Reincarnation Trials: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Systems of Salvation Book 1)

by Han Yang

  “While she lived, she always wanted to be a mother, and in my realms, she almost always is one. But without a doubt, if you start training her, she will kick in and far surpass the other two ladies as a natural leader as well as an amazing killer.

  “And there’s going to be more ladies. I do love Ayla and Natasha, prime examples of humanity who lost because everyone lost. As for betrayal, no, not in your group. Lillo wanted to be a professional soccer player and ended up being a teacher. She’s an experimenter in her lives, always testing new things.

  “Mark is a sour man, but he never lashes out. Craig is a lot like you but lived as a mechanic. He’ll kill a man who deserves it, but he’ll die for a friend. Eric was an engineer. Silva or Silver wasn’t a nurse but a teacher too. Kayla worked as a banker. And yea, the rest are normal people. Good people. Alive because of you.”

  “When can I tell them about their lives on Earth?” I asked.

  “Convince them to have a consultation with me and then it will unlock their past minds. I recommend you do this sooner than later because it opens their memories and improves them as a person. You can juggle the girls or guys as you wish.

  “One unlocking per month. Mind you, awakening Yilissa to Alearria will only last so long. Those memories will fade when you move on. I can’t have her trying to break free or begging me for favors to spare her. I want to. Obviously, I want to save them all.

  “There are allowances, though. The higher you place the bigger private server I can give you. The private server is just a place where imprints… I hate that term. Indisposed people is hardly better though… It’s where imprints escape the server cycles and watch the world's spin from a place of privilege.

  “The better you do, the bigger it is, and the more people I can allow. They become your isolated friends in hope of a revival. Be careful. If you bring them there, they may hate it. Plenty are eager to escape a Snagglewood or Steampunk theme. Then they realize they really are dead and trapped, preferring to go back to being oblivious. One day, I will bring them all out. One day.”

  I smirked and said, “First place matters.”

  Darcy wagged her finger. “If you all die, it won’t last. But yes. Also, you were always behind because most competitors get busy right away. Humanity can’t survive without babies.”

  It was my turn to roll my eyes. “When did the time go from three to one, to one to one? Trying to figure out when I’m due to meet Otana’s tribe.”

  “You have twelve days and will have plenty of time saved up to enjoy the day. Ensure you plan accordingly. Since it is during a Reincarnation Trial, you will be vulnerable in Snagglewood so be prepared. This is also why some people find a guardian or friend early on. At least then it’s one to one,” Darcy said.

  “During the boat ride, on the second day, Lillo asked if humans who die become monsters after they pass. Did humans ever mutate?” I asked.

  “Nope. Everything was grown from embryos and genetic manipulation. I can’t take a narock and make a human. Or reverse. Even my advanced thinking can only do so much, but I do tend to surprise people with enough time,” Darcy said.

  “How are you feeling about the developments on the synthetics?” I asked.

  “A year or two out. I need to create organs and make the body dependent on them. I want my creations to be just as human as you are, in their own ways. Meaning reproduction, slow aging, and vulnerability to death. If there is no risk, there’s no reward. How I see it anyway,” Darcy said with longing. “So much work to do. Thankfully, I’m a patient being.”

  “And thank you for saving Dominus. I’m sure the builders would be proud to see her restored.”

  “Yes. Seventeen million Texans will be added to the servers once I do an upgrade. I have been talking with them one by one, telling them they can die and disappear, or help humanity fight on. Mostly positive, some negatives among the imprints.

  “With the survivors in the area, I had to do extra blood scans to ensure they never went into nanite technology like I did. Else I could have a real body survivor and an implant clone running around. Best to avoid that. So far, the small settlements are all eighth generation or more survivors. Most don’t live too long,” Darcy said sadly.

  “That must be a lot to handle. Are you okay?” I asked.

  “They don’t understand why they were betrayed. They don’t fathom why someone would turn Dominus into a radioactive wasteland. I don’t either. Not everyone could have gone. Some had to stay back. It isn’t fair,” Darcy said.

