Reborn as the Clown Prince

~ Pip... pip... pip... pip…~

"Harley, if you don't turn off the fucking alarm clock, then I'm going to get up and shove it up your ass!"

Stop. Who is Harley? Why do I feel so bad? Where am I? And the most important thing is… Who am I?

It hurts... it's like my body was put through a meat grinder, but I wouldn't call the pain blinding, was it quite... bearable? It's like I'm used to her.

And what is this? I squinted and came across a sign:

[Synchronization with the First Beginning has been performed]

The System? Memories came flooding back: death, a journey through Darkness, the ravings of a drug addict, ha-ha-ha…

[Smoothing out emotional peak]

Oh, yes, I shouldn't remember that place.… Anyway, I got a system, and then I got into this body. Basically, it's cool, I'm a real ORS* now (almost like OJS**, only cooler), but the pain on the edge of consciousness is wildly annoying.

"System, is there nothing you can do with this thing?"

[Improve the First Beginning to 75 points, or the sixth start to 150 points]

Oh, cool, now I have help available. There was no limit to my happiness, finally I will find out what all these "Beginnings" mean.

"System, what is the Beginning?"

[The Beginnings or the Soul Shells are peculiar to all surrounding things.

The First Beginning: this is the physical body. The only One of the Beginnings, the existence of which no one is trying to dispute. It can be seen and felt, measured and weighed. It is responsible for health, endurance, strength, immunity, regeneration. It depends on the Second Beginning.

The Second Beginning is vital energy, which is also prana. It permeates every cell of the physical body, allowing the creature to live, breathe, move, feed, reproduce. Depends on the First Beginning.

The Third Beginning: the astral body. It provides life after death, it is it that produces ba-hion (energy for the existence of gods and the creation of miracles) and allows you to travel in subtle realms. The astral body copies the physical body. It depends on all the Beginnings.

The Fourth Beginning: the central core, to which all other Shells are "attached". This is the most important part of all. The only part of the soul that is ABSOLUTELY impossible to destroy. After reincarnation, only the core with the information encoded in it remains of the soul. It depends on all the beginnings.

The Fifth Beginning: the sensual spirit. These are personality, character, emotions, feelings.

The Sixth Beginning: the thinking spirit. This is the mind, the memory. This Shell is concentrated in the brain cells, but it can exist without a physical body, clinging to the Fourth Beginning.

The Seventh Beginning: the magical spirit. The shell is used to absorb and store mana. It is she who allows you to cast spells and cast spells. For ordinary people, the Seventh Beginning is in a "dormant" state. It depends on the Sixth Beginning.

The Eighth Beginning: the immortal spirit. The shell grants its owner an unlimited long life.

The Ninth Beginning is the divine spirit. Only the gods have that soul shell.]

Hmm, that's pretty interesting information. It turns out that in order to get rid of the pain, I need to pump my body, which, most likely, will raise the level of regeneration and I will simply heal, or the power of my mind will become so high and I will simply be able to ignore the sensations of the body.

Information about magic and immortality is also very interesting. You can ignore the ninth beginning for now: I doubt that my new carcass belongs to God... And it is the shell that is needed, and not the first beginning, that is, the body, judging by the certificate.

Damn, it's so unpleasant when everything hurts, but you can't do anything about it... You need to distract yourself... So what else do all the hitmen ask the system?

"Status?" I mentally asked, crossing my fingers for luck, the system had too many restrictions when it first appeared.

[The First Beginning (body): 45

The Second Beginning (prana): 15

The Third Beginning (astral): 7

The Fourth Beginning (core): 10

The Fifth Beginning (spirit): 12

The Sixth Beginning (mind): 40

The Seventh Beginning (magic): 0

The Eighth Beginning (immortality): blocked

The Ninth Beginning (of the deities.) blocked

Free points: 0]

Not bad, I only need to add thirty points to the First Beginning and the pain will no longer distract me.

"And what are the parameters of an ordinary person?" a new mental query left the System.

[An ordinary person of this world:

The First Beginning (body): 25

The Second Beginning (prana): 5

The Third Beginning (astral): 5

The Fourth Beginning (core): 5

The Fifth Beginning (spirit): 25

The Sixth Beginning (mind): 25

The Seventh Beginning (magic): 0]

A good caveat about this world…

"I wonder what the parameters were in my previous world?"

[The First Beginning (body): 20]

"Um... why are there so few?"

[The information is derived after analyzing the memory of the carrier, for more complete data, a scan of the noosphere is necessary.]

"Noosphere?"

