Zachary Collins was prepared to face an ordeal which once again threatened to dissolve his very sanity.

As he lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, he found himself once again unable to sleep.

Should he turn the humming air conditioner off and risk dying of heat stroke? Or should he slowly be driven insane by the constant noise coming from above him?

Zach’s life seemed to be nothing more than aggravating decisions and pointless tasks.

Having been “normal” he would be willing to accept the mind-numbing monotony present in 20th-century life but willing or not here he was.

He knew most people in his position would be happy. Due to his test scores, he got into the ivy school of his parent’s dreams; however, his dreams were not filled with school and work.

Contrary to his serious exterior, his dreams and thoughts were filled with adventure, danger, and many fantastic-worlds akin to those in books.

Zachary Collins was a living paradox and in his eyes a failure. He was bestowed with high natural intelligence, but his desire to “succeed”, in the way modern society viewed success, was non-existent.

He did not mind his legal-studies. In fact, the law had always interested him.  He enjoyed Its lack of the ever-equivocal “morality” and the clear line between legal and illegal.

Unlike him, the law had a clear and defined purpose.

Doing his best to block out the periodic humming above him Zachary let exhaustion steadily-pull him into the embrace of his dreams.

As the ceiling, at last, disappeared from his vision he swore he heard a deep and powerful voice in his head say: “Earthlings prepare yourselves”.

He rapidly opened his eyes, upon hearing what sounded like a Tesla-coil, only to find himself unstably-sitting on a black metal chair in an all-white room.

Across from him sat who was certainly the most intimidating figure Zach had ever seen in his life

He was wearing black armor somewhat similar to a medieval tunic in appearance; yet, his armor was unable to hide the fact that he was very tall and built like he was out of Norse mythology.

The man looked to be about 40 with a square face and long grey hair, the only non-human characteristic was his brown-green skin tone. Surprisingly, what was most intimidating were his light blue eyes which quickened Zach’s breaths, and seemed to see into his very soul.

Speaking in a language unfamiliar to him yet somehow understandable the man addressed him: “Hello Earthling, those of your kind have been temporarily relocated in preparation for migration”

Startled but playing along with what must have been the weirdest lucid dream he had ever had Zachary responded, “What the hell is going on?”

Sighing while starting to lightly drum his fingers on the table impatiently the man continued.

“I understand things are confusing for you now, but the essential point is you and all of your species will soon be deposited on an unclaimed and wild planet.”

After pausing to let his words sink in the man continued.

“The intergalactic alliance or IA intends to prepare your race for survival as best we can in the next month, based on the slim chance that you “humans” might be worth something in the future.”

“Now I have limited time to spend with you, come with me we are going to test your talent for various professions”

While listening Zach struggled to keep up with his long strides as he followed him out of the room and into an endless looking hall.

“There are two starting professions Warrior and Mage. Warrior is divided into the main specialty branches of Archer, Destroyer, Knight, and Swordmaster. Mage is divided into Healer, Wizard/Witch, Summoner, and Shaman.”

“The two main classes are the starting point which everyone must choose and cannot be changed after that specializations can be selected once a certain level of skill is reached. Specializations can be freely changed and as you increase in power your specialization will evolve with you.”

No longer startled and now feeling slightly excited Zach hoped that in this dream he would have talent as a mage, like his favorite arcane wielding MMORPG character.

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Taking a Sharp right, the man led him towards a large silver door grunting for him to pick up his pace.

The man opened the door urging Zach in with a look before shutting it behind him.

As Zach continued into the room, he noticed what appeared to be a circular-metal platform with a holographic display in front of it. Near the ceiling on the other side, there was a large window which was likely one-way.

A robotic voice soon sounded from above: “please step onto the affinity analyzing platform”

Placing his feet on the platform he felt an intense rush of warm energy shoot up his legs and pause momentarily at his head before exiting his body.

With anticipation, Zach looked at the now changing holographic display.

Mental Force Affinity: None.

Battle Aura Affinity: Excellent.

Elemental Affinity(s): Earth, Space.

Elemental Affinity tier(s): Excellent, and Excellent.

Zach sighed momentarily disappointed by his lack of talent in Mental Force, which he assumed referred to his ability to become a mage.

However, he felt ecstatic regarding his Battle Aura affinity and elemental affinities.

