No longer did pain grip me. I found myself adrift in an endless abyss, time a meaningless construct. I was devoid of sensation, with only my thoughts to accompany me. Imagine traversing the twelve stages of grief, cycling through them incessantly.

Imprisoned within this limbo, I couldn't discern whether I'd spent seconds, hours, or years here. Perhaps my life had been naught but an illusion, and I had forever existed in this realm, a consciousness devoid of a corporeal form.

"Greetings, little soul. How do you find the void?"

A voice, omnipresent and unseen, reverberated through the seemingly serene emptiness. It was as if the all-encompassing void had become a conduit for this enigmatic entity's communication.

Panic seized me as my cognitive faculties returned, albeit in fragments. "What the fuck is this? Am I in Hell?"

"No, insignificant speck. You find yourself in the void, a prison constructed for one being—me."

"Speck, huh? So, what now? Am I a meal for you? Is this my punishment for taking my own life? Did you want me to suffer, dragging down the few I held dear? Don't expect me to beg for my existence, or whatever this is, you arrogant bastard. I hope I taste vile!"

"Ha ha ha! No, insignificant one, you don't belong here and would offer me no nourishment. I consume entire worlds. Though I am trapped here, I shall bestow upon your soul both a gift and a curse, granting you new life, fully restored."

"Wait, you're sending me back to my family?" I interrupted, my heart swelling with hope and anticipation at the prospect of returning to my former existence. His mention of "fully restored" filled me with excitement.

For the first time in what felt like eternity, I was wracked with pain. My ability to think abandoned me, replaced by an unyielding torrent of searing, stabbing agony.

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"Sending you to a world of deceased gods and scarce mana serves me no purpose, mortal."

"F-f-fu...c-c-ck... Y-y-yoouu!" I snarled through the torment.

Time once again stretched into infinity, though now it was marked by relentless suffering, an existence I'd deemed impossible after my initial outburst at the entity. And then, as abruptly as it had begun, the pain ceased, replaced by an intense, blinding light.

Welcome to Etherium.

In this realm, the systems of Etherium govern all. They encompass endless possibilities, their will absolute and indisputable.

As an adult, you are granted full access to the system.

Your base stats will be determined by your current physical and mental capacity. Error:

(Unbound Soul has no prior physical or mental capacity)

Calculating...

"Insulting," I thought, offended by the system's classification of me as devoid of mental capacity. Surely, this must be an error stemming from my unconventional arrival. Though the situation would have been overwhelming for most, my time spent adrift in the void and enduring unfathomable pain had left me impervious to such trivial matters as stress and worry.

System initiating resolution: binding soul to a suitable physical form. Error: unbound soul possesses a spark of divinity. Human race no longer deemed an acceptable solution.

Calculating...

System initiating resolution: soul bound to Demigod race (Human avatar).

"Damn it," I thought, incredulous at my newfound demigod status. I knew I was way out of my depth, but being assigned a race like "terminally ill human" would have been worse, I supposed.

As racial and class selection prompts flooded my vision, a fleeting thought crossed my mind. If there were classes, would there be levels like in those litRPG novels I used to read? I wasn't a pro gamer like the protagonists of those books. Still, I had spent a significant portion of my youth gaming, and any chance I had amidst the demands of adulthood.

Due to your race, you will receive one divine blessing (suited to your starting abilities) added to your character sheet.

Error: no starting abilities or class.

System calculating and granting universal passives/perks from the divine skill tree.

Passive: Divine Regeneration

Perk: Void Touched.

Before I could fully process the information, my body was wracked with pain once more, an unseen force hurling me through the nearest portal. The pain lasted but a moment, a mere shadow of the agony I had endured in the void. After experiencing eons of torment, a few minutes or hours of suffering amounted to nothing.