1 Getting Another Chance (Prologue)

'...So, I'm dead, huh?'

This was the first thought to enter my head. I wasn't particularly annoyed about my death or filled with sadness and regret either. I lived a boring life, with no real connections to anyone which was partly my own fault. But no matter who's fault it was, it meant I didn't really have anything anchoring me to reality. To life.

So dying, wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen to me.

Why was I like this? A story for another time, perhaps. Right now, I seemed to have to do something, 'But what?' I found myself asking myself as I looked ahead at the four boxes in front of me.

Looking away from the boxes for now, I saw that the room wasn't a pitch black abyss like I'd always read about and neither was it a white room that was so shiny it hurt the eyes.

It was grey. A dull and lifeless grey.

An endless room that sometimes seemed to shrink and at other times it seemed to expand. It contracted and twisted like it was alive and the more time I spent looking at it, the more the back of my head hurt because of the developing migraine, 'Right, too much for a mortal mind to comprehend,' I huffed, wondering what was so hard to comprehend about...'Huh?' I found myself looking back at the boxes but I couldn't...remember what the grey room looked like other than the fact that it was grey and lifeless.

I couldn't remember whether the floor was tiled or wooden. I couldn't remember if there was any furniture in the room. In fact, as soon as I looked away from the grey room and back at the boxes...I couldn't even see or make out what the grey room looked like in my peripheral vision.

Such a mystery was something that caught my attention, but I knew there must be a reason to why my mind was forgetting the room. A reason why I shouldn't have it in my memories.

So, I decided to follow whatever was wanted of me. I didn't know whether I was dealing with a benevolent higher being or an eldritch abomination that just wants to see how long it takes for me to turn insane. Who knows. With such a thought in mind, I reached forth with my arm that was now just an arm-shaped light and pressed it against the first of the four boxes.

A 'cha-ching' sound went off and suddenly the box started rumbling and bouncing up and down before finally, something burst out of it. A ball of golden light that just sat there.

Just below the light, a screen appeared, seeming to tell me what it was.

Now, usually I'd be a bit more panicked over this situation...but right now, I couldn't find it in me to feel...anything. My usual emotions and personality were held behind some sort of wall and suppressed, which I guessed was there to stop me from freaking out. Omnipotent beings probably get annoyed with overly emotion humans taking too long to do what they want them to do.

With that in mind, I looked at the screen below the golden light.

[Royal High Human Physiology and Bloodline - High Humans are beings that represent everything good about humans. Tenacity, determination, intuition, wisdom, growth and many other things. They are the epitome of what a human can be mentally, spiritually and physically. And above the normal High Humans are the Royal High Humans. Even by the superior standards of the High Humans, the Royals are monstrous entities. The user has inherited this physiology and bloodline.]

'I'm guessing these are my wishes...that come from black cardboard boxes? Well, who am I to judge? At least I'm getting wishes,' I reasoned before pressing the next box, 'I'd say I'm going to be sent to some form of fictional world and I'll need these wishes/abilities to survive.'

After thinking that, another orb of light came from the black box and floated above it.

Opposed to the golden light from before, this light was a light red and seemed much more...flame-like. The first orb was stable and looked like a golden ball of light. This one, however, flickered and waved about like an actual flame. It was as entrancing as it was ever changing. The screen that appeared below it read:

[Alpha Physiology - The user is vastly superior to any member of their species, learning and achieving quickly and effortlessly what takes years of hard work for others and growing substantially stronger and better with each challenge. They naturally arouse a strong admiration and desire among their kind, as they personify the pinnacle of their species, and even the most hostile are forced to acknowledge their towering superiority and amazing prowess.]

'...This skill put together with the one before...it's quite a potent combination. This one effectively makes me the peak of the very peak...Good. I don't know what type of place I'm gonna end up in, so being the best of what I can possibly be is...good.'

Next box.

Followed by another 'cha-ching' noise, another orb of light popped into existence, coming out of the black box and resting above it. But this orb was similar to the first, except it was a pure platinum color. A greyish white that hurt my eyes to look at - it was like looking directly at the sun. The screen below it, though it wasn't easy to read through the bombardment of light I was receiving, has this on it:

[Training System - A training system designed to help a host train and grow stronger. Comes with multiple different functions from producing environments specifically made for training to spawning entities that the user can fight and train against. This system will help the user overcome any limit and to fulfill whatever potential they may have.]

'Huh,' I managed to think before I looked to the next box, 'That system will be useful to someone like me. I've worked out before and done a bit of self-defense training but no where to the point where I'd actually be able to survive a proper life or death scenario or anything.'

The next box rattled a few times before bursting open after I touched it. This orb was constantly changing color and it's properties and was quite a marvel to look at, honestly.

Sort of like watching a shapeshifting creature changing in front of your very eyes, I guess.

But I didn't stare at it aimlessly for long and I looked to the screen below it, which explained what I'd gained.

[Awakening - The process from 'Solo Leveling' in which a normal person becomes a Hunter through the process of being imbued with Magic Energy and having their body strengthened and a supernatural ability awakened for them to use. This type of awakening, however, comes without the limit the Hunters in 'Solo Leveling' have. The user may grow as much as they want by increasing the amount of Magic Energy inside of them and by exercising their strengthened body.]

Looking at the screen and taking in what it said and meant, I gave a nod, knowing this was an okay thing to get. Especially so when it came without the limit normal Hunters from 'Solo Leveling' are held under. This basically makes me like Sung Jin-Woo but without a system, '...Well, I do have a system. Just like a game-like one, I assume,' I gave a shrug before looking to the last box in front of me. All of what I'd gained so far would make me prepared for what was to come...or so I hoped, so what I needed now was a cherry on top of the proverbial cake. Something to really set me apart. I no doubt had a superhuman physique, so what I needed now was inherent talent.

Tapping the top of the last box, I watched as it shook and spasmed about before finally the top burst open and revealed a simple white light, and though it looked simple...it gave off the feeling of greatness.

Curious to as what it could possibly be, I looked to the screen next to it.

[Mythic Hero Physiology (x2) - This allows the user to have the bloodlines, traits and innate talents of two random mythic heroes from various mythologies. The two heroes given this time are...Cu Chulainn and Rostam.]

With this, all the light orbs began to gravitate toward one another before they merged into a sort of mish-mash of all the previous colors. No. It'd be better to say that it flickered from one color to the next, each of the colors showing different properties to the last but the changing was speeding up until it was like watching a rapidly changing kaleidoscope.

While this was happening to the combined orb, another box appeared. Though this one wasn't an actual cardboard box but instead the type of box you'd see pop up in a game.

I didn't even need to click on it as it began showing text which I could quite understand or make out before it began to spin...like a slot machine. It continued spinning, reminding me of the few times I'd used them back in my old life, before finally it came to a stop.

[Marvel Cinematic Universe - 2008, June, 28th. Good luck.]

Was all it said before I found my vision going black and the combined orb floating toward me. When the orb hit me, I felt like a truck had hit me and my vision went completely black.