I don't know how much time passed until I opened my eyes or how did it turn out that I lost consciousness. Still, what I do remember is how and where I woke up.
I was in a room akin to the one I had been living in for the last year. Not more than 20 square meters in size, and with a low amount of similar furniture.
"Was all that an idiotic dream?" As I tried to understand what happened, I muttered my only realistic thought. But after a quick look around, I found out that I was mistaken. Indeed it looked identical to the study I rented, but it was missing a few things. This being my computer, cellphone, tablet, tv, consoles, and most importantly... the entrance and windows!
To make sure I did not suddenly grow crazy I quickly went around the place. Even touched the walls and things around and took a quick glance behind the door towards the bathroom, only to find that it was identical to the one I used, except for a small difference... it also was missing the small window that the original had.
"Well, it seems that I am somewhere that resembles my place but it's not the same. The bed and the rest of the furniture look alike, but they seem like new things while mine were pretty used" Surprising even myself, I analyzed the situation calmly. In fact, I maintained my calm for long, almost three minutes before shouting...
"GODDESS TITS, WHERE THE FUCK I AM!!!" Don't ask me why I decided to swear like that, maybe it was the spur of the moment? A remnant of the image of a very stunning goddess appearing in my mind? Whatever.
Unsurprisingly I got no answer to my shouting and so after a few other similar exclamations, I calmed myself enough and returned to what I was doing before, examining the place.
Except for the things that could be used for communication, everything else was present. Even the small mini-fridge that I used to store my food was there. A thing worth mentioning was that it also was stocked up with beer and cold snacks, basically my main diet.
In the end, I had no other choice but to wait for something to happen. If everything that I remembered had happened, then that so-called goddess should appear sometime. And if it was not, whoever moved me into this closed room should appear anyway. After all, there should be some kind of reason for me to be here. Probably.
Without anything better to do, I decided to wait. Still, waiting without doing something was tiring and so I made myself comfortable. At this point, I was not surprised to find that three of the unread books that I had lying around my room a few days ago were present, so I grabbed one and moved towards the fridge. After taking a beer out of the fridge and a meat-snack packet, I sat down on the bed and started reading. A few moments later, I instinctively reached towards the shelf near the bed and, unsurprisingly, found that cigarettes and a lighter were present where they should.
Even while writing this get amazed at how cool and collected I acted. Wow!
Having a good book, in this case, 'Swords & Magic VS Guns & Powder', and everything I liked made the following hours pass very quickly. It was only after I finished the entire book that I actually remembered the fact that I was practically kidnapped in a recreation of my place. And no one had appeared yet...
"KILLER FIGURE GODDESS, SHOULD YOU NOT APPEAR AND EXPLAIN THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!" Somehow I went from simply swearing to actually request the presence of the goddess.
...
....
.....
And... nothing happened.
Again, without anything else to do, I decided to continue making myself comfortable. Truth to be said if this was a kidnapping... All of them should be like this one.
I could not know how much time had passed as there was no clock in the room, but I do know that I finished another two books and all the snacks from the fridge while comfortably waiting. The number of beer cans and cigarettes was depleted to zero as well.
Feeling tipsy, I decided to call it a day. At that point, I did not even think how there might have been natural light in the room without windows or how did the smoke leave it and not choke me to death.
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After I woke up, I noticed that something inside the room had changed. At first, I could not understand what it was, but after a few deep breaths, I grasped the reason.
The room was pristinely clean! None of the cans, snack packages, or ash was present.
"HEY!!! GODDESS!!! APPEAR!!! COME TO ME!!!" Deciding to start the day with a good, vocal, exercise I began shouting.
After finishing with the shouts, I even tried to call for her in a more normal way
"Could you please appear? Descend? Talk to me?"
Well, here I can only be amazed at my sheer idiocy. On the other hand, I can kinda understand myself, being practically kidnapped by someone. Possibly by a girl claiming to be a goddess.
...
....
.....
But... nothing happened.
After examining the room I found out that other changes had occurred. All the consumables, in my case beer, snacks, and cigarettes were fully restocked. The books also changed, but now they were not from the ones that I could have bought. In fact, they did not even look modern, being leatherbound and handwritten.
This fact greatly interested me, so before doing anything else I laid them on the bed and checked on the titles.
"Introduction to Magic"
"Basic Combat"
"Diplomacy as a Weapon"
"Court Manners"
"Adventurer Guide"
"Basic Medicine and First Aid"
"Hoh, these seem like the most basic books of a cliche isekai story... Welp, nothing to do for now, so I can give them a read. Still, Goddess, if you are hearing me and reacting, could you not at least add some kind of exercise machine or place? And some ingredients so I can cook? Snacks are good, but..." I had decided that the goddess, or whoever was my captor, could hear me and so attempted to make a... wish? petition?
Anyway, I had indeed nothing to do, and escape seemed impossible, so after washing myself and taking a quick breakfast of snacks and a can of cold coffee, I sat down and began to read.
Well, what I can say? If you cannot change the situation, go along with it.
