1 001: What is happening?
Lying in the dirt and breathing heavily a young man tried to grit his teeth through the pain that was currently flooding his whole body.
His glassy eyes were looking at another person right in front of him that looking distressed.
The other person had his eyebrows sternly knit together and was trying to fix the origin of the pain that the young man experienced.
But it didn't help and the young man was slowly getting more tired by the second.
For a single short moment, the other person glanced up at the young man and for a moment his expression became surprised.
"Hey!! Don't close your eyes! You hear me!? Stay awake!!" The person tried to slap the young man's cheek and left a bloodied mark on it.
But that only resulted in him losing his grip further and closing them more.
The young man didn't even realize the sting anymore that came right after being stabbed by another syringe filled with painkillers.
When his eyes closed fully he felt relieved.
'Ah...The pain is slowly fading...At least this is over now...'
The young man's thoughts drifted to his final relief.
Just a few moments ago he was fighting in an ambush on his unit. It was just his luck to be in such a situation the very first moment he got dispatched into a damn conflict zone.
The very moment he had to remember this he felt sour and anger built up inside him.
'Why...Why is everything going in such a wrong way..'
His whole life was a miserable joke.
He became an orphan at age 3 and was broke and poor nearly all of his life until he went and conscripted himself into the army to gain some semblance of wealth.
And even then he became a baseline grunt only to be killed at his very first overseas duty. It all was just a fucking joke that made him even madder by the second.
Suddenly he felt so much regret and wanted to live longer. He wasn't ready to go yet! He wanted more! A family! A healthy body! A steady income! Was that all too much to yearn for!?
Yet, when screaming inside his mind for all this injustice he also started to feel content to just stop with all of this futility altogether.
'How vain....'
When he stopped his inner turmoil something shifted inside his heart. And that something brought him confusion for he felt like he should not even be able to feel anything anymore.
Yet he did feel something. His body started to gain every sensation that had left it the very moment he thought that he died.
Slowly his eyelids fluttered open and surprise and confusion overwhelmed every possible thought from him.
In a stupor, he gazed right in front of him and remained like that for god knows what time.
Only when a nurse running a routine and chaking on the equipment and medication right beside his bedside did he move his eyes and stare at said nurse.
At first, the woman just went ahead with changing the IV drip, and only when she noticed his opened eyes did she react slightly surprised.
"You are awake. That's good news. Just relax and don't move too much. I will get the doctor. Your parents will also love to hear that you are finally back with us." She smiled and laid a hand softly on his forehead to feel for a fever before walking away from him.
The patient himself was still not saying anything and just had to process everything while watching the nurse leave.
At first, he thought that he somehow managed to survive his wounds but the information the nurse had involuntarily given him was something that brought him back into a slight stupor again.
'What was she talking about? What parents? I don't have any.' But the moment she patted his head he noticed something else.
Her hands were surprisingly large. Was she some giant or something?
When he checked his body and raised his arm, he could see it being a very thin and weak twig.
Even lifting it felt like it would break after having to pull the cables along that were connected to the heart monitor and IV drip.
'What is going on here?'
Just when he thought this something magical happened.
Or should he consider it a hallucination? It would be a better explanation for whatever was going on than any other reason.
How else would you explain a blue transparent window appearing in front of you and nearly scaring you to heart failure?
Even the monitor raised in his constant beeps with his elevated heart rate.
But after calming down when nothing dangerous happened he only read the words written in that window.
[Congratulations, you were given another chance at life. This message is autogenerated and sent to every lucky entity to have received this favor. You should appreciate it because it won't happen again.]
[Analysing world....Done. The soul is present in a Tier 2 world. Adjusting following interaction.]
[This system will now initiate the Wheel of Fortune. The Soul is entitled to five spins.]
[The rewards range from benefits to the soul or curses with equal benefits attached to them befitting the grade of curse. Along those, there are also versatility rewards that are neutral in nature.]
[Here is an automated example of the rewards that can appear for a tier 2 world. #1: healing factor to regenerate from wounds faster or #2: cursed flesh that makes the soul sensitive to the rays of the sun, but also increases all other functions when nighttime is present. Or simple versatile things like #3: A massive amount of money.]
[This system wishes good luck to the soul. 0/5 tries used.]
The patient now stared at this floating textbox and didn't know how to react to it. Was he supposed to be happy or just simply annoyed?
No, maybe he should even dread the outcome. His luck was never the best. Hell, it was non-existent. So what would he gain?
Maybe 5 damn curses in one fell swoop?
Also, what did it even mean with a tier 2 world? Clearly, it adjusted everything below that analysis. Did he get more tries with the wheel or something else?
After hesitating for a while he concentrated on the button to spin the wheel at the bottom of the message and suddenly a slot machine was rolling in the floating textbox.
'Isn't it supposed to be a wheel for fucks sake?' He instantly was displeased at how it showed a damn slot machine with no way for him to know what he could get.
But then again, he guessed everything was a go in a way so they had to somehow 'conserve' space.
The machine stopped and landed on something that suddenly let it flash in a bright light.
[Result - Benefit - Molecular Decomposition (Ultra Rare): Able to destroy materials into their periodic substances.]
'What the fuck? What am I supposed to do with that? How does it even work? Is the stuff just turning into powder and stuff? Some things may even kill me the moment I turn them back into their basics...'
After thinking about it some more he somehow felt a little bit smug and smiled.
'Hmm, maybe there could be some uses for it depending on how it works. Maybe becoming some ultimate robber that could open up every safe in the world with that power would be an interesting life...But it depends on how it works and what crap I get with the other 4 things.'
He then went ahead and proceeded with the next spin.
[Result - Benefit - Clairvoyance of Doom (Rare): You will be able to see the countdown to the moment when the world will experience a crisis.]
*beep* 6 years, 2months 23 days
Suddenly something in the corner of his vision appeared for a few seconds until it slowly vanished and hid into nothingness again.
When he frowned his eyebrows and wanted to see the numbers again it appeared again.
'Oh, where the hell did I end up?'
This new benefit was a freaking curse in disguise if anything. No, he shouldn't think like that. At least now he clearly knew something would happen in 6 years.
'Hell, that's not that much time depending on what kind of crisis will hit me...Okay, calm down, let's see the other stuff first.'
He pushed another spin.
[Result - Benefit - Extreme Endurance (Uncommon): Your body will have a very high level of stamina for anything that requires a strong sustain.]
'Fuck, a blunder...Well, not half bad I think. At least not a curse and it can help me get better in other areas I guess? Will have to figure out where its limit lies.'
That power, if it functions like he thinks, could be useful to some extent.
'Next, come on. Something good!'
[Result - Benefit - Dimensional Merchant (Super Ultra Rare): You are a merchant.]
'Huh? What is that supposed to be? Super Ultra Rare my ass. NEXT!'
[Result - Curse - Blacklight Virus (Ultra Rare): You are infected with the Blacklight Virus.]
[All tries were spun. This system says goodbye and goes into slumber. Good luck in your current new life.]
The textbox vanished and the silence in the sterile room was only interrupted by the constant beeping of the heart monitor.
'Wait, what? You are just going to leave me hanging like this? Are you for real!? At least explain those two last draws I got for crying out loud!'
But before he could get even madder he suddenly felt his body heating up.
It became a searing pain all over his body that knocked him out cold.
