The first time Guy Rice got in a fight, he lost. A girl teased him about his name and when he called her names in response, she kicked him between the legs. In her defense, his name—be it the first, the last, or the full—really was way too funny for a kindergartener to ignore. In his defense, he was four, and she was five and almost a head taller. And the next day, he managed to win a rematch. And as if that wasn’t enough, fifteen years later, he dumped her after they dated for a year. Though, to be fair, that was a completely unrelated event… or so he told himself. 

By twenty, Guy knew that his dream of becoming an MMA champion was just that—a dream. He started way too late, lacked natural talent, and sheer tenacity alone wasn’t enough to make it far in a competitive sport. That disappointed him, but not because he wanted to become the best, but because he wanted to fight the best while not being completely overwhelmed by them. What he longed for was the battle at the peak of human capabilities with as little restrictions as possible. Little did he know that there was an entire different world beyond anything he once deemed possible for a human—literally.

“I can’t believe this is real!” Guy exclaimed as he watched a pebble-sized, bluish ball of energy forming between his palms—a Mana Missile. “I’m really a wizard now! Though I prefer a more traditional combat styles...” 

Guy sent the Missile at a patch of grass a few feet away from him. The result wasn’t that different from just throwing a stone at it, there wasn’t an explosion or anything grand like that. But for a normal man from Earth, that was already a miracle. 

When a peerless beauty with cat ears, angel wings and a lizard tail had appeared in his dream and offered Guy a chance for greatness in a different world, he had thought that it was just his subconscious playing a trick on him. Sure, that dream was extremely realistic, but not that different from the lucid dreams he had practiced in his teenage years. The only suspicious thing was that no matter how he tried, he couldn’t make the beauty take her Ancient Greece garment off with the power of his thought. To be fair, he hadn’t practiced lucid dreaming for years, so that was only to be expected. Also, in his defense, he was on a dry spell for the last few months, and the Goddess was the hottest woman he ever met, so he wasn’t just acting like a creep… or was he? 

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When Guy had found himself lying on the pile of rocks a few minutes ago, he sure was confused. What he had thought of only as a realistic dream suddenly changed to an unmistakable reality, and instead of waking up in the warm blankets of his bed and in the comfort of his apartment, he was in some sort of cave. 

Welcome to the Aetherland Realm, oh brave Visitor from Earth! 

The words floated before his eyes as they were read by a feminine voice that was a mix of an indifferent AI and an over-enthusiastic show host. He tried to touch them, but his hand passed through the bluish characters like they weren’t even there. The words continued to float before his eyes as if being attached to an invisible screen a foot away from his face, no matter where he moved his head. Then, the old sentence was replaced by another one as the voice continued.

Before facing the perils of the new world full of dangers, every Visitor is given an opportunity to clear the Noob Dungeon! Contact your Noob Guide for further details!

Guy was quite confused, and being alone in the cave wearing nothing but his boxers didn’t help. He just absentmindedly continued to follow the words of whatever was speaking inside his head. The voice’s owner wasn’t polite enough to even introduce herself… Also, the voice was less and less enthusiastic and more and more robotic with each sentence it read, as if it was getting tired playing the role of the show host. 

For now, you can check your Status and choose your Basic Class! After that, find the Guide and explore the Noob Dungeon until you die. No worries, though, you’ll be revived at the top floor (you’re here!) and the exit to the outside world will open. Alternatively, you can defeat the Boss of the 100th floor to clear the Dungeon… just kidding! You can’t! 

The voice that had already started to sound almost completely emotionless changed yet again to add in a way too human, jeering tonality. 

Because you’re a weakling! Well, duh. Just hurry up and die already and start the real journey instead of wasting your time in this boring place. As I already said, you’ll revive as good as new, no worries!

Revive, huh? Guy thought. Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t want to die, and even if the revival is real, wouldn’t it be just a fake copy of me with my memories, not the real me? I watched a YouTube video about stuff like that—I’m a smart Guy, after all. As another very wise person once said, people die if they are killed. So go to Hell, you rude voice. 

And so began the adventure of a relentless man in a world ruled by lazy Gods and an insolent System…