A Game Of Proxies: A New Life, page 1
A Game of Proxies
A NEW LIFE
RICHARD LEE
Copyright © 2025 Richard Lee
A Game Of Proxies, A New Life: Book 1
By Richard Lee
All rights reserved.
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Created with Vellum
Contents
Author’s Note:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
About the Author
Author’s Note:
Hey everyone! I have a crazysauce-hamsterwheel for a brain sometimes, and that’s how this pen name and storyline came to be. It’s tropey, touching on the isekai and harem/anime subjects… Yet there is no truck-kun. (really!)
I’m also a fan of progression fantasy and LitRPG so you’ll find light elements of that in here as well.
Subjects you’ll find inside are unusual relationships, some swearing, some drinking, fighting in the nude, smexytime (remove the M if you’re not familiar with my weird way of expressing myself), and my MC’s winning the heart(s) of the ladies that seem to just fit into his life.
This is a new genre for me, so if I screw up somewhere, did good, bad, or anything… I’d love feedback. As always, I hope you enjoy the storyline.
If you are a fan of the genre, you can check out some of the facebook groups where authors hang out, and readers can find new books to read.
Harem Lit - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1520110688072405
HaremLit Readers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/375383623500028
Dukes of Harem - https://www.facebook.com/groups/530402720977171
HaremGameLit - https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremgamelit
Chapter
One
The god considered his daughter, seeing her looking up at him nervously.
“I’m ready, Daddy!”
“Good Morrigan. Now, place your hand on the interface. Right now, there’s a fire sale on souls from Earth. See how the screen came up?”
“Yes, oh wow. This is like six months’ worth of my allowance...” Morrigan’s words trailed off as she considered the expense.
She now understood why her parents made her save so diligently when she would have rather spent her allowance how she wanted. Maybe they really knew what they were doing after all.
“Ok, Daddy, I’m really ready.”
“I’ll be over here,” he muttered, stepping back. He watched his daughter thoughtfully—finally an adult, but still his baby girl.
I had been hunkering down in the gas station as the shouting got louder. All of a sudden, there was a gunshot, and the shouting turned into a pained shriek. I slowly moved away from the cashier on an angle so I could see the big, curved mirror. When I did, I almost wished I had done anything else. A single gunman was walking around the counter, pulling the body of the cashier off the counter, the plexiglass partition misted red with blood.
“You don’t move,” the man shouted, as several people tried for the exit.
The pistol barked four times, and the couple that had come in right behind me, fell soundlessly.
“Oh shit, I’m fucked,” I muttered.
Countless hours of playing Rust and CoD did not prepare me for this situation. I knew some basic self-defense; I had boxed for a few years right after high school, but I was not a tough guy. Knowing the man was going to keep shooting anybody he saw, I found what I hoped was a blind spot in case he gazed back my way. That’s when things went silent.
“Where’s the fucking safe?” the man asked loudly, but there wasn’t an answer.
I saw him move to the left and enter what had to be an office, you could only get to from behind the counter. I got up to rush, but that’s when two more people, who must have been doing the same as I had, made their own move. It was a young mother and her elementary-aged kid. Their eyes were wide, and as they ran for the door, I ran myself.
“I said no one leaves!”
Ten feet, five feet... As the two got to the door, I turned to see him aiming at the young ladies. I heard a gunshot as I moved in front of them, and what felt like a mule kick in my shoulder blade. The little girl fell in front of me as I was coming down. Gunfire barked, and bullets impacted all around us. The mother was screaming. I grabbed the little girl with my right arm and got to my feet as the kid freaked out. Just as I pushed her into her mother’s arms, something hit me right in the middle of my back.
It was like my strings were cut, and I fell, somehow not face-planting. Then I heard more gunshots, but not from inside the store. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. Breathing was hard. I heard screams. Shouts that the shooter was down. Time seemed to stand still. At some point, I saw cops rushing to the store. An eternity passed as I tried to draw in life giving oxygen.
“He’s down... God, he shot so many...”
“They’re rolling all the ambos, all of them.”
“Let me through, this guy’s breathing,” a woman shouted.
A woman knelt down in front of me.
“Are you doing ok, buddy?” she asked.
I blinked twice, quickly. Unable to form words, talk, or move.
“I... I can’t move you. You’re spine shot. I’m going to try to slow the bleeding, ok?”
“Is he alive?” a voice shouted.
“Barely,” the lady called as she moved out of my sight.
Time was a funny thing. I had no idea how long I had been on the ground, but at some point, the cops had showed up and put down the shooter. Had I passed out? Were they already close by? Time seemed important to me suddenly, because I felt it running out. I was cold, oh so cold. The pain was terrible, but so was the growing weariness.
