Chapter 1

When I was younger, I loved watching Anime, Kaiju, and various Japanese shows like Ultraman and Ultra Seven, Kikaider, the Godzilla franchise movies, and others! I thought it would be pretty damned awesome to live in a world with such heroes. What I never considered was the downside, where such heroes exist there will be monsters as well. This is no surprise. What young boy considers the consequences of such?

My life was nothing special, but I dreamed all the time and even tried writing scripts for comics and movies reminiscent of those shows that held such a warm place in my heart. In my middle years, I got hooked on Isekai stories! The idea of being sent to such worlds by Truck-kun made me smile. That is, until the day I became the object of Truck-kun’s relative - Piano-kun, while visiting New York City.

Exiting the Subway stop nearest my old friend’s apartment complex, I’m walking and taking in the scenery when I notice a woman using a walker ahead of me. She’s standing under a grand piano that’s being moved. I don’t know if they are delivering or removing it from the residence, but I hear a shout of worry. I then notice that the gantry has a broken spar and that the whole thing looks to be ready to come down.

I’m just a few meters away at this point and without a second thought, charge ahead to get the woman out of the way. Tripping at the last moment, I manage to shove her forward, which causes her to take a few steps and fall, but that’s fine. She’s out of danger. Well, it’s fine for her. I hear the shouts and the sound of the gantry breaking loose and manage to turn and look up at the life-ending object racing down to make me one with the pavement.

I don’t remember being struck by Piano-kun. One moment, I’m watching my death approach and I swear that I saw an evil smile on the damned piano as it hurtled towards me. The next, I’m in some void. I guessed this was death. What a lonely place was my first thought. Then, a screen appeared before my eyes.

[Welcome to The System beta version 4.01. You have been chosen to take part in the beta. As such, you are being granted a special opportunity! Please choose from the following choices: Poor - Middle-Class - Well-to-Do]

I don’t want to be poor and I’ve been Middle-Class, so I choose “Well-to-Do.”

[Studious or Lazy]

I’ve never been lazy and I would rather do well in school, so I chose “Studious.”

[Final choice - Middle School, High School, or College]

I think about this one for a few. It seems I’ll be inserted into an existing life, not born into a new one. That means that I can start earlier and have more impact on my future, while the later stages give me less impact. The downside being the typical bullshit one goes through in middle and high school.

I decide on the middle ground and select High School.

From that final selection, my consciousness went black. The next thing I know is that I am being shaken rather roughly. It’s night time and I feel groggy and sick to my stomach. My legs are cold and there’s an odd pressure on my chest. Something seems wrong with my eyes as I cannot see clearly.

“Help me up,” I manage to mumble as I reach out with my hand, which is engulfed in a larger hand that helps me to my feet. Standing is a bit difficult. Something is wrong with my shoes. However, I do manage to balance well enough to stay upright. This is the moment when the reality of my new life hits me and I nearly puke all over the person who helped me up.

Wealthy, studious, pressure on my chest, cold legs, large hand engulfed mine, something wrong with my shoes ... Let’s see if you can figure out what I did before puking and passing out again.

Let me give you a hint, the gods’ forsaken system and Piano-kun contrived to send me to this new world as a woman! Now, there’s nothing wrong with women. I think they are amazing. But, I did not sign up to be a woman! Nothing in the choices indicated this would be the outcome! Plenty of studious wealthy men exist! This has to be a mistake!

[There has been no mistake, Miss Sarah Kincaid. Due to the amount of time it took for you to chose, this was the body ready to receive your soul at that moment. Had you chosen 1.53 seconds sooner, it would have been a sickly male body. With The System, you would have been able to overcome that limitation.

Would you like to learn more about your current situation, family, etc.?]

My vision has cleared and I can see that I’m in a hospital bed. By looking around, I soon figure out that I’m in a rehabilitation clinic for the rich and famous. There are pamphlets and other hints around the room and on my side table that make my situation clear. It seems that my benefactor overdosed and died leaving this body for me to inherit. When I was being shaken during my initial entry into the world, it was by the paramedic who had just administered Naloxone to this body. What would lead a well-to-do young woman, with good grades, to overdose in high school? Argh. This really sucks.

As I’m alone and fairly certain that nobody will be disturbing me in the next few minutes, I decide to learn more about this new life. It isn’t as if I can just get up and change to a new one.

[Personal Data and Statistics] Name - Sarah Kincade Age - 15 Birthday - May 19th Sex - Female Gender -??? Grade - Freshman (1st year of High School just ended) Achievements - graduated middle school in the second position; made state finals in gymnastics for floor exercise, uneven bars, balance beam, and vault; Brown belt in Aikido; enjoys drawing anime characters.

Str - 12 Sta - 12 Con - *16 (-10 due to current health) Agi - 11 Dex - 14 Fin - 15 Int - 14 Wis - 10 Psy - 4 Cha - 8

Cultivation - None

Parents - Married and living together Friends -??? Associates - too many to list

Languages - English W/R/S (American dialect [radio/tv]), Latin American Spanish W/R/S[Mexican dialect learned from nanny], Korean S (South Korean Dialect[learned from grandmother]).

Height - 173cm Weight - 55kg Body - Athletic Measurements Chest - 86cm Bust - 91 (Full B) Waist - 64cm Hip - 86cm Shoe - 9EE [End]

“System, how important is cultivation in this reality?”

[Lack of cultivation is a detriment as one gets older.]

“Is that why she overdosed?”

[Yes. Despite all her efforts, she was incapable of opening her Dantian. The best she could hope for would be an arranged marriage and a difficult life.]

“System, how can you help me to overcome this problem?”

Now, you may ask yourself why I care. Perhaps I could just find a friendly (hahaha) Truck-kun to send me on to yet another life? I have considered that and I ended up thinking that The System would punish me even more. So, no. I’m sticking this out and I’m going to make the best of it. Maybe, by doing this, The System will give me a better position in the next life.