When I opened my eyes and found myself staring into a night sky, I first thought I was outside. My thoughts were sluggish at first, as if I was waking up from a good night's sleep, but soon I felt lucid enough to question why I would be sleeping outside. Had I sleepwalked, maybe? Or... perhaps I was dreaming! I decided to test that theory with the recommended method and gave myself a pinch in the cheek. Or rather, I went to do so because as I passed my hand before my eyes, I froze and forgot all about that plan.

That was because my hand - and, as I quickly noticed with my next look, my whole body - was a blue, half-transparent and featureless silhouette like I had turned into some kind of ghost or spirit! And as I now realized, I was not laying in my bed but standing right at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the aforementioned night sky - except that this night sky extended in all directions before me. Realizing how the slightest misstep could send me plummeting down, I hastily backed up a bit.

How had I ended up here? It could only be a dream, by all counts of logic. Yet an uncomfortable feeling in the back of my mind told me that it was not.

"Awakened now, are we?" a voice asked behind me. I spun around to look at whoever had spoken and saw myself faced with a transparent figure vaguely shaped like a human and colored blue like myself, standing a couple meters behind me. It was a featureless silhouette, but from the way it was facing me I could tell it was looking at me.

"Great", it said with a voice as gender-ambiguous as its appearance. "I thought you'd never come to."

That was how I met the one I would later come to call Blue, and how my new life in a foreign world started out.

I looked around. We were standing on a block of dirt and rock that seemingly floated around in this otherwise empty void. From my earlier view from the edge of the rock I'd seen that there was nothing beneath us, the rock just tapered to a point, like an inverted pyramid. There was nothing else anywhere near us, just that night sky, with several moons and looking nothing like the night sky back home. Everything felt like it was too detailed, too real, to be a dream. But if this was real, then where was I?

"Who are you? Where the hell are we? What's going on here?" I asked, but the other ghost ignored my question and instead spoke over me.

"While you took your time getting up, I had a look around", it said as it motioned at something behind it. Nothing particular as far as I could tell. and vaguely motioned at something behind it. "Before you waste a bunch of time asking me stuff I can't answer 'cause I don't know either, listen to me. This whole place has slowly been getting darker while I was waiting for you, so I believe that there's a clock ticking. Not that I'd know what will happen if you let it run out but I don't think we want to find out for ourselves. And since I can't do anything, I'm hoping that you'll be luckier than me and get us out of this bind, how about it? We can waste time chit-chatting once you're done with that."

Darker... huh. I wondered if the sky had been bright as day whenever my ghostly pal here had first shown up. Still, it sounded worrying. I decided to leave all the pressing questions I had, mainly to ask who they were - they could at least answer that much, right? - for a bit later. I was really interested to hear why we both were immaterial spirit-things on a rock floating through space, if this wasn’t a dream. Though I wasn’t convinced of that last bit at all - no way this was anything other than a dream, after all. Pushing all those thoughts aside for now, I asked: "You've been waiting? How long?"

"Long enough that I found out something interesting. Those things, you probably think they're stars, moons and whatnot, right? They're not. Try focusing on one and you'll see what I mean."

That was certainly an ambiguous pointer, but I decided that I probably wasn't risking anything, so I picked out one at random. A white-glowing dot, one among the masses, nothing special about it. I attempted to focus entirely on it and leave out everything around. Just as I was wondering what exactly I was meant to see, the dot transformed into an opaque rectangle, not unlike a window on a computer, with information filling it in some kind of list.

"Woah!" I exclaimed and nearly stumbled back, but was able to stop myself before I risked back-pedaling over the edge and tumbling off our little rock.

"That's as far as I got too", the ghost said. "They react to us focusing their attention on one of the lot."

"What are they?" I asked as I tentatively raised my hand and "grabbed" the window. While I could not actually touch any physical object, the item snapped to my fingers when I got close enough and I was able to shift it into a corner of my vision. Moving my head around just made it follow along, but at least this way I could look at the other ghost.

"Look at the top of the box-thing. It says 'Fates', doesn't tell me much though."

Come to look at it, that was what the window said for me too. I took a closer look.

FATES (All) - GREENLAKE SHARD

I was born to a knight in the employ of the Barony of the Greenlake Shard I am the child of a wealthy merchant in Silverrock My parents are a pair of city watch in Silverrock [...]

