AN: None of the characters mentioned are real; they are fiction. Any resemblance to real people is pure coincidence, I swear lol.
Well, one of the abilities is the easiest pick of my life.
1 Second Future Sight for only 25 points… In sport, this is just cheating.
[ 1 Second Future Sight: Player can see 1 second into the future. It can be turned on and off. Applies to vision only. ]
Now, an idiot would just be happy with this, thinking it is easy from here, but for this to work, you’d need to see the current reality and then a second reality simultaneously.
I don’t think there is a single person on the planet who can do that while acting on that information properly.
So I can add Highway Brain for 25 points as well and it should be solved.
[ Highway Brain: Player can split consciousness into separate streams of actionable thought with a 15% non-compounding decrease in thought speed per stream of thought. When not used, it has a 10% increase in thought speed. ]
I can’t currently see a good reason for 3 or more streams of thought, but 2 is good enough, leaving me with faster thought as well while not active.
In scissors, paper, rock, this is unbeatable.
It would really shine in competitive sports; in soccer, you could see if a feint works or not before it even happens or predict the flight of the ball as a goalkeeper. The uses are endless.
And the word player in both abilities is throwing me off a bit. Is this a hint at what’s going to happen later?
No use thinking about that now; I have 110 Points left, but I want all of the abilities.
Hmm, what do I need to be famous, especially as a girl?
A good appearance, obviously, but with 100 charisma potential, is that not already a done deal?
[ Beautiful: Player’s appearance is set to the limit of the Charisma stat by the end of puberty. ]
Isn’t this a waste? Surely I can get to 100 without this. Just seems like a waste.
And beauty is just one part. Temperament, behaviour, intelligence and more…
I mean, dumb blonde jokes are still made to this day, and while some super cool alpha males may like this, the goal I set isn’t to become some rich housewife but to become famous worldwide.
Hmm, what about Genius?
[ Genius: Player’s learning, practice and performance of all actions are majorly improved. ]
It’s a bit vague, but it applies to all actions.
I’m fairly talented myself; if I had found my talents in my infancy, there’s a chance I could have gone professional in both chess and soccer, the greatest tragedy of this country to date.
I’ll confirm Genius as well, leaving me with 60 points.
Is it stackable with Prodigy?
[ Prodigy: Learning, practice and performance of all actions are significantly improved. ]
[ Loading... Genius already selected… Prodigy can be stacked to create Prodigious Genius, which overlaps the effects. ]
Hmm, good, I’ll confirm it, leaving me with 40 points.
I was thinking of getting Eidetic Memory, but…
[ Eidetic Memory: Recall images with high precision. ]
Damn, I thought eidetic memory was perfect memory.
It might be further in the Mental section… and found it.
But -125 points really? And isn’t perfect memory also a curse in some ways, with information overload?
Let’s look elsewhere, what about something to do with luck?
In all the novels I’ve read, protagonists who pick max Luck builds always get a fortuitous encounter and somehow their other stats catch up to their max-level luck through you gueesed it, luck. A virtuous cycle built for protagonists.
[ Lucky: When in a position to receive luck, it will come the player's way more often. Can not impact other people. ]
I mean, this seems overpowered, but being in a position of luck is probably not applicable very easily.
If it is, I could play the lottery a few times and statistically speaking, I should win before the point of no return of money spent compared to jackpot earnings, but do I even win the jackpot, or do I get just a dollar back in the minor wins?
If I bet on a soccer game, how does it apply?
It can’t affect the player, so does it make the wind blow the other way and then it'll switch at halftime?
I imagine this is something that affects the fantasy gacha pullers, not me at all...
C’mon, there’s gotta be something good.
Hmmm, oh what’s this one?
[ Fast Reactions: All reactions are quicker by 10 to 50 milliseconds (random). Once reaction speed approaches 120ms, the effect is limited to a maximum improvement of 10 milliseconds. ]
This has got to be the most OP ability in the whole section. People don’t often train their reaction time, but think about it, if you react a bit quicker to any stimuli, you save a few milliseconds.
Over a day, it might be seconds; over a few years, it could be hours.
Not to mention, in any PvP game, whether it’s sports or video games, this is such a major advantage
I can’t believe they hid this at the end of the list and it’s only 25 points.
I’ll confirm this and I have 15 points left, so I’ll just get the Envied curse that gives me 10 more points.
[ Envied: People are more susceptible to envy you. ]
Wait, if I am trying to be famous, what is one thing that always affects female celebrities online…
[ Desired: You are more desirable to others. ]
+10 from Desired… another pick from the end of the category, I should probably look a bit harder.
With 25 points, what I have left that I want are Angel’s Voice, Muscle/Speed/Dexterity enhancements, +25 Lifespan or 5 more IQ points…
[ Angel’s Voice: Player’s voice has a calming effect and evokes positive emotional responses towards the player. Does not affect Charisma. ]
Anything that affects another’s emotional state in such a way could rightfully be called a superpower.
