Intro Part 2: Transmigration.

The sensation of shaking stirred Jace from his slumber. Warmth surrounded him, comforting and lulling him with the desire to return to his peaceful rest. A rest that would have gone undisturbed for a great while longer if not for the shaking intensifying with the distant sound of thunder. ‘Hm…is it raining?’

He slowly came to and tried to open his eyes, only to be met with darkness. He tried to remove whatever was covering his face yet couldn’t feel his limbs. ‘What the hell?’

He tried to shout yet no sound escaped his throat as panic started to seep in.

"Easy, young man. You are perfectly fine; calm yourself."

Jace’s mind was hit by a wave of soothing energy, settling his panicking instincts and bringing clarity and focus to the fore.

"There we go. We don't have much time, and I need you to be attentive to what I have to say."

Jace tried to move his lips but found them unresponsive, yet whoever was talking managed to hear the questions on his mind just fine. ‘Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?'

"Right to the point then. My name is complicated, but you may refer to me as Elm for simplicity's sake.’

Jace’s mind flashed back to that email.

[Sincerely, Elm]

An aged chuckle resounded as the voice continued. “Yes, I sent the email. And it leads to your next question. You are currently in transit between dimensions while being transmigrated.”

‘Say what now?’

“It may help you come to terms if you see for yourself. I’ll remove the restriction over your eyes, but please aim your gaze toward my voice. I’m afraid wandering looks at a dimensional tunnel may shatter your sanity in your current state.”

Jace hesitated at the warning, but before he could respond, the sensation of cloth sliding off his face traveled through him as a kaleidoscope of colors pierced the darkness.

“Follow my voice, Mr. Mace. Do not seek the source of the lights.”

Jace did so, wildly out of his depth and trying to make sense of it all. He looked ahead and blinked to make sure he was seeing things right as he came upon the sight of a simple man appearing extremely out of place in his surroundings.

The man was tall, bald, middle-aged with a goatee, and wearing a turquoise robe while sitting on a cushion at a Turkish-style floor table. If that was all, it wouldn't be so jarring, except the man had pupils of shifting silver lights, thick rectangular eyebrows, and he looked like he bench pressed freight trains in his free time.

Even with a full body robe on, his muscles seemed to have muscles. ‘He looks like a bald version of Hayato Furinji from Kenichi.’

The large man gave Jace a moment to take it all in before inclining his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you face to face, Mr. Mace."

Jace dutifully stared at him, trying to drown out the desire to peek at the colors flashing in his surroundings, and cleared his throat. “Likewise…..what is happening, Elm?”

“In simple terms, you’ve been hired.”

“Hired for what? And why can’t I move?”

Rather than verbally respond, the older man calmly pointed toward Jace’s chest, making Jace look down and gape at what he found.

He had no body. Or rather, his form was seemingly made of billowing dark smoke. He was immaterial and yet still humanoid in shape.

“What the fuck?" The enforced calm kept him from panicking, but it did nothing for his bewilderment as he tried to pat his chest only to feel nothing. His body simply wavered in ripples of shifting smoke under his wide eyes. “Is this a dream?”

“Not at all, but you know that already.” Elm’s assured voice rang through his psyche, and Jace seemed to just know it was real. It was like the thought was being imprinted in his mind in a way beyond his understanding to force away any doubts of it being anything but his current reality.

The feeling was calming, ancient, patient, and undoubtable. And Jace didn't like it. "Can you please stop messing with my head? I can't tell what's really me or if it's something you’re putting in my mind.”

Elm gave him an understanding nod. "My apologies, but it’s simply a result of you speaking to someone of my standing. When such a vast divide exists between our existences, my intentions speak through my words. You can consider it a higher language.”

“Can you turn it off?”

“I cannot.” Elm chuckled and went on. “It might be a bit unpleasant, but we must hurry this process along, and it saves time knowing I am not lying to you.” He gestured with his chin toward the tunnel around them. "The transfer process already began and it cannot be slowed. I am only halting your lesser emotions and focusing your mind to its optimal state. Upon arrival, you may take your time to digest the emotional upheaval of these events at your own discretion.”

Once more, the words rang with truth and Jace couldn’t doubt them. He also understood he had no power here and that getting answers was better than making demands.

