1 Prologue

So I finally died, huh.

All my life I was chasing something I couldn't have - an ordinary life.

But I guess I wasn't allowed to experience it.

I was born into an average family and what I mean by that is that we were neither rich nor poor. In my childhood, I used to be like any other ordinary kid, I was carefree, curious about the world.

I even had my group of friends with whom I spent most of my free time, we were going out to play football, ride a bike, and stuff like that. We especially loved doing sports.

That was until I was 8. That's when I learned that I have a terminal illness. Back then my parents were too scared to tell me about it.

But as time passed, I felt my health getting worse, seeing that, my parents told me the truth.

After a few years, I could no longer move my body normally, I started having problems breathing and then stopped doing any sports activities. After that, I stopped going to school, lost contact with my friends, and closed myself in my house.

Because of that, to kill boredom and loneliness, I got myself interested in computer games and anime. Later I also started reading mangas and light novels.

For me, this was a way to escape from reality. At least for a moment, I could forget about my problems and feel "alive".

I dreamed of being able to move properly again, to have back my normal cheerful life. Sometimes I also dreamed of being like the protagonist of an anime.

Maybe an isekai one and roam freely around the world, go on adventures and fight monsters with OP superpowers.

Or maybe a slice of life one and experience the high school life, going out to have fun with friends, falling in love for the first time, doing club activities.

But those were just dreams...

I cursed the world for being so cruel and unfair to me.

I cursed the gods and fate for giving me such a body.

I hated myself for being unable to do anything about it.

I felt miserable, useless. I often wondered what's the meaning of my life.

I hated everyone for having something I couldn't have.

With each passing day, my condition got only worse.

Then

On my 16th birthday, the doctor told me that I only have three months left to live.

What a great gift...

For the next three months, I was bedridden to a hospital bed. I could barely hold a book, eat by myself, almost nothing. I felt like a burden to my parents. No, I was a burden to my parents. I could only wish for my life to end faster.

What a GREAT FUCKING life that was.

And now here I am, dead...

...

Hm?

Wait, why am I still able to think? Why do I still have consciousness?

"Hmm."

"Huh? I'm able to talk?"

「 Welcome 」

"Huh? What was that voice?"

A window popped up in front of my eyes.

「 Choose a Novel 」

〈 1. The Author is a Villain 〉

〈 2. Death is just a Beginning 〉

〈 3. After Training For 10,000 Years in Another World, I was The Strongest 〉

〈 4. Popular Attack on the Different World 〉

[...]

〈 23. So I'm a Duck, So What? 〉

〈 24. That time I was reincarnated as a mug in another world 〉

〈 25. The Path to Fulfillment 〉

[...]

〈 59. Underlord 〉

"Hm? What's going on?"

「 Choose a Novel 」

"Why?"

「 Choose a Novel 」

"Alright, fine."

A novel, hmm. From what I can see, all the novels on the list are isekai stories that I've read, when I was still alive.

If I were to choose my favorite one from the list, I would go with "The Author is a Villain", however, assuming that I might be reincarnated as a protagonist of one of these stories.

I'd rather avoid being the villain. I also don't want to turn into some kind of monster.

I still want to stay as a human, so I guess the best choice here would be "The Path to Fulfillment" or "After Training For 10,000 Years in Another World, I was The Strongest".

But well, the choice here is rather obvious, I for sure don't want to train alone for 10,000 years, so the first option will be the best here.

「 You've chosen〈 The Path to Fulfillment 〉」

I felt like I blacked out for a moment as if I was put into sleep instantly.

「 Beginning Synchronisation... 」

「 1% 」

「 39% 」

After I heard something in my head I could feel my senses slowly coming back.

「 99% 」

「 100% 」

「 Synchronisation Complete 」

When I opened my eyes I found myself lying on a bed in an unfamiliar apartment room with a hospital gown on. I looked around, but except for the bed, there was absolutely nothing inside. The problem was that I still couldn't move properly.

