GoodNovel
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Last Updated : 2020-11-17
Synopsis
The Numenorian Empire. A land ruled by a handful of individuals with the power to harness the elements and push their bodies to its utmost fighting potential. For eons it has enjoyed its place at the top of the food chain; the Imperial Numerators working hard to maintain Emperor Babbage's rule against both internal and external forces. In the Empire's hubris, they pushed the Denominators, the ones gifted with an affinity for smithing and the power to bestow enchantments, to their utmost limit...All while treating them like the dirt off their heel.Numerators gloated their superiority, often at their partner Denominator's expense as the former used the latter for all sorts of things. Live target practice, general punching bags, others even abused their partners to the point of driving them to suicide. It was a system that fostered superiority in firepower and physical prowess, one that's all too common in such a medieval setting.Enter then 24-year-old Crimson.Having been reincarnated against her will, she'll have to do her best to make the most of the bad hand dealt to her by fate. Born not as a powerful Numerator capable of wielding the elements themselves, but instead with the skillset befitting of a lowly Denominator, the former unemployed medical graduate will struggle not only against the growing unrest within the Empire but also with her own acquired neuroses and fluctuating teenage hormones.It's hard enough being a modern woman in a backwater world, it's even more insufferable when you know you can make a difference. Armed with only her vast amounts of random knowledge and gameplay-molded logic, Crimson will try to mold the world around her in her own modern standards. It should be easy, right?Too bad she never finished her engineering degree.
Chapter 1
I.I Summation
Darkness.
That was the first thing that greeted me the moment I hit the cold hard ground at terminal velocity. Part of me felt a bit surprised; that I still even have a consciousness after death. But at the same time, I've stopped caring about anything the moment I jumped off the highest building in the city.
What's to care about when I've totally given up on living?
Growing up being told that I was a genius did a number on my sanity, especially since I never felt like one the since the moment I idiotically signed myself up for medical school. I was a fool back then; thinking that I can handle the workload with my admittedly above average intelligence. Thinking back on it now, even after I graduated, I still hated my chosen field.
God, I was an idiot! Why did I decide to shift from engineering when I didn't even fail a single subject?!
Predictably, the first two years of the new hotness were a breeze; nothing but minor subjects as far as the eye could see. It wasn't until we got to the more complicated stuff that my confidence dropped to below absolute zero. I started failing quizzes, even major exams, all while I struggled to comprehend the massive amounts of information that they front-loaded for us to memorize and remember. Culminating to my first ever failed subject and subsequent failures thereafter, it started my road to self-destruction as I grew more and more tired as the months went by.
It was so horrible of an experience that I grew to despise studying altogether.
Why bother when you're gonna fail the test either way? Might as well get some sleep instead of burning the midnight oil, so to speak. I also despised the way they mocked what they regarded as 'unrelated' research. Just because it's not seemingly related to the field doesn't mean it's not important!
I felt tears well up in my eyes the more I remembered more of my recent experiences. This was so bad.
"Some genius I turned out to be." I chuckled at my own hollow hubris, pained laughter echoing across the void. "Can't even save myself from my own stupidity."
I knew that it wasn't really their fault. Hell, I'm sure they even had high expectations of me. I'm at least smart enough to realize that. But my brain never got the message. Instead, I continued to harbor an extreme aversion to hard work and inefficient use of energy up 'till I took my own life.
My sad, pitiful excuse of a life.
No job. No love life. No dreams of the future whatsoever. In all honesty, I expected the world to end in about five to ten years from when I jumped.
And look where that got me.
Alone. Floating in the void that was a pitiful excuse for an afterlife. Maybe there was something waiting for me in a few months? Years? Decades? I don't really know. But if this was the extent of the afterlife, then I could probably accept it after a few hours of scenic nothing.
"Might as well stew in my own thoughts," I said aloud onto the empty void. "It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon."
*I wouldn't exactly count on that, Miss Carmine.*
I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end at the booming voice just now. Who was that? I didn't really deny the existence of God back when I was still alive. So maybe-
*Yes. I am God.*
Oh my Lord.
"Uhmm..." Damn. I didn't really pray to Him at all, no matter how much I told my parents I did so. "I'm sorry." Might as well start prostrating now.
*There's no need for that My child.* The booming voice of God echoed throughout the void, rocking my body with what I assumed to be limitless power. *I haven't exactly made my presence known these past few millennia.*
God was.. laughing? Was this seriously the benevolent God of the Testaments?
*Yeah, that's me alright.* Of course, God can read my thoughts. Who'd have thunk it? *And I don't appreciate your sarcasm missy.*
"Sorry." I immediately blabbered out. Can't piss off literal God now do I? "It's a force of habit."
*I can see that.* God affirmed, his tone sounding like he's busy with something. *You've lived with a negative view on life for so long huh.*
"Understatement of the year." I've had a negative mindset for the better part of my whole adult life. Learning to live with was a breeze compared to actual adulting. "It's a character trait of mine."
