Reincarnation Into This Accursed World!!
Kazuma breathed in soothingly.
As the cerebral spirit of his cognition pushed through the palpable essence of pure data offered on the curses available to him, his obfuscated future became more obvious in a terrifying way.
For the rest of his days, he would live in irreversible condemnation: a lost wretch. He would become a discarded piece of garbage that eventually became a fast-rolling ball of trash, that'd grow into a globe of debris that blotted out the sun itself - assuming the world failed to clean him up before that could even happen.
He'd made his choices, there was no backing out. It wouldn't be an easy life... but it never was.
Kazuma lived as a social outcast, in the past, on the edges of people's awareness. He wallowed and stirred in tar-bitter misery, shunned friendship and avoided community in fear that he'd once again be hurt, and in the belief that it wasn't remotely even worth it. There was an element of self-delusion to the entire thing: the prideful conviction that he didn't need any of that.
As he lived this way for entire weeks, then months, seasons, years; for the majority of his adolescence and memory, he started to develop a blank, hollow curiosity: the consideration of what'd happen if he put in the actual effort needed to change his lifestyle, and once again move out into the sun.
That feeling was at odds with his selection of curses.
The Affliction wouldn't always be able to do so if he came into the world prepared and cautious, but it could guide people who felt nothing but distaste towards him, to a certain degree; the Brand of the Wretched would exacerbate the results. Perhaps, in that bottomless sea, he'd find an oddball hand reaching out to welcome him, but unlike with everything that Kazuma felt that had left him disappointed, it wasn't a promise, only a nebulous possibility; half-formed and less than improbable. He'd learned not to rely on promises and oaths, because forsworn and oathbreakers were more common than people wanted to believe, and he could only rely on this possibility less.
Kazuma understood this feeling would be an impediment of its own.
He breathed in again, drawing on the reserve of sharp-minded determination. Like a firefighter dousing the flames of inadequacy, he siphoned the determination to never become so vulnerable and pathetic; the desire to always stand off against Fate's machinations, defiant to the end.
As a Cursebearer, that would only become easier over time. If Destiny pitched a curveball at him, he would learn to pitch a skyscraper back.
A cold, strong, and unreflective urge to act preemptively arose within him, and then filled him up like water filling a glass. It was as if the determination had gained a mind of its own and joined its hands with his own, looking to help him find a way as he fumbled with the assassin's knife meant to press into the victim's neck.
With its help, Kazuma located the location of his curiosity in his heart: that ever-present feeling.
As he accepted the Accursed's deal, he killed that feeling.
With the hands of a heartless, unfeeling hitman, Kazuma plunged the knife into the feeling's throat; fingers clasped onto the hilt through determination. With cold zeal in his burning chest, he twisted that knife and caused a splatter of blood against his face. The feeling died without even a cry of pain.
He discarded the curiosity and instead, accepted the idea that he was locking off the possibility of no longer being a social outcast. He abandoned hope in that moment, understanding that if he was ever blessed to have friends again, it'd be circumstance that brought them together, rather than destiny. He would find companionship in time, that he didn't doubt, but it would be a long road.
The darkness that lodged itself in his heart, the counter-feeling that made him driven to accept this insane transaction sat back like a king on its throne, in solidification and gratification. It was like a caesar watching a gladiator show and nodding in tacit approval at the performance of the executor, who'd lobbed off the loser's head with a chop of the gladius.
"I'm done," Kazuma declared calmly.
As if possessing more than an inkling of understanding as to what happened, the Accursed's head pitched a degree lower mournfully.
"So be it," the man said, voice a degree more rooted now.
It was like being shot with a gun. Suddenly, the air rattled and distorted, and Kazuma's heart was pierced by a choking spear of lightning. He weathered it, like a knight standing on the precipice of a cliff thrusting his longsword into the earth and holding onto it in the face of a tempest. As it happened, Kazuma could feel the core of his being opening up like a vortex.