“Fine. So, what is…all this?” He felt like a broken record with the question, but thankfully Elm understood he was just looking for clarification.

Elm raised a hand to rub his bald head. “Well, this is employment. Your application was processed and approved. Initialization began as soon as you fell asleep.”

A chilling feeling spread through Jace as those words connected to the night before. “You mean that weird dream I had was real?”

“Indeed. Although it was no dream. You filled out the application form and submitted it. You chose this path without being forced into it.”

A thousand thoughts flashed through Jace's mind, and he responded with the first thing that jumped to the front. "Employment for what?"

Elm flashed him a small smile. "That answer requires a bit of context. You see, I am an overseer, or manager, of the dimension known as Earth and the branching paths that result from it.” He waved a hand as a projection of a tree appeared above his palm. “Earth is the trunk with deep roots.” Branches grew off the tree and wildly spread in all directions. “Worlds birthed from the collective consciousness of millions of beings on Earth branch off, becoming true realities with their own laws.”

The branches spread out, some stopping short, others going off into the distance, some intertwining, others combining, and many creating branches of their own.

Elm radiated warmth as he gazed at the projection. “You may think of me as a gardener. Most branches stop growing on their own, split off entirely in a different direction, or die off. It's my responsibility to watch over this growing tree, help it reach its full potential, and snip the branches that begin to rot, or if possible, treat them so they can heal. That’s the part where you come in.”

Jace felt himself swallow despite having no body as he responded. “Why don’t you just wave your hands and fix the issue by yourself?”

“Because the cost would be too high.” Elm answered simply as he waved away the projection. “I am powerful, but not all-powerful, nor all-knowing. I have no way of knowing if a dimension is rotting until it is usually too late. And while I possess the power to snip these branches, it would waste millennia of energy from the growth of the tree. Instead, I prefer to hire employees who will work alongside me to locate and deal with the rot from the inside, allowing me to heal the damage rather than prune the entire branch. Are you still with me, Mr. Mace?”

With his darker emotions repressed under a forced calm, Jace was indeed following along. "You're a manager of dimensions. Some go bad. Rather than spend a costly price to restart them, you prefer to use less power to hire employees to cut out the rot so you can heal the dimensions."

Elm clapped his hands in calm joy like a beaming, if incredibly buff, uncle that could crush steel by flexing. “Precisely. I often have a few dozen to a hundred employees running around dealing with things that crop up, but it is a great challenge to find those who fit the mold and skillset I require.”

Jace blinked at that. “Mold?”

"Mhm." Elm hummed and rubbed a hand through his short beard. "There are rules I must follow as well. I cannot hire from souls with sadistic tendencies, revenge-infused beings, those with hero fantasies, and so on. My criteria must belong to those who wholeheartedly wish for more from their existence, yet not those who seek power for good or evil. A little bit of either is perfectly fine, but power only works to bring out the strongest qualities in individuals to greater and greater extents. And as time has taught, too much of a personality shift in either direction always ends badly.”

Jace could see the logic in that. “And I fit this mold you’re looking for?”

“You do.” Elm smiled in honest joy. “You crave adventure, life, nature, the hunt, companionship, and a challenge worthy of your efforts. Your heart holds no desire for cruelty nor to change the world based on your views yet retains the will to follow through with either action if necessary.” He took on a fond look for a moment before continuing. “And the applicant must apply of free will. I am not allowed to force a soul past its natural end without permission, nor am I allowed to make my offer to a soul that has passed away. The death gods did not take kindly to the last overseer who removed souls from the great wheel for such jobs." The last line came out in a grumble as the older man stared out into the distance.

Jace suddenly felt dozens of Isekai novels flash through his mind and soon had confirmation as Elm muttered slightly loud enough for Jace to hear. “Can’t even accidentally kill people anymore. They keep tightening all the loopholes these days.”

Jace coughed uncomfortably. “Right. This might seem rude, but is this slavery? Can I refuse whatever this is?”

It was Elm’s turn to blink as he quickly waved a hand. “No, no, it’s nothing like slavery at all." The older man snapped his fingers once more as a rolled-up parchment appeared between the two.

