[Analyzing…]
[New World Detected!]
[Congratulations on Transmigrating!]
…
He instantly felt it.
Oppressive gravity. Sharp cold wind. The wretched smell of Mana. Being back.
It all hit him like a goddamn truck…
Joy. So much joy it almost hurt. It tried cracking 500 years of numbness. He was used to pain. Not this. He couldn't even savor it, his instinct shrieking.
NO TIME. DODGE.
A Stone Lance cleaved through the air towards his throat, barely missing it as he hurriedly rolled forward.
"Right, this shitty place…"
Ruins, already trying to kill him.
Dozens of Stone statues. Terracotta soldiers from Hell. Their skin cracked with bloody Mana gushing from the holes.
They had been invincible nightmares his first life around, but now he could calmly observe them as the system chimed.
[Welcome to the New World!]
[Prove Your Worth!]
[FIGHT!]
…
The creatures surrounded him, only one going forward. One on one, the most rigged honorable duel ever.
[Stone Soldier. Rank Unknown.]
A shoulder rotated with power, a rock arm glowed with Mana and then a spear exploded with power.
– Crash! SHATTER! –
500 years of experience exploded from him. The perfect dodging, the perfect technique– but he barely avoided death.
His body was sixteen again. Slow, fragile, and infuriatingly weak. So he did the only thing he knew would 100% work.
Gray kept rolling desperately…
He knew precisely how to beat the creature. He "just" had to use the power every transmigrator came built in.
He hurriedly called out...
"STATUS!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Gray Bright (16)
Tamer (Unranked)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
BODY 27 (STR 8, DEX 9, CON 10)
SOUL 38 (CHA 14, INT 12, WIS 11)
Soul Power: -99999
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
GIFT: UNKNOWN
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Soul Power even lower than in his first life. Still negative. The mark of trash. Even taming a Unirabbit took 50 SP.
500 years of experience?
All worthless right now.
He could only roll…
And just as he was barely hanging tight, it finally happened. FLASH! The world grew bright, and then bodies fell from the sky.
Youngsters in school uniforms, their screams not having caught up with the horrifying world they had arrived to.
And as they fell…
[Stone Soldier. Rank Unknown.]
[Stone Soldier. Rank Unknown.]
[Stone Soldier. Rank Unknown.]
…..
The soldiers moved.
One by one they stepped forth to deliver death, their spears stabbing ever so precisely. Lung. Eye. Liver. Heart.
– SPLATTER! –
"What do we do— what do we DO—!"
"Someone help— I can't—!"
"Please— not me— not—!"
Gray kept rolling. Not because he was panicking, but because showing his cards now would be dangerous.
He just watched the students get slaughtered. 2/10 too much screaming for the amount of dying.
And then there was the blood…
It gathered unnaturally in the middle, forming a pool. Then glowing runes appeared– ones he wished he didn't recognize. Lost Runes here?!
'Summon thee. Destined souls. Born of Fate. Let them Shed Mortality, so they can be Heroic vessels that Lord over–'
It suddenly became a garbled mess…
The runes started pulsating, as if alive, his stomach turning. He knew what it was. Or rather he knew who it was.
FLASH! The world stopped.
A gigantic hologram suddenly spawned amidst the battlefield, stopping Stone Statues and terrified transmigrators.
"~ Hello everyone! <3"
He hated that voice so much.
Sweet, too sweet. Like a young mother smiling as she drowned her baby.
"Oh? There's a lot of you. This time's a good one! Wait, what's with the blood?! What?! No! What happened to you all?!"
A blue-haired priestess.
Classical fantasy style, her face an equal mix of beauty and shock.
In a room full of 100 models, 99 but one would have killed themselves in shame. She would have made them.
It was all a lie. Eyes, smile, none fitting. All of it fake. And now it was changing. As she saw the blood, it turned to beautifully mesmerizing fake anger.
"How dare junk attack heroes summoned by the world?! Make them pay. Show them what you're made of. Now, heroes, repeat after me. STATUS!"
