Getting out of your comfort zone was difficult! Especially since you have no idea what to expect. Even the most prepared suffer from the unknown.

The young Viga was now standing at the front door, preparing himself for the next step that he was about to take. facing the door, he was asking himself if he was prepared enough to venture outside.

The first time he was here, he hid himself in the closet. Venturing outside, would he find an available closet to hide in? But if he did not venture outside, would he really lock himself in this house? He was now at the precipice and questioning himself about whether he really needed to jump off the cliff, not knowing if the cliff was high enough to kill him when he landed or if he would land on some hard ground or in a pile of blankets.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. He really can't just stay inside the house; of course he can, but isn't this defeating the purpose of having this ability to travel in this bizarre world? of course not; he can still use this ability to study.

But is having this ability really just for studying alone? Can he even call this an ability? He can't even control when to travel to this bizarre world; he just gets whisked away every time this ability kicks in, without even noticing, except when he dreams of the valiant man.

Well, he really wouldn't know unless he tried. There was even a 13-year-old boy in one of the books that he read who started having an adventure of his own, but yeah, he was surrounded by great people in that story, and yeah, he was at school, and yeah, there was magic; but me, nevermind.

He checked again in his mind to see if he had already brought everything that he thought he might need; it was in his backpack that he uses when he goes to school. With the toy pistols at his waist and the plastic sword at his back.

"I guess it's now or never." he muttered as he took a deep breath and opened the door.

The moment he went outside, he saw how different the sky appeared in comparison to the real world; it appeared as though he were seeing a kaleidescope. It was the first time he noticed it, as he hadn't even tried to glance out the windows throughout all of the times he had been here. The surroundings' color made it seem as though you were in an endless twilight.

Looking around, he noticed that everything he saw in the real world was also here in the bizarre world. But like all the things around the house, there was a lot of change that happened outside. Some of the houses were in a dilapidated state with a dark mist that surrounded them, some looked newly painted and even glowing, and most were just normal-looking houses as they are in the real world.

Given that this was his neighborhood, he was familiar with all of these homes. His pal was residing in one of the dilapidated homes that was surrounded by a thick layer of black mist. He was aware that his friend's family was not doing well because of the constant arguing between his parents, which could be heard from across the street.

On the other hand, the house that was glowing and appeared to have been freshly painted was also his friend's; this friend's family was living in harmony. While other of the ordinary-looking residences he knew were just folks or families going about their daily lives.

Perhaps one of the reasons some of the houses are in disrepair and covered in black mist is because the residents don't have lives worth living, as opposed to the other house that was glowing and appeared to have recently been painted because its residents did. And the ordinary-looking residences—perhaps they just simply felt content? Or was there something else?

After making a quick scan of his surroundings. He considered going to this glowing house first to check it out and decided to inspect the dilapitated house last because it appeared eerie.

He felt the warmth of the glowing house as he approached it. He felt some kind of joy and a bit of assurance as the glow hit him. He stopped for a while to try and enjoy this feeling.

Then it dawned on him that he never experienced this at home. When he turned to look at his own house, it didn't have this kind of glow; instead, it appeared regular, like most of the house in this bizzare world. Knowing that his family did not live in the same manner as the family in this glowing house made him depressed. He decided that he would try to do better for his family.

He felt that it would not be easy, but he was determined to try. He had grown up in a tough neighborhood, where poverty were the norm. His parents had worked hard to provide for him and his siblings, but they had always struggled to make ends meet. He had seen firsthand the sacrifices they had made to keep the family afloat, and it had left a deep impression on him.

After a few more moments of contemplation, he returns his attention to his task. He continued his way to the glowing house. He only stopped at the front yard, trying to examine the house from there. As he stood in the front yard, the glow seemed to be emanating from every corner of the house.

Since it was his friends' home, they wouldn't mind if Viga was only looking around the front yard, he won't do anything more than look about the yard and possibly peer out the window. Attempting to enter the house was insane on his part. He wouldn't do that, of course; he was raised properly by his mother and wouldn't go into someone else's house. It was inappropriate for him to enter someone else's home even though no one was there. It's already trespassing to simply be standing here in the front yard.

As he examined the front yard, he found the flowers and shrubbery to be in full bloom, vibrant, and full of life. The vibrant hues of the petals and leaves seemed to dance in the gentle breeze, creating a serene and peaceful atmosphere. He couldn't help but feel a sense of joy and gratitude as he took in the natural beauty that surrounded him. As he continued to look around, he noticed that even the smallest details, such as the delicate veins on the leaves and the intricate patterns on the petals, were perfectly crafted. It was as if every element of nature was working together in harmony to create something this beautiful.