It unfolded, and Jace suddenly saw the RPG form he filled out before, with his avatar, status, questionnaire, and chosen Class of Summoner.

Elm allowed him a moment to confirm the contents before speaking. "This is employment; each of your questions was tailored to understand parts of your true nature by hiding them under the guise of a fantasy game. It is not slavery. I assure you of that. You will be paid quite handsomely for your time, but you answered these questions without any input from me or others. And if at any time you wish to quit, you may simply say it, and I shall return your soul to the great wheel."

“I didn’t know it was real. I thought it was a game.”

“And yet you filled it out thoroughly. Very few are ever accepted, even among the few who are given the offer in the first place."

Jace looked up from the parchment with complicated eyes. “I can’t be returned to my normal life then?”

Elm gave him a sympathetic shake of his head. "My apologies, but that's impossible. When the offer said, 'Leave it all behind,' it was literal. The moment you were taken from your world, your identity was erased."

A surge of emotion rose before being crushed once more under the calming effect, and Jace's cool gaze rested on Elm's understanding one. The older man flicked a finger, and Jace suddenly felt a trickle of emotion seep back into him as he gasped at the churning feelings. As if a piece of himself he never knew was lost was returned to him.

"It was not my intention to be cruel to you, Mr. Mace, but it is not the time to grieve just yet. I am a being with a job, and managing my employees is part of it. You chose to come, so I cannot revoke your actions. However, you have nothing to fear from death. Earth has many primitive concepts of death, but the end is never truly the end, and it is not some cold, unforgiving hell. If you wish to quit, the door is always open, and you may find peace. I shall not force nor threaten you into compliance."

Jace felt awash in emotions at everything going on, yet his feelings of panic and fear were still pushed down. It felt like an insane fever dream, and a tiny part of him wondered if his stress had pushed him into a coma. Still, the more significant part of him was constantly assaulted by the feeling of truth coming from Elm’s words and knew this was reality.

“My family. They don’t remember me?”

Elm shook his head. "I delayed the process slightly so your father would hear your final message. He got it loud and clear before the rules washed away your existence from Earth. And I will add that he was delighted to receive your message. I assure you everyone who knew you was saved the emotional pain and that your family will all live to meet their natural ends."

Complicated emotions pounded through Jace’s mind, but as logic pierced itself together, along with the eased-up calming energy from Elm, Jace slowly accepted the situation for what it was. He had long since parted from his family, even while alive, and at least he got to send a final message before it ended.

A part of him mourned the loss, but another was mature enough to accept it.

It wasn't easy, and he would need time to fully come to terms with it, but for the moment, he could push past it with something else to focus on.

Jace’s gaze refocused on Elm’s patient one. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course. You deserved to know.”

Just then, the space around them rumbled, and Elm looked up with a frown. "We're over halfway there. I'm afraid the time for idle talk has passed, Mr. Mace.”

Jace resisted the strong urge to look at the tunnel, heeding the man’s earlier warning, and nodded. “Thanks for letting my father hear my message, Elm. I’ve read of many ways this scenario could go in books, and you have been more than polite so far.”

The older man inclined his head with a chuckle. “Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.” He straightened up and waved a hand toward the parchment on the table. “Please confirm the contents of your character sheet.”

Jace studied the parchment for a moment, seeing everything he filled in on the website for his character design and Summoner class be listed, along with the questionnaire. “I assume the character build I made is related to this job I’m here for?”

Elm’s eyes lit up. “Indeed! Although it’s to both of our benefits. After all, no proper job comes without benefits.” He pointed at the details. “I cannot simply gift you great power. That’s also against the rules I’m held to, but what I can do is plant a seed and allow you to grow your own power. I tailored your application toward your interests, and as I’m aware, you have a love for these adventure RPG games, correct?”

A trace of childish excitement rose in Jace’s own eyes as he grunted in agreement.

"Wonderful. It's difficult pairing different packages to different possible employees, but I manage enough dimensions to get a bit of everything. There are very few humans among my employees as well. You lot have great potential but always seem to die early on."

Jace twitched at the mention of other dimensions but paused at the last bit. “So I can still die if I take the job?”

