In an unremembered place, beyond space and time, a random soul was selected from a pool of trillions and presented with a screen as he made his choices—choices that would dictate a new fate for the lingering spirit that hadn't quite moved on.
So many questions left unanswered, so many curiosities left unsatisfied, so many laughs not laughed, tears unshed, loves not lived…
A second chance he prayed; his prayer was heard, for a prayer never passes unheard.
Jobless Reincarnation!
[Choose your own adventure!]
[Talents]
Magic
Touki
Etc…
[Status]
Prince
Noble
Merchant
Peasant
Orphan
Etc…
[Affinities]
Element: Air
Element: Water
Element: Fire
Element: Earth
Element: Divine
Element: Space
Element: Gravity
Element: Time
Element: Light
Element: Dark
Etc…
Weapon: Sword
Weapon: Spear
Weapon: Axe
Weapon: Bow
Etc…
[Race]
Human
Elf
High Elf
Dwarf
Demon
(Immortal Demon Race, Miguard Demon Race, Superd Demon Race, etc.)
Beastfolk
(Dog, Wolf, Cat, Lion, Fox, etc.)
Dragon
(Dark, Light, Crystal, Holy, etc.)
[Perks]
Blank
Indomitable Will
Fortune's Favour
Genius
Good First Impression
Effective Training
Laplace Factor
Random Demon Eye
Etc.
[Systems/Add-ons]
Gamer
Shop
Waifu Catalog
Group Chat
Etc.
[Drawbacks]
Ow, My Head
Enemy of Humanity
Enemy of Demons
Enemy of Dwarves
Enemy of Elves
Hunted – Holy Church
Feared
Endangered
Etc.
Points – 1000
[Submit]
By taking Ow, My Head as my first drawback, I netted a cool 250 points—a substantial amount considering the prizes that were on offer. It wasn't total memory loss, but it meant that many of the things that made me, well, me would be gone. It could be seen as a substantial loss, but here I saw an opportunity. What was the point of living life once more as the exact same person? I was old by the time I died, and this? This gave me a chance I had missed the first time around—to truly live again wasn't to be the same person, and I looked forward to seeing the world anew for the second time.
[Ow, My Head – You have a severe and suspiciously selective case of amnesia. While much of the wisdom and knowledge you accumulated throughout your life remains, your memories connected to your identity, your precise personal experiences, your pains, your losses, your loves, and your interests have been wiped clean, a blank canvas awaiting the artist that is life. Additionally, while your memories of the original story and your personal CYOA will be largely gone, you will have an innate sense, a personal instinct for 'important' people, places, times, things, and events.] (+250)
Next, I looked to the talents. Both magic and Touki were extremely powerful in this world, and I refused to settle for anything that could be seen as weak. They came in three levels: low, intermediate, and high, and I didn't hesitate to select high for both talents.
[Magical Talent – High] (-100)
[Touki Talent – High] (-100)
Next, I moved on to races, and immediately I knew I could no longer be human. A pitiful 100 years that could easily be cut to less than twenty by some unfortunate medieval disease meant it was simply not an option, especially when so many better options were available.
First my eyes strayed to the Immortal Demon Race (-850). This would make me functionally immortal. The Immortal Demon Race could resurrect from most kinds of death in but a few minutes and even survive things like obliteration, even if it took several thousand years to return to peak form.
I had to admit, the prospect of immortality—true eternal life—was more enticing than anything in this world, but its price made me look elsewhere; there was no need to rush in this timeless place.
The Dragon Race (-750) too drew my eyes. They were the longest-lived race aside from the immortal demons and were said to be the strongest too. With a hundred thousand years of life, even figuring out the secret to true immortality would not be beyond my grasp, but it was precisely that which stayed my hand—one hundred thousand years was a long time. How did a species with a hundred-thousand-year lifespan think? What was life like when it took 50 years of pregnancy and an additional 50 years for an egg to hatch? The prospect of such a race and their thinking was so alien it turned me away entirely.
(Rip dragon MC, so very sad, maybe another fic…)
Instead, my eyes shifted to other options. High Elf (-500) seemed a good choice. It came with heightened magical talent at the cost of Touki talent and a cool ten thousand years of life—enough to be sufficiently long but not so alien that the structure of my mind would be lost entirely. But it must have been the devil on my shoulder that pointed out another option, and I couldn't help but grin.
[Superd Demon Race – A powerful race of demons adept at both magic and Touki. These demons are characterized by their bright green hair and a red gem embedded in their foreheads, which serves as a valuable sensory organ. Akin to the Demon Eye of Magic, it gives not only the ability to perceive magical power but the ability to scope for miles around in every direction regardless of covering.
Chosen to be the generals of the Demon Army loyal to Demon God Laplace and later betrayed by him, the Superd Race are cursed to arouse fear and mistrust wherever they go. As very few are immune to this curse, the Superd are doomed to find few friends and many enemies wherever they go.
Includes Enemy of Humanity drawback +100, Enemy of Dwarves +50, Enemy of Elves +50, Enemy of Demons +50, Feared +50, Hunted – Holy Church +125, Endangered +100, Orphan +100.
Lifespan: 5000 years.] (-500) Price reduced due to curse.
It would make me the enemy of practically the whole world. I would be hunted and hated across every continent. On the other hand, it was a fantastic choice; not only did the race come with what basically amounted to a free demon eye and a long lifespan, and I would be getting paid to take it due to all the drawbacks, it also came with a scalable weapon that could potentially reach god-class in power and toughness.