And that's when it began…
Youngsters glowing like the sun. Some golden, some silver, some radiating dark auras. And they all shouted with voices chillingly enthusiastic.
"Ah?! Shadow Slaver? Shadow Slash!"
"I've got Timeless Assassin! Stab!"
"Radiant Healer? HEAL!
…
They struck back, the Stone Soldiers collapsing one after the other like dominoes, all except for one.
The one Gray "fought"...
His classmates stared at him. They should have been traumatized, but the rush of power had messed with their brains.
"C'mon. End it already!"
"What a slowpoke. Hurry!"
"Just go status. Then Bam. Easy!"
…
Gray frowned. Every second more he survived was energy wasted. He couldn't afford to play. He knew what was coming.
Claws. Blood. Despair.
Time to end it while he still could. All he did was glance at her, and the trio behind her. It was enough for him to decide.
Radiant Healer.
Long brown hair. Hazelnut eyes. The popular class monitor. A girl with a heart as large as her chest, a heart so large he remembered it even after 500 years.
One with many fans, especially a certain trio who had tried killing him in his past life. He needed them to hate him.
So he went all out.
He rolled, ending next to her and colliding with her legs. His palm then brushed against her thighs as he 'lost balance'.
Soft. Warm. Alive.
He wasn't done. He squeezed. He needed the contact, the audience to see.
Staring. Teeth Grinding. Anger.
Good but… NO TIME.
The Stone Soldier was still there. Gray felt the spear fly at him. He couldn't dodge it anymore. He would absolutely die.
'Stricken by fear' he shut his eyes, and then it played exactly like planned.
"Gray?! Oh god… it's attacking!"
"Stop it, you dumb rock!"
"HEAL!"
A soft white light. A crumbling stone soldier. A relieved smile even softer than it all, one that didn't mind the earlier impact.
But while she didn't mind, the trio behind her absolutely did. They were rigid with hatred. How dared he touch their goddess?!
'It should have been me' kind of BS. Luckily, before they could complain, a certain priestess interrupted.
She spoke softly…
"Nicely done, young lady! <3"
"Now. You all see the forest around you? It's teeming with monsters. You all sit still and I'll be there shortly to escort you all!"
"I can't wait to meet you all in person. See you all soon. Big sis is on her way! <3"
The hologram disappeared.
And with it life returned, horrifyingly so. Youngsters not acting in the slightest like they had seen their classmates die right before their eyes.
'As expected. It's the same again.'
'The weak don't matter'
'They just die…'
….
He couldn't help but muse.
But he was already preparing the next step. Maybe he could push it even.
He just stayed there, looking shellshocked. The look of despair, of trauma, catnip to a certain kind. The girl was one.
She knelt beside him.
"G-Gray? Are you alright?"
She was close, far too close. Close enough that the scent of her hair brushed his cheek as her hands glowed with light.
"It's over, the scary monsters are gone. Everything's fine now. Don't look at the blood. Focus on my voice. HEAL!"
He did focus on her voice.
It didn't stop him from feeling her chest pressed against his arm every time she breathed, staying like that for a moment.
Just long enough to catch his breath, to absorb all the Mana he possibly could, and nearly ruin her reputation.
"I'm good now…"
He rose, not even bothering to thank her. She dies. They all die. He did however leave a whisper behind as he left.
"Don't rest. Not yet."
She always listened to whispers.
Then he went a distance away. Stretching. Getting ready for what would come while utterly ignoring the reactions it caused.
Rude? Maybe. Ungrateful. Probably. But none of that mattered for he could feel a certain trio murdering him with their eyes
Jealousy had long become killing intent. Just the way he wanted it. It made them predictable, and predictable was good.
They were his ticket out.
And just as some of the classmates were rushing at him to confront him, it began. Everything went silent, even the wind.
The forest around the ruins rustled.
Then the beasts came…
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
'ROAR!"
…
It was starting…