Morning arrived quietly over the ruined mountainside.
Golden rays of sunlight filtered through the towering forest trees while smoke continued drifting upward from the wreckage of the alien ship scattered across the valley below. Entire sections of the forest had been flattened during the crash, leaving behind uprooted trees, burning debris, and long scars carved into the earth where the gigantic metallic structure had torn through the mountainside like a falling star.
The destruction stretched for miles.
Kenny slowly regained consciousness beneath the shadow of a broken tree trunk.
Pain greeted him immediately.
For several moments, he simply stared blankly upward at the unfamiliar sky overhead while fragments of memory slowly returned to him.
The silver light descending from the heavens.
The alien ship.
The crash.
And finally—
The robot.
Kenny's eyes widened instantly.
His body tensed as he turned sharply toward the nearby wreckage.
The humanoid machine was still there.
Motionless.
Silent.
The metallic figure stood several meters away from him beside the burning remains of the crashed ship, its dark body partially illuminated beneath the morning sunlight. Scorch marks covered its armor plating while tiny sparks occasionally flickered beneath exposed mechanical joints damaged during the crash.
Compared to the terrifying image it gave beneath the burning flames last night, the machine now appeared smaller and strangely calmer.
Yet the sight of it still caused Kenny's heartbeat to accelerate uncontrollably.
The robot slowly tilted its head toward him.
Then its eyes lit up.
This time, instead of the ominous crimson glow from before, a calm violet light shone from within the machine's metallic face.
A familiar synthetic voice echoed directly inside Kenny's mind.
[Master, you are finally awake.]
Kenny immediately froze.
"Master…?"
His voice came out rough and uncertain.
Instinctively, he tried moving backward away from the machine, but he realized there was nowhere for him to go. His back pressed against the broken tree trunk behind him while his useless legs remained completely motionless beneath his body, just as they had for the last ten years.
At the same time, sharp pain continued pulsing through his damaged left arm and face from injuries sustained during the crash.
Reality settled heavily inside his chest.
This was not a dream.
Everything that happened last night had truly occurred.
Kenny swallowed hard before staring directly at the machine.
"What exactly are you?" he demanded cautiously. "And what do you mean by calling me your master?"
The robot remained completely still for a brief moment.
Then it answered.
Or rather, Kenny assumed it answered.
From the outside, the machine only emitted low electronic murmurs and distorted mechanical sounds, but inside Kenny's head, the synthetic voice became clear, almost as though the robot was speaking directly into his thoughts rather than through sound itself.
[Protocol 404 successfully activated.]
[You are now recognized as the inheritor of Noct civilization technologies, archives, and cultural authorities.]
[Current designation: Master.]
Several glowing streams of symbols suddenly appeared across Kenny's vision.
[Unit Name: 11389]
[Classification: A-Class Production Drone]
[Initiating Memory Transfer.]
The moment those words appeared, a violent ringing exploded inside Kenny's skull.
NGGGGIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!
Kenny immediately grabbed his head as another flood of information surged uncontrollably into his mind.
Images flashed before his eyes at terrifying speed.
Gigantic metallic cities floating among stars.
Towering machines large enough to overshadow mountains.
Silver fleets crossing endless galaxies.
Entire civilizations composed not of flesh and blood, but advanced artificial beings connected through incomprehensible networks of technology.
The sheer amount of information flooding into his brain felt overwhelming.
Languages he could not understand.
Blueprints beyond modern science.
Energy systems humanity had never imagined.
Kenny felt as though his brain was being forcefully expanded to contain knowledge far beyond human civilization itself.
Yet amidst the chaos, one horrifying truth gradually became clear.
The machine standing before him was real.
Not an illusion.
Not experimental military technology.
Not something created on Earth.
It belonged to an alien civilization incomparably more advanced than humanity.
Kenny's breathing gradually quickened.
At first, fear surfaced inside him.
Then disbelief.
Then slowly—
Excitement.
Pure overwhelming excitement.
"What the hell…" Kenny whispered while staring at the robot with widening eyes.
His engineering instincts immediately began spiraling out of control.
Artificial intelligence.
Matter reconstruction.
Interstellar travel.
Mechanical engineering beyond human imagination.
