Trevor strolled through the weekend street market, humming the One Piece opening under his breath while cradling a bag of fresh veggies like treasure. Life, for once, felt weirdly normal.
No crashes, no magical flashbangs, and most importantly, no angry bosses.
"Maybe I really did reach the top of the reincarnation food chain," he muttered with a smug smirk.
And that's when it happened.
A blur of movement.
A squeak of panic.
And then—a soft thump as something collided with his chest.
Trevor stumbled back a step, arms instinctively wrapping around the tiny figure that had barreled into him.
"Who dares bump into this deity!" he thought dramatically.
SYSTEM: Deity? Please. You're a chicken holding a gun.
Trevor blinked. "Excuse me?! I'll have you know I'm at least a phoenix holding—"
Then he heard it.
A quiet, trembling voice from the bundle of arms in his chest.
"S-sorry! I wasn't looking...!"
He looked down. A girl, probably no older than eighteen, with short brown hair, wide teary eyes, and a paper bag of spilled apples at her feet.
Her face was beet red, trembling like a squirrel on espresso.
He awkwardly stepped back and helped her stand. "Ah... it's okay. Happens. To... fast-walking people."
SYSTEM: 25-year-old virgin gets touched by girl and ascends to sainthood. Film at eleven.
Trevor nearly choked. "Can you not!?" he hissed under his breath.
The girl bowed multiple times, mumbling apologies as she scrambled to gather her apples and darted away, leaving a very confused and slightly flustered Trevor standing in the middle of the path like a rejected dating sim protagonist.
He shook his head, sighing. "No peace. Not even in public."
Back at home, Trevor collapsed onto his couch. His apartment was still way too clean for his comfort. The chaos had been replaced by... order. Even the floor sparkled.
He scrolled through his HUD when the system dinged.
SYSTEM: Host requested to provide supplementary data to Subject: Riku Toma. Mentorship Protocol Beta v0.4.
"Oh?" Trevor blinked. "Wait—I can, like, teach him stuff from here?"
SYSTEM: Correct. Initiate knowledge transfer via visualization. Simulate experience. Neural sync will do the rest.
Trevor closed his eyes, focusing on some farming show he half-watched last night while eating grapes.
His thoughts drifted to crop rotation, simple fencing techniques, and pest control. The HUD pulsed green.
[KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL. Riku has learned: Basic Fence Crafting, Rabbit Deterrence, and Compost Creation.]
Trevor grinned. "I'm basically a farmer wizard now."
SYSTEM: With the body of a ramen noodle.
His happy mood didn't last.
RING RING.
Trevor froze. The caller ID made his blood pressure spike.
BOSS MAN – DO NOT ANSWER
He stared. Then answered.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT ONE PAYCHECK YOU'RE A CEO?! I SWEAR TO—"
Trevor moved the phone away and placed it on the table like it was a ticking bomb. The yelling continued. He walked into the kitchen, cracked eggs into a pan, added rice, and stirred.
Five minutes later, with the system playing royalty-free jazz in his mind, he returned to the living room.
The boss was still screaming.
He held the phone, made fake static noises. "Kshhh—sorry—tunnel—underground lava—bad signal—kshhh."
He hung up. Took a bite of rice. "Peace restored."
SYSTEM: Bravo. Truly the spirit of diplomacy.
Trevor sighed. "When's my next soul candidate?"
Elsewhere, in the shadows...
In a chamber woven from corrupted threads of reality, a group of cloaked figures stared into a pool of glitching code.
"It worked. The first one has taken root."
"But the host is adapting too well."
"Then it's time to test him. We send someone... different."
A shadow leaned forward.
"Someone who wants to be hit—but for the wrong reasons. Let's see if the new Truck-kun can tell the difference."
Trevor's Morning Routine
Like clockwork, he rolled into the depot the next day, coffee in hand and resignation speech rehearsed mentally.
He approached the company lot, where his boss stood like a toad wearing a reflective vest.
"Trevor! You're late!"
"It's 8:00 on the dot."
"You were supposed to be here at 7:59."
Trevor's eye twitched. But he nodded, climbed into his truck, and mumbled, "Only a few more days. Then I'm out."
He did his supermarket drop-offs like usual, greeted a few friendly cashiers who'd warmed up to his new 'glow' (thanks to the system healing his skin and posture apparently), and by noon, he sat at a small roadside café with a juice box and a sandwich.
He watched the floating HUD.
Riku was building a fence. Two neighbors helped him. Laughter. Freshly-tilled soil. Even a small pet chicken named Poppo.
Trevor smiled. "You go, farm boy."
SYSTEM: Soul development on track. No anomalies.
That's when a new alert blinked.
Not from the system. From his eyes.
He looked up. A man walked down the middle of the road. Headphones in. Eyes blank. Walking straight into the path of Trevor's truck.
Trevor's foot hit the brake out of instinct.
But the system froze.
SYSTEM: WARNING. Conspiracy detected. This candidate is a planted agent. False reincarnation intent. Objective: System corruption.
Trevor blinked slowly. "So... not a coincidence."
SYSTEM: Recommendation: Proceed. Make them regret it.
Trevor cracked his neck. A smirk spread across his face.
"Like Anos Voldigoad once said..." He gripped the wheel. "Geograze."
He pressed the gas.
The man looked up—too late.
THUD.
The sound was... theatrical. The guy flew up like a kite, spinning like a Beyblade before landing in an unfortunate flower cart.
Trevor sighed, braked gently, and stepped out.
"Honestly, you should've aimed for a parking lot."
He touched the body.
ZAP.
Reincarnation Domain
Trevor stood in his golden robes again, throne glowing beneath him. Before him, the "victim" hovered in soul form, already scowling.
"You did that on purpose!" the man barked.
Trevor raised an eyebrow. "You walked into traffic like an NPC. At least try to sell the act."
SYSTEM: Soul profile corrupted. Motivations: System infiltration, data leeching, false karma.
Trevor crossed his legs. "Well, well. A fake candidate. You know what that means?"
He raised his hand, flicking energy through the air. The man spun midair.
"I get to mess with you."
"You can't do that!"
"I'm the reincarnation emissary," Trevor said cheerfully. "Truck-kun Prime. I can do anything short of summoning a Gundam."
SYSTEM: Actually, under extreme divine stress, summoning a Gundam is—
"Not the point," Trevor cut in. He stared at the struggling soul.
"You flew beautifully, by the way. Like a drunk flamingo."
The man growled. "Just send me somewhere already."
Trevor rubbed his chin. "Hmm. What if I send you to a world that doesn't exist yet?"
The system paused.
Trevor grinned. "Can I... create a fantasy world from scratch? You know, mix genres? Maybe put this guy in a dating sim zombie apocalypse where the only food is turnips?"
The system hesitated.
SYSTEM: Query received. Processing... Response pending.
Trevor leaned back, smirking. "Take your time. I've got plans."
[TO BE CONTINUED…]