Prologue: My Untimely Death And Sudden Reincarnation

In an endless sea of darkness, I floated without aim or direction. It seemed like this was going to be the place where I was meant to be at the conclusion of my life. The fragmented memories of my childhood, teenage life and early adult years swam all around me without pause. As if to further cement the fact that I was truly dead, was there a heaven I was supposed to go or a hell that I was supposed to be doomed in. The honest answer was I did not know how to exactly answer that question.

My name is Shinohara Yukiyo, I’ve lived for 21 years and enjoyed every part of my life up until the end. I lost my single mother at young age which ended up impacting the way I viewed concepts like family and love. My relatives being a unique lot who weren’t like other relatives who would use the opportunity to use the inheritance money left behind for me and deprive me from it kept it safe until I was the appropriate age to use it.

For them that meant my teenage years, they essentially told me to live off on my own and decide what I want to do for my life. And so I did exactly that, I lived as I wished. If your question was : “what can a teenager possibly do with all of that money?”. Then the answer was very obvious when you considered the following:

1. I didn’t interact all that much in middle or high school

2. My interests were all internet focused and centered around it (MMOs, scrolling through social media, watching videos, anime, reading the manga and light novels I ordered online.)

And the end result would be a NEET who never even left her house since everything would be delivered to her through online services. One could say that I lived poorly but I am rather proud of my hikkineet, ahem, I mean home guard duties.

Though if I were to be told to go touch some grass by someone from the internet it would certainly sting, hence I worked out and bought gym equipment. This was my entire teenage life, day in and day out. I did not require school to get ahead in life. I never really made any school friends because I found them to be troublesome. With all that I needed being inside of my home, and that is what mattered to me in the end. However if you think that I suddenly slipped on a banana peel and cracked my skull then you are wrong by a long shot.

To capture the timeline of events leading up to my death one would need to see what kind of world I lived in. Technology was rapidly developing at a never seen before rate, you could more or less feel and touch what was digital. But that was a by-product of what had taken over the world at that point, people could gain a plethora of skills by playing video games as simulation had reached a life like stage. One could say they had peaked at the level they were going. Hence why diving into video games was not uncommon since this was now the new trend that every company had to get into. 

The old school MMOs I used to play evolved into VRMMORPGs. One of those old MMOs I used to play that evolved into such a game was amply named Sword Fantasy. It was a typical magic and swords game with the associated races that existed within it. A player could choose between the worlds, Viola and Estus for their character to live in and could freely jump between the worlds. What made Sword Fantasy very unique as a gaming experience was the customization of player appearance as well as jobs and their skill trees. Amongst all of the races of orc, dragon, undead, human, beastkin, dwarf as well as the other demihuman sub races I had decided to become an elf at first. But then as time passed I became a dark elf due to both to the fact I loved them with all my heart because of their mysterious and cool appeal and their high stats in Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Agility.

The level of detail within Sword Fantasy was so amazing that one could commission artists to create their game characters for them and base their entire skillset around appearance alone. That was particularly me and my favored artist who was also an elf enjoyer. Our interests aligned and that is how α-Ω (Alpha Omega) was born. She had long platinum blonde hair, strong and stern crimson eyes wearing a white dress like battle armor, her range of weapons included the bow, the dual blades and sword. There was plenty of versatility and flexibility to learn other weapons. Because of this I had gained somewhat of a reputation in Sword Fantasy because I would usually be involved in a lot of the events and quests the game had to offer. Down to the point of the name 「Dark Snow Princess」sticking whenever my character appeared in any world lobby.

Within the game’s lore the Dökkálfar (dark elf) could live far longer than the elf, they were more agile and dexterous, they had an affinity for darkness. This would land most players who chose this race into positions that are more likely to encounter dark guilds and gain dark themed equipment. Depending on the player they would normally go against the Law faction of the game.

I loved dark elves but that didn’t mean I hated players who played as Ljósálfar (light elves). To go a tangent for a brief moment. The traditional nature loving blonde haired elf was just as beautiful as the dark elf. With recent trends the petite elf is disappearing and they are being replaced by more thicc elves even on par with the dark elf.

