Zack's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing he saw was sky.
A huge, cloudless blue stretched above him, so bright it made him squint. Sunlight poured across his face, warm and sharp, while a dull ache throbbed behind his eyes. He groaned and pushed himself up on his elbows, every movement slow and heavy with disorientation.
Grass rustled around him in the breeze.
As the blur in his vision faded, he realized he was lying in the middle of an open field. Green blades swayed in soft waves, brushing his clothes and skin. Small patches of clover and tiny wildflowers broke up the sea of grass. When he pressed a hand to the ground, the earth felt cool and solid beneath his palm.
The air was the first thing that felt wrong.
It was too clean.
No exhaust fumes. No trapped city heat. No greasy smell from roadside stalls. Every breath carried sun-warmed grass, fresh soil, and a faint sweetness he couldn't place. It filled his lungs so easily that the whole place felt unreal.
For a moment, Zack said nothing. He just stared up at the endless sky while his thoughts stumbled over each other, trying to grab hold of the last thing he remembered.
The doorway.
The fall.
The darkness.
His fingers tightened in the grass.
"Ugh… where am I?" he muttered, his voice rough. His throat felt dry. "What happened to me?"
He tried to stand.
The world immediately tilted sideways.
A hard wave of dizziness slammed into him, twisting his stomach. He dropped back down at once, one hand catching himself on the ground while the other pressed against his temple.
For a few shaky breaths, he stayed there with his head lowered, waiting for the spinning to pass.
No. Calm down.
He swallowed and drew in a slow breath.
Okay. He got home from work. He opened his door. Then he fell.
And now he was here.
That made absolutely no sense.
Did I get pranked?
The thought was ridiculous, but Zack still grabbed onto it for a second because it was easier than accepting… whatever this was.
He lifted his head and scanned the field, narrowing his eyes as if hidden cameras might suddenly pop out of the grass.
Nothing.
Just swaying green, scattered flowers, and empty sky.
He cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Hey! If someone's out there, come out already!" he shouted. "This isn't funny! You can't just kidnap people and dump them in a field!"
His voice carried across the open land and disappeared.
Zack listened.
The breeze hissed through the grass. Somewhere far away, insects chirped.
No answer.
No footsteps.
No prank crew jumping out to laugh at him.
He waited a few more seconds, shoulders tight.
Still nothing.
And somehow, that silence felt worse.
Zack frowned. He tried to force his thoughts into something useful, but they kept running in circles. Every explanation sounded insane.
Then the sunlight dimmed.
A large shadow rolled over him, swallowing the grass in sudden shade.
Zack looked up—and froze.
Something enormous drifted across the sky.
For one second, his brain refused to process it. It looked like a giant old seafaring ship, with a dark wooden hull, towering masts, and the broad shape of something that belonged on the ocean.
Instead, it was flying.
High above the field, it glided through the sky with impossible ease.
Zack stared, mouth slightly open.
"What…?"
The word came out thin and breathless.
His eyes raced over the vessel, searching for something familiar—engines, propellers, turbines, wings, anything. Anything that could make this make sense.
There was nothing.
No machinery. No roaring engines. No giant rotors.
Just a ship.
A ship sailing through the sky like it had every right to be there.
"This isn't logical," Zack muttered, still staring upward. "I know technology's getting insane with AI and everything, but there's no way something that big should be flying."
He squinted harder.
"At the very least, it should need wings," he said under his breath, sounding faintly offended. "That's just basic science."
The ship cut through the blue with impossible speed, smooth and graceful, without even the slightest wobble.
Then it passed beyond his sight.
The sky was empty again.
For a long moment, Zack just sat there in the grass, staring at nothing.
The clean air. The endless field. The flying ship.
Slowly, the truth settled into place.
He wasn't on Earth anymore.
A chill ran through him.
His fingers curled against his knees. Fear stirred in his chest, cold and tight. No home. No answers. No idea where he was or what might be waiting for him.
And yet—
under the fear, something else flickered.
Excitement.
Zack almost felt embarrassed admitting it, even to himself, but it was there. For someone who had spent so many nights buried in light novels and fantasy stories, this was the kind of moment that lived in the back of every reader's mind.
The strange new world.
The impossible first sign.
The moment when reality cracked open.
"This is insane," he murmured, still staring at the empty patch of sky. "Actually insane."
But he couldn't deny it anymore.
Somehow, impossibly, he had crossed into another world.
The thrill lasted only a few seconds before Zack dragged a hand down his face and forced himself to think.
"Okay," he muttered. "Don't panic."
His voice sounded steadier now.
"First, I need to figure out where I am. Then what kind of world this is."
His eyes drifted back toward the sky.
"From that ship…" he said slowly, frowning, "this is probably some kind of fantasy world."
He paused.
"Or maybe a cultivation world."
That thought made him go still for a second.
"…Yeah, no. Let's hope not."
The image of mountain-splitting sword energy and terrifying old monsters appeared in his head, and Zack immediately decided he disliked that possibility.
"If this is a fantasy world, I need to move fast," he said, more seriously now. "Fantasy worlds sound cool in stories, but they're also ridiculously dangerous. For all I know, a monster could jump out the second I let my guard down."
He looked around the field again.
It was quiet. Bright. Peaceful.
Which, honestly, made it worse.
In stories, nice-looking places were exactly where things tried to kill you.
While Zack was still thinking, a sharp sound rang through the air.
DING — Universal Shop System Activated
He froze.
The words were crisp, mechanical, and completely out of place in the middle of an empty field.
For one stunned second, he just stared ahead.
Then his eyes widened.
"No way," he breathed.
"A system?"