"Yes." Elm stared straight into his eyes as he spoke the following words. "I am not granting you great power, nor immortality, nor the powers of a god. I plant seeds, that is all. You are responsible for growing that seed into a sapling if you wish to make something of yourself. Your life shall be treated like any other in the dimensions you travel. If you die, you return to the Great Wheel, and I will do nothing to stop that. If you succeed and gain much, I will still do nothing to stop that. I shall only act if you cause enough damage to impact an entire dimension. I am fair, Mr. Mace, very fair. No one is given exceptions, not even me.”

Jace felt the conviction in the man’s words and nodded slowly. “Understood. No do-overs. Nothing has changed from before there. I’m assuming the seed I’m being given is this RPG system?”

The older man returned to a smile and seemed to pull a steaming cup out of thin air as he answered. "Correct. There is no theoretical cap to how high you can grow. You could even reach my level if you lasted long enough. There will be endless challenges ahead, and benchmarks to cross, but your fate is in your own hands, and I shall not impede your growth." He wagged a finger to make a point. "Nor shall I aid you."

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The idea of seeing life through a game character enticed Jace, but he kept a level head to focus. “Where will I go? You said I was being transmigrated.”

Elm took a sip and waved a hand. "Eventually, there are many dimensions that you will visit for work, but first, you must pass an…internship, so to speak.”

Jace blinked in surprise at that. “An internship? Seriously?”

A chuckle bubbled out of Elm’s chest as he ran his free hand through his beard. “Very serious. You are currently far too weak to be of assistance to me. If I sent you on a regular job right now, you would be the equivalent of using a single acorn to stop a flood.” He took a sip and went on calmly. “Yet if you are able to grow, you can become a mighty tree that halts that flood in its place.”

“So you’re giving me time to grow?” Jace asked curiously.

“Among other things.” Elm responded with a hum.

Jace thoughtfully narrowed his eyes at that answer; there was always a stick with a carrot. “It’s a test, isn’t it?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Elm ran a finger over the rim of his glass with a hum. “An internship grants you a ten-year grace period. Within that time, you can use it to live as you like. Grow strong or remain weak; that is your choice. But once the time is up, work will come calling, and you will perish if you are not strong enough to handle it.”

‘And there’s the stick.’ Jace wasn’t bothered by the terms. Ten years was a long time. “Will I be able to take others with me?” Who knows if he fell in love, had a family, or found friends he couldn’t imagine leaving behind.

“Yes and no.” Elm raised two fingers. “Each employee is given the ability to freely travel between dimensions they have already visited. As long as you complete the initial job that sent you there, you are free to travel at your leisure in your downtime. The ability to take others along with you is a reward you can earn."

That seemed fair to Jace’s mind. You worked, you played; that's how life always was. ‘Except on this scale, both the work and play are at much higher grades than what I experienced before.’ He nodded his head to the older man and went on. “Where will the internship take place?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Elm snapped his fingers as a projection of a planetary globe appeared above his palm with three moons hovering around it. “The planet is called Atrox, and it will be your home for the next decade.”

Jace stared at the projection in fascination; seeing a whole new world being presented to him and knowing it was real was a unique experience. “Atrox? Kind of morbid of a name, isn’t it?”

Elm chuckled and sipped his drink calmly. “Indeed it is, it had a different name not too long ago. This planet has a unique design. It is three times the size of your Earth, and it has more land than water at a 70/30 split. The mountains climb higher, the oceans run deeper, the gravity hits harder, and the ecosystem is intertwined with dense mana, causing the world to be stripped barren of natural life, so expect something as simple as a tree to be much tougher than you remember. And all that is only the tip of the iceberg.”

[ image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462212524179567/image.png?ex=660b63af&is=65f8eeaf&hm=3e0efc901379ddbd7bd20ade91b1c04e696682cd4be02c717a382adf70ba36fa&=]]

He spun the globe, showing off a singular, massive, barren continent that stretched all the way around the planet with bodies of water to each side. "The reason for the planet's current name is due to the surface world. It's a massive land with apocalyptic weather patterns and filled with monsters of all strengths roaming as they please. From Orc Kingdoms to wandering Dragons, Minotaur tribes, Vampire colonies, and more. It's a world filled with conflict and survival of the fittest."

