That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime: Probability

I checked my watch for the hundredth time. Ten more minutes.

This was it. The meeting that would change my life. Years of grinding, sleepless nights, and relentless deals had led me here. If this went well, my company would take off. No more struggling. No more barely scraping by. Just success. This was a deal, a f***ing life-changer.

They were offering me two hundred thousand dollars to invest in my product. Not a loan. Not some shady contract. A real investment. My mind was already racing through expansion plans, marketing, scaling—this was what I had been working for.

I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel, exhaling slowly to calm my nerves. Don't overthink. Just close the deal. 

Then, the bad luck set in. Gunshots. I crouched down as a sharp crack tore through the air, followed by frantic shouting. My stomach twisted.

I barely had time to process before my windshield exploded, shards of glass scattering across my dashboard.

"Shit!"

Instinct took over. I threw open the door and bolted, ducking low behind a parked van. My breaths came quick, my heart hammering in my chest.

A gang fight. Right here, in the middle of the street.

I peeked out. Two groups—masked men, weapons drawn, shouting over the chaos. A gun fired again. Someone screamed.

This isn't happening.

I pressed my back against the van, trying to steady my breathing. My meeting. My life—all of it was hanging by a thread, and I had no idea what to do.

Then, one of them saw me.

His masked face snapped in my direction. I knew that look. Witness. Liability. Dead man.

He raised his gun.

I moved on instinct.

Before he could pull the trigger, I lunged, knocking his arm aside. The shot went wide, slamming into a nearby storefront. He cursed, staggering back, and I took the chance—fist swinging straight into his gut.

He doubled over. Another guy charged at me from the side. I barely had time to react before he tackled me, slamming me onto the pavement. Pain shot through my spine.

I struggled, kicking, twisting—doing whatever I could to break free. I wasn't a fighter, but I refused to die here.

Then—

Bang.

A flash of pain.

My whole body froze.

For a moment, I didn't even understand what had happened. Then, slowly, I looked down.

Blood. So much blood.

A bullet hole, right in my chest.

I gasped, choking, my vision darkening at the edges. The sound of the world faded. The neon lights of the city blurred.

No… no, no, no…

I had worked too damn hard for it to end like this.

I tried to move. My fingers twitched. My mind screamed at my body to keep fighting, to do something.

But I was already slipping.

Then, nothing.

A void. No sense of time, no sense of space.

Then, a voice.

[Analyzing soul… Error detected. Unique race identified. Adapting reincarnation parameters.]

Unique race? What the hell did that mean?

I tried to move. Nothing. I had no body. No form. Just… floating.

[Reincarnation confirmed. Granting skills based on final thoughts and desires.]

Wait. Was this… real?

[Skills granted based on past life expertise.]

Silver Tongue – Increases persuasion success rate.

Merchant's Eye – Instinctively evaluates the worth of objects, trades, and deals.

Tactician – Enhances strategic thinking and risk assessment.

[Skills granted based on combat instincts at the moment of death.]

Survivor's Instinct – Boosts reaction speed and decision-making in danger.

Last Stand – The more desperate the situation, the stronger he becomes.

Adaptive Combat – Learns and counters opponents' attack patterns faster.

[Skills granted based on racial heritage.]

Favorable Odds – Slightly increases the chance of beneficial outcomes.

Selective Probability – Allows him to influence the outcome of minor chance-based events.

Causality Shift – Can manipulate cause and effect in small ways.

Miracle Trigger – A passive ability that occasionally causes extreme luck in desperate situations.

Improbable Reflex – Unconsciously dodges fatal attacks under certain conditions.

Singular Existence – Cannot be erased by probability-based effects.

[Dormant Skill:]

Probability Authority – Grants full control over probability itself. Currently sealed due to unstable soul synchronization.

[Adjusting body to match inherited racial traits.]

A strange warmth spread through me. Something shifted.

I felt… different.

And then—

I existed again.

Cold ground beneath me. Strange energy humming inside me.

