"Ugh..." Nate groaned. His head felt like an attractive woman thrown into a den of hoodlums who haven't seen a woman in years.

Which is to say he felt like his head got banged repeatedly. In the literal sense this time.

Despite this, Nate was actually inwardly sighing in relief. If he somehow regained consciousness, then that meant that he had somehow survived being crushed by that steel beam, then was automatically healed by his power. "Oh, shit. I have to get out of here before the cops get here..."

When his superpower finally made the headache go away, Nate opened his eyes expecting to see a wrecked construction site, but he was instead shocked to find that he was in some sort of pure white space. He couldn't tell where the wall connected to the floor, or if there even was a wall at all.

"What the..." Nate gawked at his surroundings, or rather the lack thereof. He wondered aloud, "Did someone drug me...? Am I tripping on something right now?"

But then he immediately rejected that thought. His superpower wouldn't allow him to be drugged. If he were to describe it like an ability from one of the video games he liked to play as a child, his superpower would restore his HP and status, in addition to Stamina.

He could consciously block it though, otherwise, he couldn't get drunk, and he liked getting drunk from time to time.

'But that's what makes this so weird... Where the hell am I?' Nate continued to examine his surroundings for any clues that might explain something, but there wasn't really anything to observe. Nate felt like an idiot looking around at nothing, but he couldn't stand not doing anything, so this was really all he could do at the moment. Eventually, he just decided to start walking until he rammed into something.

However, just as he was about to take a step forward, the ground suddenly started rumbling. After a few moments, parts of the floor liquidated then suddenly rose up and hardened again to form what looked like pedestals. The white pedestals only reached up to about the height of Nate's belly button. After a few moments, the rumbling stopped. Nate tried to steady himself, as he observed the pedestals. He couldn't really count exactly how many there were with just a glance, but he estimated that there were around 50 or so.

"How the fu--..." Nate trailed off. If he hadn't suddenly inherited his mother's disease, then he didn't remember taking a fistful of Tylenol pills before leaving his house. The scene in front of him made him doubt his mental health and sobriety though. "What are these even for...?"

It didn't take long for the questions plaguing Nate's head to be answered. Countless weapons suddenly started falling from above, then landing on the pedestals. The weapons then levitated on top of the pedestals, while softly rotating in midair.

"Ha ha… Things just get stranger and stranger, don't they?" He dryly remarked.

Nate observed the floating weapons. There was truly a large variety. All around him were various types of swords, spears, knives, and even projectile weapons. Nate had a bit of an interest in medieval weaponry since he was actually a bit of an otaku, (Yes, a drug dealer can watch anime and read web novels too.) but he didn't dare to say that he could name all of the weapons here. He could name a few he could see though, such as the Katana, the two-handed Longsword, the German Messer, and the Roman Gladius. He could also see different types of Polearms, like the Halberd, the Guandao, and a normal-looking spear. There were also all kinds of different-looking knives and Projectile weapons such as a Crossbow, a recurve bow, and what looked like a Japanese Yumi. Nate could also spot shields of different sizes and shapes, as well as strange weapons which he couldn't really put in any classification such as the Roman scissors and the brass knuckle.

As Nate watched the various weapons, he somehow felt like they were inviting him. He felt like he really wanted to swing one around, but he also had a strange feeling that he could only touch one.

'What a strange feeling...' Nate thought. But he decided to put it out of his mind for now. What was more important, was that he deal with this odd urge. 'Just one, huh...?'

If he could only touch one weapon, then it would have to be the sword. His mother would make him origami swords when he was young, so swords had a bit of a special place in his heart. Even if he would likely be better off picking a projectile weapon, especially since he was quite adept at handling them, Nate decided to go for a sword.

'But which one though...?' Nate was troubled. He was spoiled for choice. There were just too many types of swords in here, that he couldn't really decide which one to choose. After hemming and hawing for a few seconds, he ultimately decided to pick the one that just called out to him the most. 'If I remember correctly... this should be a falchion. A cleaver falchion, to be exact.'

The blade of the sword was slightly wider than most, and only one of its sides had an edge. The sword's grip seemed to be wrapped with strips of black leather, and its pommel and cross-guard shined with the color of steel. The sword looked quite simple, with no embellishments or engravings. Nate swung it around a few times, and it didn't feel too heavy. Even though he never really even held a sword before, he somehow thought that its current weight and balance were great. Amazing, even.

He also noticed that the moment that he took the falchion off the pedestal, all of the other weapons stopped rotating slowly in midair. On a whim, Nate decided to try grabbing another weapon, but it just wouldn't budge no matter what he did. Eventually, Nate just shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands up in defeat. He decided to turn his attention back to the falchion he picked.

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Nate did a few more slashes with the falchion. He felt somewhat childish doing it, but perhaps because he'd been working hard for so long, he felt like it was okay to act like a kid for now. He tried sweeping the sword from side to side, swinging it vertically with both hands and stabbing forwards. 'Hey, this is actually really fun...'

After he took a few more practice swings with it, even dodging side to side to avoid an imaginary foe's attacks, the ground suddenly started shaking again. The pedestals quickly liquidized like they did earlier, and the weapons that were floating on top of them started sinking into the floor.

'I like this one for sure, but...' Nate's fingers tightened around the falchion's handle, his knuckles turning white. 'Can I take another one?'

