“Twentieth Otherworld Summoning Protocol. Transdimensional Traction Signal Locked. Energy Resonance Stabilized. Vital Signs Synchronized and Connected. Summoning Time, 6:21 PM.”
Wait a second.
I’m alone at home.
Who’s talking?
Keran’s eyes snapped open.
Harsh white light slammed into his face.
His eyelids flinched violently.
He instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, then slowly scanned his surroundings.
It was a massive laboratory, surrounded by cold white metal walls.
It looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, like some kind of high-tech medical facility.
He lay on a metal table.
Its surface was smooth and cold, the chill seeping straight through his thin clothes into the skin of his back.
Several people in white lab coats stood around him, their faces lit up with barely contained excitement.
They were pointing and whispering to each other.
“I was just playing a game… Where am I?” Keran’s voice was hoarse, like his throat had been scraped with sandpaper.
He tried to remember, but his thoughts were a tangled mess of yarn.
All he could recall was staying up half the night gaming.
He’d just created a new character and was on the class selection screen when a blinding blue-white light burst from the center of his monitor, swallowing him whole.
“Go get Ms. Rufina immediately! The Otherworld Summoning Protocol worked!” one researcher hissed, unable to contain his excitement.
“And call security. Get them here to contain this Otherworld Lifeform right now.”
The lab coats babbled over each other.
Keran couldn’t understand a single word, but he could tell something was wrong from their tone and expressions.
A few words were repeated over and over, sharp and excited.
Someone pointed toward the door.
Heavy footsteps echoed from outside, getting closer fast.
Wait or run?
He hesitated for only a split second before choosing the latter.
Waiting around to die wasn’t in his nature.
He rolled off the table and stumbled toward the lab door.
The lab coats scattered backward, none daring to stop him.
Bang!
He slammed the door open.
Beyond it stretched a long, pure white corridor.
A dozen guards in black tactical uniforms stood at both ends, shock rifles raised, already surrounding him.
One guard raised his shock rifle, aimed it at Keran, and pulled the trigger.
A flash of blue-white electricity crackled through the air.
Keran had no time to dodge.
He instinctively raised his arm to block.
The next second, a violent surge of electricity coursed through his entire body.
Half his body went numb instantly, and his knees buckled, nearly sending him crashing to the floor.
Cough.
He gritted his teeth and lifted his head, his breathing ragged.
At the end of the corridor, the dozen black-uniformed guards still had their weapons trained on him.
Cold light poured down from above.
No one spoke.
Not a single footstep could be heard.
Only the low hum of machinery echoed through the hallway.
Keran glanced down at his still trembling arm.
…Shit.
This really isn’t a joke.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when his vision narrowed sharply.
His consciousness slipped away like the tide.
He tried to stay upright, but he couldn’t even lift a finger.
His body went limp, and he collapsed silently to the floor.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Keran forced his eyes open.
The light stung, making him squint.
His vision was blurry, but he could just make out the figure of a slender woman standing in front of him.
“How is the Otherworld Lifeform?” the woman asked her subordinates behind her.
Her voice was cool and steady, with a distant edge that made people hesitate to approach.
“He’s fully conscious, and his stress responses are within normal parameters,” the lead researcher said, handing over the data, his voice trembling with excitement.
“The neurological impact of the transdimensional pull was far less than expected. His cognitive functions are completely intact. This is our most successful Otherworld Summoning to date, Ms. Rufina.”
Hmm.
The light shifted slightly, and Keran finally got a clear look at the woman’s face.
She had long silver hair that fell naturally around her shoulders, and pale, cool skin.
She wore a black uniform, and her expression was indifferent.
Her crimson eyes burned like fire in the dark, cold, and bright.
Her features were stunning, sharp, and defined yet softened by a quiet elegance.
She radiated an aura that kept everyone at arm’s length.
She’s drop-dead gorgeous no matter where you put her…
Keran thought randomly.
“My name is Rufina,” the silver-haired woman said, looking directly at Keran.
“I’m the head of the Department of Otherworld Life Research in Azure City.”
She paused for a beat, then nodded at her assistant.
“Take him for a full baseline workup. I want the results on my desk immediately.”
Two expressionless guards stepped forward, grabbed Keran by the arms, and dragged him out.
Keran glanced at their muscular builds and the pistols holstered at their waists, and immediately abandoned any thought of resisting.
The testing process was long and tedious.
Keran was forced to lie on various machines for scans and tests.
They drew several vials of his blood and put him through a series of physical exams measuring strength, speed, and reaction time.
An hour later, all the tests were complete.
Keran was led to a spacious office.
Rufina sat behind a large desk, poring over stacks of test results.
When she saw him enter, she set down the reports and gestured to the chair across from her.
“Sit.”
Once again, Keran couldn’t understand a word she said, but he got the message from her gesture and sat down.
Rufina looked at him, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“I know you don’t understand anything right now, and you have no idea what’s going on. Don’t be nervous. We won’t hurt you.”
She pulled a tiny silver chip, no bigger than a fingernail, from her drawer and handed it to her assistant.
