《Apocalypse Step》 Prologue: Were moving. To a new world. Rex is a first year high-schooler with apparent eighth grade syndrome, always dreaming of a world with sword and magic. Actually he isn''t delusional. He knows well that the modern world he lives in doesn''t have such thing, but it doesn''t stop him from dreaming. Still, because of how he acts, he has never has an actual friend. His classmates are always laughing at him, but he know some of them actually has the same wish as him: Being transported to another world like those web novels on the internet. Still, they hide that from people, keeping it as their little secret. Meanwhile, Rex shows his dream all the time, from custom printed T-shirt to full-blown costume, giving the class a good laugh every now and then by yelling non-sense. His teacher has tried contacting his parents about this problem. His mother has disappeared since he was very young. He doesn''t remember much about her. His father, Zet, a small grocery store owner, doesn''t seem to care about his delusion. The birthday present Zet gives him every year are always one of those JRPG set in a sword and magic world. "Everyone has their liking, one have the right to live their life however their want." Rex''s father usually said. That might apply to himself too. Other than his friendly attire, Zet doesn''t have any talent in running a store. Even though the business has been falling due to a Supermarket opened on the same street, he still desperately clings to his store, running it like a hobby.
Today is like any other day, I was walking home from school after giving the classmates a good laugh by attempting to Teleport out of the class. I know it''s not possible, but it''s still a fun thing to do. Just watch, if one days we get mass-summoned to another world, I''m going to be the strongest of the bunch due to sheer ''experience''! I could now see dad''s store from afar. However, it''s not openning like usual. He finally has to close the store, I guess. The neighbor has been suspecting him of doing shady business since he isn''t bothered by the negative income of the store. Walking to behind the store where we live, I find a truck is waiting there. Dad is probably selling everything. I hope we could get through this dark time¡­ with magic is the best. I know it''s selfish of me to wish myself transported to another world when dad is having a bad time. But, if I really disappeared, would dad''s burden lessen with one fewer mouth to feed? "Yo Rex! You return in the right time. I could use some help." Dad appears from the back door used to transfer goods in and out. He is carrying a cardboard box used to pack bags of snacks. "Aw, I like that brand." I jest. It''s not like I''m a fatty who lives off high calorie food like that. "Oh, it''s not the grocery that I''m moving. I''m sorry to tell you a bit late, Rex, but we are moving."
I''m currently sitting on the passenger seat of the truck. It seems dad will drive it himself. I didn''t ask for details about the moving as it might be a sensitive topic. Bankrupt? Or the pressure from running a failing business? Even though those might be the case, dad''s face always has a constant smile like everything is okay. On my side, everything is okay. I don''t have friend, inside or outside school. All of my contacts are online, which I could access easily as long as I have internet. I pull out my smart phone to check for time. It''s 2PM. We just had a light lunch, the last meal in this house. I don''t have any sentiment for this place, so I don''t think about it too much. Dad has sold the store/house along with all the grocery. Anything we could bring, we stacked them in the cargo of the truck. It''s not like we have that many belongings. My stuffs are a game console along with some game CDs, some clothes, the hard drive that contains my stuffs (I use dad''s laptop) and anything school-related. During my high-school day, dad once told me that I didn''t need to go to school if I didn''t want to, dad would find me a job. I believed it''s just dad worrying about me not having friends at school, though I don''t think I could have a good life in this world without finishing college. I''m not a pessimist but whenever I think about the bleak future I might have, I escape reality by playing games. This time, without the console, I decide to ''escape reality'' by playing game on my phone. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Dad enters the truck and sits on the driver seat. I have seen him driving, so I don''t have to worry about that. What I''m worrying about is the constant smile on his face. He just lost his house, his store, his job/hobby but he acts like it''s nothing. If I was more talkative, I''d console dad with a few words. But I know it''d make things more awkward. "Rex, fasten your seatbelt. It''s going to be a bumpy ride." Dad''s smile makes his words sound like a joke. He could do that at this time, he is such an optimist. I guess my personality was inherited from my mother, though I don''t remember anything about her. "Dad, I''m sorry¡­" I apologize for nothing as I fasten my seatbelt. However, dad doesn''t hear it. "Rex¡­" He calls my name then pause for a moment. "We are going to meet your mom." "Dad, things aren''t that bad." I take dad''s words as a ''we are going to die'' joke. "Huh? What are you saying?" Dad says confusedly. "Ah? You thought she was dead? I''m sorry for not often talking about her to you, but she is alive and well. She had a¡­ circumstance, so she had to go when you were young." "When I was a kid and said I wanted to meet mom, you said she had gone to a place I could not reach! Isn''t that a way of saying she was dead?" I start freaking out at dad''s unusual joke. "I''m sorry for not telling you earlier, but¡­ I have secret to keep." Dad says as he looks around the truck from his seat. Front, back, two sides, even on the sky. "Dad, what¡­ secret?" I start feeling my chunni-blood boiling. Although I prefer Fantasy genre, ''my dad is a secret agent'' is not a bad premise. Am I going to be a super spy with cool gadget? I almost could not keep my excitement, but I try to. The higher the hope, the bigger the disappointment¡­ "You will see¡­" After saying with a hint of mystery, dad hits the gas pedal. I brace myself as the truck starts moving forward, or so I thought. I feel no movement at all, however, the scenery around the truck drastically changes like an illusion. I rub my eyes, pinch my cheeks, trying to make sure it''s not my delusion going out of control. Everything seems real and surreal at the same time. I was too shocked to say a single word. My old house along with the surrounding building meltdown. The blue sky turns into a purple shade, then red, then violet, then yellow in quick succession. The cement road turns rocky, soon turn into a hill but I don''t feel any change in gravity. Then everything slowly distort. The molten building are stretched into a long shape. The flat sky bends and intersects with itself. At this point, my head starts hurting as all knowledge of geometry in my brain become distorted. Parallel lines intersect. Total angle of triangle on flat surface is no longer 180 degree. Sphere is¡­ Argghhhh! Before I go crazy, I feel a hand on my shoulder. Suddenly all pain in my head disappears. I feel like I could see all creation at the same time, but I''m too afraid to look at it. Dad''s gentle voice bring me back to my new reality which is quickly reconstruct itself. Soon, in front of me, the world is no longer distorted. The sky returns into a blue shade. The ground become grassy plain. Far away, I could see mountain and river, though the horizon looks closer than I thought. Other than that, everything looks so calm. When I turn to look at dad, he has already opened the truck''s door and climb outside. My omniscient earlier now feels like an illusion, but I still feel regret for not peeking at everything. Dad''s next words snap me out of thinking and turning my mouth into an O-shape. "Welcome to your mother''s world. A world of sword and magic, Orbis." Step 01: Truck-sans secret Ein and the two members of his little harem, Zwei in front and Drei next to him, are walking home from class. It''s not their real name but they tend to call each other with the nickname they use on the internet. The three are a group of players in an MMO. Their group is pretty average as they only play for fun and nothing more. Well, Zwei plays because she wants to be superior over other people. She spent a lot of money on the game, but it''s far from enough to reach the top. They just had a good laugh after seeing Rex, their classmate, attempt to ''Teleport'' out of the class. Drei is a little dreamy about fantasy world but she never shows it to anyone other than her group. Ein reads web novels every now and then so he could understand Rex and Drei''s dream. However, Zwei is your traditional ''rich girl looking down on everyone'', and in order to keep their friendship, Ein and Drei had to laugh their lung out with Zwei. "Haha, I could not stop laughing whenever I think about it! He went ''pwoosh'' and ran out of the class." Zwei is still laughing non-stop. "Why did he not just jump out of the window? Haha" "He would die, you know. Our class is on third floor." Drei gives out exposition. "Didn''t he say he is immortal or something? If he died, that would be the best." "That''s mean!" "Careful, Zwei!" Ein suddenly reaches his hand toward Zwei who is walking backward in front of them. However it was too late as Zwei feels gravity shifts around her as she fall backward. In the split second, she turns to look back and sees a huge manhole in the middle of the road. It''s way too big to be a sinkhole, and she is sure it wasn''t there a moment ago. Just as Ein thought he grabbed Zwei''s hand, all three of them suddenly feel a sense of weightless. The bottomless sinkhole just gets bigger all of sudden and is under them. Without anything to embrace themselves, the three fall into the darkness.