With technology like this, humanity itself could be revolutionized.
No—
Controlled.
Kenny's thoughts raced rapidly.
He imagined futuristic cities powered by impossible machines. He imagined corporations begging for access to his inventions. He imagined the professors who rejected him staring speechless at technology centuries beyond their understanding.
Money.
Power.
Fame.
All of it suddenly felt achievable.
Then Kenny abruptly paused.
Because deep down, he realized there was something he desired even more than wealth.
Respect.
For his entire life, people had looked down on him because of his broken body. Teachers pitied him. Students mocked him. Society treated him like a burden long before he even became an adult.
But now?
Now he possessed knowledge from a civilization beyond Earth itself.
A grin slowly appeared across Kenny's face.
"Your designation is terrible," he muttered while rubbing his forehead. "I'm calling you Noct from now on."
The robot's violet eyes flickered softly.
[Designation update acknowledged.]
Kenny leaned back slightly against the broken tree while forcing himself to calm down.
Questions continued flooding his thoughts endlessly.
Where exactly was he?
What happened to the civilization that built Noct?
Why had he been chosen?
And perhaps most importantly—
How was he supposed to survive in this unknown world?
"Alright, Noct," Kenny finally said after taking a deep breath. "Take me back home."
The robot remained silent briefly before answering.
[Request impossible.]
Kenny frowned immediately.
"What do you mean impossible?"
[Current location is no longer Earth 102.]
Silence followed.
Kenny blinked.
"…What?"
[Current planetary designation: Planet 2871.]
[Distance from Earth 102 exceeds thirty-seven billion astronomical units.]
Kenny stared blankly at the robot for several seconds.
Then his jaw slowly dropped open.
"You're telling me…" he said slowly, "I'm not even on Earth anymore?"
[Affirmative.]
The calm answer caused Kenny's thoughts to spiral instantly.
Another planet.
Another world entirely.
For several seconds, he simply sat there motionless while trying to process the overwhelming amount of information that had been forcefully poured into his head since waking up. Alien civilizations, dimensional travel, artificial intelligence, unknown worlds—any one of those things alone should have been enough to completely shatter a normal person's understanding of reality.
And yet somehow, all of them had become his reality within a single night.
Kenny rubbed both hands across his face while trying desperately to organize his thoughts.
So he had really been taken away from Earth.
Not just to another country, but to an entirely different world unimaginably far away from humanity itself.
Far… far away.
The sheer scale of it made Kenny feel strangely small.
At the same time, the robot seemed to recognize the confusion written all over his expression. Its glowing violet eyes flickered faintly before streams of information suddenly appeared across Kenny's vision once more.
[Planetary designation: 2871.]
[Current region: Human Subcontinent.]
[Planetary mass estimated at 10.34 times Earth 102.]
[Distance from Earth 102 approximately 37 billion Astronomical Units.]
Kenny stared blankly at the floating information.
"…Thirty-seven billion…?"
His mouth opened slightly.
That number was so absurd that his brain struggled to even visualize it properly. Humanity had not even explored beyond its own tiny solar system, yet somehow he had been transported across distances beyond comprehension to a place that should have existed only in science fiction movies.
The universe he currently stood in was no longer the familiar reality humanity knew.
It was something vastly larger.
Dangerous.
The fragmented memories transferred into his mind earlier suddenly became clearer as he recalled glimpses of gigantic interstellar civilizations and countless inhabited worlds scattered across endless galaxies.
For the first time in his life, Kenny truly understood how insignificant Earth actually was.
"This is insane…" he muttered while staring toward the unfamiliar mountains in the distance. "This is completely insane…"
Honestly, believing he had died and entered some bizarre afterlife almost sounded more reasonable than accepting everything Noct was telling him.
But strangely enough, Kenny did not want this to be a dream.
No.
Deep inside his chest, beneath the fear and confusion, excitement was beginning to grow stronger and stronger.
Because if this world truly existed…
Then so did all the possibilities within it.
It took Kenny several long minutes before he finally managed to calm himself enough to think rationally again.
Once his breathing steadied slightly, he turned back toward the robot.
Questions flooded his mind endlessly.
"Noct," he asked carefully, "what kind of planet did we crash into exactly?"