“You took those shots meant for me and my daughter,” the young mother’s tears and beautiful face was the last thing I saw.
“Hello there, Sam,” the voice came out of the darkness.
“Hello?” I said, surprised I could talk, let alone breathe.
I tried to reach behind my shoulder but realized... I was nothing, floating in nothing.
“Good. I was unsure if your soul would make the transition.”
The voice was feminine, but there was nothing I could see or sense anywhere. Her voice seemed to come from all around me.
“Yay me? So I died? Is this Hell?”
“Hell? Wait, let me answer these in order, so I don’t go off on a tangent. Yes, you died. Your actions directly saved two lives. That little girl will someday become the President of the United States of America, bringing peace to your world. She should have been better protected, but that agent of chaos slipped through the cracks somehow. As for Hell, hell no.”
“So, Heaven? I don’t see no pearly gates. Actually, I don’t see anything.”
“Shit, sorry,” there was a sound like fingers snapping, and suddenly I could see.
Before me, surrounded by the void, on a wood-planked floor was an oak table with two chairs. The woman sitting down across from me. She was... Not exactly human.
“Human adjacent. Sorry, I try not to read minds, but you have no shielding and everything you say is broadcast so loudly, I can’t quite block you out.”
I wasn’t sure what human adjacent meant, but if that meant fuzzy ears on top of her head like a wolf’s... Wait, was this like an anime isekai thing? I didn’t get the whole truck-kun treatment, but at least the afterlife didn’t suck so bad. This... human adjacent lady with brown hair, ears, a light dusting of freckles, and a decent figure from what I could tell from the table up... She was pretty.
The woman smiled at that and tapped her forehead, dropping me a wink. “Thanks for the compliment. Anyways, our people were unable to make it in time to stop the chaos agent from killing the four of you. Recognizing your sacrifice, one of my agents set up the ritual that sent you here. Dying sucks, but maybe the afterlife isn’t all that you’re destined for? From what I can tell, fate swirls thick around your soul. What do you think, would you like another shot?”
“At living?” I asked dumbly, “of course.”
“Good, but... your soul cannot return to Earth’s realm. We’re talking about the whole isekai anime tropes you were thinking of earlier. You’d be starting on a new world.”
“I... there’s more worlds? Like space travel?”
“Yes, but that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. You’re already here. Or will be if you accept.”
“Where is here?” I had to ask.
“It’s an Earth-adjacent realm. We call this world Tantoth. It’s a world much like Earth, but magic is a thing here. There is technology similar to Earth in many societies, but overall, it’s much more medieval.”
“Fantasy-type world?” I asked her, slightly interested.
In truth, I was thinking of the nearly a thousand hours I’d played Skyrim and how I loved exploring everything.
“Yes, indeed. There are humans, elves, orcs, goblins and many, many other races too numerous to list. There are also monster folk, beast folk, and… monsters, dragons, good, and evil. Happiness and heartbreak in equal amounts if you look for it. If you take my deal.”
“Ok? What are you offering?” I had to ask because there was always a catch, and honestly, I half expected to wake up post-surgery to find out this was trauma, related to having my spine shot out.
“Nothing more than if you find agents of Chaos on this realm, you do your best to thwart their plans, if not outright eliminate them.”
“I’m no warrior. I’m just a guy who worked in a distribution center.”
“But your memories of exploration, swordplay, and defeating... wait... those were games?” her voice rose in volume.
“Yes. I had a pretty normal and boring life.”
“But your actions in saving that woman and her daughter were heroic. Hm... Ok, that mistake is on me. I might have to bend the rules a little bit, but... Hm... Would you rather be slightly overpowered and in your ideal form to start, or would you like to be resurrected as a baby, learning everything from scratch, but maybe with some extra special divine advice from time to time?”
“Do I get divine advice if I take the first option?”
“Nope. We’ll shake on it, and you’ll awaken in the new world. Slightly overpowered, in the best shape of your life, but then you’ll have to make your own way.”
“But I won’t be OP if I go for a reincarnation and learn potty training all over again?”
“Nope. But... you get advice from time to time,” her words almost cut off at the end as another voice came out of the void.
“Unless he prays to your shrine,” the voice boomed around us, coming from nowhere visible.
“Oh yeah! I totes forgot about that. Thanks, Dad!” she had turned to listen to the voice, but when she turned back to me, she was all smiles.
If I had a heartbeat, it’d be going crazy. She was really kinda pretty.
“Ok, so I can have an OP character and get divine advice from you by praying to your shrine?”
“That’s the deal, or you can do the whole reincarnation thing,” she put her hand across the table.
