Apparently, I died in a car accident and was reborn into this world, one that looked remarkably like Earth, except it was centuries behind in time.
The man whose body I now occupied had just tried to end his own life. I had taken his place, inherited his body, and with it, his name.
Bran Rawen.
"Haah... this is messed up."
If not for the flood of memories from both my previous life and this one, I would have dismissed everything as a fever dream.
But I knew it was real.
Just like the translucent blue screen floating before my eyes.
[Congratulations, Host. You have regained your memories.]
[Reward: Golden Token x1]
[Note: Token Points allow you to create job slots, exchange jobs, or barter them for credit points to level up.]
None of it made any sense.
Still, panic wouldn’t get me anywhere.
I needed answers.
I found a small rock nearby, sat down, and forced myself to think.
I was Bran Rawen.
In my previous life, I died in a car accident at the age of twenty, long after I had convinced myself that nothing good was ever going to happen to me.
In this life, I had been a powerless man, someone who spent his entire life relying on others just to survive.
A timid fool who could never speak his mind.
Hopeless in a fight.
A burden to everyone in my family except my mother.
And to top it all off, my wife had been sleeping with my own father and recently got married to him.
Yeah...
What a spectacular way to begin a new life.
As much as I pitied the previous Bran, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with his final decision.
Taking his own life was the act of a man who had already surrendered.
He could have walked away. Found another place to live. Started over somewhere no one knew his name.
He had choices.
Instead, he convinced himself that his frail body was the root of every misfortune, never realizing that his body had never been the problem.
His spirit was.
He simply chose to believe fate would never favor him, so he gave up before life ever had the chance to prove him wrong.
"Pretty lame."
I let out a weary sigh, rubbing the back of my head.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I looked at the glowing screen before me.
"So, you’re the blessing I received after being reborn?"
I’d read enough novels to know how this usually went. The protagonist died, reincarnated, and awakened some absurdly overpowered system that carried them to greatness.
Let’s see what kind of system I ended up with.
[Host, this system exists to help the Host attain a peaceful life by removing every troublesome obstacle from the...]
I raised a hand, cutting it off.
"Before you continue, answer me one thing."
The screen flickered.
"Does your system punish failed tasks?"
A brief silence followed.
"I’d rather not have my heart explode or my balls burst just because I failed to rescue someone’s missing cat."
I’d come across systems like that in novels before, and I absolutely despised them.
[No, Host. Failing a task carries no system generated punishment. The Host will only face the consequences that naturally follow. For example, if the task is to reach a mountain summit, failing may result in falling to your death.]
I nodded.
"That’s reasonable."
[That concludes the explanation. The system would now like to introduce its core features.]
Go on.
With the kinds of monsters and dangers that existed in this world, I’d need every advantage I could get if I wanted to survive.
[Main Menu:
> Job Change
>Status Bar
>Shop on Demand
>Barter
>Dojo
>Quest]
[Job Change: Allows the Host to select professions compatible with their race. Once a job occupies a slot, it cannot be removed. Different jobs require different costs to unlock. Every level grants one additional job slot. Alternatively, the Host may spend two Golden Tokens to unlock an extra slot.]
[Current Job Slots: 3]
[Status Bar: Displays the Host’s overall physical and magical capabilities. Depending on the equipped job, the Host’s attributes may change. For example, the Hunter job increases Perception, while the Fighter job enhances overall physical abilities.]
[Shop on Demand: Allows the Host to purchase virtually any desired product using Credit Points, or CP. Credit Points can be earned through a variety of methods.]
[Barter: Allows the Host to exchange monster carcasses, herbs, rare items, and other valuable materials for Credit Points.]
[Dojo: A private training ground accessible only to the Host. Here, the Host may train, improve attributes, master different jobs, and undergo advancement trials required for leveling up.]
[Note: Every hour spent inside the Dojo equals ten minutes in the outside world. The Dojo can only be entered once every twenty hours. At the base level, each session is limited to four hours.]
[Quest: Missions assigned according to the Host’s current circumstances. Completing quests rewards Credit Points and Golden Tokens.]
I read through each feature, giving an occasional nod.
There were quite a few of them, and every single one seemed genuinely useful.
The Dojo especially caught my attention, but another feature interested me even more.
"Job."
I looked at the screen.
"Can I choose any job I want?"
[Yes, Host. However, every job requires magical energy to equip. In this world, that energy is known as Lumina, the divine essence derived from the Supreme Deity, Lumine.]
I chewed on my lower lip.
"I don’t have any Lumina, do I?"
The memories I’d inherited made that much obvious.
Bran had been an unawakened nobody. Weak, powerless, and looked down on by everyone around him.
[You did not, Host. However, your recent death triggered the awakening.]
That... actually made sense.
"Alright then."
I leaned forward slightly.
"Show me my status before we look at the available jobs."
[Preparing Status Screen...]
[Status:
Name: Bran Rawen
Job: None
Level: 1
Skill: Hawk Eye
Strength: 6/10
Speed: 5/10
Endurance: 8/10
Perception: 4/10
Lumina: 50/10
Fatigue: 2/10]
[The value of ten represents your current upper limit. The Host possesses a natural talent for absorbing and refining the Lumina present in the atmosphere. However, your magical core has only recently awakened and is not yet stable enough to store greater quantities.]
[As the Host levels up, the core will continue to refine itself, increasing both its stability and storage capacity.]
I nodded.
"So every time I level up, that upper limit increases as well?"
[Correct, Host. However, leveling up is only possible after every attribute reaches its current limit. Advancement is achieved by completing a Level Trial inside the Dojo.]
[Note: Until the Host levels up, the body cannot develop beyond its current potential.]
I had expected something along those lines.
With a quiet sigh, I looked back at the screen.
"What’s the skill I awakened?"
[Hawk Eye: Allows the Host to perceive the surrounding world in slow motion. Everything within the Host’s field of vision is slowed by a factor of ten. The effect lasts until the Host can no longer hold their breath.]
[Note: Each activation consumes 30 Lumina.]
I nodded thoughtfully.
So that was the ability I’d unconsciously activated while falling into the well.
Costly, but undeniably powerful.
In a life-or-death situation, slowing the world by tenfold could easily mean the difference between survival and death.
"Alright then."
"Show me the jobs I can choose from."