1 A new beginning

I don't remember my name. Why? I do not know. Somehow I can feel a "void" in my memories. But other than that, I remember most of my "past" life.

How did I die? I am not sure. The last day of my past life started like any other. I woke up, went to work, ate, played video games, read web novels, and slept.

I didn't have the healthiest lifestyle. I barely exercised and ate heavy food most of the time.

My cause of death was probably a heart attack, but no one will be able to tell me the truth now ... Yes, I know. My life was a bit depressing.

Do I regret something? Obviously I do. I was rejected three times by pretty girls in my life. I never found a girlfriend and most of my friends were men ...

'I want to cry, but my "body" won't let me ...'

Let's go back to the present. My painful thoughts made my "heart" bleed. Besides, I can't afford to keep wasting my time.

Why? For this strange hologram in front of me. I wonder how I can see it and where it comes from.

'I should panic, but I can't really feel anything. This almost seems like a dream… For now, I can count three things that I need to examine.'

First things first, I can't feel my body. I don't think I have one anymore.

This out-of-body experience really gets on my nerves and the lack of sensation made my mind wander.

Second, I am definitely not in my room. This is a fucking forest! I can only see green-leafed trees, small bushes, pretty flowers, small gray rocks…

Third, there is a strange window-shaped hologram in front of me. It looks like a status window that tends to appear in RPG video games.

≪???≫

Race: Spirit

Species: Wandering Soul

Gender: None

Age: 0

Level: 1

≪Inherent skills≫

Possession Lv. 1 (Active)

≪Active skills≫

Appraisal Lv. 1

"???" it's probably my name. Being just question marks probably has something to do with my lost memories.

Wandering soul? It seems that I am no longer a human. No wonder I can't feel my body. But, a soul, huh? Sounds intriguing ...

It seems my species is part of the spirit race. Spirit, huh? I see. I want to know more about them.

If what appears in this "status window" is real, then I am probably no longer on Earth. At least not on the Earth I lived on.

It may sound crazy, but I'm probably "living" in a different world now. I wonder if this is a fantasy world. If so, I'll be a little excited about it.

If that's the case, if this world really is a fantasy world, I can erase the deepest regret of my previous life here ...

'Fufufu. I will find a good wife in this world no matter what! Human! Elf! Animal-eared! Beautiful girls of different races are waiting for me!'

I wonder if those races exist here. I hope they do. I really want to meet some cute elf girls. If I ever went back to my old world, I would brag about it to my friends.

But I can't do it while looking like this ... I mean, how do I look now? I have no mirror or hands ...

I wonder how I can even see things without eyes or hear the rustle of tree leaves without ears. Am I using something like magic without being aware of it?

'No matter how much I think about it, I cannot solve this question on my own ...'

Cough! Let's keep checking my status. Possession? It sounds a bit creepy. I wonder if it can stop my soul from getting weak.

Somehow they gave me another "life" so I can't waste it.

'It seems that only my soul traveled here. Someone may have summoned me, although I doubt that is the case.'

If they really brought me here, at least someone or something would say hi to me. There is no hologram-like message welcoming me anywhere.

I have read many different types of fantasy web novels. From things like a guy who was reincarnated as a goblin, to others like a guy who was reincarnated as a fast food vending machine. The human imagination is deep.

A person's soul flying out of their body when in a near-death state is not an uncommon situation.

Anyway, if this is not a dream, I should find someone who knows more about this world. I don't care if I can never go back as long as I find interesting things to do here.

Why don't I want to go back? Because like I said before, I didn't have a good life there.

I owe a great debt to my parents for raising me since I was little, but if I can be happy here, they will be satisfied with it. At least that's what I want to think about.

'Sorry. Father! Mother! I am such an ungrateful son ... '

After thinking about so many things, I got bored and thought about experimenting with my only active skill.

It seems the appraisal skill will come in handy. Using it should give me a detailed description of the things I want to know or at least that is what usually happens in the novels I have read ...

I'll try to use the ability on that tree. I first tried yelling the skill's name in the air, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't make any kind of sound.

Then I thought about using it. I felt like some kind of energy was coming out of my body and I got a little exhausted, but it seems like it worked.

≪Common Forest Tree≫

In the animated series, some people shout the name of the ability to cast it and others just need to think about using it like me.

'It worked! But ... This doesn't tell me anything ...'

Heh. It seems that luck is not on my side. My appraisal skill is only level 1 right now, so it must be really weak. I can't even know the name of that tree.

In any case, I should keep using it frequently, maybe it will eventually get stronger.

≪Common Stone≫

≪Common Herb≫

≪Common Plant≫

≪Common Flower≫

'This is disappointing…'

There are mainly two ways to use active abilities in fantasy worlds.

The first is when people shout the name of the ability to trigger it and the second is when they just need to think about using it like me.

'Shit! So I was right about the Possession skill!'

I could feel more and more pain as if my heart was slowly being crushed and I was unable to breathe. I no longer have a heart or lungs, but the feeling is similar.

Ok. Time to get serious. I should try to possess a nearby animal or something. I closed my status window with my thoughts, the same way I activated appraisal.

I wasted a lot of time just "standing" here ... at this rate, I'll end up going to the afterlife ...

Rustle! Rustle, rustle!

There! I saw a cute red-eyed white bunny with a horn on its head. Appraisal!

≪Horned Rabbit (???)≫

'Nice! Hahaha! Appraisal worked properly.'

The "lack of oxygen" made me paranoid and somehow I moved my "body" ... my soul towards the goal. I moved very slowly.

