Kaan's mind was racing as he hopped on the crowded Metrobüs, which felt less like public transit and more like being compressed in a faulty hydraulic press. His engineer brain, rusty from a year of underuse, was already pestering him, running imagined experiments on the ring.
He finally got off the Metrobüs and raced to his "nuclear shelter" apartment. He opened the door, immediately heading for a quick shower because the stench of the crowded bus still clung to him.
"Aaah, nothing beats a hot shower," he sighed.
Afterward, he grabbed a beer and the brass ring. He pulled the tiny charger out of the velvet box and began his inspection.
"Wow, the craftsmanship is beautiful," he murmured. "I'm not a jewelry master, but even I can tell. But how in the world did they fit a perfectly molded USB-C port here?"
His curiosity winning, he plugged the cable into the ring and connected the other end to his old PC.
DING!
A holographic screen, rendered in crisp, neon blue, snapped into existence right in front of his face.
"Welcome to the Interdimensional Travel Database! Where would you like to travel?"
"AAAAAH!" Kaan screamed, stumbling backward. "What in the world is going on? I swear I have gone mad from reading too much manhwa and webnovels." He stared at the display hovering in the air.
"I don't know," he muttered to the holographic screen. "It's my first time trying dimensional hopping, you know. Isn't there a tutorial or something?"
The screen remained still, silent.
"No reaction, okay. I might be going crazy," he thought, trying to rationalize the impossibility. "This is all a dream, and I will wake up soon."
Another thought immediately overrode the rational one: "If this is a dream, why don't I try it out? What could be worse than my current life?"
He unplugged the charger, put the brass ring on his finger, and pointed at the hovering interface.
"Alright, Ring. I let you decide which dimension I go to!"
DING!
Sequence Loading...
User: Kaan Vurmaz
Age: 26
Main Dimension: Earth (Level 0)
"What do you mean, 'Earth is Level 0?' We are pretty advanced!"
Selected Dimension: Aethel (Level -2)
"Level negative two? What is that supposed to mean?"
Beginning Interdimensional Crossing. For first-time travelers, you may feel motion sickness. Please beware. Good Luck.
"WOOOOOOOOOOAH! I don't think this is a dream!" Kaan shouted, the world around him blurring into a kaleidoscope of colors.
When the dizzying lurch stopped, he staggered, trying to regain his balance. "Ah, crap! Where am I?"
He looked around. Before him stood a city made of brick-formed houses. He saw kids wearing suspenders and newsboy caps. Massive factories belched plumes of thick, black smoke into the air from towering chimneys.
"Wow! I think this is an Industrial Era civilization," he mused, the engineer in him overriding the panic.
One of the kids, no older than ten, approached him with a rolled-up newspaper in his hand, speaking in a foreign, garbled tongue.
"↸𝙹 ||𝙹⚍ ∴ᔑリℸ ̣ ↸𝙹 ʖ⚍|| リᒷ∴ᓭ!¡ᔑ!¡ᒷ∷ ᒲ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ᒷ∷?"
"What the hell is this language? Is that Greek?" Kaan wondered.
DING!
Installing Auto-Translate to The User.
The voice of the kid suddenly changed in Kaan's mind: "Do you want to buy a newspaper or not, mister?"
"Oh, I understand now! What a nice feature. I wonder if this works on Earth?" he thought.
"No, kid, I don't," Kaan replied.
"Ph! Cheapskate!" the kid grumbled.
"What did you say?"
As the kid ran off, Kaan began exploring the city. He wandered into a shop.
"Excuse me," Kaan said. "What is this place called? I'm not from here, and I'm supposed to go to the town center. Can you help me?"
"Of course! This town is called Agarita. The Town Hall is right down the boulevard," the shopkeeper replied in a heavy accent.
"Thanks."
As he walked towards the center, Kaan checked the ring.
DING!
Low Battery! Please charge in order to get back to your dimension.
"???" Kaan stared at the ring, his engineering confidence instantly shattering into a thousand pieces.