I Am Beast

After a life of relentless bad luck—his mother dead by the time he was six, a father lost to alcoholism, and constant bullying at school—sixteen-year-old Tanaka finds himself struck down by a white truck. As he teeters on the edge of death, he hears a mysterious voice. It promises him reincarnation in a world of swords and magic. Finally... a second chance. Or so he thinks. The voice quickly clarifies that he’ll be reborn with no mana whatsoever. Great. What’s the point then?

As if to add insult to injury, he’s reborn into poverty, and his new parents don’t even want him. But out of a rare sliver of mercy, he’s granted one unusual power: the ability to mutate and gain the traits of any animals or monsters he consumes. The speed of a cheetah, the night vision of an owl, lightning-fast reflexes— he will need every advantage he can get to survive this brutal new magical world.