*So I take it then that life was an unsatisfactory experience for you?* God asked, the sounds of ruffling paper echoing in His background.
"I... suppose so." I shrugged in indifference. "Never really accomplished anything in life."
*Not even the novel you just finished?*
I sighed in reluctant acceptance. Nobody read my stuff anyway. Why bother continuing? It's a good enough legacy to leave behind.
*Geez.. With thoughts like that, no wonder you jumped off the ledge so easily.*
"I've been wanting to jump since college," I explained, not really putting up a respectable front to the Almighty Being speaking to me. "Just never had the chance to do it."
*That's just sad.*
"That's just how it is." It's my life. Nobody's gonna miss me anyway. "Might as well save everybody the heartache of seeing me flounder in life."
Silence echoed throughout the void as God deigned to simply leave me hanging, the background noises of what seemed to be filing paperwork giving an oddly relaxing ambiance as I waited for the deity to respond.
*Oookay..* God's booming voice drawled out as He came back to address me. *From the looks of things, you're eligible for a number of different afterlife packages...*
What? Afterlife packages?
"Wa-wait a minute. What?" I found myself flabbergasted at the implications of God's wording. "You mean there's more than one afterlife?"
*You can elect to grab an economy class ticket to the Underworld with access up to the sixth circle of Hell.* God rattled on, ignoring my previous questions in favor of enumerating what was apparently my retirement options. *That's the standard package for general sinners like yourself.*
Huh? Wh-What?
*You can also avail a reincarnation ticket since you never really had any attachments in your life.* The booming voice droned, ignoring my protests and overall confusion. *Pretty popular with the anime folk like you.*
A literal Isekai scenario?! Was this some kind of sick joke? What's next, the world ending?
*And lastly, you can simply choose to stay in this empty void for the rest of eternity.* God finished off His list with a slight flourish, His tone that of a promodiser in a hardware store. *All in all, quite the formidable selection considering most people automatically go to the first option.*
I felt my head spin at the incredulity of my situation. Was I seriously being offered a choice in an afterlife?
*The clause also states that should you not choose in the next thirty seconds, a random option will be chosen for you-*
What was I supposed to do?! Was there even a choice in the matter?
*-so best start thinking Miss Carmine.*
"Wait!" I shout out to the Almighty Being. "Do I choose which world get to I reincarnate in?"
*Nope!-*
Well, that's one option down the drain. I don't want to experience something that could be infinitely worse than my old life. I've already accepted that I'm going to Hell one way or another, so might as well-
*-But I'm taking that as your final answer.*
-get comfy. Wait...
No!
*Enjoy your new life Miss Carmine!*
A flash of bright light consumed me as I was suddenly thrust into who knows where. I felt my body shrinking, all while I curiously palmed out my current location. Darkness still surrounded me, though not at the same grand scope of the void that I once occupied in my death. It seemed that I was in some kind of.. fleshy prison perhaps? Coupled with the warm fluid and the faint thumping that I was hearing, one would think that I was in a-
An unthinkable scenario popped into my head. Could it be... No, that would be stupid.
I'm not gonna be literally born again, am I?
Just as the thought entered my mind, the walls suddenly squeezed around me, trying to push me out of my warm prison.
Was this seriously happening?!
Another push forced my body through a tight squeeze. Oh my days! If this was what childbirth is like, I'm damn glad that I decided to never have children! Just imagining having to squeeze something as large as a watermelon out of my body already made me wanna cry.
And cry I did.
"Wah! Wah!"
I wailed my heart out as the cold open-air hit my newly exposed face. The weight of my new life suddenly felt like a heavy burden; like a strange sense of guilt that I knew wouldn't simply go away with time. It stung, the fact that I didn't ask for this didn't help either. Perhaps this was why babies cried after being born, the task of living a full life too incomprehensible for the still-developing mind.
"It's a girl," An old, grandma like voice echoed out of my sight. I did read somewhere that eyesight was something that babies didn't have for the first few months of life. "With fiery red hair like her mother."
"My baby..." I heard another woman speak, albeit sounding younger and more tired this time. I felt a strange connection to the comforting voice. Was she my mother in this life? "Come to Mama~"
I continued to uncontrollably cry as I felt my body being lifted before I was given to my mother's warm embrace. Her arms were like a soothing balm, a cradle that helped me reign in my young body's baser instincts.
"She's a thing of beauty Eul," a gruff voice reached my ears, before I felt a rough hand caress my face. "Looks just like her mother."
"Haha.. But she's got your eyes dear," my mother returned to who seemed to be my father. "Onyx, the color of iron."
It was getting harder to stay awake now, my eyelids getting heavier by the second as I've stopped crying in favor of snuggling under my mother's embrace as I let my curiously sharp hearing take note of my parents' conversation.
"A blacksmith then," my father inferred as I felt a gaze land on my young body. "I hoped for anything other than that."
"I'm sure we'll think of something, Pascal. They won't take our little Crimson away from us."
While I never understood any of what went on during their conversation, I heard the clear love and affection that were being showered over me just from their tone alone. And it was with that last few sentences that I felt the call of sleep take hold of me.
