Who are you? All I can remember is getting home from work, taking a shower, and then going to bed. Now, standing in front of me is a glowing old woman with blue hair and glowing eyes.
"My name is Alara, young one. I'm one of the 12 Deities of Zenitalla. You can think of it as a plane, like your planet, but different in its own ways."
"Um, okay. Madam Goddess, may I ask why I'm here?"
She seemed distraught by my question. "Well, young one, I made a deal with Earth's God. I would de-age Earth so the people of the world may enjoy a rejuvenated planet. But I requested a champion as compensation."
"So, I'm dead?"
"Hm, in a way."
"Can I say no to the whole champion thing?"
She just gave a light smile.
"Hah, okay. So, can I ask what kind of place that world is like?"
Yet again, just a smile.
"Hah. Perks?"
With a flash of bright light, hundreds of cards, shining with ornate designs glimmering with 6 colors, appeared. At first, I thought there were 5, but I saw a few were black cards. The other colors, going from the most plentiful to rarest, were: Gray, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Black Gold.
"Champion, I have chosen you. You may choose three of these talents. But by choosing a few, many may be gone."
"Hm, what does that mean?"
"Now choose, young one."
After 1 hour of mulling over certain cards and looking at their designs, I saw a weird one. It was one of the gold ones. All it had was an arrow pointing up with the word 'Up' below the arrow. The other two had a half-man, half-dragon, and an old wizard on a mountain.
Well, in isekais, a weird power always seems to be the most powerful.
"Hum, Miss Goddess, I choose the arrow one."
With a glimmer in her eyes, she said, "Very well." And as if she was tapping the air itself, the other two cards disappeared, as well as all of the red, half the purple, and left only one of the 13 black cards.
"So, you won. You may choose twice more."
"Um, ok."
I looked at the last black card; it had a skeletal hand holding a deck of cards. I put it aside. After another hour, I gathered all the cards that seemed useful to me—8 in total. The black card and my others consisted of only purple. All of them had straightforward designs, such as a sword cutting another sword, or a man riding a griffin, or a blacksmith holding a giant hammer. But one caught my eye: a quill writing not on a scroll or paper, but on a canvas for art. So I chose it.
The goddess seemed surprised. "You don't wish to take a warrior or blacksmith skill, nor a powerful necromancy one. Why?"
"This one seemed the most useless. But if I know anything, a useless tool in one's hands can be a legendary artifact in another's. Or so says all the isekais I've read."
She smiled like she was looking at a rambunctious child. And with the same movement, she tapped the air. The other cards disappeared, along with all the purple cards, all but 3 of the blue cards, and more than half of the gray ones.
Before my last choice, I turned to the goddess. "Um, ma'am, may I ask if I'll remember this life?"
"Parts of it, yes. But many of your memories will be faded when you are reborn."
"Well, will you allow me to keep my memory of how to speak English?"
She nodded slightly.
"Um, can I ask you give me the ability to know the common language?"
She thought thoughtfully. "I can, but you will have much fewer choices."
"I'm ok with that," I said with a smile.
With a smile, she waved her hands. Now in front of me are only 9 gray cards and 1 blue. I looked at all of them, starting with the blue. It had a hand flicking a coin in the air. The others had symbols for fire, wind, earth, and such. But one seemed out of place; it had a plate with chicken breast, broccoli, rice, and a dumbbell at the top.
"I'll go with this one."
Once I said that, my mind went dark.