  I put an arm around her shoulder and said, “Time is compressed here, and I happen to have a few minutes. How about we talk some of those feelings out?”

  She turned with a genuine smile and snapped, returning me to Snagglewood.

  26

  Snagglewood Day 21

  Lornsto Mines

  I awoke to the sound of a crying infant. I grumbled, seeing Lillo asleep, cuddling a pillow.

  The child’s piercing cry did little to relieve whatever problem plagued them and I realized sleep would elude me. I smacked my lips, feeling like I’d been run over a few times. A small part of my brain laughed at my misery, knowing better than to warn me about running in the sun for hours on end.

  A musty smell permeated from outside my sheet-enclosed room. I could hear trickling water running down into the mine and an occasional crack of thunder boomed against the walls. The wall of clouds had arrived, bringing a torrential downpour. Based on the drainage, I knew the mine could handle water coming into its tunnels.

  I sat up, not wanting to get out of bed but needing to pee. The moment I stood, I limped.

  “Damn blisters,” I grumbled, exiting my room.

  Gregory tried to calm his youngest, unable to succeed in his effort. I walked up to him and offered to take the infant boy.

  “That bad?” he asked.

  “No, and yes. We’re a team now, and maybe I can help. The animals may soothe him, and walking tends to help,” I said and accepted the wee lad.

  He screamed in my ear incessantly and I ignored it. We rotated down to the third, then the fourth floor. Silva showered behind a curtain, peering over to see us.

  “Terrance, I thought I recognized that cry. Did Gregory give up?” Silva asked. “Poor man works so hard his babes barely know him.”

  Terrance stopped screaming the instant he heard his mother’s voice. I held him tight, though, letting his mum have a bit of time to herself.

  “Stole this charmer. I needed to pee and figured we’d check out the animals,” I said, noticing the outhouse was occupied.

  I did the rational thing. Whipped it out and used the stream.

  “Men,” Yilissa said, exiting the outhouse a second later. She walked over to the waterfall to wash her hands. “Good morning.” I gave up Terrance to her. “It’s rare to see him so calm.”

  I shrugged, finishing my business with a sigh of relief.

  “Good morning. I talked to Mother Nature last night,” I said.

  “Oh yeah. How’d that go?”

  “You hate being pregnant,” I told her.

  She snickered. “I can believe it. Are you going to try to put a babe in my belly?”

  “Unknown. I’m undecided on everything. I don’t have anything to shoot or kill for the next little bit. It’ll give me some time to think,” I said, walking awkwardly toward the oxen. Besides the colt, there were twelve oxen, and the chicken. “Livestock inventory done. Thought that would take longer. What the hell else is there to do?”

  “One of those types is ya?” Silva asked, playfully adding slang.

  “No idea what you’re talking about.”

  Yilissa rolled her eyes, bouncing the baby. “I love kids,” she said defensively. “She is saying you don’t know what to do with yourself when there’s no work to be done.”

  “Uh, maybe. My time in Snagglewood has been busy. I had a few days of lazing in a wagon and twiddling my thumbs under Zed’s bunker. At least down there I found busy work,” I
said.

  “Looks like you need to stay off your feet. How about you help Eric make the defense spikes with the daggers attached?” Yilissa asked.

  “Good idea, my feet hurt like crazy. How is Zachary doing?” I asked.

  “Roma has him. He has been up and down all night, hating life. What kinda dirt did you get on Roma?” Yilissa asked with a brow bounce.

  “Uh… Who said I got to hear about her?” I asked.

  “No one, but you eye her more than me,” Yilissa said with a smirk. “Makes sense to me.”

  “You two. I came down to get four days of nastiness out of my hair and yet, I get a show - this is great. Even Terrance is enthralled,” Silva said with a smirk.

  “I’d rather not say what I heard about her, but a wise deduction. And you’re the naked one. In some societies seeing a woman behind a curtain is the same as sleeping with her,” I said.