It took me a while to swallow the situation. It''s not hard for a chunni to accept that he was transported to another world by the in/famous truck-san. However, it''s still too weird for me. Dad is laying on the grassy field, looking at the sky, waiting for me to get myself together. There are too many questions to ask him that I don''t know where to start. After God knows how long, I could finally exclaim my first word in the other world: "THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!" "Huh?" Dad sits up and turns to look at me. The constant smile temporary leaves his face as he show a cute confused look, even leaning his head to side like a puppy. It doesn''t work though. "Dad! By the script, I was supposed to be hit by the truck, not riding on it!" I say without being able to hide my smile. Soon, the smile turns into a laugh. "Am I in another world? It''s not a dream, right? Dad, it''s not nice if you hypnotize me like this. Yes, that must be hypnotizing!" "If you want to return, I could send you back anytime. Heck, you could still go to school everyday. It''s just that your mom is sick so I have to stay with her for awhile." "Ah right, about mom¡­" I abruptly stop laughing altogether. "We will talk about her later. Now we have to enter the town." Dad says then looks around like searching for something. I curiously follow his line of sight but all I could see is the green of grass, some green mountain or hill from afar and the deep blue of water. Everything looks straight out of Paint. For a second I thought this was a poorly drawn VR game. "The Gate is that way." Dad points at one direction. Town Gate, I guess. But I see nothing in that direction. "Okay, get back to the carriage." Dad says then walks toward the truck behind me. "Haha, very funny." I say then turn back. The truck is gone. Totally gone. In its place is your traditional carriage with curved cloth roof. I could not be surprised anymore and start wondering if it''s better to call that a wagon, though I could not check now since there is no internet¡­ right? I pull out the smart phone in my pocket. The signal is even stronger than in my old house. Just what? Dad said it''s a sword and magic world, so there is no way they have mobile phone here, right? Even if there is, how did my phone catch the signal? A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation."Oh, that." Dad turns to look at me who is still standing in my spot. "This truck slash carriage is a Pan-Dimensional Spaceship. The disguise function is obvious. About the phone signal¡­ I thought you wouldn''t want to miss any call or text from your fri¡­ acquaintances." I involuntarily let out a sigh. The only text I get would be the messages from the school. I only go to school so I could get into a good college and later get a better job than my father to help him. However¡­ a freaking Spaceship? What does pan-dimensional even mean? Dad is way richer than anyone on Earth! Why should I care about going to school? "Dad, I don''t want to go to school." "That''s fine. I will deal with that¡­ and done." He simply stands there and says. Is he a God or something? No, he has a Spaceship, so he is an Alien? Does that mean I''m an alien too? What about¡­ ah, my mom? "Dad, about mom¡­" "Did I say we should go back to the town first? It might be safe here, but monster could appear at any moment." He says and climb onto the driver seat of the carriage. At first I thought the carriage would move on its own like a car or something, but in literally a blink of an eye, two horses appear. It''s not a figure of speech, but rather, before I close my eyes, nothing is there; when I open my eyes again, the horses have already been there, attached to the carriage with dad holding the reign. I am more convinced that this is not real and just Hypnotizing or Virtual Reality, but VR on Earth is currently nothing more than a pair of screens sticking to the face. I climb on and sit next to dad before he starts driving it forward. Looking behind me into the carriage, our cargo is still there but in reversed order like the truck turned around before transforming into this. I stare at the cardboard box that contains my game console. I planned to play something after moving to the new house, but is there even electricity in this world? Maybe magic could do the trick, or I could ask for an outlet on dad''s so-called Spaceship. It could transfer phone signal from Earth, so there wouldn''t any surprise if it could offer other lifelines like gas, water and electric. "Look, a slime!" Dad suddenly says and point at the front. I stand up to see over the horses while bracing myself on this bumpy ride. There is something green in the grass. It''s obviously not grass as it has a round shape and is moving. Dad casually drives the carriage to avoid it. The slime thingy is green and transparent with a darker-green spherical core. After years of gaming, I know the core is its weak point. It peacefully lets us pass, and we pass by it without any problem. "You don''t look very surprised." Dad says after I sit back down. "I see it in games more time than I see human." I casually say, tho'' it hurts my confidence a bit. "Oh well, you played too many games so you probably wouldn''t like this world. The monsters and races here are pretty generic." "Is there catgirl?" I suddenly ask before realizing how embarrassing I just sound. "The beastmen live on dangerous floors so it would be hard to reach." Dad casually answers. "Floor?" I frown at the mention of such thing. There are a few games that have this term. "Does that mean they live in dungeon?" "Not really. But you probably need a lesson about this world soon." Dad says and points at something in front. I turn to look at it. Two huge stone pillars supporting an arch. A Gate in the middle of nowhere. I immediately speculate that it''s a portal to town. However, the most surprising thing is the cliff behind the gate. The closer we get to the gate, the clearer I understand. The reason that the horizon looked closer than normal is because of a an endless cliff that stretches to the end of my view of vision. I lean up to see over the cliff, but there is nothing. Like a horizon right in front of me, this is where the land meet the sky. At this point I understand the meaning of ''floor''. This grassy plain is on a floating ground in the sky. Step 02: Is this even another world? Floor 30. Human''s Royal castle. In a huge chamber deep under the castle, over a hundred figure in white hooded robe are standing around in a circle. They harmonically chant something over and over. Every once in awhile, one of them suddenly collapse and gets carried out by a group of stationing soldiers. In the middle of the room, a black sphere is slowly forming. The sphere looks like a black hole in space but doesn''t have any suction. As it reaches 3 meters in diameter, distorted colors start appearing on the sphere. The color reconstruct themselves into three human figures holding to each other. As the human figures become complete, the sphere collapses onto itself and disappears like it has never been there. The close-to hundred figures in white robe stop chanting, some of the fall onto the ground, motionless. "The summoning.. is a success!" One of them exclaims. "What is the meaning of this?" Zwei screams. "Are we¡­" Ein mutters. "We are in another world!" Drei happily exclaims.
Floor 1 - Grass Field (Slime). Dad tells me to act normal in the town. Our names aren''t much special. If anyone ask, he would claim to be a merchant from the city on Floor 30 bringing his son (me) to do business in town. I don''t understand much about it but dad says he would explain everything to me later. He is currently waiting next to one of the Gate''s pillar. There is actually two arrow-buttons on the pillar, the upper one is pointing up while the lower one is pointing down. It looks exactly like the buttons in front of an elevator. "Are we waiting for the lift?" I jokingly say as I could image the Gate (portal) open and a platform appear on the other side with some people already on it. "Not really. Each floor only has two Gates, so we have to wait for our turn, when this Gate links with the one at our destination." Dad sprouts some non-sense, but after thinking about it, I understand the reason. It would be disastrous if two people from different places come out of the same Gate at the same time. As I was toying around with my phone, dad suddenly gets on the carriage. Looking forward, I could see the horizon beyond the Gate becomes distorted. A veil of colorful mist fades into existence inside the gate, falling from the arch and disappearing into the ground. I put the phone into my pocket, bracing myself for what to come. Although I know dad wouldn''t throw me into a dangerous situation, the trip between dimensions was scary enough for me. Spoiler : The horses disappear behind the veil of mist. If the cliff was still there, aren''t we going to our doom? Thinking so make me shudder and cling to the carriage tightly. Soon, the veil is right in front of me but I couldn''t see the other side at all. A slight tingling sensation passes through my body as I go through the mist. There wasn''t any special visual or sound effect, and I''ve already reached the other side. I lean over to look behind the carriage. We just came out of an exact replica of the earlier Gate, a veil of mist is still there and falling down. There are a group of people waiting in a line in front of the pillar with the button. There is only a single Up button on that column though. Suddenly I feel the world shift, almost making me fall off the carriage. It seems the Gate is stationed on a paved ground higher than the surrounding. "Welcome to Floor 0, First Pivot Town." Dad says as he continues driving forward. I look around like a kid from the countryside coming to the city. It''s pretty much reversed as the town looks like a medieval era town that I usually see on the internet. The noise of people talking, the clinking of metals, the sounds of horses'' hoofs on the paved road, etc¡­ Everything makes a perfect presentation of a non-modern town. Dad drives the carriage down the street then turns into an alley. Another turns and we get into a small yard behind a building. It looks like a private yard but I am sure this is our new home as the design looks exactly like our former store, except everything seems to be made of wood and stones. I get off the carriage, walking a few steps toward the back door then turn to look at dad. "Go ahead. It''s not locked." Dad motions me with his head and starts unloading the cardboard boxes from inside the carriage''s cargo. I open the door and enter the building. My first impression is: It''s so empty! The entire floor is an empty hall with a stair next to the back door. Dad soon enters while carrying a box. "This is the shop. Our rooms are upstair." He says then carry the box up the stair. "Seriously? You want to open a grocery store here, in this Fantasy world?" I say jokingly. Running a shop is dad''s hobby so I wouldn''t be surprised if that was true. He only chuckles. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Floor 0. First Pivot Town. It took us an entire afternoon to settle in. There are plenty of room on the second floor and the third floor is an antic. I picked the room on the front where I could look down onto the main street. Every now and then I could see people in strange costume¡­ err, equipment set walk by. Though I''ve only seen human and horses but not any fantasy creature. After getting electricity, I start playing game on my console. Other than the wooden floor, walls and roof, my room become no different than a modern room. I could not pay attention to play at all. I am in a different world, but the closest I''ve been to Fantasy is the game I am playing. I haven''t seen anything magical other than the slime and the gate. Where is all the magic? I start suspecting that this is a medieval amusement park or something similar, but the floating outlet tells me otherwise. Dad warned me to not try to learn magic on my own as it might be dangerous. My life in another world starts way more boring than I expected.
