The greeting came out of nowhere and caught me by surprise. I’m certain that there were only five people here and all the male already gathered on this side.

When we all turned our heads to the source of sound, we saw a blueish-transparent figure standing on top of the opened treasure chest, just like a hologram from a sci-fi movie. Curiosity makes us all come to approach the figure, but we do keep a safe distance.

I noticed that the last lass had already awakened too. She’s also a beauty with black hair that shines like a polished obsidian. I quickly shifted my gaze when she glanced at me, I guess I stared too much.

Right, back to this hologram. I thought that if I’m dead then this man could be an angel, but he doesn't have wings or a golden circle over his head. Furthermore, he's looking like a man in his late fifties in an office suit complete with vest, necktie and suit jacket. Weren't angels supposed to look like young people wearing something like ancient white greek clothing?

Despite all that thought, I can’t shake the feeling that I have seen this man somewhere before.

"Just kidding, what I mean to say is 'Welcome to Troucivale'."

"Welcome to where?"

“Who are you?”

We responded to him, but he continued his speech nonchalantly.

“First of all, before any of you get your hopes high; I must inform you that this is just a magical 3D recording. So I couldn’t respond or answer your question in any possible way, but I will try to explain things elaborately”

I haven't heard about the technology of making holograms like this developed, but did he say it's magical? Magic doesn’t exist, at least on earth. What did he call this place again?

“No kidding!” Judy moaned.

“And just in case I’ll say it once again, Welcome to Troucivale, a world parallel to that of Earth”

There you go, he just said that this is not Earth. And where did I hear that Troucivale name? It sounds awfully familiar to my ear. I really wanted to ask but quickly remembered what he said about a recording. Though it’s disturbing that all we can do is to listen to what he’s about to say no matter how absurd it is.

I threw a quick glance around to see the other responses; they all have this complex expression of being confused or angry but at the same time couldn’t hide their curiosity. Well boy and girls, we’re in the same boat.

"I'm certain that some of you have seen me somewhere before" continued the hologram. "My name is Jeremiah Rockfield, or Jeremy for short. Some of you might know me as J-Rock. I'm known as the founder of Rockfield Projekt, the creator of Heroes of Troucivale, the game you have been playing right before you all were brought here"

How could I forget the name of the game that I’ve been playing, literally, everyday? In everyday conversation we called it by its abbreviation; HoT. And this J-Rock appeared on every occasion that had HoT involved.

And he already said the two important keywords; ‘parallel world’ and ‘brought here’. Is this some kind of a joke? I look around but don’t see any possible place to hide the camera, there’s only this flat stone surface where we all stood that went all the way to the edge of the forest. Did they hide the camera under the shade of the forest?

“How am I able to do that? That’s because in reality I’m actually a great sage that came from this world. Here in this world, I'm mostly known by the name of Pvitale Sorben." Jeremy said proudly.

The way he said it, Jeremy is certain that he’s some kind of bigshot here.

"I'm also famous as a Great Alchemist, the master of homunculus, the profession that allows me to secretly gather all the legacy of knowledge of this world. It also allowed me to live long enough to travel the entire world and discover lost knowledge and the existence of a parallel world which was later known by the name 'Earth'. And during my research I’m finally able to open a path to it and go over,” Sorben or Jeremy continued his monologue.

This is truly absurd.

“Like many who crossed over, I found your world fascinating and decided to settle down. I also found out that many of you are dreaming of another kind of world, a world where magic existed just like the world I came from. I’m determined to fulfill such a dream for some of you, so when everything is already possible, I created a company, and made an online game where I could select the very best of you to be sent here! So, REJOICE CHOSEN ONE!”

So the game is some kind of examination and our party graduates in flying colours by being the first to defeat the last boss? Wait, how did he find where we live in the first place? Also he mentioned that there are people before him that came to Earth from this world.

“Wait! You said that you brought us here, but this body is not mine, what happened?”

The macho man behind me asked despite knowing that he can’t answer any question. But that is what I also wanted to know.

“What about my cat?”

I think your cat will be fine, Red Hair. They can find food on their own as long as you don’t lock them up or declaw them.

