A soul floated through the Between, the place where all souls visit once their fleshy vessels expire. With no flesh the souls had no feeling. No sight. No sound. No smell. No touch. All they can do is float while thinking about their lives and waiting for what comes next. Souls constantly appeared and disappeared from the Between.
A soul that had been floating within the Between for an unknown amount of time had its musing interrupted by the sudden appearance of a screen filled with writing. The soul was dreadfully confused for a while. It hadn't seen anything since its death and couldn't help wondering how it was seeing something without eyes. After a moment it realized the 'why' didn't matter at all and read the message.
[Greetings!
The time for your reincarnation has come. Your karma has been weighed and your reward has been decided. Your karmic value is evaluated as above average. Your reward is reincarnation into a random reality you are familiar with. You are granted two of your choice of item(s), skill(s), or ability(s) to help you in your next life. Your choices must fit within your new reality.
Your new reality has been chosen. You know the reality as 'High School DxD.'
You will be inserted at a point before 'canon' begins, though no further back than twenty years pre-canon. Please begin making your choices for your item(s), skill(s), or ability(s). You will be informed of invalid choices and you may make inquiries to refine your choices.]
It took some time for the soul to process what it read. Questions flooded through its mind before it settled on one, 'Why am I being reincarnated? Isn't this something that's supposed to happen in fanfictions and to either random or really good people?'
[Incorrect.
Every soul is reincarnated into its own universe after the death of their fleshly body. The concept of an infinite universe is something that fleshly minds truly fail to comprehend.
Anything and everything is possible.]
'But... isn't a world like High School DxD just a piece of fiction someone imagined?'
[Incorrect.
There are many ways that 'fictional' worlds are introduced to alternate realities. In your reality they existed simply because the soul reincarnated into that reality expected them to exist. Many fictions are introduced into realities by people who lived them and write stories based on what they know or experienced in their last life. Over time additional souls are introduced to these stories and they spread into various realities.]
'Wait... so my entire reality was created just for one person to reincarnate within?!'
[Correct.
New realities are created, curated, and prepared for the insertion of a reincarnated soul. This process produces new souls which will live, die, and reincarnate to produce more new souls.
What you do within the reality you enter is of no concern. How long you live your next life can depend on what choices you make.]
'But... why? Why do all of this? Why reincarnate people instead of just making more realities without them?'
[While it is entirely possible, even easy, to curate all realities without the use of a soul, it is less efficient. The souls reincarnated in the newly created realities provide a template. Though you are unaware of it, vast amounts of information have been recorded by your soul. All information contained within your entire reality is stored within your soul.
That information is used as a basis of a new reality allowing for it to be easily populated with information. Not all information is necessary or used, and new information will be created or copied from other sources. However, copying or lightly modifying already existing information is infinitely easier than making all brand new information with no basis to build up from.]
It took a while for a the soul to process the reality shattering... information... it had just been given. After a while it recovered and decided to get over it. Shattered reality or not, it was heading into a reality where gods legitimately walk down the street and truly incomprehensibly powerful beings existed.
'So, I pick one or two items, skills, or abilities then reincarnate?'
[Correct.]
'What do sacred gears count as?'
[Items.]
'Excellent.'
It had taken a lot of questioning for the soul to come up with its first choice. Unlike it had first expected, it couldn't ask for unlimited power or anything truly broken. It had wanted Omnipotence, who wouldn't want infinite power? It was instantly denied though. Even 'limited' Omnipotence was denied. Same for full blown Omniscience and Omnipresence. Even the biblical God of the High School DxD reality didn't have all three of those at full power. If that version of God did have Omnipotence how could he have possibly been killed? Omnipotence literally meant infinite power. Cannot run out. EVER.
The soul figured most people wanting a sacred gear would ask for something like the Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, or True Longinus. All three of those were indeed powerful Sacred Gears with limitless potential so picking them would make sense. Instead, it felt like Annihilation Maker had the most potential for being broken and making life easier. The guy, Lenard or whoever, in the show just made human sized and bigger monsters and crap. LAME! No imagination! Human sized and bigger monsters aren't scary! No, what's scary is a microscopic monster capable of invading the desired target from the inside out! Supernatural biological warfare! Forget making Godzilla, make super powered smallpox and laugh!
Worldwide supernatural pandemic monsters aside, the sheer versatility and possibilities of Annihilation Maker was simply ridiculous. Why ask for the Boosted Gear when it could make a monster version of it?! Or, failing that, why not make a monster that can just straight up steal other sacred gears from people? Annihilation Maker should really be the number one Longinus.