[ Muscle Enhancer: Player’s muscles by the end of puberty are sculpted to perfection with slight boosts to Charisma and major boosts to Physical stats. ]
The Muscle/Speed/Dexterity enhancements are all similar.
Extra lifespan seems like a good idea, but I’m aiming for immortality anyway and not many old people enjoy a high level of fame, as most who knew them would have already died.
Boosts to IQ seem good, but with max on Mental already set, it’d probably just assist in the speed of getting it to 100.
I mean, voice acting is pretty popular nowadays and while I could get Mimicry and find another voice to copy, the drawbacks are too much.
[ Mimicry: Player has a one time use allowing copying of one mannerism from a non-player. ]
I mean, mannerisms are trainable anyway and with Prodigious Genius, I’d be able to do that eventually.
[ Final Selection: Prodigious Genius, Fast Reactions, Highway Brain, Angel’s Voice, 1 Second Future Sight and Desired. ]
“If you have finished your Ability selection, you may now turn over the paper on your desks.”
What good timing.
Fwoosh
Dear Participant, now player.
Thank you for coming along for the Rebirth Project. We are happy that you have decided to participate. From all of us here in the Rebirth Project team, we hope you enjoy the life you selected. When everyone is finished with their choices, please say out loud, “Black Dragon Rebirth.”
Ummm…
Is this meant to be one of those tests where people are too shy to say something like that?
And if this is meant to be a final confirmation for our choices and I'm the only one that has finished...
“BLACK DRAGON REBIRTH!!!”
Won't I be way ahead of the competition?
shatter
Why am I falling through the ground?
Wait, more importantly, where did the voice come from earlier? The mysterious person already left the room…
[ Deleting past talents: Critical Intuition, Late Bloomer, Narcissistic Charm, Premature Balding… ]
* * *
…What happened?
“Wahhh Wahhh.”
Huh… is that my voice?
…Why does it sound so calming?
Wait, no more importantly, why am I crying like a baby?
“Oh Luna, do I need to change your diaper again? I just changed them an hour ago.”
Huh?
What’s happening?
“Alright, Luna up we go.”
Whoosh
Oh my god, am I on a roller coaster? Why is it 0 to 100 to 0?
“Luna, do you need some milk?”
* * *
So I had an awkward few years of being a baby, but I have come to terms with that.
Now, as a 4-year-old, I am going to properly live my new life.
And in this new life, my name is Luna Leonidas.
Yes, the same spelling as the famous one from Ancient Sparta. I’ve also confirmed some of the effects from the psychological study, such as being born into a rich family, having an angel’s voice, being female…
Yeah, I pretty much confirmed it. But, there is one final feature that all novel protagonists do upon their reincarnation, “S-Status Window.”
Even now, years after first seeing it, I still find it weird to say out loud.
Ding
Stats: Physical 16 (100) | Mental 53 (100) | Charisma 63 (100)
Abilities: Prodigious Genius, Fast Reactions, Highway Brain, Angel’s Voice, 1 Second Future Sight (Locked until Mental hits 70)
Curses: Desired
Points: 0
Quests (Tap for more info)
Ahh, my favourite… the quest tab, how I hate you so much.
Be recognised by 1000 people (64/1000)
Develop a skill to a semi-professional level (0/1)
Secure the upcoming opportunity (???)
Eat 1000 bananas (912/1000)
Reward: Random Ability
Penalty: Random Curse
Failure if not completed by the age of 5
Quests 1 and 2 seem easy enough, given that I go outside, but… I was born in 2017, so by the time I was going to do some shenanigans outside to get famous, COVID-19 had to come along screwing me over.
Not to mention quest 3 is giving me wuxia vibes and opportunities don’t come to someone who doesn’t venture out for them, which I literally can’t do right now.
Quest 4, the banana-eating one, is just annoying. I actually like bananas but too much of something at some point just becomes torture.
“Luna, come watch Daddy’s on the TV.”
Daddy or as I like to say, Ass, would be referring to Aaron Leonidas, a professional football player currently playing as Australia's starting striker.
“Coming, Felix.”
I walked over and plopped myself onto the bean bag in the lounge room and saw my Dad in the opening line-up shot they always do before a game starts.
I got to see this through a curved screen tv. Perks of being rich, heh.
On the couch were 3 of my older brothers Felix, Seb and Tim, the triplets. Otherwise known as the inferior and more neglected middle siblings.
They’re 5 years older than me, so all of them are 9 this year and my eldest 15 year old brother Ethan isn’t home right now but is overseas playing in the U17 World Cup.
Whistle
The game started and my dad kicked the ball to his teammate, which was then kicked back to the midfielders and then back to the defence and then back to the goalkeeper…
Zzzzzz…