The first thing Eon felt was pain. The second was electrical shocks as if his nervous system was hooked up to a generator. Both things left him spasming until they suddenly stopped as soon as they started. Finally, Eon managed to open his eyes.
Around him was a flickering light reflecting off brown stone bricks. He was stuck in a cube room about 30 feet wide, long, and tall, and on the walls of the room hung many shimmering weapons, some recognizable, others unknown, and many that didn't look much like a weapon or even something made for humans. On the ceiling, there hung an hourglass as big as a man, sand sifting quickly to the bottom. It was from each of these grains of sand that the orange light was released, lighting up the room. There were no doors or windows in the room, no entrance, and no exit.
After examining his surroundings, Eon was filled with fear. He had no idea how he came here or where "here" even was. That torturous experience had already sent his mind into a frenzy, and this terrifying place wasn't helping to calm him down; however, he slowly started to regain his wits even as he remained on edge, as nothing was happening other than the falling of sand and the small noise of tinkling that radiated from it.
Finally, Eon decided to stand up. It was at this point that a voice rang out in his mind, and a screen appeared in his mind's eye. [Congratulations, you have been selected as the participant for test case 46a-b71. Please do your best, as all data gained through analysis will result in greater progress once you complete the tutorial. To skip to the first stage of the tutorial, enter the quest menu by thinking "quest", or it will automatically trigger every 30 minutes. Be sure to choose a weapon before the stage begins, and may fortune be in your favor. -system administrator]. Eon stopped a stupid look on his face with buzzing in his brain. After a few seconds, he spoke the most succinct sentence he could manage to sum up his emotions.
"What the fuck?"
Eon was not unfamiliar with this trope, he enjoyed light novels in passing during his free time; however, actually being put in this situation after intense pain and fear was enough to make him go stupid. After rubbing his eyes a few times, the implications began to hit Eon like a slow-motion car crash into a brick wall. In all of his confusion, a spark of joy suddenly burst into a wildfire in his heart!
"HOLY SHIT! I GOT A SYSTEM! WOOOOOHOOOOO! I CAN FINALLY LIVE LIKE THOSE PROTAGONISTS I ALWAYS DREAMED ABOUT! I CAN BE STRONG AND LIKED BY TONS OF GIRLS!"
As soon as these words left his mouth, he suddenly felt depressed. Eon remembered that he was kind of a loser, even if he had an op cheat-type system, it probably wouldn't be enough to overcome his sheer social ineptitude. Screaming like a weirdo probably wasn't going to help his case either. Still, he was excited by the idea of getting stronger and deciding his own destiny.
Eon thought 'Hmm, in novels like this, usually, the protagonist is transported into another world. Is that where this is? But it is just a random stone room. The system said that this was a tutorial right? Does that mean that this is a separate space from another world, or is it part of that world, unless the tropes don't apply. Come to think of it, this doesn't actually make any sense. How did a fantasy novel genre predict actual system transmigration? And am I the only person affected? It couldn't possibly be a coincidence, could it? Perhaps someone actually transmigrated in the past and brought the idea back to Earth after returning, creating the transmigration genre, but then again as far as I know the concept of cultivation is incredibly old as well. Or perhaps the creators of this system intentionally formed the isekai genre as a way to prepare someone to be chosen for the system? There are countless possibilities, and honestly, I don't have enough information to begin sorting it out. After all, I am not really a protagonist, I can't make bizarre leaps in logic based on almost non-existent information and expect it to be correct.'
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As Eon continued down this train of thought, he finally noticed that the last of the sand in the hourglass fell to the bottom. Immediately, the ring of a grandfather clock rang out and the weapons around him disappeared. "Wait no! I was too distracted and forgot to pick a weapon, let me go back! I didn't know the weapons would disappear all of a sudden! It hasn't even been 30 minutes yet-" but then it struck him. He had been writhing on the floor in agony for quite a while, and by the time he opened his eyes, the hourglass was already mostly filled at the bottom. Cussing at his own indecision and distracted nature, Eon focused carefully on the changes around him. The system rang out again [Time limit for triggering tutorial has been reached. The tutorial begins automatically. Randomly selecting from enemies of a reasonable level… done! lowest grade skeleton generating… done!] As the notifications popped up, a skeletal figure quickly formed on the opposite side of the room from Eon. Mostly naked, the skeleton had a leather sash wrapped around its chest and stomach and was holding a straight sword of European design and a buckler.
As soon as it fully formed, its eyes began to glow red and it charged very quickly at Eon, running about 15 miles an hour, several times faster than what an average human could. Not knowing how to react, Eon took a step back, he had almost no fighting experience. Eon's father taught him how to make a fist and hold a boxing stance, and he took a few weeks of martial arts before quitting because it was too hard. By the time Eon even got his fists up, the skeleton was almost on top of him, evil glare radiating from its eye sockets. Eon valiantly swung his fist, like those protagonists he always idolized, and… missed completely. The skeleton dodged a mere 3 inches to the left without even slowing down, and now it was only 2 feet away. All Eon could do was watch the sword plunge directly into his chest, through his heart and lungs, and pierce out his back.
This was the second most intense pain of Eon’s life, the first being the pain of electrical shocks as he woke up. Eon could feel his heart stop beating and his lungs fill up with blood. He immediately fell to the floor and the skeleton watched with what appeared to be glee in its lifeless eye sockets, still holding the now blood-covered sword.
Although he was quickly losing consciousness, Eon was incredibly bitter. 'That's it? I finally have my impossible dreams of cultivation come true, and I immediately get killed by a trash mob without even a chance to get a hit off? What a load of crap! This isn't fair! I can't even beat a regular person, much less a superhuman skeleton! Reasonable level my ass.'
Eon felt the reaper's scythe on his neck, and with a slight gurgle, he finally gave up the last little bit of strength he had left. He had lived what he considered an insignificant life, totally alone, locked away in his room as he spent all his time playing games, Eon never had any friends, lacked experiences, lacked memories, had average grades, and generally slipped through life like a ghost. He had only recently turned into an adult. Based on the way things were going if it wasn't for this event he likely would have ended up as trash who lived in his parent's basement. Perhaps an opportunity like this wasn't meant for an inconsequential man like him. Perhaps his death was for the best, he wouldn't be a financial and emotional strain on his aging parents, and he wouldn't be a stain on society. And perhaps in death, Eon would no longer feel so alone and small.
Finally, it all faded away and Eon had lost the concept of himself. There was barely a spark of life left in his, but right as it was about to extinguish, the awful electrical feeling began to fill Eon’s body again, and the spark began to grow. His spark of life burned higher and higher until it eventually reached its original state, his body was being physically stitched together, regrown, and reassembled on every level. This process was even more agonizing than receiving the wound itself, it seemed that the shocks also activated his nervous system's sensitivity to the absolute maximum, meaning he felt everything without any protection.