The globe magnified to an enormous scale as it zoomed in rapidly, showing off an apocalyptic-looking world to Jace's eyes.

[

image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462212838625340/image.png?ex=660b63b0&is=65f8eeb0&hm=3016743493ece07d0c96edb12689ae2e09b929b79796c5cf00e095739d388c36&=]image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462213123833958/image.png?ex=660b63b0&is=65f8eeb0&hm=4d06c63b2be9542ee7af14981d0a9a9fe7f111821c8ccf51a330513d5d5630c2&=]image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462213660708884/image.png?ex=660b63b0&is=65f8eeb0&hm=92695057232759d27886a066e178fb456a97ada4c3dae3f11ee07c8b414e91f9&=]image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462213417566332/image.png?ex=660b63b0&is=65f8eeb0&hm=89ad3300b049e61aae90b0f353d7c244ba19e4cf74d7be6f5edf9fa1f3ca2862&=] ]

Endless deserts. Mountain chains that went on into the distance piercing the skies like monoliths. Burning zones surrounding volcanos, belching smoke and ash in waves. Spots with lightning falling like rain. Blackened lands filled with undead.

“And I’m supposed to start out there?” Jace asked incredulously. It was a hellish landscape relatable only to the most apocalyptic of games Jace had ever played, and the idea of getting sent there was not amusing.

Thankfully, Elm shook his head with a chuckle. “No, I wouldn’t do that to you; your Class choice shall result in a harsh beginning, but the surface world is a death sentence to the current you.”

He pointed his finger at the land as hundreds of glowing dots appeared across the continent. “This world encourages growth through game-like mechanics. These dots you see are what are collectively known as ‘Monoliths’ among the intelligent races of the planet.”

The image zoomed in even more to show an impact zone that looked as if a meteorite had crash-landed and indented the earth. At the center of the crater, a rectangular pillar of solid black stone rose dozens of feet into the air from where it was planted deep into the earth.

"These Monoliths can be found around the planet, creating level zones in a sphere around them." Elm flicked the image as the shimmer of a barrier, almost like a bubble, appeared in a sphere covering the crater the Monolith was in. "They restrict access to the space around the Monoliths to those below certain level ranges.”

The years of game development experience in Jace rose up at that as he mentally rubbed his chin. "Is it to stop over-leveled people from abusing whatever benefit it provides?"

“Correct.” Elm expanded the image to the Monoliths for closer inspection. “Although that’s only half the answer. It’s also to stop monsters from taking advantage of things as well.” The image zoomed even more until, to Jace’s surprise, it seemed to push through the Monoliths and come out somewhere completely different.

Unlike the world before, full of desolation, the one he saw now looked like a floating city-sized space filled with a dense rainforest, a blue sky, and clouds at the edges of the city.

“What the hell?”

Elm chuckled at Jace's bewildered expression and answered. "What you see is a jungle Biome. Monoliths are actually ‘Gateways’ leading to completely self-contained biomes. They come in many sizes, from small caves to massive bodies of land that could match the area you know as Australia. These spaces are filled with monsters from three sources. Those from the surface world who wander in. Those bred inside from existing monsters. And those who escape from the dungeon deeper within each Biome."

The image of the expansive rainforest zoomed in even further until they reached the center, where a smaller Monolith covered in roots, compared to the Monolith outside, stood tall. “The dungeon is a space within a space. For reference, people call them Dungeon Monoliths. Some dungeons are filled with a singular type of monster spread out among the level gap, others have a singular guardian at the height of the level gap, and others still hold mazes, challenges, and trials to overcome. They are quite varied in design.”

The image on the projection spun through dozens of biomes under Jace’s shining eyes. “What’s the point of a separate space? Why not make the entire Biome the dungeon?”

Elm shrugged with raised palms. “This is simply how the world is. The surface world is uninhabitable by any but the strongest. And while the dungeons exist, monsters will still continue to flock to these biomes from the outside. The biomes themselves are perfectly habitable with all kinds of landscapes and intelligent species have come to inhabit them and form their own civilizations.”

“Are they all occupied by intelligent species?”