My body was almost in the same state as before I died. Still hopeful, I tried saying:

- Status.

――――――――「 Status 」――――――――

Name : Michael Bertz

Age : 16

「 Stats 」

Rating : [0.4]

Vitality : [0.05]

Mana : [0.0]

Strength : [0.15]

Agility : [0.15]

Intelligence : [1.65]

Luck : [2.8]

「 Skills 」

――――――――――――――――――――――

Seeing the「 Status 」window appear, I got excited at first, but as I slowly read through the contents of it, I could only sigh in disappointment.

The name that it showed was the same one, I had in my previous life. I could only assume that I was transported as me from the previous world or took over someone who was already part of this world and had similar circumstances.

The [Rating] stat was an overall rating of the user.

The [Vitality] stat described your regenerative abilities, longevity, generally how healthy and strong your organism is.

The [Mana] stat described your mana capacity and your control over skills.

The [Strength] stat described how physically strong and durable you were.

The [Agility] stat described how fast you could move, react and perceive.

The [Intelligence] stat described your ability to learn, remember, think, etc. It also increased your immunity against mental attacks.

Except for [Intelligence] and [Luck], all my stats were really bad. I would probably lose to a 10 years old kid in a 1v1 fight. It was just that bad. An average human without the help of the System would have all his stats at around 1.

Not expecting anything, I looked at the「 Skills 」tab.

"Hmm, a skill?"

Surprised that I have one, I quickly checked its description.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――

"Did you think that death could kill me? Haha, what a joke!"

+20% to all「 Stats 」

――――――――――――――――――――――――――

OP, those were the only two letters I could think of. The skill not only gave me a passive buff. It was a buff to all my stats and an incredibly powerful one at that. But the rank of it, [EX], I don't remember a rank like that to appear in the novel. The skills were ranked from [G] to [S], where [G] was the worst and [S] the best.

"Pfft."

But what was that description? I couldn't help but laugh at it for a while.

...

After a few minutes of looking at my status and thinking about what to do, I came to one conclusion.

"I will die, I will die again!"

There was nothing I could do, even with the buff from the skill I could only barely move my body. In a state like that, walking, not to mention training was impossible. I probably still had my illness and who knows how much time left to live.

Then a small window popped up.

「 Mail (1) 」

I clicked on it and a small message showed up.

――――――「 Welcoming Gift 」――――――

Here is a welcoming gift for you, choose wisely :)

You can choose between:

[Special Stat Point] x1

――――――――――――――――――――――

The choice was rather obvious, what I needed right now was to survive.

「 You've chosen [Special stat point] x1 」

You could use [Special stat point] to increase any of your stats, except for [Luck].

You could also distribute it into stats in smaller values, for example, if you had 1 [Special Stat Point] you could put 0.01 into [Strength] and you would still have 0.99 special points remaining.

I quickly put the special point into [Vitality], [Strength], and [Agility].

That's how my「 Status 」looked like after that.

――――――――「 Status 」――――――――

Name : Michael Bertz

「 Stats 」

Rating : [0.6] +0.2

Vitality : [0.15] +0.1

Mana : [0.0]

Strength : [0.6] +0.45

Agility : [0.6] +0.45

Intelligence : [1.65]

Luck : [2.8]

「 Skills 」

――――――――――――――――――――――

I instantly felt the effects of increasing the stats. I could feel myself regain control over my limbs.

With my body regaining a bit of its strength, I first tried standing up from the bed and catching the balance. After a few seconds, I was able to get used to standing.

Then I tried walking, slowly and steadily I tried moving my right foot and then left foot. After a few minutes, I was able to walk normally again without losing balance.

I felt something wet coming down my face.

"Huh"

I touched it with my hand and realized I was crying.

After so much time and so many years of despair,

I was finally able to walk again. For the next hour, I just sat on the floor and cried like never before.

That day I cried for the first time in many years.

That was also the day, when I decided, that this life, this chance given to me, I will not waste it.

I will use this opportunity, to live the life I've always dreamed of.

Next chapter