Belatedly, I snuck up behind him. I have no feet so I did it without making a sound.

'Now! Possession!'

The rabbit seemed to somehow notice my presence at the last moment, but it wasn't fast enough to run. If it took that long to notice my presence, I'm probably invisible or just too hard to see.

My soul was sucked inside it and I felt it bend in strange ways. I couldn't feel any pain, but I still felt uncomfortable.

When I opened "my" eyes. My field of vision had gotten much shorter. Compared to before, I mainly saw the ground and things around me seemed bigger.

I felt that the possession was a success and confirmed it by seeing those messages.

I tried to walk ... hopping on my little feet. At first, it felt really strange.

The structure of my body changed a lot and I really realized that I was no longer a human being. I even felt the wind go through my hair ... my fur.

I should check my status again, maybe something has changed. I thought about opening it and it really did.

≪???≫

Race: Beast (Spirit)

Species: Horned Rabbit (Wandering Soul)

Gender: Male (None)

Age: 1 (0)

Level: 25 (1)

≪Inherent skills≫

Piercing Horn Lv. 3 (Passive)

[Possession Lv. 1 (Active)]

≪Active skills≫

Charge Lv. 2

[Appraisal Lv. 1]

≪Passive skills≫

Evade Lv. 2, Escape Lv. 3

Heh. Its level is quite high. I wonder if there is a limit to leveling up.

It has some simple-looking abilities, but I don't think they can be underestimated.

Piercing Horn seems to be a passive skill that improves the sharpness of my horn. In role-playing games, passive skills tend to be active all the time.

What impressed me the most is that there was no passive skill category in my status window before. That means other categories may be hidden.

I want to know more about this rabbit's abilities, but it's not a priority right now, so I'll leave it at that.

According to my extensive knowledge (which was almost useless in my previous life), when one is transported to another world, one must first seek a settlement of an intelligent species.

That way I can get information about this world. Information is power. The problem? I am not a human or an elf or a demi-human.

I was just a little forest beast right now, not even an animal. I will probably get killed the moment they see me.

Even if I can't get in, I should try to find a settlement anyway. Being in an unknown forest on an unknown planet makes me feel unsafe.

Thus began my adventure.

. . .

'Which way should I take? I am not an expert in geography or cartography, so I should look for some kind of path.'

Sniff! Sniff! (Horned Rabbit)

At that moment, I smelled something burning in the distance and saw some smoke rising above the treetops of the forest. I felt something was wrong and started running in that direction.

When I arrived, I saw a small village ... or what was left of it. Many houses were burned to the ground. Now they were nothing but ashes in the wind.

The humans I saw there were running away from a red lizard the size of a dog that spewed fire from its mouth and appraised it out of curiosity.

Yes, this is definitely a fantasy world. I have not heard of any animal capable of releasing fire from its mouth on Earth.

"■■■! ■■!" (Scared Villager A)

"■■■! ■■■!" (Frightened Villager B)

I don't understand the language they are using. That's a real shame. It seems that my trip will not go as well as I wanted.

Normally I would act like them and run hoping they wouldn't kill me, but this is my chance to be a hero and become a part of this village.

With that in mind, I "heroically" ran towards the red lizard that was revealing its fangs against a little human girl with the intention of biting her.

The villagers panicked when they saw me, but their attention was on the little girl. Someone yelled something at her.

"■■■■!"

I ignored them and continued with my "heroic" charge against the red lizard.

I quickly used Appraisal to identify my target and pointed my horn at him when I was close enough.

≪Fire Lizard (???)≫

I saw a nice message before my horn pierced the side of the fire lizard. Fortunately, I made it in time and the girl managed to escape after looking at me with teary eyes.

Hiss! (Fire Lizard)

The Fire Lizard seemed to have a pretty scary expression on its face. Heh. Seems like he is angry.

He started spitting fire to burn me to death. I predicted his movements and managed to evade his attack.

It seems that not only my skills can level up. This rabbit is slowly getting stronger too.

Once again, I stabbed my horn into the lizard's side and it seemed to weaken. Meanwhile, I was starting to wear myself out.

Bawl! (Fire Lizard)

Gasp! The surrounding villagers noticed that I was doing a pretty good job and one of them, probably the village head, started gave someone an order.

Since they were so shocked by my actions, maybe this lizard is stronger than I thought.

'Yes, that is correct! Be amazed and praise me!'

I don't think they were praising me though.

While I was distracted, the Fire Lizard bit my back, and I thought I was going to die.

'It hurts! It fucking hurts! Release me, you bastard!'

<Beware! In case the host dies, the user will suffer soul damage!>

Fortunately, the village chief managed to cut off the lizard's head just before I was crushed.

<'Horned Rabbit' has leveled up! (Lv. 25 -> Lv. 61)>

Squeak! Grunt! Grunt! (Horned Rabbit)

I felt my almost unconscious body trying to get my soul out of it. The horned rabbit was struggling to regain control.

'Stop it, you idiot!'

I got quite upset and selected yes without thinking too much about it. However, I don't know if I will regret this in the future.

The strange resistance that I felt in my body and the feeling of discomfort that I had since I possessed it disappeared.

Now I feel like this body really belongs to me, including the pain I was going through.

The village chief took the lizard out of my mouth and prepared to kill me as well, but the girl I saved earlier appeared in front of me.

She began to cry as she carried me in her arms and, although I couldn't understand her words, I had the feeling that she was begging the village chief to spare my life.

What happened after that? I don't know, because I completely lost consciousness ...

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