*Ring, ring, ring!*
"...!"
A sudden alarm started blaring, breaking the prior silence within the room.
A young man abruptly opened his eyes. He stared at the wooden ceiling above his head for a moment as his mind processed the sudden awakening.
"Where... the hell am I?" - he muttered slowly, turning his head to look around.
His room was partially lit by rays of sunlight streaming through the window. Beside his pillow lay his phone, displaying the date and time:
Saturday, March 2nd, 6:00 AM.
Slowly, he pulled off the covers and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Instinctively, he reached out to silence the blaring alarm on his phone.
Lowering his head, he noticed he had been lying on some kind of thick blanket. Looking up, he began inspecting the room around him.
Small, the room's wooden walls enclosed a space that was, at most, six square meters.
He saw a short-legged wooden desk with various office supplies, a lamp, and a stack of papers resting on it.
To one side, there was a small shelf filled with books and notebooks. On the opposite side, a double-leaf door was set into the wall.
On the floor next to his desk, he noticed a monitor, a keyboard, and a CPU. Judging by their appearance, they seemed modern.
However, to the young man, everything about this place felt unfamiliar.
"Damn it!"
He cursed. Just as he tried to remember how on earth he ended up here, a sharp pain struck his forehead.
It was a pain so intense it felt as if his head were being split in half!
The agony radiated from his forehead to the back of his neck and throughout his body.
He grabbed his head with both hands, overwhelmed by the piercing pain he was experiencing.
A thunderous pounding, accompanied by a savage pulse, gnawed at his mind, making him clench his teeth so tightly they might break under the pressure.
Then, a flood of memories surged into his mind.
"Damn it! Hah... ugh... hah!"
The pain gradually subsided, allowing his thoughts to clear.
'I was in Malibu, partying... Then I ended up with that old man who sent me to this world... Damn it... I can't believe this'
He thought to himself.
Now he remembered everything.
He was a young man from New York who had amassed a fortune through sports betting and had traveled to California's beaches for an extravagant summer.
However, he ended up in a surreal situation, first dying from a drug overdose and then meeting an old man who told him he would be sent to an anime world to live again.
What kind of crap situation was that?!
Although he initially thought it was some kind of bad joke, it turned out to be true... a bitter truth.
He had died and then been reincarnated!
He found himself stuck in a situation that defied all logic!
Traveling to an animated world? It sounded like the nonsense from those Japanese cartoons one of his ex-girlfriends liked to watch.
But no matter how much he wanted to refuse to partake in this idiocy... he ended up doing as the old man said.
He didn't know if this entire situation was like a version of Alice in Wonderland and that he'd eventually wake up in his world as if it were all a dream, or if he had truly died and everything happening now was real.
For the moment, as stupid as it seemed, the only thing he could do was trust the words of that shameless old man.
After a while, he tried to calm himself by taking deep breaths, gradually regaining his composure.
"So... is this what they call transmigration?" - he murmured after a moment.
Even though he wasn't a Hindu, he knew the concept of transmigration and reincarnation was tied to the idea of karma.
The belief that a person's actions in life—good, bad, and morally ambiguous—when considered as a whole and weighed on the scales, would determine the nature of their next existence.
And if all that religious nonsense were true, there was no way in hell he should've been able to reincarnate, given that of all the actions in his past life, only a few were good... and the rest? Meh.
Between wild parties, high-stakes bets with hefty winnings, and women everywhere... none of it seemed worthy of a second chance.
And yet, here he was, in what could be an anime world.
But why an anime world? If it were up to his preferences, he would have ended up in the setting of an American TV series or a Hollywood movie—not in the story of a Japanese anime.
That was something more fitting for those anime-obsessed guys, not for him.
From the little he knew about anime, reincarnation was a recurring theme.
Once, his ex-girlfriend had forced him to watch an anime where an unemployed loser died almost getting hit by a truck—and even wet himself from the scare. He met a blue-haired goddess, and together they arrived in a medieval world.
He couldn't deny that the story was funny, but it was nothing compared to what had just happened to him.
He hadn't been a jobless loser, and the old man he met wasn't some dumb goddess flaunting her rear to the world without a care.
This was far more frustrating.
Still feeling a bit disoriented by the influx of new information flooding his mind, he grabbed his phone, stood up, slid open the door, and stepped out of his room.
Like a sleepwalker, he descended the stairs to the bathroom.
Although he had never seen this place before, everything felt oddly familiar due to his new memories.
Once inside the bathroom, he placed his phone on the shelf and, without a second thought, took off all his clothes and looked at himself in the mirror.
"Phew… I still can't believe this is real... it feels like a dream" - he muttered softly as he examined his reflection.