“Not at all.” Elm shook his head sadly. “They occupy perhaps 10% of the known Monoliths, while the rest are inhabited only by monsters. Most of those species are holed up in large biomes, defending their walls fiercely after eradicating the monster populations inside and creating tribes, kingdoms, and empires for their people to flourish. The majority of them have never even stepped out of the Biome they were born into, living entire lives without accomplishing much of anything."

“Can’t they just level up? Or am I the only one with a Class system?”

"No, the Class system is available to all." Elm shook his head firmly. "The matter of things is that most individuals falter under the face of adversity. The world of Atrox is both fair and strict. EXP is earned based on contribution. While you can form parties to face challenges, EXP is not shared with those who do not contribute, and it dwindles the more people there are in the party. Further, there are many ways to lose EXP, which while not life threatening, is a painful process, so it further degrades the drive of many to progress. On top of that, there are a dozen other reasons that contribute to the harshness of the world ahead." The older man's silvery gaze stared deep into Jace's amber pools. "Strength is earned on Atrox, Mr. Mace. Failure comes at a cost. There are no shortcuts. Please make sure you understand that.”

Jace swallowed reflexively under the heavy presence Elm managed to convey with the final line. “Understood, sir.”

The heaviness faded as soon as it appeared under the bald man’s smile. “No need for the sir, young man. I was just making a point. Please feel free to continue calling me by name.”

"R-right." The mood swing took Jace off guard, but he firmed up and focused back on the subject. "So the world takes back EXP if you fail? That's a rare design usually only seen when you can die and respawn." Some games had features like that. If you died, you would respawn with the loss of a level at a checkpoint in a safe space.

“I never said it happened when you died. It happens when you flee from Dungeons or fail a trial.” Elm vanished the projection in the air and took another sip of his drink. “Dungeons, once entered, must be completed. However, at certain points, you will find…”

A rumble like an intense earthquake passed through the tunnel, cutting off whatever Elm was planning to say. He looked up with an unpleasant expression and muttered just loud enough for Jace to hear. “Tsk, idiotic rules.”

The bald man returned his gaze to Jace with an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I have spoken too much. There are things I can and can’t say in order to keep things fair.” He snapped his fingers as a projection of a floating neon blue tetragonal crystal. “These are what are known as Knowledge Crystals. They are limited to the space of your starting Biome, spread out among the area for a total of twelve crystals. Each crystal will contain a single piece of information on the world that will be of use to you.”

[ image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/792095442053496832/1219462213908168865/image.png?ex=660b63b0&is=65f8eeb0&hm=fbe4aa383ed2ab6590dac567ebd1e3d6d13dcb50a27e8b74bc30ddc63cc6c14a&=]]

“What happens if I leave my starting biome without finding all of them?”

“Then they will vanish. I’m afraid this is only a starting privilege of the internship package.”

Jace nodded calmly at the answer. ‘I’d rather have answers now, but a side-quest isn’t the worst thing in the world. I beat every side quest in Skyrim before even touching the main quest.’ He internally chuckled at the thought before externally responding. “I understand. Thank you for trying.”

“I appreciate your understanding.” Elm seemed to sag a bit. “I would rather you know everything before I send you out, but rules exist for a reason." A calmer rumble passed through the tunnel, and Elm put his cup away with a sigh. “We are approaching the end of our time together, Jace. So forgive me for rushing things.”

The older man reached down to the unrolled parchment of the application on the table and pressed a palm to it. Black smoke exploded from beneath his palm and rapidly took form into an exact copy of Jace’s character, down to the last detail that he specified on his character creation sheet, except one.

He was still 5’11. The rest of him was 95% similar to his body before, with simple cosmetic changes to his features along with a pair of briefs covering his privates. He wasn't the most athletic of people; sitting behind a desk for years on end will do that to a guy, but he was still relatively fit from his hiking and camping trips for a twenty-four-year-old man.

The new body followed Elm’s hand as he approached Jace's immaterial form. "The seed holding the RPG system and the grimoire that would have been planted in you would have destroyed your last body, so we must give you a new one. I took the liberty of halting the extra height growth until you begin gaining levels. This way, it will grow naturally without throwing off your balance and coordination."

