It took him a good full minute before he finally stopped laughing.
By then, I had also finished my cake, just in case it disappeared again.
“Oh by the Creator! I have not laughed like that for a good while! Tell me, do you have any idea what happened to you?”
I looked around me, then tried to recall what had happened before I came here.
“Err… A Dream? Ah, this is a dream right? Did I fall asleep on the balcony and I didn’t realise that? Oh damn, that means I’m lucid dreaming right now? Then I want more sweets! More cakes! More–“
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is not a dream,” The guy informed me seriously.
“Ah… Then I guess that means I’m dead and you’re a god aren’t you?”
“I’m surprised you’re not panicking about that? Or have you just not accepted that yet?”
“Well, would crying and denying about it help my situation?”
“Not really, but I would have understood if you needed a few minutes to have a mental breakdown or something.”
“Pffft, I’m adaptable. If I can’t do something this simple, I wouldn’t be able to write my books.”
He looks up into the air for a moment before looking back at me, “So I see… Really interesting hobbies you have there.”
I huffed, “First of all, they aren’t just hobbies. Second of all… So you really are a god?”
“My apologies for that and yes, I am Drebann, one of the gods of Erednay.”
Ok… Erednay… Is that a religion or something? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing.
He noticed my perplexed look and his face settled into a wry smile, “It seems like things have gone completely out of order. Shall I start at the beginning again?”
I nodded for him to go ahead, it’s not like I have any other choice anyway.
“First, you died. Not only you, but your entire World was destroyed.”
I frowned, “By a… Giant truck?”
“I’m surprised you could see it for what it was but yes. It is sad but as mortals, you are all subject to the whims of the Gods. There was a… Dispute with your World’s Gods and another World’s. They fought and one of them thought it would be a great idea to conjure such an abomination to throw at another God. Unfortunately, they missed and… You know the rest. Because the mistake was Divine in nature, we are offering all the souls in your World an option of living a second life.”
I blinked a few times at him, “Does that mean… The entire world is going to get isekai-ed because of a giant truck-kun?”
He smiled, “I should have expected you to make that connection. You did write several of these stories before, after all. I guess I can skip the introduction of the second life concept?”
Oh damn! A real life isekai experience! And it even involves the legendary truck-kun on a global scale! Who knew this would actually happen to me! If we go by the normal route, that means I’ll be given an op power and I get to live my new life however I want right?
Viva la isekai!
I nodded quickly “Yes please, I think I’ve read and written enough of that. So let’s just move on. Although you said ‘all the souls’ in my world are being given the option?”
“That is correct. We are transmigrating the entire world.”
Ok… I kind of glossed over that part once I heard about the truck-kun… But…
I looked around again, checking that we were obviously alone in this strange, featureless, white room.
“Ah, looks like we skipped some steps again. Your entire World is getting transmigrated, but not all of them will be to the same World. For my World, which is known as Erednay, we’re taking in about a few hundred thousand of you. I am also dealing with each of you individually, much more personal you see?”
“That sounds very inefficient? Won’t that take a long time to get through all of us?”
He chuckled, causing his antlers to sway a little, “Oh, splitting my consciousness is a small feat for me. I am currently talking to all of you transmigrators at the same time, so it’s no big deal.”
“Ok, I shall not ask how you prevent yourself from getting confused having several hundred thousand conversations at once.”
The god in front of me smiled but said nothing.
I shrugged, “Alright, let’s get to the fun stuff then! I suppose you’re not just going to dump me into this new world and call it a day, yes?”
“Indeed that is correct. Here.”
He waved his hands and a translucent screen appeared in front of me.
I gasped, “Oh nice! Do I get a system?! With quests and skills and all that jazz?”
“Not exactly. For our World, we decided to let you all have the choice in creating yourself, it’s meant to be your new life after all.”
I looked at the screen, moving my fingers across it to realise it functions like a touch screen.
Quickly scrolling through its contents, I realised this was like a character creator of sorts where I can make my own character. That’s cool.
It uses a points system where I can use them to pay for boons and also pick some banes to give me more points.