Dinner time. Dad has been busy setting up the shop so I couldn''t ask him any question about this new world. However, even during dinner, I could not bring myself to ask. The reason is simple: I start feeling like this is just my delusion. "Is this phoenix soup?" I ask with jest in my voice, pointing at the chicken-like''s leg in the wooden bowl of soup. Although it''s delicious, it tastes no different than chicken. "No, it''s just regular chicken." Dad''s words make me sigh on the inside. Is everything just my imagination? "Phoenix is luxury and expensive ingredient. No one sells something like that on this floor." "Oh¡­" After that, I let the awkward silent take over the dinner. I silently eat my soup while dad silently eats his with a constant smile not leaving his face. "Do you have something to ask?" He suddenly asks. I look up and see that he is staring at me with a serious-smile on his face. "Dad, is this really a different world? Why do I feel like we just moved to the countryside?" "So this is what has been bugging you." He says then looks down on the bowl of soup and mumbles something under his breath. Before I could ask, his bowl suddenly shakes violently but the soup doesn''t spill out. Rather, it turns into a mini whirlpool. "Reanimate!" With his shout as a command, the meat in the soup reconstruct itself and form an abominable chicken. It splashes around in the soup then jumps out and runs away. Before it could run far, it collapses onto the ground, becoming a pile of meat. "It''s¡­ disgusting!" I say and push my bowl of soup away. "If you want to show off magic, could you not make me lost my appetite?" "Ah, sorry, sorry." He says with an apologetic-smile on face. "Anyway, I still don''t feel like this is a sword and magic world. I saw a lot of people carrying swords and other weapons on the street, but I haven''t seen any magical thing nor different race." "Well, this is the lowest floor of Orbis, you could only see human here." "Then why don''t we move to the higher floors?" "I have an¡­ illness so I can''t go too high. The higher the floor, the denser the energy and the denser the energy, the worse my illness get." Dad sighs. This is one of the rare time the smile disappears on his face. "Then¡­ can I go on an adventure to the higher floor?" I say with a hint of excitement. "You eventually will. However, I wouldn''t let you go until I find a suitable team of bodyguards." "Bodyguard? Why can''t I be an adventurer?" "Rex, This world has monsters, and I wouldn''t let my son into dangerous situation.". "I¡­ I came from another world, so I would get ''cheat'' or something like that, right?" "Huh?" He frowns. "Where do you learn something like that?" Soon, he seems like remembering something and wryly smiles. "In order to summon people from another dimension, a whole lot of energy would be required¡­" "I know about that!" I start flushing out the knowledge I read in novels. "The exceed energy would turn into ''cheat''... I mean ''super power'', right?" Dad looks at me with a surprise face. Don''t underestimate my vault of clich¨¦ situations! "However, we traveled without using any local energy so you didn''t get any super power." "So¡­ I''m just a normal kid in this world?" "Don''t worry. You have the best dad in the world to protect you!" "I don''t want to be protected." I slam the table and stand up. At this moment, my phone suddenly rings. I annoyedly pull it out from my pocket. Who would even bother calling me? "Who is that?" I answer the phone after glancing at the Unknown number. ["Ah? Is that you, Rex? You grew up so quick."] A woman voice is on the other side. Normally, with years of my novel knowledge, I could immediately guess who this is. However, my mood isn''t really good at the moment. "Who are you?" ["Zet hasn''t told you about me? Rex, I''m your mother."] "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Step 03: This is not funny! Floor 80. Haven City This place could be called the City of Heaven because the dominant race living here are Angels and other angelic beings. There are many races could be seen walking through the street, no Demon could be seen. The Demons live on Floor 70, however these two neighbor are in constant war at each other. The reason for this war has been lost in history. The Demons always bring their army up to fight the Angels, and the Angels simply defend themselves despite the advantage of higher ground.
Haven City. Canitia Castle. Queen Chamber. The queen is laying on her bed, her figure is cloaked by the curtain. There is a huge open wound cutting across her chest, a remnant of a failed assassination attempt by the Demons. A Celestial like her is immortal, with her constitution, the wound doesn''t pose a big threat. However, the poison has rendered her incapable of walking on her own. She moves her slender hand to reach for a white object on the nightstand next to her bed. This is a present sent by her husband whom she hasn''t seen in years. Because both of them are immortal, a few years of separation means nothing to them. The queen slowly drags her index finger on the white object, pressing on the glowing surface in a specific pattern then press the object on her ear. After a long pause, a voice could be heard coming out of the object. ["Who is that?"]
Noooooooooooooooooooooo! This is not true! She called me by phone? Seriously? This is a Fantasy world! Why couldn''t she use a communication magic or something? She ruined the setting! Dad stares at me for a moment then grins. He pulls out from his pocket another smartphone then meddles with it and shakes it in front of me. On the phone, he is opening the contact list, showing the number dubbed "Wife" with a heart symbol. Even though my memory is not that good, I immediately recognize the number as the one who is currently calling me. ["Rex. I''m sorry for leaving you to your dad when you were young. I had to go, my people needed me.] On the other side, the woman who claimed to be my mother is speaking with a gentle but also weak voice. That reminds me, dad once said... "Are.. are you okay?" I say with a hint of worry. Although I have no memory of her, dad has confirmed it; furthermore, my human instinct is telling me that she is the one I need, the one who I will love like I love my dad. ["I''m a bit sick at the moment so I couldn''t come to see you. Would you come and see me soon? I miss you so much."] "I will¡­" I glances at dad as he smiles at me. Well, he is always smiling anyway. "But dad won''t let me go alone, so it would take awhile. He want to find some suitable bodyguard." ["Bodyguard? It would be really hard to find someone who could escort you to this floor. I couldn''t wait to see you¡­] She pauses for a moment. ["Give the phone to Zet."] I give my phone to dad with some hope. I could easily imagine dad as someone who is on the weaker side of their relationship. Like giving all money to mom for safe-keeping, asking mom on what to buy and what to not¡­ Although I couldn''t hear what she is saying on the phone but dad simply says something like "Aww" "Okay" or "I know". Sorry dad, but you would have to let me advent alone! I''m a bit worry about not having a cheat though, but someone like me always have ''plot armor''¡­ right? Before I know it, dad has put down the phone on the dining table and lets out a sigh. "Dad, will you let me go alone now? I''m sure I could find some companion. It''s not different than a group of bodyguard, right?" "Rex, you see, this world is dangerous and the road to mom''s place is long. Unexpected things can happen so I always want to make sure you have the strongest team escorting you." He says with a persuasive voice. However, seeing me with my unwavering eyes, he lets out another sighs. "It''s dangerous to travel alone. I will give you something." "A sword?" I involuntarily blurt out, imagining myself in green tunic, wearing a sword and shield and slashing at monsters. "Huh? No, it''s too easy to get stolen." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "Then a set of super armor?" "You can''t wear it all the time. You need a super power, or ''cheat'' as you call it." "You can give me super power?" I totally didn''t expect this when he says ''give''. "Of course I can. I am the best dad in all worlds! So, what do you want." He says then intersect his fingers and uses the back of his hands to support his chin, showing a business smile to me. "This is totally different from the script. Aren''t this part supposed to be done by a God? Are you a God, Dad?" Suddenly, his smile disappears like an illusion. He glares at me with a look that I haven''t seen on him before. I have never known that Dad could be scary. He always dotes on me. "I. AM. NO. GOD!" He says with a deep growl, a growl that I don''t believe that is possible for a human.while speaking. It makes me unconsciously steps backward, knocking over the chair. "Dad?" "Oh?" Suddenly, the tense atmosphere disappears, as quick as when it came. The business smile reappears on his face. "Well, never mind that. Rex, which superpower do you want?" "Eh¡­ super strength?" I blurt out while picking up the chair. Although this power is pretty generic, I have spent countless night imagine how I could effectively use various different kind of powers. "Okay, you will be so strong that anything you touch would turn into dust." The moment he finishes his sentence, the chair I was picking up suddenly collapses into a pile of dust. "DAD! This is not funny!" I say while trying to keep my hands in check. "Sorry, Rex, I can''t give you anything weaker than that." He says with a smirk. I know he can be overly protective sometime, but this is too much! "I don''t need this power! How could I go on an adventure with this¡­ curse?" "Aww, so you think of it as a curse. I will give you another one then." "Then give me super¡­ Never mind. You would probably give me another ridiculous power slash curse. How about Fast Growth Rate?" "Okay, you will be¡­" Dad says with another smirk. "Wait! Don''t give it to me yet. Just tell me what would happen." I interrupt him. "Eh, you will grow so fast that you would turn into a monster¡­" He pauses. I lean my head closer to him as I feel like there is something more to it. "Eh¡­ literally a monster." "DAD! This is not funny! Just give me something that doesn''t make me accidentally hurt other people!" I understand that he just wants me to be safe. However, Safe to the point of not getting close to anyone¡­ then how could I build my dream ''har¡­'' I mean ''team''. "Okay then. I will awaken a fragment my power inside you." He says in a serious tone with a serious look. "Your power¡­ in me?" It would make sense if I think about it. Earlier this afternoon, I once thought that if my dad is not a human, then I wouldn''t be 100% human. "What is that power?" "Done." Suddenly his serious face disappears and was replaced by a grin. "Like father, like son. Now you are a walking Apocalypse. Well, sort of." He rolls his eyes at the last remark. "Apocalypse? What are you talking about? Didn''t I tell you I don''t want to¡­" "I know. This power is relatively safe. It was called Step of Apocalypse." Dad''s words force me to keep my legs in check. I try to keep my feet on the ground and complain. "How come something like that safe?" "Well, it''s not triggered by stepping, so you don''t have to worry. Now sit down, I will tell you how to use it. Don''t you trust me?" "But this power¡­" Although on the outside I complain, I still like how OP this power sounds. "Anyway, I''m going to sleep. It''s the shop''s first day tomorrow. The power is safe so you could test it anytime. Just imagine yourself stepping while saying its name in your mind." He says then stands up, gathering the bowls on the table and carries them away, leaving me standing next to the table, dumbfounded. "Good night, Rex¡­ if you could sleep." In the end, I didn''t test it and go to bed. However, I struggle to sleep as I could not stop thinking about this power. Dad is such a tease! Step 04: Dad is a dork!
[I am sorry, Rex. It''s hard for me to speak so I can''t call you. However, I can still send you a message. It''s boring laying alone on sick bed so please talk with me every now and then. This artifact is so useful. I hope everyone here have one. Love you.]
