This story begins like most reincarnation stories. A boy is walking down the street. The boy sees a beautiful girl. The boy does not see the strange truck that appears out of nowhere with a sticker that says Isekai International Ltd. The boy is hit by the truck. The boy dies.
Then comes the typical part where a ROB grants him absurdly broken powers and sends him to another world to set up a harem, as in any decent isekai, right?
Wrong answer.
In this story, the ROB decided to send our protagonist to the world of Harry Potter, albeit to a UA version. Which one exactly? Not even the ROB had decided yet.
At this point, any sane person would be tearing their hair out. Possible variations included gender changes, a Voldemort victory, a Grindelwald victory, a magical world not separated from the Muggle world, or even the extermination of wizards by Muggles.
Our protagonist did not react that way. He did not throw his hands up in horror. He didn't even insult ROB's mother or, for that matter, the author's. Instead, he calmly asked if he was going to receive any gifts.
When he heard something about three gifts and, moreover, the freedom to choose two of them, he was about to jump for joy. Then came the inevitable but.
After hearing that but, the only thing he had at that moment, his soul, fell to the ground.
The two gifts would be nothing more than the intellectual abilities of two individuals, each at the peak of their lives. The reincarnated future began to make mental calculations. Lex Luthor. Tony Stark. Reed Richards. Doctor Doom. Bulma.
If only it were that easy.
The first limitation was clear. They could only be 100% human individuals from Earth. If at any point they had ceased to be normal humans, for example through cybernetics or genetic enhancements, only the peak reached before those modifications would be taken into account. The rest did not count.
That condition automatically eliminated people like Luthor from Earth-Prime, a human-Martian hybrid, or Reed Richards with his stretched brain thanks to his elastic powers.
The second limitation was the power level of the worlds of origin. It had to be close to that of the world of Harry Potter.
Our protagonist was about to slap ROB and the author, as the power level of that world is completely unbalanced, but with admirable effort, he restrained himself.
ROB then pulled out a list of permitted worlds. Our protagonist received it with fragile hope, trusting that there would be something to save him.
The first thing he checked was that, as expected, neither DC, Marvel, nor Dragon Ball were there.
He kept looking. In the eastern section, he discovered that practically everything fantastic had disappeared. Most belonged to the romantic genre, although there were still some crime and martial arts works. In the end, he made a mental note of three interesting names and moved on to the next section.
Europe and America had been similarly mutilated. Even so, he did find a little more fantasy here. He noted down an interesting name, provided it was the book version, and added two others just in case.
With that provisional list, he decided to ask ROB a few questions.
The first was whether, if the chosen person had developed skills such as hypnosis through practice, he would also obtain them.
The answer was a resounding no. He would only receive the intellect, not specific knowledge or powers. At most, a small part of the personality. If the person enjoyed something very much, he would also tend to enjoy it.
That automatically eliminated two options.
Usobuki Tadashi, from Funohan. His hypnosis and personality analysis would have been ideal.
Kuroko Koumori, from Murciélago. His ability to anticipate danger surpassed even Spider-Man's spider sense, but it came from having killed an obscene number of people.
The personality part ruled out another candidate. Hannibal Lecter, television version. As brilliant as he was, he didn't feel like developing hobbies related to cannibalism.
As he mentally reorganised the list, he realised that options one, four, five and six were still left. Five and six were Arsène Lupin, original version, and Sherlock Holmes as a last resort. That's how desperate the selection ROB had given him was.
He then asked if, in the case of multiple versions of a character, he could choose which one. The naive ROB replied yes, without reviewing the list or suspecting what was going through the protagonist's mind. The author, for his part, had just received a generous anonymous payment unrelated to this.
At that moment, the protagonist saw the light. He could have sworn he heard a heavenly choir, although in reality it was his imagination. There was no budget for more.
ROB then reminded him of the third gift. He explained that he would also receive the properties and subordinates associated with his choices, Bruce Wayne style. With no living parents or relatives, he would be reincarnated at the age of eight as an orphan.
Our protagonist began to dream of the empire he was going to inherit. He was about to kiss ROB and send another anonymous payment when he heard that dreaded word.
But.
The properties were limited exclusively to the United Kingdom and, surprisingly, Ireland.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was glad he had pressed send on the last payment.
Even so, a doubt assailed him. After spending his last savings on another anonymous donation, he asked if, in the event that one identity was related to high society and the other to crime, anyone would know that they were the same person.
The answer was better than expected. Only one person, of his choosing from among his close friends, would know both identities. For everyone else, the criminal identity would always have worn a mask. Upon reincarnation, he would manage on his own. He would also start without debts or hidden enemies.
With that clear, he made his decisions.
The first was Lupin III, manga version. Anyone who only knew the anime would think it was an absurd choice. In the manga, Lupin is more cruel and dark. He uses knives rather than guns. He leads the Lupin Empire, with hundreds of bases and thousands of agents around the world. He rules the criminal underworld, has killed countless people and, unlike in the anime, does not pursue Fujiko Mine. In the manga, Fujiko Mine is a name applied to several women who almost always end up being killed by Lupin. The tone is dark, violent and ruthless.
The second choice was Artemis Fowl II, the book version. Those who have only seen the Disney adaptation would protest, but the original Artemis is something else. He steals for pure pleasure. He is capable of creating a drug that cleanses the body of any harmful substances, putting a technologically superior race in check, infiltrating their systems whenever he wants, designing an AI as a security system for his mansion, and developing a cube capable of infiltrating both magical and non-magical systems and stealing data. He also created the Code of Eternity, named for the time it would take to decipher it. Add to that Domovoi Butler, capable of defeating a troll in hand-to-hand combat, and £16.5 billion in the bank.
He chose Domovoi Butler as the only person who would know his double identity.
The ROB then asked what name he wanted for his new life. Fowl would be his surname. Lupin III his criminal identity.
Our protagonist replied Neoth. If he had to choose a name, better the one of the God-Emperor.
With the three gifts delivered, the kind ROB decided to send him off to his new life in true Spartan style. With a kick to the chest.
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