I apologize I seem to lose myself when it comes to elves. I invested a lot of time in Sword Fantasy playing it daily for 5 to 7 hours at a time and logged out to play other video games. Nearing the exact moment where I lost my life it occurred during the playtime of Sword Fantasy our guild was a cozy hub which had a bar, a karaoke platform, as well as a lounge. I was now getting ready to leave just as another guild mate of mine had arrived at that exact moment, Ethan the Orc.

“Yo”

“Sup”

I replied to him with a smile waving at him as he was glad to see me before he too logged off.

“I am doing alright. Just finished a quest.”

“Ah, you’ve evolved again haven’t you?”

I was right about him logging off but I had seen something that made me see that he had leveled up. I could pick this up due to a passive skill I had in the game.

“Uh, how you’d notice that? I am quite surprised really.”

“I can see the undead aura of skellys floating around you. Dark Elven Vision and all.”

Ethan sighed as he sat down and ordered some ale to drink before he left the game. Apparently the guy was a salaryman and he needed to wind down by playing this game.

“I forgot that you had that skill to be honest. Ever thought of changing races lately?”

“No?”

“I mean I was human for a very long time before I became an orc.”

Ethan replied honestly as he loved to switch races on the fly when he wanted to fit the theme of the character story he was going for. His beginning race was actually beastkin and dragon afterwards but now it was orc.

“Not exactly. Game characters are not like social media profile photos that you can just change at any moment, if one wants to stick to something they have to do it for a long time. But I cannot be a judge for that really since I did change races after all.”

“Man back when you were a ljósálfar everyone used to follow you like a herd of ducklings. You almost landed the name and I quote “Heroine of Purity” hahahahaha!”

Ethan said that title with the most pretentious voice that he could come up with. I know he can’t get drunk on digital booze but he certainly knows how to maintain the attitude and atmosphere of someone who drank.

“I mean I had the great potential of becoming a elven faction leader for the Law group. And I could have very much led those guys into victory in many events. But I grew to love the numerous lore about dark elves. So I switched sides and met all of you guys.”

“You could have stayed Ljósálfar, you were so pure and cute back then. How the times have changed…..”

“Shut up”

The fact I had changed races at the time was aesthetics and I was becoming older and wanted something that I was sure I was going to keep up with other than the “UwU I love everyone with all of my heart” aspect.

“Also I would have died of cringe from just doing that constantly”

“Yeah I could see that honestly.”

Ethan took another sip of his ale and smiled as he honestly felt relieved to talk to me late into the night like this.

“Anyway how is work?Are they still whipping your back harshly?”

“Great, though I can say I am glad I am not being overworked to death. As for you?”

“The usual.”

I replied with a shrug before tapping the table and smiling as I stared at him drink the last drop inside of his cup.

“Sometimes I wish I had your luck kiddo.”

“Well too bad you don’t old man. It’s about time for me to log out. I’ll see you later on the Dómaldi Winter event”

“Same here. See ya and thank you as always.”

I logged out of Sword Fantasy and just like that we’ve caught up with the events leading up to me dying. Feeling thirsty I headed downstairs to drink some water, grabbing some snacks and watching videos.

Instead of an empty kitchen what I saw was a burglar with a large kitchen knife in his hand as he was about to put it inside of the large bag pack he was carrying. Having seen me he quickly rushed towards me before I could make my futile attempt at running away stabbing my chest several times. Well I had already done a horrible job at protecting the household from thieves and such. In my final moments I was able to alert the authorities by pressing a button for such emergencies. The pain only increased until I blacked out in creeping coldness. 

☆

With those memories piecing themselves together as I floated in this dark space, we had caught up with my current and very weird situation.

"♪"

Somewhere a song was being sung and it felt like I had been woken up from a nightmare. It was rather alluring and mysterious. I could swear it was being sung in Japanese at the same time it wasn’t, much like how game developers mix two languages together to make a new fictional one. To say I didn’t try to move my body would be a lie since I tried everything in my power to even fall forwards.

