It was a usual sunny day. I was driving to work in my newly bought car when, suddenly, an accident happened.
Cars all around me were slowing down while I was busy checking something on my phone. Yeah, just like in a movie — it was a red light. That little glowing circle that tells you, quite simply: Stop. It's not your turn to move right now.
That's how I, a twenty-two-year-old man with no family left alive, died.
What do you think, System? Is that a good way to die?
[...]
Yeah, figures. No answer. Typical.
I was talking to the system that had been given to me right after I reincarnated into a place called the Gods' Training Grounds — a realm where I would apparently get to train for one trillion years before being reincarnated into a world of Swords and Magic.
I hadn't started training yet, because I was still busy processing the fact that I had just died on a Tuesday because I couldn't put my phone down for five seconds. Not that it mattered much. I had another three hundred sixty-four days and nine hundred ninety-nine billion, nine hundred ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine years to figure out how I felt about it. Plenty of time, I supposed.
"Hey, System, can you talk?"
[...]
Well. I guess not. Too bad. It's going to be really boring in here without someone to talk to.
And then, all of a sudden, I heard a robotic voice.
Ding!
[ Warning! Host must begin training within 1 day of arrival, or Host will die! ]
What do you mean?! I have to train forever after just one day of rest?! It's a single freaking day! I wasn't prepared for anything like this!
Calm down, me. I need to think clearly, or this is going to end badly. Okay — I have a system. That probably means I have some kind of status window too, right? Let's try it.
"Hey, System, show me my status."
Ding!
[ Name: Lukas Gigonos
Age: 22
Titles: 'Someone From Another World!'
Job: 'Training Lover!'
Strength: 7
Endurance: 5
Speed: 6
Mana: ∞
Wisdom: 24
Skills: 'Unlimited Potential!' 'Unlimited Magic' 'Can't Level Up? I Just Need To Train!' 'Unlimited Appraisal' 'Hide It!'
'Unlimited Potential' - Removes the shackles that would otherwise limit the Host's growth.
'Unlimited Magic' - Grants the Host an infinite reserve of mana.
'Can't Level Up? I Just Need To Train!' - The Host cannot gain Levels, but in exchange, gains the ability to raise stats directly through training.
'Unlimited Appraisal' - A single wish is all that's needed to learn anything about anyone or anything.
'Hide It!' - Granted to those who have obtained 'Unlimited Potential,' allowing them to conceal the true extent of their growth. ]
Guess I became a protagonist somehow.
So this is the day I start training to become a god.
Well, there's not much I can do about it, and I really don't want to die twice in one week. Let's just follow the flow and train for one trillion years. ...Who am I kidding — like I have a choice.
Time to start training.
I stood up in the strange, endlessly sunlit gym-like space that stretched out farther than my eyes could follow, cracked my knuckles, and took my first breath as a man with nothing left to lose and an entire eternity ahead of him. Somewhere behind my ribs, underneath the fear and the grief I hadn't let myself feel yet, something else was stirring. Something that almost felt like excitement.
I didn't know it yet, but that feeling was going to define the next trillion years of my life.