Chapter 1: Welcome to Ariot

Ensig:
This marks the first moments of the MC’s new life(?). Cheers!

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Analyzing Soul data... Analysis complete.
Bestowing “Blessings”... Bestowal completed.
Searching for a compatible Capsule... A Capsule has been successfully identified.
Implementing Soul... Implementation successful.
Analyzing possessions... Item Found.
 > Immortal object integrated into the WiS; data enclosed. Item granted. 

Welcome to the World of Ariot, [Unnamed].

I stare at the message for a couple of seconds.

It’s a message which seems like something that would pop up upon creating a new character in a VR game. In fact, if I hadn’t gone through the encounter with Charon and witnessing the other Souls before this message came up, I likely would have thought that I had entered a game, rather than died.

But I did die. I’ve reincarnated.

As for the message’s contents: Soul data is probably just as it appears. Analyzing one’s Soul… I can’t even imagine how that’s done, but it doesn’t seem like something I’d need to know, so I won’t dwell upon it.

“Blessings” are… Well, I’m not sure. Usually, when it comes to “blessings” it’s “a gift/bonus received by a God” — or at least that’s how it is in games. It’s also something the head of the household gives to their children’s partners before/during marriage, but I highly doubt the “blessing” this message is talking about has anything to do with that.

Because it didn’t list the blessings, I have no way of knowing what a “blessing” is for now,  but it’s likely some feature of the “World of Ariot” so I’ll simply leave put it to the back of my mind — if it’s important, I’ll learn about it naturally, and I highly doubt a “blessing” is anything harmful, anyways.

The “capsule” is probably a “body” that my Soul is to be put into. If that’s the case, then the “implementation” is just my Soul being put into the “capsule”.

For “possessions”, I didn’t think I brought anything with me as a Soul. I’m quite sure I was empty-handed while I was on Charon’s ship after all.

Well. No need to dwell on that either. It’s possible that this category is just an add-on from a “Blessing”, after all. Something like “You’ve been blessed with the Hero’s Blade Excalibur” I suppose. Not that I’d expect to receive such a thing.

Still, it’s plainly obvious that I’ve been reincarnated at this point. The message said so, and I’m not such a skeptic that I would doubt its words after speaking with Charon. Walking around on his boat in the form of a living-light also contributes to that.

Where I am, there’s no more Void, no Boat, no other Souls, and no long-winded Greater God in sight. Therefore, it’s obvious that I’ve changed locations. Thus, it’s safe to say that I’m in “The World of Ariot” just as the message said.

Still… I wasn’t expecting myself to be reborn in a place like this. Usually, in stories of reincarnation back on Earth, you’re reborn as a baby, right? Waking up to find your parent on a bed of some sort, looking around at the room’s appearance depending on the social class/current development of the world and what your family has access to. Thinking “Ehh, who’s this?” and then later finding out “Ah, this is my mother”.

That’s what I expected, but that’s not the case it seems.

Instead, I’m simply laying down on the ground.

The dirt-covered, slightly damp ground.

Overhead, the sky of “the World of Ariot” is hiding behind what appears to be a dense fog. There’s no movement in the wind, nor in my surroundings.

Turning my head while continuing to lay, I look to my left. A Gravestone sits, ill-maintained and cracked on its corner down to its center. I can’t read what’s likely the name of the deceased, but it looks like it had been carved out of the slab using crude tools, else, the writing of the language is very rugged and edge-like.

I turn to my right. Another Gravestone, with a thin, crooked, barren tree standing eerily behind it.

I bring my head back to the sky and raise my right hand into my line of sight.

It’s colored grey-tinged ivory, and has thin, unblemished fingers. It’s slightly dirty, but that can’t really be helped considering it was just laying atop the ground. It’s smaller than my hand was on Earth, but I’m not shocked by the change at this point.

Just to clarify, it’s not a baby’s hand.

It could be a “child’s hand”, but there’s also the possibility it’s a “young adult’s hand”. The hand belonging to a young teen making their way to adulthood, in other words.

There is no way that this belongs to a baby, right?

Unless the inhabitants of Ariot bear children the size of young teenagers in the middle of a graveyards, then my reincarnation is already off to an odd start, I’d think.

With my other hand, I spread it to my side across the dirt, only for it to be stopped by an object of some kind. To inspect the object, I use my right hand to prop myself up and look over to where my left hand is.

