Cold. Dark. Empty.
That's all I felt before I died.
My life on Earth sucked. No friends. Parents who didn't care. No job, no money, no future. I was just... nobody. The kind of person who could disappear and no one would notice.
And that's exactly what happened. One day I was walking home, the next day I was hit by a truck. Classic, right?
But when I opened my eyes again, I wasn't in a hospital.
I was lying on dirt and grass.
I sat up slowly, my whole body aching. The first thing I noticed was how small my hands looked. Like a kid's hands. Thin and weak.
"What the hell?" I whispered. My voice sounded higher than before.
I looked around and my brain just... stopped working for a moment.
I was in a forest. But not any normal forest. The trees were HUGE - like, impossibly big. The air felt thick and heavy, almost electric. And when I looked up at the sky...
Two moons.
Two freaking moons were staring back at me.
"Okay, okay," I said out loud, trying not to panic. "This is a dream. Has to be a dream. People don't just wake up in fantasy forests with two moons. That's impossible."
But the cold wind on my skin felt real. The smell of dirt and leaves felt real. Everything felt real.
I tried to stand up but my legs were shaky. I was definitely smaller than before - maybe the size of a 12-year-old kid. And I was starving. Like, seriously hungry.
"Where... where am I?" I muttered, looking around desperately for any clue.
That's when I heard voices.
Rough, growling voices came from behind some trees. I froze.
Three green creatures walked out of the bushes. They were about my height, with long pointy ears, sharp teeth, and ugly faces. They wore torn rags and carried wooden clubs.
"Goblins," I whispered in shock.
Wait. GOBLINS?
My brain started racing. Two moons. Magic forest. Goblins. This wasn't Earth. This was...
"No way," I breathed. "This is like those anime worlds. Those isekai stories."
The goblins were fighting over some piece of meat, snarling at each other. Then one of them got angry and raised his hand. He said something in a rough language I didn't understand.
Fire appeared in his palm.
Actual fire. Magic fire.
He threw it at the other goblin - a fireball that flew crooked and barely hit its target.
"Magic," I whispered, eyes wide. "Real magic."
Then something crazy happened.
*Ding.*
A sound rang in my head like a bell.
> **[Akashic Archive: Activated]**
> **Skill Recorded: Fireball (Basic Version)**
> **Problems Found: Uses too much energy. Unstable. Slow to cast.**
> **Perfect Version Created: Fireball (Improved)**
Suddenly, knowledge flooded my brain. I KNEW how to cast fireball now. Not just knew it - I understood it perfectly. How to gather energy, how to shape it, how to release it.
"What... what was that?" I gasped, holding my head.
The goblins noticed me then. They turned and started walking toward me, raising their clubs.
I was terrified. These things wanted to kill me. But somehow, I felt calm too. The knowledge in my head was so clear.
I raised my small hand, just like the goblin had done.
"Fireball," I said.
A ball of fire appeared in my palm. But this one was different. It was perfectly round, bright red, and I could feel how much more powerful it was.
I threw it at the closest goblin.
BOOM.
The explosion was way bigger than the goblin's fireball. The creature didn't even have time to scream before it was burned to ash.
The other two goblins ran away, screaming in terror.
I stood there, staring at my hand in shock.
"I... I did magic," I whispered. "Real magic."
As the reality sank in, more memories started coming back. Not my memories - memories of stories I'd read and anime I'd watched.
Forest with two moons. Goblins. Magic. A skill that could copy and improve other abilities.
"Oh no," I said, feeling sick. "Oh no, no, no."
I knew where I was now.
This was the world of "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime." Tensura. The world where Rimuru Tempest lived.
But I wasn't Rimuru. I wasn't some overpowered slime with Great Sage and Predator. I was just... me. A weak human kid in one of the most dangerous fantasy worlds ever created.
"I'm screwed," I whispered. "I'm so completely screwed."
This world had demon lords who could destroy countries. Dragons that could end the world. Wars between nations. Monsters everywhere.
And I was just a starving kid with one magic skill.
But then I looked at my hand again. The hand that had just cast perfect magic.
Maybe... maybe I wasn't completely helpless.
Another *ding* sound rang in my head, and words appeared in my mind like I was reading them:
> **[Akashic Archive (EX Rank)]**
> **Rule 1: All skills seen will be recorded**
> **Rule 2: All recorded skills can be perfected**
> **Rule 3: Knowledge is the greatest power**
I blinked. "Akashic Archive?"
It wasn't Rimuru's Great Sage, but it was something. I could copy any skill I saw and make it better. In a world full of magic and monsters, that could actually be really useful.
"Okay," I said, trying to stay calm. "Okay, this is bad, but maybe not hopeless. I'm in Tensura, which means this world is full of incredible skills and magic. If I can copy them all and improve them..."
I looked at the pile of ash that used to be a goblin.
"Maybe I can survive this after all."
I clenched my small fist as the fire in my palm flickered out.
"The world threw me away once on Earth. But here? Here I'll rewrite my own story."
And that's how my new life in the world of Tensura began. Not as a slime, not as a hero, but as a discarded human with a library of infinite possibilities.
Time to start collecting skills.