3

The scene only lasted for a moment. In front of his sight, only the charred shell and remains of the house remained. Maybe it was because the moon shone brighter than usual but Alex did not want to leave yet so he proceeded to search around the house, bringing back memories of the past with each single second.

'I'm home I guess.'

It honestly pained Alex more than he expected to go back here. He doesn't even know what he was thinking why he returned all of a sudden. But still, it had been nine years. He thought it would all be in the past now, but his anger and pain remained the same.

Huh? What is that? Did we have something like that before?

Alex's eyes narrowed down suspiciously. He then proceeded to where his bedroom used to be as he saw something strange.

Metals clang and some of the debris fell down. It had been a while since anyone probably even stepped foot in the house after all, but something that wasn't there before began to reveal itself to him, piquing his curiosity more than he expected.

With both arms, he pushed the bricked wall, blowing the dust away on the ground. And eventually, the sound of a mechanical device opening sounded. Beyond his predictions, there was suddenly a trap door in front of his eyes!

Alex involuntarily gulped down his saliva before picking a nearby metal pipe to start hammering the trap door's lock with all his strength. After some effort, the lock luckily broke down.

As sweat and dirt trickled onto his skin, Alex then pulled the door open. When he opened his phone and use its flashlight, there were stairs!

'What is this? A cellar? A safehouse?'

With his interest high enough, Alex had no choice but to go in where he eventually found himself inside an underground basement as big as a house for a family of four. Moreover, the sides were filled with old musty shelves. There were even a few weapons, beautiful and ancient-looking enough to fetch a decent price among weapon collectors. Books, artifacts, parchment papers, and several wooden boxes could also be seen, all chock full with dust.

'What is this place?!'

Alex's attention was eventually drawn to an out of place wooden box tucked away in a secluded corner. After carefully lifting the weathered lid and waiting for the dust to pan out, he discovered a shiny crystal sphere of glass.

'???'

The thousand questions on his mind were only starting to multiply, but before he could react, the crystal suddenly started to flicker to life with a soft glow upon immediate contact with his hand! Then the soft glow triggered a bright flash of light, blinding him momentarily before he could even react.

It was at this moment.

All of a sudden, a stranger's voice, crisp and artificial, greeted him with a programmed efficiency scaring him as he thought he was alone.

The 7th gate has been activated…

The world will now change…

At the very same time, several kinds of bright lights started to lit up across the world launching like beams to the skies, and in the next few minutes, humans started to discover strange things about their body.

Recognizing the player…

Player is not registered…

Automatically registering…[Alex Carlchester]

1%...

5%...

56%…

96%...

Successfully registered.

Player Alex Carlchester has been registered.

Calculating Alex Carlchester current stats…

Successfully calculated.

Starting point has been chosen.

Teleportation to Arkenheim will now begin.

In the next moment, Alex could feel a nauseated feeling coursing through his insides as if he just rode the fastest rollercoaster ride in the world. But eventually, his sight started to return to its normal state beginning from a blurry vision.

'I can't see well. What bullshit was that? Huh…w--wh--what is this?'

Alex rubbed his eyes repeatedly as he noticed a floating window in front of his eyes very much like a hologram. He was silent for a moment and he even blinked a few times.

'How absurd. Did they hit my head too much I'm seeing things? After all, isn't--isn't this a system interface?' he thought to himself while caressing his head to check whether there was indeed an injury which needs immediate treatment.

'…'

Alex involuntarily gulped down again. His mouth was initially opened due to confusion and concern but eventually, a smile started to blossom on his face.

He noticed that he could command the system interface with his brain. Forget reality for a second. Anyone would be the same if they saw something like this in their dreams!

Name: Alex Carlchester

Level: 1

Age: 25

Ability: None

Status: Fresh

Experience: 0/500

Title: None

Attributes:

-Strength: 12

-Speed: 10

-Stamina: 4

Stat points: 0

Skills:

-Punch: Level 1

-Kick: Level 1

-Block: Level 1

-Dodge: Level 1

Unlocked.

Alex had been depressed these past years, and much more recently. And he never had that much good luck of finding a good breather. But luckily, he found momentary pleasure and satisfaction when he played video games and read web novels. Unfortunately for him, his ways were also the cause of his current self.

Following his gamer instincts, Alex explored what the interface had to offer. After some checking, he confirmed that he could only open three sub-tabs after the main tab at the moment: [Titles], [Attributes] and [Skills].

The key to operating the interface was simple like he expected. He didn't even need to explain it. As soon as he sent commands to his brain to open or close something, the tab would automatically open itself and reveal related information.

[Titles]

-You have no titles. Titles may be acquired through various efforts.

[Attributes]

-Your attributes stats are currently very pathetic. You can improve them by acquiring more experience points or using crystal coins. Experience points and crystal coins may be acquired by doing quests and various tasks.

[Skills]

-You only know basic skills. You may try to improve your basic skills by spending crystal coins. You can obtain more skills through various ways.

Unlocked ???

…

Alex tried searching for more tabs to see but it was futile as most of them were locked. Nonetheless, it really felt like a game, just that it seemed way too much like real life.

For the first time in a while, Alex wasn't just smiling, he was genuinely happy.

'If this is real, I hope I could have it forever…' he thought.

When he was done checking everything that the system got to offer, Alex tried reading some of the books covered in the dust.

But when he opened them, he was shocked to find them filled with empty pages. And more importantly, the same notification kept popping up.

User's level is insufficient.

He scrolled through every parchment, scroll, and book he could find in the room but the results were the same. He hoped that some of them contained pictures or drawings at least.

'…'

Alex did not really care about that though, just a little bit curious and disappointed. After all, he got more things to explore. He better leave the boring stuff alone for now. He then went to the stairs and climbed at the top, but when he went over the door, his mind was confused beyond belief and it showed on his face.

This was because he did not come out of the same place he entered into. Their burned house was gone. Instead, he was in a stranger's house.

'Where did our house go? Whose house is this? Huh? What is happening, really?'

He felt alarmed but still proceeded to go the door to see what was outside, and there he saw an empty village with not a soul around.

The wind coursed through the area touching his body, and the sun beamed softly upon his face. He walked around the houses and went for a short stroll. He realized that the village seemed to have been abandoned.

'What happened to this place?' he said to himself.

But that was not the only thing that was strange. There was something more shocking.

It was the first time he had seen houses like these in person as he only saw them in movies portraying the medieval period.

'Am I in a simulation right now?' Alex felt like a headache was coming.

While he was immersed in his thoughts, he suddenly heard footsteps.

'Finally, there's someone…!'

Alex was immediately betrayed.

Before he could react, the sound of a sword being unsheathe from a scabbard was heard, and in the next moment, the tip of that sword was pointing at the back of his neck, disabling him to turn around completely. This was followed by three other armed men wielding melee weapons appearing to surround him.

'What the hell is happening? Did I somehow walk in to a movie set?' Alex was so confused.

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