Sitting upon the ground is a black Book with a golden rim. It may be more accurate to call it a “Grimoire” considering the symbols — also in gold — on its cover, however. It has the same color scheme as Charon’s boat.

Could this be my “possession” mentioned in the welcoming message?

With such a guess, I lift the cover of the book and peer at the Title of the book. “Guide to Ariot: Written by the Greater God of Souls: Charon”

… You know, when I said that I would rather receive information about my next world rather than receive a lecture, I didn’t mean I wanted a guidebook with a girth thicker than my wrist.

While complaining mentally to Charon, I flip the page into what seems to be a summary of the contents of the book. Rather than reading it, for now, I scan a couple of pages ahead. Directly behind the summary is a long Table of Contents for ease of navigation, and after that is the first subject on said Table of Contents, labeled “The Basics”.

For the Table of Contents to be organized so eloquently, I can only thank Charon for his thoughtfulness.

I’d wish he would have simply given me a summary firsthand, and then focus on his job rather than make me a book to explain, but complaining about the past would be unproductive.

Turning back to the Summary, it’s quite long (much like his usual long-winded dialogues), but comparing it to the several-hundred-pages long grimoire, it could be seen as quite brief.

As there’s nothing else needing my attention at the moment, I delve into the wall of words.

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Greetings, nameless Soul… Or, by now you’ve obtained a name, haven’t you?

As you’re most likely aware, you’ve been reincarnated to a world called Ariot. Ariot is slightly different from Earth, in that it uses a “World System” to look after its inhabitants. The system should have sent a small message giving a bit of information shortly after you’ve been born, a message which most Souls would never remember. Because you are a “Strong Soul”, however, you will likely have seen it, and so I’ll explain the terms below as a means of “welcoming” you to your new life.

“Blessings” are gifts from the Gods of the realm to assist the Mortal Souls (and therefore, you as well). These blessings are granted depending on what the Soul did before its arrival. Each individual receives 3. As for the reason the Gods themselves would impart their power onto the Mortal Souls… Well, let’s just say that not every creation of the Gods support Mortal Souls. You can read up on them in the “History of the Gods” section, which can be found easily using the Table of Contents.

Because your Soul has been strengthened by me, your “Blessings” should be more powerful than most, but really, most blessings simply act as an artificial “head start”, so don’t expect too much.

A “capsule” is a “Body to hold a Soul”. Because Ariot’s system designates where Souls go, I can’t exactly grant you a body of your choice, but… That would be overstepping my boundaries as the Greater God of Souls, so I can only wish you good luck! Learning to walk for the second time must be an odd feeling indeed, but by the time you read this, you’ll likely have already adjusted to your new body.

As for “implementation”… It’s obvious. You won’t need me to explain, right?

There should also be something about this Book in the system message, because it’s not originally part of Ariot’s system, but I’ve made sure that it was granted as a guide for you, who has received my blessing. The Book won’t vanish after being read, so you may keep it for as long as you would like. It is written in English for your convenience, and an effect disabling Ariot’s Word Recognition System has been placed on it, so no one other than you on Ariot should be able to decipher it, even if you taught them English yourself.

Now, onto Ariot’s basics. Ariot has a system of Levels, Stats, Titles, Skills, and Spells in place. There are even Fusions of Skills and Spells intermingling, and/or combining with one another. Each one has its own equations and such, but revealing all of that would be too easy, so I have simply made an outline of each, which can be found within the Table of Contents.

There are also conditions to use Skills and Spells, such as Stat Requirements, or even certain actions to activate them. Spells need to be Chanted using one of three Chants per Spell… Things like that will be explained in detail in their appropriate category in this book as well, of course.

You’ll need a Skill to view any of the values mentioned prior, however. The Skill would be a so-called “view status” Skill. There are quite a few variants of Skills under this category, and unless you’ve managed to get to this book at a young age, it will be quite difficult to obtain most of them. This is simply because getting such a Skill becomes more difficult the more Skills/Spells you have.

Therefore, if you’ve received a bunch of Skills/Spells at this point, unfortunately, obtaining a Skill capable of displaying your progress on Ariot will be quite difficult. Temples can give you a rough figure of Levels and Stats, and Skills/Spells can be analyzed by the Adventurer’s Guild, so it’s not a huge problem even if that’s the case, however.

If you haven’t received a large amount of skills, or you still wish to try to obtain a View Status skill regardless of the difficulty… Then here’s a method to obtain one of the more simple — yet still effective — ones:

First, close your eyes and concentrate.