The book contents captured me instantly. As the titles said, all of them were basically the low-tier knowledge that would be needed by a beginner fantasy world visitor.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Being someone practically addicted to such things, I read and learned earnestly. In fact, I even began taking mental notes on what and how could be done differently in the simulated situations the books provided as an example.
It may appear strange, but my line of thought was that if... IF... I was somehow granted the opportunity to travel to another world as it appeared at the moment, then, why not make the effort to do it well?
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On the next 'day' I woke up to find that a few changes had again taken place.
Apart from the cleaning and usual restocking, a door appeared!
I did not expect that it would be an exit, and so was not disappointed after opening it. Still, the fact that the place was basically a small gym (again without windows or any opening except the door) told me that I was indeed being listened to.
To confirm this I also checked the kitchen counter, only to find that indeed different ingredients were now stocked.
Yep, I did not even think how it was done. And neither I did think of how the stove, microwave, fridge, etc. could work without electricity or gas. Or if the latter were used, from where the hell they came from?
The four books that I had finished the previous 'day' changed, while the unstarted "Court Manners" and "Basic Medicine and First Aid" remained. As for the new additions, there were two called "Physical Training" and "Mental Training".
The titles were self-explaining, but to confirm it I checked the first pages. Indeed, the first one was about how to train (with unneeded explanations how to use the gym) while the second one was mostly about meditation and mental exercises to improve one's memory, clean the mind, and ignore distractions. The second book was basically something that I could pen myself during my university years, and so I threw it away.
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And so for 7 of such 'days', a routine began.
I would awake to find a few new books and a restocked daily supply of everything I needed.
And then would spend my time reading and using the gym. I did not make any requests during this time, except asking for at least some kind of hint or explanation. A request that was always ignored.
Actually, I remember trying to search for a way out at some point but gave up quickly after noticing a book about magical beasts. Heh, what I can say? I am a simple man. Well, or otaku if you people don't use the term as derogatory and know that it's basically someone who loves (or basically is half-addicted) to a hobby.
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On my 10th day of forced seclusion in this room, I made two requests.
The first one was to get a place with weapons (there were a lot of them described in a book titled "Weapons of the World") and to get a few journals to write in.
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11th 'day' of my stay.
I found out that both requests were granted. Before doing anything else, I decided to pen down everything that had happened (or at least how I remembered it) since this situation started. But after finishing, I suddenly found myself starting to write something resembling a memoir, which is what you are holding in your hands (extremities?) right now.
QUESTION: Why do I suppose someone will be reading this at some point?
Apart from beginning my self-biography, the most important thing today was the addition of the weapon room that I had requested yesterday. As any person loving things related to fantasy, I was also infatuated with the respective weaponry used in stories, games, etc.
So it can be understood why I spent almost three hours walking around the 10x10 meters room with every imaginable melee weapon hanging or placed on the walls. I actually even touched and held all of them.
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12th - 20th 'day'.
Most of the books that appeared during these days were related to weapons and how to use them, so I spent most of the awake time trying to imitate the images and explanations of different techniques and movements.
Before university, I had practiced fencing and kendo, and albeit they were very different from actual weapon usage, they still helped me a bit now.
My physique has been improving, either thanks to the fact that I was having a far better diet now that I stopped relying on snacks, or to the fact that I had been training myself every day. Granted, the fact that I have been smoking for several years (and still do it now) is a real issue, but... Well, I do not really want to give it up. Especially as it is the only thing making me remember my previous life.
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21th 'day'.
I awoke to find up that there was a new door in my 'suite' (as I decided to call this place).
The door led towards an enormous enclosed space, about 50 meters from wall to wall, filled up with different-sized wooden shields. The reason for the set-up was discovered shortly, with an enormous stand of bows, crossbows, knives, daggers, shurikens, and every other imaginable ranged weapon hanging on it. I had already gotten used to the fact that all this was some kind of fantasy world training, and so did not expect guns... but I was indeed a little disappointed to not see them.
A pair of books explaining the most basic concepts like preparing, drawing, mounting, throwing, aiming, and other ranged techniques had appeared. I took this as an indication to change my routine and so spent practically all the 'day' reading and practicing them.
My eyesight was never my forte, but even so, 50 meters was a distance that I was capable of aiming at... so it took me only a few (a hundred?) attempts to actually hit the biggest target with a bow and a crossbow.
Throwing weapons had reduced range, and so after reading how to correctly hold and throw them, it did not take me long to land a few from 5 mt. Progress!
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22nd - 31st 'day'.
During these days I practiced with the ranged weapons. I had never used any of them in my life, so the process was a bit harder than expected. Still, before I went to sleep on the last day, I had managed to land a projectile or weapon of every kind on every target!
I have been wondering lately, how much time do I really spend awake and/or asleep?
This may appear strange, but I have a feeling as if the time is far over a few hours. After all, it should be not possible to learn so many things in just a few weeks... Maybe I should make a request for a clock?
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32nd 'day'
On this day, I found out the reason for my stay here. The goddess at last appeared (and confirmed that she is a goddess), as well explained my new reality.
From what I was told, I was selected to be the apostle of the Goddess I met, named Sepyre.
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