“Huh...”
With the help of a handheld mirror, I stared hard at every inch of myself from all possible angles. Dark hair, dark eyes—all the same features I’d seen countless times before. Gun to my head, I’d say my only remotely standout facial feature was my naturally steely gaze. My height was just as average as my face, and though I wasn’t jacked, I was no slouch either. Nothing to write home about. Nothing yet, at least.
I should mention that I wasn’t looking myself over with the proverbial fine-tooth comb out of narcissism or anything. I was actually inspecting myself. Good thing too, because I found something when I checked out my back. Reflected in the mirror was...a pair of wings. Were they bat wings? Dragon wings, maybe?
I didn’t know how to describe them, but raven-colored wings proceeded to unfurl from my shoulder blades. I wasn’t used to the sensation, so it felt kinda unnatural at first. When I forced myself to focus on them and they flapped like wings were supposed to, though, I accepted that they were in fact a part of me now.
Last but not least, my eyes. I know I said they were dark, but truth be told, only one of them still was. The other one was stained a deep scarlet. Apparently, they were called “Demon Eyes” in this world, and they seemed to be an ability unique to this particular race.
Why did this feel like main character syndrome, but real? Aaand I just remembered that I’d once gone through my very own phase of said syndrome. Time to crawl into a hole and die.
Repressing that memory again, another weird thing was that even though I looked like this now, for whatever reason, I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. A casual outfit on a demon made absolutely zero sense. Felt like shitty cosplay to me.
Hold up. Was my shirt ripped where the wings came out of my back? I couldn’t see, but it had to be, right?
“Ugh, screw it. I’m going to sleep.”
Exhausted by the whole situation, I turned my brain off. I used some of my Dungeon Points, aka DP, to buy a futon, which I put in the throne room. Then I passed out.
✦ ✦ ✦
Let’s rewind the clock a bit so I can tell you exactly what happened. Long story short, I’d been reincarnated. I died in a run-of-the-mill accident on Earth and was reborn here, wherever “here” was. I’d realized what had happened as soon as I woke up.
How, you ask? Because I still remembered what it had felt like to die. I remembered the sensation of being flung away as the car slammed into me. Of my bones breaking. Of each and every cell in my body screaming as it broke down.
I could still feel the life leaving me just as surely as my blood had, pooling on the ground around me. I’d known I was dying, but strangely enough, I hadn’t felt any pain as my vision slowly darkened into nothingness. And yet, all the repulsive sensations of death lingered even after being reborn...
With a shudder of horror dragged from the depths of my soul, I took a deep breath and banished those terrible memories from my mind. The fact of the matter was that I should have already been dead. Instead, I woke up and found myself collapsed in this weird throne room.
The room had an elegant chandelier and refined columns and walls, but there were no windows to speak of, and it wasn’t all that big. To top it all off, behind me stood a simple but impressive, well-made throne—the centerpiece of the room. Surprisingly enough, instead of the typical grandiose red carpet, a blue one stretched from said throne all the way across the room. At its end towered an austere, imposing door that was very clearly immovable. You could say the room was... If I had to guess, I’d say it was some sort of evil lair. It felt like the area in a game’s final dungeon where you’d fight the Demon King, but smaller in scale.
Anyway, I was done zoning out; it was time to get on my feet and figure out exactly what the hell was going on. But as I stood up, I caught a glimpse of something behind the throne.
“What is that?”
“That” was a glowing, rainbow-colored orb about half the size of a basketball. For no real reason, I walked toward it with my hand outstretched, and—
“Huh?! Gaaaahhhh!!!”
The moment I touched it, my head started to pound. It felt like a direct assault on my mind, and it was so awful that it crept through my whole body. My legs buckled from the agonizing shock, dropping me to my hands and knees before I finally collapsed fully onto the floor.
Tears streamed from my eyes as my vision blurred from the intense pain. I had the powerful urge to throw up too. Lying there on the floor, I couldn’t do anything but writhe in agony, screams tearing from my throat.
“Rgh... Ahhh... So that’s it...”
After what felt like an eternity, the hellish torture started to let up, the pain receding like the tide. Still breathing roughly, I managed to utter a short phrase.
“Open...menu.”
As soon as I said it, a transparent glass slab appeared in front of me. Basically, it looked like a screen from a game menu. Its design would adapt to the being who spoke the command, making it as easy as possible for them to use. For example, if a member of a primitive race like the goblins, which existed in this world, said “Open menu,” the interface would show up as a stone slab. When other humanoid species gave the same command, it usually appeared as a book. In my particular case, I think the interface decided that a game menu would be the best option since I played video games so much in my former life.
All of this information popped into my head so naturally, like an encyclopedia had opened up in there. Holy crap...there was a wiki in my brain now, because that orb really had implanted knowledge directly into me.
Still unsteady, I massaged my skull while directing my gaze toward the interface. Starting at the top, I saw four options displayed on the “screen”: Stats, Dungeon Points (DP) Catalog, Dungeon, and Loot Roll. I really, really wanted to know more about that last one, but decided that I should probably start with Stats. The screen worked just like a smartphone’s, so when I tapped on Stats, it spat out my data.
“Interesting... Whoa, I’m an archdemon.”
Uhhh, however it happened, apparently I wasn’t human anymore.
Name: Yuki
Race: Archdemon
Class: Demon Lord
Level: 1
HP: 2,100 / 2,100
MP: 6,700 / 6,700
Strength: 651
Stamina: 685
Agility: 550
Magic: 897
Dexterity: 1,250
Luck: 70
Ability Points: 5
Special Abilities: Demon Eyes, Polyglot
Abilities: Inventory, Analysis 1
Title: The Demon Lord from Another World
Dungeon Points (DP): 1,000
So not only was I a demon now, but I was a demon lord to boot? Just looking at that word was unsettling. Wait, no, scratch that. In this world, anybody who controlled a dungeon was called a lord. Learned that from the encyclopedia in my head.
I saw that both my last name and the kanji for my first name had disappeared, so I guess I was just plain ol’ Yuki now. I had never really liked my name since so many girls had it too, but now it was just totally meaningless, and that was worse.
Another thing I noticed was my shockingly low Luck stat—not that I had anything to compare my stats to. Then again, I did get hit by a car and die, so it kinda made sense. And it baffled me that Dexterity was so much higher than everything else. It wasn’t like I’d ever been good with my hands or anything.
Next, I slid my finger over the Abilities section, and the screen displayed their specifics. Analysis, Inventory, and Polyglot were apparently pretty common. Analysis leveled up as I did, and the more it increased, the more information I would get on the interface. With Inventory, the more magic I had, the more items I could hold. The ability to understand languages spoke for itself, so enough said there. Demon Eyes...looked to be unique to archdemons. It seemed like an ability that made it possible to see the power of an opponent’s magic, but I still wasn’t sure of its usefulness.