CHAPTER 1: WHERE AM I…?

Rena

Waking up, only darkness clouds my vision. Ambiguous, black clouds obscure the dim night. Not even a ray of light penetrates through. The moon—nothing but a pale smudge in the sky—seems to cower behind the clouds.

I tighten the grip on my hands, and I feel the crusty texture of dead, unforsaken grass beginning to envelop my fingertips…

…

Wait… Rewind a bit—and add the record sound. Wh-what do you mean, ‘grass’?

Last thing I remember, I was chilling in my room—or rather, my mother’s basement—grinding Skyl Online! I literally vowed to never touch grass again! Cross my heart!

In fact—why the hell am I even outdoors, huh?

Uh, I wasn’t kidnapped, was I?

No!

I probably, you know… fell asleep after an intense grinding session or something. Yeah, that’s it!

…

Th-this is a joke, right? Uh-huh. Yep. One of those hidden prank cams. Well, I’ll be damned. Whoever set this video up is sure gonna get a ton of views after getting a wild reaction from me!

I mean, I was literally spasming around in shock a few seconds ago, like a fish out of water...

On second thought, please don’t post that, whoever you are…

Even a reclusive person like me needs some good social reputation!

Well, now that you’ve got the clip, I’ll gladly take my leave and depart! I have to finish my hourly quest or I might fall off the podium!

These days, there are too many sweats. Even missing one of those missions could lead to the end for me.

...

...This is the part where I get jumped and the cameramen laughs at me, right?

...

“Hellooo?”

“Anyone?”

The only response I get is the muffled crying of the wind, as it slaps my hair sideways. Come on! This joke has gone way too far! Come out already, I wasn’t joking about needing to complete my quests!

As one of the Depunsctist Guilds’ elite four, a little misstep could lead to my downfall! For all I know, ‘Depunscist’ isn’t even a real word. Either way, joining one of the grindiest guilds leads to tons of pressure, okay?

I can’t fall of the podiuummmm!!!!

Top three get free passes!!!

So let me go back!!!

...

No response.

O-okay. This is getting… rather creepy. Unsettling, even.

And concerning. By ‘concerning’, I mean really, really concerning.

This isn’t heaven, is it?

So... did I die from exhaustion or something? H-hey God! Listen and hear me out! I only spent twelve hours online yesterday! I know, right? What a BIG improvement!

Not bad, right? Mhmm, not bad at all.

Yeah, believe it or not, I managed to decrease my playtime by a whole entire twenty percent. Pretty impressive, if I say so myself!

Heh. Welp, don’t mind me, using my premium ticket to get to luxury class heaven! With the zero ping, infinite RAM, and 99G wifi!

Huh? No?

Whaddaya mean ‘no’?

…

Explain yourself! Where are energy drinks?

Huh?

You wanna fight?

Alright, let's take this outside…

No, but seriously, jokes and all aside, where on Earth am I?

Looking around, I can confidently say that I’m currently in some sort of field. Possibly... If my inner gamer tuition is correct… a meadow?

Well, say hypothetically, I’m correct, and I’m in the middle of a meadow. Then, there’s gonna be an elephant in the room. Namely, one specific question: How did I get here?

Look, if you were in my shoes, I’m sure you’d have a billion questions circling you at once. You don’t normally wake up in the middle of nowhere, do you?

I highly doubt that someone broke into my apartment and kidnapped me, considering I live on the 23rd floor and all.

Alright, ignore the bold lie. I live underground. Like those nasty moles. Actually, I think I spotted one that one time.Though, either way, I still doubt that someone broke into my mum’s basement and kidnapped me.

I don’t see myself being a high value target. If I had a bounty, it would be 100 yen or something. But, apart from getting kidnapped, I don’t see any other possible… possibilities.

I wasn’t magically—poof!—teleported into another world, was I?

I mean, which otaku hasn’t had that thought at least once? Sure, Skyl Online had no isekai tropes, but I read a light novel before. And a dozen or so manga volumes. Anyone with a crippling life and gaming addiction would dream of getting hit by truck-kun. I mean, look at you.

Huh? Fourth wall? That’s one or two fourth walls? Elaborate please.

…

Alright, forget about it.

But… Even the kidnapping scenario seems more plausible than the isekai scenario.

Besides, usually when you wanna teleport from one location to another, there has to be an item or something used as a catalyst, right?

Like a teleportation circle or warp stone?

Haha! Ask Rena, the gaming expert on anything! My wisdom knows no bounds! I am the sole forefather of humanity!

Alright, sorry for getting carried away. And, it would be ‘foremother’, not ‘forefather’. Is ‘foremother’ even a word?