The window contained whole bunch of... they looked like entries in a list of some kind. I stopped reading after the first three, but there were just a dozen on the window now, and judging by how there was an entry with cut-off text at the bottom of the window, I imagined that the list went further and would scroll down. I moved it back front and center and tapped my fingers on the top entry, the knight one which I now noted to be written in green text. It promptly opened up like a collapsible tab.

Title I was born to a knight in the employ of the Barony of the Greenlake Shard Rarity Uncommon Difficulty Easy Description

You will be born as the child of a knight who serves the baron of what is now known as the Greenlake Shard, under the overarching rule of the Kingdom of Telen.

You can expect a first-class upbringing with a high likelihood of survival thanks to the peaceful nature of the Greenlake Shard, in addition to good schooling and an all-but-guaranteed life as a knight in your father's footsteps, or as a lesser noblewoman like your mother, depending on your birth gender.

Race Please choose a race from the Race Selection Menu. Compatible races: races living in [Silverrock]. NOTE

Easy-level Fates incur a permanent -25% EXP penalty! [Choose!]

As I read the entry, I racked my mind with what this meant. Taking the fact that this seemed to be some sort of "Choose your fate" type of deal, this was... what? Was I supposed to choose from one of these? But even if I just looked at a dozen or so options for each star or moon in the night sky surrounding us, that was thousands, maybe tens of thousands of options! How was I supposed to read all this if I was to make an informed decision, let alone under time pressure if this place was darkening like the ghost had told me?! Even if I just read the titles, I'd be spending days here!

I panicked for a little before I forced myself to calm down and look at the entry again. So... what was that? The title hadn't changed from when it was just an entry in the list. Knights and baronies though, that sounded a whole lot like medieval Europe. Probably the most over-romanticized period in all of human history. Anyway, moving on... Rarity: Uncommon. I guessed that that was to be expected, given that I was looking at an entry talking about being the child of a knight. Couldn't be all that many of those around in the medieval ages, right? Most people would be peasants and commoners and stuff.

Memories of videogames reared their head as I eyeballed the rarity again. The title was no longer colored, but the rarity was green... was this using the same color scheme as rarity levels in MMOs? White or gray for common, green for uncommon, blue for rare and so on? I was careful to not accidentally hit the "Choose!" button at the bottom as I reached up and tapped the title again. Predictably, the entry closed up, bringing the other ones into view, and almost laughed.

"Did you find something funny?" the ghost asked.

"This is absurd. Unless this is a game of some kind... I mean, these entries are all marked with rarity levels!" I received no answer to this, and my captive one-man audience had no eyebrows to raise, but I could still feel the skepticism practically radiating from them. So I elaborated: "Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super-Rare, Mythical, Set-Piece and so on... never heard of them? The games I played have rarity levels, which are usually color-coded for easy reference. Gosh, how stupid is this... no, this has to be a game. No way it's not."

"I don't think that this is a game", the ghost replied coldly. "You shouldn't treat it as one."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"If it was a game, wouldn't you have some memory of getting in here?"

"I probably would, but... no idea. Maybe this is a dream instead, and you're a figment of my imagination." I tossed up my hands. "So what if it's too detailed? Exceptions happen all the time! Maybe I'm just in a really cool and detailed lucid dream, how about that."

The ghost's annoyance was almost palpable. "If you refuse to accept the truth, at least try to act like it isn't a dream or game."

"Well... I guess that's fair. I'll try not to make dumb decisions" I said, then turned my attention back towards the list. So, green was uncommon, probably. I opened the third entry from the top in my list, which was written in plain white.

Title My parents are a pair of watchfolk in Silverrock Rarity Common Difficulty Medium Description

You will be born as a child to a pair of hard-working town guards in the employ of Silverrock, a town in the Kingdom of Telen.

While your parents occupy a profession that places you a cut above the peasantry, their busy lives and meager pay means you will spend many a day on your own, and will be put to work once you grow old enough, to provide for your family like your parents do.

Race Please choose a race from the Race Selection Menu. Compatible races: races living in [Silverrock]. [Choose!]

Yep, that confirmed my theory - white meant common, green meant uncommon. It stood to reason that being the kid of some city guard couple would be more commonly happening than being that of a noble family, and that that would raise the difficulty. A pair of city watchfolk could probably not afford expensive medicine if their child got sick, after all. On the other hand, I saw no EXP penalty, like I'd seen for the other one. That seemed kind of arbitrary, no? To be punished for an easier start in life? Shouldn't those who were born into a rich family pretty much have it made for them? Sure that was not fair, but life isn't fair. I'd learned that much when I was a kid. On the other hand, if this was some kind of game system, maybe it was to balance things. After all, someone of noble birth would be afforded a lot more opportunities to grow than a child.