“I just bought a new makeup set!”

OMG. Is that your pressing concern, Judy?

“And if you were brought here, why are you all in different bodies? Of course I’ll explained what happened about it”

Huh? He’s answering that? Didn’t he say that this is a one way communication? Coincidence? I started to have my doubts.

“You see, your original human bodies are weak and frail, and that includes you big guy. And more importantly, they are incompatible to magic. And since I wanted to fulfill your dream you need a body that can hold every burden that comes with everything I want to impart. Therefore I, as a master of homunculus, came into effect. I create and provide these homunculus bodies for you which is far more superior to your original and also even much better than other humans in this world in both terms of strength and magic compatibility. But the most important part is here”

Jeremy pointed to his own head, ”You had a brain of true genius, I made it so that it is able to receive all the memories and the knowledge that I want to put in. Your old human brain is just gonna melt if I try to put one percent of it. Without the said memories, your body wouldn’t be able to invoke any of your character skills”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Our game character skills? Really? That’s awesome! Does that dream earlier had something to do with what he did? Which means he imparts other people's memories into our head. No wonder my head felt terrible.

Wait, hold on! This is not the time for that. “What happened to our life?” I decided to ask.

“What about our family?”

Now that is a good question, silver haired girl.

“Now, now, don’t worry about your old life. Though I said that I brought you here, in reality the ‘you who are here are nothing but a copy of your souls. Your original souls and bodies were still there where you last remember them. They will wake up in the morning to continue with your original life. Or maybe it’s the other way around? The real you is here and the copy is left back on Earth continuing your life. I’m a bit forgotten, but in the end it won’t matter. Ultimately your life back on Earth will go on as usual like nothing happened and your family won’t miss you at all.”

Jeremy smiled, a wide victorious smile. He was certainly very proud of himself just like what I saw in those interviews back then.

“So no one knows that we are here?” Silver hair spoke again.

“We are stuck here? I mean, even if we could go back, would anyone recognize us in this appearance?” Macho man asked a rather rhetorical question.

I think both of them were right, even if we could go back to Earth, we would only meet with another us within our original body. Ultimately they would only treat us like a bunch of freaks or stalkers. The police will arrest and throw us into jail, then call a psychiatrist. Oh I remember how my aunty hates them.

“As proof that you are still alive back on earth, in two days time I will send something over and it will appear in this chest. So make sure that you keep it intact”

I wondered what would be sent over?

“I’m absolutely certain you won’t be disappointed with your new body, it’s perfect. It had a gorgeous look that can be compared to an Elf, although it’s just a bonus. The basic physical strength is twice compared to the strongest beastman. And had mana capacity comparable to a great dragon. And also important; it had very good metabolism so you won't turn fat no matter how much you eat”

This Jeremy guy sounds so proud of himself, I’ll have to give it to him.

"Really? I can eat all I want and won’t turn fat?" The red haired responded.

Did you really get persuaded by such trivial things?

Never mind her, I take a look at my own hand in disbelief; I have all my character skills? If I’m not mistaken the skills of my choice were Crafting, Rune Mastery and Archery. Right when I’m thinking about it, few memories come into my head, instead of my own it depicts someone else’s.

And it’s not just one, but few people, though it seems that the unimportant and private parts had been removed. But still it is worth hundreds of years of recollections. No wonder I got a headache.

The transparent Jeremy continued his speech as if he read our mind.

“But please don’t try any of your destructive skills right now, at least not in this place. Also, I know that some of you use different sex on your character so I make sure that the sex is matching your real one to prevent any inconvenient and future problems, unlike before. And in that regard, I also decided to make the homunculus to stay in human appearance.”

His choosing of words caught my mind.

“‘Unlike before’? Hold on, does that mean you already sent someone over before this? Where are they now? What happened to them?”

I tried to ask but he ignored it.

“I’m not burdening you with any objective so you all can live freely in this world; roam the world, conquer it if you want or you might stay here and be shut in for the next one thousand years. It’s your choice to make.”

