01. Start new game? - Book 1: Isekai power fantasy

Like everyone else, all I wanted was a peaceful life.

And like all these trendy novels and anime go, I ended up becoming overpowered in another world!

Well, it’s subtly more complicated than that.

But I did get reincarnated after my passing on Earth.

And the fantasy world I found myself in was... Still our same planet?

How did this happen!

Why are there now dragons and monsters? The world is a bigger mess than when I was there in my previous life!

And why do I feel like I’ve been tricked into doing some annoying chore I didn’t want to do?

~

In my first life, my name until the end of highschool was Yuu Mizunashi.

Soon enough for this testimony, I would be rather known as Silvia Opgaendsol.

The transition wouldn’t be so easy for me. It didn’t come like launching a good old game and following the adventure of the fascinating hero in an easier world to live in. Oh no. I had to earn that name I couldn’t understand.

Things turned rapidly overwhelming for me as I returned to be frank.

It will likely be easier to understand in chronological order though.

I lived in the 21st century, in Kita-Shirakawa, Japan.

I had a long commute to high school every day, but I didn’t mind.

The only thing weighing a little on me was the admiration and expectations of everyone from me. Just because I did reasonably well and easily in my studies.

I wish I could have stood out a little less, but it was already too late and written for me. No way to escape this reputation and blend in more peacefully before the end of my year and moving elsewhere.

My parents were kind enough nevertheless. My younger sibling as well. We got along pretty well.

I had no real friends at school but the most serious students got along with me. It was okay.

But the pressure from the teachers, the weight of life, the concern of our generation for future life, everything still lied a little heavy for me. I was a bit hopeless facing the shifts of our society struggling to address and tackle things like climate hyper change.

I continued to commute a little absent minded, waiting for things to be more open, or an opportunity to change. I was floating along that stream given to me by life, wondering when I could be free...

Day after day. Until out of the blue, it was the fateful day.

~

That high tech company was transporting some special and sensitive equipment in secrecy, possibly, and in a hurry, definitely.

A kid was going to get isekaied before me, and unfortunately for me, I reacted before I could think. Fortunately for the kid and his family, I managed to save him in time. However Truck-kun got me good instead.

I remember thinking some rough calculations about kinetic energy when I felt that cold sleepiness dragging me down, seemingly through the ground and road.

Some people were yelling over me, but I couldn’t reply anymore.

And I certainly did not sign any waiver nor agreed to any freaky experimentation on my dead body!

What did they do to me?

But... That is what happened.

I felt like waking up, in a weird sort of way.

Like when you’ve had a very bad sleepless night, and stand up too fast. That dizziness and vertigo.

I was feeling that, tenfold.

I saw weird noise on the screen before me. My head was hurting in that

Then I realised it wasn’t a screen, but everything surrounding me.

S - Where am I...?

K - Hello...

The static noise turned more clear, and then I found myself in a random building’s atrium. I stood on my feet but didn’t really felt the sensations of gravity, up and down, all that. I only saw the place, I didn’t feel it. The dizziness remained and I lost balance and fell. Ouchy. What’s happening to me?

The cute looking boy with golden hair approaching me offered me his hand to help me stand up.

K - Ara ara. Are you alright? You can hear me right?

S - Yes...

Was I blushing? It felt just as weird as standing. All the sensations in my body were gone or unsteady.

K - You must have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them.

S - Okay... Where are we? Who are you? What happened to me? Why did the ground felt so weird? What time and day is it? What’s the answer to Fermi’s paradox? Did I save that kid? And how...

I found myself still holding his hand, but now we were in a different place. We could sit on a sofa to chat.

I didn’t feel anything physically, but it made me a little less dizzy. The good looking boy smiling kindly waited calmly.

K - Your body was unfortunately beyond recovery after the accident, where I commend you for saving that child. The team from the company operating that fated truck decided to save your life in the only way they could. Using their prototype “Technology Isekai ™”. Or T.I. for short. Your brain mapping was done, like an IRMN scanning, down to the elementary particle level. This specific kind of scan allowed to digitalize your entire existence, before it was too late for biology.

I sighed. So I was dead. And this was a weird digital afterlife...

Well, it was good I spared another life that weird fate at least I guessed. Although now I felt sad.

I’ve never been in love with anyone... Now I felt a little more sad.

I wished I could have attended the graduation ceremony with my friends really. Regrets.

And I never completed these Gacha and Otome games I had on my desk. Bigger regrets? Maybe.

I’m sorry for my parents and family...

S - So what next? This cyberpunk afterlife is all I get?

K - Not exactly. This place is merely a temporary procedure to communicate. What you must understand is we owe you a debt. We will make good on it. The company managing T.I. eventually built me. And studying your brain print nearing death allowed us to reach great progress over time. We recently reached the point where I was able to bring you back as you are now. And this is only the beginning.

I was a little more agape now.

God, or digital god, had reanimated my consciousness here... And this was not the end?

S - Don’t tell me...

He made a bright smile, opening his hands to me in a welcoming fashion.

K - How would you like to be reincarnated into a different world and body?

