"Ugh."

"Where am I?"

"Huh? Why is everything dark?"

I tried to look everywhere, but all I see is darkness.

I tried to move my right hand but failed to move a single finger, and I felt an overbearing wave of pain coursing throughout my whole body.

A sudden terrible headache hit me and made me recall my last moments on earth.

"Oh! I remember now. My name is John Carlo Agustin, and I died trying to save a woman from getting robbed by an armed man and got shot in the chest. That's how I ended up here alone in the darkness."

I decided not to move my injured body and quietly waited for something to happen, but to no avail.

"It's been hours since I arrived here. Darn, this must be hell."

*Waaaahhhh* *Waaaaaahhhh*

"Where is that crying baby noise is coming from?"

I tried to investigate the origin of the sound but gave up after a few minutes.

Out of nowhere, a light flickered and grew brighter and brighter.

"Woah! I am about to enter heaven despite my laziness. "

I suddenly see three unfamiliar faces smiling at me.

The first one is a gorgeous female with long blond straight hair, brown eyes, and large breasts.

The second is a handsome man with a muscular body, short gray straight hair, and blue eyes.

I believe the two are in their early 20s and probably lived somewhere in Europe.

The third is an attractive female who has shoulder-length brown straight hair, brown eyes, large breasts and in her late 30s.

"What should we name our first baby?" The long blond woman asked.

"Felix," the man replied.

The woman agreed with his suggestion and I became Felix from now on.

"Damn! Reincarnation in another world was possible. I hope this one has magic so I can put my anime and game knowledge in my previous life to excellent use," I thought.

After one year I could crawl again, but because of the strict supervision of my family, I can't search the entire household on my own. The second problem is the extreme fatigue I feel almost every day and I end up sleeping for over 20 hours a day.

I tried my best to adjust to my new name and to my new family. I still miss my old family and friends.

The harsh reality is I could not go back, as revealed by my mother when she was comforting me because my soul has no living body to return to.

Based on my observation while being carried around and some self exploration, the house is made of wood and a bit of cement. It has two floors and a basement.

I could only explore the two floors because of grandma foiling my attempts to enter the basement. I once tried to follow her into the basement, but she told me I was too young and it is dangerous inside.

There are five rooms on each floor. The first floor comprises a living room, kitchen, library, dining room, grandma's room, and a peculiar black door leading to the basement.

While the second floor has two empty rooms, a storage room, my room, and my parent's bedroom. The bathroom and laundry room are located in the backyard.

We have a five hundred square metre front yard surrounded by a wooden fence where mom plant fruits, spices, vegetables and some crops to eat later and it is also the place where she makes fertilizer using fruit and vegetable scraps, sawdust, animal manure (cows, goats, sheep, chicken, pig etc.), eggshells and grass clippings in the compost pit.

The backyard size is 475 square metres, and it is where father practices his sword skills. It is also the place where we grow chickens and some pigs.

We also have an immortal banana tree in the front yard. It has a black trunk and red leaves. It emits an intense dark aura as if a demon lord is inhabiting it.

Despite its aura and appearance, the fruit it yields is safe and delicious. The fruit has a black peel, and the inside is bright red.

It produces banana no matter what the season is. We once tried to trade it for meat, but locals rejected it. When that did not work, we tried to sell it to a nearby village and got rejected again.

Grandmother introduced me to our neighbours who are very close friends to our household and got valuable information about my new family.

"Come inside to have tea and also introduce your grandson to my granddaughter," the middle-aged man said.

"Sure," granny replied.

Grandma and I entered the old man's house. She left me in a nearby room with the middle-aged man's granddaughter and we played with a small brown ball while they chat in the living room.

"You have a male heir to your ancient household and mine is a female," the middle-aged man said while pouring tea.

"Hmm, so you are suggesting that my grandson should marry your granddaughter?" my grandmother replied.

"Why not? I know how powerful and rich your family is since we have spent more than a decade adventuring in the same party. I am not even surprised your grandson is a marked reincarnated whose origins are from another world, since most of your ancestors are like him."

"We are old friends, but my grandson will decide for himself."

"Fair enough."

"When will your family return to the capital city? It's been decades since you last lived in Chester City."

"I got a letter from one of our ancestors and said it's time to return to the ancestral house in district two to avoid suspicion and attacks from hostile enemies in this remote region. It was also stated in the letter that his best friend got reincarnated in my family."

"Who signed the letter?"

"His signature was a drawing of ten stars, so it's easy to guess who it was."

"There will be finally someone who will inherit the ten stars sword and techniques."

