Chapter 1
—–
Oh man, how did I get into this situation?
I was just minding my own business, looking for new Light Novels through the store, when a sudden earthquake caused the ground below me to shake. Damn Japan and its earthquakes!
The moment this happened, the bookshelves near me began to tremble, and a mountain of Mangas, Light Novels, and even Eroge fell over me and crushed my body. I really told my mother that I wanted to have that Japanese trip. She was so tired throughout the whole flight, and now here we go, I die… Feeble? Well, yes, I am a feeble little woman. I never had the genes of my sister… she’s a giant gorilla…
And now… Ugh… My bones are crushed, and I think they pierced my internal organs. Seriously, how can I die like this? I am so pathetically weak… And now… I am going to leave my mother with only one daughter… Ugh… This little body… I wish I didn’t have such a weak body…
Ding!
[Request Confirmed, a Body according to the user’s desires will be generated…]
Hm?
What was that? Am I hallucinating? Oh yes, this must be that one hallucination that people get when they are closer to death. Closer to death…
Ding!
[Request Confirmed, a Body that is Closer to Death has been generated]
What? What is going on? Is this some kind of announcement of my innermost desires? If I recall correctly… It said something about… a body being closer to death…
Ugh… My consciousness is constantly blacking out and coming back. I think I’m really about to die…
If I am going to die… I wish I could reincarnate; I hate the concept of just disappearing after dying… And if possible, I would like to reincarnate into a nice family, rich, if possible! Ah… and if it were a world of swords and magic, having some overpowered magic wouldn’t be so bad…
[Request Confirmed. Acquiring a Rich Family Background… Success]
[Request Confirmed. Acquiring [Supreme Magic]… Success]
I got something again… Is this a wish-making hallucination? Am I going to become a slime now or something?
Ugh… Wait, but Supreme Magic will clearly not be enough… Magic is fueled by something, right? So give me a lot of ammunition… Mana.
[Request Confirmed. Acquiring [Mana Siphon]… Success]
It worked… Well, if I am going to die, I might as well go all out… I think I am about to die now… I feel…
Ahhh… Wait…! Not yet! Give me… I want a System! Those things that let you level up and stuff!
[Request Confirmed. Acquiring [System]… Success]
Also… Ugh… What else? Oh! I want to become a Goddess! Make me someone unbeatable! And I want to meet a hot guy… One that actually likes my ugly face…
[Request Confirmed. A scenario where you can meet a [Hot Guy] has been set in motion]
[Request Confirmed. Acquiring [Goddess]… Failure]
[The [Goddess] Skill has been sealed.]
[Wish Limit Reached]
[Initiating Soul Absorption…]
[Success]
And following that little wish, which I was not sure could even become real, I blacked out.
.
.
.
[Day 1?]
“Finally!”
“The witch is dead!”
“Her head was sliced right off!”
“Ugh, that’s disgusting…”
The moment I woke up, the first thing I heard was the screams of hundreds of people around me.
They were celebrating the death of someone. A witch? What is this? I opened my eyes to find a face looking right at me. It resembled a beautiful woman with pale white skin, long black hair, and aquamarine eyes. Her tongue was sticking out, and she looked awful. And I noticed that her neck was sliced off, and you could even see the bone and more… plus a lot of blood.
Ugh, what is this? Who killed her?
I glanced upwards and found a guy wearing black clothes and… a guillotine, freshly painted with blood. And then I notice that I am stuck to the body of the woman whose head had been sliced off.
Wait a second.
I notice that my hands… are semi-transparent.
And… Ahh… Holy fuck. I am her?! I am her soul? How is this possible?! Then where are her memories? Wait, maybe inside the brain? I don’t even know what’s going on…
But…
If this is real… then I was this woman until my head was sliced off, I died, and then I regained my memories of my past life while forgetting the ones of this life!
That’s horrible! What do I do? Maybe if I grab the head, stick it back, and use healing magic, I can revive in time? I try to extend my semi-transparent hands towards the head, but I cannot grab it. I am… somewhat bound to this body…
[You’re bound to your corpse until enough time passes after your death]
Suddenly, a mechanical voice answers my questions.
