Spoiler: Preface?/Rant So I've tried to read a new xianxia novel with pretty high ratings and was reminded of the first few novels I've ever touched. Why? Cause authors nowadays are too fcking lazy and novel's intro is still the same as I remembered it back then. Poor village boy was searching for spirit herbs on the mountain, found one in a hard to reach place, fell off the cliff, died, MC transmigrated into his body, got his memories says "Oh it seems I've transmigrated. Okay!" and went to inspect the herb. That was the moment I've lost all the interest in this story. What the heck do you mean 'okay I've transmigrated'? Such reactions were normal for the 1st generation of protagonists cause there was nothing more to it back then. No cheats or systems, grandpa spirit or some ancient cultivation manual that looks shabbier than overused porn magazine were considered VVVIP treatment already. Unfortunately such scene is usually the end of MC's introduction and his history. Now he will be this Villager A but with different personality and some cheat. Who will react so simply to it now? Imagine that you've transmigrated into a body of some random 'Villager A' in xianxia/fantasy world of swords and magic. Whether you have some amazing talent or a cheat/system is unknown as of yet. Your situation is just like that of the earliest novel protagonists. What will be your reaction? Will you be amazed and excited? What about your plans? Will you try to become someone like a true protagonist of this new world? I personally think that its all bullshit. Maybe me from several years ago will be overjoyed for 5 minutes but that's about it. Now my reaction will be something along the lines of 'watching the sky with vacant eyes and feeling ache in my balls'. I think it's much more realistic than 'lol kek I've transmigrated, let's get gut and go!' that you can see in most novels nowadays. What does it even mean to transmigrate into Villager A? 1. You can wave goodbye to your comfy life with Internet, flush toilets and toilet paper. 2. As a low-level unskilled noname from some distant shithole you can expect to see at least 9 circles of typical weak-to-strong troupes full of young masters and their elders. 3. According to usual clichés you will probably find some kind of burden like a poor single parent / younger sister both with health problems back at your new home. 4. Comparisons are odious. While here you're as Hillbilly A, some 7th generation protagonists start as the strongest existence from the beginning. Your ball's ache intensifies. 5. Unknown cheat? Will it even appear? Usual protagonists don't need to worry about it cause author will trigger the needed conditions for its appearance. What about you though? Tough luck here. I hope that you've got your '108 ways to trigger your personal cheat/system for dummies' guide before transmigration. Some unlucky fellows even need to wait several years for it to automatically appear. 6. What to do? Now you need to go back to your village and act like your body's previous self. There is a 9 out 10 chance that you will meet some retarded bully on your way, or maybe debt collectors are waiting for you at your front door. Enjoy! Now balls aren't the only thing that is aching. I'm lazy and my personality is rotten. With normal environment and strong enough cheat maybe I will be ok as a character of some parody / comedic novel but that's my limit. Sitting in a cave and cultivating for tens of years without movement? Better kill me right here and now. I can't relate anymore to those poor sods who reincarnated in poor situations and have a happy-go-lucky hopeful attitude. It always been a problem that almost every protagonist is a reincarnator for no reason. Its like a standard setting and will never be mentioned again. Now I only see it a sign of poor/lazy writing. Such start is too outdated.
With all the transmigration stories I've read, I imagine that if I was in that scenario I would adapt quite quickly and accept the reality for what it is??? Like if a person has never heard of such a thing happening, it would be more difficult to understand wtf is happening. However, if it was me I'd be like "oooh I died but I have another life to live" , you know? Obviously there'd be some sort of but then it'd be I would just take it as another chance to lead a good life and fulfill my past regrets. I'm more scared of regrets than death so if I transmigrated into the shittiest life ever, I would probably just go w/ da flow... Possibly my only concern is the Internet, toilet paper and that stuff. I do think authors should give their characters a bit more of a reaction when they transmigrated.
