'W-where am I?'
Ivan opened his eyes, his vision extremely blurry.
But when he opened his eyes a bright light assaulted his senses.
There were people speaking, but the ringing in his ear drowned the noise out.
It felt as if he was just waking up for the first time ever, as if he was just brought into this world.
The ringing and blurring gradually died down.
Eventually, he was able to see his surroundings and hear what was being said.
The room was white, combined with the bright light it was a very non-welcoming atmosphere to Ivan.
'Wait. Is someone holding me?'
Ivan turned his head, it felt weird to turn his head. As if he wasn't in his own body.
What he saw shocked him!
It was a beautiful woman with black hair and blue eyes, she had pale skin with no pimples.
'Wait, she is carrying me…?'
How could this woman carry a teenage boy like him so effortlessly?
It made no sense.
He decided to reach his hand out at her.
'What the fuck?!'
He looked at his hand, the hand was small and chubby; it had white, pale skin and looked nowhere near the size of a teenagers hand!
'Am I?'
'No wait, that's impossible. No way'
'Am I really a baby?'
This had to be a dream, no way could he have been reborn as a baby. That's the stuff of fairytales and novels, he was in a dream for sure!
But the details of his surroundings made his belief waver a bit.
The white walls were not smooth, they had many bumps going along them. The light cascading over it to make it even more bright than it already was, but enhancing the contrast between the shadows from the bumps and the wall itself.
He looked up at the ceiling, it was also white but the white light coming from the sun through the window didn't quite reach it, giving it a less bright view than the walls themselves.
He could not see the floor but what he could see was the woman holding him, again she was very pretty with round, blue eyes that gave her an innocent look and her lips were full, her nose was straight and her eyebrows were not thin but not thick.
The next thing he tried to do was hear what they were saying.
One voice sounded like a young woman full of life, being the woman holding him.
One sounded like a man who was a bit more serious but nonetheless also very happy, who he could not see.
"What are we going to name him?"
The woman said with a happy expression, she almost had tears in her eyes.
"What about Koji? Isn't that a cute name for him?"
The man laughed and said with a sweet tone.
"Koji it is."
The woman looked at Ivan, her expression of pure love and joy.
"Wait what? Are they talking about me? No! My name is Ivan not fucking Koji! Hey"
But all that could be heard were incoherent wines.
The mother laughed gleefully.
"He made his first sound!"
Finally the dad came into view, his features were almost the opposite of the mom.
He had white hair and red eyes, also having pale skin. His face was young and he did not look like that of someone who was very masculine.
'Are these my parents or something?'
…
'Was I actually reborn?'
'But I was just on earth, I was literally waking up to go to class today!'
It was extremely hard for him to accept the current reality, after all he had never heard of this happening.
'If I really am in a new world…I guess it's not that bad. I mean, I didn't have much on earth.'
Maybe in this world he will be happy, maybe he will be handsome, maybe find a lover.
'I'm starting a completely new life… Wait!'
His thoughts drifted to a new possibility.
'Are there powers in this world? Oh there better be!'
He had always wanted to have powers, he day dreamed a lot about a fantasy where he could live freely in a fantasy world where he had powers to stop anyone who tried to restrict him!
The dad's expression suddenly went serious.
"We have to check if he will be able to become a Transcendent.'
The mom nodded her head, her expression switching to that of worry.
"We better hope he is able to."
Suddenly they sent out a little green ball, it flew in the air and then opened.
A red light shined into Ivan's face.
'What is this? Hey! I was just born can yall give me a break from all this light, good lord!'
The green ball closed and the light went away, then the dad grabbed it out the air.
Instantly, his expression shifted to that one of inexplainable joy!
"He can! Our son will be a Transcendent!"
The mom's hand went to her mouth as she almost cried once again.
"How much open space does his Xin mark have?"
The dad smiled.
"60%! Our son has amazing talent!"
The mom started crying tears of joy.
"His future will be bright! I'm so glad…"
Ivan naturally had no idea what the hell a transcendent was or what a Xin mark is.
'Let's just hope this means I have power.'
But if he did have power, when could he start using it?
Right now he was just a baby!
'I know, I can learn about the power system as a child, so when I'm able to start using it I will be ahead of all the kids my age!'
Of course, that was pretty obvious.
'I won't make the same mistakes I did in my past life. I will get a girlfriend, turn her into my wife eventually, and be happy and doing whatever I want! I won't be a depressed, bed addicted virgin like I was!'
Ivan was going to do his best to finally get what he ultimately wanted out of life.
Freedom to do whatever he wants and not be disturbed, to not have to face any hardship ever again.
So what if hardship strengthens your mind?
He didn't give a shit about strengthening his mind!
So what if hard times made the good times in life more special?
He didn't care if they were special! He just cared if they weren't hard!
'They say a life where you can do whatever you want and don't face hardship would be boring, but I'd rather my life be boring forever than having to spend my life trying hard and being depressed!'
He would also reach his goal in the easiest way possible.
He would not hurt himself to achieve this goal, this went against the goal itself!
The goal had to be worth the journey.
No goal to him was worth a journey that caused him endless pain, so he would take the easy route whenever possible!