“Implant him with the basic memory chip. It contains the common language and fundamental knowledge of the Star Abyss.”
The assistant took the chip, walked over to Keran, and gestured for him to tilt his head back.
Keran hesitated, but did as he was told.
The assistant pressed the chip gently against his temple.
It melted instantly, turning into a cold liquid that seeped through his skin and into his mind.
The next second, a tidal wave of information crashed into Keran’s brain.
Rufina said nothing more.
She nodded at her assistant and turned toward the door.
Her assistant followed, leaving Keran alone in the room.
Keran winced in pain, clutching his head as he waited for it to pass.
His head throbbed again as more and more information flooded his mind.
After what felt like an eternity, Keran finally pieced together what had happened.
“I was actually summoned by those scientists… to the Star Abyss?”
Keran’s eyes widened in shock.
…
Star Abyss.
A name that means endless starry skies and bottomless abysses.
This was a world of incredibly advanced technology, but that technology had not brought peace to the planet.
The native ecosystem of the Star Abyss was extremely dangerous.
Creatures of all shapes and sizes roamed the dark wastelands beyond the city domes.
They were massive and fiercely aggressive.
Even the most basic medium-sized native creature could easily tear an unenhanced human apart.
Humans had built city after city, protected by massive domes.
They constructed layers of defenses from composite materials and used terraforming technology to keep the air inside the domes breathable.
They clung to survival by the skin of their teeth, their civilization hanging by a thread.
Beyond the domes lay eternal darkness and danger.
It was the monsters’ territory.
Currently, the order of the Star Abyss is maintained by three great empires and the Hundred Cities Federation.
The Skyreach Empire, the Solaris Empire, the Eclipse Empire, and the Hundred Cities Federation, a loose alliance of independent dome cities.
These powers balanced each other, barely holding together a fragile peace.
In the gaps between them, countless smaller factions and mutated creatures lurked, ready to shatter that peace at any moment.
So-called Otherworld Lifeforms are humanoid beings that every major research faction in the Star Abyss forcibly summons from other parallel worlds using transdimensional traction technology.
Their biology is nearly identical to that of native Star Abyss humans, yet they are not of the same origin.
Some of them even awaken inexplicable special abilities after arriving in the Star Abyss.
That’s exactly why none of the major factions have ever stopped researching Otherworld Lifeforms.
And Keran is the only Otherworld Lifeform Azure City has ever successfully summoned to date.
…..
…This world is a total mess, Keran thought.
He fell silent, his expression grave.
Then he slowly looked around the empty room.
…So how do I get back home?
The next second, a cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
At the same time, a translucent blue holographic screen popped up right in front of his eyes.
[Player System Activated. Host Bound: Keran]
[Identity: Otherworld Lifeform]
Name: Keran
Race: Human
Level: 1
Experience: 0
Health Points: 50/50
Stamina Points: 80/80
Class: None
Base Attributes:
Strength 5, Agility 5, Endurance 6, Intelligence 5, Spirit 4, Charisma 3, Luck 2
Free Attribute Points: 0
Energy: 0
Talents:
Fast Learner (Passive): Increases learning and crafting speed by 10%
Minor Willpower Enhancement (Passive): Willpower +5
Power Level: F- (No Superpowers Activated)
Potential Points: 0
Skills: None
Equipment: None
Influence: None
Danger Level: Extremely Low
「Average human level.
No combat training whatsoever.
Even the lowest level mutated creature outside the city could pin you down and beat you to a pulp.」
Keran stared at the screen, stunned for a second.
Then an indescribable surge of joy welled up inside him.
As a veteran gamer who’d been playing for over a decade, Keran knew this kind of interface like the back of his hand.
Levels, attributes, skill bars, experience points…
Every single element felt instinctively familiar.
He’d even daydreamed about having a system like this in real life, where his hard work would translate into visible, measurable growth.
He never thought that this absolutely insane transmigration would actually make that dream come true.
Keran stared at the blue screen, his breathing quickening without him realizing it.
He reached out tentatively.
His fingers passed straight through the hologram without resistance.
But instead of being disappointed, Keran got even more excited.
That meant it was a personal interface only he could see.
At the very least, he wasn’t completely helpless.
He kept reading, his eyes drifting to the small line of text at the very bottom of the screen.
「Even the lowest level mutated creature outside the city could pin you down and beat you to a pulp.」
His excitement faded by half.
Keran frowned deeply.
His fingertips still tingled faintly from the shock rifle blast earlier.
That was a far more vivid warning than any numbers on a screen.
He only had one life.
There were no save points here.
If he died out in the alien wilderness, no one would even bury him.
He was incredibly weak right now.
Weak enough that anyone could kill him easily.
But since the Azure City Research Department had gone to all this trouble to summon him, they probably wouldn’t let him die anytime soon.
At least not until he lost his research value.
With that thought, Keran’s tightly wound nerves finally relaxed a little.
“Might as well make the best of it,” he thought to himself.
“I’ll just take it one step at a time.”