It's not going to be easy having to go through all the stages of childhood again. Puberty especially would be quite the ordeal, what with hormones impairing rational decisions and such. And while they're not truly my parents, I can tell that they cared much about my well-being. It was a small comfort going in on a world that's completely new to me.
It's not something that I wanted when I chose to kill myself, but I'll have to make the most of it somehow. I just hope that it doesn't kill me.
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The Least Common Denominator Checkpoint I
I don't know how we managed to get out of that hell hole, but I guess we somehow did. "YYEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" All around me, celebrations of victory spread all across my fellow people. Denominators, both young and old, all pranced around and cheered my name under the bright blue sky. *CRIMSON! CRIMSON! CRIMSON!* Blinking the drowsiness off of my eyes, I found myself waking up on... a horse cart? We were moving somewhere apparently, somewhere that's assuredly as far from the enemy presence as possible... Fuck... What happened... "Oh, you're awake..." Looking up towards my driver, I saw the familiar visage of Backus greeting me. He wasn't looking at me though; his attention still on the road as he drove the cart forward.
Last Updated : 2020-11-17The Least Common Denominator Interlude VII: Olivia III
Olivia was livid."Die, Heathen scum!"The young girl's blood boiled with unbridled hate for the man in front of her. She didn't know how or why the Prime was even screaming out that they were heathens, but one thing was for sure:They never did anything wrong.*KRAKATHOOM!*With a skill that she had honed through constant fighting and endless drills, Olivia sprang to action; intercepting the incoming strike as she ignored the theatrical lightning. Arya had inadvertently trained her to see faster than what she thought possible through their spats; the Prime endlessly goading her by dangling her sister's mental freedom in front of her."If you stand against the Natural Order, then you shall die alongside her!"A brief pause in combat occurred as Olivia sized up her opponent. His attacks might be lightning-fast, but she had the edge in terms of predicting his movement depending on his body's position. Already
Last Updated : 2020-11-16The Least Common Denominator XIII.III Ohm's Law
"Show yourself!" I cringed in horror as I watched our target shout out his threats with reckless abandon. The main thing that was making him dangerous was gone, but that didn't mean that we can finally drop our guards against him. That just meant that he wasn't a force of nature anymore. "Sis?" The lack of the storm didn't mean that the idiot wouldn't be able to puncture a vat full of metal anymore, it just meant that we had to goad him into hitting one. And that was easier said than done. *CRACK!* "Heathen!" *BOOM!* A bolt of lightning shot out from the idiot's dagger just as I was thinking about ways to kill him. The errant lightning collided with a nearby vat, making it spill its contents out into the v
Last Updated : 2020-11-13The Least Common Denominator XIII.II Ohm's Law
*CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!*"RUUUUUNNNNN!!!"With as much power as I could muster in my throat, I screamed the one word that would hopefully lead to the least amount of casualties as possible while the rest of my fellow Dens stuck to the plan of making shields out of glass. I really hope that I'm fucking remembering my physical properties right. Because if the shields don't work?We're going to fucking fry at the mercy of this homophobic crybaby!"'Livia!""Got it!"Like a well-oiled machine, Olivia and I quickly shot off into the distance, trying to put as much distance between us and the irate Prime as possible while trying to make sure that he didn't lose his interest in me by not hiding behind anything that would break his line of sight. I needed him to be thoroughly distracted for this to fucking work. And I sure hope like hell that my fellow Dens were fast enough to make the shields before we eventually got cau
Last Updated : 2020-11-11The Least Common Denominator XIII.I Ohm's Law
We're really in for it now, weren't we...Here we were, running for our lives as a veritable electric storm ravaged anyone stupid enough to not run away from the rampaging Prime. While Olivia and I were still slashing our way through some of the tin cans that opposed us, it all eventua
The Least Common Denominator XII.VII Inverse Proportionality
It came as no surprise to me when I realized that I was gay. Well, technically lesbian, but semantics can go either way."That bitch! Spitting on our Mother's teachings even now!"I was probably fourteen when I realized that I constantly kept ogling my best friend and my oth
The Least Common Denominator XII.VI Inverse Proportionality
Shit! Me and my big mouth!*CRACK!*I shielded my eyes as a streak of lightning flashed dangerously close to my face, visibly grazing my fringes as I limboed under the noticeably thicker bolt of blue lightning than before. I didn't even know that lightning can get fatter if
The Least Common Denominator XII.V Inverse Proportionality
I grunted in pain for every second that I continued to fall down the stone stairwell. I knew that my sanity couldn't take much more pain than this, but I had to keep going unless I wanted to die like a piece of KFC chicken on a Sunday afternoon. Besides, I still had enough spite left in me to hel
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Jiang Sese was in utter disbelief after hearing all of that.
She was already hurt after losing her child. Now that she had learned the truth, she felt such mental torment that she was about to go mad. Even her emotions were going haywire, so much so that she was becoming hysterical English
