Finally, after about 25 minutes, Eon's body was mostly back to its original state. The scar left behind was still slowly shrinking as electrical arcs danced across his skin. As the sparks died down, the system dinged in his mind.

[Regeneration complete. Assessing combat performance… done! The host appears almost completely incapable of effective combat. The system is requesting administrative assistance for the host… granted! Decrease enemy difficulty (y/n)?]

Eon read through the information and laughed bitterly. At least the system wasn't completely heartless, it seems that it was trying to help him drag the enemies closer to his level. Still, Eon was upset at just how much the calibration was rigged against him. More importantly; however, coming that close to death and being in so much pain awoke something in Eon that he had never experienced before; survival instinct.

Eon and his forefathers had lived in the comfort of society for generations, it had been a very long time since such an instinct was necessary. Science had not advanced enough to understand it yet, nor had Eon, but bloodlines were built on more than just genetics. It was also altered by the experiences of the individual, and since his family hadn't been in real danger in generations, his bloodline was nearly completely dormant, not helped by the almost non-existent energy present on Earth.

Eons awakened bloodline was somewhat unsteady, but still, as a living being, the sensation of awakening the survival instincts was quite strong. This manifested in the fact that, for the first time in his life, Eon genuinely wanted to live.

Eon had lived feeling worthless for years now, even considering suicide at certain dark points in his life. But the taste of true death completely eradicated that desire from him. At this moment Eon was no longer concerned with whether or not the life he had lived thus far was meaningful, he was completely occupied by not coming that close to death again. Becoming strong enough to avoid death would become Eon’s meaning.

Eon looked to the wall and grabbed a mace. Its wooden handle and steel head were simple yet sturdy. As Eon touched the mace, a mental connection was made between Eon and the wall. It was like a keyboard that he could learn to use to control this space. He realized he could scroll through countless weapons at will, or even create his own if he spent some time.

For now, though, Eon just picked up the mace and walked to the center of the room, feeling that this should be adequate. He brought up the mace and gave it a few test swings, before hitting the button to begin the fight. After all, waiting at this stage will only make him tenser, and he might even lose his nerve.

[The tutorial has been manually triggered. Tutorial beginning. Would you like to regenerate your previous enemy? (Note, due to system assistance, the enemy will be significantly weakened compared to the previous battle) Or would you prefer to try a new enemy to spar with?]

After hesitating for a moment, Eon decided to continue with the skeleton. He had already grabbed a mace to break its bones, not to mention it was weakened, so there should be a higher chance of victory.

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[lowest grade skeleton(weakened) generating… done!] Once again the skeleton formed from the coagulation of dust in the air until it assumed its full form. This time, however, it looked a little different. The red light in its eye sockets was much dimmer, its blade was rusted and broken in half, and its bones were cracked, popping as it moved. This isn't to say the skeleton was a pushover, it ran toward Eon at a little over 7 miles an hour, still quite quick.

As it charged at Eon, this time Eon was prepared. When the skeleton was in range, Eon swung his mace. The skeleton, while much slower, still managed to dodge backward from the attack, before moving in and headbutting Eon.

Eon stumbled back and nearly fell over, but he also managed to move out of the way of the following sword swing, leading to just a slash on his abdomen rather than a sword in the gut. It stung terribly, but it was a superficial wound. The skeleton then backed off and started circling Eon, and Eon started moving in tandem with it, forming small circles where the two remained just out of the other’s reach.

They went in around twice more before the skeleton charged again. Eon tried to change his tactic so as to not make the same mistake as before, so he put up his weapon and started a swing, right as the skeleton charged him again.

This time, he didn't put so much power into it so when the skeleton dodged away again, Eon stepped forward and performed a backswing toward the skeleton's head. The skeleton blocked with its buckler, but when the mace made contact, a metallic ding rang out and a loud snap came from the skeleton's arm, the shoulder had broken off. It seemed that the skeleton was quite brittle, and the mace was the right choice.

The vibrations from hitting the shield hurt Eon's hand and loosened his grip, but he managed to hold on and go for another swing. The light in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered, and it tried to back off while attacking the hand swinging the mace. Another cracking noise was made, along with the roar of a man, Eon managed to create a large fissure down the collarbone and upper spine of the skeleton, but in the exchange of blows, he had lost his hand. Blood spurted from the stump like a fountain

Fortunately for him, Eon had adrenaline pumping so he hardly felt the severed hand. Both combatants were now in bad shape, the skeleton could barely stand and Eon would bleed out if he didn't finish this quickly.

A look of what appeared to be caution appeared on the skeleton's face, the ethereal flames that had replaced its eyes now burned low and in a very deep crimson. It seemed happy to wait for Eon to bleed out.

Eon was not as happy with this arrangement, so he picked up his mace with his offhand and charged the skeleton. The skeleton no longer had the ability to run away, so it dodged the best it could and slashed its sword at Eon's neck. *crunch* *shlick*. For the third time, the two combatants clashed and struck one another.

Eon managed to use what was left of his arm to prevent the blade from going into his neck, causing the sword to carve out a groove in his bone, and he drove the mace directly into the skull of the skeleton. Finally, the ethereal fire-like light in the skeleton’s eyes went out, and after a brief moment, it collapsed into a pile of bones, then dust, then nothing.

Eon immediately sat down, his face covered in sweat and a pained look on his face. He let out an anguished moan as the adrenaline wore off and bit down so hard he almost cracked his teeth. The healing shocks began their work, and the bleeding stopped almost immediately.

Eon watched with both discomfort and curiosity as his hand visibly regenerated and the gashes on his abdomen and arm sealed shut, leaving behind smooth, unscarred skin. The process was much faster than when he was "killed" previously, and it only took a minute for the wounds of battle to completely heal. The shocks were much more mild, much to Eon's happiness. Perhaps softer treatment was the prize of the victor. Eon let out a sigh of relief feeling accomplished.