NaNoWriMo 2022

Chapter 0: Prologue

"You've died — at least, that’s what I'd like to say, but your body is surprisingly resilient, even if your mind is not."

These were the first words I heard on regaining consciousness. I opened my eyes, to see myself in a completely white room; the walls were white, the floor was white, the ceiling was also white. “Where am I? What happened to me?”

As if reading my mind, the voice answered. “This is a dimension that is neither heaven nor hell, but rather an intermediate holding room for those who fulfill… certain criteria, and all you need to know for now is that you have fulfilled those criteria. Suffice to say, your body has been mangled to the point that there is almost no hope for recovery. For now it’s in a coma, but very likely it will expire before long. You have been given the privilege to choose where your soul is to go next: heaven, hell, or another world. Keep in mind that picking any of these choices will cause your body to remain in a coma, even if it does survive. Alternatively, you may choose to go back to your own body for a chance of regaining consciousness, but said chance is next to none, and should you never awaken, you will lose this privilege of choice when it finally expires. And unfortunately, the option to be reborn in another body in your world is not available, as is the option for your body to be healed, as you have not fulfilled the prerequisites to unlock either option.” As I became more aware of my surroundings, I started noticing that the voice wasn’t actually being picked up by my ears, but rather received directly by my mind. “Telepathy?” I wondered. “Who are you?”

“For now, you may call me God,” said the voice. “How one perceives me is dependent on one’s religion, or at least what they believe in the most. Followers of a polytheistic religion would see me as simply one of their many gods, and the one who is the most suited for managing their souls’ afterlife and reincarnation, at that. Those who do not believe in either would simply not be eligible for picking their next lives to begin with, since, well, they don’t believe in that. It’s possible for atheists to end up here, but they would not perceive my existence, but rather encounter a magical book that will be able to answer all their questions, or something similar. In your case, your beliefs manifest me as a being with a voice, but with no physical form, or at least does not show it. So in a way, yes, this is telepathy, as it’s the most suitable way for us to communicate.”

“Anyway, regarding your choices,” continued God, “I think you may like going to another world the best, as you may get certain… abilities upon ending up in that world. I understand that you call them ‘cheat skills’? I suppose they are, in a way, as it’s something that the natives of that world are not at all likely to get any of them. In any case, you won’t get them if you pick either heaven or hell, and there’s nothing you’ll get from there that you won’t be getting if you go to another world.” True to God’s words, it did not take me long to pick the option to be transferred to another world. According to God, that world was called Neversats, a high fantasy world filled with magic, where mythical beings like dragons exist, coexisting alongside mundane flora and fauna. The level of technology was around the era of the Middle Ages, with most features provided by modern technology in my world served by magic and magical tools.

“As I thought. Next up, you have two tasks, which you may do in either order, or both at the same time, if you so wish. One is to pick your cheat skills. Keep in mind that there is a limit as to how powerful they may be, and you can only pick so many. The more powerful they are, the fewer of them you may pick. However, imposing certain restrictions of them can be done in lieu of making them less powerful, such as being able to use them for yourself only, or for others only, for example. Simply think of the skills that you really want the most, and you will intuitively know whether or not you’ve hit that limit, and how close you are to it, and you’ll be able to adjust them accordingly. The other is to pick the way you’re transported to that other world. Here, you have two options. The first is to be reborn in that world as a baby. You may, to some extent, choose your new body, as well as your new family’s background, but as with your cheat skills, higher level choices will naturally cost more. The second is to simply be dropped — implanted, if you will — into that world, in a body close to your current one. As with the first option, you can make modifications to that body, but instead of choosing your family’s background, you instead pick your starting equipment.”

As I was still undecided on how I should begin my life in the other world, I opted to pick my cheat skills first. I thought deeply on what cheats I really, really wanted, as opposed to ones that are merely nice to have, and ultimately I made my decision. “So, these are the skills you’ve decided on? In ascending order of priority: Perfect ambidexterity, proficiency in dual wielding any one-handed weapon, fluency in multiple languages, high luck, quick learning of new skills, high aptitude in all types of magic, and what is this last one? The restriction attached to it, is to forget that you have ever had this skill? That’s an interesting one. And the skill itself… well, it matters not. You happen to have just enough leeway to acquire all of them. You can have all the choices you picked.”

