Chapter Text
He was walking down the street one sunny afternoon in New York City, just taking a stroll. His name was James Wolf, a half European and half native American mix, hence his somewhat strange last name. He was a decent looking man, not head turning by any stretch though. Now as for why James was taking a stroll in the middle of the day in a three piece suit on a weekday? He had just left an interview that didn't go well, the fifth in three weeks.
James had recently graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in literature and had been trying to be hired by various publishing groups. He didn't care the position, editor, writer, copy boy, he just needed a job. Sadly, he wasn't having much luck. So he decided to stuff his too tight tie into his pocket and go on a walk.
The sun was shining and the city was relatively quiet and calm for New York. It was as he passed a building, a bank that he'd never entered, that something happened.
The bank suddenly blew up, an act of terror that was completely unexpected. The edge of the blast hit James, searing his skin on half of his body. The explosion also shot shrapnel that used to be part of the building, and a larger piece hit James in his lower body. So now James was crushed beneath a large piece of rubble, bleeding out, and burned severely on half of his body.
As he lay there, death only an encroaching inevitability, all James could do was think.
'Well, this sucks. All I want right now is for this burning to stop. To think I'd die in part from fire when I was so obsessed with characters that could control fire. Zuko was the shit. Don't know why I thought of that now' James thought to himself.
'Request confirmed: Acquisition of Skills Heat Resistance and Flame Attack Resistance is successful.
Request confirmed: Intense desire to control flames acknowledged. Acquisition of Unique Skill Essence of Flame is successful.' A voice spoke to James, though he barely registered it in the haze of pain.
James tries to move but soon decides against it. He heard sirens coming, but they're distant and he knows his injuries are too severe. Best case is he's permanently crippled and disfigured. James decided to lay back down and distract himself from the pain with contemplation.
'I wonder where I'll end up? Heaven being greeted by angels, or Hell being welcomed by demons of all sorts?' he wondered, contemplating his fate.
'Desire for Angelic and Demonic nature confirmed. Granting a form that merges both natures is successful.' The strange voice says.
'Wherever I go, I just hope I have a guide. I don't want my soul lost in the vastness of the world. If souls even exist at all' James thought, blood loss making him ramble.
'Request confirmed: Desire for a guide has resulted in successful acquisition of Extra Skill Sage.
Skill Sage has successfully evolved into the Unique skill Soul Sage.' The voice went on.
James' body spasmed in pain, making him grunt from the agony the action caused.
'What I wouldn't bargain away for this pain to end. Hell I'd give up my soul at this point!' he thought in the haze of his pain.
'Request confirmed: Acquisition of Skill Pain Nullification is successful.
Request confirmed: Acquisition of Unique Skill Soul Bargain is successful.' The other worldly monotone voice said.
As James was about to take his last breath he had his final thoughts.
'I never even got to have my dream, to have a family. Little sons and daughters, a loving family' was the last thoughts of James Wolf.
'Request confirmed: Taking other Skills and nature into account. Acquisition of the Unique Skill Progenitor of Grey is successful.' The voice said to him.
Line Break
James felt like he was falling, like his soul was being pulled somewhere. He also somehow felt the sensation of his body and soul changing that was near indescribable, but he could tell the end result. The feeling that permeated his soul was the stripping of his Name. He knew that he was no longer James, he had no name now. He was still him, but he could no longer be called James.
After that strange feeling, he felt something else. The pulling he felt became stronger, pulling him down. Feeling as his body becomes more and more solid, though not quite. He saw a light and realized that he was entering a new life.
Line Break
He woke up in a large, old, crater. It had oddly dark grass growing in it, nature having reclaimed the scene of destruction as best it could. The ground was indented in a way that couldn't occur naturally, except for maybe a meteor hit the ground. However he could tell the crater was made a long time ago, with the vegetation encroaching towards the center where he was.
'What happened here? And where am I?' he questioned to himself.
'Answer: It appears a large battle happened here many years ago between powerful individuals. For your second question, from the data gained from your memories and from the base information package that comes with skill Soul Sage, you are in the world of Tensura as you would know it' a voice spoke that was somewhat similar to the one he faintly remembered hearing as he was dying spoke.
He was shocked, standing still and processing what he was told and the fact he now had a voice in his head.
'…I guess that explains why that voice seemed familiar, after all it was from one of my favorite anime of all time. Though I am a bit concerned how… unconcerned I am' the newly reborn man thought to himself.