"Not inherit, but returning to its rightful owner and my grandson was the creator of the ten stars swordsmanship style, so he already knew every single technique."

"Enough about your grandson. Let's change the subject to how you lived for the past decade since we parted ways after your husband died after battling a demon lord 10 years ago in a dungeon."

She told him everything about how they went under the radar, used false identities to avoid another attack and travelling city to city while finishing difficult lucrative quests in order to gain more power until they settled here.

"So that's what happened to your family after we couldn't contact you."

They continued to chat about the past until grandma noticed it was getting dark.

"It's been fun chatting with an old friend. I am going to leave now since it's getting dark, and I needed to help prepare dinner."

"Okay and help me if you have spare time to scare away those pesky slimes trying to take over some poor peasant's house."

"Sure."

Grandma picked me up, and we went home to eat dinner. She washed me before tucking me into bed and read a bedtime story titled "Crab God" to help me fall asleep.

After one year, I can walk again and my body still feels lethargic and tired most of the time. The annoying slimes have occupied 1/4 of the village despite the efforts of the adventurers.

My parents' full names are Xander Wood and Sophia Wood. Both of them are former adventurers.

My father's current occupation is a hunter while my mother is a housewife.

My grandmother's name is Scarlett Wood. According to my grandma, my grandfather succumbed to his injuries after battling a demon lord in a 1 on 1. Mother gave birth last month to my little sister, which they named Olivia.

Mapleminster is the name of the village we live in. It is surrounded by the Great Maple Forest. Most of the houses here are made of a mixture of mud, straw and manure with a thatched roof and wooden frame to support the structure.

Peasants here own a small plot of land for domesticated cattle to graze or to cultivate crops such as wheat, potato, vegetables, grain etc. Most of the technology found here resembles that of the medieval ages, with some modern and fantasy technology mixed in for convenience. There are a lot of water tanks with purification runes scattered around the village for safe drinking water and watering crops.

The villagers speak a common language similar to English. Places of worship found here are a church of crab, crab mosque, crab shrine, crab temple and crab synagogue, which are all maintained by slimes. According to peasants, the crab religion is the largest and most influential religion in the world.

My family speaks an unknown ancient dialect with a weird accent, which I have a hard time trying to read and write, but I can speak and understand the unknown ancient dialect as if it was my mother tongue. Most of the time, they use the common language to interact with others.

The village celebrates 5 festivals. We celebrate birth of the crab god in late summer. We celebrate return of the crab god and blessings of the crab god in spring. Awakening of the crab god in autumn. Transcendence of the crab god in winter.

I woke up early today to ask grandmother about my condition. I found grandmother resting in the living room and approached her.

"Why do I feel lethargic and tired most of the time?"

"Let's go inside my room and I will explain it to you there."

We went inside to her room and sat in her bed.

"Your condition is the result of your soul being damaged while being transported here and it will be healed when you reach 8."

"Can your soul be destroyed while being transported?"

"Yes, if that happens, you can not be reborn and, your soul can't be restored by any means. It happens to a lot of souls, so consider yourself lucky."

"Are there any advantages to it?"

"You have a lot of advantages compared to people who originated from here."

"What kind of advantages?"

"You can freely access the ethereal dimension, you keep your otherworldly knowledge intact, a larger mana capacity, better overall stats, higher social status, and longer life span."

"What is the ethereal dimension and does having full access to it give any advantages?"

"The ethereal dimension is where souls are located. There are two dimensions in this world: ethereal and physical. You are exceptional since your soul is conscious and aware of your surroundings. It grants you the ability to see spirits and allows you to use a special type of magic called astral."

"What does astral magic do?"

"Astral magic is unique, since it could damage or destroy the soul. It can cut the link of the soul in the physical dimension, leaving them unable to access their physical body, restoring the severed link and, creating an artificial link allowing an inanimate object or dead person to move. It is one of the few ways you could hurt or kill a spiritual being like a demon, angel, spirits, and even a god."

I noticed something peculiar about her room. I couldn't hear the noise outside and got distracted from listening to her explanation as I tried to find the source of the problem.

"Is there something wrong with my explanation?"

"There is nothing wrong with it but, I couldn't hear mom cooking nearby and dad practicing with his sword."

"Oh! It's because I cast a noise absorption spell surrounding this room. It absorbs the noise from the inside and outside so no one can eavesdrop on our conversation and distract us."

"You could do that too?"

"Yes, and do you have anymore questions?"

"Who else can use it aside from me?"