Following that was the task to pick how I would go to that world. Unexpectedly, the choice that was hard to make just a while ago, was made almost immediately this time. “I’d like to simply be dropped into that world, with every part of my body being strong and flexible, free of illness and injury. For my equipment, just give me two swords, two double edged ones, as well as a full set of leather armour. Oh, and dump the rest into strengthening my body.”

“Done. Now, before you’re transported to your next world, any last questions? I won’t be able to answer them afterwards, so ask them now.” I was about to say no and move on when I realised something. I had almost overlooked a critical point. What happened to my memories of my past life? Why can’t I remember any details about it? How did my body get that close to dying in the first place? Was it some serious injury or illness? And why can’t I even remember my own name?

For a while, God was silent. Finally, the reply came.

“…I cannot answer this right now. The best I can do for now is to let you slowly recall it as you live your next life. But for now I’ll tell you this: at the point you received your severe injuries, your body was already far from its best. As for your name, it wouldn’t have mattered if you’d chosen to be reborn in that world instead, but here, you have to pick a new name on your own.” I was about to protest, but decided against it. I had received more than I’d expected, and this little information was better than nothing. “I guess that’s it, then. My new name will be… Rex.”

“Any further questions?”

“None.”

“Goodbye, then.”

And that was the last thing I heard before I again lost consciousness.

********

[God’s POV]

After transporting Rex, God started thinking about him.

Shortly before Rex got seriously injured, he had said something about acknowledging God exists and believing that God was a malevolent being that hated him enough to want to condemn him to Hell after his death. To avoid complications in their conversation, God had wiped his memory before letting him regain consciousness. “I’m sorry that you had to think that way. I hope that what I’ve given you will make up for it… it’s the least I can do for you.”

God had allowed Rex to pick more cheats than the average person would have been allowed to pick. The injuries Rex had taken were in the process of heroically protecting others, which generated Rex a good amount of positive karma, on top of the extra choices God had already given him.

Then God looked at the last skill Rex had picked. The skill was to instinctively predict what’s the best next course of action to take at all times, in every situation, and automatically take it. It was, to say the least, an absurdly powerful cheat skill. In fact, even with getting to pick extra skills, and even with the restriction that he would forget about that skill’s existence, or that he’d ever picked it — in fact, he’d already forgotten about it by the time he’d started on choosing how he was to start his new life — it’d still be too expensive, but God had given it to him anyway. Such were the concessions that God was willing to give Rex. Similarly, the fact that Rex had decided to go with such little equipment in

“I hope your life this time will be an enjoyable one,” thought God as the next soul came in.



Chapter 1: Another World

As my consciousness returned, I opened my eyes. I was standing at the edge of a rather dense forest. Before me was a vast span of grassland, with grass almost half a metre tall. I wondered how long the old me would have survived in such a place, not that it mattered anymore. About half a kilometre away, barely visible from my point of view due to the tall grass, was a road that went into the forest. It also stretched out far away into the plains. To help get my bearings, I made my way to the road. My body felt really light as I did so, so I decided to break into a run. “Wow, God has given me a really awesome body.  Surely this was a vast improvement over whatever old body I had, that God had said was far from top form,” I thought.

In around a couple of minutes, I had reached the road. I marvelled at my body, which wasn’t out of breath at all even after I’d broken into a sprint. On the other side of the road was a savannah as vast as the grassland I had first found myself on. I noticed a sign at the point the road entered the forest. Two arrows were pointing in opposite directions. The arrow pointing into the forest had a sign that said “____ City”. The other arrow pointing out of the forest had a sign that said “___ Town”. No indication was given as to how far either location was from the sign. Deciding not to go into the forest unprepared, I headed in the direction of ___ Town.