I opened my eyes.

And for the first time in history, a member of an extinct race—one capable of bending probability itself—had returned to the world.

And as if I got pulled into a black hole, I was sucked into the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ...."

My body—or whatever form I had now—was dragged through something dense, like moving through liquid shadows.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended.

I landed with a thud, cold stone pressing against my back. My breath hitched, sharp and sudden, as I gasped for air.

Wait. I was breathing. I'm alive?

My chest rose and fell, lungs filling with cool, dry air. My fingers twitched, brushing against rough stone. Sensation. I am alive.

I cracked my eyes open. A dim, eerie glow illuminated the cavern ceiling above me, strange luminescent crystals embedded in the jagged rock. A cave? Where in the world exactly am I? First of all, is this even my world?

I sat up slowly, my body adjusting as if it had always belonged to this place. Then, I caught sight of my hands.

These weren't my hands.

My fingers were longer, more refined, my skin paler than I remembered. No scars. No blemishes. It felt new—like I had been sculpted into an idealized version of myself.

I swallowed hard. My mind raced, trying to piece everything together.

I had died. I was shot and bled out on the pavement. Pretty pathetic death.

Then I heard it again.

[Reincarnation complete. Soul synchronization: 87%.]

The voice from before. Cold. Mechanical. Unfeeling.

[Welcome to your new life.]

I forced myself to my feet, staggering slightly. My muscles responded smoothly—too smoothly, as if they had been honed to perfection.

I glanced around. I was in some kind of underground chamber, ancient carvings lining the stone walls. Symbols I didn't recognize pulsed faintly with an ethereal glow. In the center of the room, an altar stood, cracked and weathered with age. Something about it tugged at me, like an instinct buried deep in my core.

Then, more words appeared in my vision.

[Racial Awakening Initiated.]

A sudden, searing pain lanced through my skull. I staggered, gripping my head as memories—no, instincts—rushed into me. Knowledge of something I had never learned, yet somehow always known.

My race. My abilities.

The lost race of Probability Wielders. The power to shift fate itself.

I sucked in a sharp breath as realization hit me.

I wasn't just some reincarnated guy.

I was the last of an extinct race. A being capable of breaking the rules of reality.

And if history had wiped my kind out before, it meant one thing—

Something had feared us enough to make sure we never returned.

But now?

I was here.

And I had no intention of disappearing again.

Then, the ground trembled.

Something was coming.

And I had a feeling my new life was about to start very violently. 

The tremors grew stronger. Dust trickled down from the cavern ceiling, the ancient stonework groaning under the force of something massive approaching. My instincts screamed at me—move!—but I barely had time to steady myself before the chamber walls split open.

A gust of wind howled through the cavern, carrying the scent of something ancient, something that didn't belong in a place like this. My hands clenched into fists as a shadow loomed from the darkness beyond the shattered wall.

Then, it stepped into the dim light.

A beast. No, a guardian. Towering, plated in obsidian-like armor that glowed faintly with shifting patterns of light. HE had four massive red eyes, red enough to scare the shit outta me. Growl. Oh, please don't do that shit, bro.

[Guardian of the First Seal detected.]

[Probability Distortion Field detected. Adjusting odds…]

I didn't have time to question what that meant. The creature lunged.

I barely managed to roll to the side as the ground where I stood exploded into shards of stone. The sheer force sent a shockwave through my body, but my instincts were already kicking in.

Survivor's Instinct activated. My vision sharpened, my body reacting before I even thought. I moved, sprinting to the side as another strike came down—this time from the beast's tail.

I needed a plan. Fast.

[Tactician activated. Analyzing opponent…]

[Opponent strength: Overwhelming.]

[Chance of survival: 4.3%.]

My heart pounded. Those odds were awful, I'm getting the fuck outta here. But then—

[Favorable Odds activated. Adjusting survival chance… 18.9%.]

... that doesn't change shit, it's a 97.1% chance that I was going die, right after I died.