[Noosphere (mental plan): a global information field that has everything]

"Super, this is the kind of thing I would like for exams. So I can actually find out anything?"

[A Third Beginning (astral) is required at least 500 points]

"How is that possible? You gave me a certificate for an ordinary person? Where am I supposed to get that much?"

[Completing quests brings free points]

"So, with quests later, answer me, why do you have information about an ordinary person, but I need a lot of points to scan?"

[There is an emergency supply of ba-hion, which is spent on primary scanning of the World and binding the soul to the body]

I see, I see… I adjusted the slid sheet, feeling the pain rolling in again. While I was communicating with the System, the body sensations were not so vivid, so I tried to distract myself again.

So, what do we have? I'm almost twice as strong and smarter than an ordinary person, although it's strange about the mind… It's supposed to be my personal ability.

"System, why do I have so many points in the sixth beginning? I've never been a genius, have I?"

[Remnants of the Sixth soul shell of the previous owner, concentrated in brain cells. Reflexes and memories that are not typical of the wearer may manifest]

"Just remnants?! How brilliant was he... and, in fact, who used to own this body? System?"

[Personal information is deleted primarily to avoid conflicts]

So that's how it is… You'll have to learn everything in practice. What else would you like to ask?

"Inventory? "

[Cavity in space]

"I know what inventory is, do I need to know if I have it? "

[It takes magical energy and a spell to create an inventory]

"Wery well… What kind of spell is this?"

[A certain sequence of words (or sounds) that allows you to bend the world to your will]

"Yes, Iknowwhataspell is!Ineed an example,like a fireballor a painkiller,which is morerelevant to menow..."

[Requirements not сompleted: sleeping the Seventh Beginning (magic)]

So, zero came out in magic, it turns out the seventh shell is sleeping and you need to awaken it somehow…

"Damn it!"

In a rage, I hit the bed with my fist. The pain surged back into my body, making me clench my teeth. After waiting out the attack, a new request was sent to the system.

"What quests are there?"

[Quests are generated to get ba-hion and convert it into free points. They are related either to the rescue or to the killing of intelligent beings based on the events taking place around the carrier. Global quests may arise when the very existence of the world is in danger]

"I suppose killing brings more ba-hion?"

[Correct]

"So it's profitable to be a bad guy?" I asked, shuddering inwardly. I don't want to be a murderer, but I want to quickly strengthen my body to the right conditions, besides, there are all sorts of maniacs… And the system smooths out emotional peaks, so I probably shouldn't go off the rails?

[No]

"How so? Is killing supposed to bring more pain than when a person is just grateful to you for saving them?"

[The creator of the System did not want to focus on the dark or light path: excess energy is dissipated in space]

"And who is our creator? Some kind of God of Games?" I did not incidentally recall almost the entire universe based on the manifestation of this being.

However, the systems themselves clearly had a personality there, and not as in my case. Yes, and they appeared to people after various transactions, but it seems that something crashed into me when I was ... My lips involuntarily stretched into a smile, but…

[Smoothing out emotional peak]

Phew, it's gone. I got too wrapped up in myself and didn't pay attention to the system's response.

"How can I view the previous message here?"

[Access denied]

"Uh... can't I take a look?"

I'm mentally trying to look at the messages above…

…

[The creator of the System did not want to focus on the dark or light path: excess energy is dissipated in space]

…

Now it's clear, so the creator has closed access to his identity. It's unpleasant, but on the other hand, I have a System!

"Can I pump the soul shells myself?"

It will be very lame if there is no such opportunity, but the system hastened to encourage me.

[Yes]

But this is great news, judging by the multitude of fanfiction, it is better to develop yourself first, and when pumping slows down a lot, then use free points. Although I will still post a couple to get magic, since I have it open, but it proudly flaunts zero.

Hmm... but this is strange... the fourth shell should not have any divisions. She is absolutely indestructible, if help is not lying…

"System, why are there points in the Fourth Beginning?"

[The number of points reflects the force of attraction of all other shells, the higher it is, the more resilient an individual is and the more memories he will be able to preserve after rebirth]

"That is, if I upgrade it, for example, to a thousand, then I will become practically immortal?"

[Every ten points add one to the physical body. At this stage, the value of the Fourth Beginning above seventy-five will help to preserve all memories after rebirth, in the absence of external influences]

An almost useless characteristic. I've kept a lot of memories anyway. And one of the purposes of the system is just their preservation after death…

"Andhow was Iable to save my memory?Ididn'thave a systemwhenIdied, did I?"