Immediately, new streams of data appeared before his eyes.
[Planet 2871 — Class L.]
[Dominant Species: Human.]
[Realm Classification: Middle Realm.]
Kenny frowned slightly while reading the unfamiliar terms.
"Middle Realm…?"
Fragments of transferred memories surfaced inside his head almost instinctively.
This world apparently classifies civilizations and planets according to strength and development. A Middle Realm referred to territories ruled by beings capable of wielding extraordinary supernatural power beyond normal physical laws.
Beings known as Magus.
Kenny's expression gradually stiffened as more fragmented information emerged.
Powerful individuals capable of manipulating natural forces.
People who could shatter mountains with spells.
Figures who treated armies like insects beneath overwhelming magical power.
The same type of existence that apparently chased Noct's ship before it crashed.
"Magic…" Kenny muttered under his breath.
Even now, the word still sounded surreal.
But after surviving alien abduction and dimensional travel, the existence of magic somehow no longer felt impossible.
Rather, what frightened him more was realizing just how dangerous this new world truly was.
If mountain-shattering monsters genuinely existed here, then a crippled engineering student from Earth stood almost no chance of surviving alone.
Kenny immediately turned back toward the robot.
"Noct… what exactly are you capable of?" he asked seriously. "And how strong are you?"
The machine remained silent briefly before answering in its usual calm tone.
[Current combat capability limited.]
[Operational power approximately equivalent to Level 3 lifeform.]
Kenny blinked several times.
"That sounds weak."
[Correct.]
"…Damn it."
Kenny scratched his head in frustration while letting out an annoyed groan.
For a moment, he had imagined the robot might secretly be some unstoppable alien superweapon capable of protecting him from everything this terrifying world could throw at him.
Apparently, reality was not that generous.
"Then what exactly can you do?" Kenny asked again.
This time, the robot answered almost immediately.
[I possess matter replication and reconstruction capabilities.]
[As long as sufficient energy and resources are available, I can create, repair, modify, or reconstruct most forms of matter.]
Kenny froze instantly.
A dangerous mixture of hope and disbelief slowly appeared across his face.
"…Wait."
His gaze slowly lowered toward his useless legs.
For ten years, they had remained completely lifeless beneath him.
Ten years of rehabilitation.
Ten years of enduring pity, mockery, and humiliation while pretending he no longer cared.
Then Kenny slowly looked back toward the robot.
"Noct…" he said quietly, almost afraid to ask the question aloud. "Does that mean… you can fix me?"
The robot's violet eyes locked directly onto him.
[Affirmative.]
[Both lower limbs are repairable.]
[Biological reconstruction and synthetic enhancement procedures available.]
[Would you like to proceed, Master?]
Kenny's heartbeat nearly stopped.
For several moments, he simply stared at the machine while his thoughts descended into complete chaos.
Hope.
Real hope.
Something he buried years ago suddenly resurfaced with enough force to make his chest tighten painfully.
"You… you can really do it?" he whispered.
The robot immediately stepped closer.
Several glowing symbols suddenly appeared before Kenny's eyes as streams of diagnostic data began scanning across his body.
[Scanning target body.]
[Left leg status: Severe structural damage detected.]
[Right leg status: Severe structural damage detected.]
[Neurological connection: Incomplete.]
[Left arm status: Heavy trauma detected.]
[Left eye status: Partial sensory impairment.]
[Recommendation: Full cybernetic reconstruction of lower limbs.]
[Recommendation: Muscular enhancement of the left arm.]
[Recommendation: Optical sensory augmentation.]
Kenny barely understood half the terminology flashing before him, but one thing became painfully clear.
Noct was not simply offering treatment.
It was offering evolution.
The idea caused his breathing to quicken.
For his entire life, Kenny had hated his own weak body. Every staircase, every stare from strangers, every moment of helplessness had slowly filled him with resentment toward his own flesh.
But now?
Now, a machine from an advanced alien civilization was offering to rebuild him completely.
Kenny looked down at his lifeless legs one final time.
Then he raised his head toward Noct.
Excitement, fear, and anticipation mixed violently inside his chest.
"Yes," he said firmly without hesitation.
"Do it."