Then, curses - like primordial serpents reaching out with forked adder-tongues to catch the desirable scent of their newest, defenseless victim.
One curse slithered in like it owned the place and settled around his shoulders like a contented pet, a laughing snake whispering bad advice; two more peeked their heads in curiously and with a smirk offered towards each other, became chains binding his wrists; and the last one, sinuous and long, enveloped his entire aura like a constrictor boa and compressed like a spring, then shed its skin on top of him like a permanent stain meant to never go away.
After that, the vortex swallowed the golden numinous orb of his power as a Cursebearer. Power enough to, in time, overcome any trial no matter how treacherous. The leaden weight of the curses didn't pale in comparison to it, but the unspoken promise here is that it would if he managed to survive.
Kazuma received a profusion of boons from the source of power: the Remittance he selected, a cobbled-together but undeniably useful collection of abilities that the Accursed considered minor, but trumped anything Kazuma used to know about the meaning of the word 'power.' Once, if he failed or perished, he could be forgiven and make a second attempt with far more knowledge than he rightfully should have. Once in a very long time, he could tear down one of the chains that bound him and reach out to grasp Fate's throat with a vicelike grip. Another element of his power was a link of connection extending to somewhere else, reaching for power in a different form. He could feel his potential to build a Retinue expand in his mind.
And finally, the most simple kind of power that could be found. In that accouterment of the Accursed, Kazuma found unearthly strength; bricks of true constructive essence slipped into him, the stuff that elevated base elements into higher elements; that elevated meaningless carbon and chemical reactions into life; that made a lump of coal into a diamond.
He could feel his muscles strengthen like corded steel, his pulse quicken like a machine pumping tellurian stamina in stellar amounts, his mind illuminate like a dark hallway that had its torches lit. His senses were like a block of steel sharpening into a razor-knife, so acute as to pick up the flap of a mosquito's wings from a room away. He became more charismatic, simply through a natural understanding better how people worked and what to avoid in conversation. His soul became housing for a heavy-duty mana turbine, processing a stream of fundamental aether into vital magical energy.
In addition to his other, considerable powers, Kazuma was elevated from the trappings of lowest, pit-dwelling humanity to stand like a shining hero on its tallest mountain.
When he accepted the changes, the Accursed was in front of him still, but the effect that froze reality was being unwoven gradually as if the man was taking his leave now, the business settled successfully for both parties.
"This concludes our transaction," the Accursed drolly said. Kazuma listened carefully as the man launched into a short goodbye, "I confess, I do not have many expectations of you, Kazuma Satou. This was a deal made of circumstance, gloom, and persistence. You happened to be in the right place at the right time, and if I was to pick you, this would be the last possible juncture."
Kazuma felt a 'but' coming there, and he leaned forward eagerly to hear it. The Accursed glanced into his eyes, a pair of fixed steel-blue graves meeting Kazuma's steady burning emeralds.
"Nonetheless, it does not change the basic fact: although it may not be perfect, compatibility for this state dwells in you. Never abandon it. You are nothing less than a Cursebearer: there is a wellspring of resolve in you, and though it may be dark right now, a light can be found in strange places: seek it, and then destroy anything that'd prevent you from obtaining it. Should you ever feel disheartened, then you have already lost. Even should all creation rise against you, rise higher that you may strike them down. Even should you find the earth's pull weighing you down, strike beneath, and create a world that exists without the impudent earth. Even should every window of opportunity be lost, cleave a path through the indestructible wall. These are your words. This is your provenance."
His voice an astral specter, the Accursed parted with, "Now, go forth, and bear my Curse!" The grayness of frozen unreality snapped, and time shuddered, then ground into motion once more.
Once again, the laughter of an overbold goddess reached Kazuma's ears but stopped rather short as the goddess in question arrested her guffawing. Kazuma looked at her and raised a neutral eyebrow as the goddess started glaring daggers at him.
"What?" Kazuma blandly asked.
