"Hello! New User! I am excited about meeting you. My name is Isekai Explorer's Engine. You can call me IEE or come up with a catchy name yourself!" - IEE.
I grabbed my neck, and there it was. The source of the voice was wrapped around my neck tightly. It was smooth and cold to the touch. Some kind of collar that can talk?
"Don't worry, New User. I will explain everything. I am here only to help you and assist you with your missions!" - IEE.
"I guess when you say ‘here,’ you mean around my neck, but where the hell is this place? Where am I?!"
It was a dark room with no windows or doors. No bigger than my own bedroom, but it looked spacious since it had no furniture or any other items in it. Just me and this talking collar around my neck.
"Congratulations! New User! Welcome to the Isekai Searcher Spacecraft, or ISS for short. Humanity has finally found a new world, inhabited by living, conscious, and magical beings! It's our job to prepare it for the first contact with our civilization. Isn’t that exciting?!" - IEE.
The room did look like something out of science fiction. But there was no way what the collar was telling me was true. Am I being pranked? Some kind of new show I have not heard of? Or had I finally lost my sanity and become a complete vegetable? Everything seems so real, though...
"Please get dressed. I am told humans can act strangely when seeing each other naked. Here, let me help." - IEE.
Streams of light appeared at the edges of the room, lighting it and revealing neatly laid-out clothes. In the darkness, I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I was naked, but now I felt that getting dressed would be more appropriate.
The clothes were made of a strange, stretchy material. I put them on, and at first, they were too baggy, but then I felt them tighten around my body to the point where I could barely feel they were there.
"It's just human technology. I guess it's not available to the public on Earth yet, though. Still, we're about to go down to a planet where magic exists! Nothing on this spacecraft can compete with what's waiting for us down there!" - IEE.
Guess I will play along for now. "So, what’s next?"
A door revealed itself in one of the walls and slid open, revealing a large hall on the other side.
"Let's go meet the other explorers!" - IEE.
I stepped out of the smaller room and into the large hall. It was larger than I’d thought. It was huge. Everything was smooth and white lit by streams of light moving across the edges and crevices. At the center, there were small, bullet-shaped rockets with the pointy ends facing downward halfway struck through the transparent floor. Bellow I could see a planet that resembled earth but the landmass was all wrong. Around the circular hall, other doors were opening, and people wearing similar clothes were coming out of the small rooms, just like the one I had been in a few seconds before.
"Whatever this is, it must have a huge budget."
"Oh, yeah! Where do you think all the taxes go? By the way, there’s a prize too if we do a good job on the mission!" - IEE.
"Yeah? What kind of prize?"
"Well, the best kind, of course! We get to stay alive!"
I didn’t pay much attention to the last piece of information from the collar. Instead, I was focused on the people gathering near the bullet-shaped rockets at the center. They all were wearing collars too.
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"Is this for real?" - One of the gathered people asked.
"No way, it must be some kind of prank show or a reality show." - Another person said.
"We have been chosen, as the saviors of humanity, by God himself! How can you not understand!?" - He sounded manic.
"Or better yet, we're dead and this is the afterlife," - She sounded like she’d be happier if she believed what she’d just said.
"Then, is this hell? Or is this heaven?" - Afraid.
Seems like everyone’s in the same situation as me.
"So... IEE, what’s the mission?" - I muttered, trying not to be overheard by others.
"Attention! All explorers on deck, gather in the launch hall!" The hall boomed with an electronic voice similar to that of the collar. It was coming from all directions at once.
"First mission, reluctantly titled 'Alpha Test Launch,' is going to commence shortly. While you have been deemed worthless on planet Earth, we have found a way for you to redeem yourselves!"
That announcement got a few laughs.
"I want you to know that your deaths will not be wasted! We will gain invaluable information and continue our research. What we are doing here today may not go down in history books, but it will definitely allow humanity to go forever into the future!"
Even more laughter.
"You will go down to the surface of this new world with the Isekai Drop Shuttle. It is equipped with cutting-edge technology that will help you accomplish your mission. Use your IEE as your user manual to get started when you reach your destination. As for the mission, kill 100 conscious beings of this world. That’s all! Very simple; you should be done in a few hours! However, there is no time limit, but we do have a limitation. Teleportation back to the ISS costs a lot more than the Isekai Drop Shuttles do, so we won’t be bringing back all of you. Only 10 will be coming back out of the 100 explorers gathered here. Now, get into the shuttles and prepare for the mission."
The bullet-shaped shuttles opened their hatches. No one seemed too eager to get into one of those. To be honest they had started to look like coffins more now.
"By the way, there are only 50 of those, and they can only hold a single person. Those left on the deck after the mission commences and the shuttles are dropped to the surface will be executed."
Still, people seemed somewhat reluctant, even though they started moving toward the shuttles now. I, too, was moving toward the one closest to me.
"I see there are still some who wish to be a extra weight on the deck just as they were on Earth. Unfortunately, the ISS can’t be as charitable and forgiving as she was."
I saw someones neck explode in the periphery. I think some of his blood even got on me. I saw his head go flying, his lifeless body thud on the ground. I started running, so did everyone else.
"84 explorers left on deck. Please hurry and get into your shuttles. Mission will be commencing in 60 seconds."
Just like that, all hell broke loose. People were shouting, fighting, dragging each other down and running over each other to get to the shuttles. I had to jump over someone who had someone else pinned down and taking out all his life's frustrations on him. I barelly dodged someone who tried to tackle me, pushed someone out of my way with my shoulder and made my way to the shuttle.
"Good job, New User! I think we will make a great team! I didn't expect you to be so fast on your feet." - IEE seemed excited.
I was surprised myself. I had been avoiding physical activity since before hitting my puberty. All of this, however, felt so exhilarating. Reminded me of times when I used to play outside during my early childhood.
Someone caught my leg and pulled me out of the shuttle as I was crawling through the hatch. I hit my face on the deck floor and left bloody mark there. I couldn't tell whether it came out of my nose or mouth as both hurt as hell. The asshole was already going for my shuttle but I was not finished yet. I could barely see him through teary eyes, yet I didn't really need to see to beat the shit out of him.
I spun around and grabbed him by the leg, then I pulled on his leg too and he fell with a yelp. I crawled atop of him and bashed his head into the deck. Then did it again few more times just to be sure. I was breathing heavy, vision was swimming and I was about to vomit when I saw someone else jump over me, going straight for my shuttle.
I'm not sure where I got the strength to stand up, but next thing I know, I had this guys back of the head in my hand. I simply added little bit of force to it that made him overshoot his destination and he smashed into the shuttle, right beside the hatch. He was already halfway down, so I helped him all the way with a kick and got inside my shuttle.
Thankfuly as soon as I got inside, hatch closed shut and I was completely isolated from the violence outside. It had no windows and no sound of shouts, or breaking bones for that matter, penetrated it's walls. After a few seconds, streams of lights started pulsing on the interior of the shuttle.
"Here we go." - Said IEE around my neck.