Knox started walking the moment he appeared in that new world, completely alien to him. The plains stretching around him were lush and green, a fresh breeze hitting his face every few seconds, making his brown hair flutter.
"Where am I?"
The accident was still fresh in his mind. Hit by a truck with no brakes—or maybe the driver was drunk. Either way, his life was over.
Maybe the truth was that Knox was trying to find reasons to justify the idiotic way he'd died. If he'd been more careful crossing the street, put his phone aside, his life would still be intact.
A single small decision had changed the entire course of his existence.
Everything around him looked like scenery you'd find on Earth, but there were distinct differences in those plains. It was as if a black veil hung in the distance, making it impossible to see as far as he should.
Mist. Veil. Call it whatever you wanted.
Even with that limitation, Knox's gaze landed on some buildings he could still make out. One of them looked like a castle, with high stone walls, a wooden bridge, and a tower so tall it nearly touched the clouds.
Aimless, with no idea where to go, Knox kept walking across the plains until he found a massive tree.
It was one of the largest trees he'd ever seen. The trunk was so wide it could've been a building, and the canopy seemed to stretch into infinity.
"What a majestic tree..."
An overwhelming urge to rest took hold of his body. Walking for that long—fifteen minutes—was already more than his body was used to.
Knox sat down, leaning his back against the tree, feeling that refreshing breeze wash over him. Beside the tree lay a small sword.
It looked like a normal sword, made of some kind of metal, with runic inscriptions near the tip.
It was the first time he'd ever seen a real sword like that. Exactly the kind he'd read about or watched in movies.
"Looks like this is a medieval world or something. Did I get transported here after death, or is this all a dream?"
No way to know. Knox picked up the sword. It was heavier than he expected. He placed it beside him and closed his eyes to rest.
Finally, a moment to rest. His mind was a mess after everything that had happened. All that pain he'd felt momentarily at impact was gone.
This moment of peace lasted five minutes. Only five minutes of peace was what the universe decided to give Knox.
A noise reached his ears, making him snap his eyes open, staring straight at what looked like some kind of spatial rift.
The wind intensified, growing even stronger, accompanied by a suction force that wanted to pull him into that rift.
"What the hell is happening?" Knox muttered.
The first thing that came to mind: protect himself. He tried grabbing the tree. Didn't work. The suction was so strong he started moving toward the rift anyway.
Drive the sword into the ground? That failed too. The suction was so powerful the sword began cutting through the earth.
"Damn it."
That was the last thing he said before passing through the portal, heading straight into another world.
As soon as he crossed through, Knox felt his body slam onto a hard stone floor, and around him, numerous women were waiting.
They wore clothes in shades of green, all with flawless skin and pointed ears. Knox wasn't stupid. They were elves—at least, they seemed to be.
"What the hell happened?" one of them said, her sweet voice spreading through the room. "Where's the elven guardian we were supposed to summon?"
"I think that's him," another said. "Look at his sword. It's exactly the same as in the scriptures."
"But his ears? He looks human, and he's too young. This is strange," another commented.
They all looked at him with curiosity. Knox blinked several times. He really had no idea what was happening. His entire life seemed to change in just twenty minutes, and it was too much for him.
*
Near the tree where Knox had leaned, inside the dimension called the Dream Realm—from which summons came, and some humans too—there was a stream.
This stream wasn't important. What was important was the person who'd gone to bathe in it. A tall, muscular elf who radiated an aura of royalty, as if he were an elf from the golden age of the elves, before they were attacked by humans and other races.
This elf was none other than one of the six supreme guardians of the elves. A family of elves in a complicated situation had gathered resources to summon him.
That family needed the help of a powerful guardian. Dark times were coming. Not just for that family, but for everyone on the planet.
With the information passed down in the scriptures, the family had been able to locate the sacred tree where the guardian rested within the Dream Realm, and decided to summon him.
Things didn't go exactly as planned.
"Ah, that bath in the stream was perfect," said the guardian, drying his body with a towel as he approached the sacred tree.
The first thing he noticed was his sword. It was gone. Not only that, there were marks of destroyed ground on the floor.
He wasn't worried. It wasn't the first time someone or something had tried to steal his sword.
All he needed to do was use his magic to track the sword. He could find it anywhere within the Dream Realm.
That's what he did. The runes on his arm—the same ones on the sword—glowed brightly with a golden yellow light, and to his surprise, nothing happened. The sword wasn't found.
"Wait, what? Where the hell is my SWORD?!"
*
The elves picked up a device to measure the strength of the summon they'd summoned. They expected a high rank, after all, it was supposed to be one of the sacred guardians of the elves.
But as soon as they scanned the amount of mana within Knox's veins and core, they were surprised. Not in a good way.
"He's a rank C guardian... We are fucked. What are we supposed to do with a guardian with his level of power?"
"Rank C? For a family guardian, that's really low. I don't think even the weakest families have a family guardian this bad. Our situation just keeps getting worse..."
All the beautiful elves around Knox were feeling terrible about having received such a useless guardian.
Knox, on the other hand, was focused on observing what his new system was showing him.
[Lazy Meditation of the Legendary Lazy Knight (Rank S): Every 10 seconds spent sitting, increase all attributes by 10 points. Can stack up to 6 times initially.]
[Duration: 10 minutes.]
[Skill can be upgraded.]
[More Than Necessary Rest of the Legendary Lazy Knight (Rank S): Sleeping at least 12 hours guarantees a 100% increase in meditation gains.]
[Skill can be upgraded.]
"Even though they're saying my rank is C, I don't know if that's really true. Look at these rank S skills I have here, hehe."
A chance in a new world, with skills and a system, surrounded by beautiful elves.
Knox, who'd been a bit depressed, felt a sudden surge of happiness. Maybe things had happened this way for a reason.