“What….”
Jason didn’t even have time to think when he felt the pull. It differed from what he felt when he logged into the game. However, it wasn’t a dream.
‘Simulation? I heard this before. But… When?’
The next second, he found himself standing. He still had his sword and the other gear he had when he was in Amelia’s house.
“Where am I?”
He was standing on a desolate land. It was a vast area with nothing. However, the ground under him was solid, and there were puddles of water everywhere. It looked as if it rained here earlier.
This wasn’t the major problem. The weirdest thing was the sky.
‘Finally.’Jason moved out of the cave, avoiding any water left on the ground. The cave was deeper than it looked from the outside, but he didn’t want to move in and find out what was there. It was dark, and the only thing he could use to make fire was his clothes. By the looks of it, everything except rocks was melting away in the rain. ‘I should find something to eat.’The rain lasted about half an hour and there were about three more hours before the next rain. Either he should find another place to hide or come back here, again. By the looks, there was nothing left to eat but the meat of these weird abominations, but he was reluctant to eat them. Not because he had no way to cook them, but because he had a bad feeling about that stench.…‘Is that a city?’He was lucky that the shadows he saw earlier weren't far from the cave. In half an hour, he made it to the structure that looked like a city.‘Not Yuriel or Earth.’The styles of the broken and scattered buildings differed fr
‘What happened?’Jason looked around in confusion.‘Where am I? And why was I sleeping?’He stepped down off the table and looked around in confusion. ‘Wait!’The memories of the events that happened until now rushed into his brain.‘I… Ate magic stones? How am I still alive? And how long did I sleep?’He hurriedly reached for the armband, but he stopped halfway.‘My hand….’His left hand looked completely normal, but his right hand didn’t look like it belonged to him. It was covered in red and black scales, and the flesh looked as if they started to rot. It was far bigger than his left hand. Jason looked up in horror to find that things were far worse than he thought. He walked up to the shining screen in a daze. In his reflection, one of his pupils looked blood red while the other was green. The right side of his face had mutated similar to his hand, and it looked nothing like a human. Even half of his teeth had turned sharp like blades. ‘What have I become?’He stared into hi
“I guess it is time.”Jason looked at the clock that was running out of time. He was in the last few minutes of time, but there was no difference in the environment in the surrounding area.He placed the book down carefully, trying his best not to rip it apart with his claw-like hands. The rain poured down as usual. Even though the rain was corroding, it had no effect on him anymore. The only thing that worried him about the rain was his clothes which already had too many holes.‘Well, they don’t fit much, anyway.’The mutation in his body did not stop spreading, even after he regained consciousness. He found some canned food and other items left on some buildings, and he avoided eating the monster meat. However, the mutation kept changing his body. ‘Sigh.’He looked at his reflection in the window. Only the area around his left eye looked human, but the pupil was deep green. The rest of his face didn’t look anything like a human, and his body had grown several feet tall. His voice
“What are you doing?”Jason slumped back to the ground, feeling powerless. “I….”He didn’t know how to answer her, but seeing a familiar face relieved him. “Beep! Beep!”There was a continuous beeping sound in his mind. ‘What…?’He realised his armband was working on its own, and all four screens were flashing outside.‘Four?’There was an additional blue screen hovering over the armband, and it was constantly flickering according to the rhythm of the beeping. This was the first time he saw this screen.- Greetings, subject JSH0005867.The screen contained a single message, and this was the starting line of it.‘My player ID? Is this from the World Builders?’He didn’t know what to say. There was an unknown creature already making him shiver. The last thing he wanted was attention from the most powerful alien race he ever knew of.- Congratulations on successfully completing the first training session. Although you only gained some inferior knowledge, you have gained some good dev
Eye of Magic was not a skill. It was a phenomenon that happened when a wizard opened his magic nodes behind the eyes. As far as Amelia knew, this allowed a wizard to see the mana flow. It was essential for a wizard to be able to disturb the enemy spells. However, these two nodes only opened in wizards who reached above the peak power level in Yuriel. ‘How? Is he belonging to another race? No. That is impossible. The Empire wouldn’t miss such details.’There was another problem for Amelia. If Jason could see Mana, he would notice the problem with her. ‘Should I open my magic nodes? But that is a waste of time….’Out of all the paths to power found by the people of this world, only the path of the wizards was the correct one. Every other path came to a dead-end. The highest limit for a warrior was the so-called Grandmaster level, which Amelia felt was a humiliation to the name itself. ‘He won't be stupid enough to show it, right?’Apparently, Jason would soon have his own secrets,
‘Sigh. I hope everything goes well.’Jason made his way back to the village almost an hour later. The red clouds in the distance signalled the bright day ahead. The smoke coming from the houses and the various voices filled the air with energy. He took his time to familiarise himself with the effects of his vision of mana. It was a novel feeling that could bring him many advantages; especially when he was up against a wizard.He saw the mana rotating around him when he channelled it through his nodes. Which meant he might see a spell before it was completed, as long as he was fast enough. ‘I should unblock ten more.’He already decided. If he only unblocked eight more magic nodes, he would have enough space to guide the mana to cast the first few spells. However, this came with enormous risk. There was a high chance of someone detecting his two unusual magic nodes. ‘Amelia… Who exactly is she?’He was sure that she also had her own secrets, and he had no reason to think she would e
“Jason, you can really cook!”Logan savoured the taste in satisfaction.He looked across the floor where Jason sat with the little girl Hanna and Amelia.Since the table was too high for Hanna, Jason and Amelia sat on the floor with her. Because of that, he and Dawn also joined them on the floor. ‘Huh? What did I do wrong?’He felt a chilly glance at his side, obviously from Dawn.“Aw!”He looked at Dawn when he felt her elbow on his hip. She was nudging toward Amelia.“Ah… I mean… Teacher’s food is great, too.”He realised Amelia had just taken a glance at him instead. Both Amelia and Jason looked too focused on Hanna to pay any attention to him.‘Why is Jason wearing something like that? Did he do something last night?’He wondered why Jason wore a tight shirt that didn’t match his usual style. ‘Isn’t this how Amelia usually dresses? Why is Jason wearing her clothes?’Not only that, Jason’s pants looked barely any better than rags. He had to admit that Jason had an almost perfec
“Hehehe….”‘It is so difficult to deal with Children.’Listening to Hanna’s cheerful laughter, Jason wondered how her mood suddenly changed.Hanna cried for a while before stopping. However, after she stopped crying, she was constantly smiling. She even looked a bit shy about crying, and there was no answer to her reason for crying. In the morning they went to the tanner to make a pair of slippers and a pair of shoes for her. Jason also brought a pair of shoes and coarse leather pants for him. Since his cape wasn’t with him during that so-called training, it was in good condition.He had to warm up the horse before going back, so he placed Hanna on the horseback while he walked it around the village.Hanna seemed to be enjoying it a lot. Still, he had to keep his eyes on her because the horse was too tall, and a fall could do some serious damage to the child. ‘Well… With her around, I shouldn’t worry too much.’Amelia had never left Hanna’s side since they came out.…“Are you goi
"Shit," Amelia cursed under her breath as she deflected blow after blow, desperately trying to protect Jason from the relentless attacks.It wasn’t just her previous enemies; there was another massive threat looming on the horizon. She could feel the presence of a greater demon, its oppressive aura emanating from afar, finally ready to make its move.'I can't take on this thing,' she thought, parrying another strike aimed at her.She didn't have the luxury of time to grab Jason and flee. Besides, with the monstrous force approaching, running seemed pointless. This new threat was undoubtedly stronger than her.'If only he can fight,' she lamented, her grip tightening around her sword. She couldn't even afford a glance at Jason to check if he was still holding on. All she could hear were his painful grunts, each one a stab to her focus.…"Daddy, Daddy, no, I have to go!" Hanna cried out, trying to rush toward the mine entrance.Before she could take another step, Nocturne leapt from her
'This is not going to end well.'Jason barely caught his breath as he hid behind a stone column, narrowly evading the swing of a giant demon's sword. He felt a growing sense of helplessness as his spells failed to inflict any significant damage on these monstrous enemies. Surprisingly, his Arcane Spawns managed to restrain one of the demons temporarily. However, the limitation was clear—he could only summon three Arcane Spawns at a time, and that number was far from enough to take down even a single demon.'I don't think Amelia can hold on much longer.'While Jason was barely managing against a single demon, Amelia was handling all five of the remaining demons on her own. She moved with incredible agility, skillfully evading the swords and other weapons targeting her, striking back whenever she saw an opening. Her blade flashed, leaving shallow cuts on the demons’ thick skin, but it was clear that even with her skill, she was being overwhelmed. Five demons were far more than she cou
"Hanna, you have to be good and stay here, alright?""Alright, Daddy," Hanna responded, her voice tinged with sadness, but she kept her composure.'Hanna is a big girl. I can't cry. Mommy and Daddy promised to come back,' she reminded herself, trying to act brave.Floating behind her, Nocturne extended its tentacles, imitating the action of wiping away tears as if to comfort Hanna in its own eerie way."No, Hanna is not crying, Little Cuttlefish," Hanna tried to argue with Nocturne, waving her tiny fist cutely at the eldritch horror."Make sure everything is okay." Jason gave Hanna a quick peck on the forehead before turning to Samson and Butch."We will handle things while you are gone, Sir Jason," Butch assured him. Despite not being from Earth, he had learned to mimic Samson when addressing Jason. Many of the bodyguards, even those from Yuriel, had learned to act properly under Samson's guidance.Jason's gaze shifted to Dane, who was responsible for maintaining the outer perimete
“Eh….”Hanna turned her head around as she felt a familiar ominous feeling. “What is it, Hanna?”“Little Cuttlefish is here, Mommy.”She didn’t know where it was, but she felt its presence. A moment later, a ripple appeared near them and a small slit expanded in midair. An eerie dark feeling seeped out of it as several small tentacles slipped into their world. “Whee!”Nocturne floated toward Hanna making a cheerful noise. “Hiss.”Ancient Wraith hissed at the foreign creature. “Grr….”Nyx growled at the creature in anger, but it didn’t try to attack it. First, Nocturne was Jason’s pet. Second, her little master had no anger toward this thing. However, Nyx knew that the horrible disease had the same scent as this creature. It was a dangerous and foreign feeling that made them uncomfortable. “Gu! Gu!”Nocturne immediately released a defensive sound and hid behind Amelia, trying to protect itself. “Don’t harm Little Cuttlefish. It is not his fault.”Hanna gently patted Nyx’s head
“No! I will not let you go in.”Brood’s voice was sharp and loud, and Jason felt the surrounding air vibrate with her voice. “It is already spreading. Send out one of your Drones and check the caves to the north. There is a crack.”Jason didn’t care about Brood’s rant at the moment. He was much stronger than before. Even if he failed to defeat Brood, he was confident enough to survive against her and escape. Besides, Amelia should be already on her way here. “But… But… This is the only place I am supposed to protect. I… I didn’t let anything escape.”Brood’s voice broke a little as she tried to suppress the agitation. “Check it out. I can feel the monsters roaming beneath those cracks, and it won’t be long before they escape.”“But….”“There is no time. She is coming, and she is angry. So check it out. We will go in there and finish it, Brood. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. It is too dangerous and we are going to end whatever is down there.”Jason had no idea what kind o
‘This is bad. This is very very bad.’Jason stared at the crack on the ground with a frown. He thought the corrupted land was beneath the spider mines, Brood’s lair. However, it seemed to be extended beyond his scope of imagination. He felt the pulsating mutated life roaming beneath the ground, and he had to use a lot of willpower to suppress himself from roaring. The mutated monster within him smelled the delicacy. Still, alerting them wouldn't be a good thing for them at the moment. Only two Grandmasters were at Light Shone while the others followed the bandit exterminators in secrecy. Only a Grandmaster could face a hunter, and anything above would be too much for this world.The red mist leaking through the crack corroded the mana in the surroundings.‘Is there a way to stop it from spreading? Should I repair the crack? But we better deal with whatever is inside first.’Jason didn't feel like angering Amelia anymore.‘I better see Brood. She must know what happened here before.’H
“You… You are Jason.”“I am.”Jason smiled at the man as he finally opened his eyes. He felt relieved to slip away from Amelia’s fiery gaze. “My… My arm….”The player panicked as he hurriedly inspected his arm. “The wound….”“It is gone now. Honestly, it wasn’t a wound. It was an infection.”Jason shrugged.“What exactly happened? I don’t think you were in Spider Mine.”The lower level of the Spider Mine was a forbidden place. Even if it weren’t, very few would dare to wander into the swarm of spiders. “No, Jason. I was working in the Northern Mine. We had a small quack at the lowest level, and a new crack popped up in the floor.”“And you were the closest to it?”“Yes.”“How big is this crack, did anyone else come into contact with it?”Jason didn’t want to drag out the discussion.This wasn’t exactly unexpected, but an open crack meant there was a hidden space underneath the mine that was contaminated by radiation. He needed to find out how big the hidden space was. ‘I really h
“Jason! We need to see Jason!”“What is going on?”Amelia came out of the house as she heard the loud voice. No one dared to shout in front of their home, and she wondered why Jason’s loyal guards didn’t act. “Madam…!”“Grandmaster Amelia! We… We need help. He can’t log out, and we don't know what to do.”“Hm?”Amelia frowned as he looked at the people from Jason’s world. She knew these were the selected people of the Crystal Pulse. Even though Samson and the other guards prevented this group of people from entering the house, they also looked worried. She looked at the man they brought in, and her eyes widened for a moment. There was a purplish wound on the man’s arm, and a dark purple smoke came out of it. He was groaning in pain and it looked as if the man was going senile with pain. He was twitching and rolling on the ground as the others held him. More people were gathering near their house, and she knew many wanted to know what happened to the fallen man. “Mommy… That unc
“Is it online?”“Yes, Chief.”“How is the reaction?”“I think it looks very violent, Chief. There is an outburst of responses.”“Good.”Despite his words, Magnus’s face showed no hint of comfort. “And Jason?”“He will stay on Yuriel for the time being, Chief. Amelia said she is keeping him there indefinitely. As long as this problem isn’t solved.”“Do you think she knows something?”Magnus rubbed his temple. Technically, there was no way for Jason to know the gaming cabin could transport him to another world. Even if an NPC told him so, it would be impossible to believe. ‘It isn’t like he could handle that kind of secret with such grace.’He believed it would be too much for even a man like Jason Hope. However, Amelia’s behaviour made him suspicious of her knowledge about their world. She knew how to arrange security and cover blindspots against modern weapons. This shouldn’t have happened if Amelia was from a magical world. Besides, her plan looked almost flawless, and even Magn