Zen appeared abruptly in the corner of a cramped warehouse, surrounded by towers of cardboard boxes.
He stood still for a moment, scanning his surroundings to confirm his location. The moment he realized he was in the backroom of the minimarket where he worked, a wave of relief washed over him. Zen dropped to his knees, facing the wall and whispering a prayer of thanks, even though he hadn't stepped foot in a church for years.
He glanced at the bag by his side. Everything he had looted was still there. His mind raced with limitless, wild possibilities.
A broad grin spread across his face. "Hahaha... Zen, what kind of good karma did your ancestors pull for you to be this lucky?" he muttered, still in disbelief.
Only this morning, he had left for work with a groan. By afternoon, he had been snatched by the system into an Ogre's den, caught in a life-or-death struggle. And now, he was back in his own world.
Zen checked his condition. His pants were shredded, and his shirt was missing—likely a result of his muscles expanding during the [Ogre Soul] buff earlier.
Suddenly, he remembered something. His eyes darted to the CCTV camera in the corner of the ceiling. 'Shit! If anyone sees me appearing out of thin air, I'll end up as a lab rat!'
Thinking fast, he grabbed a ladder from across the room and pretended to clean dust and cobwebs near the camera. With a deliberate, swift motion, he smashed the glass of the CCTV lens.
CRACK!
The lens shattered. Zen climbed down, cleared the glass shards, and carefully avoided his coworkers who were still on duty in the main store area. Once he felt safe, he slipped into the employee restroom, put on a spare shirt hanging there, and opened his loot bag.
"Let's see what we've got," he whispered, his eyes sparkling.
Inside the bag was a hoard of genuine treasure:
45 Mana Crystals (Clear crystals that felt warm to the touch).Skill Book: Fireball (An ancient book with fire runes on the cover).2 Echo Whistles.Mist Camouflage Cloak.Basic Potion Pouch (Containing 10 bottles of Healing Potion).
Zen touched the items one by one. However, when he opened the Fireball Skill Book, he frowned. The script was foreign and incredibly complex.
"Damn, how am I supposed to learn this if I can't even read it?"
[Ding! Master can use Mana Crystals to comprehend the Skill Book.]
[Warning: Using skills requires mana energy. Your current world lacks mana.]
Zen's eyebrows shot up. It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. Still, he didn't give up. He took out one Mana Crystal and held it close to the book.
Sure enough, a stream of blue energy flowed from the crystal and enveloped the book. Slowly, the text and diagrams became clear and understandable to his mind.
Mana flow... Foundation of the mind... Four mana centers...
The more Zen read, the more his head throbbed. He quickly closed the book. While difficult, he realized that if he mastered the contents, he could use magic even without the system's help.
'If others read this, could they use magic too?' His mind wandered, imagining a world where magic was real. But he quickly shook his head; he needed to focus on his own plans for profit first.
Zen packed his items into his personal locker. Now, it was time to increase his attributes. He had the 70 empty attribute points from the Main Quest reward.
He distributed them evenly: STR 30, AGI 20, and RES 20.
The moment he confirmed the allocation, a surge of intense heat exploded within his body. His muscles writhed violently, just like during the Ogre buff, but this time it was far more painful.
"Ugh!" Zen gripped his chest. The sudden physical transformation sent his body into shock.
The veins in his neck bulged, his vision blurred, and a high-pitched ringing filled his ears.
10 seconds... 30 seconds... 1 minute...
Zen was gasping for air as his muscles contracted painfully. Fortunately, the energy from the Mana Crystal he was holding seeped into his skin, providing a much-needed energy supply.
"Hah... hah... crazy! I almost died!" Zen panted.
[Ding! Additional Information: Be careful when increasing attributes without a natural mana supply from the environment!]
Zen realized the danger. In the Elven world, increasing attributes was easy because mana was in the air. On a mana-less Earth, his body had to work twice as hard to adapt.
After calming down, Zen stepped out of the restroom. He hid his loot bag in the furthest corner of his locker and walked toward the storefront.
The minimarket was bright, filled with rows of snacks and drinks. A few customers were wandering around the registers.
"Zen?"
His female coworker at the register turned around. "Wait, why did you change your uniform?"
Zen gave a sheepish smile. "Ah... I got some water on my shirt earlier, so I swapped it."
The woman looked at him suspiciously. As coworkers who were quite close, she felt something was different about him. She impulsively reached out and grabbed Zen's arm.
"Zen!?" She gasped, feeling his arm—it was as hard as iron.
Zen quickly pulled his hand away. "I've been hitting the gym pretty hard lately," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. He quickly moved behind the counter.
"Bro, let me take over. You can go finish the other tasks," Zen said to the male clerk.
"Out of nowhere? Sure, thanks Zen!" The clerk happily handed over the position.
Zen sighed in relief. When the store was quiet, he quickly accessed the CCTV system and deleted the footage of the moment he had returned. Safe.
Time passed until 6 PM. Suddenly, the sound of a commotion erupted from the parking lot.
"Hey! Parking here is free! Why should I pay!?"
"Don't give me that! Pay up or else!"
Two men were shoving each other in front of the store—the parking attendant versus a customer. Zen stepped out to intervene. His coworkers watched from a distance, but none dared to get close, knowing the attendant was backed by local thugs.
Zen stepped forward and stood between them. He looked at the customer. "It's fine, sir. You can leave now," he said calmly.
Then, he turned to the attendant. "You. From now on, don't you ever come back here!"
The attendant didn't flinch. Instead, he screamed in Zen's face. "Who do you think you are, huh!? You have no idea who is backing me!" He shoved Zen's chest with all his might.
The attendant's eyes widened. Zen didn't budge an inch, as if the man had just tried to push a solid boulder. Zen calmly caught the man's hand and squeezed.
KRETEK!
"ARGHHH!" The man's scream was shrill, making everyone nearby turn their heads in horror.