Kaito woke with a gasp, his lungs burning as if he'd been underwater.
Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead and soaked the fabric beneath him.
"What the hell? Am I dying?" His thoughts raced, panicked.
"Calm down, you useless body! Breathe!"
"I can't die yet, let me beat this game one last time, please!"
He gasped again, sucking in air, and slowly, mercifully, his breathing steadied.
He inhaled deeply, then exhaled, trying to clear the haze from his mind.
He blinked, looking around, but the room was utterly foreign.
No white hospital walls, no sterile equipment.
"Where am I? This doesn't look like the hospital."
"Did they move me while I was asleep?"
Unconsciously, he lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
His fingers brushed against smooth skin, not the cool, familiar plastic of the Reality Headgear.
He touched his head, bewildered. It wasn't there.
"Am I... in the game?" The thought struck him, but it made no sense.
The new server was just about to open.
"If I successfully logged in, then I should be in a character creation or customization screen, a pristine digital lobby."
"But I'm not, so... is this not inside the game?"
He looked down at his body, and a jolt went through him.
It was a seemingly young body, certainly not the sickly thin frame he had seen every day for years.
And he wasn't wearing a patient gown. Instead, he was clad in simple, rough fabric.
"What is going on?"
Before he could even begin to process the impossible situation, a bright blue screen flickered into existence directly in front of his eyes, glowing with words.
The floating blue words hung in the air, crisp and unwavering:
-WELCOME TO ARCENSIS-
Kaito stared, his eyes wide.
"What?! Arcensis, like, the world that SpellxEdge Online takes place in?!" he exclaimed, the words tumbling out in a frantic rush.
"Arcensis? Am I still inside the game? Is this like a new update?"
His mind reeled, trying to grasp the impossible.
"But then why the hell did I feel like I was dying when I woke up?"
"The pain of not being able to breathe and the sweats in my body right now... It feels too real."
"What did you do to me?!"
His voice rose, cracking with a mix of fear and indignation.
"I'm gonna sue you guys! I might be half-dead in real life, but I can at least bring you down with me!"
As if in response to his furious outburst, the words on the glowing blue screen shimmered, changing before his very eyes.
The cold, digital greeting was replaced by something far more profound, far more unsettling.
-The Gods have been watching over you, Kaito.-
-They saw your relentless will to fight for your place on the top.-
-They heard your declaration of going to die at the top, and your pleas of reaching the top before you die.-
-Some sympathize with you. Some are amused at you.-
-And some, want to see you fail. To see you lose and die as a nobody.-
The text shifted again, adding another layer to their divine pronouncement:
-But all of them want to see you try your best, your hardest, to struggle, to fight in this world you have been living for years now in the other world.-
Kaito's mind reeled, overwhelmed by the impossible situation.
"What?! Gods?! Now gods are real?" he roared, his voice laced with incredulity and bitter anger.
"Really? When I'm already on the verge of death?"
"They show up to pull me somewhere else to keep toying with?"
"Sympathize?! Amusement?! And wanting to watch me fail?!"
His anger sharpened his voice, making every word a challenge.
He looked up at the ceiling, then his gaze swept through the room's window, as if trying to pinpoint the unseen entities watching him.
"I don't care what any of you think or feel about me!" he declared, his voice ringing with renewed defiance.
"But knowing that this is the real Arcensis makes me want to do my best."
"If you want to see me reach the top again, then that's what I will do."
"You better not blink, or you will miss it! My return to the top!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the blue system screen popped up in front of him once more, its message now delivering an unexpected twist.
-This world is not entirely identical with the game you have experienced before.-
-This one doesn't have other players to fight against to the top.-
Kaito stared, shocked. "What?!" he practically yelled.
"Then how would I be the top if there are no other people to fight?"
The system's answer was immediate and clear:
-This world follows the main story line of the game.-
-Your task is to become strong, the strongest in this world, and reach the true ending of Arcensis.-
"True ending?" Kaito muttered, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"What the hell are you talking about, system?"
"The game I was playing is this world right?"
"Are their stuff and rules in the game that doesn't apply to this world?"
"Is that what you are saying, system?"
The blue screen simply displayed a single word:
-YES-
Kaito went quiet, processing this new information.
He mumbled to himself, the implications slowly dawning on him.
"Hmm, so because there's no other players, no ranking, no arena, so probably no battle royale..."
Before he could finish his thought, the system cut him off, displaying new text.
-There are outside arenas and battle royales in this world, but not accessible any time soon to a student.-
The word "student" hit Kaito like a physical blow.
"Student?" he burst out, utterly surprised.
"Who, me? What?!"
He scrambled to his feet, a burst of energy surprising even himself, and began frantically searching the unfamiliar room.
He found a small, mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
He stumbled towards it, his breath catching in his throat as he stared at his reflection.
The hollowness that had defined him for years was gone, replaced by firm, healthy contours.
His skin held a natural flush he hadn't seen in decades.
And his body, previously so frail and withered, was lean, agile, and undeniably youthful.
"What the...?" he whispered, touching his cheek.
"I look younger? I thought I was put on a healthy body, but I am put in this world as myself, a younger one at that."
He looked closer, searching for any trace of his past illness, but found none.
He called out to the glowing blue screen, "System, how old am I? And what school am I attending?"
The blue screen instantly shimmered with new information:
-Age: 16 years old-
-Attending: Crimsonsteel Academy, First Year-
A genuine sigh of relief escaped Kaito's lips, easing some of the tension that had gripped him.
"At least I'm studying at the academy of the main characters," he mumbled, a glimmer of his old game knowledge sparking in his eyes.
This wasn't some backwater village.
This was where the important quests happened.
He then addressed the floating interface again, a critical question forming.
"Who am I in this world, system?"
The blue screen instantly updated, its words stark and unyielding:
-Your name is Kaito Kuromaku-
-A commoner-
-No background-
-No family-
-No money-
Kaito stared at the blue screen, the words searing into his mind.
"What?!" he erupted, his voice a mixture of disbelief and genuine outrage.
"I'm a commoner?! A literal background character? An extra? And broke!?"
His eyes, wide with incredulity, flickered and lingered on the phrase "no family" for a fleeting, almost imperceptible second.
A shadow crossed his face, a raw vulnerability that quickly vanished as he forcibly looked away from the screen, shaking his head.
"I guess they accurately insert me in a nobody," he muttered, a dry, almost bitter laugh escaping his lips.
But then, a genuine, unburdened smile slowly spread across his face, a stark contrast to his earlier fury.
His shoulders relaxed, and his youthful eyes, free from the exhaustion that had haunted them for years, sparkled with a newfound lightness.
"But," he said, a genuine warmth in his voice now, "at least I am not sick here or anything."
He stretched, feeling the unaccustomed strength in his limbs, a profound sense of relief washing over him.
The commoner status, the lack of money, even the absence of a family.
All of it paled in comparison to the vibrant health he now possessed.
Kaito looked around the unfamiliar room, a sudden practical question forming in his mind.
"What should I do now?" His gaze landed on the persistent blue screen floating before him.
"Hey, System," he said, "are you only here to notify me?"
"Maybe you have a menu list, or a player status list at least?"
The System offered no verbal reply.
Instead, the floating words dissolved, replaced by a full-blown menu list that shimmered into existence:
System Menu List
>Player Status
>Missions
>Inventory
>Arcensis Market
>Stats Management
>Weapon Art Management
>Magic Spell Management
>Achievements
>Information Database
>Companion Management
Kaito's eyes widened. This was far more comprehensive than he'd expected.
It was a proper game interface, laid out for him alone.