Leon awoke to a searing pain that engulfed his whole body. Strangely enough he could not pinpoint the source of his pain. He was a complete mess with tears and snot running down his face while his whole body was convulsing. The only reason he wasn't screaming his lungs out was because he couldn't even find the breath to do so.
[You are fine, the pain will pass in a moment, stay strong.]
A voice could be heard by Leon, but he lacked the mental faculties at the moment to try and find out who had spoken. However, just like the voice had said pain started fade away. Finally, all that was left was a dull ache in his head.
As his cognitive thoughts returned he started to panic. Fear at the possibility of being a victim in a horrific accident immediately came to mind. He struggled through the exhaustion he felt deep in his bones and looked down at his body, only to be left confused. His body looked to be fine, the only thing noticeable was that it was covered in clothes that were not his own.
Now that he took a closer look the room itself seemed to be foreign to him. It was not a hospital room that he believed he would find himself in, neither was it his own room. The room itself was pretty fancy and showed that a bit of wealth would be required to decorate a room like this. Strangely enough he could not find any sort of electronics within the room. He also spotted several objects within the room that he could not identify. "What is going on, where am I?"
[You are in the room of the seventh son of the Rain clan.]
Leon's eyes went wide when he heard the voice. His head whipped around as he scanned the room for the source but found the room to be completely empty. He then glanced at the only door in the room but ended up frowning. He could not remember from which direction the voice had come from.
[There is no point in looking around, while technically I am in the room, you will not be able to find me.]
Now Leon was on full alarm as he tried to understand what the voice was talking about. It was in the room but could not be found? What sort of riddle was this? He decided to temporarily give up his search for the moment and thought it was best to try and gain some insight about his current predicament from it.
"Who are you, why am I here, was I in some sort of accident?"
[Instead of answering your many questions that you have one by one, I will instead just inform you of the situation you have found yourself in. You have been selected by the Heavens to help nurture individuals that people refer to as the Heavens' chosen. To do so your soul has been moved into the body of the seventh son of the Rain Clan in a world different from your own. To help you achieve this I was created and bound to you by the Heavens to both help guide you and reward you.]
Leon's mind went blank at the revelation from the voice. He wasn't on earth anymore; no, he wasn't even himself anymore either. Was this some sort of joke? Was there a camera hidden somewhere in the room recording him? Maybe his coworkers were playing a prank on him? Probably not he was never that close to them in the first point, unless this was supposed to be some type of bullying to have him humiliate himself.
But what about the pain he felt, surely no one would inflict such pain upon someone just for some prank.
[The pain you felt was due to your soul being taken from your own body and being embedded into your new one. Matters of the soul are always the most painful. Fortunately, since your soul was not injured the pain faded away quickly.]
Leon was even more alarmed when the voice revealed that it could read his thoughts. He completely tossed out the idea that this was some prank and started to believe that this might just be real. Well, there was also a small part of his brain that believed he might have just gone crazy.
[Trust me, it would do both of us good if you just accepted this as reality. As to whether or not you have gone crazy? That I do not have the answer for.]
"I'm pretty sure hearing disembodied voices is a major sign."
[The only reason you cannot see me is because I am bound to your soul and do not have a physical form.]
Well that answered the riddle from before, but he was still left with so many questions. So, he decided to ask the one that had been bothering him the most.
"Why me?"
He just couldn't understand why something that seemed to be all powerful that could be called the "Heavens", and had the capability to transfer his soul across worlds and into the body of another, would need him.
[That is because you met several criteria set up by the Heavens.]
Should he be happy that he had been specifically selected? "By chance could you tell me what these criteria were?"
[The first is that the person should have no importance or role to play in their world]
Any budding pride he felt was immediately squashed while he was left with eye twitching at the insult.
[The person must be an individual who mostly kept to themselves without any strong bonds with anyone]
Was the voice just picking a fight at this point? He was pretty thankful that it didn't have a physical form otherwise he wasn't sure if he would be able to hold himself back.
[But more than anything the person has to be someone who can accomplish the tasks given to him by the Heavens and bring about results that are acceptable. Or so it should have been. You who only cared for his job and desired nothing more than to achieve your ideal of what a successful person should be was not only the best candidate but also the one that went far beyond what we had hoped to find.]
Leon closed his eyes and finally calmed down when the voice brought up his ideal. Yes, he must not allow the situation to overwhelm him anymore. When he opened his eyes the panic from before was nowhere to be seen. In its place was the steely gaze of a professional.
[Yes it is that very professionalism that you embody along with the higher standard you set upon yourself which made you the only choice that the Heavens could select.]
While the voice was as emotionless as it had been before, a hint of approval could still be detected coming from it.
"What exactly are you?"
[I was created by the Heavens based off of something that was found in the literature of your world, you may refer to me as the Young Master System.]
"Young Master System?"
Can that even be considered a name? He was still left confused as to what this Young Master System was supposed to be.
[I forgot you don't have any hobbies.]
Would it be right for Leon to say that the voice seemed to be a little annoyed with him? Was it because its introduction didn't have the impact it was hoping for?
[Even if you were too busy to play video games I believe you should be familiar with how they work. In video games you are given quests and are rewarded for completing them. That is the equivalent of what a system is. I will give you quests that will align with the will of the Heavens and upon their completion you will be rewarded.]
Ah now he understood, "so you mean a commission, you'll give me a job and pay me when the job is done."
[You Workaholic!!!]
For the first time the system had broken its emotionless façade. He could even swear he heard it take a deep breath. Was it something he said?
[Alright, let me change the analogy, you have been hired by the Heavens and I can be considered your direct superior.]
"I understand, but I'm not fond that I was 'hired' without any say in the matter."
[I do not understand]
"I don't think it's that hard, no one would like suddenly having their life upended and being forced to suddenly obey orders."
[Maybe it is like that for others, but for you I do not understand why it would matter.]
Before he could give his rebuttal to the system he was interrupted by it as it continued on.
[Your life was stagnant where the only thing that mattered to you was doing your job as professionally as possible. But you were not rewarded, instead your superior was wary of you, afraid that you were gunning for their position. Your coworkers were distant from you at best and disliked you at worst. Many of them would take advantage of you by loading their own work upon your own and would not share any of the credit.]
Leon kept quiet as he took in all the words the system had to say. It wasn't any new information or some big reveal, he had long known how his boss and coworkers thought of him. What the system didn't mention was how he had grown up as an orphan and spent his school years focusing on studying. No family, no friends, no life really. He truly was the perfect pick in that regard.
[Do not worry, while the life before might have been unfulfilling, your new one will allow you to live your life to the fullest. In the world you're in now people are capable of living a long and adventurous life through Immortal Cultivation.]
Immortal Cultivation, Leon had heard of the concept before but had never really learned or read about it. He only knew it had something to do with gathering some type of energy called Qi, practicing martial arts, and going against the Heavens. Uh, he wasn't really comfortable with the last part. Going against his new boss seemed like a really bad idea.
[Do not worry, cultivation is not really against the will of Heaven but more a process of weeding out those that are unworthy, weak, or both.]
"Well that's answered, but what more can you tell me about this world?"
[Umm.. about that.]