Jeremy grinned from ear to ear, there must be something he’s been hiding. Hold on, be a shut-in for one thousand years? Why a thousand years? What the hell does he mean by that?

“But if you decide to go out for an adventure, I try to make it more exciting by making sure that none of your memories contain any knowledge about this land, such as the people who live here, the countries nor their culture. After all, my memories about this world should be outdated.”

“And don’t use the game as reference. I assure you that it's completely different, excluding the beasts,” His rambles continued.

“And if there is anything that I would request of you; please don’t let the Orcs conquer this world as they would treat other races as nothing more than livestocks, it would turn out to be a disaster. Oh well, there’s this time limit, you’ll be able to find more explanation within the book I will send later. And you may use the cabin and anything else you find there, it’s all yours now. Have a great life and farewell”

"Wait! Hold on!”

With that the hologram vanished and left us on our own. We are trying our best to digest all of the information we received and look at each other and aren't sure of what to say or do. I felt that I needed to say something to break the silence.

“Um, according to what he said, I think we’re supposed to be in the same HoT’s party. But I think another introduction would be fine I guess?”

None responded to my suggestion, but at least they no longer dwell within their own thoughts and turned their heads to me. So I decided to continue.

"Right, my name is Will. In the game I’m the one called Coolpaste, your very own archer truly,” I bow slightly, presenting myself like those gentleman knights. A bit dramatic but I always want to try it at least once.

“Bryan!” The red haired man replied after a couple of seconds. “Or you can call me Leonid.”

Leonid in the game was a large Red Dragonite, it’s that why he’s given a slightly large body builder body with red skin and flaming red hair in addition to that?

“I’m Silverd, but I prefer to be called Judy.”

“Sure, let’s go with that”

“Nice to meet you, Judy” I said to our precious elf mage. No wonder Jeremy prepared a silver haired homunculus for her.

“I’m Hiliveth” the red haired girl introduced herself. “My real name; Olive.”

Oh, our healer druid priest. Without her powerful support we couldn’t even dream of reaching the last boss.

And that left us with the last person.

“Which means you are...”

“Akiko, a.k.a. Thordin,” the petite girl replied.

The Thordin that we know is a robust male Dwarf, our proud tank who’ll absorb all punishment without ever taking a step back from any kind of attack. Her petite and cute appearance ruined all our image about the character, to think that she received the same skill set. Now I understand what Jeremy said about different sex characters, it would be hell for her to be awakened in a male body.

“No wonder you never spoke in the game”

“Yeah, since she used male character with such ferocity I really thought she also a guy in real life”

“Can you also do the stuff? I mean being a tank?”

“Don’t let her appearance deceive you, if what Jeremy said is true then she surely had the same stats and skills” Judy tried to brush off our doubt.

“Well, we still have to wait to proof that”

“Hey, Thordin, since you are shorter than any of us here, does that mean that you are also short in real life? Sorry, I mean no offense.”

Bryan’s question does make sense, compared to the rest of us she is way shorter. Leonid is the tallest and biggest of any of us. I’m only as tall as his chin. The other two girls have the same height, about my ear. While Thordin way shorter, she’s about as tall as my chest.

“More or less I’m as tall as this” Akiko replied with an indifferent tone, she couldn’t care less it seems.

Our conversation died down.

“So what do we do now?” I asked a question.

“He mentioned a cabin,” Said Silverd. “I really like to think that he prepared the place for us to take a shelter and rest until he sent us the proof, so let’s find it”

She’s our leader in the game and looks like going to be one here also.

“Over here”

Thordin’s voice came from the edge of the slab, when did she move there?

We all came over and found sets of rectangular slabs serving as footpaths heading to the woods. It probably led us to the cabin.

“Should we?”

“Do we have any other choice?” Silverd asked though she already knows the answer. “Let’s go!”

The two words that I heard more than once in the game, and the petite Thordin didn’t hesitate at all, she went down first. Leonid follows closely behind her, then Silverd and Hiliveth respectively and me as the archer in the rear. That is our rank order when entering any narrow pass which looks suspicious, we’re doing it unconsciously like we were in the game.