A Soldier's Reincarnation in Another World (Theo)

Struggling with his weapons belt, pants, and body armor. Staff Sergeant Theodore Gonzalez staggered towards the concrete bunker nearby. A second, third, and fourth whistle arched over the wall. The low reed becoming hellish shrieks as they impacted the ground around him. He flew back into the porta-john and sighed as he sank into the shredded plastic and shit. He had always believed his last thoughts would be a poignant critique of military adventurism or the futility of war, turns out they were about that stupid f@&king duck. The novelty rubber duck that Sergeant Shrek picked up in J-Bad. He almost laughed out loud as he stared at it. It was green and dressed as the Incredible Hulk, a psychotic grin etched on its face. He returned the rictus grimace as the mortars continued to fall. "Stuuoojhga Yauck"

His body was wrecked and he was sure this was it, just as his eyes began to close there was a brilliant hot white flash...then dark.

---

And he thought it was all over, but then when he opened his eyes he found himself lying under a tree. Unlike the battlefield, here it was serene. Theo can only feel the soft breeze touch his skin and hear the cicadas sing. Is this the afterlife? It felt the same as his life on earth. Strange though, his body feel quite... different.

You noticed you were not in your body anymore. You do not have wounds and you're not wearing your gear. But the strangest part is discovering you are no longer human. You still have hands and legs like and still stand like one but your skin is 'woodlike'. You have a bark like skin and at some parts there are leaves growing. You have leaves for hair. You did however retain your soldier like muscular body. You can be sure that you are still male, if you check if 'it' is still there, well 'it' is still there, well you can easily check cause you are not wearing anything.

Somehow you know what you are called, in your head you know you are called a Woodkin in this place but that's all you know about that.Once you finish checking up on yourself you may notice the other that's off about this place.

There's a blue hologram screen in front of you and in it are text and symbols that look strange but gradually, as if information is being 'uploaded' in your head you start to understand them.

The very first thing he checked was his member, it was part of an old joke...had that been missing...well...might as well be dead. He grimaced and moved his body about. Naked. Made of wood. Tree person. Leaf beard. Leaf Hair. Dark brown. Black really, teak? Maybe walnut. No mirror. Hologram?



"Well guess I must be dreaming. I heard dilauded could mess you up...maybe it’s the Redbulls? Screw it...dream or drug induced hallucinations...I’ll play along. Woodkin? What’s that like a Groot? Or Maybe a dryad, killoren, ghoran? And now I’m talking to myself. I’m definitely stoned." After a bit of though he figures tree men...Woodkin...should be strong, and he liked being able to fight. So he dropped a point into each of those.

After placing his stats he stares at the name input for a long time. He had a few standbys for these situations. Dempsey, Jherek, Wethun, and a few others. Most of his avatars always had one of those names. Somehow...even with it being a dream. He knew this was different. He just, well he reverted to his Middle Name...Magnus.

After pressing the hologram screen, the number beside STR and FGT changed to 1. Magnus felt something, like he became stronger and his combat sense became better. After a few moments the numbers and letters on the screen disappeared and then new words popped out...
The word free caught Magnus's eyes and for some reason it felt like he could change each of this 'free' words to things he knew or love.

Magnus grunted as his mechanical choices washed over his body. He felt his limbs harden and become more dense as the power in his body swelled. His eye farted about and he clasped a pointed stick, twirling it about his hands and performing a small weapons exercise almost absentmindedly as he finalized some choices.

He was going to focus on spears, and that free slot seemed a safe place to store the last several years of his life. Strategy, tactics and weapons...they would all be useful. Magnus grinned as he finalized his choices. A point in everything, and a bit more in a few others.

After Magnus finished allocating skill points, the text vanished and then two boxes appeared on the screen, a grey one and a blue one. In the blue box was an icon of a warrior in a forest. Written beside it was the text: Favored Environment (Woodlands).

On the grey box, the text "[ BLANK ]" was written. At first you were not sure what it meant but when you looked at it you felt strange and as you stare at it the word began to glow. Magnus began to see an image of what he want to become in his head. The "[ BLANK ]" slowly faded and the box's color turned blue. An icon was revealed and letters began to form.

What did Magnus get?

Magnus thought hard for a moment, then the icon switched to a y’all stack of books, then tools, then a jumbled desk full of those Items. He had chosen. He looked hard at the Radom generator, how did this work. He shrugged and went for it.

The boxes disappeared from the screen and it was replaced by four boxes with text and images on it. On the top part of the screen were the words: "Allocate 4 Power points."

The first one was a green box:
The other boxes are:

"Regeneration sounds pretty good. Just need the sun to keep on keeping on. Let’s bump that..." He studies the other powers for a bit. He could go full Groot and tree smack people...sweet. He chuckled as that thought washed over him...and to blend in he could be an elf? Sure why not.

"Of course a tree man has great powers in the woods. I can dig it."

He flexes his body again as he places points into the various powers.

He realizes he has to spend two points for awareness, he resets the points sprints and allocated them again, spending just enough to have all his abilities.


"I wonder what happens next?"

As soon as he finished clicking on the power screen, the surge of information rushed to head and saw a vision of a burning woodkin lady standing in the middle of a burning forest. She smirks as she picks her axe and move forward you and SLASH! You closed your eyes as a reaction. You weren't hurt but the vision felt real.

When you opened your eyes the boxes on the screen are gone and then the words congratulations popped out. Congratulations for what he may ask. One thing he also learned was how to summon the Menu and how to close it. He only need to tap his chest twice to open or close it. There was a limitation though. He can only check it once a day.

The hologram screen disappeared.