The rumbling of the tunnel around them began to grow in intensity as they approached their destination, and the sudden realization of being at the end of a tightrope, a step away from the abyss, began to shake the enforced calm over Jace’s mind.

He looked up at the bald man who had been nothing but helpful since he awoke with a complicated gaze. “I still have so many questions.”

Elm nodded understandingly and reached forward with his free hand to grip Jace’s shoulder. Even through the immaterial state of his body, he felt the firm touch. “I know. I had hoped I could say more, but we must deal with what we have. Find the Knowledge Crystals; they will provide you with what you truly want to know."

Jace swallowed down his feelings of unease and forced himself to focus on the bright side of things. There would be a lot to deal with when he arrived and his emotions were unleashed, but for the time being, he knew that he would gladly accept this strange new fate of his. He craved a life, if not just like this, then slightly different but still along the same wavelength his whole life, and now he had that chance.

All kinds of things flowed through his mind at the moment, yet at the very end, only one thing managed to force itself to the front. “Can you at least tell me what my new job title would be?”

Elm blinked in surprise before his lips quirked up into an amused smirk. “I didn’t choose it, but at some point, my employees came to refer to themselves as ‘Cleaners’, because they were basically a higher dimensional cleaning service. Simple and to the point.”

Jace’s overheating mind froze all at once.

“…Cleaners?” Jace deadpan expression said it all. “Did I seriously just sell my soul to be a janitor?"

“No, no, nothing so crass.” Elm shook his finger chidingly. “You would be an interdimensional janitor. It comes with a better benefits package, including dental.”

"...."

Elm laughed openly at the look on Jace's face. "Are you ready?"

Jace opened his mouth and closed it half a dozen times before clarifying one point. "I still get to travel, grow stronger, and enjoy my life in fantasy worlds as I please?”

“Yes. If you can survive.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

"Wonderful!” Elm cheered as his grip tightened on Jace’s shoulder. “This is going to feel unpleasant.” He brutally shoved Jace’s smoky form into his new body like tossing a stone into a pond.

Jace’s mind rung like a gong as the sensation overload of a new body, along with the intimate knowledge of how to use the Grimoire stored inside, rapidly ingrained itself into his mind.

Elm’s tone grew otherworldly in quality as it rang through brand-new ears for the first time. "You have lost much, Mr. Mace, but you have much to gain from your new life. When you arrive, your emotions will rush back in full. Your fears will take you in their icy grip. And that is normal. Embrace them. Overcome them. Take your time and grieve if you must, but don't let it crush you. Those you left behind shall be fine. Focus on yourself now. This is your chance. This is what you have always been waiting for. This is the fantasy you sought. Seize it and make it yours." Elm's voice glowed with power as it boomed across the collapsing dimensional tunnel. “Thrive. Live. Love. Laugh. And when the time comes, you shall be ready.”

A glowing palm shot forward and smashed into Jace’s chest, knocking the wind out of him as he was launched away from the table Elm was standing beside and into the rumbling tunnel of colors.

His new eyes blurrily opened a crack as he fell, making out the standing figure of Elm fading into the distance as the buff man waved calmly with a genuine smile before everything faded to black.

00000

Elm's silvery gaze watched Jace's form fade as it fell into the crack between dimensions before his body was snatched by the employees he had watching over the trial world.

"You did it again." One such employee stepped into place beside the bald man, covered by a veil of spatial distortions. "This is the fourteenth one this decade, Elm."

"It can't be helped." The middle-aged man replied softly, even as his eyes continued to trace Jace's form on its way to its destination. "I need more Cleaners."

The being by his side snorted. "You say that every time, yet they keep dying. It’s a shit excuse.”

Elm averted his gaze toward his guest. "Don't be rude, Carla. You know the rules. He had to accept of his own free will.”

"And I'm sure you made it clear what having a Special Class meant, hm?" Even wrapped in a veil as she was, Carla still managed to convey a frown toward her superior. "You can't keep doing this, Elm. Special Classes are not meant for level 1s! How do you expect the interns to survive? They will send an investigator if you keep handing out Special Classes to new interns from Earth. And we both know how that will turn out.”

