The new-world half of the prologue.
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“Awake, Tenma-kun?”
When Tenma came to, there were ten lights standing in front of him.
“Where am I.”
One of the lights tried to approach at his mumble — or would have, but the other lights immediately bowled it over, and it slid face-first across the floor in a beautifully executed slide tackle.
“This kid! He’s such a good kid~! We’ve never gotten one like this!”
That from a woman-ish light, latching on with a hug.
“It’s so nice that this is the one we got~”
That from another woman-ish light, drifting closer with a smile somewhere in her voice.
“It’s the first time anyone’s said that kind of thing!”
That from a light slapping him on the back — sounded like some old guy.
Off a bit, two more lights were looking him over. Then one approached without a word and started sniffing his body — this guy a perv? — and another started touching him (lower half included) while wriggling — no, this one’s the actual perv! For the record, I kept the important bits safe. Behind the woman-lights, two more were watching, one of them timidly, the other tinged faintly black.
A whole crowd of them. Seemed friendly enough, but with no faces, he had no idea who was who. As he stood there confused, the light that had been bowled over piped up.
“Everyone, give him space, Tenma-kun’s getting overwhelmed!”
That calmed the lights down — for about two seconds, because then —
“Yeah, I can’t tell any of you apart with no faces.”
— and they all started up again. Then:
“Ah, I forgot to give you eyes that can see us properly. Sorry sorry. Tee-hee!”
At which point the bowled-over light (probably the one who’d brought him here) got thumped by several other lights. Meanwhile, the smile-light drifted up to him, placed what passed for a palm over his eyes —
“Hold still for a second~”
— and his eyes went warm.
“All done~”
A minute or two later, hand removed, and standing in front of Tenma was an elegant, gentle-looking beauty with a soft smile on her face. Also: big tits.
To her side: a slender, lighter-toned beauty, easygoing energy. That was probably the one who’d glomped him.
Nearby: a sturdy, robust woman (like an innkeeper’s wife) with a tiny kid (looked about ten) peeking out from behind her.
A short distance away, a fifteen-ish boy was getting absolutely clobbered — the ones doing the clobbering being a hulking, muscled-up man (some old dude), a guy wearing what looked like a wolf-pelt cloak (no — that was the cloak), and a genuinely good-looking man (legitimately handsome) who was, however, moving in a kind of off way… wait, eyes met — and he winked and blew a kiss. That guy. The perv was that guy. What a letdown.
After Tenma had stared for a while, two of the men came over. One was an attractive middle-aged gentleman with that distinguished-grey thing going on, the other was wearing a deep hood like a fantasy mage.
“Pleased to meet you, Tenma. I am the Destruction God. The hooded one’s the Magic God. Regards.”
“Pleasure.”
The Destruction God greeted him first, then the Magic God. The women followed up.
“Pleased to meet you, Tenma-chan! I’m the Goddess of Love! Nice to meet ya!”
“I am the Earth Goddess~ Pleasure~”
“Name’s the Life Goddess. Good to meetcha, Tenma!”
“I’m… the Death God… pleasure…”
In order: the slender beauty, the soft-smile beauty, the inn-mistress, the tiny kid.
Then the trio who had gotten bored of beating up the boy came over.
“Hey! I’m the Skill God. Pleasure, Tenma!”
— old dude, slapping his back hard. Really hard.
”… I… am the Beast God…”
— wolf-pelt guy, approaching from behind to sniff him. Right, because he’s a wolf-themed god, that’s why he sniffs people. Got it. …No I don’t! He looks like he’s about to eat me!
“Hiii~ I’m the War God. Nice to meet you. Te-n-ma-chan! Mwah!”
A wild(?) Okama appeared. The Okama used Blow Kiss. Tenma dodged. The wild(?) Okama looked disappointed. …Close one~.
“Ahem! Now then. Pleased to meet you, Tenma-kun. I’m the Creation God — the one who brought you here. Regards!”