A cool breeze was blowing as I half ran, half walked along the road. It was mid-afternoon when I first arrived, and now the sun was lower in the sky than before. Despite the sun being less intense than I expected, I noticed that I was starting to get thirsty, and I had neglected to ask God for any supplies before I was transported to here. Even if I did get to town before the sun set, surely I would have to pay for food and water, not to mention lodging fees? I was starting to wonder if it was a mistake not asking for anything other than the equipment I was wearing, when I noticed a carriage ahead, surrounded by goblins.

As I approached the carriage, which had a wagon attached, I saw that it had only two defenders, one each at the front of the carriage and the back of the wagon, while the goblins numbered over twenty. Ahead of the carriage, I saw two horses, who had presumably been pulling the carriage, bolting off into the distance. The defenders were clearly outnumbered and had already accumulated a number of injuries while only two goblins had been cut down so far. Needing no farther prompting, I dashed towards the carriage, drawing my two swords as I did so, and slashed at the nearest two goblins, slicing their heads clean off. The goblins were slow to react to the new threat, and by the time they finally did, over half of them had already been cut down by my swords. At that point, the odds had become a lot more even.

One of the remaining goblins, clearly the leader of the group and standing twice as tall as the others, screeched at his underlings, and they regrouped, with three of them each facing one of the two defenders and the rest charging at me. The leader attacked with his longsword while the other goblins swung their crudely made clubs at me. I felt my body start moving on its own, dodging the attacks left and right. Amidst the battle, my mind started to wander. "Was this the effects of the skills I've obtained? Surely I don't need such skills just to dodge these obvious head-on attacks? Unless those were just decoy attacks?"

The answer immediately came in the form of another goblin that suddenly emerged from the tall grass and swung a shortsword at me. I guess such an ambush should hardly be unexpected. If not for my skill, that goblin would certainly have gotten a hit in. But instead, I managed to counterattack and disarm it with one swing from one of my swords, and behead it with one swing from the other. Then I charged at the goblins that had been attacking me, and having been surprised at my unexpectedly swift and brutal reaction to the ambush, they struggled to defend themselves properly, and my swords made short work of them. Except for the leader, that is, whose proficiency with the longsword he wielded was superior to that of his underlings with their weapons, as his swift movements showed, as we engaged in a fight to the death. Still, as we traded blows, his grew ever so slightly slower and weaker, and he gradually went on the defensive. Perhaps he was used to finishing off fights in a matter of seconds due to his ambushing style, and would be rendered helpless in a prolonged duel? Again I marvelled at the stamina of the body that God had granted me, but I dispelled the thoughts quickly. I had a fight to finish.

Finally I struck a blow that the goblin failed to parry effectively, and he lost his grip on his sword. Despite his apparent fatigue, his skill still told, and he managed to spin around to avoid my next blow, then scrambled for the sword he had dropped. But in doing so, he had given me a fatal opening, which I immediately took without hesitation. My first two blows struck him in the abdomen and chest respectively, and he gave out a loud cry of agony as he went down. To ensure his death, I cut off his head with a third strike, after which I raised my head to check on how the other two were faring against their enemies.

The man at the back of the wagon attached to the carriage had similarly dispatched his opponents around the same time as I had dispatched mine, and although he was clearly wounded, they were not life threatening. The man in front of the carriage, on the other hand, was struggling to fight off the three goblins attacking him, due to one of his arms being broken. I quickly dashed to the front in order to support him, and in three slashes the heads of three goblins were detached from their heads. And just like that, the fight was over.

********

"Thank you very much for your help. Without your intervention, I don't know how we'd have gotten out of that."

In the carriage was a merchant who had stayed inside throughout the fight due to not being a fighter and he would only have gotten in the way of the other two, whom he had hired as bodyguards.

"Are those two the only guys you hired to defend your

After the two men had tended to their wounds, they proceeded to check the bodies of the goblins. The broken arm of one of the men had been magically healed.