Ren took a deep breath, steadying himself as he navigated the shadowy corridors of the SIN base. The stark contrast between the dimly lit hallways and the futuristic, almost sterile design was unsettling, but he couldn’t afford to be distracted. He needed to find a way out—and fast.
Fortunately, his hearing was gradually returning. It was still disorienting to walk, but at least it was better than before. As he moved, he pulled up his status screen, eyes scanning over his newly unlocked skill.
image [https://i.imgur.com/WqRfLOO.jpeg]
"Perfect Acting." The name alone made the skill’s nature obvious. It wasn’t just acting differently—it was more like becoming a completely different person.
“The fact that I stayed completely calm in front of them, even with all that pressure…” Ren murmured to himself. “This skill is definitely going to come in handy for future meetings.”
It was clear he would encounter many different kinds of people in this world—possibly even those in positions of immense power, like rulers of nations, or individuals as dangerous as the SIN council. If Perfect Acting allowed him to control his demeanor in such situations, it will be an invaluable asset.
Ren’s eyes flicked to the cooldown for Unexistence, watching as it ticked down. Now he knew he could only manifest in tangible reality for exactly one minute.
“One minute? Seriously?” he muttered in frustration. “I know I shouldn’t complain, but what can I even do in just one minute?”
The reality was annoying. Every hour, Ren had just one minute to be present in the physical world. That meant in a full day—twenty-four hours—he would only have twenty-four minutes.
“This is ridiculous,” he sighed. “I’d like to file a complaint with the developers, please!”
...Silence.
“Damn you!” Ren curses at the imaginary developers.
As he continued wandering, alarms suddenly blared through the corridors, their piercing sounds bouncing off the walls. Ren’s heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to stay calm. The alarm was for him—no doubt about it. The base was on high alert, initiating lockdown protocols as they searched for him, possibly trying to understand how he had infiltrated their base.
“Oh, the intruder alarm. Seems like Faris ordered everyone to find me,” Ren muttered, glancing around. His plan to get their attention had worked.
“Maybe a little too well,” he noted, seeing groups of security teams rushing past and drones scanning nearby corridors. “They even activated the drones.”
As before, the guards, staff, and drones passed right by him, unable to see or sense his presence. Ren had grown used to this by now, and he wasn’t as surprised as before. He had learned something important about Unexistence, the fact that even the most powerful people in this world, like Reus and the Priestess, couldn’t detect him. What chance did ordinary guards and machines have?
“In moments like this, I’m grateful to whoever gave me this ski—” His stomach growled loudly, interrupting his thought. “Never mind. I hate this skill.”
Despite his hunger, Ren pushed it aside. He had more pressing matters to deal with.
“I need to reach the teleportation room. It’s my only option for escaping,” he muttered. “The problem is the cooldown. I must wait it out before I can use the device.”
With time to spare, Ren wandered the base. The problem was that he had no clear destination.
“Wait... Faris mentioned experiments on the monsters that attacked the academy,” he recalled. “Maybe I should check that out, since I’ll be heading to the academy anyway.”
Decision made, Ren headed toward the research area where Faris’s department operated. This base had been one of the main dungeons in the game, so finding specific rooms wasn’t difficult, especially for a veteran player like Ren.
“I’ve walked through these corridors hundreds of times while playing,” Ren said as he confidently navigated the base. “The layout’s practically burned into my memory.”
After about twenty minutes of walking, he arrived at the entrance to the research area. A massive metal door stood in his way, impossible to breach by force, with a fingerprint scanner next to it. But Ren didn’t need to breach it. He simply walked through.
“This will never not feel weird,” he muttered as he phased through the thick metal door. “Maybe I’m just not used to it yet.”
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Inside, bright lights flooded the area. The room was filled with researchers and a noticeable number of guards stationed around classified sections.
“There are more guards than usual,” Ren observed. “They’re on high alert, especially around the restricted areas.”
The lab was cluttered with research tools, strange tubes holding specimens, scattered drone parts, and more. Ren moved past them, his focus on finding the monster specimens.
“Well, I don’t have much time left,” he muttered as he scanned the room panels for names. “If I were a monster specimen, where would I be?”
He passed rooms labelled for weapon development, artifact studies, medical experiments, and others until one sign caught his attention.
“Monster Biology. This must be it,” he whispered, noting the heavy guard presence outside the door.
Without hesitation, Ren phased through the door. Inside, the atmosphere shifted. The lighting was dim, casting greenish hues that barely illuminated the room. Massive specimen tubes lined the walls, each containing a different kind of monster.