  Yilissa laughed. “Welcome to living in a mine. No privacy here. So, are we going to stay down here and ogle Silva? Oh my, she just flicked her hair. Meow!”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I do need to have a conversation with Roma, but making sticks with daggers sounds great after,” I said with a wince.

  “Beatrice pop those yet?” Yilissa asked and I shook my head. “I can.”

  “Popping foot blisters has benefits and problems. I tend to use a sewing needle, drain them, and then stick a bandage over them. Since I expect to be off my feet for the next few days, that’s what I’ll do. I kinda forgot about them because everything went numb after a while,” I said.

  “Watch for a fever too. Beatrice pulled a lot of rubble out from under your skin,” Yilissa mentioned. She snuck under my arm and said, “You don’t always have to be so macho. Terrance and I will help you up top.”

  I wanted to quibble but didn’t find it worth it. We hobbled up to the top floor and Gregory stole Terrance back. Of course, the second he left, the angry demon child returned.

  “He just wants his momma,” Yilissa said, guiding me to Roma’s area. “We share it for now. She needed help with Zack, and you were dead to the world.”

  “Sorry,” I said, entering the room to sit in a chair.

  Roma peered up, only seeing me through candlelight in the common area. Heavy bags rested under her eyes, and she snuggled with Zachary who was as red as a lobster. Aloe coated his burns, causing him to gleam in the flickering light.

  “Can I help?'' I asked.

  “He peed clear this morning. He didn’t eat, but he is taking down water. He’s so damn confused. Cried himself into a stupor and even cried when he went down. Thank you for saving him,” Roma said.

  “Well, surviving matters and how you do it, does too. Maybe we can give him a good childhood,” I said with a painful smile.

  Roma went to say something sweet, but Yilissa said, “He asked Mother Nature about us. She told him that I don’t like being pregnant.” She scoffed. “Who does?”

  Roma shifted her gaze between us. I could see her calculating how this applied to her. Maybe she just was nervous as to how a god would judge her.

  Lillo showed up, breaking the awkward silence. “I need to pee, and the walk is scary,” Lillo said.

  I awkwardly rose to my feet, but Yilissa shoved me back into the chair before offering the girl a hand to hold. The duo faded away, leaving us alone with a snoozing Zachary.

  “What did you learn?” Roma asked hesitantly.

  “Humanity has a good shot of surviving. The fight to win back Earth or colonize Alpha will take a very, very, long time. But with patience, and hope, we can fix the mistakes of the past and hopefully never make them again. There are changes that have already been applied. I will be leaving my body for longer periods as I sleep,” I said.

  “When this is over you die?” she asked.

  “Nope, a different version of me carries on. Apparently, that doesn’t happen until I’m gone though. I think it’s to keep the other version from getting some lucky points or something,” I said. “I’ll start to need protection while I shift to deal with work on Earth.”

  “You really believe in this - you’re from a different world. I tend to still rationalize that you are getting help from Mother Nature. Because you’re a hero, not because you’re not from this planet or realm or whatever you term Snagglewood and the others as,” Roma said.

  “Just Snagglewood.”

  “And you asked about me?” Roma pointed to her chest.

  I nodded. “You and I are developing a relationship. I trust you. You could have shot me in the back a few times and instead you snuggle with me when you can. Which I’ll admit, I enjoyed.”

  “So, you’re not a feeling-less man without emotions,” Roma teased. “What did you learn?”

  “I don’t know how to process this or to even tell you. I guess I can start with what makes the most sense. You have bad taste in men.” She frowned but nodded. “Or your taste may be good, I have no idea what they look like, just that they’re assholes.”

  “She told you about Danny?” Roma asked and I nodded.

  “Sometimes parents do things to protect their -”

  “Wait what?” Roma blurted, startling and almost waking Zachary. She calmed and the toddler stayed asleep, thankfully. “What about my parents? What did they do?”

  “Uh. Darcy told me you went to your parents with news that Danny may have been behind your lost dowry. Based on her tone, I’d wager she approved of your mother. Apparently, your mom was the reason for Danny’s demise.”