GYAAH! No! I’ve become part of the most overused cliché in contemporary literature history!

I held my head in agony, ruffling my own hair nervously. Why was this happening to me!?

Why god, why!

K - Hm... So I guess, you don’t want to...

S - Wait! No! It’s not that... I don’t want to... Given the choice, of course I’d rather have another chance at life. But man... Or god... This feels awfully ironic to me.

God didn’t get what I meant apparently. But he still smiled.

~

S - So we finally made these quantum computers and you’re the digital god managing humanity? You can bring me back?

K - Well, not exactly, but yes. Technology Isekai ™ has progressed thanks to me because my system was summoned to help it. And paying my debt to you for the past, means I will handle the necessary requirements to bring you back on your feet. Literally.

S - Your... system?

I was suddenly transported in a classroom while still sitting. My hair fluttered along the shift of space I didn’t expect. The god of the system stood as a teacher before the black board. He even had reading glasses now. I liked the fancy touch.

K - The T.I. system was put in place at the turn of the century. For now I will skip most of the historical whereabouts to get to the technical points. The main thing you should understand, is that it is based on microbiological nanotechnology.

He pointed at the board where drawings of bacteria, viruses and weirder things appeared.

K - Now the funny thing with metallic organic frameworks is that under the specific magnetic field, they can turn optically active in new ways. And this potential to shift polarity under the preferred circumstances combined with the electro-catalytic activities allowed to create a new generation of microscopic machines. Combining them with RNA engineering in selected strains of archaea...

S - Wait, wait, wait... Kami-sama. Please. The top lines first?

Not that it wasn’t interesting. But I felt we were going down the rabbit hole for a long while.

K - As you wish. The top line is, the world has been changed a lot by the system. There is a steady population of nanomachines that operate independently, according to their inherent programming at global scale. They are autonomous and virtually inaccessible, but they can answer the occasional users’ requests. And overall, they make the hive mind of the system, which I mostly represent. Like humans, the nanomachines have different levels of awareness and computation. They have their individual intelligence which is akin to a bacteria reacting to its programming. Then they have group level autonomy. They build small societies in colonies, allowing them to talk and act in teams. They can be... chatty. And in a subconscious collective mind, there is the global level of balance and programming, the head of the system. Me.

S - You’re chatty too.

He chuckled at it. At least this was a cheerful technological god and not a vengeful Abrahamic one.

S - If I understand... You can ask these nanomachines to... resurrect me somewhere?

K - Yes, and no. Because we are not meant to resurrect people so brazenly like that, this would be a level of deviation from our programming I cannot allow directly.

S - Indirectly... Reincarnation... You mean?

Oh no.

K - Yes. An embryo of your chosen circumstances will be infused with your brain print before it develops any form of awareness, and you will be reincarnated inside of it. With as much as your print and the new brain can carry, you will be reborn in that new body. I can look up the family you would prefer, and the other perks you would like to acquire along.

S - Right... I can choose my cheat skills too. Figures...

Cliché all the way...

What were the steps for genres getting out of breath to regenerate themselves again?

First is irony and derision of the expected codes and memes.

Then is nostalgia of the good times that really worked for us, the stories that stuck with us.

Then it’s deconstruction of the mythology and its codes.

And finally it’s reconstruction, re-establishing the genre. Renew what makes the essence of it.

I sighed internally.

I didn’t expect to be part of that history for isekai stories and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I wondered what makes the essence of such a story? Is it really just about the new life with past memories?

For me at that time, this was not really relevant. I was dead, and I was being offered a slim chance at another life. Of course I was taking it, no matter the philosophical subtleties.

Let’s get on with this!

S - But wait, a baby? Wouldn’t that be horrible for me? And my parents?

K - I’m sure you will manage well. And for the system, reintegrating you this way will be okay.

S - I guess I don’t really have any good choice... I don’t want any cheat skill. Just make me average in every way please. Same for the family. Honestly I don’t really want to think about it...

K - Okay then.

I thought I noticed the beginning of a smirk on this teacher’s face. But it must have been my imagination.

Did I tell him all I wanted was a peaceful and nonchalant life? I must have told him. What happened next would definitely be his fault and not mine.

~

S - Before I go... Is there anything else I should know about the system?

K - The system will support you to a reasonable extent. The nanomachines have their own duty, but you will be able to converse with the local groups.

S - You said you had a debt toward me. But... Is that really all? I mean people died for no reason all the time in my world. Why would you go at such lengths just for me?

And the cute bastard made a mischievous smile.

K - I wouldn’t want to spoil all the surprise... But let’s just say the right person, in the right place and time, can make all the difference in the world. Don’t you think it could be fascinating?

I was scared. I was gawking at his impish smile. He didn’t tell me everything. He has further plans for me! I didn’t hear all the rules of that game!

I felt the world twirling below me, and I yelled as I was taken away before I could complain or demand more answers. I needed to know more!

But I fell into darkness, and then asleep, floating inside the warmth at the origin of life.

“Goodbye Yuu Mizunashi. And may you live in interesting times, miss Silvia Opgaendsol.”

~