The fifteen-year-old-looking boy stepped up. There were about eight cartoon-style lumps on his head. Getting beaten that hard and only sustaining those as injuries is impressive in its own way.
“Hello to everyone. I’m Ootori Tenma. So — could someone explain what happens from here?”
“Sure. I’ll start. Have a seat, first.”
The Creation God snapped his fingers, and a chair appeared next to Tenma, plus ten more in a half-circle around him. The boy straightened up.
“Once again, pleased to meet you, Tenma-kun. And welcome to our world: ‘Fantasma’ — though we’re the only ones who know what it’s called.”
“Mind if I ask something first?”
“Go ahead.”
The thing that had been bugging him the most this whole time:
“You’ve all introduced yourselves as ‘god of so-and-so,’ but I haven’t gotten any actual names.”
The Creation God blinked at him.
“Names? We don’t have any. If you had to call it anything, the ‘so-and-so god’ part is our name.”
Now it was Tenma’s turn to blink.
“Isn’t that inconvenient?”
“A god’s name changes every time the era shifts or the rulers change, and going around with names that humans made up for us is kind of a pain. Also, hassle.”
The ‘also, hassle’ is definitely the real reason, Tenma did not say out loud.
“Anyway. The first thing I want to say to you — being reincarnated into this world does not come with anything you’re obligated to do for us. Once you’re reborn, the reason we brought you over is satisfied. You can live however you like. Although if you start, you know, destroying the world or going on a killing spree, we’d have to step in.”
The Creation God said it lightly, but it didn’t feel like a joke.
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“That would help me a lot. Once we have to step in, it’s a hassle.”
That’s all he says.
“You mentioned cheat abilities. What kinds are we talking?”
“Right. First, the absolute classic — [Appraisal]. Handy. Then [Growth Boost], which roughly multiplies every kind of growth and experience gain by ten compared to what other people get. After that, anyone here who’s taken a liking to you will toss you a blessing or a cheat of their own. The people here have already decided to give you something.”
“What sort of things?”
“That’s a secret. Save it for when you wake up. You’ll be the first person to get this many gifts from this many gods, though. Lucky you.”
“‘First’ — meaning there have been others before?”
“There have. About forty or fifty, all told. Some of them weren’t people — there’ve been a few dogs, cats. Weirdest one was a fish.”
“A fish.”
“A Japanese carp, to be specific. Big one, supposedly over two meters — called Namitaro or something. He got hooked basically the moment he reincarnated.”
“Poor fish.”
“Most of them were human, but some were unpleasant enough that nobody gave them anything. One or two cheats at minimum, usually.”
“Then the volume I’m getting is generous. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. So — shall we get started? Oh — your memories of your previous life, want to keep them?”
“Keep them.”
“Got it. We’ll finish up while you sleep. When you wake up, you’ll already be reborn. And — about being reborn — we make the body, so you don’t have parents. Instead, we’ll drop you somewhere near people who’ll probably raise you. Worst-case scenario, the blessings should keep you alive.”
“That’s pretty irresponsible. Whatever. Get on with it.”
“You’re letting that go?! …Well, I’ll do my best to find someone kind. Off we go. Tenma-kun — I hope your second life is a happy one. Sleep tight.”
“Yeah. Night.”
After Tenma had drifted off —
“Right. Time to layer the blessings and cheats onto Tenma-kun. From me: in addition to [Appraisal] and [Growth Boost], he gets [Creation Magic] and [Enchantment Magic], plus [Concealment] for good measure. Blessing too, of course.”
“From me — I’m going all-in on the blessing. Actually, that’s all I’ve got.”
“With a blessing from the Goddess of Love he’ll always meet good people, that’s plenty~. From me, a blessing and [Detection], I think~.”
“From me, [Vitality Boost], [Recovery Boost], and a blessing.”
