[ WP ] When you die , you get reborn with all your memories and abilties intact . Instead of telling anyone , you decide to learn and perfect as many skills as possible in the span of many lifetimes to become the most talented human being .

As I open the doors to the command center and walk through the chaotic shouting and people hurriedly dashing across the room, I am struck by an almost comforting sense of nostalgia. No matter the time or place, the panicked energy and dark tension that grips people before a battle is always the same. No matter the time or place, war never changes. 
 
 I should know of course: I have been fighting for centuries. I am immortal. 
 
 Well, not truly immortal. You see, for reasons completely unknown to me, I retain all of my memories after I die, and I am always reborn with all of the skills I obtained from my previous lives. 
 
 A soldier carrying a plasma rifle hurries past me and I remember my first life. I had been a soldier too. A simple footman in the Roman army that had died to an arrow in his first battle. 
 
 When I woke up as another person, in another place, several years later I began to understand my situation. It was then that I swore that I would do better with this life. I swore to be the best soldier the world had ever known. In three lifetimes I had mastered the sword, shield, and spear. By the fourth I could wield the bow better than any other soldier in the army, and by my sixth lifetime I was an unstoppable force on the battlefield. It had only taken a hundred years to become the greatest soldier in the greatest army of the greatest nation in the world. I was proud of my achievement, but soon became bored. There was no longer any challenge or thrill in battle. 
 
 I set my sights on conquest. I spent several lifetimes as an officer and eventually as a general. I learned strategy and tactics, and I soon became the most cunning battle commander in all of Rome. I had no equal. 
 
 Then Rome fell. The world changed and there seemed little glory in fighting if it was not for that glorious empire. I needed a new trade and began to try my hand as a merchant. Within three lifetimes I had become one of the richest men in the entire world. I traveled the world in search of riches. Expanding my empire and exploring the edges of the known world. I had everything that a man could want, and that was the source of all my problems. 
 
 There was no longer any point to life. In only a few hundred years I had achieved both unlimited power and unlimited wealth. What more was there? I became despondent and fell into depression. Soon I became obsessed with death. I attempted suicide in a hundred different ways and died in many battles, but I always reincarnated. I always came back. 
 
 I began wandering. With no real purpose. No real ambition. I wanted it all to end, but it never did. 
 
 Then, in the middle of a no-name village in the Middle East, I met her. 
 
 I know that there are countless people who will tell you how special their spouse is. How they are unique and one in a million, but she truly was. I have met millions of people, had thousands of friends, and slept with countless women, but I have never met a woman like her in all my lifetimes. 
 
 She had two real passions: helping others and learning. She was a constant source of joy and assistance for everyone around her, and she could always be found reading in her spare time. She was the one who showed me unparalleled kindness and brought me out of the darkness that had swallowed me for centuries. I married her and spent the happiest lifetime I had ever spent with her. 
 
 When she died I should have been heartbroken. I should have been devastated, but I could n't be. She had saved me from that darkness; lifted me from that despair. To mourn her loss for the rest of time would be a waste of the gift she had given me. 
 
 I spent the next hundred lifetimes traveling the world in an endless pursuit of knowledge. I read every book I could get my hands on, learned every skill I could find, and helped anyone that needed it. My adventures spanned the globe, and I became a master of hundreds of disciplines. I studied medicine, engineering, philosophy, math, and every kind of trade. I helped with countless advancements in technology and science, and I felt truly fulfilled as I watched both individuals and humanity better itself with my help. 
 
 In more recent lifetimes I have spent my time researching and advancing various scientific fields when I am not mastering more trivial skills like sports, games, and magic tricks. I have much more time now that modern medicine has allowed each lifetime to last much longer. 
 
 All of this changed when the nuclear bomb went off over China. I had spent the last several lifetimes in relative quiet as a billionaire philanthropist, but when I saw the images of carnage on the news I knew what I had to do. Everything I had learned over last couple millennia had been leading to this. 
 
 It did n't take long to prove my worth, and I was soon commanding the entire force that would engage the army of the nation responsible for the attack. I knew that it would be up to me to win this war without letting it destroy the globe. 
 
 I snap back to reality as my second in command asks me for orders. I tell her to prepare to engage, and she hurries off to comply. 
 
 I look at the approaching army on the screen and smile with confidence. Time to make this life count!