Next, try “look ahead” of yourself, as if peering past your eyelids. Search within the darkness, and follow your instincts.

You should start to feel an odd-to-describe sensation well up within you after a time. If you continue concentrating, you should be able to get a feel for the rough values of your Level, Stats, Titles, current Skills and Spells, and perhaps even basic information about yourself (like your Name, for example).

Skills and Spells will be a bit difficult to make out using this method, but they’re there. If you require more in-depth training on sensing a particular Skill/Spell, just search out a practitioner of the Skill/Spell itself, because they’ll likely be able to assist you.

Just know that if you learn a different “View Status” method through a practitioner, you’ll be unable to analyze your “System Values” using the method I just taught you.

As for Skills/Spells that are difficult to acquire, or Unique Skills/Spells… Well, let’s just say they will be troublesome to find using the above method. Practitioners will be scarce, or even non-existent, so searching for help will be difficult as well.

Regardless of Skills and Spells, however, I recommend placing priority on viewing your Stats — because they can be grown independently of one’s Level, and will be necessary for a good life on Ariot (as you’re no doubt aware). For more details on that, see “The Basics”, which starts just after the Table of Contents.

Now, for the good part. “Monster Souls”

Ariot has many types of Monsters. A lot of individuals are trained to combat said Monsters — but don’t misunderstand. Not every inhabitant of Ariot needs to face off against the monstrous blight.

Don’t feel compelled to fight unless you truly wish to. Your life is yours, and yours alone. Of course, if you’ve already begun a life of adventure and intrigue, then I suppose this advice would simply be falling on deaf ears, so I’ll move on.

Next, I suppose the World would be a good subject to breach.

You may have noticed since your arrival that “Humans” aren’t the only creatures with Egos. I put Humans in quotations because, as you may be aware, they are known as “Eritts” on Ariot. There are also those you would see as “Dwarves”, “Elves”, “Beastkin”, “Halflings”, “Fae”, and “Merfolk”, and more which you can read about in the “Races” category within the Table of Contents.

There’re also many continents, but including all of their names here would be in poor taste, so that as well is in its own section. As for whether a map is included… Unfortunately, because maps are highly valued, including one would disable this book from reaching you through the System, so you’ll have to make do without one.

As a final note: reading through this entire book is not necessary, but it will no doubt aid you some way or another, so I hope you will at least look it over shortly. May your new life be well. We shall meet again.

– Greater God of Souls: Charon

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This world… It’s not based off of a Video Game, right?

I know that asking that to myself is useless, but I feel it’s something that needs to be questioned. Levels, Stats, Titles, Skills, and Spells. If I had been “transported” instead of “reincarnated” a fitting line would be “As expected of Fantasy”, but instead I find myself faced with such things as “reality”.

Moving on from such things… Most of my guesses from the first message from the System were correct. It turns out the Item wasn’t a “Blessing”, but more of a “Gift from a talkative God”, but it makes little difference. Blessings were, indeed, gifts from the Gods after all. Still… There’s something odd about the “Capsule” section and parts afterwards.

Charon seemed to believe I would be reincarnated young — perhaps as a baby as I had expected — and then grown to eventually investigate this book on my own.

Of course, this is just conjecture based off of the Summary, but it’s the feeling I get from the message nonetheless.

Looking away from the book once again, I stand up and look down at my body, leaving the book on the ground for the time being.

As I stand, I don’t feel disturbed or disoriented; I don’t feel dizzy, and I can walk forward a without tripping over myself. I even tested myself by running shortly and jumping over a Gravestone as if it was a hurdle.

Isn’t this disrespecting the deceased? — For now, it’s necessary, so I’ll put such a thought behind me.

After finishing my pseudo-athletics demonstration, I place a hand to my chin and walk back to the Grimoire, which is still sitting right where I left it.

It’s possible that Charon simply made a mistake… But I can’t help but feel that he genuinely believed I would have to live my life through infancy once again, albeit with my memories intact. He had even considered the possibility that I wouldn’t find the book until I had obtained numerous Skills/Spells… And yet the book was right next to me the moment I woke up.

With my slightly grey skin tone and place of “birth”… I don’t want to draw any hasty conclusions, but at this point, I’m likely not a Human — or I suppose it would be Eritt.

I have the anatomy of an Eritt, suggesting I’m something similar, but I can’t see my face, nor what’s under my current clothing, but Charon mentioned other races in the summary, so it wouldn’t be a huge shock even if it turned out I wasn’t a Human anymore.

