章 1: Chapter 00
[Author's Notes]
"Speech text"
'Thought text'
*******
[Scotland 1894 AD]
My previous views on death seem laughable at this point. I once believed that dying was the end of our existence on this mortal coil, but it seemed that fate had other plans.
Whereas for others, it was a certain end. For me, it was just the beginning...
*****
"Urgh... My head!" The man groaned as he woke up
A thundering migraine assaulted him as he opened his eyes.
The sunlight's glare shone through the windshield, directly into his eyes temporarily blinding him, but he quickly acclimatized his sense as the pain in his head lessened.
As the pain faded, it was replaced with foreign knowledge that seemed to assimilate flawlessly into his psyche.
'So my new name is Jonathan Reid, huh? As far as looks go, not too shabby'
[Picture]
Jonathan nodded his head in approval at his current body. Mr. Light had good taste.
He kept in tune with Jonathan's wishes and gifted him a perfect version of what he wanted. Good looking but not beautiful, manly, but not rough. A good balance between the two.
Still grabbing his head, Jonathan looked around him, trying to figure out where exactly he was.
He found himself inside a foreign car and was shocked by the interior. Obviously, Jonathan knew what a car should look like, but the interior of this car was special.
The steering wheel was made of wood and the long shifter that came straight out of the floor was shocking in itself.
But the real surprise came from the dashboard, which only held two gauges. One was a switch labelled Ignition that was currently set to OFF, and the other and was just the Ammeter. There wasn't even a speedometer or a fuel gauge!
Jonathan looked around the wheel and didn't see any key required ignition switch. Jonathan was surprised he could even recognize an ammeter since he had never seen one before in person, but what was surprising about the Ammeter was that it had been discontinued in 1960, over 60 years ago!
The interior of the car was small and unnecessarily comfortable. The upholstery was real leather and seemed to be stuffed with goose feathers from how soft it was.
Obviously, whoever owned this car was an extremely rich person who valued their comfort. Deciding he needed some fresh air, Jonathan opened the door but the outside scenery gave him an even bigger surprise.
He found himself standing in front of a genuine castle that stood on edge of a cliff, overlooking the calm blue sea. The scene seemed to have come straight out of a story book.
The castle was in disrepair with some parts of the walls missing. Nature's overgrowth seemed to have merged with the crumbling structure, creating an old but ancient sentiment.
Despite its flaws, the castle did not fail to inspire a sense of awe within anyone who looked at it, and Jonathan was no different.
"Well, this is it....Lady Ashbury's domain. Why am I not surprised it is not on any map?" Jonathan sighed
'Huh? What's happening?'
It was Jonathan's mouth that had spoken these words, but it was not Jonathan's words. He was surprised when he started speaking without his consent.
Confused by his actions, he raised his hand and slapped himself in the face. The stinging pain of his self-inflicted attack was enough to convince him he was not dreaming.
He briefly considered possession, but frankly, it seemed unlikely.
Firstly, he was fully aware during his involuntary speech, and secondly, despite its mechanical nature, he did not feel uncomfortable and felt his actions perfectly normal.
Jonathan was bewildered by his own feelings, but he decided to move forward and find answers.
Maybe he would find his answers after looking around for a bit. It was better than the alternative of sitting around and doing nothing, Jonathan was also curious about why he woke up here and who this Lady Ashbury was.
Jonathan moved forward and stopped at a broken bridge. He looked around and could not find any other path. He felt that if he jumped, he could barely make it but decided against it and looked around for a makeshift bridge.
His efforts were all for nought as two hours of searching in the forest that surrounded the castle yielded nothing.
Ironically, it seemed that the forest had everything but what he needed to make a bridge. Jonathan had thought of chopping down a tree but quickly rejected the thought as each of these trees easily had a diameter of 17 to 18 inches, and he did not bring have any tools.
Jonathan decided to try his luck and jump the gap. He figured that even if he did not make it, he would be able to grab onto the other side and pull himself up.
After finalizing his decision, Jonathan decided to take a few steps back and give himself a running start.
Jonathan took off running, and right before his leap, he watched his vision darken. Knowing that he was moving too fast to stop, he simply closed his eyes and accepted his eventual demise.
Thinking that he had fainted in mid-air, Jonathan braced himself for the inevitable fall. He had already died once, and although he felt indignation at such a short second chance, Jonathan had already accepted death once so this could be considered a speed bump.
Jonathan waited patiently, but after a few seconds, nothing happened.
Opening his eyes, Jonathan found himself standing closer to the castle than he had initially been.
Elated but confused, he turned around and was shocked that he was standing on the other side of the bridge, unharmed.
'Now that I think about it, I remember asking for powers, but I can't remember what they are'
Maybe it was an update bug that would fix itself. Mr. Light had come through so far on all his promises, so Jonathan decided to trust him and continue looking around for clues.
As if on cue, the world around him filled with blood as his footsteps faltered. There was no pain, but such a supernatural event brought its own degree of trouble that he, a newborn was unprepared to deal with.
Relying on his knowledge of combat techniques from action movies he'd watched in his past life, Jonathan clumsily shifted into an unstable combat stance.
Any experienced combatant would be able to dismantle his poor attempt at a defensive stance easily with the number of openings he presented, but it was better than nothing, and he was prepared for a long fight.
New feelings he had never felt before rushed through his body as his adrenaline pumped through his body.
Unknowingly, Jonathan had been subconsciously using his rare blood affinity, which he mistook for adrenaline, although the result was pretty similar.
