Chapter 001

------------------------------------------

‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

Please point out any mistakes/inconsistencies you find and feel free to comment on anything regarding this FF.

If you enjoy reading this FF, please Rate & Review!

Warning: May contain mature content (18+) of an adult nature. Read at your own risk.

-------------------------------------

It was late at night, when a middle aged man with a noticeably flabby belly entered a one room studio apartment and switched on the lights. There was a single bed with a tattered mattress and a couple of dirty sheets in one corner, occupying almost a fourth of the space. In another corner was a cooking range with a utensil rack above it, a sink near it, a few overhead cabinets and a fridge. The last pieces of furniture were a table with a somewhat dilapidated computer on it and a plastic chair. The middle aged man was dressed in orange overalls with a grey t-shirt visible underneath.

Without removing his attire, he navigated what little floor space was there, to his small bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He looked in the mirror and what stared back at him was a wheat-skinned man with wrinkles all over and especially noticeable crow’s feet. He had black eyes which lacked vigor and short plain grey hair which displayed his clearly receding hairline.

After taking a shower and dressing in half pants he rummaged around in his fridge, preparing to make dinner. Instead of his usual sandwich, he decided to cook a proper meal. Tomorrow was his day-off after all. He put some cleaned frozen prawns and frozen peas to defrost while he set some rice to cook and chopped up some carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. His cooking range beeped, indicating that the defrosting was over. He hummed himself a tune, while he withdrew the peas and heated some oil on a pan and soaked some coriander leaves in salt water.

While the pan was heating he mixed all the vegetables with salt, turmeric powder and black pepper powder. He tossed some whole cloves, cardamom and cumin seeds in the heated oil and added the vegetables. He stirred for a bit and covered the pan. He searched his fridge for garlic, and failing to find it, uncovered the pan and added a dollop of garlic ginger paste in it, stirring it, before covering it again.

Sighing he got up, and uncovered his pan. A brownish stew had formed. After confirming that the potatoes were cooked, he added the defrosted prawns and started chopping up the coriander leaves after rinsing them. He added the coriander leaves to the prawn-vegetable curry and simmered for a few more minutes. By now, the rice was done so he washed a plate and served himself some rice, covering it with the now done prawn-vegetable curry.

He then added a chunk of butter on top of it, which immediately melted. He sat at the computer and frowned. Something that seemed like a popup for a shitty advertisement/survey occupied his screen. He tried calling his task manager, but it didn’t respond. He contemplated restarting his pc, but shrugged and decided to fill the survey to kill time. He thought to himself, ‘I will finish this dumb survey before my dinner and then restart my pc.’

He used a spoon to eat with his left hand, while his right hand navigated the advertisement /survey. It looked like it was for some MMO or some game. It had a catchy phrase in jarring colors, about living a new life, in a new world. Most probably some tedious, but addicting pay to win MMO. He saw the sub-heading of the page, which was titled “World Setting” and saw the first question:

How would you like the present state of your new world to be in your next life?

a) Apocalyptic

b) War-ravaged

c) Low-Conflict

‘If I treat this question seriously, I sure as well don’t want to be running for my life, conscripted to fight for lords… or defending my kingdom for that matter, so option c it is’ he mused while chewing prawn curry and rice as he selected the third option. He noticed that near the right bottom of the page, there were two active buttons, “Next” and “Skip” and a greyed out “Back” button. Since he was bored anyway, he decided to go ahead with it.

What followed next was a series of questions defining various aspects of the “new world” in his “next life”. Probably because he was reading a xianxia web novel, he tailored his answers towards eastern fantasy. He had long finished his dinner and the dirty dish lay on his computer table, near the keyboard. However, he ignored them and diligently filled the survey, he had revised a few of his choices by going on back. After a couple of hours, virtual glitters covered his monitor and he saw the following message:

You have completed world-building. Please proceed to Character Creation!

He was surprised and yawned as he thought ‘There is still character creation left? Now I am curious. Might as well fill it as long as it doesn’t ask for my credit card details at the end…’ He clicked on “Next” and another question greeted him. He noticed that besides the “Back”, “Next” and “Skip” buttons near the bottom right, there was a counter on the top left of the screen which showed “150 CP Left”. The “Back” button had also been greyed out again. The First question in Character Creation was:

What is the family background of your new family in your next life?

a) Cultivators

b) Royalty and Nobility

c) Merchants

d) Peasant and Commoners

e) Orphan

He clicked on Cultivators, and noticed that 20 CP had reduced from his total and he had 130 CP left. He clicked back and selected “Orphan” and his total CP had increased to 160. ‘So from now on I am on a CP budget, eh? All options will consume points or add points depending on the advantages/disadvantages.’ he ruminated.

His was intrigued and he spent longer on the character creation. By the time he finished character creation it was morning. He attended to his ablutions, and pulled out a can of beer from his fridge. He lit a cigarette and smoked it as he sipped the chilled beer. He reviewed the summary of his choices and clicked on the confirmation dialog box. He got another screen.

For your diligence in completely customizing “World Setting” you have gained additional 50 CP (reclaimed).

For your diligence in completely customizing “Character Creation” you will receive a random bonus in your next life.

Please wait while we load your New World and welcome you to your Next Life…

He finished his cigarette and beer, but the damn advertisement survey was politely asking him to wait. ‘Fuck this. Might as well have another smoke and sleep…‘ He cursed mentally as he lit another cigarette. He lay on his bed as he finished smoking and went to sleep. In his drowsy state, he didn’t notice that an ember from his cigarette butt on the floor was blown to his sheet which started smoldering.