I had approximately two seconds before I got obliterated.

The guardian's claws scraped against the stone floor, sparks flying as it prepared to charge again. My brain screamed at me to move, but my legs weren't exactly thrilled about the idea of running toward an ancient murder machine.

Think. I had some advantages. My body was stronger than before, my instincts sharper, and I had a whole set of skills geared toward not dying.

[Tactician activated. Adjusting strategy…]

A mental overlay flickered in my vision, tracing possible escape routes. Most of them ended in me getting smeared across the cavern floor like a bad painting.

Survival chance: 18.9%.

Still terrible.

The beast lunged again. I dove to the side, barely avoiding the massive claw that obliterated the altar I had woken up near. The shockwave knocked me off balance, and I hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop near one of the glowing stone carvings.

[Analyzing environment…]

[Unknown structure detected. Possible interaction available.]

The symbols on the wall pulsed.

That was new. And probably my only chance.

I had no time to hesitate. With the guardian already pivoting toward me, I slapped my hand against the glowing carvings.

The second I made contact, a surge of energy shot through my body.

[Resonance detected. Unlocking sealed pathways…]

The cavern shifted. Walls trembled. The air itself seemed to twist, as if reality was bending around me. The guardian hesitated for a split second—just enough time for me to move.

A crack formed in the ground beneath me, widening into a chasm. The guardian roared, lunging again, but I was already falling.

Falling down—

—and then I wasn't.

The sensation of gravity flipped, twisted, and reversed in an instant. My stomach lurched as I was propelled forward instead of falling, like I had been yanked by an invisible hand.

Then, just as suddenly, I slammed onto solid ground.

"Ow—fuck—" I groaned, rolling onto my back. Everything was spinning. My entire body ached, my brain felt like it had just been scrambled, and I was pretty sure I had somehow experienced every direction at once.

[Escape successful.]

[Survival chance recalculated: 100%.]

I let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Not dead. That's… good."

The guardian's enraged roar echoed from above, but the cavern had sealed itself. Whatever that altar had activated, it had gotten me the hell out of there.

I forced myself upright, taking in my new surroundings.

The chamber I had landed in was different. Smaller, more refined. Stone pillars lined the walls, engraved with more glowing symbols. A single pathway stretched ahead, leading deeper into the unknown.

No turning back now.

I exhaled, shaking off the last of the adrenaline. I had survived my first encounter with this world's death machine. That had to count for something.

"Alright," I muttered, flexing my fingers. "Let's see what the hell I just got myself into. Some Uncharted bullshit."

And with that, I started walking. 

My body still buzzed with lingering energy from whatever that altar had done to me. I flexed my fingers, feeling the new strength coiled beneath my skin. It was strange—like my body had been built for something greater than what I used to be. The last of my kind, huh? That thought still hadn't fully settled in.

As I walked, more words flickered into my vision.

[Personal Status Updated.][Name: ???][Race: Veyl'Zar (Extinct)][Class: None][Level: 1][Skills: See Full List][Abilities: See Full List][Current Condition: Stable][Objective: ???]

No name? That was annoying. And no class, either. So I was basically starting at square one despite apparently being part of some overpowered race. Figures.

I tapped on the skill list mentally, and a full breakdown appeared. Most of them I already knew—Silver Tongue, Merchant's Eye, Survivor's Instinct, Favorable Odds, and so on. But one stood out that hadn't been there before.

[New Passive Unlocked: Luck Threshold]— Luck-based abilities now trigger at higher rates when survival is at risk.

Huh. So the more screwed I was, the luckier I got? That was… either really reassuring or really concerning.

I kept moving, eyes scanning every corner of the tunnel. The engravings seemed to shift slightly as I passed, like they were watching. Not creepy at all.

After a few minutes, the passage opened up into a vast underground chamber. A stone bridge stretched across a deep chasm, leading toward a massive set of ornate doors embedded in the far wall.

And standing in front of those doors was...