With his blaring music overtaking the sounds of happy rabbits next door, Zane reevaluated his situation.
He was given twelve hours to finish anything he had left to do before having to go into the green portal. All he knew was that whoever or whatever was at the end of the portal would train him and everyone else how to do their jobs.
"It sounded like a first day on the job," Zane thought to himself, "probably lots of explaining about the history of the Sovereignty, and then all the other small details if it's anything like a job here." However, Zane determined the odds of that happening were low.
"Ever since first contact, these guys have been impatiently tossing us around. I doubt it'll be a friendly onboarding experience."
Putting away his worries of the future yet to come, Zane sat on his bed and tried to estimate how much time had passed. He had overlooked important pieces of information, and complained about his mistake to himself.
"Damn the sloppiness is rubbing off on me. I should have looked at the time before I came back."
Seeing the sun still in his window, he was pretty sure that not too much time had passed. Usually it was around the evening time when the sun was no longer visible from his bed.
"I should still have at least half the time left. Whatever, I'll just grab everything I can and go."
Getting back up, he first went to a little shrine he kept by the window where he had pictures of his parents. Zane was told his parents had long passed away on a trip they took overseas almost 5 years ago. He was never able to retrieve their bodies, but he prayed diligently for their peaceful rest.
Grabbing the incense sticks on the altar, he lit them up and started to pray.
"Dear mother and father, I pray you two are happy in heaven. I am forced to go somewhere I don't know. Please watch over me."
Zane prayed earnestly, recalling the special moments with his parents and then thinking of the unknown waiting inside the portal.
Placing the incense in the sand of a small ceramic container, he debated, but ended up taking the pictures of his parents with him.
Thinking of the inventory, its screen popped up and he placed the pictures in it.
Looking around his studio, he didn't have much but it was still more than what could fit in the remaining 12 cubic feet of space he had left.
He decided to get all his essentials first.
Running around, he grabbed all his toiletries and then his kitchenware. He didn't have any firearms, but he could use the different knives as an effective weapon.
He got all his food, clothes, shoes and tightly rolled up bedding and tossed them all inside. He still had his electronics like his laptop that would no longer fit inside his inventory, so he put everything else in his backpack.
Giving one last look at his home for the past years, there was a sense of loss but a new odd sense of adventure that overtook him. He knew not what fate or the aliens had in store for him, but he was determined to survive.
"Now how do I look at the map for portals?" As if hearing his request a pop up screen appeared before him of a map with densely scattered with colorful dots. An triangular icon showed his position.
"There one right around the corner. Perfect."
Exiting his apartment, he was going to say goodbye to his neighbors, but after taking his headphones off he realized the bunnies were still at it.
"What the hell is with Atsugi's god-like stamina?!" He never paid attention before, but today, it had to be almost two hours since he stared and finished packing. He didn't realize regular people could have pornstar stamina.
"Why do some guys have all the luck? I'd be happy if I could last half as long as this guy."
Not wanting to see his neighbor in the act, he skipped saying goodbye and walked to his destination close by.
There we other portals also close by. They were of the same size and shape but just different colors. His heart beat with trepidation with each step he took as he closed in the shimmering green portal.
He stood right before the portal with his nose almost touching preparing himself mentally to walk in. With a last deep breath, he closed both his eyes before reopening them. With an exhale he walked right in.
One step.
It was one step, and Zane was in a completely new world. The people there were moving quickly about. There was a sense of urgency in the air.
Many of the people and other lifeforms there were clad in armor of some form. Only he was in such thin clothing. A blue notification screen popped up as Zane observed his new surroundings.
***
You have entered the green portal for 4th class citizens! Your future awaits!
Your guide will bring you to the training grounds where you will start your training.
Glory to the Embst Sovereignty!
***
"A guide?" Zane looked around. The newbie citizens were easy to spot because of their usual confused faces.
A bulky humanoid with the head of a wolf looked made eye contact with Zane and smiled.
Zane could not tell if the wolf-man was happy or hungry, but he hoped it would not be the latter.
"New 4th class citizen?" The grey-furred wolf-man asked.
"Yes." Zane responded one-worded.
Looking at a large four-faced clock, the wolf-man showed a face Zane presumed was astonished, but he wasn't quite sure as he couldn't quite read wolf faces.
"Quite early. I would have enjoyed more time personally before facing more work and risk of death but eh, to each their own. I can respect an early bird and hard workers."
The wolf-man was rather talkative and noticed Zane's quiet presence and subtle looks of caution, but he also noticed Zane's face full of curiosity.
"Interesting one aren't ya? I'm Dhetre. I'll be your guide until we get you to the training grounds. What do you call your species again? Sometimes the notification windows don't show the right names."
Feeling more at ease as the wolf-man didn't want to eat him, he went along with making small talk.
"We call ourselves humans. What about you guys?"
"We're supposed to be called lycans, but the stupid notification listed us as were-wolves. Whoever entered it into the Embst Sovereignty's database did a poor job." Looking around he whispered in a lower voice, "I heard they're all slackers those guys."
Nodding in agreement, Zane recalled the time he called the notification system sloppy.
"Well it sucks that you guys were sent here to the front lines, but don't worry! We'll train you guys well! The planetary supervisor even sent in some top notch skill holders to help teach you guys! Quite lucky ac,tually. I'm kinda jealous."
A crucial piece of information slipped by Zane's ears. He was reminded he was given the perfect opportunity to extract lots of information from his new talkative friend.
Not wanting to raise suspicion, Zane relaxed his caution and went along with the conversation while trying to pull out important parts.
"Hey, you're a pretty nice guy. The planetary supervisor sounded pretty strict, I was kinda worried. Everything was so sudden I didn't know what to think."
Zane thought the wolf-man was showing him a face of empathy. He wasn't trying to be fake, so he put on a more innocent and outgoing version of himself to better talk with the wolf-man.
"Are you one of the trainers here in the front lines?"
"No way! I'm nowhere near doing something like that! I wish I could. I'd rather train you guys than fight on the front lines, but my skills aren't qualified to do so."
"Really? You look so powerful!" Zane's complement made Dhetre scratch the back of his neck shyly.
"Thanks human! I wish I was even more powerful. I'm training hard to get there, you should too! We're all fellow 4th class citizens now!"
"Call me Zane! That's my name. I will train hard too! Who are we fighting on the frontlines anyway?"