“From me — [Instant Death Resistance] and [Status Effect Resistance]. No blessing.”
“He won’t care, he’s not the type. From me, [Technique Acquisition Boost] and a blessing.”
“From me, [All Magic Affinity] and [Magic Boost], plus a blessing.”
”… From me: [Sense Enhancement], [Kin Empowerment], and a blessing…”
“From me, [Destruction Resistance], [Destructive Force Boost], and a blessing.”
“From meee~… me. Squee!”
"""Take this seriously / Do it properly / Stop messing around."""
“You’re all so mean to me~, fine, fine — ‘my love’!”
"""That’s still not it."""
“Oh, fine~. [Martial Arts Mastery] and [Physical Ability Boost], and a blessing. There. Happy?”
“All settled, then. Now, applying it all to Tenma-kun… Done. Let’s take a look at where his stats land right now.”
Name…………… Ootori Tenma
Age……………… 25
Race…………… Human
Title…………… Favored Child of the Gods
HP……………… 15000 (50000)
MP……………… 15000 (50000)
Strength……… B- (S+)
Defense……… B (SS)
Speed………… B (SS)
Magic………… C+ (S+)
Spirit………… A (SSS-)
Growth……… C (SSS)
Luck………… D- (B)
Skills:
Swordsmanship 8 · Hand-to-Hand 8 · Throwing 8 · Cooking 8 ·
Staff Arts 7 · Endurance 7 · Dismantling 7 · Spearmanship 6 ·
Traps 6 · Night Vision 6 · Archery 5 · Axe Arts 4
Gifts:
[Blessing of the Gods] 10 · [Appraisal] 10 · [Concealment] 10 ·
[Detection] 10 · [Technique Acquisition Boost] 10 · [Kin Empowerment] 10 ·
[Growth Boost] 8 · [Vitality Boost] 8 · [Recovery Boost] 8 ·
[Status Effect Resistance] 8 · [Sense Enhancement] 7 ·
[Physical Ability Boost] 7 · [Destructive Force Boost] 5 ·
[Magic Boost] 5 · [Creation Magic] 5 · [Enchantment Magic] 5 ·
[Destruction Resistance] 5 · [Instant Death Resistance] 5 ·
[All Magic Affinity] 5 · [Martial Arts Mastery] 5”…Possibly overdid it, didn’t I.”
At the Creation God’s mutter, the other gods could only manage strained smiles.
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That wraps the prologue. Starting next time, we’re in the main story.
When the Death God said he wasn’t giving a blessing, and the Skill God said “he won’t care” — that’s because past reincarnators have been wary of the Death God’s blessing, with a rumor going around that people who receive it die young. It’s not actually true; it’s just that when a Death-God-blessed person dies, it’s the kind of detail that sticks, and so the rumor spread. The mortality rate for people with the blessing isn’t actually any different.
The Goddess of Love mostly hands out abilities aimed at women, or things that border on R-rated (useful for, ahem, the bedroom), and she couldn’t think of one that fit Tenma.
[Creation Magic] creates whatever the user envisions. Used right, it’s nearly omnipotent.
[Martial Arts Mastery] increases comprehension and uptake speed for weapons and combat styles — it does NOT make you instantly a master. It also applies to athletic motion in general.
[Technique Acquisition Boost] covers everything [Martial Arts Mastery] doesn’t — cooking, painting, blacksmithing, that kind of thing.
For stat reference: the average commoner is around HP 2000+, MP 500+, with stats in the D- to C+ range. A mid-tier knight or solid adventurer is HP 5000+, MP 2000+, stats C- to B+. Top-tier knights and adventurers are HP 15000+, MP 8000+, with stats from B to A+.
The values in Tenma’s stat block are his current numbers, with the parenthesized values being where his blessings and cheats are projected to take him over time. Just-after-reincarnation, his stats are obviously low — but he’ll grow into them fast.
The gods probably won’t be around much from here on.