Don’t mind me, memorising every single drop chance and crafting recipe, yet failing at simple Japanese.

Whew! Kidnapped and sold for organs it is!

No trucks involved, not at all…!

Yet… When I squint my eyes and look closely, I can somewhat make out the shape of two faint smudges in the sky. Not one, but two moons. Don’t quote me on that though: these pesky clouds really make things harder!

This IS a joke, right?

You know what, I wasn’t kidnapped, nor isekaied. Let’s just stay with the humble it was all just a dream ploy instead. Works in any circumstance! This should—no, this must be a dream. Yeah, yep. There, I’ve gaslit myself. A dream—nothing less, nothing more.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Gosh, my subconsciousness sure is crazy and wild, huh?

Is this my edgy, emo phase?

But I thought that was last year?

Oh well. A phase of some sort. Like that certain boy from the certain anime who had a cringy phase in junior high, became normal in high, and somehow infatuated the chick-iest chick?

I can’t say the name. Copyright laws or something might send a lawsuit hurling my way.

…

Why not say them slightly off-brand, then?

You know, Coma Can’t Communicate?

Huh, you don’t know? Talk to me when you have some margin of culture.

You know, it would be really helpful if dream me started planning for tomorrow's grind and optimise the best, most efficient route through Crist Rukt Forest instead of waffling about who knows what.

Helloooo? Subconscious? What happened to revision and planning?

In fact, why does this dream feel so… realistic?!

I can feel the chilly wind and the grass tickling my legs. Last time I checked, dreams aren’t able to convey reality to this extent. Which means… this isn’t a dream…?

I even go for the cliché, overused pinch on the arm to prove my point. I wince, flinching in pain.

Yep, as much as I hate to admit, this probably isn’t a dream. Meaning that I’m actually in the middle of nowhere.

Based on assumptions alone, I’ve gotten reincarnated into some sort of seemingly fantasy world. Just like the crazily popular (and overused) stories that blew up on the web. You know?

The ones with millions of views that we all read in our spare time. The ones with the stupidly overpowered main characters who seriously need a nerf.

How did this happen?

Despite the foggy memory, I can say for sure that I didn’t get KO’ed by truck-kun. In fact, I don’t remember any death at all.

…

Oh! I think I know! Classic of me to connect the dots.

I paint a mental image of me crouching down, grabbing a scrapped piece of paper from the bin. I then mentally open it up, reading the label.

How did I get here?

Reason no. 1: Died from exhaustion, reincarnated.

Reason no. 2: Kidnapped, sold to shady guys for my barely functioning organs that have been scraping through, surviving on energy drinks for who knows how long.

I guess I died from exhaustion after all. Even I have my limitations, I suppose. I mean, the former still seems more believable than the latter in my opinion.

I furrow my brows and slump onto the crispy grass, letting out a thorough sigh.

Arrggghhh! I was looking forward to the new biome update!

Dammit!

Hmm? Why am I not really bothered about dying and all? I’m sure your average joe would collapse onto his knees and start sobbing like a madman or whatever. Maybe he’ll commit suicide from shock?

Well, to put it simply, and to avoid complications, I’ll be direct. I’m not human.

W-wait! I don’t mean it like that! Not literally! I’m a perfect, biological human. Thank you very much.

I’m not some extra terrestrial spy sent to Earth to monitor the human populace or whatever—I swear!

I probably created more complications than the ones I negated by saying that if I were to be honest…

I suppose a better way to explain it would be to say that I… I’m detached from humanity. So, since I don’t exactly fit into the criteria for social norms, I’m technically not exactly human. I mean, I’m basically an outcast. Certainly not some social, extroverted dude going around greeting anyone they see and such.

In fact, now that I think about it, the only thing that kept me going were video games, or rather, one specific game. I was basically devout to Skyl, and my sole purpose was to play it.

Yeesh, talk about a wasted life.

I mean, when I was going through the nadir of my life and all, I seriously had just considered committing suicide to end it all. I think my online friends would be somewhat upset if that happened though, since I wouldn’t be able to help them power level…

Huh?

Who’s using who?

Wh-what do you mean by you’re getting exploited?

Huh?!

Who are you looking at?!

W-Wipe that look off your face!

Don’t feel sorry for me!

Alright, I deeply apologise for getting all worked up again. Believe it or not, I actually managed to make it into the top three global leaderboard. Yeah.

If you wanna sugar coat it, you would say I was an ‘extreme gaming enthusiast’, but in reality, I was essentially a no-lifer.

‘Crippling gaming addiction’, would be a better way to describe me.

