Awareness came slowly, like a dimmer switch being turned up in a room that had been dark for centuries. Except there was no room. There was no light. There was no... anything. Just an endless, silent, weightless nothing. I existed as a point of consciousness adrift in an infinite sea of void. It was profoundly boring.
Memories flickered, not my own, yet somehow accessible. Scenes of spiky-haired ninjas throwing hands, pirates laughing on chaotic ships, giant titans with questionable anatomy, and a bewildering amount of silver-haired elves doing... elf things. The data was corrupted, fragmented. I knew these were stories, fictions from a world called Earth, but I had no context for myself. Who was I? How did I get here? Why could I recall the entire plot of One Piece but not my own mother's face? The irony was thicker than a bowl of ramen cooked by a self-proclaimed chef.
Time was a meaningless concept here. It could have been seconds or millennia before the void... rippled. It wasn't a sound or a light, but a shift in the very fabric of this non-existence. Then, something was there with me. It wasn't a shape, not really. It was more like a conceptual imposition of presence, a thought so loud it manifested as form. It was vast, ancient, and radiated an aura of sheer, unadulterated boredom that I could feel in my non-existent bones.
"Well," a voice echoed, not in the void but directly within my consciousness. It was smooth, deep, and carried the weight of galaxies in its tone, yet laced with the enthusiasm of someone waiting for a microwave to finish heating their leftovers. "This is a first. Usually, there's screaming. Or existential weeping. The occasional begging for mercy. You're just... floating. How dreadfully mundane."
I focused my non-existent will. And you are? The janitor of the cosmos? Here to evict me from my premium void-space apartment?
The presence seemed to shift, and I got the distinct impression it had raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Sarcasm. How refreshing. A slight reprieve from the endless tedium. I am... well, names are such fleeting, mortal concepts. You may call me Kaelen, if you must attach a label to me. And you, you are a fascinating little anomaly. A soul adrift, stripped of its past, yet brimming with the fictional experiences of a thousand other lives. You're like a sentient television set stuck on a very specific, very nerdy channel."
Kaelen. Sounded like a name someone would pick for a high-level elf wizard in a tabletop game. Fitting, given the circumstances. Charmed. So, if you're not the janitor, what brings you to my corner of nothing?
"I am a curator," the being—Kaelen—replied, his tone dripping with theatrical grandeur that was utterly undercut by the sentiment that followed. "A connoisseur of chaos, a scholar of stories. I weave narratives across the tapestry of existence. And currently, I am bored. Unimaginably so. The cyclical nature of reality becomes so... predictable. Hero rises, villain falls, love triumphs, blah, blah, blah. I crave a new variable, an unexpected coefficient in the equation. And you, my amnesic friend, are just that. A blank slate, yet one pre-loaded with a truly bizarre set of cultural references."
A cold, non-existent dread trickled through me. I was a source of entertainment for a cosmic entity. This never ended well in the stories I half-remembered. Let me guess. You want me to dance for you? Juggle cosmic energies? Recite the entire script of the 'Bee Movie'?
"Perish the thought," Kaelen said, and I felt a wave of amusement wash over me. "Though the 'Bee Movie' idea is noted for future torment sessions. No, I have a far more generous proposal. I am offering you a chance to leave this void. I will spin a wheel, a collection of worlds I find mildly interesting at this particular moment in eternity. Where it lands, you will be reborn. And to make it entertaining for me, I will grant you a... starter kit. You may select traits, abilities, and items from the fictional universes you seem to cherish so much. Within reason. I can't have you becoming too overpowered right out of the gate. That's no fun for anyone."
A choice. A way out. It was more than I had seconds ago. The offer was terrifying in its implications, being a pawn for a bored god-like being. But what was the alternative? An eternity of floating in nothingness with only memories of anime for company? I'd take my chances with the isekai scenario.
"Alright, Kaelen. You've got a deal. I'll be your entertainment monkey. Spin your wheel."I tried to project a sense of resigned agreement.
A shimmering wheel materialized in the void, its edges bleeding into the nothingness. It was divided into countless segments, each flickering with names and images too fast to comprehend. I saw glimpses of Midgar, the Hidden Leaf Village, Alchemy circles, and a thousand other locales before the wheel began to spin with a silent, terrifying speed.
It slowed gradually, the names becoming a blurry mess of potential destinies. Re:Zero... No, too grimdark. Sword Art Online... pass, I'm not a fan of trapped-in-a-game tropes. Overlord... maybe? The wheel ticked past them all, slowing, slowing... until it landed with a final, silent click.
The segment glowed with a soft, cerulean light. The words The Beginning After the End pulsed with a gentle energy. I remembered this one. A king reincarnated into a world of magic and monsters. It had potential. It was a world with a established system, but room for growth. It wasn't a death sentence... probably.
"Oho!" Kaelen's voice held a note of genuine interest. "The turtle's world. Interesting choice. A world of mana and asuras, of ancient legacy and future conflict. Yes, this will do nicely. It has been a while since I meddled there."
A parchment scroll, looking ancient and important, shimmered into existence before me, along with a quill that seemed to be made of starlight. "Now for the fun part," Kaelen purred. "Fill this out. Consider it your cosmic character creation sheet. Don't disappoint me."