His body sprung into action. He didn't have the time to pick and choose this time, so he channeled his inner Freddie Freeman and slid across the floor like the major league first baser that he was. He felt the hand he was holding out make contact with a weapon's pommel as it was just about to sink into the floor. On his hands and knees, he pulled it back with all the strength he could muster. Although there was a little resistance, the weapon was soon freed.

'I did it! Let's go!!' Nate fell back with a shit-eating grin on his face. His smile grew wider as he looked back and forth between his prizes. 'Two is definitely better than one.'

Nate wasn't a person who enjoyed wronging others and doing bad things. He was had a little bit of a mischievous streak but he was a law-abiding citizen for the most part (putting aside the whole drug-dealer thing). As he looked into the eerily quiet void of white, he spoke nonchalantly. "I mean c'mon. This situation is so abnormal, who would blame me for wanting some more weapons to protect myself? Also, I don't see any signs saying I can't do this." He unconsciously made excuses to nobody in particular.

After Nate finished rationalizing his act of rule-breaking, he took a closer look at his new weapon. It was a short sword. Nate couldn't remember exactly what it was called, but he knew that this type of sword was mainly used by Ancient Greek warriors. Nate smirked a bit at his quick-wittedness. He got up and was about to give the new sword a few swings, but then the ground under him liquidized, immediately submerging his leg up to his knees. He then began to slowly sink.

"Oh, fuck." Nate cursed. He then began apologizing to empty air, hoping that whoever was doing this would let him off. "Look. I'm sorry, okay? I know apologizing after the fact is dumb, but I'll return it, so please let me off, okay?"

Nate then tried to throw away the Greek sword, but for some reason, he just couldn't do it. It wasn't that he couldn't bear to part with it, rather he wanted to get rid of it so he could potentially get some mercy. He physically couldn't get rid of the sword, since it seemed to be glued firmly to his palm.

"Well, shit." Nate cursed yet again, but with more emphasis. He shook his right hand violently, trying to get the Greek sword off of it, but it just wouldn't budge. He continued to sink as he did this, and now his body up to his stomach was submerged. Eventually, he decided to just get rid of his original choice, the falchion, but that didn't work either. "FUCK!! Hey! HEEEEE~Y!! Look! I can't get rid of it! It's not my fault!"

Heedless of his pleas, Nate continued to sink deeper and deeper, eventually reaching up to his chest. He raised his hands up and tried to prevent the weapons from sinking, but then he thought that might actually be a bad idea. He decided to plunge his right arm, which was still glued to the Greek sword, into the ground.

"There! Just take it! I'm good with this one!" Nate raised and waved around the falchion. "I don't need that other one! It sucks! Or it's great! Whatever you want it to be. Just stop, okay? We're good now, yeah?"

Only silence greeted Nate's calls. Eventually, even his neck was submerged. He looked up to the ceiling, inwardly cursing whoever was doing this. He didn't dare to curse them out loud, since he was still holding out hope that they would let him off easy.

"Okay. I get it! You're mad, I understand." Nate prattled on. He was normally somber and not really talkative, but this was an abnormal situation. He was a man who knew how to adjust to the situation. "Let's talk it out, okay? Bring me over to where you are and I'll apologize, yeah? If you want me to kneel and beg, I'll do it, alright?"

Nate briefly thought to mention that he had a mother to take care of back home to potentially curry sympathy, but he ultimately decided against it. 'They might take their anger out on her...'

Nate heaved a sigh. He would just have to hope for the best.

Soon, Nate's head was fully submerged. It was followed quickly by the hand holding the falchion that he was still raising up. There was now no sign of Nate having ever been in the place.

The pure white floor rippled one last time before it hardened once again.

There was now nothing in the white space. No weapons, no pedestals, and no Nate.

Only the white void that stretched on and on, seemingly endlessly.

*****

"HAAAH!!!" As Nate regained consciousness, he heaved a deep breath. His lungs begged for air, like someone who had just come back from a deep dive without scuba gear.

'Damn. I feel like I'm losing consciousness a lot these days... even though it only happened twice. That's still a lot.' Nate inwardly remarked as he continued to supply his lungs with air. Even though his superpower should be supplying him with the air he needed, it didn't hurt to help it out.

Once Nate finished, he took a look around his surroundings, expecting to see the bastard that had been toying with him, but was instead shocked that he was actually in a forest!

"Son of a..." Nate gawked at his surroundings, which was also something he felt he was doing too much of lately. The thick grass tickled him as he sat on it. There were all sorts of foliage all around him and bushes and shrubs with berries or flowers of varying colors and shapes. The trees had trunks that would take multiple men to completely surround, and they towered high into the heavens. Nate couldn't tell exactly how tall they were, since his vision was being blocked by the branches and their leaves, but he was quite sure that they wouldn't be much shorter than the empire state building.

"Alright. I've never heard of a forest with trees as tall as one of America's tallest buildings, so I have no idea where I am right now." Nate rubbed his temples, trying his best to ease his headache. His power basically made it impossible to have an actual headache, but the current situation seemed to be an exception. "Wait... could it be...?"

A certain possibility suddenly entered Nate's mind. He was an Anime enthusiast, and a reader of Light Novels and Web Novels, so he naturally knew of those types of stories. Nate was a very pragmatic person, so he never believed it was possible. But the situation right now made him think...

"Am I actually in another world...?" Nate just sat there in exasperation, inwardly praying that he was wrong.