A dark and empty void was all around. He felt… cold. That did not last long however something bright appeared in front of him.

[Greetings. You are dead. Please choose how you wish to continue.

• Judgement
• Oblivion
• Reincarnation]

"What?" He wasn't upset, just beyond confused. He did not remember having died… unless he died in his sleep at the rip age of 31. "I must be tripping. Was I drugged? Am I hallucinating?"

He suddenly felt a pain jolt through his entire existence.

[Do you feel lucid enough to make the decision?]

"Oh, I sure do." He said in an annoyed voice. "Go fuck yourself. That's my choice."

[If you do not choose, reincarnation will be chosen by default.]

"Before that, may I get an explanation first?"

[Reincarnation has been chosen. Please stand by.]

"Oy, listen to me, you damn thing! What kind of reincarnation? Isn't that still judgement if I become a caterpillar or something next time?"

He did not get an answer as he felt as though he was washed away by a massive current.

Once he was no longer being ragdolled, he took a better look of his surroundings. There was nothing. Not even a body to call his own, just pure consciousness and sensory input. It hadn't been very helpful. That was until another screen appeared.

[Hello. Thank you for choosing the reincarnation option. Would you like to begin the procedure?]

"You seem different from the last one."

[I am in charge of all reincarnations. My name is Gaia. You met Cerios before. He is a bit impatient, please forgive him.]

"Can I finally get an explanation?"

[You died to a large scale natural disaster. To be specific, an earthquake. Memories of your death have been removed to prevent trauma. Now, you will be presented with a series of choices about your next life. Do you wish to begin?]

He was dumbstruck. Earthquake? That made no sense, there's never been earthquakes near the place he had lived. In all honesty, he was waiting to wake up in a padded cell. "Alright, sure?"

[Excellent. Evaluation underway.

+102 all previous lives average karma score
-20 scale 1.45 civilization
+150 physically weak race
-180 highly intelligent race
+180 previous life karma score
-20 gifted birth
+40 utalized gift
+65 diligence score
+150 greater purpose score
+25 teacher score
+45 good friend score
+150 life work cut short by catastrophe

Notice: previous life karma score above 90. Customizable reincarnation possible.

Notice: average karma score above 100. Reincarnating with memories now possible.]

"Wait, why is my karma so high?"

[You dedicated your life to advancing robotics and creating bionic implants for the impaired.]

"Well, yeah, I wanted to turn myself into a robot. Helping others was intended, but never my main focus."

[Your intentions matter not. You helped a great many people.]

"If you say so. Alright, I'm keeping my memories if that's an option."

[Understood. Now, please select the following.]

[World] [Body] [Skills]

He selected "world" and was presented with subcategories]

[Plane] [Planet] [Advancement]

[Plane:

+500 Abyss (warning, extreme danger!) (unavailable due to karma)
+400 primordial world (warning, high danger!)
+300 mythic world
+200 magically barren world
+100 magically unstable world (moderate danger)
0 standard world
-100 stable magical world
-300 Faewild (available due to karma)
-500 Celesta (available due to karma)]

"What's a primordial world?"

[Primordial world: a world that is in its infancy. The god-like and the scars from their uncontrollable chaos have not yet faded. Expect many powerful elementals, proto-deities, demons, voidborne and other invaders from beyond. You would have a very difficult life, but it would be possible due to large amounts of points. It will turn into a mythic world after a few centuries.]

"While I do like hard mode, in video games at least, lunatic is not my cup of tea. What about the mythic one?"

[Mythic world: a young world. The fires of creation have dimmed, but are not yet gone. Magical density high, spontaneous discharges such as catastrophes, blood moons and other such events are not uncommon. Powerful beings will begin to appear and shape history. Due to your high number of starting points, you will only have a slightly challenging life. It will turn into an unstable world after a few millennia.]

"Ah, that's more like it. Can I pick it, but pick another if I go back while still here?"

[You may change as many things as necessary before it is finalised.]

"Neat, thanks."

After a while, he was finished choosing the other options.

[World

+300 mythic world
+30 geologically active planet
+150 prehistoric civilization (scale 1)

World with these parameters exists ✓]

"Alright, next is the body. Hmm, let's see… if I want to use what I already know, I should probably have a grappler build. Also, I know nothing about actual magic… this kinda stinks." He couldn't help but view this as a video game. "Well, skills I can pick up along the way so I should probably get a really good body to start with."

After what could very well have been hours, he finalized it.

[Body

+100 monstrous race (you will be born due to a spontaneous magical discharge)
-500 Anguis race
-10 female (larger sex)
-100 highly oversized (double average specimen size in every dimension, toughness, strength, stamina and food intake needed all increase appropriately)
-100 impeccable physique (beyond peak attainable bodily strength, coordination, health, and senses)
-150 intensify regeneration (multiplicative)
-250 extreme magic resistance
-30 mind control resistance
-15 temperature resistance]

[Skills

Racial skills:

• Agile
• Antimagic scales
• Antimagic skin
• Blunt force resistance
• Camouflage
• Cold blooded
• Cold vulnerability
• Dark vision
• Disease immunity
• Enhanced balance
• Enhanced climbing
• Enhanced grapple
• Enhanced running
• Enhanced stamina
• Enhanced stealth
• Enhanced strength
• Enhanced swimming
• Extreme digestion
• Extreme enhanced senses
• Extreme flexibility
• Fast regeneration
• Fire resistance
• Graceful movements
• Hard skin
• Heat detection
• Hemotoxic venom secretion
• Instinctual dodge
• Instinctual fighting
• Instinctual movements
• Lightning resistance
• Neurotoxic venom secretion
• Poison immunity
• Powerful lungs
• Prehensile tail
• Redundant organs
• Sharp claws
• Sharp fangs
• Sixth sense
• Unaging
• Vice grip

Chosen skills:

-50 CQC master
-30 fast learner
-15 grappler
-15 adept hunter
-1 attractive
-1 friendly
0 beacon of hope
0 first aid
0 language savvy
0 stalwart]

"Out of curiosity, why do those skills only cost 1 point each? Also, what's up with the freebies?"

[Their cost depends on your compatibility with them. Due to your high karma however, specific skills will have significantly reduced cost, or be free altogether to make it easier to live a moral life again.]

"Huh, neat. Alright, I think I'm ready."

[Are you sure you wish to finalize everything?]

"Will I have an interface after being born?"

[Of course not, this was only a way for your mind to more easily comprehend the process, to somehow make sense of it all. Please do not view this as a game.]

"Alright, alright." He looked over his character sheet… the canvas for his next life… yeah, no. He still did not fully believe what was happening, but he thought it was better to go along with it for now and wake up later than possibly mess up and find out it's real. But he still couldn’t take it that seriously. He made a character he would play in a video game, but nothing more. "I'm ready. Oh, and one more thing."

[Yes?]

"Have we met before?"

[Of course. You have lived many lives.]

"I see… well, until we meet again. Goodbye."

[...]

[Goodbye.]