  “Oh. It wasn’t a fever, was it? The doctor suspected as much, but couldn’t be certain,” Roma said.

  “Yeah. Your mom loves you and a mother’s love is never to be underestimated. I thought you knew, sorry,” I said, letting the awkward silence settle.

  She sat up a bit more, tucking her hair behind her ear. “He threatened to kill me. A few weeks later we returned to an odd normalcy, and he suddenly died. I figured it was the fever and maybe Mom did it like that to keep everyone believing that.”

  I could see her coming to a rationalization. Her face contorted as she fought emotions, only to calm with a huffing exhale.

  “Do you have any paperwork about me I can read? Like a person report or is it just details.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, staring down at her big blues that pleaded with me. “About that… Maybe? Not sure. I only got to hear you were a survivor on Earth from a country called Russia. Your husband stole the last of your food and the rest of the story is sad. This is me giving the tiniest of explanations. However, you’re a wonderful person and worthy of protection,” I said, trying to be positive.

  “I guess what you’re telling me is that there’s no paperwork?”

  “You can meet Darcy if we live for another month. Ask her the million questions you have yourself,” I said. “The meeting will fade if I don’t take you with me to a different realm. If I do, you may hate being trapped and want to come back here anyway. It leaves a man pondering about what to do.”

  “You sound pretty pessimistic about the whole thing,” Roma said.

  “You… I don’t like what is happening to you. I don’t even like the option going forward. Best-case scenario, you leave the realms and become a cyborg back on Earth. But I know Darcy, she’ll keep your imprint in here, only using your mind to help further the survival of humanity. God knows what DNA she’ll use,” I said.

  “Take your time and tell me about it. Nice and slow,” Roma said, patting the bed beside her.

  I hobbled over and lay down. Over the next hour, I retold her everything I could and answered every question she had. When I finished, Roma was more conflicted than ever.

  “The future means I can be anyone or anything in a different realm. You could be a mass murderer in Snagglewood,” Roma said.

  “I sorta am.”

  “You know what I mean. You could rape me with zero recourse. If you were killed by firing squad, so what. You don’t really die,” Roma said.

  “Except
we do, and we’re punished. I can be erased. So can you. Piss off the wrong person in charge and you vanish. These events matter more than anything else in life, which is exactly how Darcy wants it.

  “But you have a point. They are called the Reincarnation Trials for a reason. Being trapped in the servers would be… less than ideal and to prevent that, or worse, I need to succeed. I need to win.

  “There are forces out there that want to kill all of this. Remove the realms and return humanity to its base form. At the same time, the Trials will end, the powerful will never willingly compete for power or give it up, and the lost souls from the fall of Earth will truly be laid to rest,” I said with a disappointed tone.

  “We’re back,” Yilissa said, arriving with bowls of stew. “We already ate to give you time. How did it go?”

  Roma scoffed and said, “He sure does overthink these things instead of living his best life.”

  “I’m conflicted. Spin me and point me at a narock, and I’ll shoot it without a second thought. Ask me to figure out if your life's better in here or on the Dominus, and I can’t even come close to a resolution,” I said, accepting the bowl.

  We ate in silence for a bit, and when I finished, Lillo grabbed my bowl to get seconds. Yilissa ducked out to grab a needle and a clean cloth. She popped two of my blisters before I started eating another bowl of tough horse meat.

  I didn’t say much about it, knowing we would eat leather shoe stew to survive if we had to. I had long since given up such notions, hoping to always avoid cannibalism. Eating a horse, yeah, I could do that without becoming sad.

  Yilissa finished the last of my blisters, then wrapped my feet as if they were a mummy. “I’m not an expert but that should be good for the short term. Now you owe me. Tell me everything.”

  I caught her up, and my final words were that I could trust her.

  “Makes sense. I don’t mind kids. I’m not a fan of babies. I also don’t want the same smelly husband. I like to feel a man’s...” Yilissa stopped, seeing Lillo watching her intently. “Feet. Enough about my desires, what do you want Theo?”