[Hello¡­ um, mom. I hope you get better. I will visit you soon but in order to let me go alone, dad gave me a weird power. Could you talk to him about it?]
[What power is that?]
[Step of Apocalypse]
I couldn''t step all night, struggling between curiosity and wariness. Although the power''s name sounds cool, it also implies something disastrous. In the end, morning come and I couldn''t sleep at all. Just as I leave my bed, my phone receives a text. It comes from her. Although she might be my mom, I still feel a bit awkward calling her so. Currently her name in my contact list is a single letter ''M''. We exchanged a few texts, and after sending my new power''s name to her, she suddenly goes quiet. I could imagine she fainted after knowing it or she is yelling at dad through messengers. I hope it''s the latter one. After a few minutes, I receive another text from her, telling me it''s safe to use but it might have a negative effect on my emotion. "Ah, here go nothing. Step of Apocalypse!" Although dad says I only need to imagine stepping and the power''s name in my mind, I still say it in a low voice and step one step forward. As my foot hits the ground, a visible shock wave occurs with my landing spot as a center. It cover my entire field of vision in a split second, hitting the walls and shred it to pieces. The roof is blown away, the furnitures are shattered. Everything around me collapses into rubble except for the floor I am standing. I am frozen in place. It''s not the power''s effect that froze me. This is the ''negative emotion'' she was talking about. The feeling of literally wipe out everything with one step is too much for my teenage''s mentality. Without the roof, I could see the blood-red sky. It looks like the sky of Mars I''ve seen in pictures on the internet. However, instead of a sun-set like sky, it gives off an eerie feeling. Quietness. The bustling sound of the street in the morning was gone. I slowly turn to look through where a wooden wall was. The ground are orange, maybe because it''s reflecting the red light from the sky. The building around are all in a broken state like a tornado just swept pass. There is no one. However, littered the floor are countless piles of clothes and equipment. I remember the power to turn things to dust with a touch. Did I just turn everyone to dust with a step? How is this even ''safe''? Unconsciously, I step a step back in horror. With a woosh sound, everything reconstructs themselves like time was rewinded. Before I know it, I has returned to my room again. The bustling sounds of the street could be heard through the closed windows. I carefully land my foot on the ground. Nothing happen. The nausea I have been trying to keep is swelling up inside me. I frantically run into the bathroom and let everything out. But there is nothing. My last meal was the dinner I had last night, and I haven''t had breakfast. As I kneel beside the water basin, I could hear my phone ringing. Someone just sent me a text. I don''t care about it. I just want to forget the horrible sight of ''Apocalypse'', but the event keeps replaying itself in my mind. Finally I could pull myself together and leave the bathroom. Looking at the phone on the table, I could see the text was sent half an hour ago. It took me that long to recover after one use, then how could I use this power like a cheat? The text came from dad. I tiredly open it and sit down on my bed to read.
[This is an auto-message. Hello Rex, your dad here. Well, it''s silly to say so because you could see it''s me on your phone. Anyway, this message is set to automatically send itself the first time you use your new power. Just in case you use it without me around, you know. Was that horrible? You should get used to it. There are worse powers sleeping within you, and you must not let them consume you, physically nor mentally. You have to learn to control them eventually, so I awakened your weakest power. Step of Apocalypse. You could call it an illusion but everything is as real as it could be. However, it''s the weakest power because it is reversible by simply stepping backward. I hope you find a good use for it. Hint hint.] If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"It''s useless." Zwei throws her phone on the lavish wooden table. "I can''t contact anyone." "At least we could still receive information from the internet." Ein says with a sigh. "And I could still receive text." Drei says with a wry smile. "Who texted you?" Zwei lifts an eyebrow. "It''s my daily horoscope¡­" "Hmph. You are always superstitious." Zwei says with a snort but Drei doesn''t seem to mind. Suddenly, Zwei''s phone on the table rings. She immediately reaches over to check. It''s Ein. She turns to look at Ein with a frowns. "And we could call each other. This is some of our advantages in this world." Ein says while nodding. He disconnects the call and tries to call Drei with the same succeed. After that, they try texting and calling each other. It seems they could only contact each other. The most assuring thing is their phone balance (prepaid phone) doesn''t budge a single cent. As they were experimenting with their phone, a knock come from the door. Ein walks over to open the door only to be blinded by the morning light. They had been staying up all night. "Good morning Sir Ein." The maid on the other side of the door bows, carrying a tray of food. Behind her are three more maid, each of them carrying a basin of water. Steam is the proof that the water is at least warm. "This is your breakfast and water that you requested." Zwei takes a glance at the food and sneers. "This is how the Royal Castle treat their honorable guests? The food back in my house are way better than this." "Zwei, don''t be rude to our host." Drei helplessly says. Ein simply lets out a sigh then signals the maid to bring everything in. "We should get used to this lifestyle soon." He mumbles.
I prepare myself for the morning then leaves my room. Coming in front of the door to dad''s room, I raise my hand to knock but I smell something coming from the kitchen. Leaving the door alone, I walk into the kitchen. On the small dining table is a bowl of something, covered by a dish. This reminds me of the day we live in our old house. Dad would wake up early, prepare breakfast for me then open the shop. Is he going to do the same thing here, in a Fantasy world? I sit down and remove the dish. Fried eggs and sausages in a wooden bowl. I unconsciously reach my hand behind only to find an empty space. Ah right, no fridge. Dad had always set my breakfast next to the fridge, and I would open it to get some milk or fruit juice. The life in this Fantasy world started worse than I expected. I want to yell at whoever depicting a beautiful and comfortable life in their Fantasy novels. It''s not. I try to finish my breakfast. It tastes.. different than what I eat on Earth. Dad didn''t bring any food from there so this is probably what he could find in this world. He is such a dork. We came to a Fantasy world, why couldn''t he give me a Fantasy breakfast? After eating my fill, I come down stair. The hall is much less empty now. I could see racks arranged around and shelves next to the walls. Most of the displays are empty. The shelf next to the stair is filled with bottles though. They are ovary bottles containing liquid of different colors. I could understand Red means Health Potion and Blue means Mana Potion. However, there are more than just these two colors. Green, Orange, Yellow, White. I pick up the Orange Potion. Opening it''s rubber lit, I try to smell the contents. It''s¡­ orange. I thought this is a Fantasy-like shop that sells potions, but it seems that dad is really going to open a grocery store. The red ''potions'' are probably Strawberry juice, green is apple and so on. If this is really a grocery store, the ''White Potion'' is probably milk. "Welcome. What do you want to buy?" Suddenly I hear an unfamiliar voice from behind me. Turning back, I could see a strange man giving me a business smile. Where did he come from? "Where is my dad?" I ask him without answering his question. The man sizes me up with a look, glancing at me from my head to my toes. I also look at myself. Although my modern clothes are a bit out of place, dad said that it''s not a problem with all different kinds of armors people wearing. "Ah, you are Master''s son, Rex." He says and claps his hands. I give him a nod. Although he, a human, calling my dad as ''Master'' feels a bit wrong, I guess that is this world''s custom. "Nice to see you. I am Tez, the shopkeeper." "Shopkeeper? Then what is my dad?" "Master is the shop owner." "Make sense¡­ Anyway, where is he?" "He came to the Adventure Guild to register for you." Ah, Adventure Guild. How clich¨¦. Step 05: This worlds standard is weird.
[7:47AM] [This is an auto-message¡­ Hint Hint]
[Dad, we need to talk.] [8:23AM]
[9:00AM] [Ah, sorry Rex. I can''t answer your text in the crowd. I will come home later.]
[I asked Tez for your whereabout. Now I''m going to the Guild.] [9:04AM]
[9:05AM] [Don''t use your phone in front of other people.]
I put the phone back into my pocket. Some people glanced at me earlier when I used my phone to text dad. If I have to guess what is strange about, that would be everything. I rarely see someone young like me on the main street, my clothes are¡­ out of this world, and me fiddling my thumb on the glowing surface of rectangle black object is obviously not normal. Mom even called smartphone an ''artifact''. She left over a decade ago. At that time, mobile phone isn''t common, not to mention smartphone with touch screen like this. Tez told me the location of the Adventurer Guild. It''s the biggest building near the Gate. When I asked which gate, he said that there is only one Gate on Floor 0, and it''s at the end of the main street. Since dad''s shop is also on the main street, it could see the Gate from afar after walking out of the front door. Now that I have the leisure of walking slowly, I could admire the buildings. Two rows of building line up along the main street. Each building is separated to another by a small alley. Glancing at the alley, I could see smaller buildings lining up one after another. Imagining it in bird view, the town would be a giant grid of road, alley and building. I''ve learned in Geography at school that only advanced countries could have such good planning. Is this even a fantasy world? Speaking of Fantasy world, if this is one of those web novels, I''m sure there would be a damsel in distress in one of those dark alley, being cornered by a group of shady men and waiting for the protagonist (like me!) to come rescuing them. However, after walking down half of the main street, I hasn''t heard any scream. Should I purposely walk into one of the alley searching for potential harem member¡­ cough, I mean trouble? Just as I''m about to turn and enter an alley, I remember that I have nothing to use. Unlike those chuuni that is blinded by their delusion, I still have reasonable thoughts. In the usual script, the protagonist should be efficiently stronger than those mobs and rescue his future heroine with ease. Meanwhile, I''m simply a teenage with average physique¡­ and a cheat that is too impractical to use. Dad! Just what kind of bloodline-story is this?