Silvery eyes pierced through the veil around the woman, seeing within to the woman with hair glowing with a flame as strong as a sun. "I don't recall you being so sympathetic, Carla."

"I'm not." She waved a hand airily. "But I do care about my bleeding heart of a boss. You give us all much more free reign than other overseers do. I enjoy my life and don't wish that to change anytime soon."

"I give trust to those who are worthy of it. You know how strict my search criteria are." Elm grumbled and rubbed his bald head. “When you take into account the rules forced on us for those I can hire, and then add in the right mindset to accept what I can offer without coercion, and then factor in how many die in their first few years of service due to their own actions, there are very few options available to me. We need more Cleaners.”

Carla sighed at the speech she had heard a thousand times. "I'm aware. And yet you could just let them take a normal class and grow like anyone else, but no, you hand them a death sentence. No one takes a Special Class until they are level 200 at least, it’s not meant for a level 1 to challenge!” Carla’s hair glowed with her temper as the heat around them increased. “Just what the hell are you trying to accomplish here, Elm? People keep dying, and it's going to get us in trouble."

"I'm just trying to forge a good employee, Carla. Nothing more, nothing less. The people from modern day Earth have the greatest chance to succeed with their knowledge and mindsets." Elm looked on and spoke honestly.

Yet his fiery employee had been around her boss long enough to recognize that while he often spoke the truth, sometimes he tended to hide a nugget of information until the time was right. "One of these days, you’re going to make us create a monster that can’t be contained or reasoned with. Or do I need to remind you what happened on Atrox Prime a few centuries ago?”

The older man grimaced at the memory and shook his head. "Don't let a bad apple spoil the bunch. If we lose faith, we will stop trying. You passed the trials once upon a time and look at how it turned out for the better. You’re one of my best and brightest.”

Carla rolled her eyes. "My situation was unique and you know it. And I only took my Special Class at level 150, even with the decrease, I was level 50 when I started out.” She sighed and waved a hand to check her own system prompts, viewing the new intern being sent to a Biome fitting his Class selection on the planet. "I admit there were some good apples from Earth. Like that young lass who joined our ranks and suggested using parallel dimensions to expand the trial world to prevent the last disaster from happening again. But it means little if humans from Earth have a 96% chance of dying within the first year with a Special Class compared to the 99% chance Atrox’s citizens have.”

Elm hummed but didn’t comment on her last line. “Did you adjust the dungeon in Mr. Mace’s biome?”

“Yeah, yeah, every intern gets the tutorial package.” Carla sighed at her boss’s blatant subject change and typed away on her screen. “He'll get the one-time Knowledge Crystal pack and an ideal Rank E dungeon for his preferences. But don't expect him to get any special treatment, this is just the basic package. He picked a Special Class, and that means he gets the hardest difficulty setting, no matter what his current level is, or who he is, we do not make exceptions.” She shot Elm a stern look to make sure her point was understood and the older man just chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"Thank you, Carla, I can always count on you.” He spared Jace a final look before turning to walk away. “And don't worry yourself so much. I have a good feeling about this one. He has a spark that the others were missing, I like the odds this time.”

“And what happens if that spark becomes a problem, Elm?” Carla shot back heatedly, not having any interest in seeing another shit storm pop up. “The last one who succeeded in this impossible challenge screwed everything up!”

"If it happens, then we do our job." Elm answered calmly as he kept walking. He stretched out two fingers and made a snipping motion just as his body began to fade into the ether. "This time, we trim the rotting branch from the start.”

Elm’s voice rang through the void, sending a shiver down Carla’s spine as it echoed with a conviction and a warning to not hinder the new applicant.

‘Damn it, boss. Fine, I’ll play fair. What are the odds this one actually survives?’ She bit her thumb in hesitation. ‘Elm’s right though, we do need more cleaners. The newbies are nothing like the old guard. We need new muscle, but we can’t have another disaster.’

Looking down at her screen, Carla grit her teeth and swiped through the possible options for Rank E biomes until she landed on a specific one. ‘Yes, this should do just fine. If the kid can survive this, he’ll be worth the investment.’ Her eyes landed on the profile picture of the new intern. ‘Now, let’s see what kind of person you are when the chains come off.’

Chapter End.