed.
At some point, he'd also given up.
He tried travelling across the world. He could travel by sea, but on foot across the frozen sea would take a ridiculous amount of time.
Still, since rivers and oceans had frozen solid with impenetrable ice, so he'd be safe.
That much he knew; besides, it would be better if he just collapsed and died on the way.
However, that also didn't come to pass.
"I'm tired."
He wanted to blame the omnipotent being; however, that too was futile.
If there was anyone he should blame, it was himself for being fooled by the being.
'Shit, it's already time, huh?'
His vision was beginning to get hazy and cloudy, his body felt harder to move, and cracks were already appearing on his skin.
It was time up for now.
In no time, he'd clock out and soon wake up with a status reset.
'Come on already, let's get it over with—'
[Ding!]
[Do you want to be free? Do you want to escape your fate of being bound by such irrationalities?]
[Do you want to escape the fate of being devoured by the other Three Calamities Archetypes?]
[If so. The All-World Alliance Guild welcomes user, "Fourth Calamity".]
[Do you accept?]
At first, the message didn't register.
He blinked several times, his breath hitching in his throat.
The glowing text hovered in front of him, unfamiliar and surreal.
It was like a hallucination born from his failing mind.
His frozen lips trembled as his thoughts lagged behind reality as more cracks appeared on his body.
Then—
"Haha—"
A silent stifle escaped his lips before it then turned into a massive one despite the crumbling of his body.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He threw his head back, with his hand over his face as his voice climbed into hysteria as he doubled over in uncontrollable laughter.
While he did this, the crack spreading across his body at a faster pace, he continued without a care in the world.
The sheer absurdity of the situation hit him harder than the cold ever could.
Finally.
After years.
After so many goddamn years…
He could finally escape his fate.
The fate of being devoured by other Calamity Archetypes.
As the strongest and weakest, with the strongest being the potential type and the weakest for growth, according to what he was told, he had no chance of surviving.
The whole reincarnation thing was a scam.
But now that an unexpected variation had shown up, who was he not to take the chance?
"Yes. I accept!"
Having shouted out loud, his head swam with dizziness, experiencing painful brain freeze while his ribs ached from the effort.
But, currently, it wasn't the pain that was on his mind as his vision slowly froze over.
CRACK–!
« — You have died — »
[Notice: Anomaly detected.]
[User "Forth Calamity" has seized all signs of life.]
[Accessing User "Forth Calamity" records.]
[Notice: User "Forth Calamity" possesses an immortal physiology and cannot remain truly dead for long.]
[Proceeding with forced activation.]
[Reintegrating user "Forth Calamity" into the chat group.]
[User "Forth Calamity," due to the system's default recommendations, has been made the All-World Alliance Guildmaster/Administrator.]
[Inviting other members randomly across the dimensions the administrator is familiar with.]
[Invitations processing]
[Three invitations has been sent.]
[Ding!]
[User "Fallen Heiress" has accepted the invite.]
[Ding!]
[User "Vampire Ancestor" has accepted the invite.]
[Ding!]
[User "Weakest Undefeated" has accepted the invite.]