I also noted that the word "Silverrock" was written in brackets and sort of stood out in the Race part of the entry, but not elsewhere. I tried to touch it with my fingers, but nothing happened. Odd. So, what? Was it talking about races, like ethnicities? It made sense that a child would have to be the same skin-color as its parents, barring some rare genetic mutations or albinism or something, but still, why was it listed like that? Well, there was nobody or nothing in here that would answer my questions, as far as I could tell, so I resigned to having to figure that out later.

I tried again, this time opening the second entry on the list with a tap of my fingers. That one was blue, so that would mean...

Title I am the child of a wealthy merchant in Silverrock Rarity Rare Difficulty Medium Description

You will be born as a child to a rich traveling merchant in Silverrock, a town in the Kingdom of Telen.

Your mother leads a comfortable life in Silverrock as your father transports wares back and forth through the Kingdom of Telen.

As a child to a loving family, you will receive many opportunities to learn the craft of your father, and will eventually be expected to step into his shoes once you are old enough to travel with him. However, even in Greenlake Shard a wealthy merchant is not safe from bandits and lowlives trying to rob them blind, and periodic monster attacks are to be expected too.

Race Please choose a race from the Race Selection Menu. Compatible races: races pertaining to the [Kingdom of Telen]. [Choose!]

Hah, I guessed right! Rare-level rarity. Rarer even than the Fate with the child of a lesser noble, though? Weird, I thought wealthy people would be more common than even the low rungs on the nobility ladder. Looking closer, again that town named Silverrock was brought up. Maybe it was the only town in that area, since the window I'd opened listed the Fates on Greenlake Shard. And come to think of it, why was that place named Shard? Wouldn't it be called a province if it was a part of a larger kingdom?

That aside, this time the race options were listed differently - not just Silverrock, but the whole kingdom. Maybe the merchant got around a lot so he had more chances to meet women of various races or something and fall in love with some girl of a different group... and medium difficulty, 'cause of the bandits I guessed.

Feeling more stoked, I decided to look a bit further. The white-marked Fates were honestly rather bland, I was much more interested in the other colors. The twelve-and-a-half Fates in my list were all white, green and the single blue, so I tried to scroll. I raised my hand and, trying not to tap any entries and open them by accident, I dragged them upwards. It took a few tries and some fumbling with accidentally-opened tabs before I figured out how to make the entries scroll, but once I had it figured out I began looking for an entry in a new color. I was eager to find out how many rarities there were.

Then, one entry written in deep purple entered my window. I hastily halted the scrolling and with my non-existent heart pounding, I read it.

Title I am the child of the Baron of Greenlake Shard Rarity Epic Difficulty Hard Description

You will be born as the child to the Baron of Greenlake Shard.

The Baron's wife has given birth to a healthy son/daughter! The bells ring to announce the event worthy of celebration, as the Baron holds it in his arms. To be the child of a noble is a privilege and a great responsibility! You will be brought up under the careful eye of nannies and be taught a broad range of subjects by some of the best teachers, and be expected to study and learn hard, and excel in your position.

Not all is sunshine and rainbows, though! Do not expect to make a lot of childhood friends or to have much free time, nor to be able to choose much for yourself. Your life will be set on rails, especially if you are the first-born son destined to take up his father's mantle, or a daughter sent into political marriage. Perfection will be expected of you and every opening will be capitalized on by your enemies at court... or in a fight. Many in your position do not even live to puberty - political assassinations and angry mobs of overtaxed citizens are, after all, the quickest and easiest way to open the seat for a new and more favorable ruler.

Race You will be born as a [Human] NOTE

25% chance of triggering the "First-born son" sub-Fate upon choice. This sub-Fate will change minor aspects and awards additional bonuses. NOTE

Hard-level Fates confer a permanent +50% EXP bonus! [Choose!]

Yeah, that was definitely an Epic-level Fate alright! No wonder it was marked as hard... just reading about what a terribly restricted life you could lead when you were born into a noble or royal family back in times where they held real power was scary! I valued my freedom a lot more, I'd rather be the kid of the merchant... well maybe. That one was a bit restrictive as well. Still, a 50% bonus, and it was permanent? That was juicy! I had no idea of course what EXP exactly meant in this game, but I imagined that it meant progress towards the next level, which in videogames was always good.

