Candidate 222, the Final Ground Trial begins in 20 minutes. You are advised to proceed through the designated corridor. Failure to comply will result in immediate disqualification.
The metallic voice echoed through the room again. Renn jerked upright on the bed. 'Ten minutes had passed!'
He didn't notice. Then again, in a room this quiet, with no clock, not even a window — how could anyone keep track of time?
He looked around once. What did the voice say? Disqualification? From what exactly?
Renn's head pulsed with frustration; he felt a slow ache blooming in his temples. He'd never felt this clueless, not even in those panic-inducing surprise chemistry practical tests, where he had to fake confidence with a formula he barely remembered while something in the beaker hissed like it wanted to kill him.
After dwelling on it for some more seconds, he let out a small sigh and swung his legs off the bed.
There was barely any information available for him, except a laminated pass stating four facts — Candidate 222, Aegis Testing Ground, Final Ground Trial, and Noxhelm Academy, to him, none of which made sense.
Sitting idly in this white coffin of a room would do him no favour. If he truly wanted an answer about what was happening around him, he had to move.
Squaring his shoulders, Renn walked to the door and exited a corridor that stretched endlessly in both directions. Unlike the bright room, the hallway was lit by a dim blue glow that made it barely visible. There were several identical rooms lined along the corridor, each of which was firmly shut.
'Was there really anyone else... Or had they all left before me?' Renn wondered.
"Which way?" He stood still there for a moment, squinting at the distance on both sides. Both directions looked the same, so which side was he supposed to move to?
"Nothing's gone right for me so far." He muttered, then quirked on his irony. "Why not just try the — left?"
With that thought, he turned left and walked towards the unknown distance.
But...
As he took a few steps to his left, suddenly a translucent holographic window flashed open right in front of his eyes.
"What the heck-!"
The way the screen suddenly jumped open startled him so much that Renn stumbled on his feet, almost crashing onto the floor! Though he managed to steady himself somehow, before the fall happened.
"A status screen!" Renn stared at the screen hovering in the air before him, stunned.
Since childhood, he had been a fan of RPGs. He'd played countless video games, read novels, comics, and watched movies, animations... This screen was well-known to him — a typical status screen that the MCs used to get to track their stats, levels, etc.
But why was something like this happening to him in real life?
Unbelievable!
Renn blinked a few times, then concentrated on the words that appeared on the holographic screen.
[ Candidate 222: Intuition Test Passed. ]
[ Trial Eligibility: Recognised. ]
'Intuition test! I just turned right, nothing else.' Renn murmured in disbelief. "Wait... That counted as a test?"
The screen disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Renn let out a sigh, then walked forward. Now that he'd finally come out of his bewildered state, his brain started working.
Whatever happened around him, none of it was even close to normal. Where on earth did that status screen come from — and where the hell did it vanish to all of a sudden?
He felt a weird mix of confusion and unease rising in his chest. All these things used to happen to the MCs of those fantasy genre stories he'd used to read, they'd die and wake up all of a sudden in a different place, in an environment that was completely unknown to them, but happening in reality... Did this even make sense?
'Wait... Did I just become a truck-kun victim?' Renn let out a dry chuckle. Though unrealistic, it was the only scenario that mirrored his current situation.
Soon, the walk was over; the corridor ended in front of a huge metal door. Renn stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do; then slowly grabbed the handle of the door and pushed it open. The door hung open slightly; Renn slipped inside through the narrow gap.
"Wha-"
Renn's breath caught as he stepped fully inside the chamber!
It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie — futuristic carved holographic screens stretched across the wall, strange symbols floating on them, rotating, disappearing, and appearing again. The screens cast a silver white glow on the steel floor. A soft mechanical hum filled the air, it was unsettling — as if it was observing Renn!
'A simulation room?' That was the only comparison his brain could come up with. He'd seen this setup earlier; in anime, comics, and movies he used to binge at night.
Candidate 222, welcome to the orientation chamber.
Suddenly a mechanical sound echoed in the air. Renn looked ahead. On the huge screen right in front of him, a few texts emerged.
[ Candidate 222: Verified ]
[ Environment: Stabilizing... ]
[ Orientation Process: Initiated ]
[Trial Zone: Beginner ]
[ Final Ground Trial Commencement Time: 14 minutes 43 seconds ]
[ Please Remain Inside The Boundary Zone ]
'Boundary zone!' Renn glanced down instinctively and found a glowing ring of light that appeared on the floor, circling him precisely.
Renn blinked. He didn't even know when the ring had appeared, he only noticed it after reading the screen.
Glancing at the screen and the ring once again, he took a cautious step towards the edge of the circle. But, as he was about to step outside of it, the light flared immediately.
'Alright, alright, staying put.' He stepped back towards the center of the ring.
He looked around again. Finally, the pieces started snapping together. His mind started racing!
This wasn't a coincidence. Everything that'd happened to him till now, screamed the fictional world's logic. An accident, waking up in a weird reality.. a lot of confusion — and bingo! You're part of a different world!
Renn felt a chill creeping down his spine. The realisation hit him like a thunderbolt.
"Holy shit! I've really... Transmigrated!"