[The host was found in the Everlost, and then placed in a suitable body]

After asking the System in detail, I managed to learn a little more about the structure of the world. It seems that the place where I ended up after death is called Limbo, so to speak, a septic tank for all souls, and the cleansing of memories begins there, although not the most effective. Souls just start to forget who they are after several decades in this white space. After that, they fall into the Wheel of Births, resembling a funnel, which simply peels off almost all the soul shells, and quite painfully, no matter how strange it may sound to disembodied spirits. This is where the dense and indestructible Fourth Beginning comes into play, which after death can wrap up all the shells inside itself except the first one. The strange number seventy-five reflects the sum of my characteristics, with the exception of the first and fourth soul shells, which is quite logical. If the core is very small, it will be able to preserve only the very minimum like will, manifestations of character (the fifth soul shell), but the larger and denser it is, the more remains of the person's personality. By the way, the order of the Beginnings was not chosen by chance at all: it is in this order that they are "stripped off" by intelligent people after death, with the exception of the first two, who suffer from the death of the physical body, and the third, the astral, being close to the core, suffers to a lesser extent, as does the fifth. This may be due to the appearance of all sorts of ghosts, the existence of which has not been proven in my world, but rumors and scary stories have started from somewhere. The restless soul managed to get out of limbo, passing the Wheel, but only fragments remained of the last shells, so such a spirit wanders in the world of the living. A shadow of the self of the past: fragments of personality attached to the immortal core and the astral shell to move in space…

I might well have suffered a similar fate if somehow I hadn't fallen into the Darkness. The system refused to provide me with any data on it, just Darkness, with a capital letter. After the Darkness, I was thrown into the everlost, where I encountered the system... If I had stayed in that place a little longer then... ha-ha-ha! I'd go crazy! I just went off the rails, hee-hee…

[Smoothing out emotional peak]

Well, here we go again… I came across not exactly a system, but its carrier. As far as I could figure out, wading through constantly pop-up messages: "Access denied", the previous owner possessed her for a very short time, and she just detached herself from him at the moment of collision with me, since he was a magician. Imagine, the Seventh soul shell (magical spirit), greatly interferes with the superstructures of the soul, similar to the system, it is too shaky for such "heavy" structures. The superstructures called Me always cling to the very last soul shell of the soul, so that magician was just unlucky enough to take possession of it after the awakening of magic. The amazing paradox is that only the Fifth and Sixth Beginnings can normally hold such single superstructures, the Seventh is not intended for this, but the Eighth Beginning can already hold dozens of Me, and the ninth (divine): Hundreds! To some extent, the Seventh Beginning can also be considered an add-on, but it is too universal compared to millions of others.

"By the way, are you even sentient?" I asked System, hoping for a negative answer.

[System works in accordance with the algorithms laid down. There is no self-awareness]

Well, I suspected something like that, the answers were too impersonal, and only sometimes my question had a detailed answer. But it's not even bad… It seems that I found out everything I wanted, it's time to return to the real world. S-s-s-s-s… How did the previous owner not go crazy, constantly feeling pain, and also this stupid squeak, reminiscent of hemodynamic control – this is such a thing in hospitals that measures pulse, blood pressure and other important things... Probably, the owner was also constantly thinking about all sorts of stuff, it helps to distract himself ... Although he should have had a superintelligence to help ignore it, unless, of course, the system is not lying… That's it, it's time to open your eyes…

A dark, dirty ceiling, covered in some places with cobwebs and resembling raw stone in structure. Yeah… It doesn't look much like a hospital. Squinting to the left, I saw medical devices, wires from which went under my sheet, an IV stood on the right side… Or maybe the hospital, but it's too shitty…

I sat up in bed, inadvertently unhooking a few sensors. The device made a loud squeak, and then went quiet. 

Hmm... strange… My skin is too pale. I looked at my lean, wiry body with interest. 

Suddenly, the only door to the room opened and a beautiful blonde with two ponytails on her head appeared on the threshold, dressed in pink homemade pajamas with black hearts.

"Mr. J, you're awake!" a joyful smile shone on her face. "But you can't get up yet!"

The girl was instantly next to me and gently laid me back on the bed, saying:

"That's a dumb Mouse, he couldn't just let us go, he definitely had to chase us. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have suffered so much. I had to get you out from under the rubble of the factory, and then carry you to this shelter… Did I deserve a reward?"

She clung to me trustingly, and my hand automatically stroked her head.

Pale skin, the "Mr. J" address, I ended up here after chasing a "Mouse", well, and a beautiful blonde who is hugging me right now…

"Holy glacomoli… I'm the Joker!"

*ORS – an ordinary Russian student

**OJS – an ordinary Japanese schoolboy