-In an unknown location-

As the strong light from the mysterious circle disappears a dimly lit room, with bookshelves that seem to never end, has one candle standing on a desk and sitting on a chair, and writing on some paper on the desk is a hooded figure with skeleton hands.

On the other side of this desk sits a young man with pink hair who has his eyes closed.

{Boy, it's about time you wake up.}

The skeleton said with a deep and profound voice that would make even the bravest shake in fear, but its voice seems to not have reached the young man as he kept sleeping.

{I said <Wake up>.}

At that moment the young man immediately opened his eyes, only to stand completely still and in shock with the first thing he saw, his eyes are wide open and he doesn't move at all.

{The shock and even fear are usual in my presence but worry not mortal, I'm known as [the writer] and am a being that resides in a much higher plane than the one you exist in.}

The creature continued writing as it spoke and didn't seem to be talking about the situation at hand with any amount of seriousness.

Niel eventually shook his head and started looking at the being without uttering a word.

{So, as of now you should be dead and meeting [Death] rather than me, but you're a quite special one.}

".... If I'm getting this right? You just said I'm dead and... You're not death?"(Niel)

Niel braced himself to be able to even say these words as his heartbeat got faster.

{No, I said you should be dead but you're not, at least not yet.}

"Then, where... Where am I?"(Niel)

{You're obviously in my office.}

"..."(Niel)

Niel had a deadpan expression hearing this answer, he doesn't know if this is real or someone is just playing very foul tricks on him.

"Oh! This is the game correct!"(Niel)

Niel said remembering how he most likely got in this situation in the first place.

{So this sounds like a game to you, then tell me, does this feel like a game?}

As the [the writer] said that Niel's body started contorting and the sound of his breaking arm could be heard as all of his members got to experience the same one by one.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!"(Niel)

The screams of pain echoed throughout the room until his members went back to place all on their own, Niel who was now on the floor in absolute pain could still feel the lingering pain of what just happened to him.

{I assume this will suffice, I'm very busy and can't do this for too long, so sit down and let's have a conversation.}

Niel didn't move as his expression is one of pain and agony, as tears fall from his eyes.

{I did it once and I'll do it again if you don't hurry up}

Niel immediately forced himself to get up and sit on the chair again with his eyes still full of tears and his face showing his dissatisfaction with the creature right in front of him.

{Like I was saying, your soul is an exceptional one for a mortal. Usually, mortals only live most of their lives until half of it or so, but you are a mortal that throughout their many reincarnations was able to live their full life most of the time.}

Niel didn't say anything and just sat there listening to this creature talk.

{You might wonder what this means, it simply means that you, throughout those many lives accumulated soul energy that most mortals don't. When it comes to reincarnation the defining factors are the strength of your soul and how long it could rest in a mortal vessel to get stronger.}

It went on and Niel started to get some interest in what he's being told.

{So the more full mortal lifetimes you live the higher the chances you will get reincarnated, so you who lived almost all of your full-time in all of your reincarnations are an unusual variable, and your soul is unusually strong for a mortal, you have a grade 8 soul, two grades away from being a demi-God soul and 3 grades away from being a divine or God soul.}

Hearing this Niel was very surprised and even started ignoring the fact he doesn't like this creature.

"So you're saying I can become a God?"(Niel)

{No, I'm saying you could have a soul capable of such. The fact your soul is high grade for a mortal doesn't make you necessarily stronger, it just means you have more potential to grow beyond what you are, and since your soul grade is pretty high your growth would also be faster. I would say you could look at your soul grade as your potential, it basically tells you what you can become for now.}

Niel nodded hearing what the creature said.

{If it was otherwise you would be a superhuman or whatever was it that humans called it.}

"I see, but why are you telling me all of this? What do you want from me??"(Niel)

{As I said before, you're a very special case, and something like this hasn't happened in a very long time, so I want to make a deal with you. I will give you the tools you need to grow and obtain a divine soul, and once you reach that level, you will repay my favor by getting some tasks done for me.}

"You say that quite nonchalantly, you must be very powerful yourself."(Niel)

Niel said, now very interested in whoever this creature is.

{Well, yes. Souls are first divided into stages before we get to the grades, there are mortal stage souls like yours, divine stage souls like your typical gods, immortal stage souls for some creatures beyond gods, Phantasia stage souls for beings beyond imagination, and infinity stage souls for being beyond existence itself.}

"And which stage would you be in?"(Niel)

{That is something you'll have to find out for yourself, now back to our deal, do you accept?}

The creature that hadn't stopped writing for a single moment since the young man got here, extended its free hand towards the young man.

"Wait! How do I even become stronger like you said?"(Niel)

{Oh right, I almost didn't explain everything to you. Like mentioned before, you are supposed to be dead because while you were in your world a summoning ritual to a different world happened, but you were too slow and didn't accept the invitation to this other world so you died in the process of transportation, or at least you should have but I sensed you and decided you could be useful.}

"So, I died in that isekai cliche? What a disappointment. In that case, what would happen to me after I agreed or disagreed to make the deal with you?"(Niel)

Niel rolled hid eyes hearing about his own death, rather than scared or worried he looks disappointed.

{Very simple, if you disagree, I'll just send you to the world that summoned you since I think it's a good place for you to grow, but you wouldn't have my tools and would most likely die at the hands of some monster. While if you agree I will still send you there but with my tools to help you.}

"So, regardless of my choice, I get to live?"(Niel)

{I don't like wasting potential so, yes.}

The creature waved its free hand as it said so still writing and not even looking at Niel throughout all of this.

"What exactly are your tools?"(Niel)

{Very simply, I'll give you the chance to pick one of the multiple special abilities I have at my disposal and an extra surprise present.}

"Can I see the list of special abilities?"(Niel)

{Only if you accept my deal.}

"At least tell me what kind of tasks I'll have to do once I reach the divine grade."(Niel)

Niel asked seeing that his best choice might be to accept this mysterious creature's deal.

{If you reach the divine grade, I'll ask you to exterminate some pests and collect some data.}

"Why don't you do it yourself?"(Niel)

{It's against the rules of the multiverse, as a higher stage being I can't interfere directly with certain matters of lower stages.}

"So you're at least Immortal stage? Interesting."(Niel)

Niel said with a smug as he got some information he wanted from this creature.

{The deal, Yes or No?}

The creature once again extended its skeleton hand towards Niel, blue flames on its hand burning strongly but emitting no heat.

"I hope I don't regret this!... "(Niel)