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Chapter 2: Getting a Grasp of the Status Quo

So what exactly happened?

The answer to that question was surprisingly simple: I reincarnated.

My death was a boring one. It wasn’t accompanied by any extenuating circumstances. I wasn’t involved in any sort of major incident, nor was I intentionally killed for any particular reason. I simply died in just another everyday accident. And then I was reborn.

I never met any sort of God. I wasn’t informed that I’d been killed. But I was certain that I’d died. The sensation was still vividly ingrained in my mind. I could still recall the feeling of the truck crushing my bones and mutilating my body beyond repair. I could still feel the blood and pain simultaneously seep from my body as my consciousness slowly sank into the abyss.

A shiver ran up my spine as I recalled it. It was far too explicit a memory for it to be fake. I really had died. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my nerves and stopped myself from trembling. I chased the unpleasant memories out of my mind and set them aside. No good was going to come out of dwelling on the past.

When I came to, I found myself in what could only be described as a throne room, one filled with expensive looking chandeliers, walls, and pillars. There weren’t any windows, and it honestly seemed quite small for what it was. Behind me sat a single throne. It wasn’t overly decorated or particularly gaudy in any which way. Rather, it gave off a sense of majesty. A large blue carpet ran from one end of the room to the other. I followed it with my eyes as I observed the room in its entirety. There were very few ornaments placed within. The only expensive looking thing was the door that lay at the end of the hall.

All in all, the room gave off a sort of sinister feel. It looked like the kind of area that would likely be accompanied by a demon lord or some other sort of final boss, with the only difference being that it seemed a bit small.

My mind was blown. I couldn’t help but blankly stare as I slowly took in my surroundings. It took a good while for me to finally recover and realize that I needed to get a better grasp of my current situation.

I stood up. And as I did, my line of sight changed.

“The heck is that?”

I immediately spotted a rainbow coloured gem as I got to my feet. It was situated right behind the throne, and seemed to be be radiating a colourful light. The gem was circular, and seemed to be just a bit smaller than a basketball.

For some odd reason, I decided to reach out and touch it. I had no idea why I made the decision, but I did.

“What theaaaaaaaaaarrggh!?”

A head splitting pain assaulted my mind the moment my fingers touched the orb. It was like my brain was being tampered with against my will. Unpleasant, unnatural sensations coursed through my body as I fell on my hands and knees. Tears began to spill from the corners of my eyes.

All I felt was pain. It hurt so bad I couldn’t see straight; the world had started rocking back and forth, tilting left and right. I felt nauseous, I almost wanted to vomit.

The hellish headache persisted at full strength for several seconds before slowly beginning to abate. It came and went in waves, fluctuating in intensity every few moments.

“I…see…”

I managed to squeeze out a few words between rapid, shallow breaths. I felt as if I’d suddenly been injected with knowledge, as if a dictionary had implanted itself inside my brain.

And that was exactly what had happened.

“Menu.”

I recited one of the words the dungeon itself had taught me. A translucent, glass-like pane appeared in midair, materializing itself right in front of me. The knowledge I’d suddenly gained informed me that the menu I summoned was adaptable. Its appearance would change based on its beholder; it would morph in such a way that it always appeared as intuitive as possible. I used to be an avid consumer of video games, and for that reason, the dungeon seemed to have judged the that its menu should appear like that of a game’s.

If I was a goblin, it probably would have manifested as something along the lines of a stone slate instead, given how primitive they were.

I still felt a bit dizzy, so I placed a hand against my forehead to prevent the world from staggering as I looked down at the menu options. It seemed to have four buttons: Status, DP Catalogue, Dungeon, and Gacha. [1]

The last of the four immediately grabbed my attention. Rolling a gacha and trying my luck sounded tempting, really tempting. That said, I understood it wasn’t a good idea for me to try it without first obtaining a more robust understanding of my current situation.

For the time being, I decided to start off by checking out my stats. I manipulated the menu by tapping it, as I would a smartphone or other touch device.

“Wait… I’m an archdemon?”

Well, so much for being human…

[1] I didn’t localize this term because I feel that it’s already used enough in English. If anything, localizing it would make less sense. Anyway, for those that don’t know what these are, they’re machines with capsules inside of them. The capsules contain toys, and you never know what you’re going to get until you insert your money and give the thing a spin, but the prizes are sometimes listed somewhere if you look for them. They are commonly used in video games, particularly MMOs and asian mobile games, and typically function as a premium feature for paying users. Wikipedia link here for those that are still confused.