The trip to the Adventure Guild, where dad probably is, takes longer than it should. The closer I get to the Gate, the more shop there are, and the shops get more extravagant too. Like a drunkard, I walk in a sine route, stopping in front of each shop to stare at all the equipment on the racks. I could imagine myself wearing them already. The price tags are two digits long (which I couldn''t read), but I''m sure they aren''t too pricey since the orange juice I ''borrowed'' from dad''s store had a price tag of one digit. Since he allowed me to go on an adventure, he will probably give me some money to buy equipment later.
The ''Adventurer Guild'' seems to be double as an Inn. Although I could not read, I could still see the obvious meaning of the horizontal face with a bubble coming out of its nose. And the Guild''s symbol is pretty unique to this world: An up and a down triangle with a small circle on top of them. It probably represents the elevator buttons. The Guild''s huge metal door on the outside is opened. The second door is your typical wooden door to old western style bars: Two wooden panel sticking to the door frame, the lower edge is at my knee while the upper is at my neck. Pushing it open, I enter the hall. Some people glance at me then turn away, some stares at me with either curious or confused eyes, others don''t even turn to look. I expected these reaction since it happens all the time in the novel I read. What surprises me is how short-manned the staff is. A single man at the front counter where one girl is having paperwork with him but no one else is waiting; and a middle aged woman at the back counter with the Inn symbol behind her. I thought they should have young and beautiful lady at the counter¡­ though this might be expected from the lowest Floor''s Guild. There is a billboard on the front counter but I couldn''t read it. I''m here to search for dad anyway, where is he? I turns to look at the group of people. There are row after row of chairs fill the guild''s hall where people are sitting on. Ah, I found dad, he is sitting at the backmost row of seats. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. "What are you doing here?" I say after silently getting close to him. He is staring at a small blue semi-transparent cube in his hand. It looks even more futuristic than the smartphone! "Oh Rex, you are here." He looks at me with his constant smile. "I''m here to register your ID." He says and raises the cube toward me. "ID? As in Civilian ID?" I draw a rectangle in the air with the tip of my fingers. "Yeah, but the people on Orbis use Cube instead of Card." I simply give a shrug. "Here." He pushes the cube into my hand along with a piece of paper. "Since you are here, you can go register on your own. If someone mess with you, I will give them hell." His threat going along with his constant smile makes it more creepy than ever. I look at the small piece of paper in my hand. Although I couldn''t read, I still realize the characters. Isn''t this¡­ a price tag? "No. 20 please!" Suddenly a hoarse coming from behind. Turning back, I could see the girl who was standing by the counter is walking out of the guild. "Here!" Another girl stands up from her seat, raising a tiny piece of paper in her hand and walks toward the counter. "NO WAY!" I exclaim loudly, making a few people nearby turn to stare at me. Now that I notice it, there is a tiny piece of paper sticking out of the board on the counter. It''s the number dispenser! Just how advanced this world is? The ID looks even more advanced than the current Earth! "Speaking of advancement¡­" I mumble then turn toward dad to ask. "Dad, how do I use this Cube?" I roll the cube in my hand, pressing on it here and there. The cube seems to be made of 8 smaller semi-transparent cubes arranging like packages around an opaque white marble. "Don''t you see it''s a 2x2x2 Rubik''s Cube?" "Seriously?" I exclaims then try to twist it. The two halves of the cube come off, baring the white marble. The cube now looks like a box containing a white spherical Chinese pill. "Now swallow the Indicator and the Cube is yours." "This is getting more and more ridiculous." I say then stare at the marble with a frown. "Oh, this is the Indicator." He says as he points at the obvious marble. "Dad, I''m not that stupid." He simply smirks at that remark. Moving the sphere toward my face, I give it a sniff. Why does it smell like candy? Just as I''m starting to feel suspicious about it, I notice on a corner of my vision, a man is playing with a Cube of the same color. He throws it into the air then catches it. After a few throw, he suddenly makes an exaggerated movement with his right arm. The caught cube disappears the moment it touches his right palm. So the Cube is something magical afterall. Even if this is a joke, dad probably won''t let me eat something dangerous. Worst case scenario, this is the new candy he is selling with a sell-disposable wrapper. I pull the ''candy'' out and put it into my mouth. It even has sweet taste! I turn to look at dad who quickly averts his eyes. This is actually a candy, isn''t it? Because the sphere is small, I swallow it before it could melt. The moment I did so, the two halves of the Cube in my hand automatically closes. So it even has this function. "Dad, about my power¡­" Since we have to wait anyway, I decide to talk to him about it. "No 21 please!" The hoarse voice comes from the man behind the counter. "Quick, it''s your turn!" Dad suddenly hushes me. What are the odd of this? I was about to ask him an important question and suddenly someone else interrupts us. I thought this kind of stupid plot development only happens in third rate novel. "No 21, second call!" The staff calls again. I shoot at dad a look then raises my piece of paper along with the Cube in my hand. "Here!" The people in the hall gives me another look. Some of them sneered. What is wrong with them? "Hello." The man behind the counter slightly bows at me. I bow back at him in response. His voice is different than when he calls the number. Speaking of number, he keeps glancing at the piece of paper in my hand so I put it on the counter. He takes the paper then drops it behind the counter. "..." I don''t know what to say. This is the first time I have to handle official business on my own. Dad usually does it for me. "Can you state your business please?" After a few seconds of silence, the man asks. "I am here¡­ to register." "Who are you registering for?" "Myself, of course." As I say so, the man raises his eyebrows with slight confusion. So I am too different after all. Step 06: Cube ex Machina Floor 30. Human Royal Castle. Like your traditional Summoned to Another World story, after their breakfast, Ein''s group of tree was invited to meet the King. On the way, they plan on how to talk with a King of a medieval kingdom, something three high school student of a modern world could never dream of. Well, Drei did dream about meeting and marrying a prince, while Zwei has always been acting like a princess. "They dragged me here! Why do I have to lower my head?" "Zwei, even though you are right, the other party is still a King rule over a kingdom. We at least have to act like a civilized person." "Don''t you always dream of something stupid like this, Drei? You are the reason why I was dragged to this mess!" "Calm down you two." Ein steps in between the two girls. "Let me do all the talking."
Floor 0. First Pivot Town. Adventurer Guild''s Hall. The staff behind the counter pulls out a sheet of paper along with a quill and pushes it toward me. "Fill out this form please. You should do it quickly, there are a lot of people waiting." I pick up the quill then glance at the sharp tips. There isn''t any ink, so how am I supposed to write? Instead of embarrassing myself by asking, I pretend to drop the quill tip-first on the table and it leaves a slight glowing blue trace. "Sorry sorry." I pick it up again and hover it above the sheet of paper. At that point, I remember something important. "Um¡­ I don''t know how to write." The sheet of paper is written in unknown characters. It looks like squeezing broken rings of an eye-test chart together. Most of the symbol looks like the letter "U" and "V" but they point in all four directions, some even has a dot inside. A few symbols are circles, with or without dot. "Are you kidding me?" The staff frowns and stares at me¡­ no, at my t-shirt. "You have the word ''Magic'' written on your clothing but you can''t write?" My t-shirt is indeed printed with a huge ''Magic'', however, it''s in English! "You can read this?" "You doubt my ability to read Ancient Terra''s words?" Seriously? Isn''t ''Terra'' how Alien usually calls Earth in science fiction? Dad used a Spaceship to get here, so this is actually another planet!? "Um, can I fill my form in this language?" The man almost lets out a laugh but he covers his mouth and turns away in time. I simply sigh at how weird the situation become. "Sorry¡­ Yes, you could." The man says after regaining his composure. "Can you read?" I slightly shake my head in response. "Okay, then write your name here¡­" The form was pretty simple. Name, age, "floor of birth" and a few trivial things that I don''t have to fill. At first I wrote Floor 0 for my "floor of birth", but then I remembered that dad is claiming to be a merchant from floor 30, so I wrote an additional 3 in front of the 0. Glancing at the form, the man says something like "Floor 30, make sense." "Am I done?" I say after filling out the necessary blanks. "Stamp here." He points at a rhombus drawn on the lower right corner I stare at him confusedly. After a moment of silence, he understands my confusion. "Your Cube, stamp here." He says pointing at the semi-transparent cube in my left hand. "It''s your own Cube, right?" "Ah, sorry I¡­ forgot." I look at the cube then stare at the rhombus whose four sides are the same length. I adjust my cube and press it down on the drawing, finding the surface of the cube perfectly overlap the rhombus. Through the semi-transparent material, I could see a symbol is being printed onto the paper under the cube, from the top to the bottom like a scanner. After the cube stops printing, I lift it up, revealing the Guild''s symbol on the paper. Wait, isn''t this¡­ Oh I see it now, the symbol represents both the Elevator buttons and the Cube! "Very good." The staff picks up the paper and store it somewhere under the counter. "You are now officially an Adventurer. Good luck on your Adventure." The man bows after saying. Before I could ask anything, he calls out with a hoarse voice. "No 22, please!" "Ah, thank you and good bye." I understand the hint and quickly walk toward the door where dad is waiting for me. "Now you can legally use the Gate." He says while nodding to himself. "Dad, I have some question about my power." I hurriedly ask. "That power is pretty straightforward." He pretends to look around. "Do you want to talk about something like that in the middle of the town?" Noticing someone approaching the door from behind, he pushes me out of the Guild Hall. "Hey kid!" Suddenly the woman who was approaching calls out. I move aside, thinking I was blocking the entrance but she keeps standing there. "You are pretty young to start adventuring." Ah, so this is the fist conflict in my protagonist life. Let''s see, what would the protagonist say in this situation? "And you are pretty old to continue adventuring." "What are you saying? I''m only twenty!" The woman cups her chin with her palms. Dad simply shakes his head in silence. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "You look like you are at least thirty." Although the woman''s figure is decent, I''m not into older women. I remember one of my classmate calling his girlfriend as ''big sis''. Pretty unmanly in my opinion. Before the woman could answer back, dad steps in between us. "Sorry for my son''s attitude. He is young because we came from Floor 30." Seeing my dad''s timid expression, the woman place her hand on her hip, sneering. "Ah I see. You came here but still act like a noble brat. I will teach y¡­ Eek!" As she was putting on a superiority air, she abruptly stops. Her face quickly turns pale as she falls back onto the floor. Before I could understand what happened, my dad turns back toward me, his constant smile doesn''t look any different than usual. He grabs my hand and pulls me away. "Good bye aunty!" I lean back and call out, only to be pulled harder by dad. "Rex, why are you keep searching for trouble?" Dad speaks under his breath. Despite all the mysterious things he did, he is still a pacifist. That''s pretty unusual since I inherited "Step of Apocalypse" from him. "Dad, about my power¡­" I try to ask him for the third time. "You need some equipment first." He avoids the question directly this time. Before I could ask again, we have already reached the armor shop next to the Guild. I took a look at it earlier. This is the most extravagant shop on the street. I''m not sure about the price, but most of the price tags are two digits long, some even reach the third digit. It''s like dozens time more expensive than dad''s orange juice. He is pretty rich, huh? As we step into the shop, dad releases my hand. Looking at all the beautiful equipment, my delusion starts acting up. I involuntary get close to a red scaled armor. A woman in delicated clothing step out from behind the shop. "Welcome to my little shop. Are you here to buy some armor?" "Don''t you say?" I exclaim then turn toward her, only to find she was talking with my dad. "Ah, I''m buying some armor for my son. He will start adventuring today." "At this age?" "We are from Floor 30." Dad explains. "Oh. You made the right choice. Having him start from Floor 0 would be the best for his personality." The woman says while nodding. This is the third time someone think I''m too young for adventure and accept "Floor 30" as an explanation. I kept asking dad about my power so I didn''t have chance to ask about that. "Dad, I want this armor." I say then lightly lift the price tag for him to see. It''s three digits long so I wonder if he could afford this. Understanding my action, he says with a wry smile. "Rex, the equipment on Floor 0 are pretty cheap. You are going to change them for Magical equipment later anyway." Change? Doesn''t this Scale armor looks like the best equipment in a game already? "What is Magical equipment?" I drop the price tag down and ask. "We don''t have something expensive like that here." The shop owner shakes her head. Dad lightly shakes his hand, summoning his Cube. That reminds me, I still carry my Cube on my hand. I silently shake my hand and suddenly I can''t feel the Cube anymore. I look down to check my hand but it has nothing special. When I look back, dad is twisting his Cube a few time then suddenly and magically pull out a smaller cube from it. "You actually have a Magical equipment!" The shop owner exclaims in amazement. With a slight shake, the small cube in Dad''s hand ''explodes'' and turns into a pair of gloves. "This gloves has no enchant so it''s not that powerful. If only they have a Forge on this floor, I could enchant it and give it to you." He says some nonsense again. Indeed, they are only a pair of blank white glove without the finger parts. Even if someone say it worth a fortune, I couldn''t believe it. "Even without enchant, these gloves are at least 2000 Gram. Do you want to sell it to me?" The shop owner raises two fingers as she says. "That''s enough to buy a decent set of starting equipment for your son." "No thanks. I pay with cheque." Another non sense enters my ears. But I soon understand it. As dad point at the red Scale Mail, the shop owner hands the price tag to dad. Using his Cube, he stamps the price tag like I did with the registration form. "Thank you." The shop owner says after receiving the stamped price tag, aka cheque¡­
After I don the set of red "scaled" armor, we leave the shop. Although it looks really nice, I soon find out that the scales were actually carved from wood, making the armor really light. I thought this was a late game set but in the end it''s nothing more than a set of costume, both in this world and on Earth. About my weapon, I don''t really want to talk about it¡­ The entire Floor 0 is full of costume made of wood. The more extravagant shop has more beautiful costume. At least they satisfy my delusion of looking cool. Ah, so life in another world is just like this. Step 07: Crystal Energy Floor 30. Human''s Royal Castle. Throne Room. After watching the figures of Ein''s group disappear behind the large gate, the King motions his most trusted aide to come near. "Your Majesty¡­?" "Do you think those three are not very Heroic?" "I will speak my honest thoughts. The boy seems to have some sense of justice, however, after dealing with nobles my entire life, I could see that he is just putting on airs¡­" The King nods then impatiently asks again. "Then what about the two girls?" "They don''t speak much but¡­ Drei is a decent girl but she can''t do Hero''s job. And I believe that the girl who didn''t name herself was accidentally dragged in the summoning spell." "I feel like all three of them were accidentally dragged in." "Your Majesty, why do you think like that?" "Although we detect strong Crystal Energy from them, I feel like it''s just residual Energy and not the actual Cryst. Whatever emitted such strong Energy, it escaped our summoning spell."
Floor 0. First Pivot Town. As we walk back, I keep twisting my ID Cube while listening to dad''s explaination for it. "Crystallized Energy?" I pause the twisting to stare at the semi-transparent Cube in my hand. Although it feels solid, dad said that it''s just energy in crystal form. "Yeah. Cryst is the most powerful source of Energy in this world, like an infinitive battery. For example, if you have 3 Cryst, you can power something that requires less than 3 Cryst forever." "Then how many of that ''Cryst'' do you have?" I say with my eyes shining. Well, I couldn''t really see my eyes, but with the greed I''m having, I''m sure they are shining. "Each Cube always has at least 8 Cryst." He then points at the white gloves I''m wearing. "And to create a piece of non-enchanted magical equipment, one Cryst is used." "So I''m having 9 Cryst?" "No, the Cryst that powers the magical equipment can''t be used for anything else anymore." "Then how many magical equipment do you have?" He shakes his hand, summoning his Cube and raises it close to my face. From close by, I notice something strange about his Cube. It seems like containing something. "Each Cube like this can contain 8 pieces of magical equipment and only magical equipment." Taking a closer look, I could see a tiny set of equipment is contained in the seven smaller cubes of dad''s Cube. One of the smaller cube is empty which probably contained these gloves. There are a baseball cap, a T-shirt, a bat, two different rings, a pair of short legging and a pair of sandals; all of them are white in color. Other than the rings, the rest of them are modern suit for playing sport. I''ve never seen dad playing anything and he watches all kind of sports on TV. However, what makes me concern is the fact that dad used precious Cryst to create something like these. I really want to question his sanity, but seeing his constant smile, I''ve already had the answer.
Soon we reach home. I''ve been used to walk through a shop to enter my room back on Earth so we just enter the front door. Dad gets to behind the counter and tells me to prepare to set off in the afternoon. Looking around, I can see the racks have been filled with clothing, tools and food. The clothing won''t make good armor but with the colorful decoration printed on, some people might probably buy them. The "tools" are knives, hammers, saw, etc¡­ They might even make a better weapon than my costume wooden sword. "What are these?" I hear a familiar voice at the back of the shop. Avoiding the racks at the front, I can now see the aunty we met at the Guild''s entrance. What a coincident, just like a web novel. "These are fruit juice and the white one is milk." Tez is currently dealing with her. His voice seems to be timid, contrasting with the loud voice of the woman. "Fruit juice? Never heard of something like that. And milk, why are you putting milk in potion bottle?" She picks up the bottle containing the blue fluid, raising it to her face and gives it a shake. "This looks like Magic recover potion, but this price is too cheap." "Because it''s Blueberry juice." "Blueberry?" "It''s a fruit that grow on the Floors of Tier 2." Tez answers. Seeing the doubtful look of the woman, he continues. "Our shop keeper came from Floor 30." She suddenly lets out a snort. "Floor 30 again?" "Hello aunty." I step out from behind the racks. "I see you are shopping in my family''s store." I say then point at one of the bottle on the rack. "That fruit is good for your skin. You know, I think it might make you look ten years younger." Seeing me, the woman has a slight annoyance on her face. However, as I mention the effect, she puts down the bottle on her hand and picks up the one I pointed at. "Really?" "Yes, it would make you look like twenty." I walk pass her and climb up the stair with a silent smirk. She doesn''t suspect anything and buys it. Such a no-brainer.
