Entertainment

I awoke to a throbbing headache; it wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but it still hurt. I tried to grab my head with my hand, which was accompanied by the feeling of pins and needles. Pushing through the discomfort, I got up from the bed.

I wandered to the bathroom, as sometimes I needed a splash of water on my face to fully wake me up. I still felt slightly dazed as I turned on the sink and started throwing water on my face. As I looked up at the mirror, I froze; the person before my eyes was not me—or maybe it was me?

At first, I was shocked, but it seemed that eye color was the only thing that changed, and I looked slightly more handsome, though not model-worthy at all. My older grey eyes were now replaced with a vibrant orange. I probably was dreaming or something; it's simply not possible—

"Hello, Kain," a voice that spoke directly into my mind was heard.

"What the hell!?" I screamed.

Maybe I really was dreaming; well, with the bad feelings I've felt in this short time, it's probably a nightmare.

The voice spoke once again, "This is not a nightmare; it's most likely even worse depending on how you see it." The voice, of which I could barely discern as a man, had no accent, no emotion. The more I thought about it, he sounded like a perfected version of the text-to-speech tools that people use.

"That's because it is, in a way. I'm using a medium to speak to you right now, as your mind would collapse if you heard my true voice with how weak you are. Anyways, I think it would be good to take a look at the space you're in."

True voice? Is this man some sort of a god? I walked out of the bathroom and noticed that this wasn't the same room I was in last night. The room seemed to be a cheap motel room with one bed and a desk that held items on it.

"This isn't my room..." I mumbled my inner thoughts. "Yeah, of course it isn't. You're in another world," the robotic voice said, which also laughed, a very strange sound to hear. The laugh held no emotion and seemed like a task rather than a reaction.

This piece of information made me pause as I pondered what this really meant to me—my family, friends; I would never see them again. I slowly felt panic creeping within me.

"Annoying," the artificial voice stated, then I felt something change within me. I felt my emotions about family and friends being suppressed. I felt a wave of calm wash away all my other emotions.

"Now that you've calmed down, I have only three tasks for you. First of which is to defeat the Monster Lord. Second is to defeat the Demon King, and my last task, and the one with the utmost importance," the mechanical voice started.

"Entertain me."

The last part of his instructions confused me as I wondered if this god had seen me as only entertainment, like the novels I read. I felt anger coming up within me, but the artificial wave of calm suppressed it before I could even voice my outrage.

"Wait, don't you have to give me some sort of cheat or some type of system? Dropping me into a new world and telling me to defeat these enemies needs some help and also a good reward," I asked the jerk that sent me here.

"Your reward is not being infinitely tortured for eternity because that's going to be your punishment if you fail or don't entertain me. But I did give you four gifts to start you off," the being replied. "Though you might hate or love me for that fourth gift," the mysterious man said while chuckling with the same emotionless tone.

I looked towards the desk in the seemingly motel room and grabbed two items on the desk and inspected them. In my hands were a ring and bracelet and a badge. It took me five minutes to figure out how the bracelet worked, but it seemed to be some type of holographic phone.

The ring seemed to be a normal ring with a purple gem on it but i knew it couldnt be normal so i just put it on. The badge, I tapped it, and a holographic screen popped up; it seemed like everyone in this world loves holographic screens.

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Aurora Academy

Name: Kain Adams

Year: First year

Age: 15

Profession: Swordsman

Rank: F

Balance: 500C

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I felt my heart grip when I read the words Aurora Academy. This had to be what I was thinking, right?

"It is," the man I assumed to be a god replied. I had forgotten about him for a moment.

I smiled as I realized exactly which world this is. This was the world of the novel I read last night, "Tale Of Orion: Descendant Of Gilgamesh." Tale Of Orion was a novel detailing its protagonist, Orion Price, his journey and how he defeats the Demon King.

This changed everything, and I knew what to do. All I needed to do was reach S rank and swoop in to steal the kill from Orion. And with the fame from killing the Demon King, I'll be able to live like a king until I die, which, with an S-rank lifespan, wouldn't happen for at least 200 years. And I'll be able to kill the Monster Lord as long as the main cast are all alive.

"I have one last thing to say to you, entertain me or you'll regret it because I am always watching," the god spoke after being silent for a while. As he finished his last words, I could feel pressure that I didn't notice suddenly disappearing.

I observed the motel and noticed there seemed to be nothing else of importance and walked right out with all my newfound possessions. As soon as I stepped out of the door, the world shifted, and I found myself on the sidewalk in the middle of a futuristic world.

The city was bustling with people everywhere, but the thing that caught my attention were the hover vehicles; they moved with ease, and there were holographic ads instead of billboards. It looked like Times Square but maybe in the year 3000.

The novel didn't really go into detail when it comes to the setting but damn. It looked like a futuristic sci fi movie but some things where still the same. I half expected the future to be just most humans living in Virtual reality but it seems that they still like coming outside. Its clear they haven't experienced true bliss inside the 2d world. One day i hope they will realize 2d will always be better than real life.

While walking, i suddenly stopped and realized i had no idea where I was heading and needed directions for the place in my mind. I walked towards a middle-aged man who looked like he was walking to work and asked, "Hello, sorry to bother you. But do you know where the portal station is?" The man looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed across the street from us. To his credit, maybe I was an idiot. I felt embarrassment as I thanked the man and quickly crossed the street and entered the portal station.