"What are you taking your time on?" the ghost interrupted my train of thought.

"I'm reading the-" I began, but couldn't continue. As I had turned to speak to it, I had pulled the window back to the corner of my vision, and only now I noticed that the sky and island we were on had darkened. It wasn't much, I could still see everything, but it was very noticeable.

"You've noticed too, I see. While you're taking your time reading, this place is continuing to darken."

"There's still enough light, isn't there? Besides, there's a load of... of choices!" I waved my hand at the sky. "There's what, hundreds of dots in the sky? I'm still on the first!"

"You'd better get to it then", the ghost replied and crossed their arms. Resignedly, I turned my attention back to the window.

So, there was white for common, green for uncommon, blue for rare, purple for epic. Was that it? I decided to keep trying, I might as well finish this list. Unfortunately, outside of a few more purples that I passed over there was nothing else, and I hit the end of the list after much more scrolling. That had to have been two hundred entries, at least! I reached my fingers up to close the window, when I was reminded that this was not a computer screen. The window had no little red X to tap my fingers on. Tapping the bar where the title of the window was written didn't work either. I shook my head at the design flaws and pushed the window off into a corner of my field of vision. Then I turned my attention back to the sky and picked a new "star" to open, eager to see what I would get this time. But then again, why just pick a star? I focused onto a big moon instead. Or at least, it looked like a moon, it was much bigger than the star-like blips, and gray instead of glowing white.

The "window" that opened this time was something quite different. It was another list with text entries, but they were much shorter than the titles of the Fates and in plain white.

RACE SELECTION Enlightened (Fauna) Animal (Fauna) Monster (Fauna) Enlightened (Flora) Plant (Flora) Monster (Flora) Enlightened (Magic) Monster (Magic) Artificial

Race Selection... oh, I had read that before! Choose from the Race Selection menu, it said, something like that… why wouldn’t they just open a sub-menu upon you choosing a Fate, with the list of available races for that Fate, though? Maybe this was just a general list for me to look at? Or maybe I could somehow use this as a filter, like choosing a race would filter out all Fates that could not be picked with that race choice or something.

"This whole place does a terrible job at explaining how it's supposed to be used", I remarked to the ghost. "Not to mention, the amount of information is overwhelming."

"Well you don't have the time to learn how to use everything", the ghost replied. "If something happens to me because you're not getting us out of here, I'm holding you responsible!"

"Geez, calm down. Anyway, I found some sort of race selection. You think I could use it to filter?"

"I told you, I have no idea what this place is, just like you! All I know is that you seem to have the ability to do things I don't. I wasn't able to do anything beyond opening those boxes with writing."

"Have you tried tapping your fingers on one of the entries like I did?"

"Yes. Didn't work."

"No idea then. But let me get back to this." I returned my attention to the window before me. The selection was very broad, but I assumed that there would be submenus. Acting on a hunch, I tapped "Enlightened (Fauna)" and the list opened into a broad selection of species, once more with rarity colors. Dwarf, Elf, Fishman, Halfling, Human... hah! I was right on the money with my hunch, those were "intelligent" races, just like in the racial selection for Tabletop and videogames! I opened the "human" entry and once more it opened up like a tab, displaying more information.

Title Human Rarity Uncommon Description Humans are an Enlightened race of mammals, known for being the "jack-of-all-trades" that lack the individual strengths of the other Enlightened races but also their weaknesses, and are known to overcome their shortcomings with creatively crafted and engineered tools and structures. They are not only curious and exploration-happy but also very adaptable to various environments and known for being able to integrate with other Enlightened races better than each other. Being social creatures, they prefer to remain in each other's company. As a result, they are both found in large towns and cities together, and scattered around in smaller groups in various lands. [Choose!]

Sounded about right! Hm, why were they Uncommon though? Maybe because they were outnumbered by some other races? None of the ones in that list were marked as anything above Rare, though.

I briefly debated hitting the button at the bottom of the entry to lock myself in, then I closed the "Enlightened (Fauna)" entry for the time being. I wanted to see what other things there were first. Maybe I could find something cooler! I would definitely not pass up the opportunity to become some sort of Epic-rarity mutant human with superpowers if that was an option. So I decided to browse just a bit, even with the darkness breathing down my neck.