"Learn to take a joke, useless shut-in," Aqua insulted right off the bat. "Your indifferent look is seriously pissing me off..." There was a severe disdain in her voice, like she was addressing something that she'd have scraped off her shoe, but it wasn't the kind of bloodthirsty, mouth-foaming scorn he expected.
Despite himself, Kazuma couldn't help but let his head settle down with a self-satisfied smirk and smugly closed eyes.
This is what he'd be dealing with from the scary-looking Brand of the Wretched?
How utterly pathetic. He dealt with this kind of verbal abuse and aversion for lunch in his previous life, sometimes literally given the disposition of his parents and brother. And they were actually much better at it since they knew how to snipe at his subtle insecurities and weaknesses. This was nothing.
"Eh, what a disgusting creep, he's smiling at my insults... Maybe I shouldn't reincarnate him after all? I do need to fill out the annual quota and the deadline's soon, though, but he's so disgusting it's hard to even think about that, what a pain..." Aqua muttered away some things that Kazuma could only hear with the spotless hearing the Accursed proffered him as a part of his Remittance.
Kazuma's teeth clenched into a forced smile, one of his eyes twitching. This was nothing.
After some cold reading and careful analysis of Aqua's behavior thus far, Kazuma questioned her about the afterlife, feigning a lack of awareness.
As expected, the goddess delightfully spilled the beans regarding his future purpose as a propaganda device for the gods or a crisp-looking ablative shield to be thrown into the meat grinder and then discarded once worn down. She excluded some key details the Accursed didn't however, like almost all of that.
She only mentioned there was a Demon King who needed slaying and so, the youthful dead across Earth were being conscripted in order to aid the people of the world in their efforts; the Japanese, in particular, were being reincarnated into the nation of Belzerg, one of the main contenders in the war. Aqua explained some of the basics of the New World to him at his request such as currency and geography.
And, of course, the honeyed carrot: a seal upon the deal. The great equalizer meant to falsely bring the reincarnated into a level where fighting the enemy was supposed to be possible but wasn't actually.
Kazuma wanted to smirk to himself as Aqua whipped out a heavy infobook and showed a specific page to him, tapping one of its entries. "Here, I recommend this one for you."
He read most of it with a single glance and frowned.
It was a pretty useless textile faculty. With its power, he could weave napkins to wipe down fluids or compresses for the injured that worked nearly twice as well. There was a strong implication in the description that he'd be relegated to a support role, making high-quality clothing for the aristocracy or towels that 'more important' Cheaters would use to wipe sweat and blood from their forehead after a serious battle, and doing nothing else of value to the war effort.
Aqua was grinning at him pleasantly like an innocent daisy-flower in summer bloom, eyes closed prettily. Before, he would have said this pristine image made his heart race. Right now? Oh, it was undoubtedly and objectively captivating even now, but for all its grandeur and allure, it only made him detest her more.
Kazuma looked at the description and dismissed the Crafting Series: Weaver Cheat. Even if the excellence of Progression without surcease was there to forge it into a better ability over time, he preferred some immediate power to start with.
He snapped the infobook from her hand, then started flipping through.
"Hey! You can't do that, you useless hikki-NEET!" Aqua cried in wrathful affront, but he strained to ignore her.
This enflamed her more, as he noticed a lashing hand coming from his peripheral vision. In a tenth of a second or less, Kazuma reacted.
He flexed his legs as he leaped up from the chair and gracefully landed on top of its backrest, balancing on top without even once tearing his eyes away from the infobook he was flipping through and practically absorbing at a rate of one page per second. It was a novel sensation; the multitasking of a mind that was an entire tier over what normal humans could achieve married to peak-human cognitive speed. Even more novel was the balance and jumping height that bordered the deeds of the greatest athletes to have ever lived on Earth.
Aqua tried to strike at his ankles with a brutal fist, without considering how impossible the maneuver was for a 'useless hikki-NEET,' but Kazuma simply leaped back with supernal balance and force. Like a vengeful bird, he gave the chair a lovetap on his way out to send it right into her as a deterrence.