'Answer: During the process of your soul coming to this world quite some time passed. You had time to grieve and come to terms with things during the process. You are also not feeling any feelings of rejection from your body due to the process making sure of that' the voice told him.
He put his hand on his chin and started to think. Before he could start to plan though Soul Sage spoke again.
'Alert: Due to your body being made of magicules your connection to the physical world is waning. If you want to stay in the material world you must find something physical to inhabit' the skill told him.
He started to freak out for a moment before quickly collecting himself. He was always good at pushing down his feelings in a crisis, though he usually broke down after. Right now that skill is coming in handy.
"Sage, do you have any advice?" he spoke out loud, now in problem solver mode.
'Yes, an easy solution is to use the Intrinsic Skill of your race Material Creation to make a basic skeleton from carbon. Soul Sage will regulate the magicule expenditure to use as little as possible to accomplish this goal, though it will not be perfect,' the sage informed him.
"Good, let's do that then, then I can start questioning everything" he said.
Using some kind of instinct that came with the skill, he raised his arm and held his hand out in front of him. A swirl of magic came into existence from his palm, then converged to a single point. Now a skeleton, white like real bone, lay on the ground in the crater with him.
He then used another instinctual action to use the skill Possession to possess the mass of carbon. In the crater the carbon skeleton merged with its creator, and he now had a true physical body kneeling down on one knee in the crater's center. He took a deep breath for the first time and at that moment realized he hadn't been breathing since he'd arrived in this world.
The reincarnator stood up and used Material Creation to make a full body length mirror, though it was a bit misshaped and warped. That was when he got the first look at his new form.
His new body stood around six feet tall and his hair was silver-like white with a metallic like sheen that made it look like an eccentric dye job from his old world. It didn't look bad though, added a wiser air to him in a way. His eyes were steel grey, like the hue of a blade took inspiration from his eyes for its choice of color. His face had sharp, aristocratic features with a slight softness in his cheeks. His complexion was a pale white, like the hot vampires he'd seen back in his home world.
It was once he looked below the neck that things stopped being so human. From his back sprouted a pair of wings, white demonic looking things that resembled a bat somewhat except for the color. He then looked at his hands and saw that his fingers seemed to have ash grey tinted skin on the tips and grey sharp nails.
'Your wings are retractable' the Sage skill informed him before he could ask.
"That's good, with a pair of gloves I'll be able to pass as human then. Now, while I make some clothes, I want you to tell me what race and skills I have" the newly reincarnated man said while making some rough cotton clothes, including gloves, to cover his naked form.
'Your race is the unique race of Nephilim, specifically a Lesser Nephilim, the fusion of an Angel and Daemon's magicules. From the information available and with Soul Sage's sub-skills, your body was created from the magicules released in a battle between a powerful Daemon and Angel that resulted in the crater you awoke in. The magicules must have mixed and coalesced into a singular form, you. A similar process is how monsters are normally born' Soul Sage began as the newly revealed Nephilim made his way out of the crater dressed in his roughly made black cotton clothes and retracting his wings.
'As for your Skills, you have the Intrinsic Skills Material Creation, and Possession, the Intrinsic skills of both Angels and Daemons. You have the Resistance Skills Holy-Demonic Resistance, Flame Attack Resistance, Heat Resistance, and Pain Nullification' the Sage went on as the Nephilim made his way to the forest he saw past the edge of the crater after he got out of the large deformation.
'You also possess four Unique Skills-' the skill was telling him, but the shock of that statement made him trip and fall on his face.
The Nephilim grabbed a nearby tree to balance himself, having just reached the edge of the woods. He took a deep breath before steading himself.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked the skill, knowing the answer yet both dreading and anticipating it.
'You have four Unique Skills, gained from your intense desires and emotions at the time of Skill allotment. Would you like an explanation of your Unique Skills?' the skill asked of its user.
The reborn Nephilim sat down, back against the tree he'd grabbed. He got as comfortable as he could, before speaking up.
"Lay it on me" he said in a tired voice that spoke of the mental exhaustion the recent events had given him.
'First is the Unique Skill Soul Sage, from your memories this Skill resembles the Skill Great Sage with some differences. Soul Sage grants the sub-skills All of Creation, Thought Acceleration, Parallel Calculation, Analytical Appraisal, Chant Annulment, and the sub-skill that makes Soul Sage different from Great Sage, Spirit Investigation. Spirit Investigation allows the user to analyze any soul the user has gained or interacts with. This allows for in-depth analysis of Skills, Magic, Arts, and memories of the soul. Memories can only be analyzed from souls directly in the user's possession. Can work in tandem with Analytical Appraisal. This Skill also allows for an assistant to help guide you, following with your request during Skill allotment' the skill revealed its capabilities to him.
