"That was surprisingly easy." He said.
"Cosmos Room again, eh?" He said to himself, though it wasn't like anyone could hear him. The Cosmos Room was his name for the liminal space, which he found himself in after conquering every lifetime adventure he'd embarked upon.
Isekai. Pulled into another world. He had this kind of experience at the end of his 'first' life. Unlike the stories, when he arrived at the other end of death, there was nothing but this room. The room, if it could even be called as such, had no walls, floor or ceiling. Rather, it resembled the vast cosmos of space. Stars, galaxies and planets beneath his feet or above his head. It was as if he were walking through the universe itself.
In this place, he no longer had a body, but a spirit form. A form made of various energies no doubt. He still existed in humanoid shape, but devoid of flesh and bone -- free and untethered, so to speak. Within what he deemed to be the "center" of this space was a pedestal with a book, and so he walked over to it, deciding to thumb through its pages once more.
The book was his way of accessing new worlds and new adventures. He noticed the book seemed untouched, left on the same page as his previous adventure. In his mind this meant no one had come or gone in the dozens of years since he'd last visited.
"That world was way too easy. Or maybe I'm too good? Perhaps I should choose something more challenging." He thought to himself as he turned the pages of the book. Each page had a different description and represented a very real world in the universe or perhaps multiverse somewhere.
"A world where beastmen evolved instead of humans and somehow learned the art of cultivation-- eh, pass." He said as he continued to thumb through the book. He turned several dozen pages, none of which piqued his interest. Name, description, characteristics, goal and difficulty level - each page in the book had these sections. Most of the pages were labeled as "Easy" or "Challenging" in the difficulty category, however, he'd just returned from a world where the goal was to "Slay The Lich King" . The difficulty rating said "Hard" but in the end it was a breeze.
"Just use healing magic on them. Simple, simple." He thought to himself as he reflected on his time in that world. In the end, he became so bored that he killed himself just so he could return to the Cosmos Room.
"Hmm… this might do it." He said as he lingered over a particular page in the book.
"Name: ???, Description…??? Goal: ???" Each listing was devoid of any useful information, save for one.
"Difficulty: Impossiburu." He grinned to himself as he fingered the edge of the page with his ephemeral body.
"This is it. I'm going to go here." He said as he moved his finger down to the small magical circle at the bottom of the page. By placing his thumb within the circle he would be magically teleported into that world -- or at least that's what he expected based on past experience. This time he was greeted with a strange alert.
"Are you sure you want to visit '???'. This world is ranked 'Impossiburu'. Reincarnation is impossible without clearing the world goal. Defeat means a loss of all reincarnation data. Proceed?"
For a moment, he lingered over the choice. Thinking back at his past experiences, he'd accumulated all kinds of rewards, boons and accolades. He was confident in his ability to handle whatever came his way. Still, it's common knowledge amongst gamers that when you're prompted before taking action that you should be prepared. Now that he thought back on it, he'd retained several lifetimes worth of memories through his successive reincarnations. Each time, he had a rough idea of what he was getting into. This time was different.
He had no idea where he was going, the features of the world or any info other than its difficulty remained a mystery, which gave him pause. He stood for some time, thinking things over, when the alert disappeared with a blip as a new alert appeared.
"Initializing reincarnation. 10, 9.."
"Wait. I didn't click anything." He whispered to himself as he jammed the magic circle several times more in an attempt to cancel the countdown. He grew angry, his spiritual body flaring as he tried to cancel the impending warp to no avail.
"Eh. Whatever. How hard could it actually be?" He said to himself as his spirit began the process of reincarnation. He was pulled into the page of the book and the sensation of falling tugged on him as his spiritual body gained weight.
"I'll ace this world just like all the others." He affirmed to himself as the book pushed him into the reincarnation process.
—-------------
"What the hell!" He shouted as he struggled to push himself up from the cold, stone floor. His landing was less than glorious, face-first to be honest.
His body ached. No matter how many times he experienced it, he simply couldn't get used to being trapped in a physical body. The sense of encumbrance that weighed his soul down was maddening.