Aqua let out a wail of pain at the unexpected impact, while Kazuma finished the surprisingly brief infobook. It only had sixteen pages, with four entries for every page. Sixty-four in total?
The explanation came to him with a moment's reasoning, as Kazuma recalled some factoids from his previous life. He suspected only a narrow fraction was offered to him because there was a 'Heavenly Series' based on the Seven Heavenly Virtues, but he only noticed two of them on the offered list.
He looked up, seeing that Aqua was in a heap on the floor, the wooden chair lying on top of her.
It felt good to be this arrogant; he considered this due repayment for the emotional distress he incurred on part of her earlier laughter, but also resolved not to go any further. It'd be severely bad to sour their relations anymore, although he wasn't expecting friendship, to begin with; only cooperation.
It was incumbent for him not to piss her off too much.
Kazuma approached as Aqua pushed the chair off herself with a grunt. He raised the infobook and showed it to the goddess, tapping an entry with his finger. "This looks interesting, tell me more about it. Also, sorry for kicking that chair on you. Let's get along?"
He reached out with a hand to aid her in getting up, but Aqua only growled and slapped it aside.
Kazuma stepped back, although the goddess didn't resume her attack. She merely stood up and dusted herself off.
Aqua glared at him seethingly for a moment, then looked at the book and recalled his previous request. She redirected from her dislike of him and back to her role as a psychopomp by looking at the entry he pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
"This?" She huffed and crossed her arms, scowling at him. "It does what it says on the tin, idiot! It lets you petrify organic matter. You're really impudent, attacking a goddess... I'll let you off just this once, so don't do it again, got that?"
Unfortunately for her, Kazuma saw right through her clever bullshit. She had a pretty good poker face, but his plus-20 to Wisdom offered pretty good insight on her petty motives and causes.
The goddess' unthinking double strike and subsequent defeat were chillingly shocking to her because she didn't expect him to be actually able to dodge or meaningfully counter her. She wasn't terrified of him, but reasonably concerned that if she chose to continue fighting, she'd feel pain and, as a result, be subjected to the 'horrors' of an unpleasant experience; a path that she desperately wanted to avoid, but framed as divine mercy in order to retain her pride as a deity.
He felt vindicated because of that and smiled. "Yes."
Kazuma realized that he didn't have to kick that chair at her. The reason he did was probably that it would have felt good to hear some goddess bones make a crunching noise.
In order to avoid a repeat performance in the future, he marked her for Geas of Incompetence and felt the curse transfer into a fate-link between them as if sharply drawn and magnetized towards her, like there was no more perfect target for it anywhere within the local cluster of a billion universes.
"Anyway, let's keep discussing Cheats," Kazuma pushed aside, looking and flipping through the infobook. Even if she was generally uncooperative, he wanted confirmation for some of the more dubious functions before he settled on any of them as usable.
Aqua let out a tremulous sigh as if already tired of him and wanting nothing more than to get through this.
---
It appears the overwhelming tactical support has decided! Winning vote:
[Ko] Retinue
[No] The Verdant Decipher Fortress
[Su] Goddess Aqua
[Ba] Natsuki Subaru
What an interesting bunch! Subaru is an excellent companion to have; there are certain gaps and weaknesses to his Return by Death, but if they stay close enough, Subaru is sure to ensure Kazuma's survival for a good amount of time and boost his progress.
Now then, let's get to the meat of the choices, shall we?
Kazuma receives 200,000 Eris to start with. This is enough to register with the Adventurer's Guild, obtain a stable middle-class living quarter for the first week, and buy a set of adequate starting gear for any potential Class.
Choose a single Cheat Power:
[ ] Virtue Series: Charity - Kazuma receives what is essentially a dimensional pocket.
At the expenditure of a trivial sum of magical energy, Kazuma can open and maintain vantablack dimensional portals that lead into a dimension of infinite space. The portals' edges are soft and pliable, and cannot be used for cutting objects via timed dismissal. An object either goes through in full, or it doesn't go through at all.
