Chapter 3: Reincarnated?

Michael… I’m going to kill you.

Nearly as soon as it came, the wave of pure hatred abated. As strange as it was, the effect was indeed quite welcome as it allowed me to remember one important thing the man in the mirror had said: I should be a blank slate right now.

Easy now, let my features adopt the neutral expression I always wear at work. That will be the easiest way to do this.

The sudden unabashed rage was a bit concerning; it was a rather foreign sensation to me, but that same mirror man had also told me to expect a few changes to how I felt. Considering that my mind or soul or whatever had apparently crossed the border between worlds, a few new emotions wasn’t too much to ask; hell, the change of pace might even be welcome.

“Vo kya dath?” The blonde man, Michael, asked one of the men wearing a mask.

The masked man replied to Michael though somewhat muffled, “Vo chilana? Bacha hua dard, shayadly.”

What language is that? Not English. No, there’s no way. If this is another world and not some freaky dream, then there’s no way they’ll speak English or any other earth language.

Michael did not seem pleased by this answer, “Ek schwellcheck chalao.”

The masked man, who I’ll just call “Doctor” due to his lab coat and surgical mask, shrugged unconcernedly, “Ouitheek. Jaisa aap khe Direktorin…”

Lifting a small tablet, he proceeded to scan me with a red light. Unable to help myself, I flinched away when the beam hit my eyes. Doctor’s hand froze, and he tapped at the screen a few times and frowned, “Direktorin … Iska demon schwelle… vo Het Lamed aarhah.”

“Dubara check karo, Amar ke Index ke saath.”

At Michael’s words, an instruction, one of the other Doctors stepped forward and scanned me.

“Amar ke result mere se match karte h. Schwelle me Het Lamed show horha.”

Michael let out a long sigh; whatever the results of those scans, he had been waiting with bated breath, “Ye kaise ho sakta h, uski potaavit bewer Alpha thi… vo kamsekam Ayin ke upar honi chahiye thi… koi nhi, iske alava aur koi alagnorm nhi h?”

The first doctor nodded to whatever it was Michael had said. Upon receiving the favorable response, Michael shrugged, “Ham saphal hogae h, bohot samee baad. Oobersesen ko telecha karo aur ek status ko telenocha karo.” He turned away from the first Doctor and bent down to look me in the eyes, “Meri duniya me tumhara swagat h, Eira.”

Doctor did something else on his tablet, and I felt a prick at the base of my neck a moment later. Like that one time a coworker managed to get me to try acupuncture.

Acquired Skill: Language[Hindish]

 

Right after, my head was flooded with knowledge of a language I had never heard before a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, as is often the case when you do not know the meaning of words, I had remembered it as a mere jumbled mess of sound and thus had no idea what was said. That was the least of my worries, though, as the sudden influx of information caused me to gasp audibly and jump in surprise.

Skill!? Like in a game? Oh... That is weird.

My internal monologue had changed; rather than being in my native English, I was now thinking in whatever this “Hindish” was. Yet even though the language had been so completely foreign until just a moment ago, now, I knew every word.

“There, can you understand me?” Michael had caught my reaction, so he knew that whatever had been done had worked.

Right… I suppose I should answer that; it’s pretty clear he expects me to be able to.

Hesitating to form the words lest I use the wrong language instead, I answered that I could, “…Yes”

My voice sounded different than it used to, which gave me a momentary surprise and caused me to clasp a hand over my mouth. Fortunately, such a reaction did not arouse much suspicion as Michael proceeded as though it was expected, “You will get used to things soon; I still remember when I woke up, how disorientating it was. For now, please think of the word ‘status.’ Direct the thought to where you felt the prick earlier; we need to see what we are dealing with.”

Idiot! Of course my voice is different; the man in the mirror all but told me it was just my soul going to a new body. A new body means a new voice; I can’t afford to be getting surprised at every little thing… Like this ‘status’ thing. Between that and the skills, this is one of those game worlds. Fingers crossed this isn’t a dream and I really did get isekai’d…

I was not overly familiar with the genre, but it had become so mainstream at some point that even a layman like myself had some general knowledge of how it was supposed to work. Even if this was supposed to be real life, not all tropes would apply.

Wait, isn’t thinking that all of the tropes won’t apply a trope? Whatever, “Status!”

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