"Spiritual beings have a natural affinity for it, marked reincarnation like you, and other rare talented individuals."

"When will I be able to use it?"

"It will take a lot of time since you need advanced mana control to cast it."

"Last question, grandma why do you call me marked reincarnation?"

"It's because you have a special mark hovering above your head."

"But I couldn't see anything."

"I can see it since I have advanced mana control and, I will teach you how to hide it once you have basic mana control."

"Why should I hide it?"

"It's because you are a valuable prey to demons, notably higher ranking demons and devils, because most of the time they consume souls to gain more power and marked reincarnation soul gives more power compared to other souls. There is also a spell called soul transfer. As the name suggest it allows the spell caster to transfer his soul to another body. Our family is naturally resistant to it, but you are vulnerable because you are far too weak to resist and your soul is still recovering."

"Thanks grandma for answering all of my questions."

"Let me know if you have more questions and I will try my best to answer them."

"I will."

"Your mother has finished cooking lunch. Let's help her prepare the table."

I nodded and helped them. It bothered me since I couldn't even hear the noise outside of the room while grandma noticed it.

For some odd reason, we always have potato soup, baked potato, potato stew, mashed potato, roasted potato and boiled potato every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The other dish that might be present are: roast chicken, roast deer, roast boar, roast fish or roasted bear, vegetable soup, potato noodle soup, different shapes of wheat bread, wheat cereal, bran cereal, corn soup, oatmeal and, pottage.

There will be sometimes fruits, berries, nuts, crabs and honey, depending on the season and my father's luck.

Mud crabs are available in the summer. Land crabs are available in spring. Sea crabs in autumn. Winged crabs in winter.

Mother cook grilled mud crab, the always present 6 potato dishes, and vegetable soup for lunch. She also baked different shapes of wheat bread.

I always play with Alice Spencer, Mark Jenkins, Jack Rodriguez, John Dupont and Josh Vogel after lunch when my condition is great. One of our favorite pastimes is playing football in the nearby dirt field.

We use the small brown ball owned by Alice and dig a small hole in the dirt field that serves as our makeshift goal area. The other pastime is watching peasants lose their homes to a slime invasion.

A single slime would scout the house or property they would invade and most of the time, they ignore the house or property.

The invasion begins when, for some goddamn reason, they return with a slime army. A medium slime or larger always leads the slime army.

The adventurers will help the peasant in defending the property until they are successfully relocated to a suitable location.

Slimes will usually retreat from the battle and return the next day with an even bigger army. The peasant or owner of the property will lose in the end because of the persistence and immortality of slimes.

It is weird that slimes target one property at a time. After capturing it, they will plant a red crab flag on the property to mark their territory. This behaviour of slime is mysterious, as if someone taught them this strategy and became deeply engrained that all slime inherited it. They seem to possess an unlimited amount of red crab flags hidden inside their bodies.

I have identified some spells that a regular slime uses they are: fusion, fission, mitosis, spell absorption, portable body storage and call for help.

Slimes would gather at the same location and then use fusion to create a bigger slime.

Fission is the opposite where the slimes would split to their original size.

When slimes eat a lot, their body will also grow. If they reach a point where their body size is twice their original body size, the mitosis spell will trigger and the slime will split into two identical slimes reduced to the initial body size.

Slimes can use spell absorption when they are able to eat the spell thrown at them. Their bodies will absorb the spell and their color will change to the nature of the spell. For example, they will turn red and will gain an increased fire resistance if they have eaten a fire spell.

The slime uses the portable body storage to store an unknown number of objects inside their body. The process is simple: they eat the object and instead of dissolving the object; they store it inside their body using the spell. To retrieve objects inside their body, they spit it out.

Call for help, as the name suggests the slimes would call for reinforcements. The range and duration of this spell is unknown because even after the battle has ended months ago, slimes still arrive and ended up staying in our village.

Slimes are actually important to the village as they help repel dangerous magical beasts and monsters that roam the Great Maple Forest.

Slimes are generally docile and ignore humans most of the time. If you go near their territory, they would hop menacingly. According to grandmother, slimes are easy to tame as they require nothing to make a contract. They sign it with no hesitation and you can summon them without any time limitation. The problem is they rarely listen to their master's commands.

The smallest slime is called regular size slime. It has a translucent blue body and measures 20x20 cm. They are named after sizes, food they eat (buttermilk slime), job positions (e.g. grand priest slime), social status (e.g. lord slime) and sometimes evolve from wearing certain clothes (comrade slime). Evolved slimes are more powerful and have access to more spells.

End of Chapter 1.