In all the Wuxia novels he had read, the space element was almost always exceedingly powerful. He pictured himself crossing space at great speeds while unleashing lightning quick sword strikes with a katana.

Who in their right-mind wouldn’t want to dream of being a space ninja?

His thoughts were momentarily interrupted as a noble-sounds women’s voice came from the proximity of the blacked-out window.

“Hello Earthling, your talent warrants further analysis to determine how you will best grow. Please remain on the platform and do not resist.”

As she finished talking a mechanical arm extended out from the base of the platform. At the end of the platform was a transparent helmet-shaped device which came to a stop just above his head.

As the transparent helmet touched his head it started to emit thrumming noises as a dim red light flickered across it.

Suddenly he felt a dizzying feeling similar akin to lying in bed drunk. This persisted for about a minute before the helmet retracted off his head, resulting in changes to the holographic display.

Optimal Profession-Specialty: Destroyer.

Optimal Weapon: Greatsword.

Psychological analysis being transferred to the control room…….

Feeling both disappointment and relief at not being able to see how this machine interpreted his mental-health, Zach waited for further instruction from above.

“Hmm, Earthling Halt Ingral will be your master during this short time period. I have no doubt that if you manage to survive his tutelage you will increase the prospect of your race’s survival. Emphasis on If... Anyway, I will inform him of your arrival, good luck.”

Before he could respond Zach felt himself unsteadily standing in a room made of the same white-metallic walls as one he first woke up in.

Taking a glance around the room, he noticed its small size. It was empty besides a small bathroom, which contained a shower, and a single bed in the corner.

“Leave it to me to dream up something similar to a futuristic version of my shitty dorm room.” he mumbled, as he sat down on the painfully firm bed”

While waiting for his “master” to arrive, he proceeded to go over the previous events in his head. He wondered if he had some type of masochism complex due to all the figures he dreamed up showing him disregard and bossing him around.

Hopefully, “Halt Irgral” was actually alien for, “Horny Elven Princess”, but he figured based on the current theme that wasn’t too likely.

Right on cue, the door slammed open, revealing the furthest thing from his current mental image.

A very sweaty man in damaged leather armor stood in the doorway. He had pale-white skin and messy bright-red hair along with a matching dirty looking beard. His height of about one head below Zach’s 74 inches gave him a rectangular appearance due to his insanely muscular build.

Worst of all, he had a face that convinced Zach that a Pitbull and a troll had procreated and their offspring’s favorite pastime was bare-knuckle boxing.

As Halt Ingral noticed his “recruit” sizing him up, he proceeded to do the same. This piece of trash was wiry, lacking any fat, but also had little muscle definition. His face was akin to the pretty boys that failed out of warrior training.

He had dark black hair that was too clean for Halt’s taste, the only redeeming quality he had were some deep grey eyes in which Halt could vaguely sense a drive to be worth something.

However, those points weren’t important. What was important is this fool seemed to not be taking things seriously enough and worst of all he was taller.

Halt grunted in disappointment, frowning before continuing in his gravelly voice.

 “Listen up maggot, I don’t know why HQ is forcing me to waste my time trying to turn a fop into a Destroyer. But it just isn’t your lucky day because I don’t half-ass my assignments like the general trainers, and neither will you.”

As Zach listened to his condescending speech the first embers of annoyance ignited inside him.

Before addressing his “master” Zach quietly mumbled, “Wish I could’ve dreamt up someone with manners.” But before he could say anything he noticed a new vein surfacing on Halt’s head.

Feeling concerned, Zach contemplated if he had been heard as he felt the worsening atmosphere in the room.

Halt Ingral slowly started to pace towards him and before he realized it, he felt searing pain as an iron fist left a hole in his stomach which nearly tunneled through to the other side.

While watching his innards fall onto the floor Zach hit the ground. As he was rapidly losing consciousness realization hit him.

This was not a dream! However absurdly-ridiculous this situation seemed, it was real!  As he was about to lose consciousness and enter the pearly gates, he heard a dangerously-quiet voice from above.

“This isn’t some game maggot. And this certainly is not something your tiny brain dreamed up. You are my project for the next month. But don’t worry if you maintain your current performance you will be with me for even less.”

Zach felt a rough hand force his mouth open and a bottle’s contents being poured into his mouth.

A Warm feeling surfaced near his stomach before he finally lost consciousness, unwilling to accept his fate.