I’ve played Role Playing Games before in order to gather research material for a video game novel I was writing about, so I at least have a decent idea on creating characters. From this, I can already see some options that are really exploitable.
I frowned at the god, “Does everyone get the same options?”
He nodded while maintaining his smile, “But just for you… Since you’ve been able to amuse me and your stories are indeed interesting, I’m willing to give you some bonus points just for that.”
Drebann snapped his fingers and, sure enough, the points listed on my screen increased by quite a bit.
“Are you sure this is ok?” I asked with a bit of scepticism. “Won’t the other gods raise any questions?”
“Oh no, they’ve entrusted this to me so I am in control of all the initial proceedings. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“And what are you expecting of us by letting us enter your world? Surely this is not done purely through the kindness of your hearts?”
“Careful there. Any other God and they might not take your words kindly and perceive that as an insult.”
“Which only serves my point that they are not as benevolent as they try to pretend to be.”
“Ahahaha! As true as that might be, I would really advise you to watch yourself in case you meet other Gods in the future. Otherwise, unpleasant things might happen.”
I nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, what’s the real reason you let us into your World?”
He smiled lazily and propped up his chin with a hand, “Honestly? It’s really just for fun. Things have gone a little stale in our World and we figured… Why not put some transmigrators from another World and see what happens?”
I blinked, “Really? Just because of that?”
“Just because of that,” He affirmed, his smile growing wider. “So it’s not like we have some grand plan in store for all of you, thus you can feel free to do whatever you want with your new life. Be a hero, conquer the world, become a merchant or even a homeless beggar, we care not. There are over a hundred thousand of you people, surely there’s a few of you who would do something interesting?”
“Even if it means destroying the entire World? You know about how we were killing our world before this right?”
His smile turned a little sinister, “If anyone is able to do it under our noses, then they are welcome to try. Anyway, it’s not like all of you are people who have ideas in the first place, there’s a good chunk of you transmigrators who are new to the very concept of transmigration.”
Hmm… I can’t tell if that was a challenge or a threat, not that I have any intentions of destroying this world in the first place.
I mean, look at this!! A real life isekai!! The one situation that I’ve written multiple books about and now I get to experience it for myself! There’s no way I’m passing this opportunity up! Think of all the research materials I can get simply by living in this world!
Ahhh! I can’t wait to write more stories too!
OHH!
I almost forgot the most important question.
“God Drebann…”
“Please, for you, it’s just Drebann.”
I smiled wryly at him, “Drebann. I have a very important question and I hope you will answer me honestly with the truth and nothing but the truth.”
He raised an eyebrow but nodded his head to show that I should go ahead and ask my question.
“Are there sweets and confectioneries in Erednay?”
“Yes.”
“Alright!!! Time to create my character!!”
I set myself upon the screen in front of me, dedicating my concentration fully on the task at hand.
It’s a little sad to know that the things I’ve done in my previous life basically got erased, but at least I got a second chance in life! And in this new life, I’ll surely become even better and write lots more stories and eat lots more sweets! With this new–
I stopped at one of the sections.
“There’s magic?” I muttered.
Drebann chuckled, “Funny that this didn’t even catch your attention earlier. You didn’t even ask me what kind of World Erednay is.”
I grimaced, “I didn’t really think too deeply about that.”
“Well, I suppose your books did give you a template to expect from already, but yes, Erednay is like your high fantasy kind of World. So expect magic and dungeons in what is sort of equivalent to your mediaeval setting. Except there’s also automatons but that’s beside the point.”
Even better then.
Moving on… Choosing my race, my body, my skills… Add some boons and take some banes… A few good items…
It took me a while, but I was finally done, even taking the time to double check everything before I looked back up at Drebann who was just smiling at me the entire time.
He waved his hand and my screen disappeared to reappear in front of him.
“Oh, how interesting… Are you sure you don’t need any more time to reconsider your options?”
I shook my head, “I’m sure. Hit me.”
He stood up and snapped his fingers, “Very well then! I wish you the best in your second life! Be sure to let us see an interesting one!”
As soon as the words left his lips, my vision went black.
Time for a new life! New life here I come!