Woods awoke, he was laying down on a sea of clouds. A tall hooded man stood in front of him, showing no signs of noticing him, yet he felt his gaze..
"You're finally awake,"
"Wh- where are we?"
"Realm Zero,"
"Re- realm? Zero? What?"
"It is a pocket dimension that connects your world and Aetherium."
"What's 'Aetherium'?"
"That, you will find out in your journey."
"What do you want me to do?"
"A threat arises deep from the Abyss, that's all you need to know to find out."
"Defeat the threat in isekai anime protagonist style?"
"Pretty much, yes."
"Thought so,"
"A little bit of background; your grandparents were born there. But now that they left, your family was thought to be extinct by its people. Even your parents don't know about this. In this journey you will meet lots of people, enemies, allies, neutral factions, and maybe even find out the truth. I will not leave you without anything, take this sword and fight. The sword skills and the knowledge of sword usage is already embedded in your brain. Skills are inherited from your grandparents so you just have to find out how to use them properly. Good luck traveler, and may we meet again." The scenery fades once more, darkness engulfs Woods' vision.
As he woke up, he found himself on an open field filled with flowers. His body felt a little heavy on his left side, he looked down and found a sword strapped to his waist in its sheath that looked quite 'cool' to Woods. It took him a while to process it but then he mutters;
"So that wasn't a dream then? Where am I anyways? Is this 'Aetherium'?" He began trying to make the situation he's in make sense, he concluded that he should try and test out his 'sword skills' on a weak creature like in most rpg games he's played. He began walking into the nearby forest and it didn't take him long to find a large slime. He takes out his sword, the sword was a mix of a claymore, longsword, and tachi in terms of looks but is still similar to the swords anime characters use, it had a weird looking design to it and looks nothing like a normal sword but that of an anime protagonist's sword, it seemed pretty light as well so Woods was having second thoughts about it's durability. The slime suddenly spots Woods and attacks him without any second thoughts, Woods had no choice but to use a sword skill 'embedded' in his brain. The first one that he found was called 'Wyvern Slash' and requires the wielder to channel their mana into the sword and slash the enemy horizontally for a powerful attack. Using this knowledge he channeled his mana into the sword and sliced the slime's core in half.
"H- how….did I just do that? I guess he wasn't lying when he said that he embedded the knowledge in my brain." The slime did not drop anything but Woods didn't care, he continued on with his exploration of the forest. A few minutes later he sees a bush moving, a goblin jumps out of it with a sword and shield in hand. Woods once again reached deep into his head to find a skill he could use. This new one is called 'Twin Dragons' which reminded him of one of his favorite anime; The Asterisk War. This skill requires him to slash the enemy in a + looking slash, the attack can be used to parry enemy attacks and mana can be used to enhance its damage. Woods once again pours his mana into his sword and uses the skill. The goblin's shield easily blocked the attack. The goblin's sword starts to glow, it was using a sword skill, it disappears from Woods' sight but he quickly sensed it behind him. The goblin was too fast for Woods, he raised his arms in a blocking position and closed his eyes, waiting for his arms to be cut off. A few moments later he opened his eyes, he was wondering why he hadn't felt anything yet, he saw some kind of barrier in front of him and his hand was glowing. Woods casted a barrier by accident, due to him being shocked; mana rushed into his hands and formed a barrier to protect Woods. The barrier was weak, it was about to break when all of a sudden; a hooded man came rushing and slays the goblin.
"You shouldn't be here, you might have skills but this forest is dangerous, you must leave, now!" The man said in a somewhat calm voice.
"I appreciate your help, but I don't think I will." Woods replied, more goblins popped out of the bushes.
"Oh yeah? Prove to me you can handle yourself then."
"Will do," Woods reached deep into his memory and used the skill without reading what it does.
"Astraf hidden art: Eternal Carnage!" Woods' sword glows red, he swings his blade in a circular direction and sliced the goblins in half.
"Eternal...carnage? If you can do that, then you must be…."
"Must be?"
"Are you an Astraf?"
"Yes I am,"
"Well that explains it, I wouldn't believe people that easily but you already proved yourself, that's more than enough."
"Alright before we move on, let's introduce ourselves first alright? I'm Woods."
"I'm Dawg, now may I ask a question?"
"Yeah sure," Dawg suddenly stared into Woods' sword.
"That sword....where did you get it?"
"Some guy in a hood appeared to me in what he called 'realm zero' and gave it to me. I have no recollection of my past but I only remember my sword skills and my name." Woods was lying but he had no other choice, if he had told them that he was from another world then no one would believe him.
"Ahh so you met him, you don't have to lie about having amnesia, I already know that you're from another world."
"Eh?"
"Listen here mate, the guy you met in realm zero.....is the one who saved my life, he's kind of a father figure to me and my sister. He told me to come here and get you to the nearby allied city. And he also told me to give you this." Dawg hands over a large bag with something inside.
"What is it?"
"Bag of gold coins, that can last you 10 years if you live a normal life, but you won't be living a normal life, spend it wisely."
"Will sure do, so shall we go then? Tell me more about stuff while on our way."
"No problem," the two started traveling into the nearby town Dawg was talking about.