He felt his vision sharpen as the strength and energy in his body seemed to explode. He felt his reaction time sped up significantly as the wind stopped blowing and time slowed to a crawl.
He watched in slow motion as the blood in front of him, coagulated and merged together to form a horned humanoid figure made entirely of blood.
Unsure of how he would hurt blood, Jonathan shifted his foot back, ready to pounce regardless
But all his preparation and intensity were wasted as a familiar monotone voice spoke to him from the red being.
[Hello, Child. You seem to have adapted quite quickly to your situation]
"Mr. Light?"
[Hmmm...If we we're adhering by your naming sense, I'd be Mr. Blood now, but anyway, welcome to your new life. How are you finding things?]
"Apart from the surprising first views, you came through with your promises. I have a few questions about my condition. If you do not mind answering"
[Shoot]
"I realize I seem to have embodied foreign knowledge. I'm aware of how most story protagonists receive information about their new world, but mine seems instinctual rather than intellectual. For example, I saw an ammeter in the car and remembered when it went out of production, but I didn't know how I knew that word nor how the gauge works. Is something wrong with me?"
[Hmm....There seems to be an issue. I did wipe your memory and lock your skills until after you arrived to fool the World Will's senses, but I didn't realize the repercussions. Well, this is my first time facilitating a custom reincarnation, so there was bound to be errors, hahahaha!]
"....."
[Don't worry, Jonathan. The headache was supposed to return all your memories, as per tradition. I'll sort everything out before I leave. Are there any other repercussions you've noticed?]
"Well, I do not seem to have full control over this body as it started speaking earlier without my consent."
[Oh, that's easy. You are still in a cut scene. Think out of it as a tutorial for you in this world, and after this Act is over, you'll recover full control. I suggest you just accept it and ride the wave. It'll explain a lot, and there's a nice surprise for you at the end]
"What happened to the original owner of this body?"
[Nothing. You are the original owner of this body. This might be difficult to understand but you can think of this as one of your many doppelganger scattered throughout the mulitverse.
In this version of the story, The good Doctor had died because he didn't survive the Turning. Taking advantage of the situation, I commandeered the empty body and upgraded a few things for your eventual arrival]
"OK, that puts my mind at ease. Another problem comes from my second wish. I can feel this power inside me but when I tried to use one of Rai's powers, it failed. Why is that?"
[As for the second wish, It seemed to be a miscalculation on my part. Raizel's powers seem to be too strong for this world, and it couldn't allow you in with it intact, just like your memories. I've locked away the skills behind a time boundary, and once you have fully acclimatized to this world, it would unlock itself.
Think of it as the frog in a pot analogy. Too hot too fast, and the world would've ejected you, so we need to turn up the heat steadily. By the time you fully acclimatize to this world, your soul signature will have been registered, and the world will have no choice but to accept you.]
"Is this another one of your 'loop holes'?"
[Are you joking? Of course it is! I just bent so many rules for you as my first case, so a little gratitude would be appreciated.]
"You're right. I'm sorry and thank you. "
[No worries, its what you deserve anyways. You seem to have subconsciously started using my backup plans.
Dr. Reid has his own set of vampire skills, and although they don't hold a candle to Raizel's, it should be enough to protect you for now. Also, as a bonus, I gave you a status, not a system. I believe you know the difference]
"You seem a bit....too generous. Is something wrong?"
[Oh no, it's just the barebones to track your progress and nothing more. You may be my favourite, but I still have to show a little self control.]
"Honestly, I'd be grateful if you showed more discipline. You've already done more than enough, and anymore would just be overkill, and I'd start overthinking."
[Fair point. This will be the last time we talk for a while.
I'll be watching over your adventure, so try and make things interesting for me, but I'll give you privacy when you need it *wink*. Good luck to you, my child]
Before Jonathan could respond, Mr. Light suddenly vanished as quickly as he arrived.
When his vision cleared of red and the scenery returning to normal, Jonathan looked out at the blue sea surrounding the castle in silent thought.
Jonathan sighed at the antics of his eccentric benefactor, but he smiled at his funny but warm actions.
The missing gaps in his memories seemed to be getting filled as he watched his second life from the original Reid's perspective.
Like a silent film, the tape rolled as he saw every significant and insignificant moment in Dr. Reid's life was from his first poker game to the first patient he lost.
As the scenes scrolled past, the skill or knowledge necessary to perform the actions in the picture slowly flowed into his brain and unlike before, Jonathan could call upon said memory at will as though he had lived through them himself.
The situation was amazing and slightly frightening. The thought that someone's entire life story could be digested in one sitting was unnerving, but it helped his psyche to know that the original Dr. Reid was just an empty vessel following pre-programmed actions since his death until he took over.
It could be said that he had lived both lives simultaneously. Just one was on autopilot, and the other was manual. Jonathan had just resumed control of his other life. Maybe Mr. Light introduced this as a ploy to bring him ease of mind, but he was grateful nonetheless and wouldn't question it.
'I'll make an altar to you soon as thanks.'
With his biggest question answered, Jonathan decided to take his time with his adventure. His powers would unlock eventually, and even while he waited, he wouldn't be defenceless.
He was excited to see what his divine benefactor had prepared for him as a surprise. Knowing his personality, it would not be anything harmful.
Jonathan knew that too much trust in anyone was a double-edged sword, but he decided to put his faith in his unique backer.
Now that his questions were answered and his thoughts were clear, Jonathan decided to do what all gaming fans wished to do but never had the chance in real life.
"Status!"
週次パワーステータス
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