Even if they seem similar and were planted in the same location, he was aware that this was not the same as what had been planted in the real world. It was also not the mistress of the house's doing, though perhaps she had part of it? As he had already seen these plants while visiting his friend and on the way home.

Satisfying his curiosity around the front yard, he then proceeded towards the window. As he walked towards the window, he kept looking at the door; it seemed another part of him wanted to go inside, but he stopped this urge, thinking that peeking out the window would suffice.

He tried climbing up the window sill to peek inside the window, but what he saw disappointed him. Through the window glass, all that could be seen was pure black; it was as if something was preventing him from peeking inside. Frustrated, he stepped down from the window and pondered whether he really needed to go through the door, but better judgment prevailed and he decided not to do it.

Deciding that it was enough, he finished his exploration and then proceeded to check the dilapidated house. As he felt that the normal-looking house would be just the same as his, he would just go there to explore sometime later just to see the difference.

As Viga went to the house that was in a dilapidated state, he kept looking around, trying not to miss anything. As soon as he left the range of the glow of the house, his feelings went back to normal; he no longer felt the warmth and assurance. And as he drew near the dilapidated house, he started having a different kind of feeling. You can feel different kinds of emotion; if the glow on the previous house gave warmth, here what can be felt is sorrow, anger, and something gloomy, and instead of assurance, what can be experienced here is resignation.

Viga noticed something moving beyond the garbage bin. It looks like someone was crouching and searching for something. He can hear the rustle of some of the things he thought he was familiar with. Viga's heart raced as he approached the bin. Viga was thinking that he was finally not alone in this bizarre world. He was getting excited just thinking about it, so he stepped up his phase.

When Viga was finally close enough to see what was moving beyond the garbage bin, what he saw was some sort of animal; it looked closer to a rat as big as a cat. When the animal heard him approaching, it looked at him with its big, red pupils. The rat has some patches of its fur missing, its tail was hairy and as big as a small snake, and it is wrinkly and leathery like. It has big, sharp front teeth that seem like they could bite through steel. Its claws were also sharp, and there was some gooey substance around its claw. The rat was completely black and emitted a dark mist.

The rat stopped what it was doing and stared at him for a long time, then it started drooling at him. It squeaked loudly, as if it was ecstatic about what it saw. Then it started pacing sideways while keeping its stare at Viga, then it jumped up and down in its place a couple of times, then paced again. It was really ecstatic.

Viga was rooted to his spot when he finally saw the rat. His curiosity and eagerness to see another person, or so he thought, brought him into this situation. There was panic that could be seen in his eyes.

The rat stopped its pacing, and then, as if it were readying itself, it lunged at Viga so fast that he almost had no time to react. Viga crossed his arms in front of his chest just in time to block the claw swipe of the rat. His arms were slashed by the claw swipe, but what was strange was that the slash didn't cut any wounds at his arms; instead, it was as if the part of his skin underneath was swiped away as if being erased.

Then he felt the pain he had never felt before. A pain not in a physical level but much more on an emotional and mental level. It was a deep, soul-wrenching ache that seemed to consume him from the inside out. He had experienced physical pain before, but this was different—it felt like something was being ripped out of his arms.

Then the realization hit him: he would not survive this encounter if he didn't do something about this situation. He wanted to run away at first, but he figured out that he cannot do so as the rat is much faster than him, he was unable to outrun it given the speed it displayed in its lunge. He knew what he was supposed to do: confront this rat and work through the pain if he ever hoped to survive.

He used the inertia of being pushed by the swipe to roll sideways and then stayed in a kneeling position while facing the rat. He then immediately pulled his pistols while bearing the pain on his arms and pointed the barrel at the rat, pulling both triggers.

“BANG!” the pistols created a firework sound that made the rat stop for a moment stunned. Good thing that his pistol works in this world even if it is just to make a sound.

He then dropped the pistols, and immediately removed his backpack from his back and threw it away. He stood up afterward and quickly backed away. He didn't know what he was doing, but it felt right to do so at the moment. He was always like this in every dangerous situation that he encountered. His body will always react by itself; his mind will then be calm after the initial shock and quick to understand the situation he is in, then it will go into overdrive.

Analyzing every detail and calculating the best course of action, his eyes were darting around the surrounding area, trying to find something that could be useful. Finding nothing, he drew his sword at his back and positioned himself at ready. The rat, after shaking its head awake from the stun that it got from the sound, finally faced the prey that it missed; it stared at him again and squealed delightedly.

Viga held his sword in both hands, position at the ready, and stared back at the rat, then he smiled.

”Round two?” Viga said