“♪”

The song seemed to be getting weaker and weaker by the moment until it eventually stopped all together. Hey it’s not my problem I am in a comatose like state!! It appears that reincarnation thing I kept on reading about has happened, as of now I do not know what I really am. Am I fetus inside of someone’s belly or something else entirely different. I do not really know the answer to that. My thoughts began to ponder on this self imposed question.

【It doesn’t feel like I am surrounded by some kind of fluid neither am I hearing anything except some drops falling down to the floor but I do wonder what my status would be like right now?】

As soon as I had spoken out those thoughts, a familiar game menu appeared before me.

『

• Name: Yukiyo Shinohara

• Age: 0

• Race: Slime

• Title: None

• Job: None

• Level: 1

• Job History: None

○ Attributes:

• HP: 100

• MP: 100

• Strength: 180 

• Agility: 0

• Stamina: 190

• Intelligence: 50

○ Skills:

• Area Scan Level 1

• Absorption Level 1

• Dissolve Level 1

• Object Detection Level 1

• Appraisal Level 1

○Passive Skills:

• Enhanced Strength Level 1

• Low Physical Attack Resistance Level 1

• Low Magical Attack Resistance Level 1

』

Hou? Not only am I alive again but I became a slime not even a dark elf in the next life. Oi God, this ain’t a joke you know?!! Despite having no mouth I wanted to shout that out but alas I could only calm down for the time being. I am something that is killed without a single thought as a grinding tool after all. Okay thank you me, I am definitely sad and depressed. I will not drag me down. Pull yourself together Yukiyo. Time to use the aforementioned skills! I still couldn’t see that much because I do not have eyes of course.

" 『Area Scan』 『Appraisal』”

『Now scanning the area and appraising all within the area scan radius』

An intelligent sounding voice appeared in my head as it spoke fluently in Japanese with me being glad that it wasn’t in some foreign world language. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to understand anything it was saying. I sighed a mental relief but that was immediately put down before anything else.

『Area Scanning Appraisal complete. Water Dragon Lv 115 (5 km). Giant Lv 109 (8 km). Orc King Lv 97 (10 km) . Goblin Chief Lv 50 (3 km). Corpse (400 meters)  』

【Uwah there’s a lot of scary monsters ahead of me, just how much of an area did Appraisal-tan span out?】

Just what kind of place am I to begin with? Did I come out of a cave and into a more forest or jungle like setting? I grasped at these questions as I began to move my body towards the nearby corpse. Without sight I really had no idea of where I was going right now. Man, a bat’s echolocation ability would be very useful right now.

『Skill Echolocation Has Been Acquired!』

【Eh? Ehhhhhh?!】

It’s not that easy getting skills you know Appraisal-tan!!!!!!!! I retorted to Appraisal-tan’s ridiculousness. Of course I got no reaction from Appraisal-tan but it was helpful regardless. I gained a sort of vision as everything was sketching itself to me, I couldn’t make out all of the details but it was enough. I was far closer to the corpse than I had initially thought I was.

To be quite frank I didn’t know what sort of corpse it was, it was all hazy from what I was seeing using echolocation. I wonder if it’s an animal, since this could be a forest it might be a wolf or a fox. I wanted to be those as a child , oi don’t think of me being a furry I just liked those animals I didn’t buy a suit! When I got close enough Appraisal-tan rang me up again.

『Skill: Absorption Active! Begin Absorption? Yes or No』

【The Skill Absorption means I can more or less absorb something into myself and gain skills from it. That includes the form of the body that those skills came from right? 】

But it was rather quick to active which sort of surprised me in a way. If it means getting a good pair of eyes then I shouldn’t worry all that much about it. Yosh, let’s do this!

『Absorption has begun. Required Time To Process and Incorporate Physical Appearance, Skills, HP and MP, Fusion and Evolution of Specific Skills: Absorption, Area Scan, Appraisal, Object Detection Into Main body: 24 Hours. Now Entering Cocoon State 』

【Uooooooooooh?! I knew this was a bad idea!! I should have said no!! Appraisal-tan cancel this please!!】

I could feel my conscience beginning to fade once more as my current body covered the corpse which was then wrapped up by a cocoon. And then I blacked out completely.