"Wake up, young one," said a mysterious voice, in a soft tone that was gentle and kind, as if it was a loving mother speaking to its child. The words echoed throughout the dimly lit, spacious room until they reached a young man that was laid on top of a polished marble table.
As the young man slowly opened his eyes, he was greeted by an endless night sky, dotted with a countless amount of stars. He found it odd since he didn't remember staying outside until it was dark. He pondered if he even went outside at all today for that matter. He found it even stranger that he fell asleep outside without realizing it. Assuming his parents were most likely worried about him staying out so late without telling them, he reached into his pocket to grab his phone to check the time, as well as see if they had sent him any angry text messages. Instead of feeling the rectangular outline of his phone, much to his surprise, he found nothing inside of his pockets. Suddenly worried that he might've lost all of his belongings, he immediately sat up on the marble table and realized that he was in an unknown place. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dimly lit room, which was surrounded by walls that were covered in images unknown to him. He realized that the roof was made of glass, which explained why he could see the night sky as clearly as he could. At the far end of the room, there was a light that was slowly getting brighter, and he realized that the light was coming closer to him. It was a warm light, one that enveloped him in a strange feeling of good sensations.
"You have awakened, young one. You must have a lot of questions," said the light, which was still bright, to the point where the young man had to shield his eyes. The talking light realized this, and the light began to dim until there was only a small but warm glow surrounding a woman that could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful. Astounding blue eyes that matched the color of the sea perfectly, long flowing blonde hair that looked extremely soft, dressed in an all-white dress that fit her perfectly. She had a fragrance that was like fresh flowers blooming in the spring, accompanied by all the right features and curves in all the right places. A woman that was considered perfect by many, but to this young man, he appeared to not care less about any of that. The woman inspected the young man a bit, muttering to herself, "A young man with black hair, green eyes, glasses, white skin, and a slim figure. I believe this is the right one." However, the young man didn't seem to notice her muttering.
The woman then smiled kindly and said, "My name is Tone, and I am one of the goddesses of this world, particularly the goddess of Spring." The young man pondered this for a moment, considering whether or not goddesses were even plausible. "You must be very confused as to why you are here, young one," said Tone. The young man spoke up, saying, "That's for sure," then nonchalantly asking, "Where the fuck am I?" Tone, changing expressions from a genuine smile to a nervous smile, replied, "Oh, my! Young one, may I ask you to please refrain from such vulgar language? By the looks of you, you are certainly no barbarian!" The young man, suddenly hopping off of the marble table he was sitting on to stretch out his body, said, "If by barbarian you mean scientist, then, by all means, I am a barbarian." Tone, still with a nervous smile on her face, said, "I see. Well then, young one, to answer your question as to where you are, you are currently standing inside of the Palace of the Gods. To be more specific, this is the room where we brief new souls and help them start their new life! It would appear as though I shall be the one guiding you through this process." The young man then asked, "New souls? I'm not dead, am I?" Tone, with a genuine smile this time and in a cheerful tone, said, "You are, young one!" A dumbfounded expression appeared on the young man's face, and after a few seconds to let the fact that he died soak in, he asked, "How did I die? I hope I didn't die stupidly like get run over by a truck or something like they normally do in isekai manga and anime."
To this question, Tone silently chanted a few words to herself, then an image of a holographic video screen appeared in front of Tone and the young man. A video began playing, and it started with Ezekiel walking to school with a girl with long, black hair that was about his age. The point of view in the video only showed the two of them from the back, which Ezekiel thought was a strange camera angle. They were both walking on the sidewalk, and the girl was closer to the road than Ezekiel was. The girl was tossing a hacky sack around, bouncing it all over her body to keep it from touching the ground. Ezekiel asked the girl, "The science club is still meeting today, right?" The girl kicked the hacky sack up towards her, then replied, "Yeah! Right after school at the usual time." Ezekiel saw her messing around with the hacky sack and said, "Is that fun?" The girl nodded, then caught the hacky sack with her hand and said, "It's fun once you get the hang of it! Wanna give it a go?" The girl extended out her hand, trying to give Ezekiel the hacky sack. Ezekiel chuckled and said, "I'm pretty bad with anything usually involving physical activity." The girl pouted, saying, "You're no fun, Ezekiel! Just try it!" Ezekiel sighed, then reluctantly took the hacky sack from her. Ezekiel asked her, "How do I even play this?" The girl explained, "Just hit the sack with various parts of your body to keep it from touching the ground. You can use your hands, feet, arms, elbows, basically whatever!" Ezekiel nodded, then tossed the hacky sack in the air. He tried to hit it with the palm of his hand, but he missed, and the hacky sack hit the ground. The girl laughed, then said, "Watch me, and maybe you'll learn something!" The girl picked up the hacky sack and began bouncing it off her foot, off of her hand, and even off of her head. However, when the girl bounced it off her head, it landed in the street. The girl then said, "I got it! Ezekiel, stay here." The girl quickly darted out in the road, and Ezekiel ran after her, saying, "Don't just dart out there! That's dangerous!" The girl was in the middle of the road and began to pick up her hacky sack when she saw a huge semi-truck honking its horn and slamming on the brakes. The girl's body froze, unable to move out of realizing what was about to happen. Ezekiel then saw what was about to happen as well, and he quickly shoved the girl out of the road. However, he wasn't able to get himself out of the road in time, as the semi-truck quickly hit him with a lot of force behind it.