I'll try to keep my selections sufficiently entertaining, I thought, taking the quill. The parchment was divided into several sections.
---
Lineage & Physiology:
☒ Quincy & Lunarian Hybrid: I want the spiritual power and reishi manipulation of a Quincy, specifically from the Bleach universe, fused with the innate durability, pyrokinesis, and aerial capabilities of a Lunarian from One Piece. This should provide a strong foundational physiology without making me a god. The Quincy's ability to absorb and shape energy is particularly key.
Items (Select up to 6):
☒ Senzu Bean Tree: A single, healthy tree capable of producing a monthly yield of 7-16 Senzu Beans. Not an endless supply, a strategic resource. From Dragon Ball.
☒ Body Cultivation Manual (Unnamed): A manual detailing a rigorous, painful, and incredibly slow process to temper the physical body to its absolute peak, eventually allowing it to rival ancient beasts and legendary weapons. No fancy name, just results. From a generic Xianxia novel trope.
☒ Two Devil Fruits: Specifically the Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor Fruit) and the Mori Mori no Mi (Forest-Forest Fruit). I want the world-shaking power of the former and the area control and creation abilities of the latter. From One Piece.
☒ Shusui (Black Sword): A solid, powerful black blade of excellent quality and weight. A reliable melee weapon. From One Piece.
☒ Sefirot Castle (Attuned): A miniature, dormant version of the castle from Lord of the Mysteries, attuned to the leylines and spatial fabric of the World of The Beginning After the End. It will serve as a secure, personal pocket dimension and base of operations, its full functions awakening as my own power grows.
Special Abilities (Select 2):
☒ Knowledge Extraction: Upon touching any book, scroll, or information-rich artifact, I can instantly absorb and comprehend all knowledge within it. With significant effort and sufficient personal strength, this can be extended to reading the "history" of objects or, very difficultly, surface thoughts from individuals (with a high risk of backlash).
☒ Blut der Macher (Blood of the Maker): The ability to willingly give my blood to others. If they survive the process, it transforms them into a Quincy, granting them a unique Schrift (letter-based power) based on their innate nature and my will. I can revoke this gift at any time, severing their powers and making them my own, or under predefined parameters I set upon bestowal (e.g., betrayal). Furthermore, upon my birth into the new world, I will spontaneously gain a random Schrift of my own.
I handed the completed parchment back to the void, where it vanished. Kaelen was silent for a long moment.
"A hybrid... interesting. Blending energy systems is always a messy, painful affair. Wonderful. The items are a mix of the practical and the profoundly destructive. The Tremor Fruit in a world of mana... yes, the collateral damage potential is exquisite. And the abilities... you've chosen to become a librarian of the soul and a reluctant patriarch of a new race. How delightfully twisted." I could feel his gleeful scrutiny. "But you understand the constraints? Your Quincy core, your very soul, will be attuned to this new world. Reishi is not the primary energy there. It is Mana. Your innate power will be to sense, absorb, and manipulate ambient mana in the way a Quincy would reishi. You will form your weapons and abilities from mana. The principle is the same, the fuel is different. This will make your abilities unique to that world, but not insurmountable. You will have to learn and adapt."
I figured there'd be a catch, I thought, a wave of relief washing over me nonetheless. The core functionality remained. So, no instant god-mode. Good. That would be boring, right?
"Precisely!" Kaelen agreed. "As for your other selections... the Devil Fruits are a nasty little package. A hilarious flaw to introduce to a new world. The castle will be anchored to your soul, accessible once you unlock even a trickle of power. The manual... well, that will just be pure, unadulterated pain. I look forward to watching you grind away for years."
He paused, and his presence became slightly more serious. "One more thing. A gift from me to you will be given upon entering your Seferot, and also to truly make this narrative sparkle. The world you are entering... I've made a few tiny adjustments. The timeline remains largely intact, but the players on the board might be slightly different. Motivations might be sharper, conflicts might be bloodier, and the destinies of a few key individuals might be... shinier. Consider it a director's cut. More entertainment for me."
You tweaked the narrative? Of course you did. Couldn't just let things play out naturally.
"Where's the fun in that?" he chuckled. "Now, for your rebirth. You will be born into a family of my choosing, in a location of my choosing. You will arrive three years before the one known as Arthur Leywin is born. But as for your own physical age upon insertion... that would be telling. The surprise is part of the fun! Let's just say your integration will be... memorable."
A light began to glow around my point of consciousness. The void started to fade, and a terrifying sense of acceleration gripped me.
Wait! My random Schrift? What is it? I thought frantically.
Kaelen's laughter echoed all around me, the last thing I perceived before the nothingness was utterly ripped away. "Now, now! A magician never reveals his secrets before the show! Good luck, little variable. Try not to die too quickly. It would be... anticlimactic."
The sensation was like being stretched into an infinite thin string across the cosmos. Then, with a final, silent snap, my consciousness was hurtled into the light, towards a world of magic, conflict, and a destiny that was now irrevocably changed. The last thing I held onto was not a memory, but a feeling: a strange, calm calculation, already assessing the limited data I had, paired with a deep, sarcastic resentment for a bored being named Kaelen.
The game was beginning. And I didn't even know what my starting level was.
(END OF CHAPTER)