I won’t go into the details, but I’m being reborn in an alternate world.
According to a “goddess-like being,” it’s supposed to be a world where magical powers reign absolute. Her explanation was vague, so I’m kinda unsure, but apparently she’s also granting me some kind of “overpowered skill.”
In the fall of my third year of junior high, I became a shut-in to escape school bullying. I locked myself in my room and refused to come out. That was five years ago. Since then, I’ve been living with no goals and no hopes for the future.
And now they’re telling me to “rejoice in a new incarnation”?
All I wanted was to be left in peace.
To get away from those heartless jerks.
The best way to live is to be a total slacker─losing myself in video games and anime all day until, at some point, I drift off to sleep.
I know what I’ll do, I decide.
I’ll spend my life as a shut-in in this new universe too! That’s how I’ll use my so-called overpowered skill, I think to myself, as I draw my first breath and utter my first cry.
Everything is blurry. I hear someone shouting but can’t make out the words. Then, abruptly, the voice becomes clear.
“Your Majesty! It’s a healthy baby boy!”
“So it is! Well done, Gizelotte!”
Someone picks me up.
I still can’t see a thing. I can’t tell who’s who.
I strain to focus my eyes.
Then, suddenly, my vision clears.
Before me is a dapper, elegant older man. Blond with high cheekbones, he looks like a heartthrob Hollywood actor. He’s dressed up all fancy, like a king in some fantasy-world anime.
Mr. Handsome takes me in his arms and starts to walk around.
“What say you, Gizelotte? He resembles us both─a beautiful boy. His hair and eyes are the same color as yours, but see here. He bears the royal insignia on the left side of his chest. He’s my son, no doubt about it.”
Gently, he holds me up to a woman of astonishing beauty. She has black hair, dark eyes, and alabaster skin. She looks young. Her face is so perfect, it’s almost disturbing.
Well, wouldn’t you know it? The handsome older king has a stunning young bride.
“Why, of course he’s your son. Would you accuse me of infidelity, my lord?”
They’re both smiling, but do I detect an undercurrent of tension?
In any case, I seem to have been reborn as some kind of prince.
Hopefully I’m, like, their eighth son. Then nobody will complain if I spend my life as a shut-in, I muse as the king carries me into a different room.
It looks like we’re entering an eerie chamber.
The windows are shrouded by heavy curtains, and the shadows flicker in the glow of candelabras placed in every corner. The floor of the great room is inscribed with an enormous magic circle. In its center sits a wooden cradle.
“I have awaited your arrival, Your Majesty. The preparations are complete.”
An old man cloaked in black robes sneers ominously. Creepy.
“Very well. Proceed,” the king commands.
He passes me to the old man in the robes, who then places me in the cradle.
The robed old man takes out a crystal ball the size of his palm. After mumbling what sounds like a spell, he suddenly bulges his eyes wide open. Again, creepy.
The crystal ball emits a flash of light so intense it hurts my eyes.
The ball begins to shake so violently that it almost falls out of the old man’s hand. A sudden gust of wind swirls through the room─even though we’re indoors.
“Wh-What’s happening?” the man who is my father stammers, panicking.
Eventually, the strange phenomena subside.
“Hrrrmmm?! What have we here…?” the old man exclaims.
“Yes? What is the prince’s ‘max mana level’?” my father demands.
They seem to be measuring my magic ability.
From what the goddess-like being has told me, everyone in this world is born with magical abilities, and those abilities are determined at birth.
Your max mana level is the highest level of magic you’ll ever achieve in your lifetime.
No matter how hard you work, there’s no way to surpass it.
“This child is my son, and the son of Gizelotte, the Flash Princess. I wouldn’t be surprised if his level is 40…or even 50, considering the phenomena we just witnessed!”
My father is extremely excited.
I’ve been told that the highest mana level in history was 77─an easy number to remember. That person was revered as a great sage. In general, a score of over 30 is impressive. A high mana level can even elevate your social class from peasant to nobility.
However…
“Er…2.”
“Hmm? What did you just say?”
“The prince’s maximum mana level seems to be a 2… Oh. On top of that, there is no element indicated! In other words, he will only be able to practice Barrier magic.”
Again, from what the goddess-like being explained to me, people in this world are born with “elements.” In addition to the four basic elements of fire, water, earth, and wind, there’s also light and darkness. If you have one or more of these elements, you can use that type of magic.
You can’t use magic from elements you have no affinity with.
The only exception is Barrier magic, but she didn’t go into much detail about that.
The crystal ball reads 02/02. Nothing more.
“Oh, but his current mana level is already a 2. He’s attained his max mana level at birth. What a precocious prince!” Dripping with cold sweat, the old man tries desperately to look on the bright side.
“Idiot!” The king roars in fury. “There’s nothing unusual about being born with a mana level of 2! A 2? His max is 2?! And he’s non-elemental? You’re telling me that the child of my seed…of Gizelotte’s womb…is an imbecile?!”
The old man stumbles backwards, losing his footing and landing on his butt.
“But wait. Mija’s Crystal must be malfunctioning,” the king argues. “Yes, that must be it!”
Daddy’s getting desperate.
But I agree. Devices do malfunction. That’s a thing.
The goddess-like being wasn’t specific about the overpowered skill she granted me…but even if it had nothing to do with my max mana level, a 2 just doesn’t seem right. I mean…a 2?