After lunch, I go downstair with my backpack that I used to carry to school. This fake-leather school-bag doesn''t look very fantasy-like, but with all the things dad did with the theme, I stopped caring about it. Furthermore, after filling it with food, he tells me to "return home at night", just like when I left home for Library, Game center or a Convention. Except for the set of armors I''m wearing, nothing else makes me feel like I''m going on an adventure. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. This time, the road to the Gate doesn''t take much time because I walk in a straight line. Okay, I admit it, I ran toward the Gate due to excitement. It''s like I just escaped the tutorial part of the Game of the year and finally can play the actual game. My excitement is soon cut short by the line of people waiting in front of the Gate. Each time the Gate "opens", a party enters, and they have to wait a few seconds for it to close before opening it again. At first I thought that it had fixed opening time, but when only one person enters, it closes right behind him. "Excuse me!" I try to get the attention of the friendly-looking man in front of me. "I am new to this. Can you please tell me, why do they only enter in small group?" "Kid, you look too young to start¡­" Ah, not this again. "I''m from Floor 30." "That explains your expensive looking suit. Anyway, do you have any Cryst?" He says and summon his Cube. What, do I have to pay for information? "Um, I have one Cube, but¡­" I awkwardly summon my Cube by shaking my hand a few times. I should practice more. "When you open the Gate, you have to power it with Cryst. Doing it one by one would be too troublesome so they would let someone power the Gate for the entire group. One Cryst per person that would enter your Gate." "So expensive!" I audibly exclaim. "Kid, do you even know how Cryst work? It''s infinitive. When you return to a lower floor, the used Cryst returns to you." Seeing me having a perplexed look, he sighs then explain again. "Minus one Cryst per person per Floor when advent; Plus one Cryst per person per Floor when descend." "Ah, thank you. I understood it." "Do you want to go with me? One of us will pay on each Floor in turn." The man suddenly offers. Oh, so there is such thing. However, I''m afraid that he would steal my Cryst so I hesitate. It''s possible, right? I still don''t know much about how it works, not to mention how trustworthy he is. Seeing my hesitation, he chuckles. "Don''t worry, when I return to lower floor, the Cryst you use on me will automatically return to you." "What if you won''t return and end up living on an upper floor?" I blurt out. Although it might be rude of me, I try to speak with a joking tone. "That¡­ You are right." In the end, I decide to go alone. The man before me found another group. Declining him might be a good decision as I could see a group of people, each of them ''pay'' for themselves but still go in group. It''s a bit time consuming but I guess that it''s better be safe than sorry. As for how to ''pay'', I have to learn by watching. Soon, it''s my turn to open the Gate on my own. As per what I saw, I press my Cube on the Up arrow. The arrow slowly light up from bottom to top like a filling meter. As soon as it''s filled, the colorful floating-up mist fade into existence. However, something I didn''t expect happens: A symbol appears in the empty sphere of my Cube. "Kid, you are just alone but you spend too much time." Someone behind me urges with an impatient tone. "Sorry." Ignoring the symbol in the Cube, I quickly walk through the veil of mist.
Floor 1 - Crystal Mine. I expected somewhere like the green grassy plain but instead, it''s a dark cavern. As the colorful mist of the Gate dissipates behind me, the only color that fills my vision is the blueness of the glowing crystal on the walls. There is no one else here, not even a voice echoes back in this closed cavern. Carefully, I draw out my wooden sword and slowly advance forward. The Gate is stationed inside a chamber, facing a corridor. On the wall next to the corridor, there is a billboard written in the language of this world. I decide to take a picture of it and send it to dad with my phone. Before I could decide what to do next, my phone rings. He is calling. Is this place such a dangerous place that he have to call immediately? "Hello Dad." I answer the phone. ["You are so lucky and unlucky at the same time, Rex."] I could hear a chuckle on the other side. "Dad, what does it mean?" ["You are in a Crystal Mine where you could harvest Cryst. However, since you are at a low floor, there is only one Cryst there. What a pity."] "Aw, then the party that came before me probably got it." ["Oh, you have a group already?"] "No, I go alone." ["Ah darn. No one told you that each time the Gate open to ascend, it leads to a random place of the next Floor?"] "So... My first random dungeon is actually the Crystal Mine?" ["You are really lucky, Rex."] At this point, I just want to scream: Plot Armor is REAL! Step 08: Beginners Luck Floor 31 - Green Slime Forest. Near the Gate. A group of formless and huge slimes is surrounding a group of four human. Ein is standing in front, his back points at the two girls. Next to him, there is a man wearing expensive-looking soldier armor. He is the Captain sent by the King to train this miserable group of three. "I am all sticky!" Zwei complain as she comb her hair with her hand. There are patch of green liquid everywhere on her body. "¡­" Drei who is in the same state but because she is short on breath, she could not complain. Although Ein prefer using bow, he couldn''t let the girl fight in front, could he? "This is harder than I thought." He speaks through his teeth, aiming his spear forward. He picked the longest spear, but it only makes things harder.
Floor 3. Mandragora Field. "This is so easy!" I say as I thrust my wooden sword at the plant-like monster. These monsters are immobile, and their whip are so short that it could barely reach half the length of my sword. After the monster die from one or two holes on its body, I don''t know what else to do with their corpse so I just pluck their whip as trophy. The whip is not only short but it''s also fragile. I doubt they could break through my costume armors. My previous dungeon was a simple maze without any monster, and this entire field-like floor has only a dozen or so of these monsters. They are small, weak and few in numbers. As expected of the early "game". Well, it''s not a game, but since it''s on a low floor, let''s just treat it like that. If the higher floors are also easy like this, I might not need a group and just walk straight to mom''s place. Huh, I forgot to ask where she is. Might as well text her. Sitting down on the ground, I pull out the phone from my bag.
[7:42 AM] That power is safe, but it might have some negative effect on your emotion.
[7:42 AM] Use it wisely.
Thank you. [7:44 AM]
Hello mom. I started going. Where are you now? [3:05 PM]
[3:10 PM] Floor 80. It will take a while. Be safe, Rex.
You mean floor 8, right? [3:11 PM]
[3:14 PM] No, Floor Eighty.
But I only have 9 crest. [3:15 PM]
Sorry autocorrect, I mean Cryst. [3:15 PM]
[3:19 PM] It''s a long journey. But don''t worry, I can wait.
I let out a sigh as I put the phone back in my bag''s front pocket then pull out the fresh water contained in a potion bottle. It looks so weird, but I imagine recovering with a HP potion and everything is fine. "So I have to stumble upon Crystal Mine seventy more times, huh?" After resting for awhile, I stand up and search for the Gate to next floor. Although my physical strength is average, I could walk around for an hour without feeling tired. Well, this floor is small so it only take me a few minutes to find the Gate. After advancing a few times, I''m getting to know how these things work. Each Floor has two Gate, one with only the Down arrow and one has both Up and Down. Whenever I advance to the next floor, I come out from the Down-only Gate. When I use my Cube on the Up arrow, there would always be a symbol appear in the middle of the Cube. The symbol probably represents how the next floor would look like and the monsters that infested it. I don''t really have to kill monsters to advance either. Unless it''s a cavern, I could just avoid the monsters. Soon, things get really boring so I just simply skip all the monsters whenever I could. The terran seems to be non-repetitive, it''s just as boring as having a very long road trip. There is no danger at all, a teenage like me could walk through the floor in 15 minutes, or if I want to clean the monsters, it take less than an hour per floor. I wonder why they have to come in party.
The phone''s screen is showing that it''s 6 PM. I reached the end of Floor 7 without any trouble. It''s a bit exhausting though, as the first Gate was at the base while the second Gate, where I currently am, is at the top of a small mountain. Although there is no light-pollution, the sky of this world only has a few stars. I could sometime see a floating ground from afar, but they are too few to completely block all the stars like this. Ah, so boring, I''m going home. After resting for a few minutes, I stand up and prepare to press my Cube on the Down button of the Gate. However, recalling my first Floor was actually the rare Crystal Mine, I decide to try my luck again. "I wish I would reach a floor with a lot of Crystal!" I mumble to myself as I press the Up button. After powering up the Gate, my Cube shows a very complex symbol. The background is different from the Crystal Mine, but the foreground is identical. I eagerly walk through the veil of colorful mist and reach the next floor.