The young man stared with a blank face at the screen, blinked about three or four times, then to the surprise of Tone, the young man suddenly exclaimed, "WHAT THE FUCK!? I DIED DUE TO BEING HIT BY A SEMI-TRUCK? THAT'S SO STUPID! I mean, at least I saved her, but REALLY?!" The young man suddenly looked very depressed, asking "What does my gravestone look like?" Tone, seeing the young man's sadness, offered, "If you would like me to, I can display an image of your gravestone." The young man, close to crying at the realization of how stupid his death was and wanting to save himself from possible embarrassment, immediately replied, "No, actually, I don't want to know." "Very well," replied Tone. Then, Tone asked, "My condolences to you as well, young one. Now that you know of how your death occurred, shall we proceed with introducing you into the new world?" The young man, after a few moments, sighed, quickly regaining his composure, then replied, "Sure. I died a stupid death, so hopefully, this new life can make up for my incompetent ass." "Great! We will get started then," said Tone, and a table appeared in front of her. The young man suddenly found himself in the seat of a chair right at the table, facing towards Tone.
Tone cleared her throat, then began speaking. "Since you are dead, you will be reincarnated into a new world. This world is made up of elements that are what you would call 'fantasy,' I believe." The young man thought about this for a moment. If the idea of "fantasy" was the same as what he believed it was, then he understood pretty well what he could expect, as he played a bunch of MMORPGs and watched a lot of fantasy anime. Now that he thought about it, wouldn't his situation be considered as a fantasy isekai then? He snapped out of his thoughts after that and continued listening to Tone. "We shall provide you one item to take with you into this new world. This item can quite literally be anything, ranging from a sword made by the gods, to something as small as a crumb of food." The young man noted this since he realized that what he brings with him could affect what happens to him in the next world. Tone continued speaking, saying, "The second thing we shall provide you with is a decent amount of money to get you on your feet. Of course, if you would like to bring a large sack of gold coins as your item, that is a possible choice." Tone then leaned forward a bit towards the young man, and asked, "So, what will be the item that you bring with you?" The young man pondered for a moment, then he realized that he had zero knowledge of the world that he was about to enter. Although he had lots of fantasy knowledge, he figured that there was no way that the world he was about to enter operated the same as the fantasy games and anime that he was familiar with. Knowledge is power, as many of his previous teachers had told him, so with this in mind, he confidently chose his item. "I would like to have a book that contains all the current common knowledge of the world that I'm about to enter. If it's not too much trouble either, I would also like to add in a lot of blank pages in the book so I can make notes about anything," said the young man. Tone, somewhat surprised at his requested item but respected the young man's choice, said, "Very well. Once you are in the new world, your book of knowledge shall be with you."
Tone then put on a serious expression, and sternly said, "Please listen to what I am about to tell you. This next piece of information that I will give you will be vital in the next world." The young man, intrigued, said, "I'm all ears." "Good," replied Tone. "In the next world, souls that are reincarnated, such as yourself, are given 'hidden curses'. Hidden curses are exactly as they sound. These curses will grant you great power on the basis that you can accept the risks involved to use them. You will not be able to know what your given curse is until you meet the requirements to activate it. After it has been activated once, it will no longer be hidden, and you will know what your curse does and how to activate it from thereon." The young man pondered this, wondering just how bad a curse could be. "I see," said the young man. Tone then happily said, "Congratulations! Your briefing is done! Do you have any other questions before we send you down to the next world?" The young man thought about it, but came up empty with questions, so he shook his head in reply. Tone, with a smile, started to glow brighter, then said, "I will go ahead and send you down to the new world!" Suddenly, Tone asked, "Before I forget, might you give me your name before you go?" The young man chuckled with a little embarrassment, replied, "I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Ezekiel Clark, and I'm a genius scientist." Tone smiled once more, then said, "I shall call you Ezekiel then! That is truly a name fit for a hero. Good luck, Ezekiel! You have my blessing!" The world around Ezekiel began to glow, and the lights became so bright that he had to close his eyes to avoid being blinded and felt himself being lifted and transported to the next world.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXNiQPYhQn
