1 - Initiated

Eric was innocently waiting on the platform for a subway when a hooded guy rushed past him straight onto the tracks.

Eric pulled him back by instinct, but … at the last moment, the guy pivoted, flung Eric off. The strength added to Eric’s already forward motion and unstable stance, throwing Eric on the tracks, the hooded guy stood stably on the platform, watching Eric. 

Eric’s reflexes are still online. He got up immediately, made to climb onto the platform … 

He looked with wide eyes at the train rushing straight at him. The train is too near to stop. 

White filled up his vision. 

🟆✧✦

Then, he woke up in a sterile white room. 

[ Welcome to the isekai transfer station ] 

[ Reading transferee’s preferences. ] 

You want to live leisurely, having all the luxuries of the current world, but none of the responsibilities ! 

[ Searching for a world matching user’s preferences … ] 

.

..

…

[ unable to find a perfect match. ] 

Eric, who had been waiting for hours and hours and hours together, finally made a decision. 

“ Send me back to my world ! I don’t need any special abilities, so just send me back to my world. Any time will do, even the time when I failed the college entrance exam !  “ he told the system. It was a black period in his life. He had to repeat the college entrance examination four times to get into his dream university, each year the baseline climbed up. 

[ Condition accepted. ] 

[ Transfer initiated. ] 

[ 1 % … ] 

[ 43 % … ] 

[ 100 % … ] 

[ Transferred successfully. ]

After reading those words on the black screen, the cursor blinked twice, Then, his vision went black. 

Eric woke up with a start beside the railway tracks. This area was near a bridge, right at the location where the railway line bends. The base is very slanted reinforced concrete. As soon as he tried to get up, he rolled down again, landing on the patch of grass beside the railway track. 

Blood dripped from his hand, sinking into the ground. 

[ BEEP ] 

[ Player Initiated ] 

[ Main task activated. ] 

[ DO NOT DIE ] 

[ Main Scenario activated. ] 

[ In all of the land, there are no secrets from Terra.] 

[ Find the land server seed, Terra. ] 

[ Quest acceptance reward : Digitize (S) skill. ] 

[ As long as you die on land, you will resurrect. ] 

[ Quest completion reward : ownership of Terra. ] 

[ Accept Quest : ] 

[ Yes ] [ No ] 

Eric accepted. The quest has no time limit. Doesn’t that mean he is getting the skill to resurrect for free ? 

This is better than nothing. 

Where was he ? 

After some walking, he found shops. He recognized this location. However, five years ago, this place had been re-developed. All these mom and pop stores have gone away ! 

Looking at the newspaper dates, Eric realized with a shock, he seems to be in the past ! 

That white room really sent him back in time ? 

.

..

…

At this time, his family was still intact. His mother did not die from stomach cancer. His father did not wallow in drinks from the real estate scam. Their family is not rich, but they still lived their days happily, working hard for a better future every day ! 

Eric opened the door to their condo panting like an ox. 

It was like golden light shining from the heavens above. There his mother was, cooking like she did every day, humming a song. 

“ Mom ! “ 

Eric rushed to hug her, crying like a child. 

His greatest regret in his life was not seeing his mother through her last moments. He vowed he will drag his mother to hospital kicking or screaming, and make sure she gets her usual physical done no matter what. 

“ I love you mom ! “ he started being cringey right away. 

“ Yes, yes, I know. What did you do ? Did you break something ? “ His mother glared at him. 

Eric laughed among the tears hearing the ever so typical response from his mother. 

“ What did you break ? front window glass ? the herb planter ? “ His mother questioned suspiciously. 

“ Mother dearest ! How could you have such little faith in your own son ? How could he, who has never done anything wrong in his life, break something ! It is but providence that something is broken. “ He quibbed, his tears subsiding slowly. 

“ hmm.. You seem to have returned to normal. Your rank is not low. As long as you stay near home, mom is happy. “ his mother told him. 

Eric wiped his tears, nodded with a new found determination. 

