The first thing that came into view was a high ceiling, a whole lot higher than he recalled.
Sunlight streamed in, going through the crystal chandelier that hung in his room.....
Wait, Chandelier?
Elijah immediately sat up in the bed, only now realizing that it was softer than what he was used to.
"Yup, this is definitely not my room."
For one, this room was massive, at least ten times the size of his entire apartment.
Silk curtains draped down from tall arched windows, their fabric thick enough, but they also let just the right amount of sunlight through.
The walls were lined with polished wood panels and subtle carvings, it was not flashy, but it was also unmistakably refined.
Elijah swung his legs off the bed, his feet sinking slightly into a carpet that felt so soft, silk would question its quality.
"Okay… yeah," he muttered, running a hand through his hair, "this definitely is a dream."
That was the only logical conclusion he could come up with, since, last he checked, he hadn't gone to sleep drunk, neither was he under the influence of any substance.
Though, now that his bare feet were flat on the room's floor, Elijah realized that the sensations felt too real.
But he dismissed it as just some type of lucid dream, after all, people had claimed that those types of dreams would feel so real, you wouldn't be able to differentiate them from reality.
The bed behind him was wide enough to comfortably fit three people, wrapped with sheets that didn't wrinkle no matter how he shifted or moved around.
Elijah slowly walked towards the large windows, and pulled the massive curtains just enough to let him see what was outside.
The sunlight made him squint a bit, but his eyes soon adjusted and he finally got a good look outside.
They say dreams are just a recreation of what your brain had registered through your eyes, which was why what he saw next made absolutely no sense.
Beyond the window wasn't the high glass structures he was used to, no.
Instead, he was presented with buildings of wood and stone. The architecture of each looked old, undeniably so, but not decayed.
It was more accurate to say that they looked like houses that existed during medieval times.
"Maybe I've been reading one too many webnovels," he muttered as he looked outside, since this place seemed no different from what was described in some fantasy novels.
Elijah closed the curtains again and slowly walked back towards the bed.
"It was fun while it lasted," he muttered, "but I have work in a few hours, so it's time to wake — huh?"
He let out as he took a couple of steps back and turned to his right, where a mirror with golden edges stood.
Staring back at him was a young man with long raven black hair, which was tied behind his head, though there was still quite a bit that was allowed to fall to his neck.
At the front, his bangs fell over his forehead, streaked with a handful of white hairs, giving him a perpetually disheveled but undeniably handsome look.
The reflection had grey pupils, which seemed to stare into one's soul.
The man in the mirror was fit, but it didn't seem as if that came from working out though. His skin also had a bit of a tan, but not too much.
"Is this...?" Elijah moved his hands to his face, as he watched the reflection do the same.
This face was extremely familiar, but not in the sense that he had seen it before, but rather, it felt like he had read a description of this exact appearance...
It was Elias Ardent.
"I guess that novel really did get stuck in my head," he muttered as he moved his hand away from his face, "if I'm even having dreams about it."
With that, he continued towards the bed, convinced that he'd wake up in the real world if he fell asleep in this dream world.
Unfortunately for him, since he refused a gentle presentation of facts, fate decided to take on a more... convincing approach.
Before he reached the bed, he somehow tripped on the soft carpet and the next thing he knew, he was falling towards the only wooden part of the bed..... Which should've been impossible since it was tucked at the very bottom of the bed.
Elijah just let it happen, after all, he wasn't athletic enough to maneuver his body to be able to prevent a fall that fast.
Besides, this might just work to wake him up faster....right?
Well, he soon learned exactly how wrong he was when his head slammed into the wooden board.
His vision immediately went dark as the wave of pain finally hit.
What followed after was a flash of images, as this body's entire life revealed itself to him.
***
Elijah didn't know how much time passed, maybe an hour, a day, or probably even just a few minutes, but when he regained consciousness, there was only one thought in his head.
"Fuck!"
Apparently, this was not a dream, it was as real as could be.
Why?
Well for one, the pain from slamming his head on the bed was still there and two,
The memories he just received.
His head hurt like hell, but he just took a deep breath and tried calmly assessing his situation.
"Damn it!"
The key word was tried, but he was completely failing and his panic was clearly showing in both his words and the look on his face.
The body he was currently in belonged to this kingdom's lead engineer, Elias Ardent.
Sounds familiar?
Extremely so, because he had just read an entire first chapter of a Webnovel following just this guy.
Now, for a weeb like Elijah, reincarnation was a dream come true, but that was only when he wasn't at the risk of dying in just the first chapter.
Unlike other webnovels of the same trope, he only knew what happened in the first chapter.
And in that first chapter, the damn character he was inhabiting died.
"…You've got to be kidding me."