Chapter 4 - The New World (Part 1)
Pushing the new notification aside with a flick of his wrist, Zane opened the system menu and navigated to the [Storage] tab. A new window materialized before him in the air—crisp, holographic, and faintly humming with digital energy.
It revealed three visible storage slots, each square-shaped and surrounded by a soft blue glow. A fourth slot sat at the end, dim and greyed out like a locked item, clearly inaccessible for now. Only one item occupied the available space.
Inside the first slot sat a glass vial filled with a swirling green liquid. The number "1" hovered just above it, denoting that he had only one dose of whatever this mysterious substance was.
"Simple enough," Zane murmured, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "That locked slot probably unlocks once I level up or reach a certain milestone."
So far, the interface had been intuitive and user-friendly. Surprisingly so. He could navigate it easily without any instructions, and for someone thrust into a new world with zero preparation, that was invaluable.
"Alright, let's see how to get this thing out…" he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the vial. His instinct told him to tap the image—but before he could lift a finger, the bottle shimmered and vanished from the display. In the same instant, a cool glass weight appeared in his right hand.
"…Nice trick," he whispered, raising it up toward the light filtering in from the window.
The green liquid caught the rays of sunlight, gleaming like liquefied emeralds. It looked oddly refreshing, almost tempting. The moment he saw it up close, an odd sensation crept into his chest—a desire to drink it, which felt unnatural.
"What exactly does this thing do?" he asked aloud, expecting no answer.
But the system had other plans.
[Ding!]
[Item: Training Elixir
Type: Potion
Grade: Basic
Effect: Doubles the effect of physical training for 10 minutes.
Side Effects: None.]
Zane blinked.
"Well, that's… pretty straightforward," he said, impressed. "It literally trains you better. A booster for workouts."
He couldn't help but chuckle as he imagined how something like this would shake the fitness industry back on Earth. Personal trainers would go extinct. Gyms would become battlegrounds for access to potions. It would reshape how people saw fitness and staying healthy in general.
"Too bad it doesn't exist there. But it does here… so I'll be saving this for later."
He closed his hand and thought of storing it again. Instantly, the bottle disappeared from his palm and reappeared in the same slot in storage.
Now that he'd handled that, his attention turned to something he had been deliberately putting off until now. Sitting on the desk was a sleek, curved computer monitor. Zane had purposefully saved this for last—he wanted to finish the cleaning task first.
But now?
Now was the perfect time.
He approached the desk and sank into the surprisingly comfortable chair. It squeaked under his weight but held firm. The computer didn't look unfamiliar—if anything, it was reminiscent of high-end models from his own time.
"At least tech-wise, this world isn't too far behind Earth… or maybe even ahead," he mused, pressing the power button.
The screen lit up almost instantly, displaying a high-definition wallpaper featuring a provocatively posed anime-style character. Zane blinked once, then sighed, already half-expecting it.
"Right… He was into this stuff too," he said under his breath, recalling the posters and figurines he had tossed into the trash earlier. "Apologies, previous me. I needed space to breathe. I couldn't bear keeping them."
His hand moved the mouse, skimming over icons—until his eyes caught on something strikingly familiar.
"Huh?" he muttered, narrowing his gaze.
It was a browser. Not just any browser—but the same one he used on Earth. The name, the icon, even the color scheme—it was unmistakable.
"No way… Is that a coincidence?"
Zane hesitated, his cursor hovering over the icon. A theory had been forming in his mind for a while now, one he'd been too cautious to entertain. But now, things were clicking into place. He was perhaps very wrong about his earlier assumptions.
He was about to click when something else caught his eye—something that made his heart skip a beat.
In the bottom corner of the screen was the date and time: 14th of May, 2134.
"…Ha."
A low, humorless chuckle escaped him. Then, he started laughing audibly, his mouth curving into a sinister smile as he stared at the screen. It was, after all, quite the amusing discovery, one he didn't take a second to comprehend.
"Very funny," he said aloud, his voice echoing in the otherwise quiet apartment. "A hundred years. Exactly a hundred years from the day I passed out."
He leaned back in the chair, eyes locked on the date as the weight of it hit him.
"This wasn't random. There's no way this was a coincidence. Someone did this deliberately."
That realization sent a shiver down his spine. If someone had the power to send him here—exactly 100 years into the future—then he wasn't dealing with mere technology.
No, this was something else entirely.
'A higher being? A god? An alien? Or maybe something worse?'
Even worse than waking up in another body… was the creeping realization that this wasn't another world at all.
'This is Earth… my Earth. Just a hundred years later.'
He swallowed hard, eyes darting around the room again. The familiarity of it all—the apartment layout, the food packaging in the trash, the operating system—suddenly took on a new meaning.
"Time travel," he whispered. "That's what this is."
The absurdity of it made his chest tighten. Out of all the possibilities, this was the most implausible. And yet… all signs pointed to it.
The questions came rushing in.
'Why me? Why now? What happened to the original me in this time? Am I replacing someone… or just borrowing their life?'
But above all, one question burned hotter than the rest:
What do they want from me?
Whoever brought him here had a reason. A purpose. And until he found out what that was, he was just a pawn on someone else's board. Whether he wished for it or not, the possibility of him being guided like a pawn was very probable.
"…Fine. Let's see what you're hiding," he muttered, clicking the browser icon.
The interface loaded swiftly. Though it looked updated, it still shared many elements with the version he once used. That small bit of familiarity grounded him.
"Alright, let's start with the basics…"
Zane's fingers danced across the keyboard. The letters were still in English, thankfully.
'I need to figure out if this really is Earth. And if so, how much has changed. The political landscape. Major events. The status of the world. I also need to learn of what happened to me a hundred years ago, if there is any information about that.'
On the right side of the browser, he noticed a news feed—sliding panels with headlines and thumbnail images. A few taps later, he clicked on the first article that caught his eye.
Breaking: S-Ranked Awakener Lancelot Joins Blood Moon Guild!
Zane stared at the screen, blinking slowly.
"…Awakener?"
His eyes scanned the rest of the article preview. It mentioned terms like "Guild Hierarchy," "Mutation Zones," and "Ranked Combatants."
A new puzzle began to take shape in his mind.
'What the hell am I even reading?' A swirl of questions invaded his head as he read the paragraphs hungrily. With each word, every idea he had about Earth was being shattered. His mind was swept away into a whole new realm, a realm he thought was never possible.
This wasn't just a future Earth.
This was a future Earth reshaped by phenomena entirely unknown to his past.
He leaned in closer, hungry for answers.