I could not imagine any animal I would rather be, so I skipped the "Animal (Fauna)" entry entirely. I briefly considered checking the Flora categories but I imagined it would just be some sort of mushroom-people or other plantfolk, like dryads. I didn't really want to be stuck to one place all my life. And yes, I was aware that fungi were technically not plants, but I figured that if whoever had made this had put an entry for mushroom-people somewhere, it'd be there. In that same vein, Artificial was out the window too - being a robot might sound cool, but the idea that I might lose my free will or be somehow bound by programming laws someone else had forced into me made me shudder. No thanks.

So, Monster (Fauna) it is! I opened the category and was presented with another list, which I quickly noted was actually another sub-menu with more categories. These looked a lot more interesting though - Animal Hybrid, Beastfolk, Dragonoid, Goblinoid, Insectoid, Mutants, Slime and Undead. But it kept going on, and I noted three entries that really stood out, located at the bottom of the list. Unlike the other lists which were written in white, the text of these was reddish brown. A gentle shudder passed over me as I tapped the first entry.

Title Creature Mutation (Beastfolk) Rarity Unique Description A supernatural phenomenon has mutated you to be, well, different from those around you. Different enough to be categorized as your own variant, or possibly even your own race. This may come with great social stigma from your peers, but also carries its own benefits - it depends on how you make use of what you are given. NOTE You are assigned a mutated variant of one [Beastfolk]-type race, chosen randomly. The randomization element of this racial choice confers a permanent +50% EXP bonus that stacks additively with other EXP bonuses! [Choose!]

Damn you, gambling addiction! Yeah, that was not an episode of my life that I was proud of, when I'd reached the peak of it and had sunk almost half my month's salary into a bunch of virtual loot-boxes containing cosmetics for the game characters. I’d been forced to live off of cheap cup noodles for two months to get out of that ditch, which had been kind of a wakeup call for me to quit... and now it was coming back with a vengeance. That 50% EXP bonus looked incredibly juicy! But I forced myself not to choose it on the spot, and instead went to check out the other two entries. As it turned out, they were really similar, except that they were for the Insectoid and Undead-type races instead of Beastfolk.

Also, a new rarity type... Unique, huh. It made sense given that the choice would assign me some random mutation, so it would really be a one-of-a-kind thing... which in its own way had its own appeal. I pondered my choices for a bit. Sure I could take the safe choice and pick a Human, and maybe the wealthy merchant's son Fate, or I could spend hours going through all these other choices, hours that I didn't have. Or I could take this EXP bonus and let this... system make the choice for me. All I would have to do was to choose between these three options.

Of course, Undeads were out right away. I wasn't going to be turned into some disgusting zombie with rotten organs spilling out of my stomach, bloodshot eyes and an overwhelming craving for brains... or just as bad, being summoned as a thrall to some necromancer to whom I was cannon foder. If necromancers even existed in this place, anyway. Sure, there was a chance I could become some cool mage-type undead instead like a skeleton lich, but the risk was too great. So, Beastfolk or Insectoid... I opened both entries higher up on the list and gave them a quick read. Honestly, both sounded interesting. Beastfolk could range anywhere from animals with intelligence superior to their “normal” kin, to animals basically walking on their hindlegs, almost like the Enlightened races. And Insectoids were all sorts of cool giant beetles and Ant-centaurs that used magic. But then the image of me becoming some really awesome-looking Stag beetle with four arms to wield four weapons at once popped into my head and my choice was made. It was a really small chance that I would actually get that, given that there had to be hundreds of choices in the Insectoid tab... but that EXP bonus was just too good to pass up, not to mention it would save me hours of pondering a choice, hours that I didn’t have.

I would just gamble it. [Choose!] please!

I tapped the button, and the RACE SELECTION window vanished only to be promptly replaced by a smaller one.

STATUS (Nameless) Species ??? [Randomization is in effect] HP 33% MP N/A SP 59% Skills ??? [Randomization is in effect] EXP Modifier 150% (100% base + 50% Randomization bonus)

Huh? A status? I flew over the data, briefly stopping when I noticed the HP value, which I guessed meant Health Points. Why was I only at 33%? Was I sick in some way? Hey, I'll have you know that while I did indulge a bit too much in fast food, I worked out and kept my weight within a mostly-healthy BMI!

... no answer, of course. I glanced over to the ghost, then back at the sky.

So, Greenlake didn't seem like the best place to be an Insectoid in, given that it was full of humans, right? I should perhaps pick some other place. But where should I begin? There were still hundreds of stars in the sky! Without a clear idea, I picked one out at random and focused it while pushing my new Status Window into a corner of my vision, next to the Greenlake window.

