A New System

I had never told anyone before that I had reincarnated other than my sisters. Which is what landed me in this cave in the first place.

I can still remember each of their response.

Fiona was scared, but she had masked it with a nervous smile. One that I hadn't notice then. "Wow, t-that's a lot to take in," she told me and warned me not to tell anyone else. I guess she was saving me for herself. Saying you killed a demon with the eighth prince of the dynasty would elevate your status.

When I told Matilda, she wasn't surprised. She just said, "That explains the funny words. Either way, you're my brother, and that's all that matters." That set my heart at ease. So why did she attack me?

"Judging from your reaction looks like I was right," the woman said.

"You're not going to kill me, are you," I asked, unable to run.

"No, no."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because I've killed many like you before."

Before? There were others like me.

"Did you think you were the only one? Did you think that this new life of yours was going to be easy?" She wasn't wrong; I honestly thought it would be easy, at least easier than my first life, and it was. I just never thought there would be others like me.

"But—but Genesis—"

"Yes, yes, I have heard that excuse so many times it feels like I know the man," she said, her eyes locking on me. "Genesis probably said he would give you any power you wished."

I nodded.

"What did you asked for?"

"The ability to be talented in everything."

She let out a bellowing laugh that bounced off the walls. Echoing down the cave tunnels.

"You really wanted it easy. Probably didn't have anything in your first life."

She wasn't wrong, even with all the money I had. Happiness was always fleeting, and I had no one to share that wealth with.

"Did you get that ability?"

"No. He gave me a skill called [Copywriter]."

"Because he could only give you what was already in the world."

"What," I asked.

"I have the skill [Copywriter]."

It hung in the air like a foul stench. I could feel the tension turning into truth. My body was loosening and relaxing. Genesis never said he would give me a new ability. He only said he would give me anything I wanted, which was a lie. He also never said it was going to be easy. It was going to be hard because life is hard.

"What is happening to me?"

"You are talking about this," she said, tapping my skin. "No eyes, but you can see, pain, but you don't stop. Everyone one of you earthlings come here with two bodies. Weren't you always starving when you were young?"

She was correct; I was always starving when I was younger. I was always eating four times more than my family. I curbed it, but my stomach never stopped. I learned later that when my mother was pregnant, she had also experienced this type of hunger.

"I am guessing your mother had it too. That because she wasn't feeding for two but for three. You were feeding your body and this—" she said, pointing at me. "—body. From the look of you. You were hit with divine magic burning away your body of this world. Including your skin, muscles, and eyes."

"This body is—"

"A creation from your first life. Your soul won't forget your first body so easily."

"It tried to recreate it," I said.

"It was created first, and your second body covered it like a fleshy blanket. The divine magic was expelling you from the system."

"What about my blood or my brain?

"Protected by your second body. It came from your world. Have you opened your status?"

The status screen. Why didn't I open it before? I could've used the screen to light my path.

"Status," I said. The blue screen reappeared, but it was cracked. My stats were negative, and my level was back to one. I had worked hard to get up to thirty-five, and now I was back where I started.

"Cracked, right?"

"What happened?"

"The system has rejected you. Now here's the million gold question. Why haven't you copied the system?"

"I can't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because it's not a skill."

"Is it? Who gave you the ability to check status?"

"No one did," I said.

"Someone gave every single person on this planet the ability to check their status."

"Drykena the Goddess of the Land. You're asking me to—"

"Copy it."

I looked down at the cracked status screen. For all my life, it was staring me right in the face. A skill just begging to copied. Did Drykena know that this was possible? I doubt it. It was a loophole in the system. If I could copy it, there wouldn't be a limit to what I could copy.

The keys appeared by my fingers. Control C, Control V. Nothing. I tried again, and the results were the same. I tried four more times, and each time I added pressure to the keys.

"Don't use the system to copy the system; use your soul. The skills we are blessed with are connected to the soul. That's why certain abilities are passed on while others are trained," she said, tapping my forehead.

"Control C," I said, and I felt my life leave me. "C-control V."

Then everything went black.