"Trial? What trial?" The corner of Zhang Heng's eye twitched.
"Yurianne can't reveal the contents of the trial before you accept the trial, host dude," Yurianne winked, which produced a ding sound, making it look like she was trying to flirt with him like in some anime.
He wiped the cold sweat off of his brow and looked around, picking up a cup of noodles and a bottle of mineral water in his hand, then taking out a pitch-black dagger from the drawer of his table.
He was a boy and there was nothing out of place about him just buying such a blade online; he used it more as a decorative piece than an actual tool.
He then said, fidgeting uneasily, "Well, there's not much to prepare actually. I don't have the money to get other stuff even if I wanted to. So yeah, you could announce the mission."
"Okay!" Yurianne put up an 'okay' gesture and Zhang Heng heard a robotic female voice. "Trial mission officially begins. Mission Objective: Acquire pieces of valuable technological resources in nearby planes. Begin searching nearby planes…"
"Wait, what? Acquiring tech from nearby planes?" The expression on his face changed drastically. "Hold on, this is too much. A trial held on other planes? Really?"
"Search complete." It was too bad that the system didn't stop just because Zhang Heng voiced his doubts. Once he accepted the system's mission, there was no turning back. "There are a total of four planes with valuable technology among those planes near the host."
"Plane A: Resident Evil plane. Difficulty evaluated according to probational host's combat prowess. Danger Level: ★★"
"Plane B: Dead Space plane. Danger Level: ★★★"
"Plane C: Alien plane. Danger Level: ★★★★"
"Plane D: Prototype plane. Danger Level: ★★★★★"
(★ meant one star, ☆ meant half a star)
Zhang Heng wobbled for a bit, feeling like he was about to pass out. "So, you're telling me that I need to go to these movie and game worlds to look for tech over there?"
"You are correct." The 2D little girl who called herself Yurianne spun around for a bit and her casual clothes were transformed into the attire worn by college professors. She also sported a pair of black-rimmed glasses, making her look the part very well. "Now that you're ready to get on with the mission, Yurianne shall now brief you on the rules of the mission."
Light-hearted background music played in Zhang Heng's mind and Yurianne elaborated as the music played in the background. "The Dimensional Star is a four-dimensional product, with an expressed purpose to allow its host to traverse space. So, what are the four dimensions? It's actually quite simple to comprehend."
"Everyone knows that a point has zero dimensions. A straight line is a one-dimensional figure formed by countless dots, a flat surface area is a two-dimensional space consisting of countless straight lines, a three-dimensional space, in turn, would have volume consisting of countless flat spaces stacking on top of each other. And something four-dimensional, it would be something formed with countless three-dimensional spaces clustered together.
"To put it simply, three-dimensional objects are measured in length, width, and height—lines perpendicular to each other. When expressed in the form of coordinates, any place on Earth could be expressed determined using sets of data consisting of longitude, latitude, and altitude. That is to say that you humans live in a three-dimensional world.
"As for the fourth dimension, it isn't that it doesn't exist; it's just that it's something that exists outside of human perception. In a four-dimensional world, in addition to length, width, and height, an object could also be measured using a line perpendicular to length, width, and height at the same time, and coordinates in a four-dimensional world would require a set of four coordinate data to express."
Zhang Heng nodded. "Sure, I understand all of that, but what does any of that have to do with the Dimensional Star?"
"Yurianne did mention before that the Dimensional Star was a four-dimensional product," Yurianne pushed her black-rimmed glasses for a bit and answered seriously.
He frowned, then asked, "But I'm able to see the Dimensional Star. If I can see it, how could it be a four-dimensional thing then?"
"Are you sure that the Dimensional Star you see is all there is? Are you blessed with supreme certainty? Do you comprehend everything in its entirety?" Yurianne wore a mysterious expression when she said that.
"Wait, you're saying…"
"Correct. Let's say that there was a group of two-dimensional beings that could only exist on a piece of paper. One day, you put an eraser on that piece of paper. What do you think those two-dimensional beings would see on that piece of paper then?"
Zhang Heng was stunned for a bit, then answered, "The eraser would be flat in their eyes as well, but actually, they are only able to see the bottom of the eraser, not the rest of it, right?"
