Prologue

I am dead. And I don’t know how? But I know I am dead. Don’t ask me why. But if you insist. I have a few clues. I recently graduated from a prestigious university with a major in robotics and a minor in mechanical engineering. I was proud, even if I had to deal with enormous student debt. I was about to start my first startup company in robotics, in the development of military mechanical suits. It was my dream. Call me a weeb, or otaku but definitely call me a mecha fan. I have loved mechas since I was a boy. I started off with transformers, and even had a Voltron toy, with all the separate parts and even Zoids. They were plastic but they felt metallic and mobile to me, and that’s all I wanted. I then discovered anime and the Gundam Wing series' opening song. This was it, this is how my passion for mecha crescendo into something of a goal. To build and pilot my own mecha. But I was born in the 90s, and it’s 2020 and there are no mechas in sight. Sure there are outliers. Japan had built bipedal units with a minimalist style to fit its anime archetype while the west had built bulky machines with tank wheels. I surmised they were inspired by the popular mecha warrior pc games. I’m getting distracted but still on topic. So I finally built a prototype for a mecha. It was 10 meters tall and had three legs. The back leg was basically an analog wheel while the two front legs are directional and balancing. The top half was the average mecha machine. The cockpit was at the back in a rectangular angled pod. The chest and the arms were fully armored with refurbished meteoric iron. With its interior base frame had steel and titanium support. Plastic metal was the first layer of the skin of the model. It also helped the budget with it being a cheap material for the prototype. After all, this was a prototype. Today was testing day, my day. The day I finally get to get into my prototype’s cockpit and do some preliminary trials. Today was my day. I had woken early to do my daily jog, then a warm shower to cool down the muscles, after, I had a scrumptious breakfast. Today was my day... Taking the bus to my warehouse building where a few of my friends were tinkering with the prototype. I felt refreshed and excited about what was about to come. The dreams of a young mecha obsessed boy were about to come into fruition. After dropping me at the bus stop, I waited at the crosswalk with a few other individuals also waiting along. My whole body was excited as I waited for the green walk sign to lit. Suddenly out of nowhere a child from the other side of the crosswalk, had dropped his ball. The child then went to retrieve the ball as a child would do, without any knowledge of his surroundings. A truck was coming by, going at 50km, and was about to hit the boy. I watched this going by, my body ready to act to push the boy out of the way. But I halted at the action. This was my day to finally man a mecha, and the chances of me coming out of this were slim to none. Bypassers were shouting at the boy to stop, but just like the typical child would do, only focus on the one thing, the red ball bouncing away from him. Another individual next to me acted, he had blonde hair and was naturally handsome. He also wore a shirt with a DnD logo stamped on its center. So a typical hero complex individual. He rushed into the scene and pushed the kid aside from the oncoming truck. The truck hit the fellow, making him fly several meters in the air and into the center of the road. As car-human collisions go, this accident was fairly unbloodied. There wasn't a lot of blood, but only a few metal shrapnel that came out of the truck’s metal bumper. The boy that was saved, stood there gawking. He watched agape at the individual before him with horrifying fascination. Then reality struck the boy and he started crying at the circumstance. It was a very traumatic scene I had witnessed, but heroic nonetheless. A stranger, without any qualms of his well being, risked his life to save a small boy from a fatal accident. It was commendable to have witnessed such a heroic act. On another day I would have run by to help the individual in the center of the road. As many of the individuals beside me had, one of them had also called the ambulance for the chance of his survival. Today was my day... The road was heavily trafficked because of the accident, but the crosswalk had no cars blocking the pathway. When the walk sign lit green, I started my walk. I was glancing back at the scene of the unconscious stranger on the center of the road who was covered by other pedestrians who were panicked and halting traffic. Hopefully, the stranger survives and gets commended, or better yet awarded for his noble and heroic act. If he did not… I hoped that nerdy stranger gets isekai’d into a world of magic and dragons, as his shirt suggests. The thought of it left a melancholic smile on my face. I then scoffed at the idea of getting isekai’d. As I chuckled, I stepped on something, maybe it was metal shrapnel that came out from the truck’s bumpers. But it made me lose my balance with my thoughts elsewhere. I fell headfirst into a cemented curb and lost sight and vision. A dark blankness curtain my peripherals. Today was my day… I woke up in a glaring white room. Standing up to my frame, I took a gander around my surroundings. I was standing in an ovally white room. There were glowing bluish illustrations circled around me, and I was the center of it. On the other side of the room, facing me was a blue-haired lady who was combing her hair and staring at her hand mirror with a pout on her lips. She was mumbling to herself. “I hoped he found me attractive. These knots are really…Ouch.” She was brushing her hair furiously as she was staring at the mirror with a pouty expression. She then closed her eyes to blow a kiss. To my eyes, she looked like she was daydreaming something. I coughed to interrupt her musings. With a yelp of shock she reacted by tilt back, tripping her back and the chair she sat on the white glowing ground. She then hurriedly stood, and then dusted glitter dust off