FATES (All) - MOURNFIELD SHARD

I am a newly awakened Undead in the Graveyard of Souls

I am the child of a necromancer in Necrosanctus I am a Revenant conjured by the summoning ritual of a Lich [...]

Yikes! That Mournfield Shard did not sound like the kind of place I wanted to be in, full of creepy undead and necromancers? No thank you. Next one, please and thank you.

FATES (All) - KARIM MESA SHARD

I am a Beastfolk nomad's offspring traveling through the Karimian desert

I was created by the Sandstone Caves Dungeon near the edge of the Shard

I am an oasis dweller living near the edge of the Shard [...]

That sounded more like it. This Karim Mesa Shard apparently was some kind of desert-y area, with caves and oases and stuff. That second entry, the Sandstone Caves Dungeon one, sounded... somewhat appealing? It sounded like a place where an insect could feasibly make its home. Though I could only guess what a dungeon was. And why did it say created? Dungeons were a location, weren't they? Still, I opened the option - a Rare rarity, Medium difficulty Fate - and began to-

WARNING! Health has dropped below threshold. Cause: [User] soulstrain due to prolonged transfer. Solution: transfer process must be completed immediately. Enabling automatic override. Please stand by.

Waitwhat? Was that why... I hastily pulled up the Status window, acting on a hunch. HP was at 29% now. Yikes! Okay, I better tap [Choose!] on this Fate real quick, and... why did it not react?

ERROR: Automatic override is in progress. [User] input is disabled.

Waitwhat?! Now I wasn't allowed to continue picking?! But I just had to press one button and be done!

ERROR: Incompatibility detected between currently chosen parameters [Race] and [Fate] (Native Biome requirements incompatible with [Karim Mesa Shard] Biome). Recalibrating based on existing parameters... match detected.

A new window opened before me. A cold shiver crept down my spine as I read it.

Title I am a newly-born/-hatched creature along the shores of Green Lake Rarity Uncommon Difficulty Brutal Description

You will be born as offspring to one of the creatures local to the [Green Lake] shores.

The area around [Green Lake] is a lush, beautiful landscape thanks to the mana-rich waters of the lake. Due to the high birthrate of monsters near the town of [Silverrock], adventurers and hunters frequently cull the population before any real dangers can emerge. For most monsters, this means a short life full of competition with their peers, and the few lucky winners end up as trophies on the local tavern's wall instead. For the townsfolk, that means a safe and abundant life. For adventurers, it's easy training grounds and low-risk, fun hunting competition with their peers. And for the tavernkeeps each celebration gets the patrons buying. Everyone is happy, except the monsters.

Race Please choose a race from the Race Selection Menu. Compatible choices: Any Animal (Fauna), Monster (Fauna), Plant (Flora), Monster (Flora) or Monster (Magic) Note Brutal-level Fates confer a permanent +100% EXP bonus!

Waitwhat?!! A Brutal-level Fate! Even if the name didn't give it away, the EXP bonus did - that was a Fate harder than Hard! Hell, the description itself said that monsters were basically doomed from the start! Why the hell had it picked that one? Because it was the only one where an Insectoid could be born? But surely there had to be dozens more among all these stars! Then I realized that this was on the Greenlake Shard and near Silverrock, both names that I'd read before. The window I hadn't been able to close, the one with Greenlake Shard fates, sprung back into my mind. Had this... whatever system was at hand here, determined that an "existing parameter" was a list of Fates I'd previously browsed?! If all this was a game, this had to be the worst-designed start I had ever seen! And as the final insult to add to my injuries, figuratively and literally if that HP value sitting now at 25% was to be believed, the windows closed one after another, leaving only one with a message that felt really like it was adding insult to injury after this stupid system had forced me into a difficulty of the hardest level.

TRANSFER

Race chosen

✓

Fate chosen

✓

Now finishing transfer process. Good luck, User!

"What's going on? Are you finished?" the ghost asked, not helping my panic. The darkness was now coming in really fast, I could barely see it anymore when I turned towards it.

"I don't know! It picked for me, automatically! Now it says it’s finishing some sort of transfer process!" I answered as I searched frantically for a Cancel button.

"Guess I'm not the only one thinking you took too long", it replied, its voice dripping with smugness. "But if your dilly-dallying just got us killed, I'll come back as a ghost and haunt... no, wait, I'm already-"

TRANSFER PROCESS COMPLETE

As the darkness engulfed us both I could not hear its last words. All I could see was the singular window remaining in my field of vision, then I passed out.