In a place where many souls were present, I was there, talking to a particular soul. We were judged based on our karma. We were waiting for our names to be called while talking to each other. I was talking to Zephiel, who apparently was a prince of some nation. I was listening to his story of his world and life. He was a prince in name only. To summarize his story: in the world he was from, they received blessings from gods between the ages of 3 to 5. When Zephiel was 3, he was also at the temple to receive his blessing. The blessings were categorized as magic affinities and jobs. Magic affinities were something they were born with—the blessing just revealed it to them. Jobs were the actual blessings from the gods—jobs like Alchemist, Blacksmith, Swordmaster, Mage (based on the affinity). Then there were rare jobs like Magic Knight, Magic Swordsman, and Sage (one with the ability to use every magic affinity—it was very rare).
Zephiel was waiting eagerly for his turn, because even if he didn't get a job, he could still do something by knowing his magical affinity. He was waiting to know what kind of magic affinity he was born with. Maybe today was the day he would be acknowledged by his parents—the king and the queen. He had 3 brothers and 2 sisters; he was the youngest. His father had 3 wives, and he was the son of the queen. He did have one older brother; he was their son in name only, because they paid most of their attention to his older brother. His mother too—whenever they met, she would only say to be someone who could be of use to his brother. Nothing more.
But today might be the day it would change.
When the priest called his name, he went and knelt at the statue of the god. His magical affinity was Creation Magic, and an Unknown Job, due to which he was cast aside as a prince. His mother never came to see him after that. Nor did he have any maids to look after him. He was only three at that time.
While I was listening to the end of his story, he was called for judgment. He went to get his karma checked. By this process, it would be decided what kind of life they would be reincarnated into. Good karma means a good life. Bad karma means a bad life.
The angel in front of me told me to come with him.
I had a bad feeling about this. I didn't know why, but only I was asked to go somewhere with them. We arrived at a room that had a round table, and many people were sitting there—maybe discussing something. The angel went to the middle person at the round table—maybe he was their leader—then gave him some documents.
I don't know why, but it looked as if I was being judged here in a courtroom.
Then they began discussing those papers again, while glancing at me…
After some time, they all looked at me and explained that my karma was in the negative and I was going to be punished.
Wait, what? How can my karma be in negative terms? I don't remember doing something that bad…
Then a thought struck me.
Could it be because of the DID I had in my past life? And the acts my different personas caused? But it wasn't my fault. It was due to the mental state I was in. And due to that, I had created multiple personalities inside me.
I tried my hardest to argue, but I was stopped by the angel.
Then one of the people at the round table spoke.
"We know about your condition in your past life. But those personas were also you. They were created by your desires. They were the manifestation of what you had desired."
I started arguing with them, but then the person who seemed to be the leader spoke.
"That it is not a punishment, but a way for you to fix your karma. Because if you don't, your soul will need to be destroyed."
"So… what do I need to do?" I asked.
"Nothing much. Just save a world from reaching its destruction. You just have to make it so it doesn't meet its end. As it is right now, we will send you back to the time where it all started. You have to find the cause of why it was considered to be destroyed, and fix it from the root. That's all. Easy, right?"
Easy my ass. What do you mean by an easy task?! How can I save a world?
"You don't have to worry much. We will give you a gift which might help you in that new world. Well then, see ya."
"Heey—w-wait…!"
Before I could say anything, I was at some gate with the angel.
The angel said, "As the gods have said, you will be sent there now."
…Wait. Gods?
Yes—gods.
Those people you just saw... they were gods.
And as per their command, you will receive the Self-Appraisal skill and infinite mana.
Well, I guess that was a given, considering the magic affinity of the person you'll become.
Wait, what do you mean by "the person I'll become"?
The angel smiled at me, then pushed me through the door.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH! YOU FUCKING ANGEL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PLANNING ON KILLING ME OR WHAT?!"
After some time, when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at an unknown ceiling... in an unknown room.
My hands were small.
Have I become a child or what? Why are my hands this small?!
I jumped off the bed and ran toward a mirror. There, I saw the reflection of a child about 3–4 years old, with silver hair, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks. While staring at the mirror—at my reflection—my head suddenly began to hurt, and the memories of this body surged into me.
"No... no way. I've become Zephiel.
Zephiel Caelus Altherion."
What are the chances? The very prince I was talking to just moments ago in the afterlife!
I sat back on the bed, stunned, trying to recall the story he had told me.
According to him, when he was three years old, he went to the temple to receive his divine blessing—to gain a job and discover his magic affinity. His affinity turned out to be Creation Magic, and his job was something called Ego Architect.
Zephiel tried everything to understand what his job actually did, but his efforts were in vain. He couldn't figure it out. Then, strange things started happening—waking up in unknown places, doing things he didn't remember doing, and entire days missing from his memory.
"Why does this sound like DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)? That's what I had in my past life…"
Could it be that he had it too? But why?
According to Zephiel, these incidents began after he turned seven. Maybe his strong desire to be acknowledged by his parents triggered it. From the memories I now possess, I know that 17 days ago he went to the temple for his blessing. Since then, he never saw his mother or siblings again. He was even forced to move into an empty servant's quarter.
So this is the servant's quarter… but why was he treated so cruelly?
The answer lies in two things: Creation Magic and the Ego Architect job.
First of all, Creation Magic is considered useless in this world—practically worthless. It's said to be the worst magic affinity to be born with.
"But... shouldn't Creation Magic actually be the strongest?!"
And then there's the job—Ego Architect. It's completely unknown. In this world, if you're born with fire magic and have the job Fire Mage, the job enhances your growth and spell potential. If your affinity is fire and your job is Blacksmith, even that is useful. A Magic Knight, as the name suggests, is someone who uses both weapons and magic simultaneously.
But Ego Architect? No one knows what it means.
It's a job completely unheard of.
And Creation Magic? They don't even know how to use it, let alone its potential.
"Wait—the gods said they gave me a gift… what was it again?"
Right—Self-Appraisal.
As soon as I recalled it, a transparent window appeared in front of me:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Zephiel Caelus Altherion
Title: The Youngest Prince of Altherion Kingdom
Age: 3 Years Old
Magic Affinity: Creation Magic (Passive)
(Hidden)
(Hidden)
Job: Ego Architect
(Hidden)
(Hidden)
Mana: Infinite
Unique Skill: Self-Appraisal
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Both my magic affinity and job are labeled as hidden… and I have infinite mana?
Seriously?"
But why is Creation Magic listed as Passive?Will it show something if I tap on the hidden options?…Let's try it.Oh, it did—
Wait, what the hell—
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Zephiel Caelus Altherion
Title: The Youngest Prince of Altherion Kingdom
Age: 3 Years Old
Magic Affinity: Creation Magic (Passive)
• [Hidden: ??? Affinity Locked]
• [Hidden: ??? Affinity Locked]
Job: Ego Architect
Active Personas:
• [Hidden]
• [Hidden]
• [Hidden]
Mana: Infinite
Unique Skill: Self-Appraisal
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
You're telling me… that the reason Zephiel had DID was because of this shitty job?!What the hell—what kind of job even does that?! Who gives this kind of job to a literal child?!
I'm screaming inside.I thought I'd finally escaped from the torture of my past life—The torment brought by Dissociative Identity Disorder—But no. I have to face it again?!
And not just that—I have to save the world in this state?!How the hell am I supposed to do that in the first place, man?!