'I pick the sacred gear Annihilation Maker.'
[Denied.
Sacred gears currently in use are unavailable.]
If it could, the soul would have pouted. Annihilation Maker was an extremely flexible and powerful Longinus that would give it not just power but also utility. The soul silently growled in its mind and tried something else, 'Can I design a sacred gear?'
[Denied. Karmic weight too low.]
The soul groaned within its mind before asking, 'Can you tell me what Sacred Gears I can request?'
[Denied.]
The soul started making requests for more common Sacred Gears that were supposed to have more than one copy floating around. Sword Birth? Denied! Not enough karma. Twilight Healing? Denied! The soul tried every last Sacred Gear it could recall, which wasn't too many unfortunately. Every last one was denied.
Since it couldn't get one for itself, the soul decided to look for other avenues of power. However it was quickly shut down when it started requesting items from other media. It had to be something that fit 'in universe' so asking for something like Yamato from the Devil May Cry series was denied. Though there were pretty strong swords within HSDxD, even some that could cut dimensions, nothing quite measured up to the awesome might of Yamato... Also its karma wasn't high enough to own such an awesome sword.
But... if it couldn't just be given something like Yamato... what if it could make its own version of the sword? But how? The soul only had a passing knowledge of making items using blacksmithing techniques from watching YouTube videos. It had zero practical experience. Not to mention magic was a fictional thing it its last life. However, the soul had been a bit of a geek and it knew a ton about playing a crafter in things like D&D... specifically one of its all time favorite character classes, the Artificer.
'Is it possible for me to be made capable of magically crafting items, weapons, and armor?'
[Yes.]
Okay, that was good, but it wasn't enough. Just because it could didn't mean it would know how. But...
'Is it possible for me to get an item such as the Essence of the Artificer?'
[With modifications, yes.]
The soul felt excited at the prospect. All Essences were broken in some way. Some started out absolutely ridiculously overpowered, but others took work. Judging by the things he'd been denied and the one he'd been partially approved for, the soul had a guess. It seemed, though it needed further confirmation, that it was denied items with inherent levels of immediate power. Sacred Gears had an absolute minimum amount of power to them, though they could grow above that minimum with work. The Essence of the Artificer, even one not weakened, had a pretty low starting power minimum. Practically zero really.
'What would the Essence of the Artificer give me?'
[Essence of the Artificer
-Craft items out of various materials, though your innate skills are at apprentice level. (Lowered from Journeyman)
-Imbue the items you create with mystical properties, the effects growing in power through the items material and your own skill.
-The ability to swiftly craft your creations.
-You can work without actual tools, creating shimmering versions of tools out of arcane energy when necessary. (Limited to a single tool at a time)
-You can harvest the power or materials of magical items for your own creations. (Doing so destroys whatever material wasn't harvested permanently)
-Ability to learn new crafting methodologies.
-Artifacts, of a certain quality, you create grow stronger over time, leading to even the weakest of them growing to legendary proportions with enough time. (No longer applies to all creations)
-Artifacts made in a set gain synergies, creating unique abilities when used together.]
The soul looked over the information and thought about it for a bit. It seemed like a pretty decent starting point. Once it got some experience, maybe found a sponsor, it could learn how to make more powerful items and, eventually, progress up to a Grand Master in the art of Artificing. It just required time and effort, something it was willing to give to make awesome items.
'I'd like Essence of the Artificer as my first ability choice.'
[Accepted.
Please choose one more item, skill, or ability.]
The soul contemplated what else it could ask for to help it out. Thinking of Essences had sent it down that path of thought. It was certain asking for things like Essence of the Archmage would instantly be rejected. But... Wasn't there was Essence that sounded pretty weak but was actually one of the most broken? The Essence itself didn't grant any actual power, not even a drop. However, it would allow someone to, eventually, reach Saitama levels of sheer power. Essentially the Essence was just limitless potential...
It took the soul an unknown amount of time before it believed it had the Essence name, 'What about the Essence of the Blank?'
[Essence of the Blank
Your potential becomes limitless. You can learn any discipline or skillset, even if you shouldn't be capable of it, without forgetting it, and practice them into mastery, no matter how many you learn. Any abilities you have from other Essences will increase where possible, and develop in ways
beyond their initial purpose.]
'I'd like that as an item please.'
[Choices made and accepted.
Reincarnation commencing.]