Manisha blinked.

Wait... had that all been a dream?  Getting hit by a car?  Dying?  Asking to be born again as someone with power?  She didn't hurt... actually, she felt pretty good... She probably had had a really strange dream.  Too many otaku talking at her about anime and what kinds of world-conquering heroes they'd make if the Isekai Truck hit them, no doubt.  She reached out to pull the covers over her head...

No covers.  Hm.

...No clothes?  Awkward.  She should get some on.  She reached out with a hand, and...

Well.

Several issues.

That thing her fingers had encountered was scaly.  Like a snake, say.  A very very large snake.

Except that she'd felt it from both sides when she touched it.  Like the snake's tail was part of her body, or something.

And then, she'd reached out to it with... what was that again?  Her right hand.

All four of them.

What the hell?

She sat bolt upright... or stood... legs did not appear to be involved, as she did not appear to have them, at least not past her mid-thighs... and looked around wildly.  A cave?  What was going on here?  What had happened to her body?  What... what did she actually look like?

She didn't really even have to think about it-- a gesture, a soft word, and a full-length mirror appeared in front of her, as if by magic.  Well.  Her senses seemed to tell her clearly, actually by magic.

She looked in the mirror.

...Yep, there it was.  Eight arms.  Long snake tail.  Her skin was a bit paler, now, and her hair was green, matching her tail.  Well, all the hair she seemed to have, anyway.  She didn't appear to have any hair under her arms or elsewh--

Wait, she was naked!?

With a short scream, she covered herself with her many, many hands.  A moment later, though, she gestured, and clothes appeared around her.

As well as glasses.  She felt more naked without them.

All right.  The clothes she'd made weren't exactly fantasy epic approved, but she was fine with that.  A chainmail halter top was not going to be her style, thank you!

Wait, what else could she make that way?  Weapons appeared in her hands, balls of energy... a desk.  A chair that she couldn't possibly use.  A pile of gold coins.

Well.  Useful.

All right.  This was impossible, and she knew it, but she was strong enough to cut out panicking.  Somehow, deep in her soul, she knew that this was real.  It was all real.  The truck.  Death.  Weird career counselling with a mysterious glowing figure.

Reincarnation.

As some kind of weird fantasy monster, at that.  Okay, she'd seen pictures of this one before from the otaku around the office.  All the weapons tied in with that.  She got the impression that she was pretty strong, though...

Well, fine.  She didn't want to stay in some dank cave forever, even if she could make furniture if she wanted to.  This was a strange new world that she was in; it was time that she explored this strange new world.

She began to explore the cave.

The next tunnel you encounter has a number of small, dog-like humanoids in it that haven't seemed to notice you. They were sharpening weapons, wrestling with each other or eating charred hunks of meat.

Well, that was odd.  But... they were her neighbors, weren't they?  Some kind of monster; she'd heard of them somewhere...

"Good day," she said, seeing what they'd do.

"Ah! Snake-lady is awake!" one of them shouted and there was a rush of movement as they rush over to you.

"Yes, I am," she said.  "I am Manisha."

...Perhaps in a new life, one ought to start over with a new name, but it was the name that she knew best, and the one that she'd answer to.

"Ah, Manisha," one of them said and the others started muttering it. "Are you a god?"

Manisha considered this.

"...I'm very strong, at least," she said.  "Why?  Do you need a god?"

"We ready for new good. Old one is gone," one of the small dogmen said.

"Oh?" asked Manisha.  "What happened to your old god?"

"They left. Said they were bored. We gave them all the food and treasure we could," the leader said.

Manisha frowned.

"That's not a very good god, then," she said.  "...all right.  First off, what do you need here?  Where do you get food?  How do you live?"

"We live in cave, go out and get food and treasure. Bring all we find  back here. Also: build traps. Last god taught us that," the leader said.

"All right," said Manisha.  "What kind of food and treasure do you get?  How do you get it?"

"We hunt meat and find other things," the Leader said. "We also find treasures sometimes. Other things kill big folk and we find things on them."

Manisha nodded.  Scavengers and hunters, then.  Not much to work with... but she was here, and, oddly, she felt responsible to them.  Their old "God" had abandoned them?  That didn't seem right.

"All right," she said.  "What's it like outside your cave?  What kinds of things do you hunt?"

"Big things with horns! Small things too," the leader said. "Lots of trees outside, a river and road that big peoples travel through."

"All right," said Manisha.  This language, or these kobolds, were rather imprecise.  She'd have to see if they could be educated a bit more.

"So what kinds of things kill the big things?" she asked.  Threat assessment seemed like a good early priority.  "Do they ever kill your people?"

"We try and hide from them, but they try sometimes and that's what the traps are for," the leader said.

"All right," said Manisha.  "But what kinds of big things are there?"

"A lot of them look like you, but with less arms...and they have legs," the leader said.

"Ah," said Manisha.  "Humans, then.  Probably adventurers... I think we need to change your relationship to the, although it may be a challenge.  Hm.  Can you introduce me to everyone here?"

"Is the god sure? Some can be very mad," the leader said.

"Well, all of your people, first," said Manisha.  "The ones who serve me, I guess."

"I am Biter the Tenth, my mate is Runner and...," this continued on until all twenty-five of the dog humanoids were named.

"All right, good," said Manisha.  "And do any of you know how to make things, or medicine, or magic, or anything beyond gathering food and treasure?"