I don't think if I was transmigrated that I would be able to cope with stuff. Depression and motivational issues would see to that. Maybe if it was a world with a plot and a Protagonist already there, I could probably cope a bit, I would probably choose to spend time following them and befriending them. Though I'll be true to myself and say that the only way I would be able to help the Protagonist is by being there for them and supporting them the best I could. If there was no Protagonist or even anybody else with me, just myself, I would probably have no motivation to better myself and stay by myself forever. I would need someone to keep me from that but knowing reality, it would probably not happen.
Such reactions are normal. Because of this even if MC was introduced as very average before, there was additional info like despite being ordinary he/she is very hardworking or determined. Some authors showed flashbacks of protagonist's life to demonstrate what's behind his motivation or why MC is the way he/she is. Now such things are rare.
If I ever transmigrated, my first thoughts would be "How much money do I have?" and "Do I have a place to stay or am I going to be camping in the forest as wild animal bait?" I did some outdoors training when I served in the past and honestly, the wilds are not someplace you want to stay in without modern help. A wild boar almost killed me once and damned if I'm going to wake up with a black cobra sharing bed space with me. Centipedes are bad enough at night. And if you think those examples are weirdly specific.....
I'd accept it ~sorta quickly since I read lots of transmigration novels, but my first reaction would still be to cry because I have a life here... and also because there's no chance I'd survive in a cultivation world, golden finger or not. Too wimpy for it
"Aw shit! And it's even a xianxia! Am I going to get my head chopped off if someone decides to look at me funny?" "Am I me? Me me? Am I a Villager A who somehow received memories from a previous life? Or am I some invading spirit who has killed off the original owner of this body and stolen it for myself?" "Do I remember anything from before this sudden event? No? Better get myself a head wound so I can explain away the amnesia." "Keep my head down and forget about cultivation. I don't even know if I have a cheat. Better to focus on being a good little mortal. Maybe I'll invent some soap so I can at least be rich." "I'm really going to miss indoor plumbing."
I will think my life is a book written by somebody and by shitty chance I don't remember where I transmigrated to and how TF do they remember plot points. I guess since I'm a girl what I would do is seduce an official and become a forgotten concubine who has a more comfortable life than others if they are content with what they have and please the main wife but by if I'm in a book. Suddenly the merchant has an interest in me and all sorts of problems will pop out. That's why transmigration sucks because 99.9% you are a character in a book
I mean, if you can't take a positive attitude and proactively adapt to your new environment in a xianxia novel, it will be a very short story about how you hesitated for half a second the first time you were forced into a fight and ended up dead or crippled, the end.
well any reaction to getting transmigrated would be like: "wtf happened to my body..." after checking myself and being aware that im in another person body, probably would freak out, try to get used to my new body and try to gather information about the world( im on alternate world earth?sword and fantasy?chinese cultivation hellscape?) after that i would grit my teeth and try finding old owner stuff, try my best to steal his conection(cross my fingers not to have to deal with any social problems from old owner and try my best to laze around and try not to use names), after that i would try to secure a livelyhood and would try my best to waste my life doing nothing like my oldself... well if im in some ulter hellhole where is survival of the fittest and i have no resouce or conection, well grit my teeth and try not to die, or at least die a painless death...
After freaking out for a while, I'd try to accept my current environment and just try to do my best to live a peaceful life as villager A? By... Yanno... Working in whatever is the default profession that my family does, trying to be a good daughter, probably marrying someone that my parents approve and the like... Maybe joining a church and becoming a priestess or something, I dunno. Would I go and try go into secluded cultivation, fight arrogant young masters, challenge the world and whatnot? Of course not! Why would I ever do something as risky as fighting someone when I can just bow down to the strong people instead? It's much safer. Even if I was thrown into a hellhole of a setting where the weak die and the strong survive, I'd just need to become a bootlicker who desperately clings to whoever are the strong people... Fighting in those situations seems suicidal... >.>
It already feels weird borrowing your dad's underwear, now an entirely new person's body? Start off with a trauma, it'll build character. Perhaps I can think of it as created as a baby, a rebirth, then magically aged.