“What happened to me? Can you tell me anything?!”
…
I try to speak to it again, but it doesn’t answer me. Also, I tried to speak with the people, but they couldn’t see me either. I reincarnated, and I am already dead.
Yet… Why am I not going somewhere then? Am I stuck here?
Suddenly, a handsome man with blonde hair and aquamarine eyes rushes towards me. His face seemed utterly hysterical. He was crying and angered, screaming like a mad wolf as tons of guards were holding him back.
“NOOOOOOO! MARIA! MARIAAAAA! YOU BASTARDS! YOU BASTARDSSSS! I AM GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU! I AM GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOUUUUUUU! LET ME GO! AAAGRRGH…!”
Did he know me? Was my name Maria? The guards carried him away, as he was hit in the head and fell unconscious… The people around me are all wearing clothes pulled straight from the medieval times.
A guy then begins to speak to the crowd. This one looks like a total asshole. A long nose, a cheeky grin, black hair, and sharp emerald eyes.
“People of Affnaria, the Dark Witch Maria that has caused all of these problems to you these last ten years has been finally punished for her sins! Now, let’s celebrate that the darkness of our Kingdom has finally been cleansed by the light of justice!” he celebrated.
“YEEEES!”
“WOOO!”
“Bring the ale!”
The people started to celebrate the death of a woman whose head was sliced off. I didn’t know what else to feel other than utter spite for all of them. Time passed, and two guys carried my corpse and head elsewhere. After several hours of traveling through a medieval ages-like town, we reached the area’s outskirts, where a large gate opened. My corpse was stuffed into a coffin alongside my head, and then the coffin was… put inside a carriage. I was then carried somewhere else…
Wait, where am I even going?!
Don’t tell me… The graveyard?!
.
.
.
.
.
.
I wasn’t able to see correctly after being thrown inside a coffin, but what I know is that… I was being carried elsewhere by a carriage. Through this time, I’ve been trying to do something… Magic, status from the system, or anything, but nothing worked. It seems that I was confined in this body. I tried to touch the head, to possess it or something, but nope, no use either. After a few hours, I was thrown outside the carriage and then into a deep hole somewhere else. Then, I heard the thudding of dirt being shoveled onto my coffin. It stopped after around three hours. And then, perpetual silence.
This is awful.
I died, I don’t remember the memories of this reincarnation, and it seems that I was some kind of Witch. Nothing that I wished for actually became real! Where’s my Goddess Skill? Sigh…
For days, I waited patiently for anything to happen, something, anything. I miss my mother… And my sister… Ugh… I can’t believe I died so abruptly. I am such an unlucky person. My whole life has been filled with shit everywhere. When I was finally able to graduate, my mom let me have a trip to Japan. I was so happy with her and my sis… But now… I just… died. This is awful.
I want to go meet my family again…
…
For several days, weeks, months, or even years, I did nothing but sleep. Until suddenly, I felt a faint…something. An energy, perhaps? But something… Something was “touching” my own soul. That energy began to slowly “mutate” my soul. It became less mist-like and more… I don’t know, solid? It is hard to explain.
The thing is… After feeling this, I slowly regained consciousness as I was slumbering for days, no, maybe even years? When I felt this strange energy rush into my soul, something within me activated, and I started to absorb it all. After a few hours, incredible changes occurred to my body.
I was freed!
[Conditions met; you’ve evolved into a [Lesser Ghost]
[All your stats have increased]
[You have been unbound from your original body]
[You learned several Skills]
I am a ghost! An actual ghost! Let’s see… My appearance is… Unclear. I seem not to have a clear appearance. I resemble a wailing mouth and two eyes despairing across my phantasmal pale-blue colored semi-transparent body. Not pretty at all… But I can finally move.
I quickly took a peek at my body and- Eh?
Bones.
Not even some flesh is left! I am just bones and clothes. This is awful. …Can I possess my skeleton and become a Living Skeleton? No, no, let’s not hurry to conclusions, first…
Status!