Floor 8. Crystal Fortress. On the other side of the Gate, the sky fills my vision. It dazes me for a few second before realizing I''m a few meters from the edge of the floor. Did I go through the Gate in the wrong way? Normally I would come out looking toward the center of the floor. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. After the Gate closes, I start looking around. Behind me, the Gate is placed on the walls, so I didn''t come out the wrong way. In front of me is the endless night sky which is the edge of the floor. To my left and right, there are two identical set of stair glowing with blue light. I could immediately recognize that these stairs are made of crystal. "Oh, I''m really lucky. But it isn''t a Mine this time." Walking toward the right, I climb up the crystal stair. Because I haven''t found any danger so far, I stopped being cautious and leave the wooden sword in its sheath on my waist. At the top of the stair is a huge crystal yard. Different from the rough crystal in the mine, the floor here is covered in smooth blue tiles, glowing in a dim light. However, what surprises me the most is a group of six people. One of them is trying to start a campfire on the crystal floor with a pile of wood and the rest are sitting around in a circle. "Oh look, a kid!" A man notices me and exclaims, making the rest of them turn to look. "You again?" A familiar woman voice comes from them. It''s that aunty again! "I should be the one to say that." I say as I walk over. "Hello aunty." "Aunty?" A few men started chuckling at that, only to be punched in the belly by she. "Didn''t you say this make me look younger?" She raises an empty potion bottle beside her. "Ah, that? You have to drink it everyday for the effect to show up." I suppress my urge to laugh as I say so. "Really? Then tell your father to restock it because this Big Sis will come by everyday! But you must not call me aunty again." I nod and reach my hand into the backpack to get my phone. However, remembering that these are people of another world, I put it back in. Anyway, dad must thank me because I just gave him the first regular customer. "Come here boy." The woman waves her hand, calling me over. I just silently walk toward them and sit next to her. It''s not like I like older women, but traveling alone is so boring. "Who is this kid? How did he get here?" Someone asks the aunty. "Do you know the new shop, Zet''s Daily Smile, that sells all kinds of weird stuffs?" The aunty waits for the man to nod. "He is the son of the shop owner." "The new shop that open this morning? I heard the owner came from Floor 30." Another man join in the conversation. "So that''s why he could reach here by himself." Some of them nod at the remark. "Um, can someone tell me why my place of origin has something to do with me?" I finally ask the question that was sticking to me all morning. "Oh, you don''t know?" The aunty speaks with a slightly surprised voice. "Well, I don''t know the details, but it has something to do with energy density." "Oh, I know about that. I think dad once mentioned that the higher the floor, the denser the energy. I didn''t put much thought into it though." The aunty nods then continue. "And the denser the energy, the stronger you are. Since you were born on Floor 30, naturally you are stronger than the normal people on Floor 0." Although that explained their reactions, there is still a small flaw: I wasn''t born on Floor 30. My birth certificate said that I was born in a small hospital in my former city on Earth. They said that because of my "Floor 30 Power", I could reach this place alone. Does it mean that the energy density on Earth is the same as on Floor 30? "What are you thinking about?" "Ah, sorry. It''s nothing." I can''t tell them that I came from another world, can I? "Anyway, we are going to finish this floor tomorrow. You are welcome to stay with us for the night." One of the men says. His equipment seems to the most expensive among this party, but it''s far from my extravagant wooden costume! "My dad told me to return home at night, so I''m going to leave soon." "Your loss then." The shady looking man says with a shrug. "What does that mean? I could come here anytime, right?" I ask with a doubtful look. The man who was trying to start the fire turns over and hushes the shady looking one. However, the leader-like one with the expensive armor tells me anyway. "This is a very rare place that only appears at the rotation of¡­" He summons his Cube. "Crystal Element, Fortress Terrain and Golem Monster." He says while rotating his Cube, showing it to me in three different sides. I also summon my Cube and look at the symbol in its empty sphere. Ah, so I have to look directly at the Cube surfaces and from different angles. Doing so, I can make out the simplistic drawing of a cube, a "fortress" and a fat humanoid who has circle for its body part. If I slightly tilt the Cube, the drawing would look very complex. "How about this¡­ There would be 8 Cryst at the end of this Floor. Each of us will get one Cryst and the last one would be sold for 10 KiloGram and shared evenly among us." The leader says. When I heard "Gram" this morning, I thought it''s a kind of currency and didn''t think about it too much. However, the man just said "KiloGram", does that mean that this world uses weight as currency unit? "How do we divide 10 KiloGram?" The aunty raises her ten fingers and tries to ''divide'' them. I simply chuckle and pull out my phone, swiftly opens the Calculator app and a few second later, I give them the answer. "Each of the us would get 1428 Gram, and there would be 4 Gram remaining." Suddenly, all of them turn to look at me¡­ and my phone. Ah, I am an Alien in their eyes now, ain''t I? Step 09: Be careful what you wish for! Floor 30. Ein''s group are returning from their small trip. The crowd throws curious glance at them. It''s rare for someone to be escorted to the Royal Castle like that. Judging from the clothes, the crowd deduces that these three teenages are criminal. After the entire afternoon, they could only reach Floor 32 with their modern clothes turned into rags. Of course they wore a full set of Magical equipment on the outside, but it couldn''t help much due to their inexperience in fighting. "What time is it now?" Zwei tiredly asks. Pulling out his phone, Ein replies. "7 o''clock in the evening." Of the three, only Ein decides to bring his phone to the field training. Glancing over, Drei suddenly exclaims. "Your phone is charging!" Curiously, Zwei also turns to look. Ein looks around his phone and into the charging socket, but there is nothing strange about it. However, on the screen, the Charging icon is flashing. "I didn''t happen this morning. Where is this power come from?" Ein mumbles. "Power?" Suddenly the Captain who was walking in front of them turns back. "I couldn''t sense any strange power." "I''m not talking about that kind of power." Ein says the lifts his phone and shows it to the Captain. "Something is recharging¡­ I mean powering up my phone." "Oh, this artifact?" The captain tries to take a closer look to it but Ein pulls it back and checks the settings. "I believe Crystal Energy can power anything in this world."
Floor 8. Crystal Fortress. "What is this Artifact you have here?" The aunty tries to grab my phone but I manage to avoid her. "I''m not going to steal it from you." "Hou, as expected from someone who came from Floor 30. A magical Artifact, you just used it to calculate, right?" The leader-like man says. I nod at him while keeping an eyes on the shady looking man. "Y..yeah, it''s a calculator¡­" Suddenly, my phone receives a call and starts ringing, startling the group of six people. "What is that?" The leader immediately grab the sword beside him and stands up, looking around. However, soon he realizes that it was my phone. "Sorry. Excuse me." I apologize to them then stand up and walk away to answer the phone. "Dad, You called when I was in front of other people." I look back and forth, noticing the group is staring at me with curious eyes. ["Oh sorry. I''m just worry about you. It''s night time already. Where are you?"] "I''m on Floor 8¡­" He suddenly interrupts me. ["That''s better than I expect. But who are the other people? I thought you were traveling alone."] "I saw this group when I came here." ["Huh? What kind of floor are you at?"] "I don''t know. They only said that it''s a rare floor. The symbols are Crystal, Fortress and Golem." ["Oh, Crystal Fortress."] He immediately exclaims after listening to the three symbols. So it''s just a Challenge Floor. I was worried that you stumbled upon a Lair."] "Challenge? Lair?" ["I will tell you about them later."] "Dad! You keep saying that but never told me much. I always lack a lot of knowledge!" ["I''m just too busy¡­ Anyway, are you going to finish the Challenge?"] "They plan to do it tomorrow. Dad, I want to sleep out tonight¡­" He hesitates a bit before answering. ["Alright. However, you must use your Super Power at the first sight of danger, you heard me?"] Now that he mentions it, I suddenly remember that I have a very weird cheat. "But I¡­ Okay I will." I wanted to say that I didn''t like it, but that would only make him worry. After exchanging a few more words, he hangs up. "You''re back, boy." The aunty greets me as I walk back to them. "I''m sorry, it''s just a little issue." I look around then point at where the shady looking man was. "Where is¡­?" Now that I think about it, I don''t know any of their names. "I just sent Jack to scout ahead." The leader-like man says as he points at the structure nearby. The yard spreads out to the "horizon". The only structure is a cyclical tower sprout out from the smooth crystal floor. Everywhere is plated in glowing crystal, and the tower is no exception. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "That''s the fortress?" "The entire fortress is sunken in crystal. That''s the only entrance." I simply nod at his explanation. We haven''t introduced ourselves yet, and I also need to learn their name, so I start it. "By the way, I am Rex. I just started adventuring today. I hope I could learn a few things from you." I slightly bow. Although I don''t know this world''s custom, I see people bowing to each other all the time here. After a round of introduction, I finally get their names. Since they didn''t introduce their surname, I did the same thing. Just as we are chatting about various minor things, the ground suddenly shakes. All of them turns to look at the crystal tower so I follow suit. The tower clad in blue crystal doesn''t show anything strange for a moment, but soon, it shatters like glass and is replaced by a larger tower¡­ or more exactly, a giant arm. Jack could be seen jumping off from the arm then run toward us while screaming apologize. "Sorry sorry!" "You tried to sneak pass the guardian again, didn''t you?" The leader who introduced himself as Ryan says. The smooth floor starts cracking. The cracks run like lightning and spreading all over the place. Soon, a body emerge from the ground, shattering the crystal floor. I frantically pull my wooden sword out as the party does the same. I wonder how people of this world expect to fight something huge like that with a wooden sword. "This is your first time fighting something like this, right?" The aunty who introduced herself as Vale gets close to me. She is wielding a long white spear with feathery decoration. "Can we really fight this thing?" "You never know until you try!" She says then dashes forward, along with the rest of Ryan''s party. The shady man named Jack makes a sharp turn then throw some knives at the golem. Instead of metal-to-rock sound, it''s just some dull sound of wood hitting rock. "Everything are made of wood!" I audibly exclaim as the rest of the party swing their weapon, aimlessly hit the golem''s body like practicing with a training dummy. My imagination of a Fantasy boss fight is shattered. The large golem, whose lower body is still underground, slowly raises its hand and crashes down. The speed is so slow that I could avoid it by just casually walking away. "Hey kid! If you want a share of the reward, come hitting it with me!" Dejectedly, I walk toward the golem''s torso, swinging my wooden sword at it like I am mining rock. "How long should we keep on doing this?" "The last time we fought a golem, it took us 4 hours of relentless hitting." I suddenly stop my hand at the mention of 4 hours. Seriously? "Can we just go pass it and get the Cryst?" This time the man named Jack laughs and explains to me. "The Cryst and also the Gate is blocked by a seal. I tried to crack it but the Guardian awoke." "So, the seal will open if we defeat this thing?" I casually walk away from the smashing down hand while asking. "The key to open the seal is inside the Guardian." He says and point at the golem. Following his finger, I turn to look at the golem''s chest. Because it was made of crystal, I could see a faint figure of something inside its chest. To have a clearer look at it, I walk closer to the large torso. That thing looks familiar. If only I could shatter its chest and get that thing out¡­ I can do that with Step of Apocalypse, but¡­ The moment my foot touch the ground, the golem whose body occupy my entire line of sight shatters like glass. An invisible shockwave is sent out with me as the center. The continuous dull sounds of wood hitting rock suddenly disappear, replaced by the clattering sound of the golem''s fragment falling onto the ground. The cracked ground that was shining with crystal now becomes dull rocks. My entire field of vision is soon filled with a red-shaded barren rocky land after the golem''s fragments fully hit the ground. The blackness of the night sky is replaced by a deep shade of orange. I accidentally activated it¡­ somehow¡­