“That sounds like a good deal, but before I shake, is there anything I should know about Tantoth?”
“Um... I mean, it’s a world. Go out, have a good life. If you see an agent of chaos, deliver them to the afterlife. Er... Shank them, or stop their plans.”
“Ok, that sounds good. But in order to find a shrine of yours, I need to know the goddess I’m going to be praying to, right?”
“Oh, that, I’m Morrigan. Nice to meet you, Sam.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Goddess Morrigan. I’ll take the deal.” I reached over and shook her hand.
Once again, the world went dark for me.
“Morrigan, what have you done?” The god’s voice was deep.
His daughter looked down at the tabletop, “I used some of my divine points to boost him up some.”
“He’s not the one whose soul we went out to capture for your little project.”
Without looking up, she told him, “Daddy, he’s my choice.”
“Fine, I’ll let you continue to run your experiment as long as you take care of them better than that mangy mutt you brought home—”
“Daddy!”
The god considered his daughter a moment, “This is your first trial. You’re already pushing the limits, and picked some rando you just saw for the first time today.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t mess this up. I’ll make you and Mom proud!”
“Fine...”
Chapter
Two
Opening my eyes, I saw a familiar looking character creation screen. Wondering if someone’s IP was getting ripped off, the world blurred, and a more generic looking creation screen filled my vision. I could see a mirror copy of myself in a generic pair of boxer shorts. Looking myself over and remembering the goddess’s words, I realized I was back in my 19-year-old body.
I was never a gym bro, but I had been boxing and working out when I was that age. I was about 5’10”, with reddish-blonde hair my mom had always insisted was strawberry-blonde, piercing blue eyes, and the physique of a casual athlete. Smiling, I saw some settings with a slider bar.
“I’ll just put my height up to an even six feet... um...” I snickered at one of the next choices for customizations I saw.
I pulled my boxers back and looked down while mentally sliding the bar just a tiny bit. No more than an inch. I swear.
“You have got to be shitting me,” I snickered.
The god looked at his daughter with a raised eyebrow, “Really, Morrigan? Really?”
“Daddy, I had to let him totally customize himself! I even kept it with the law of conservation. The mass never changes, but the form, it’s sculpted—"
“I’m already regretting this,” he said, his hands covering his eyes.
As far as changes went, most of them were cosmetic. Getting taller must have been an exception because I couldn’t make my shoulders broader and put on forty pounds of muscle. Maybe it could only work with the mass I already had at the time? I didn’t want to change my looks, so I went on.
“Class selection... basic classes... fighter, mage, rogue, priest, cleric, healer, paladin, and on and on and on... Blah! What kind of life do I want?”
I thought about that. The classes and professions I had to choose would shape the rest of my life. Did I want to be a hero? A villain? No, the goddess wanted me to live my life and hunt the agents of chaos if I could... so I needed some sort of martial class... I paused my thoughts when I saw a –see more– on the class list. I mentally clicked it and saw one more choice. I was tempted, oh so very tempted.
Multi-Class – Choose two classes. Experience penalty of 40% and must level both classes in order to progress to the next level. Whatever experience you need from each class plus 40% more than normal to level.
There’s got to be more than that... What were the limitations?
Multi-class users gain levels and power more slowly. All class skills, spells, and benefits remain the same. A level 10 multi-classer may be more or less powerful than somebody at that same level. There are countless options and outcomes. Choose with care.
“Right... so the system... or the goddess can give feedback at this point. Maybe I’m really at one of her shrines, just not totally there? Man...”
I went ahead and clicked on multi-class, knowing what I wanted without caring about synergy and the warnings. I clicked on rogue, then healer.
...
....
.....
Are you sure of your choice?
I affirmed yes.
Interesting.
I waited, and when nothing else happened, I went into the profession’s tab. I saw I could pick two. Snickering mentally, I picked enchanting and alchemist. A warning flashed up on the screen telling me that starting with two professions would be a 70% penalty overall for experience and progression. I wanted one or the other... I went ahead and picked just alchemy.
After all, it warned me if I took two at once... not that I couldn’t learn the skill later. I went ahead and clicked on complete.
Are you sure?
Yes!
Are you really, really sure?
I mentally clicked yes.
Divine Boon from your benefactor – Increased skill and profession progression to be OP.
The screen faded into darkness, and I was, once again, alone in the dark.
“Watch out!” A woman’s shout had me jerking my head to the right.
A horse-drawn wagon was barreling my way. I jumped to the side while the woman tried to get her team back under control. There were shouts, and all of a sudden, I realized I was standing on a cobblestone road. I leaped back just in time but still felt the sting of the woman’s riding crop across my shoulder.
