When I woke up, the whole area was covered in green. It looked like somewhere deep in a forest, but I didn't recognize it at all.
The trees rustled pleasantly in the breeze, yet deep down I felt restless. I had zero memory of how I ended up lying in a place like this. Worse, I couldn't even remember my own name. Was this the classic case of memory loss?
Luckily my general knowledge and common sense seemed intact. I had no recollection of myself, but I knew I was born on Earth and grew up in Japan. It was a strange, foggy feeling, like a thick mist had settled over my heart.
After standing there dazed for a while, something suddenly started flashing right in front of my eyes. There definitely hadn't been anything there a moment ago.
"What the…?"
A translucent panel hovered in the air with a glowing button on it. When I looked closer, I could see letters written on the board. It reminded me of a game menu screen.
"Welcome to another world!" A female voice cheered.
My brain froze for a second. Another world? Was this place… an isekai? While I was still processing, the button kept pulsing insistently. I figured it was probably a bad joke, but I reached out and pressed it anyway.
"Through an extremely strict lottery, you have won the right to be reincarnated in another world. At present you have no memories of your previous self before reincarnation, but rest assured: we obtained your consent prior to the process. You retain modern-era knowledge, so no need to worry on that front!"
"What did you do to me before I reincarnated!?"
"This is a fantasy world where swords clash and magic flies everywhere. For details, please check your status screen here."
This time a more standard-looking window appeared on the panel. Oh… the classic one you see in games all the time.
===================================== Kelvin 23 years old Male Human Summoner Level: 1 Title: None
HP: 10/10 MP: 20/20
Strength: 1 Durability: 1 Agility: 3 Mana: 5 Luck: 4
Skills: Summoning (S-Class) Slots: 9 empty Green Magic (F-Class) Appraisal Eye (S-Grade) Growth Rate Multiplication Skill Point Multiplication Experience Sharing
Any distrust I felt vanished the moment I read it. I must have been a huge game nerd in my previous life, because right now I was honestly thrilled. I couldn't even complain. Whatever version of me existed before reincarnation clearly knew what he was doing.
According to the menu's explanation, I had spent my default skill points before reincarnating to pick these abilities. Looking at the ranks, I definitely dumped a ton into high-end stuff. S-Class Summoning? My job class being Summoner gave off strong "that one famous game" vibes.
"For now, let's check the skill descriptions."
===================================== Summoning (S-Class) You can form a contract with a target and make it your subordinate. Subordinates receive a supply of magical power from the summoner, which boosts their stats. They can also communicate telepathically with the summoner and be summoned into battle by materializing through the summoner's magic. As the skill rank increases, you can form more contracts, the stat boost grows stronger, and you can contract higher-ranked beings.
Green Magic (F-Class) Magic that controls the power of earth and wind. It handles attack, support, recovery, and balanced utility spells. Higher ranks unlock more spells.
Appraisal Eye (S-Grade) Lets you view a target's status. Higher ranks reveal more detailed information.
Growth Rate Multiplication Doubles the stat gains when you level up.
Skill Point Multiplication Doubles the skill points earned when you level up.
Experience Sharing Party members (including subordinates gained through Summoning) share experience points.
"Oh wow, this is seriously support-type heaven. And the level-up bonuses are insane."
So summoning needs a contract… probably just requires the other party's consent? And what's this "magical power supply" thing?
"If the target consents, the rest happens at your will. Once the contract is complete, the subordinate becomes a magical entity that merges with your magic pool. Summoning them into the physical world consumes MP equal to their cost, and it also reduces your maximum MP temporarily. That reduction is the 'supply' part. When you dismiss them, your max MP returns to normal, but current MP does not recover automatically."
Thanks for the crystal-clear explanation, mysterious menu. Super convenient. So basically I can't just spam summons forever without letting MP recover, and if my max MP drops too low I won't be able to cast other spells. Gotta manage it carefully.
"You're catching on fast. There's an adventurer guild in this world, so registering there would be a good first step."
"…We've been having a completely normal back-and-forth conversation for a while now, but are you actually coming along for the ride?"
"Whoops, you don't remember? Take a look here."
The menu cheerfully displayed a new window.
===================================== Melfina 1276 years old Female [Appraisal impossible] Level: [Appraisal impossible] Title: [Appraisal impossible] HP / MP / Strength / Durability / Agility / Mana / Luck: [Appraisal impossible] Skills: [Unverifiable]
"This is a first for me, you know. You told me—the Goddess—to become your subordinate, so now you're responsible for me. Also, this is how summoner-subordinate communication works."
"What exactly did pre-reincarnation me DO!??"
And that was how my other-world reincarnation adventure kicked off.