'Well that's useful, glad I've got you to help me' he thought to himself while the wind blew through the trees.
'Next is the Unique Skill Essence of Flame. This Skill grants the ability to create and control fire at incredibly high levels. It also allows the user to make flames that burn what the user desires and makes an effect that correlates to the fuel used for the flame. There are restrictions on the later ability based on the skills rank and the amount of magicules you have. This skill also grants the ability to control flames you didn't create, magical or otherwise and has the sub-skills: Flame Domination, Flame Attack Resistance, and Heat Resistance' Soul Sage explained in its monotone voice.
'Next is the Unique Skill Soul Bargain. This Skill grants the ability to make deals that are tied to the soul of the parties involved in the transaction. It allows for the trading of things otherwise impossible, such as things like lifespan, magical power, and even Skills. For each successful deal made and completed an increase in magicules is granted based on the strength of the other party. This Skill has three restrictions. 1: The user cannot make a deal for something that they don't have/can't do. 2: The user can't break any deals made if they attempt to do so what they agreed to give is forfeit and goes to the aggrieved party as well as causing the loss of magicules. In turn this is equally, if not more, true for any party that the user makes a deal with. 3: The skill doesn't work when either party is under mind control or puppeteering to make the deal' Soul Sage informed him.
He couldn't believe that he had such a skill, this was a game changer by itself. And he had one more Unique Skill to go.
'Damn, this is starting to give me ideas for what to do going forward' he thought with a smile.
'Finally, you possess the Unique Skill Progenitor of Grey. This Skill grants the user the ability to create daemons of the unique color grey. The user is considered the progenitor of Grey daemons. The user can only make daemons of a lower level of power than themselves. All daemons made using this skill are loyal to their creator. The trait all Grey daemons possess is curiosity' was what Soul Sage told him.
At this point he wasn't even shocked anymore, he was just rolling with the punches. It was a good skill, for when he has more power. For now though he decided to hold off on using that skill, and his fire skill unless he had to.
'My main advantage is my Soul Bargain skill, that will let me get established' he thought as he sat up from his DIY chair.
The reborn man walked through the forest for some time, contemplating what he should do in this new life of his. He was also making a list of things he needed to do, like find out where he was and if Rimuru had arrived yet. After about an hour of walking he came across a dirt path that was well worn with use. Deciding to pick a random direction and follow the road he went towards what he believed to be east and walked down the path.
It was only a short while later that he came across where the path led, a small village of wooden houses. The whole place only had about nine buildings and a well, nothing really in the way of infrastructure. A woman who was filling some buckets at the well spotted him and waved. He waved back and approached the woman, picking up one of her buckets to aid her.
"Hello there stranger, I haven't seen you around here before" the village woman said as she finished filling her other bucket and started to take it to her home.
He followed her, bucket in one hand.
"I'm a little lost to be honest. Some bandits accosted me and I ran into the woods to lose them. Sadly, I didn't remember what way I ran from" he told her, looking bashful at the blunder he made up on the spot.
She nodded at him and opened the door to her domical. Inside she led him to a small kitchen/dining room hybrid and set the buckets on a nearby wooden counter. She whipped her hands on her apron and turned to face him.
"Well that's just awful. My husband got ran off by bandits once after a hunt, so I understand. If there's anything you need let me know, my husband can lead you more towards where you want to go in the morning. Won't you Dale!" she spoke to him in an understanding voice that changed once she shouted for her husband.
A man walked from further inside the house into the room. He was brown haired and of average height, toned from his work hunting in the woods.
"What am I doing now dear?" he asked, yawning as if just woke up.
As Dale's wife explained the situation he looked at the silver haired man in his home. After being caught up on the situation he spoke to the guest.
"Dang bandits. I understand your trouble there friend. I can lead you more towards the main roads in the morning. What's your name by the way?" Dale asked him while giving him an understanding nod.
The reincarnator thought for a moment before responding.
"I'm Lucian Silver, nice to meet you. How about in exchange for you leading me in the morning I help around here till then?" Lucian told him and held his hand out to the man.
Dale shook his hand with a smile at that.
"It's a deal then!" the hunter said with a laugh.
It was then that Lucian felt a small increase in power, making his own smile all the wider.