These pockets have some utility, however. While it's almost negligibly cheap to maintain a single pocket opening floating next to Kazuma at all times, magical energy can also be spent in order to both eject items with force or produce a suction effect. The mana cost of virtually all functions, (pocket size, force, motion through space,) increase proportionally to distance from the user's heart. If something is fully stored in a utility pocket, it counts as being under temporal stasis. If a pair of utility pockets are created, they can be used to freely transfer objects between them. A utility pocket can be physically anchored to an object that's either non-sentient or fully willing, such as attaching it like a plaster on top of a person's hand or at the side of a box.
While Aqua says most reincarnates disregard this "stupid gimmick" in favor of "actual" Cheats such as holy or cursed swords, Kazuma's eyes practically glimmer with boundless excitement upon seeing it.
There is a berth of ideas in his mind: Sucking up vast quantities of oxygen with a wide pocket, then releasing a pressurized shot with a narrow but powerful pocket attached to his elbow in order to produce a super-punch. Doing the same with a utility pocket his fist enters, only to exit a utility pocket behind an enemy's head. If he's willing to shoulder the large cost of having his heart pass through the dimension itself, this can be a short-range blink to avoid physical obstruction or reach higher ground. Layering parts of his body in shielding pockets can serve as cheap defense and projectile absorption.
If Kazuma's magical energy becomes sufficient, this can become, in essence, the Gate of Babylon, but you have to gather the treasures yourself.
[ ] Magic Series: Blue Magic - The user can access the system of Blue Magic that necessitates the consumption of monster-flesh in order to accumulate experience pools that let him replicate some of the target's abilities. The scale of the abilities grows directly with the quantity of consumed flesh, but does so at an agonizingly slow pace: the user will need to fully consume the entire body mass of at least twenty-five mimics before they can do anything more than slightly alter their facial features, change skin, hair, eye color, or ethnicity; at least five-hundred before they can pretend to be a chest themselves. This cost is larger with monsters that are more powerful.
Although quite potent with a timescale of months or years, and Kazuma believes slightly multiplicative with Progression, this ability offers no power in the moment and could prove to be far weaker than the implication offers. As such, this is something of a potential trap option. Kazuma suspects that cannibalism may be utilized to gain the abilities of slain opponents, but isn't actually eager to experiment with this.
[ ] Ocular Series: Eyes of Petrification - An interesting Cheat that caught Kazuma's eye - pun intended.
It appears to be the ability to, once per day, flash a green light from the user's eyes that can flash-transmute any organic matter in the user's field of vision into mundane, easily-breakable stone. There is no stated limit to affected targets other than 'organic,' and, in fact, it outright says it'll reliably work on anything that doesn't exceed the user's level, but the effect becomes less pronounced on any targets who do. With the information Kazuma has on the New World's "Adventurer Card" system, he suspects he'll be able to breeze through all non-boss encounters that endanger his life.
Its benefits are obvious: it acts as an ablative layer to end an encounter once per day. If Kazuma finds himself in a difficult fight, he'll be able to use this to quickly eliminate the threat, so long as it doesn't outclass him too much, in which case it'll at least open an avenue to escape the situation instead. It's a very safe option.
However, Kazuma also instinctively feels that it'll be hard to advance this Cheat's power, as its metaphysical structure is ill-suited to Progression.
[ ] Attribute Series: Blessed Luck - Gain 100 Luck. For most people, this would be equated to gaining marvelous success in most endeavors, in particular, those relying on chance. For Kazuma, it's a sizable and direct Mitigation for the Affliction of Misfortune. It does not significantly approach a full Mitigation of the curse, but it counts as considerable progress to the quarter-point.