"How did I ever get by in my first life?" He whispered to himself as he stood. His balance was shot, he must have hit his chin harder than he realized. He next noticed his clothing, completely inglorious - simple cloth. Cloth shirt, Cloth belt, cloth pants -- even poorly made cloth shoes fastened with strings. He sighed to himself, but realized it was an inevitable part of starting over. At least he didn't have to live through fifteen years of "childhood" this go round. He seemed to be in his early twenties by his best estimate, and his body was relatively fit.
He struggled to gather his senses as he took in his environs. It was evident that he'd landed in a chapel -- rather what remained of one. There were no longer four walls, just foundations along the perimeter of the building, save for a jagged patch of wood beams to his left. This led to a corner in which a small portion of the chapel's roof remained intact. Along the floor was a red and gold tattered rug-- at least what remained of it, little more than shreds. Scattered to either side of him were wooden planks, no doubt those that used to belong to pews.
Beyond the chapel in all directions was a dense forest with trees easily over twenty meters in height. He could hear the distant sounds of wildlife of all sorts -- bugs, birds, and curious critters mingled within. Judging by the growth of weeds and grass at the base of the foundation, this chapel had been in disrepair for a long time. Vines crept upwards along the few standing wooden beams, and even they wore the passage of time visibly.
He turned around fully and in the process, he took notice of a statue. It was broad-based, square in shape and seemed to be made of marble. At first glanc,e it resembled the replica of a deity of some sort, her pose dynamic and beautiful. She was depicted with a benevolent gaze and draped in free-flowing robes. As he walked towards the statue, an alert coalesced before his eyes.
"Pray."
"Hmm." He wasn't exactly big on things like prayer in any of the past seven lives he'd led, but it seemed as if this was the only way to get things started so he knelt before the statue and clasped his hands in prayer.
It was then that more words appeared before him.
"Mistress Of Light, thy countenance and purity is like the sun.
Shine forth your ever illuminating rays and protect those, your faithful
In their time of need -- or something." He finished as he read the prayer aloud.
He knelt in place for a few seconds, a bit unsure if anything had happened.
"Amen?" He added quizzically, throwing in a catholic crossing for good measure.
"'Cursed System' Unlocked." A new alert appeared before him.
"Oh. Now there's something. " He said aloud.
"Cursed System hmm? Well I guess that would fit with the description of this world.." He said to himself. For his last few runs through "life" he'd been entering worlds with game-like rules. He'd actually grown quite fond of them -- especially #System types.
"Please enter your name." A new type of input alert appeared, along with a holographic keyboard.
"Dirk Diggler." He typed in with a big grin on his face, hitting enter upon completion.
"Is this name correct, 'Takuma'? Y/N"
"Takuma? That's definitely not right." He said, attempting to hit the 'N' button. Instead, the system completely ignored his wishes and accepted the name 'Takuma'.
"What the? Crappy Cursed System. Eh, whatever, it's just a name. Takuma. Takuma.. Takuma--" He repeated his new name several times so that he could get accustomed to it.
A new alert appeared, something that caught his eye instantly.
"New Quest Acquired: Survive."
"What the? No in-game tutorial? Is this a souls-like or something?" Takuma muttered as he looked about for anything that could be used as a weapon. Nothing seemed remotely acceptable -- no huge stick, no pot lid. He tensed up, preparing himself for any type of danger. Normally, something like this wouldn't register as a threat but he'd purposely entered a realm where reincarnation wasn't possible. With no way to defend himself or any idea of this world's "rules" he could easily find himself in a life-or-death situation if he wasn't careful.
"Slimes? Bats? Undead? What will it be!?" He said as he glanced around wildly, hopping to face a new direction every so often. It was then that he felt a strange sensation in the air, almost as if the atmosphere around him had become supercharged. The sensation began to expand and grow until the very air itself had begun to vibrate.
It took him a while to remember the sensation, one he'd felt many times before. Although he couldn't put his finger on it immediately--
"Dammit! This is lightning magic--" His words were cut short as a bright light drew his attention upwards.
"Ah, sh-" He muttered as the falling bolt of lightning crashed down furiously upon him.