I wasn’t employed and lived in my mum’s basement—meaning that I had a lot of spare time in my hands. I think the longest time I stayed online was for three days straight? Maybe a bit more, but I just had to come first in the Lycandraco Event, okay? The rewards were totally worth it, even if I collapsed afterwards and woke up in a hospital bed after being in a coma for a week.

Sure, I dropped off the top four in my guild, but I managed to push back up in two days, so it was fine.

If I recorded that grind, maybe I could have gotten a Guinness World Record?

Getting reward money or something from that accomplishment would’ve been nice. I could buy a years’ worth of the Guild Pass Premium if I got that cash!

I mean, I did have roughly a decade worth of Premium saved up anyways, since I always came top ten in the E-sports games.

I blew the prize money on the Premium—but come on, don’t blame me! It’s the most valuable purchase in the entire game!

I did the math, and it has roughly a seventy percent higher rewards rate than raw purchases.

…Even now, I suppose I prioritise my virtual life over my real life.

Haha…

I’m not even worried about my current precedent. I suppose my mental fortitude must be vaulting.

Ah. Sorry for getting carried away again. Back to the main question. Where the heck am I?

Like I mentioned before, this place is flat, grassy, and has a dearth of trees. I only see one or two of those. If my inner gamer is correct, this place screams either ‘meadows’, or ‘plains!’

Well, these locations are usually for beginners, since they only spawn lower rarity mobs and such.

…

Wait… mobs?

As in passive animals and… hostile monsters?

Okay, maybe this isn’t all fun and games. If there are vicious monsters out there looking for blood, then I could seriously die, you know?

Though, it’s not like there’s any immediate danger, so I guess I’ll be fine for now. Ever since I got here… which is, like, five minutes ago or something…

I’ve been treating this whole place like some sort of video game, but what if there aren’t any fantasy monsters? How can I be sure there are two moons in the sky?

Rather, how do I know this is some alternate, fantasy world?

For all I know, I could be chilling, vibing around in parallel universe Japan.

Oh. There was no need to get all fretful and frolicky after all. Geez, I panicked for no reason.

I bet if some passersby saw me, they would think that I’m mentally constipated; goofing around like an idiot and all.

You are not a clown. You are the entire circus.

Well, I don’t see anyone around me as of now. Although, if I squint my eyes and peer really hard into the horizon, I can somewhat make out a few murky silhouettes off in the distance.

Then, I hear a howl reverberate in the air. A savage howl—the vibrations rippling into my eardrums. One that evidently shows hostility and bloodlust. The roar of the wilderness.

…At least I think it sounds wild?

Dunno. Never been near nature.

.

.

.

Seriously, what is up with this anti-plot armour?!

Even if these are just some rando wolves, I could still totally die!

I thought that after getting reincarnated, I would get at least some fancy protagonist plot armour, but God just had a grudge against me. What is up with that?

What did I even do? Did I waste my luck on that one-in-a-million chance drop? It was only a two star though, so it’s not like those shoddy bracelets did much when I only use premium, five star gear. As I rant on stupidly, the distant howls begin to echo closer, as the once remote wolves begin closing in, filling up the gap.

Now that they’ve advanced towards me, I can actually make out some distinguishable features. ‘Wolves’ would be a broad term to describe these things. Sure, if you were being generous, you would consider them wolves, but really, a more accurate representation would be rabid, overgrown chihuahuas with blue fur and unicorn looking horns.

These guys are totally NOT Earth animals, right?

Or are they some freakish byproduct of mother nature’s misconduct?

Or were they conceived in some secret laboratory?

Or what?

Because as far as I can tell, these chihuahuas are screaming ‘FANTASY ANIMAL RIGHT HERE!!!!!’

Either way, I’m in a bad situation right now.

Like, is this seriously how I die?

Reborn, just to get spawn killed by a bunch of rabid campers?

Uh-huh.

Mmm-mm

I absolutely refuse to die like this!

Please, someone come in and save the day! A true hero only arrives late, no?

As if enticed by my distress, the rabid chihuahua-ish wolves growl louder.The skin on their snouts begin to fold, revealing an unsettling set of canines.

No no no no no! GO AWAAYYY!!!

I DON’T WANNA DIEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Suddenly, a blue, transparent door reminiscent of a portal appears before me, its faint shine emanating around the area.

I squeal. Loudly.

In my uncanny, panicked state, I try pushing the door frame away. However, instead of disappearing or retreating away, the door latches onto my forearms.

Flinching in shock, I attempt to avert my arms, retracting them away.

The door begins to consume me, sucking me in.

I try fighting back, but it comes to no avail.

Soon, I feel the corners of my eyes darkening, and my vision begins to morph, becoming a grim, impish haze.

Not long afterwards, I feel my consciousness slipping away.