There was a reason the Superd held their spears as sacred. Beyond their honour, their spears were originally their tails. Over time, as they grew, it lengthened and hardened into a sharp, spear-like form before it fell, providing them with a weapon to last a lifetime.
Beyond even that, it also came with an additional boost for both talent in magic and Touki. There was a reason Demon God Laplace chose them to be his generals.
Now having selected both my talents and my race with 1025 points left over, I turned to the most enigmatic and absolutely expensive category.
[Systems / Add-ons]
This was the category with the most powerful potential. The power of the Gamer was legendary, but I was hesitant to choose it. A life spent grinding, farming, or doing quests to level up was not the life I sought. No, I wanted to live life, not spend my time farming, viewing my fellow sentient beings as NPCs while playing a game called Life.
And so it was the second option that drew my eyes: [Shop] (-600).
It had a simple function — it let you buy things.
As for what things? Many things.
I was hesitant to say "anything," because that did not seem to be the case. At the very least, I did not see "omnipotence" on the list, nor anything labelled "infinite power" or anything of that nature. But by no means was it a particularly limited service. Primarily, it sold things from the CYOA in exchange for gold or similar-value items. Even the Gamer system was listed, though it was debatable if there was enough gold across the entire world of Mushoku Tensei to buy such a thing — but it was there nonetheless.
It wasn't even limited to things found within the CYOA, though these were heavily discounted in comparison to the rest. There was a list that seemed to scroll on forever, listing all sorts of items.
I selected it.
[Shop – 600]
Next came the fun part: perks and affinities.
I had 425 points remaining, and I didn't hesitate to spend them all.
Affinity: Divine added – 100
An affinity to the Divine was a simple necessity. Not only was it healing magic, but it came with four additional branches of magic: healing, detoxification, barrier magic, and divine strike magic. This, alongside the fact I was a demon, made it the mos expensive affinity — aside from some esoteric ones not even I was going to touch.
Affinity: Space added – 50
Space and time are two of the universe's more powerful fundamental forces, and with this, not only would I be able to control one of them, but it would also give me gravity magic for free when paired with time affinity.
[Affinity: Time added - 50]
There was no doubt in my mind about this one's power.
[Perk – Indomitable Will -50]
[With this, my will would never falter. My heart would never sway against my will, and my back would break before I allowed it to bend. Truly I would become master of my own mind, with all the perks that came with it.]
[Perk – Laplace Factor -100]
[A result of Demon God Laplace's attempt at reincarnation, this perk gives not only the ability to grow and expand one's mana pool at a far accelerated rate, but also grants higher magical potential and removes the growth limit of the mana pool entirely.]
Note: The risk of becoming the reincarnation of Demon God Laplace has been removed.
Includes [Drawback: Impeded Touki].
The ability to grow and expand my mana pool with age and effort, alongside an even stronger magic talent, would serve me well in this next life. An additional cost was all it took to remove its drawback.
Removed Drawback – Impeded Touki – 25
[Perk – Genius added – 100]
[You are blessed with the wisdom and intellect of a genius. Problems and puzzles that would have once taken you months can now be solved in minutes. Whether it be creativity in battle, strategy in war, or the advancement of magical theory, you are what is called a prodigy among prodigies.]
I was wise enough to know I needed wisdom to carry me throughout my life. Another man who knew such a thing rose to become the world's richest man, a king, and a husband to three hundred wives. As for how he did such a thing? Wisdom was truly a wondrous thing.
[Perk – Fortune's Favour -100]
[You are favoured by the ladies of fate and fortune.]
I was never one to turn down some good fortune. It had what was probably the most mysterious description of any perk. Was there actually a Lady of Fate, or was it a simple proverb?
Perk – Blank – 50
In its original context, it granted an immunity to a great many "thinker"-related powers and has since expanded to include most—if not all—"Master" powers as well. With this perk, you have not only complete immunity to all those who use fate or other such methods to view the past or future, but also complete immunity to any and all mind-control-related powers. Be warned: you will not be immune to chocolate, and the Blank perk is not a substitute for self-control.
A necessity in a world full of fate and mind-related fuckery. An immunity to such things, alongside the ability to hide from any future sight, would go a long way.
Perk – Random Demon Eye – 25
There are 12 demon eyes, though only seven are revealed, and now you have one. Perhaps it will be one of the seven known eyes, or perhaps it will be one of the five not yet revealed, or perhaps it may even be an entirely new, yet unseen demon eye bestowed upon you. Only time will tell, and only fortune will decide.
My last 25 points.
It was a tough choice between this and one of the four fundamental elemental affinities, but in the end, I made my choice. With my magic talent, I would outclass almost any other in each element regardless, and in terms of usefulness I saw them as near enough equal despite their differences.
Air could attack silently and invisibly, assist flight, and potentially even suck the air from an enemy's lungs. Earth was the hardest hitter of the four—but as a living creature, would there ever be a time I did not need water and fire? Fire could heat food, serve as a signal flare, burn men alive, and conjure smoke screens, while water could be drunk, used to boil food, clean filth and wounds, and perhaps even disrupt the blood within a person's veins—to a sufficiently horrifying effect.
A demon eye, on the other hand, had a universal effect and was near enough universally useful.
Having finalised my choices, I selected the submit button and shut my eyes, ready to face this new life and whatever it may bring.