Q: What is up with that reincarnation? Why is he so calm? What parts were dreamlike?

A: I chose to use this method of reincarnation because of my personal issues with reincarnation stories. My first problem is that I don't want to read a story about a 5 or 10 year old child, so instead John Doe just experienced limbo, but not the mind breaking empty kind. This works to calm him down as well, because the 13 days he watched, were full 24 hour days. He most certainly was confused, angry, sad, etc, but he managed to work through most of his issue. The dreamlike parts are the 13 days he spent not truly in control of his body, because that was the most surreal and confusing part of his reincarnation.

Q: The Zodiac in this world seems pretty strange.

A: The Zodiac is one of my personal creations. I originally wanted the entire zodiac to be mythical beasts, but I ran out of ideas before that could happen. Instead, I picked animals that are from the top of their respective food chain. The Tiger and the Serpent are meant to represent symbolically yin and yang, while the others each have their own meanings as well. I pulled my ideas from both the western and chinese zodiacs, along with a few animals that I wanted to add in.

Q: What was up with the Coyotes trying to kill him during the test?

A: Well, I am going only give potential speculations. Coyotes do normally live in small family groups, but they will work together at times as well, so that behavior was semi-normal. The coyotes wanted to chase the meat that Shiga threw from the tree, but the alphas kept them around the tree. Clearly the alphas/coyotes wanted something from Shiga, and later when they were circling the tree they were also being scared off by something. The rest may or may not be revealed, but know that the examiners did not send the coyotes after Shiga for the test.

Q: Why did you do the tests the way you did?

A: The tests are multipurpose. In the story they are used to determine people's futures, which is used to allow some social mobility, show of young geniuses, and give many of the smaller sects or schools a chance to get students for themselves. The first test is similar to the many awakening rituals that are found in other reincarnation stories. The third test is the most important because it is used to determine someone's motivation/determination with their talent. The second test is used to test how people truly react under stressful situations and to prime people for the third test by putting them in a desperate situation, even if it is only superficially. The tests were also meant to help me work on my writing style and make sure I could keep putting out chapters.

~~Author’s Notes~~

Sorry for the long break! Things came up like flooding, family, and procrastination, so I ended up going on unannounced hiatus. I am back, and will be continuing to write the story. I may take another hiatus in ~15 chapters because I am not sure what will happen after that and I will need time to get ahead on the story again. Please ask any more questions that you may have and I will make another Q & A after another arc ends (Yes, the tests were their own arc. Its called the prologue).