Leonard stopped for a few seconds trying to process what that voice, the Aegis, had said.
Chosen... it looked like something out of some fantasy tale or some weak plot from any book that no one would like to read because it is already outdated.
He didn't understand what it meant or the importance it would have for him, but one thing was certain, it would just bring more problems.
Now, let's give a little introduction of Leonard.
Leonard Muller, a 16-year-old teenager, was a person like any other. I had a simple life, with a simple house and a simple hobby: watching movies.
He had already seen many movies like Transformers, John Wick, Powers Rangers, The Batman, The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and many others. But the ones that caught his attention the most were the MCU movies.
Seeing the stories of those heroes, following their victories and defeats, seeing and understanding their flaws and defects, understanding their dilemmas and problems, was an experience that he could hardly describe.
Before she could understand, she was already a fan of Logo Marvel and began to delve deeper into the company's works, whether films or animations.
Fantastic four, SHIELD agents, X-men, inhumans, he saw all these to delve deeper into the fantasy universe created by Stan Lee and almost never left disappointed.
He also knew there were the comics but never bothered to read them, he tried once and quickly got lost because the timeline was very confusing and was being changed from time to time.
So he focused simply on animations and movies.
His end came in the form of a terrorist attack on his school that ended with him being used as a man-bomb to destroy the building.
A tragic and lonely end, something that someone your age should never have. Maybe that's why he had the chance to reincarnate.
After dying, he felt his soul being pulled somewhere and a distant voice saying that he would have a second chance elsewhere and when he realized, he was in that new body.
Now, he was in another world, in the body of someone who was also called Leonard Muller. What was left was to know what world he was in.
He didn't expect any great adventure or a generic isekai situation where he gains several powers and lives his life doing what he wants, he just didn't want to die so young and wanted to live a little longer to enjoy his life better.
So he didn't expect to be reborn with some cheat or stolen skill, just to end up in a peaceful place and be able to build a safe life.
But with Aegida's voice in his head and the title of chosen one, it seemed that his plans had gone down the drain. But it's life, it's not perfect, but we turn around.
What remained to do was to try to understand the situation.
"Egida, right? " He asked to nothing, knowing that Égida could hear him from... wherever she was. There was an uncomfortable silence after this question, what Leonard decided to take as a yes "Who are you? "
There was another big period of silence after this question, something that was starting to make Leonard feel even more uncomfortable. It was like when you tell a joke to your friends but after all you are the only one who is laughing.
Right when he thought he was ignored, Leo heard a sigh in his head followed by what should be a whisper about something.
Before he could say anything else, something very strange happened. A black holographic screen with white letters appeared in front of him, as in solo leveling.
[ I think this will facilitate our communication ]
Égida's voice sounded in her head while the letters on the screen accompanied her words. It even looked magical.
Leonard was impressed by that. He had already seen the scene described in manga and fanfics, but witnessing live was completely different.
Out of curiosity, he stretched his hand towards the screen, wanting to see if it was something completely holographic or a panel that he could touch. When his finger touched one of the corners of the screen, something unexpected happened.
He was electrocuted. Literally.
As soon as his finger touched the screen, a wave of electricity ran through his body and pushed his hand away. It wasn't something really strong, but it hurt like hell.
Leonard let out a small grunt of pain as he touched his hands whose fingers were slightly burned.
[ I would appreciate it if it didn't touch me ]
"Couldn't you have just spoken? " He asked angrily while putting his hand in the water to relieve the pain.
[ No ]
Even if he was looking at a screen without eyes, Leonard could perfectly imagine Égida rolling her eyes when she answered.
[ But answering your question, I'm the one you need right now ]
This statement caught Leonard's attention in a way that he even forgot the pain he was feeling after being electrocuted.
"Why do you think that? " He asked, his expression becoming more serious while the weight of that statement was felt in the room.
Leonard didn't know where he was, he knew he was in another but not in which world. He just deduced that it was a modern world because he was in an apartment with television, internet and electricity. But that wasn't enough.
He initially thought it was like his old world, a normal place where the most dangerous thing was the weapons created and improved by man over the centuries. But with Égida's statement, it seemed that he had been wrong.
That raised two possibilities: either the world he was in was not so safe or Aegida was simply exaggerating to make him nervous. He bet a lot on Monday.
[ Do you at least know where you are? ]
Before he could answer, a strong headache took over Leonard, so strong that it made him kneel on the floor. It even looked like his skull was being cracked.
Apparently, Égida's question had been a trigger to awaken memories that Leonard had not yet accessed, memories about that world.
Memories about newspaper headlines, news and other information that he had not seen before came to his mind.
Memories about the union of the avengers and how they stood Loki's invasion.
Memories about a journalist defaming the mutants saying that they were freaks who should be put in cages.
Memories of when the Hulk went crazy and began to destroy everything around, having to be stopped by Tony Stark.
Memories of when Magneto almost made all the nuclear weapons in the world explode and about how he was stopped by the X-men.
Memory after memory, more information about that world was entering Leonard's head until the pain finally stopped, leaving behind an irrefutable truth.
"I'm on marvel..." He murmured almost whispering, still processing the great flow of information and the overwhelming new discovery.
