"Huh... This can't be! I have been reincarnated!" Jack looked at the ceiling of his room, which felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
And the strange set of memories that burdened him – memories that weren't his own.
"Jack Schloss is my new name..."
In his previous life, he had been a recluse, a top-notch introvert – an introvert among introverts. It was so bad that he decided he would never leave his room again, and that was the reason for his death.
A very bad death. He died because he got a dengue infection and decided not to tell anyone about it; he didn't want to go to a hospital. And now here he was.
The reason for his extreme introversion was that he had been ugly in his past life – fat and balding at the age of twenty-three.
He took a deep breath and looked at his surroundings. The place looked like a room from an ancient drama: wooden walls with weapons hanging from them.
His eyes landed on a mirror. He quickly moved in front of it, and when he saw his reflection, tears almost fell from his eyes.
"Yes! Finally, I'm not a fat, ugly wreck!" Jack sighed, and a relaxed expression appeared on his face.
"First, let's organise the memories of this body. Only after that can I plan what to do next," he murmured under his breath. He sat on the bed again and started going through his new memories, trying to absorb them.
It took three hours before he opened his eyes again, newfound knowledge shining in them.
"So this isn't a normal world like my previous one. This one has awakeners – people with unique powers. They are either born with them or awaken their power by the age of eighteen."
"Once you are older than eighteen, your awakening door closes forever, and there is no way to gain a power."
Jack murmured and sighed.
Turns out he was one of the unlucky ones. He was nineteen today; it had been a year since his awakening door closed, and he hadn't managed to awaken any power yet.
With a deep breath, he lay down on the bed. From the memories, he had learned that Jack was a member of a prestigious clan called the Hydra Clan. Everyone in his family had awakened a power related to water – everyone except him, the only failure.
"My luck is bad even in my next life."
He could also tell that the previous Jack had faced relentless bullying, not just from his siblings but from other clan members as well.
His father was the clan treasurer, and his mother was a teacher within the clan; she taught the younger members history and other basic subjects.
Both were respected figures in the clan, and together they had five children. Jack was the youngest. His four older siblings were prodigies who had awakened at much younger ages.
His oldest brother had even awakened at birth, making him the perfect candidate for the next Clan Patriarch.
"What should I do? If I stay here, I'll be bullied to oblivion, and my parents don't care about me, so I can't even ask for help." He gritted his teeth and started thinking of ways to remedy his predicament, but nothing came to mind.
Just as he was about to give up, a sudden electric shock ran through his body. Before he could process what was happening, he lost consciousness.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was in a blank white space. As far as he could see, there was only white.
"Where am I? Is this a dream?" He pinched himself and felt pain.
"Child, you are a lucky one."
Suddenly, a deep voice resounded in his ears, nearly scaring him to death. He jumped and looked back to find an old man standing behind him with his hands clasped behind his back.
The old man looked like a beggar, wearing ragged clothes and covered in bruises. A rotting stench emanated from his body that almost made Jack puke.
"Wh-who... who are you?" Jack asked, still shaken by the old man's sudden appearance.
"Child, I am the God of Illusions. I summoned you here," the old man said and smiled, revealing yellow, decaying teeth.
Jack didn't find his appearance credible in the slightest – he didn't look like a god at all – but he kept his thoughts to himself so as not to offend the old man. Who knew if the guy would kill him just by breathing in his direction?
He stood up and swallowed hard. "What do you want?" he asked.
The God of Illusions smiled at Jack again. "You are the perfect candidate. Although your awakening door is closed, your soul is not from this world and therefore is not bound by its rules."
"So?" Jack stepped back; he didn't like the vibe this guy was giving off.
"Well, I want to bestow my powers upon you. But use them carefully – there are awakeners in this world who are extremely powerful, and my powers... they are troublesome and not that strong. Try not to make too many enemies," the god said and laughed.
Jack stepped back again. "I'm sorry, old man, but I don't want powers from you."
The God of Illusions chuckled. "I wasn't asking you, child. I was just informing you."
Jack swallowed hard again. Before he could react, the God of Illusions appeared right in front of him and pressed a finger to his forehead.
"You are the first person I am going to bless. The other gods never let me bless anyone, but since your soul is different and I happened to see you crossing over, I found my chance. I will give you my greatest blessing – the maximum I can give."
"I have just one request: make people pray to me. Please," the old man said. Suddenly, a blinding yellow light engulfed Jack's consciousness, and he was hurled back into his room.
"No!" he yelled, suddenly opening his eyes. His whole body was drenched in sweat, and he was breathing heavily. His irises, previously black, were now golden and glowing with a strange light.
"Shit..." He quickly stripped off his clothes and dashed to the bath connected to his room. He scrubbed himself thoroughly, terrified that the old man might have contaminated him with some filth.
After bathing, he relaxed a little. Taking a deep breath, he put on fresh black robes.
"That creepy old guy said he was a god. He looked more like a beggar," Jack sighed. He closed his eyes, and immediately a stream of information began flooding his mind.
About an hour later, he opened his eyes again, this time in shock. "So he really was a god, and he gave me the power to create illusions." He fell silent for a minute.
"Why did he have to look like a beggar though..." Jack thought and swallowed. "But with this power, I can feel it – it's like second nature. He really gave me everything he had."
He began getting used to his newfound power.
He soon realised that he could create lifelike illusions that could fool all five human senses, but his illusions couldn't physically harm anyone or anything. They couldn't truly interact with the physical world.
"It's like my powers are more decorative than practical," he thought and sighed. But after a while, a smile appeared on his face. "Well, at least it's better than nothing. Looks like my luck is finally turning around." A small chuckle escaped his mouth as he stood up.
"Let's test my powers. First, I'll create a fireball," he thought and raised his hand.
Soon enough, a fireball appeared in his palm, spinning wildly. A smile formed on Jack's face. He pulled his arm back and hurled the fireball at the wall.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed through the room. Flames engulfed everything, splinters of wood flew everywhere, and the whole room turned into a scorched hellscape.
But nothing happened to Jack. He stepped back, looked at the burned bed behind him, chuckled, and sat down on it. The moment he did, everything returned to normal.
All of it – the fire, the scorch marks, the splinters, the hole in the wall, even the sound – had been an illusion.
Yet it had felt completely real. He had even felt the scorching heat, but it hadn't burned him.
"Although my illusions can't affect physical matter, if anyone had been standing in the room just now, they might have passed out from sheer terror," he murmured and chuckled.
"If I use this power cleverly, it's not as useless as it seems." He nodded, satisfied with the discovery.
"God also said that I have to use this power carefully or I will end up like him and that there are a lot of strong awakeners in this world." Jack murmured and gulped his saliva.
He decided to be careful while using his newfound powers.
As he was thinking about his future a knock suddenly resounded on his door.
"Son, open the door." A deep and steren voice came from the other side of the door.
"Dad?" He instantly recognised that voice from his memories it was form his dad.