I don’t really have any lingering affections towards Humans in particular, so I don’t mind relinquishing the racial title of Humanity.

Pride as a Human? What’s that? Can you eat it? — Is a well-known set of questions that I would think of if they were necessary. But they’re not.

The question is, which race has their infants spawn out of nowhere in the middle of a graveyard?

Thinking such, I fiddle with the hair in front of my eyes, curled and Blonde, with dirt as its only blemish. My hair was once Blonde on Earth, but it slowly darkened until it reached a dark Brown, so its color is slightly nostalgic.

Moving a stray hair from in front of my eyes off to the side, I look down at myself once again. I’m wearing what seems to be some form of black Cloak, but it’s quite tattered. It reaches to the ground, causing its bottom to be dragged across the dirt… I can’t help but think it’s quite out-of-place unless this world’s fashion revolves around overly large clothing.

It’s not just the length of the Cloak, either. The area where the Shoulders should support the Cloak seem to be about halfway down my bicep.

The Cloak is connected in the front using three clips. One for the collarbone, one for the center of the chest, and one just above the groin — or so it is likely supposed to be. With the difference in size, the top clip is slightly below the collarbone, the middle clip is at the middle of my abdomen, and the bottom clip is at the mid-section of my thigh.

For now, I take off the Cloak and examine it in more detail.

Its hood and most of its front is composed of a roughly textured material, probably for durability. Its shoulders and back are made of a smooth, leather-like material. It’s weight is as one would expect from a large cloak, which is to say “a little heavy”.

As mentioned previously, it’s completely black in color, and the ends of its sleeves and bottom-rim contain a couple of holes, as though the material had been eaten away. The ends of the sleeves are composed of thin, oddly knitted patterns with holes (some seemingly on-purpose, others, not so much) to make a partially see-through design.

If the Cloak fit properly, the patterns would likely appear as though they were a form of tattoo for my hands… But my arms’ lengths don’t reach the end of the regular sleeve, let alone the patterns, so I digress.

Turning the Cloak around, I discover an odd emblem centered on the back of the Cloak, a bit lower than the center point between one’s shoulders. For my new body, it would be more like the bottom of my back, though. It looks like Brackets with a Roman Numeral “1” in the middle, turned on its side.
((Like this: [ I ] turned 90°))

The symbol is colored Gold, contrary to the color scheme of the rest of the Cloak.

My first thought on the symbol is “troublesome”. The reason? Because Symbols usually mean something to someone.

It’s odd enough that I wasn’t born an infant, but the fact that I have an unknown sign on my back is unnerving. For now, I fold the cloak and place it on top of the book to keep it from getting dirty. Or… Dirtier than it already is, considering the fact that I just ran around while dragging it along.

As for the clothing now revealed with the absence of the Cloak, it seems to be some form of multi-layered Robe along with Baggy Trousers — or at least what’s left of them.

Much of the outer layer in both pieces have deteriorated and they have multiple holes along the seams. The layers underneath the Robe keep it from looking indecent, but it’s still in bad condition with differently sized scratches and lines of string left to hang without purpose.

For the Trousers, the Skin is visible underneath, but because almost all of the damage is exclusive to the thighs of the clothing, it’s of no consequence.

The clothing as a whole is mainly ashen grey, with pitch-black lowlights. It has golden-colored reflective cloth woven along the edges, meaning it was probably quite expensive to create — if “Gold” equates “wealth” like on Earth, that is.

I can’t see the Robe’s insides, because I don’t want to take it off. I’m not embarrassed from the location, seeing as I was “born” here, but I doubt I would be able to put them back on properly once they’re off.

In other words, it’s troublesome.

There seems to be a couple of pockets in the Trousers, but upon poking around inside I find there’s absolutely nothing of interest. Expecting something inside of my pockets would be nothing but wishful thinking, anyways.

Looking down at my feet, I’m wearing what seem to be cloth boots which, judging by the fact I can feel most of the rocks underfoot, act more like socks if anything. They’re black in color with golden rims, just like the Robe. The Trousers’ legs are tucked into them, but my legs don’t feel constricted in the slightest.

I’d say “this clothing is odd”, but I haven’t been on Ariot for anything more than a couple of minutes at most, so saying such a thing would simply be naïve.

This clothing, while the color scheme makes it quite dark, could be worth quite a lot… So long as one looks past the fact that it’s largely in tatters.

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