After the emotional reunion, he opened his phone as usual. First, he checked his college selection site, chose the nearest college he could attend from his own home. He chose the unpopular civil engineering. It’s not the discipline that is unpopular, but it is this particular university that is ranked too low when it comes to engineering. 

However, this time around, he is determined to stay with his family. After his first choice, he applied to two more colleges, one for business, another a computers both for diploma rather than a degree. One of them should accept him. 

“ Mom ! If you want to go to my grandmother's home, I will accompany you. “ Eric promised his mother. 

Eric’s father worked as a technician. Both his mother and father were only children. His father was born in a city, while his mother was from a village. Now that both his grandparents have reached their dotage, it was not easy for his father to supplement two aging families and pay for the education of two young children.

Eric paid for his own tuition while he repeated his college entrance examination. It was not an easy task. He remembered his grandmother’s house had an accident this summer. Thinking back, his mother’s sickness started at this time. Before, Eric hated going to his grandmother’s place, owing to the shabbiness of their home. Not that their own house is less shabby, but it’s still a house in the city with all the necessary internal fixtures. 

Most important among them, the lightning fast wi-fi ! 

He had more objections to not having wi-fi than not having a proper toilet when he went to his grandfather’s home. The fishy smell on top of that, he hated that. 

“ Oh, my son’s all grown up. Accompanying his mother home for holidays ! “ his mother said in a surprised and loving tone. 

Eric smiled in response. They decided to talk to his father after he returned home at night. Eric’s mother returned to cooking, while Eric returned to his phone. 

However, the phone could not hold his interest for long. 

‘ digitize ‘ he flung his skill at the window. 

[ Can not digitize attached fixtures part of an non-digitized base structure. ] 

‘ Hey ! Does that mean he has to digitize the entire apartment building ? ‘ 

Fine.. 

For now, something smaller. 

‘ digitize ‘ he threw at the books in his shelves. 

On each of those books, a progress bar appeared. As soon as the progress bar is completed, the book name appears as an annotation. 

Eric was stoked. He touched the book to see if he could place it in an inventory or something. 

[ Player does not have an item box to store the item. ] 

Eric did not play games as much as his peers, that is not to say he has never touched a game. He still has the basic idea. So, he immediately digitized a backpack. The moment he put the backpack on, it displayed on his panel. 

He pointed his finger at the book, and tried to store it. The book vanished from his view. He felt the weight in his backpack. 

‘ Oh my god ! I can live with this. ‘ he thought as he saw the effect. 

After that, he went around the house, digitizing everything he could lay his hands on. He realized the rules of the game pretty fast. He can not digitize things that do not belong to him. However, this is loosely applicable. His text books and clothes, despite being bought by his father, are acknowledged as his own. The computer, TV, the locked cabinet where they keep the cash.. They are not acknowledged as his own. The planters, again, were digitized despite not being his own. 

Loosely put, Items that people acknowledge as his undisputedly are digitized. Items considered worthless are digitized. Buildings can not be digitized without land being digitized. Land can not be digitized without the owner's permission. He was so desperate to check if he could digitize the land, he wanted to pack up and leave for his grandfather’s place tonight. 

Just as he was getting bored, his father called. 

“ Eric, Mimi’s school called. They need a guardian to escort the student to the planetarium. There’s a ticket in the cupboard under the TV. you accompany her. Use the subway, not taxi. “ His father warned him. 

Eric would have grumbled if he was a teenager. Now, he is only too happy. He did not realize how cute his little sister was until she had actually grown up into an awkward emo teen. 

He joined her on her foray into the stars. He is all too happy to lift her onto his shoulders to let her touch the star sample. 

“ Look, this is a rock that has been in space just ten years ago ! Don’t you want to touch it ? Come now ! “ he lured her. 

Mimi, who couldn’t be cuter in her little kindergarten uniform, and twin buns shook her head. 

“ Dany said I would teleport to the moon. Then the grandmother on the moon will eat me ! “ Mimi shook her head. 

Eric leaned down conspiratorially. 

“ Mimi ! Do you want to know a secret ? “ he asked looking around.