While this is undoubtedly useful, perhaps it's not the best long-term option. After all, the Affliction of Misfortune is so easy to Mitigate directly that Kazuma will continue to do so on a basis that borders the automatic; all he needs to do is exactly the same as this Cheat: manually increase his Luck until its value is once again in the green and the powers of chance or absence of information no longer threaten him. It shouldn't be too hard, right?
Since it counts as Mitigation, the Accursed will like you slightly more. However, since it also counts as being zero effort, that favor isn't high nor lofty.
[ ] American Series: Gun - This isn't in the infobook. Kazuma asks for and receives: a pair of spatially-enlarged suitcases, both of them containing a small armory of firearms of different sizes, a head-turning quantity of explosive devices, and sufficient ordnance to last him a good, productive year before running out.
Nothing can beat superior firepower, and a magical sword that needs five seconds to heat up before firing a dimension-ripping wave of magical energy means nothing to a Beretta M9 that can void the contents of your skull out the other side in a pink mist in an eyeblink. The lesson to derive here is that firepower needn't be loftier or more pressing to be superior; only more reliable, and what more is reliable than a killing tool invented through centuries of trial in countless human wars?
Aqua is disturbed by this choice and seems perplexed as to why you'd choose a material boon that'll run out and can't be relied on to kill dragons. Maybe she's right: the ammunition stores are finite if jaw-dropping and there's no doubt there'll be fearsome beasts immune to high-velocity projectiles out there. But her analysis fails to account for the fact that Kazuma can learn to dig for metal, study to create shells, and synthesize gunpowder in time; and for those monsters who deny the mundane gun's advance, there's always the unity of magic and bullet.
Kazuma isn't American, he's Japanese. Regardless, this cheat will probably render him an honorary member of the Land of the Free.
[ ] Write-in. Kazuma can ask for his own boon, within reason and limit. To do this, follow the outlined formula above. Subject to veto.
Choose a single decision-making strategy upon entering the New World:
Kazuma is a reasonably competent person, despite his outside appearance and frequent school truancy. In fact, when it comes to strategy and tactics he is a savant. In his homeland, he was often called, 'Kazuma-san who forces patch updates.' What a fearsome opponent to face!
Being so genre-savvy, Kazuma knows he'll need an approach for starting in the New World. His nasty set of curses is going to make life difficult, but fortunately, he can foresee two, decent strategies for overcoming this issue:
[ ] Felicis Ad Victoriam - Upon entering the New World, activate Fortune's Smile for the year instantly. Kazuma will start making investments that are sure to prove beneficial in the long-run.
Remember this isn't Kazuma's inborn luck that aids him in games of chance that other attributes have no control over. This is the release of a Luck factor that so badly desires to be free of the choking morasses of the Affliction of Misfortune that it shines an entire magnitude brighter than it would have. It's Luck's Luck, a fortune so splendorous it almost bends reality and rationality.
Go around town and make a searing-good impression on every person of interest, shopkeeper, innkeeper, and fellow adventurer you can find to overcome the Brand of the Wretched's primary issue. Make friends with Aqua when she drops to the best of your ability, attempting to find some measure of forgiveness and friendship. Move for the blacksmith's store and enjoy the sizable discount on some of his better equipment, then do the same for every shop in town like a mafia boss collecting his dividends as fast as he can. If there's any time left over, go and locate the nearest casino or gambling spot, and play as many cards as you can then stop playing when the grace period ends, having made an entire million in Eris.
[ ] Slow and Steady, Wins the Race - Don't spend Fortune's Smile. Choose to work slowly, instead, and save the Fortune for another, more pressing moment. It's not like it hurts to try, right? If you fail horribly, there'll be a second chance waiting for you right after.
The Brand of the Wretched's casting of initial impressions can be overcome with word and deed; let Kazuma convince the local adventurers and Guild staff he isn't such a bad guy. The Affliction of Misfortune's playing field to ruin your day can be limited by learning as much as possible in order to not receive an unpleasant surprise later, so endeavor to study about the city and its denizens as much as possible, as well as the things outside of it. And since Aqua hates your guts, spend some time grilling her over.