“There’s so many here that I fought in the game,” Ren remarked, recognizing familiar foes. Slimes, dragonflies, mandrakes, griffons, and manticores—all creatures he had once farmed for experience points.
It felt surreal. What had once been mere pixels on a screen were now real, tangible beings. Even the people—Velara, Francea—who played key roles in the story were no longer just scripted NPCs. They were living, breathing individuals.
“These monsters aren’t just numbers for me to grind. They’re real now,” Ren realized. “I have to stop thinking like I’m still playing the game.”
But there was no time to dwell on this epiphany. Ren needed to find the specimen fast.
At the center of the room, a large horizontal container caught his attention.
“That’s got to be it,” Ren muttered as he approached.
When he looked inside, confusion washed over him.
“What the hell is this?” Ren whispered. “There wasn’t a monster like this in the game.”
The creature inside was pitch-black, its body seeming to absorb the light around it. If the container hadn’t been lit, it would’ve looked empty. The creature, roughly the size of a wolf, had four legs and disfigured features resembling a tiger. Its fangs and claws were enormous, unnaturally sharp.
What disturbed Ren most was the way its body seemed to disintegrate into black smoke.
“It’s like its solid form isn’t its true state,” Ren said, observing the smoke. “The smoke is the real form.”
He rifled through nearby research documents, looking for answers. One file stood out:
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[Abnormal Monster: Highly aggressive toward humans. Will attack relentlessly, even when its form is half destroyed. Ignores all other living beings unless provoked. Requires no sustenance and may disintegrate randomly.]
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“They only attack humans… That’s troubling,” Ren muttered. “Most monsters behave like animals—fighting for territory or dominance. Some even coexist peacefully with humans.”
But something was missing.
“Why are they only attacking the academy? There’s been no other sightings,” Ren wondered. There were many possibilities: maybe their origin was close to the academy, or perhaps they were drawn to its population. But neither seemed likely, given their lack of intelligence.
The most worrying possibility was that someone—or something—was controlling them, ordering them to attack the academy specifically.
“But who? SIN couldn’t even pull off something like this,” Ren grumbled. “And now I have to deal with an unknown enemy on top of everything else?”
He sighed, shaking his head. “No point in thinking about it now. I need to get to the teleportation room.”
With one last glance at the strange creature, Ren left the research area and headed for the teleportation chamber. After a while, he arrived inside the room, which was filled with futuristic control panels encircling a massive device. In the center stood the teleportation platform, surrounded by four tall triangular pillars.
“It looks even more alien than it did in the game,” Ren muttered, inspecting the device. “I hope it’s safe to use.”
With only three minutes left before he could phase back into reality, Ren familiarize himself with the controls. Fortunately, they were exactly as they had been in the game.
“That means the control code should still work,” he said, relieved.
He would have to act quickly, though. The moment he activated the device, the entire base would know his location.
The countdown reached its final seconds. Ren took a deep breath, steeling himself.
“All right, here we go again,” he said with a confident grin.
00:00:02
00:00:01
00:00:00
Ren then press the timer and reappeared in the physical world and immediately began inputting the control code. His heart raced as he waited for the response, fearing the code might not work.
Suddenly, the control panel displayed the following message:
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[Control Code Activated.]
[Device Processing...]
[Processing Complete.]
[Device Activated.]
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The massive machine powered up, emitting a sharp, cracking electrical sound as the platform began to glow. Alarms immediately blared throughout the base. Ren’s heart sank—his actions had triggered the security system, pinpointing his exact location.
“Shit, they react fast,” Ren muttered, anxiously watching the device. “Come on, power up faster!”
Not only was the security team closing in on his position, but Ren’s skill timer was rapidly running out. He had precious little time left before he would phase back into Unexistence, unable to interact with the physical world.
Then, a new message flashed across the panel:
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[Power Up Complete.]
[Please Input Destination.]
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Ren's fingers flew across the controls, quickly inputting the only destination that mattered—Orios Academy.
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[Destination Acquired.]
[Please Stand on the Platform.]
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Without hesitation, Ren stepped into the center of the glowing platform. He glanced at the timer—mere seconds remained.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Ren murmured, steeling himself as the four towering pillars surrounding him began to hum with energy.
The world around him distorted in an instant. His body was pulled violently into a crack in space itself, the familiar surroundings of the SIN base vanishing in a whirl of light and sound. The platform’s glow intensified until, with a final flash, the device powered down, leaving the room in eerie silence.
Ren was gone.