A youthful face, similar to the one he had before arriving in this world, but with distinctly Asian features. It wasn't ordinary by any means; he stood out, especially with his striking blue eyes.
His hair was short, black, and slightly messy, giving him a wild look.
He was tall—very tall by the country's standards—and his body had a noticeable, toned musculature.
But that was the least of his concerns.
"Thank God it didn't shrink! ...Although it looks even bigger than before... damn" - the young man exclaimed as he glanced down at his crotch.
Though he knew little about anime, he was aware that the Japanese were well below the global average regarding their "little friend"
In his previous life, one of the things he was most proud of was his size.
So how the hell did he now have a monster between his legs? Was this an anime thing?
More importantly, how had he taken over this body?
*Ding, ding, ding!*
Suddenly, a sound echoed in his head as a kind of blue holographic screen appeared before him.
He said nothing and quickly looked around, trying to see if this phenomenon was being caused by something—or someone. However, no matter where he looked, the blue screen followed his gaze.
Suddenly, he stopped and analyzed the situation carefully.
'This thing... is this what they call a starting screen?'
At that moment, the young man recalled another anime he had watched with his ex-girlfriend.
The story of that anime revolved around a future where many players were trapped inside a game, and to escape, they had to reach the final level.
In that anime, he saw the protagonists using holographic screens that allowed them to do various things.
A bit curious, he slowly stretched his hand toward the blue screen to touch it.
*Click.*
Suddenly, his fingers felt the screen's surface—it didn't pass through like it would with a rock or branch.
At that moment, the screen gave a faint glow, and a written message appeared on it:
[Congratulations, you have fulfilled all the conditions for the secret mission: Survive the Arrival]
"Secret mission? All the conditions?" - the young man murmured, not understanding what he was reading - "What the hell is all this?"
But as if ignoring his thoughts, the text on the screen changed again.
[You have earned the right to become a Transcendent. Do you accept?]
[Yes/No]
"Obtain the right? Transcendent? Accept?... this reeks of a trick... it's obvious that this shit is the work of that damn old man"
He sighed, realizing that this, which was not a hallucination, was most likely the work of the being who had sent him to this world.
'No, this is the work of that old man, he's probably trying to tell me something... the question is, why the hell isn't he communicating with me directly? Is this some kind of video game?'
Without thinking much further, he pressed the 'Yes' option and waited to see what would happen.
*Ding*
[Congratulations, congratulations on choosing the correct option]
[Congratulations! You have gained the passive ability: Dimensional Space]
[You have a welcome message]
At that moment, an alarm sounded in his mind, and new information appeared on the blue screen.
[Status]
Basic Information:
Name: Miyamoto Yuuma
Age: 22 years old
Occupation: Language and Literature Teacher (Unemployed)
Level: 01
Race: Human (99%) / Transcendent (1%)
Spiritual Energy: 10 (Blocked)
Strength: 10(10)
Agility: 10(10)
Vitality: 10(10)
Intelligence: 10(10)
Perception: 10(10)
Fatigue: 0(0)
Average Human Value: 10
Passive Skills:
-(Unknown): max level.
-Dimensional Space: level 1
"Yeah, this old man is treating this like a video game... although to be honest, from what little I know about anime, this system thing is pretty cliché"
The young man, Yuuma, muttered while reading the content on the blue screen. This display of information was similar to online role-playing games he had seen in his past life.
"However..."
Suddenly, his brow furrowed as he realized a few things.
The first was that he had taken the body of someone named Yuuma Miyamoto, a 22-year-old unemployed language teacher.
The second was that, upon analyzing all the stats, he noticed that all his parameters were as normal as an average human's.
In his past life, while he hadn't reached the level of science fiction, he had trained in boxing and mixed martial arts enough to maintain a strength and skill that could be considered excellent.
But now? Was he as strong as an average human?
'Damn... I need to get in shape as soon as possible' - he muttered to himself while looking at his hands for a moment.
After shaking his head, he looked back at the screen. Now he was curious about these new 'skills' shown and began to tap the other two icons.
[Skill -unknown- : No information available]
"Well, this is off to a bad start," Yuuma smiled ironically, seeing there was no information on the only skill he had at maximum.
[Dimensional Space – level 1: You can now store inanimate objects from your world inside the personal space of the host. Capacity: 1 cubic meter]
Reading this, Yuuma realized that this passive ability was surprisingly impressive.
He extended his hand and grabbed his phone from the shelf. With his other hand, he touched the holographic screen button.
*Sssssss*
Suddenly, a strange sensation spread from the young man's mind to his hand, and in the next instant, his phone disappeared completely!
Yuuma was completely stunned!
Not only was he surprised by the scene, but when he closed his eyes, he could see his phone floating in a dark space.
When he opened his eyes, he extended his empty hand, and after touching the holographic screen again, his phone reappeared, with no apparent damage.