[ Exactly ]
A few minutes later
After finding out about the world where he was and what his current situation was, Leonard took a shower and put on some comfortable clothes before sitting on the sofa in the living room.
The most recent realization still hammered his head as if he had just found out that his ex was pregnant after all and he would have to pay alimony for her.
He wanted to try to deny and prove that he was wrong, but he had years of memories that proved otherwise. He was on Marvel, there was no way to deny that.
Even being a fan of the brand's movies and series, Leonard was fully aware that in the midst of aliens, superheroes, magicians and whatever else is hidden, he would not survive for long.
He was just a normal human. No talent for magic, no gene X, no stolen skills, no nothing. He was just a simple human like any other. His chance of dying in the middle of a battle between the avengers and other beings was great.
[ Are you already in the mood to talk? ]
The black screen appeared one more next to Égida's voice, leaving Leonard slightly surprised because he had forgotten her after the realization he had.
Although he didn't fully understand what she was or why she was with him, he had to admit that she was his best chance now.
Then, with a defeated sigh, Leonard just nodded and decided to see where it would lead.
[ Great. Let's introduce ourselves correctly now ]
[ I'm Égida, the creator of heroes, and you're my chosen one of the time ]
Leonard could easily notice the sarcasm in her voice when she said "hero creator" as if it were more of a joke than a real title. Something he also actually thought.
[ You were lucky because among the countless lives in existence, the beings up there chose you to be my carrier this time, so be happy because there are few who are so lucky ]
Lucky. This word echoed in Leonard's mind like an alarm programmed to never stop ringing. Despite being curious to know who the beings up there were, he just sent this part to oblivion.
If they were the ones who gave him the chance to reincarnate and also presented him with the Aegis, then he had a lot to thank, but he knew he would not have that chance. He didn't understand what "up there" could be, but he was already imagining that they were gods or something like that.
But his attention soon turned to the screen in front of him, the interface that Égida was using.
"What are you? " He asked with a serious expression looking at the screen, because he had no way to look into Égida's eyes, if she had eyes.
He expected that after this question would come another small period of silence like in the previous ones, but the answer came faster and more confusing than he expected.
[ I am what you could call a system ]
Leonard blinked his eyes again and again and even read the message again to make sure he hadn't misread it, but it still remained the same.
System, a very famous concept and widely used in manga, novels and fanfics. Basically, it was a way to get stronger quickly by leveling up like in an RPG game. Although this is a simplified explanation, it was more or less that.
To say that he was surprised was little, but he kind of expected it after seeing the floating screen similar to that of the solo leveling system.
"If you are a system, what do you do? " He asked, his expression softening as curiosity took over.
The screen disappeared from your vision only to come back the next second, now with something different on it.
[Leonard Muller]
[ Age: 16 ]
[ Store: 0🔻]
[ Branching: branch of self-preservation ]
[ Skills: ]
[ Skill slots: 4 ]
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[ Skill box: ]
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[ General: human being who has just reincarnated in the marvel world. Your chance of dying is extremely high ]
[ Got it or will the fool need a detailed explanation? ]
Leonard wanted to say no, his pride not allowing him to take that insult so lightly, but he really hadn't understood the meaning of most things on the screen.
Then, with a sigh of defeat, he asked Égida to explain about the things on the screen.
[ I already imagined. Most are never smart enough to understand everything ]
Despite being openly called a donkey, Leonard just swallowed his dissatisfaction and listened with total focus to her explanation.
[ This symbol here (🔻) represents the Libert which is the currency you use in the store, which I will not explain what it is ]
[ The branches you don't need to know ]
[ Skills are the powers you possess, either because you bought in the store or won by some external means ]
[ Skill Slots represent how many skills you can have or how many you would gain after going through some experience that gave you powers. And you were lucky, most people only have one or two slots, and you soon had 4. You're really lucky ]
[ The skills box is where you keep the skills that you are not using or do not need now. For example, if you had all your slots occupied and in the box you had a healing skill that you are needing, you would need to exchange one of these skills for the healing skill, making the other go in the skill box ]
[ And your general is a summary of your current situation. Do you understand or will I have to repeat it? ]
"I got it" He replied with clear annoyance in his voice.
[ Great, because I wouldn't bother to explain again ]
A vein jumped from Leonard's forehead when he wanted to punch the screen in front of him, even knowing that he would be electrocuted at the end.
[ With that explained, we'll talk later ]
At that moment, the screen disappeared along with Aegida's voice, leaving Leonard confused and alone in the room.
He tried to call her a few more times, being only greeted by the silence of the place. Égida, from what it seemed, had disconnected from Leonard and had gone to do whatever.
Leonard even liked that a little, because Égida had managed to make Leonard dislike her in just a few minutes of conversation, so her absence wouldn't make much difference.
And now, again alone, Leonard closed his eyes and his thoughts ran wild.
He was on Marvel, there was no denying it.
And what would happen, whether he would survive or not, would depend only on him. Memories of the movies and series you saw from the company, the dangers that were once fictional now being real and being able to take your life at any time.
Characters that before were nothing more than mere characters were now real people who existed in the same place as him.
Iconic moments that he witnessed on television had now become real events, which had already happened or that still had a chance to happen.
He was already in his world and had a new chance to start over. But now he didn't know if he was happy...
Or I prayed that all that was a dream.