"Bingo! That's correct!" Yurianne continued excitedly, "Get it now? The eraser that they see is but a projection of the true body of the entire piece. That applies to you as well, host dude. The mystical cube you saw was but a projection of the Dimensional Star in the three-dimensional world."
"The thought that the Dimensional Star is now in your brain is also an illusion. It's just like if you drew a circle on that piece of paper mentioned before, and then you put something in that circle. The two-dimensional beings would only be able to see that circle, but not what's in it.
"Let's just say that, even if the technology of those two-dimensional beings became advanced enough to develop some kind of unique piece of tech allowing them to detect the object within the circle, they would still never be able to extract that item without breaking the circle.
"But things are different with humans. We don't need to break that circle to extract that item; we just need to take it out from above. Yet, such a feat would seem, to the two-dimensional beings, that the item within the airtight circle just disappeared. It would be perceived as a miracle, some kind of paranormal phenomenon!"
Zhang Heng shook all over at that.
"So now you understand, host dude?" Yurianne chuckled as she continued, "The Dimensional Star isn't actually in your brain as we speak. While it might be extremely baffling to you, who are living in a three-dimensional world, yet to those from a four-dimensional world, your countless planes would be like an open book to them, where every single secret is completely unraveled.
"You've also lost the use of your right eye, host dude, because you've seen what the four-dimensional world is like through that Dimensional Star. What you saw in that instant far exceeded the limit of information that your brain could process. That's what caused your brain to hemorrhage, which then led to your right eye going blind."
Zhang Heng nodded as he processed all the information that was fed to him. "I get it. Alright then, let's talk about the rules of this trial of yours."
Yurianne nodded and continued, "Actually, the Dimensional Star system will still benefit you. You're allowed to select the planes you would travel to and the system won't give you anything that you absolutely couldn't handle. At the same time, the cooling mechanism for the traversal system, according to clearance available to you currently, is 48 hours. That is to say that you need to stay in the other plane for at least 48 hours when you got transferred to foreign planes. But, then again, as you gain higher clearance, the cooling mechanism's duration will be reduced.
"But, of course, there's also a limit to how long you can stay in a foreign plane. There are no limits to how many times you can cross to other planes, but once a mission is completed, the system will give out the next mission according to a certain timeframe. There might also be emergency missions issued at times."
Zhang Heng narrowed his gaze as his brain processed all of that at very high speeds. While the system called Yurianne made the missions sound so easy, he knew without a doubt that carrying out those missions would absolutely involve putting his life on the line. If he were to choose not to carry them out, there wouldn't even be a life to risk, as he would definitely be dead. If he were to simply remain as tardy and laidback as he had been, he might just end up dying someday without even knowing how he died.
"But well…" He looked at the few measly supplies he had with him and said, "Could you give me more time to get ready?"
"No can do. The mission must be carried out immediately once you've accepted it." Yurianne shook her head stubbornly.
His face fell, but there was little he could do given the situation he found himself in. He had no choice but to tough it out and said, "In this case, I… I'll pick the Resident Evil plane then."
The 'Resident Evil' and 'Alien' franchises were both Hollywood movie franchises, and there probably weren't many people on the whole planet who hadn't at least heard of them. Zhang Heng wasn't an otaku, and the most otaku thing about him was probably his slight affinity for petite girls. He had heard of all four of those planes, but he had only seen the Resident Evil series of movies. There were actually games and animation series with the name 'Resident Evil,' and those things were totally off his radar.
As for the 'Alien' franchise, he had only seen a few of its movies and had very limited knowledge regarding those worlds. As for 'Dead Space' and 'Prototype'—the two remaining planes made available to him—those were both computer games, and it was just too bad that he knew next to nothing about games.
Furthermore, of all four planes he had to choose from, the Resident Evil was the only one with very low difficulty of two stars. As such, it was only sensible for him to pick the Resident Evil plane out of the four.
"Hoaah. So our brave host dude has selected his very first mission. Yurianne shall hereby announce that the trial mission to foreign planes has now completely begun!" A hot-blooded anime background music played again as she made her announcement, in high spirits. The stage behind her dazzled, as Yurianne pointed at the air and chanted brazenly.
"From here on out, the line separating life and death will be blurred. Will you fall into hell or become a hero? There are no miracles in this world. If you want to live, then you only need to charge, charge, charge without a care!"
"Blaze the trail forward, putting your life on the line!"