"Damn, this is amazing!!" - Yuuma murmured excitedly.
Being able to pull things out of nowhere, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, had multiple uses!
From emergency tools to self-defense items, even being able to take various valuable things was something that could become a reality!
At that very moment, an icon appeared in the upper-right corner of the blue screen, similar to a notification symbol. It caught his attention, and without hesitation, he pressed it.
[Welcome Message]
[Hey there, I hope your mind has accepted your new situation. Your face at the end of the transmigration was pretty funny to see, huh]
"... damn old man" - Yuuma, who had been smiling up until that moment, muttered grumpily after reading the message on the screen.
[Your current body is based on your previous existence, just with some slight adjustments. I had to make you reincarnate in this world so you wouldn't have any issues. Don't worry about your life before today, since you were a simple person with nothing worth saving, so you'll adapt better.]
"So that's why my current face is so familiar... I didn't take someone else's body... that's a good thing" - Yuuma thought as he began to examine his body more closely - "Though this 'simple person' part... I'll change that."
[The world you're in is a peaceful one, I'd even call it peaceful compared to the universal scale. That will be your base world. You need to settle down and enjoy as much as you can, because this will be your home from now on.]
Yuuma, reviewing his memories mentally, could confirm what he had just read. In his memories, no monsters were fighting in cities, no aliens coming from the sky, no supernatural things like angels or demons.
It was an ordinary modern world, even a bit more peaceful than his previous world.
[However, the real deal lies in your missions, which you must complete periodically to keep the world you're in safe.]
Yuuma frowned as he read this. He hadn't even adapted to this world yet, and already something was threatening him.
[You'll have to carry out some missions, all to keep the world where you live safe.]
Yuuma's mood started to worsen with every line he read.
This was nothing but a blatant blackmail!
If he didn't complete these missions, his current world would go to hell? Wasn't this just shameless extortion?
They might as well have left him dead!
[And in case you're thinking this is excessive, let me tell you, you have no idea. It's not that you're being punished for not completing your missions, as you can ignore them, but the fact is that sooner or later, the walls of reality where you are will break, and your world will connect with others, causing a cataclysm you can't even imagine.]
At that moment, Yuuma stopped cursing the old man internally and paid close attention to the message, because this was something he hadn't expected.
[Something happened across the entire Cosmos, an extremely violent event that screwed up the stability of the multiverse and unbalanced all the worlds imagined by humans, and the world you're in is one of them… in fact, your world is one of the few where several others converged and remained stable, for now.]
"Well, damn, this doesn't explain anything" - he muttered ironically.
If this was real, then there was an interest in trying to save his current world, after all, it would be his new home.
But still...
[Don't worry, you're in a world where you'll just be useless and die instantly, but you'll train and gradually increase your strength. Plus, you'll make lots of gains along your missions, if you know what I mean wink, wink]
"…"
Yuuma didn't know how to respond to this last part since it was exactly what was running through his mind.
If this was a mission for his survival, then so be it. He just hoped to come across something that would motivate him enough to do it willingly.
And since he was now in an anime world, the things he could do were... endless.
[With nothing more to say, I hope you don't die. More information about your missions will be given when the time is right, until then, good luck.]
[PS: the system you have is garbage, just use it as an interface to view information, though it will be useful in certain circumstances, it will never work against you.]
"This... I don't know what to say about this last part."
Robert shook his head after finishing reading the welcome message. He now had some clarity on what he needed to do to survive, although there were still some questions to resolve.
*Ding, ding, ding*
Suddenly, the system sound echoed in his head and the holographic screen displayed two new messages.
[Exercising your body daily will help you form a good habit! Do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 air squats, and run 10 km daily. A random prize will be awarded each time you complete the mission.]
[Start a new life! Your days of unemployment are over. In one month, you'll begin your new job as a teacher at Kamiko High School.]
Yuuma's eyes widened when he saw these tasks.
Although he had already decided to exercise his body for better results, he hadn't expected to be given Saitama's workout routine, from the anime One Punch Man.
He knew about this routine not from his ex-girlfriend but because it had become popular among gym-goers in his past life. While it was good for general fitness, it was terrible for building muscle definition.
But now he was in an anime world, so it might give good results.
"I just hope I don't go bald from this workout" - he muttered. Then, he looked at the other message.
From his newly acquired memories, he knew that he had studied to become a high school teacher, but it had been difficult for him to find work as a recent graduate.
However, yesterday he received an email saying he had been accepted to work at Kashiwanoha High School and was to start in a month.
Well, I guess it's time to get to work. I don't know when my first mission will be, but I don't want to be caught off guard' - he thought.
With that, he left the bathroom and headed to his room to get dressed and start his exercise routine.