I had successfully landed in another world.
But...
It just felt like a different kind of prison.
I mean, I still couldn't see anything or hear anything.
The crushing ocean pressure from the cross-world void was completely gone now, replaced by a strange, heavy stillness that pressed against every part of whatever I had become.
There was no more floating, or weightless drift. Just... solid, I suppose.
Like I had been dropped onto something firm and unmoving.
Where am I, even? A room? Or in an open plain...
A forest or a cave?
I tried moving my body now.
And it responded differently than before, when I was in the crossroad.
I focused hard, willing whatever mass I possessed into motion.
At first nothing happened, but then, slowly, a sluggish ripple traveled through me.
And wow.
It moved.
A deliberate, rolling shift this time.
I now understood that I had some kind of body. But not exactly the old human one I had died with.
Something entirely new. But at least, something that actually listened when I told it to act.
I don't think it's humanoid, however.
But a serene sense of accomplishment settled in me.
After all the pain resistance, hunger nullification, and emotion dampening Gabriel had installed, this was the first real proof that the reincarnation had worked.
Though I won't lie, it felt like I was melting sometimes.
Like sections of me would soften and flow before firming up again with every attempt to move.
Haha, did I get the body of a slug?
Actually, that would be very sad. Pathetic even.
Dying as a diligent salaryman only to wake up as some boneless blob in another world.
I kept moving anyway, rolling my entire form across whatever surface I rested on, exploring by touch alone.
It was dangerous, I knew: I could end up rolling up to a predator. But it was better than dying in a silent darkness.
Okay, you got me, I was just bored.
Things kept bumping into me, or maybe I was the one bumping into them.
Some surfaces felt fleshy and soft, giving way slightly under my weight like warm meat or thick fabric.
Others were hard as rock and jagged, refusing to yield no matter how I pressed.
One particularly solid barrier I rolled against felt exactly like a wall; with a rough stone texture, unmovable, stretching upward beyond what I could sense.
I could not see, smell, or hear anything else... But after rolling and bumping for what felt like an eternity, I could come to a clear conclusion: I was definitely not a human being anymore.
Damn, it had all happened so fast.
One moment I was in that brightly lit convenience store, basket in hand, mind drifting to expired condiments and the emptiness of my life.
The next, a bullet through the head, then the dark cross-world, Gabriel's mechanical voice stripping away my weaknesses one by one, and now this.
Reborn in another world as... whatever pile of matter I currently was.
I intentionally chose to not dwell on it too much.
My family... my parents back home, my little sister still grinding through college, probably worried sick if they had found out about the robbery...
I would probably not see them ever again.
The thought tried to claw its way up, but the new body Gabriel had built simply... didn't let it stay long.
I only felt a brief sharp emotional spike, before it turned into a dull acknowledgment that I pushed aside.
I don't want to think about it. Not now, at least. Not when I can't even see where the hell I am.
And hey, I've got to fix this "no emotions" thing!
Well, back to now: I could more or less guess I had no limbs. Freaky as hell.
I tried to move what should have been my "arms," but nothing happened the way it used to.
It felt like I was wrapped tight inside a thick, elastic bag, desperately trying to stretch out a hand that no longer existed.
It was impossible.
I had no fingers, no elbows, and no shoulders.
If anything, I would say I was currently a pile of something without any fixed shape; just shifting, flowing, and reforming with every roll.
[Oh...? Was this one a success?] [Stranger]
Ah!
I heard someone speak just now!
Actually... No, I didn't "hear" them in the normal sense...
The statement appeared directly inside my mind, clear and sharp.
I think I "thought" the response more than hear it being spoken.
Oh, I see, I see.
I'm getting crazy in this total darkness and now weird, deep feminine voices were tormenting me.
But what's that about? Did I like mature women all along? Some hidden preference I never had time to explore back in my overworked life?
[Can you understand me, O unique one?] [Stranger]
[Hmph! Of course I can understand you. You're just a voice in my head after all. A figment of my perverted imagination.] [Me]
I decided to engage with the madness a little, since I seriously had nothing more to do.
Honestly, I don't know how long I must have been here already.
Maybe some days have passed? Time felt distorted without eyes or ears or any normal reference.
{Notice: Three days and four hours and six minutes and forty-two seconds have passed.}
Eh?! That long?!
Has my perception of time gone completely senile or something?
Maybe it's because of the endless darkness pressing in from all sides.
Three whole days trapped like this, rolling around like a blind amoeba.
The realization struck me harder than I expected, but again, the emotions didn't spike the way they once would have. Gabriel's work was thorough.
A normal person should be running mad now. Then again, I was running mad currently.
BANG!
[Are you ignoring one such as myself?!] [Stranger]
Eeeeep!!
The ground suddenly vibrated with massive force, as if something extremely heavy had slammed down right nearby.
The impact shockwave traveled straight through my entire form, making every shifting part of me quiver and ripple uncontrollably.
And for the first time since arriving, it felt suddenly as if I could vaguely "see" something not too far from me; a tall human-like shape topped with two pointy, curved horns.
But it wasn't real sight.
More like a black haze, a shadowy outline forming in my mind, blurry and incomplete. Yet unmistakably there.
So... I could "see" it even if I wasn't facing it.
I mean, where the hell is my face, even? Did I even have a front or back anymore?
[Ahhh, I'm so sorry! Don't kill me!] I immediately replied through the mental link, the words forming instinctively. [I thought I was going mad and your voice was illusory!]
[Hmph! Despite being so small and newborn, you show little fear of me. I was beginning to consider wasting your measly existence] [Stranger]
[Please don't consider it, I'm sorry!] I desperately apologized, the panic feeling trying to get muted but still very real in my situation.
Imagine being completely blind, without legs to run, without arms to defend yourself, while something that feels ten times your size is clearly angry with you.
Yabai.
One wrong move, one stomp from whatever those legs belonged to, and my second chance would end before it even properly started.
I haven't gotten to make my harem yet.
Haven't built an empire of powerful servants. Haven't ruled anything. I refused to die again so pathetically.
I continued speaking as politely as I could manage, keeping my mental tone careful and submissive, [I was just born three days ago, and I cannot see or hear anything at all. So a sudden voice in my head registered as certain insanity.]
[Oh...? You realize that you were just born? And you are fluent in conversing too.] [Stranger]
The deep feminine voice went quiet for a long moment after that.
I could almost feel the weight of her attention pressing down on my form, heavy, probing, evaluating every ripple and shift of my body.
The silence stretched, thick and uncomfortable. When she finally continued, her tone had changed — colder, more calculating, laced with clear irritation.
[I assumed you were a successful experiment I had been doing for a few centuries... But it appears you must be a... reincarnator who hijacked my work and put yourself inside the vessel I prepared. Insolence...] [Stranger]
Ugh... W-Was she angry?
She could flatten me into paste right now.
So I stayed perfectly quiet, every part of my shapeless body pressed low against the floor, not daring to roll or shift even an inch.
I figured anything more I said right now would only make things worse.
The heavy silence dragged on again.
I could sense her shadowy horned form looming there, unmoving, probably staring down at my small mass with disdain.
My mind raced through all the possible ways this could go wrong, but I kept my thoughts locked down tight.
Then, finally, she started speaking once more, her deep voice echoing clearly inside my head with new intent.
[Small one, let us make a deal...]