That’s what they usually say when they want to see their status through the system… Maybe I don’t activate it like that?
Erm… System?
Ding!
[Name : [Maria Fuentes Belles]
[Race : [Lesser Ghost]
[Level : [0/5]
[EXP : [0/50]
[Rank : [G-]
[Status : [Cursed, Weak]
[HP : [7/7]
[MP : [100/100]
[Attack : [2]
[Defense : [1]
[Magic : [100]
[Agility : [2]
Characteristic Skills:
[Unique Skill: Supreme Magic]
[Unique Skill: Mana Siphon]
[Unique Skill: System]
[Unique Skill: Goddess] (Sealed)
[Undead: Lv–]
[Dark Element: Lv–]
[Death Element: Lv–]
[Fiend Language: Lv1]
Resistance Skills:
[Status Effect Immunity: Lv–]
[Magic Damage Resistance: Lv1]
Normal Skills:
[Ghost Touch: Lv1]
[Lesser Curse: Lv1]
[Life Drain: Lv1]
[Possession: Lv1]
Title Skills:
[The Dark Witch: Lv–]
[Bringer of Misfortune: Lv1]
…
Damn… I really do have System. And I am looking pretty great! Or am I? Aside from Mana and Magic, I suck, and I don’t seem to have carried any power from when I was alive… really?! Well, I still got my cheats and… Ghost Skills. And… I have what seems to be Title Skills… The Dark Witch and… Bringer of Misfortune.
Yikes, they don’t sound nice to me. Anyways, I have a Skill named Possession, so let’s try to possess my own skeleton. I concentrated my mind on the task as the System guided me into it. My body turned into a mass of ethereal blue brilliance as I dived into my skeleton, taking it over as if I were some kind of parasite. I used the skeleton as pillars to sustain myself, and the clothes fit right in. And then…
Ding!
[Possession Successful, you’ve possessed: [Skeleton]
Hm, wait, am I still a Ghost even after possessing a Skeleton? I checked my status and found that [Skeleton] appeared between brackets at the side of my race.
Odd.
Well, time to rattle my bones and get off here. I tried using my own skelly strength, but it didn’t work. The coffin was heavy, and the dirt above was even heavier. I think I could bypass this if I leave my skeleton aside. None of the Skills I have can help me get outside of here… What a dilemma.
Wait. Can I check my own Skills? Let’s check Supreme Magic…
[Supreme Magic]
The Ability to comprehend and utilize magic with utmost mastery without any required experience. All of your magic gains a 200% damage boost and costs 50% less Mana.
Will it, and magic will hear your command.
…
Oho?
Alright then, I checked, and I have Dark and Death Elements… So… What about a Shadow Ball using Darkness? Merely by imagining it, my skeletal hands suddenly conjure a large sphere of darkness, and then, it is fired into the ceiling of the coffin…
BOOOOOOMMM!!!
…
When I realized what happened, my bones were scattered all over the place, and what greeted me was a beautiful and lugubrious graveyard! Oh my, such a friendly welcome party! There’s absolutely no one here! It was night, the sky was cloudy, and a forest surrounded the graveyard. I decided to quickly pick up my bones around, as I considered that conjuring magic this strong might be dangerous. It seems that my own magic didn’t damage me, but it left a giant hole in the graveyard. And the coffin was obviously blasted into pieces.
Damn, I am strong.
But!
My mana went down by 80, so that big attack cost almost all my Mana.
Mana… I need Mana…
And I need to know where the heck I am and what this world is. But for now, it seems that we got company, at long last. What greeted my sight were three… little, blue-colored flames. Using my System’s analysis function, I was able to see what these things were…
[Will-o-Wisp: Lv 1][Rank: G-][Condition: Hungry For Souls]
[Will-o-Wisp: Lv 0][Rank: G-][Condition: Hungry For Souls]
[Will-o-Wisp: Lv 2][Rank: G-][Condition: Hungry For Souls]
—–