her appealing attire. Composing herself with a regal pose, she stood to her height, eyeing me with such regal intensity, then utterly destroying it by yelling. “Who the hell are you.” She yelled. A bit peeved, I stared back at her. “Me? Who the hell are you?” I answered back. She looked at me with a flabbergasted expression. “Me? I’m a goddess and about to whip you into pixel dust.” She then eyed me closely and took a document out of nowhere. I gawked at the magic trick. Did she just fabricate paper into existence? Or did my eye miss something? Was this some elaborate magic trick? But her attitude didn’t seem like a showperson attitude when introducing tricks. Her attitude… was actually pretty lackluster, she was a bit peeved and embarrassed as she skimmed through the documents before her. She then eyed me and shook her head. Then surprise overcame her at another paper that was behind the document she was skimming upon. She then overlaid that on the forefront to quickly skim into it. Her eyes widened in utter shock on what she was reading. “Mr. Renfield?” “Yes.” “Thomas Rendfield? From Harbour town?” “Yes.” I nodded. She then continued reading the document before her. Her expression then turned coldly middle through the paper, she then carefully eyed me with a dismissive tone. She then guffawed at the end with cruel laughter. “What is it?” I asked a bit peeved yet still curious about what she was reading. She looked at me with a mocking grin, holding a chuckle as she did. She just could not stop. “My name is Iris, the Goddess Iris, of the Seventh Pillar of Sanctimony.” “Wait? You’re a goddess?” I looked at her dumbfounded. “What?” She glared at me. “What do you mean by ‘You’re a goddess?’ Of course, I am a Goddess, I’m beautiful, and look at my skin, it glows with the pure light of innocence and virtue.” She remarked, showing off her glowing skin. A realization slammed into my mind when witnessing this. ‘Did I get isekai’d?’ I thought agaped horrified at the deduction. Today was my day. The day I finally get cockpit a mecha. Today was it...now never. I had crumpled down on the fluorescent floor, at the realization of this. I would have balled my eyes out and cursed the world for such affront. But the Goddess who was eyeing me ruined my mood with her disfavoring attitude towards me. Defeated, I asked, “Am I getting Isekai’d.” She looked at me piteously, then nodded, confirming my conclusion. “Can’t you return me back?” “Nope...unless…?” “Unless what?” “Unless you kill the demon king, I can grant you one wish.” She said with a mocking grin. “Really…” Of course, this sometimes occurs in the isekai fantasy genre, where if you defeat the demon king, you will get the choice of coming back to earth. “Hey wait. I didn’t get killed by a truck.” I accused. She then guffawed at my accusation, then cursed at the notion. “You did and you didn’t save anyone to get you here. But the person before you did.” “So why am I here?” “Well by a miracle of fate, you were both sent here.” “Then where is the other guy?” “He already moved on to his new life and his heroic adventure.” She said, her cheek’s pallet glowing red from the words. “He was so handsome and noble…” She murmured, musing. Another realization crept into my mind. “What if he defeats the demon king?” “Then he will get the wish.” She offhandedly said. “Then, there is only one ticket back to my world?” I asked with a nervous tone. “Yup.” Realization struck her. She then looked at me, and then at the documents before her. “It has always been one hero, one world, but two heroes…?” She mused. “But I only have one world...to delegate…” She then eyed me again. “Scratch that, one hero and one scrub.” She finalized, looking at me with a glare. “Scrub?” I repeated, dumbfounded. “You didn’t save that boy, Mr. Jones did.” She accused me. “Well yeah, because it was my day to…” “You day to what?” “Day to pilot…” I looked down at my hands, imagining joysticks and being inside a cockpit and piloting my first mecha prototype. “Well you’re day is done. Mr. Scrub.” She pointed. “Because you were a casualty of the collision of destiny, you will be reborn into a world of magic and dragons as part of the Goddess Hero Pact, 005.” “But I didn’t get hit by the truck!” I repeated. “You got killed by one.” She leered. “By the metal droppings of one.” She chuckled out loud. “That’s not fair.” I looked at her with a defeated expression. My dreams will never come to fruition. “Well, life isn’t fair.” She rebuked. “Anyways, I don’t have time to waste with a scrub like you.” “What do you mean?” “Well, I am meant to give the honored hero the option of how he would start his life...But...Because you are not the said hero, but a mistake, I’ll just let the fate of Randomness to decide...” “Wait for what?” “Well, off you go. Good luck with whatever.” She brushed off with a wave. Suddenly the glowing surface below me opened up, making me fall into darkness… Darkness swallowed me for a time. After a few painful moments, I tried to open my eyes. But they were closed shut. I did not have the strength to open them for a time. And then I finally did and the first thing I saw was green heads looking down at me. They were two individuals, wearing green hats, funny looking hats, and odd protrusions at the top. That wasn’t the odd thing about the scene before me. It was their weird faces. Their skin was greenish-yellow, with big eyes, both different colors. They looked down upon me with curiosity and delight. They were muttering words I could not understand. I tried to move my hand towards them then froze at how small and swollen my hand was. They were baby hands and a baby arm...And they were colored greenish-yellow. 'What am I?' As I looked between my arm and the two individuals peering before me, a huge green and lightly transparent roof was covering the sky above us. As I looked up, I realized what it was. It was a huge leaf. A status window popped up.

Name: Thomas Rendfield

Age: 1 day old.

Race: Grass People.

Level: 1

Strength: 0.01

Constitution: 0.01

Dexterity: 0.01

Intelligence: 15.

Wisdom: 1

Charisma: 10