Legendary Shadow Blacksmith

"...You mean people will be watching me?"

"Oh, yes. We'll all be watching you, Mr. Winters."

"Did… I approve of that?"

"Sure did."

Julian stood there in silence for a few seconds, but it did not really take long for him to remember that he told MEGAN to just accept everything. MEGAN – he still was not quite used to her not always talking to him. If she was here, then Julian's utter confusion about everything he was seeing would have been solved quite easily.

"I…" Julian let out a small sigh as he just continued following the two scientists, "...I suppose it doesn't matter."

"You don't have to worry," a grin slowly crawled on Dr. May's face, "Otherworld has a team dedicated to filtering out things that are clearly extremely private, if you know what I mean."

"May, keep it professional," Dr. Takumi could not help but sigh as he saw Dr. May making obscene gestures with her hands, "That's inappropriate. What is wrong with you?"

"What?" Dr. May scoffed, "Most of the rich folks playing Otherworld play because they want to have sex with the locals. Artemia has lots of beautiful people."

"It's not a game, May," Dr. Takumi shook his head in disapproval, "And Mr. Winters, I hope you also remember that when you are in Artemia – do not go overboard. Once your clone dies, that's it – you can never participate in Otherworld again."

"I won't do anything rash," Julian quickly responded, "I'm just here to explore."

"Okay – we're here."

Julian and the scientists entered a room filled with… spherical, weird-looking tree roots. But of course, everything still looked weird to Julian.

"These are the pods that will take you down to Artemia, Mr. Winters," Dr. Takumi approached one of the pods, and as he did so, the roots opened up, "This will also happen to be your first introduction to the weird and magical stuff you could see in Artemia. Please, step inside, Mr. Winters."

"Okay," Julian did not really hesitate to go inside; he did start to hesitate, however, when the vines inside just started wrapping around his body – but it was already too late.

"One last thing," Dr. Takumi started checking the vines if Julian was tightly strapped in, "Say 'Guide'."

"...Guide–!!!" Julian could really only gasp as his newfound vision was suddenly filled with all sorts of things – he slightly panicked and wanted to wipe the things that were covering his vision, but he could not do so as his arms were already bound, "Am I… going blind again?"

"...Maybe I should have explained what it was first," Dr. Takumi could really only awkwardly chuckle, "I… I guess it would look like that to you, sorry. The hyums call it 'The Guidance of Artemis'. Humanity Engineering still has no idea what it is, but like the name suggests – it's a guide."

"A guide…?" Julian tried to focus on the words and the letters, and even though he had never learned how to read, it felt like he could somewhat understand what he was seeing.

"Yes," Dr. Takumi nodded, "And the very reason why most people treat the Otherworld as a game, even though it's not."

"It's a game," Dr. May sighed, but she just quickly raised both her palms up as Dr. Takumi glared at her.

"It shows the basic status of your body – it gives a numeric value of your current level, corresponding Strength, Agility, Vitality, Sense, and Mana," Dr. Takumi raised his finger, "You don't have to worry about all of those now, you'll learn it along the way – the only thing you need to know is to never reveal your level to the hyums while you are still level 1. Because if they discovered that you're that low despite being old, they will have suspicions of you being human, and—"

"They will kill me," Julian breathed out. He was about to ask how he could get rid of the Guidance, but as soon as he thought of it, it disappeared.

"Guidance will also provide you options and routes to take from time to time," Dr. Takumi continued to explain.

"My god, just tell him there are quest lines," Dr. May groaned while rolling her eyes, "You're trying so hard not to use role-playing video game jargons."

"We're professionals, May," Dr. Takumi waved his hand before turning his focus on Julian again, "It is your choice to accept the options and routes–"

"Quests." Dr. May interrupted as she winked at Julian, which was useless since he had absolutely no idea what that meant.

"It is your choice to accept the Options and Routes given to you," Dr. Takumi did not care at all for Dr. May's interruptions, "But most quests–god damn it. Fine. Most Quests are extremely beneficial to you and would help you become stronger, so I suggest accepting them – by the way, only you can see your Guidance and it won't even show up in your stream. So, you don't have to worry about your information leaking out."

"Okay, thank you," Julian breathed out – the Guidance was practically a replacement for MEGAN, in a way.

"Remember, Mr. Winters…" Dr. Takumi then took several steps back, while Dr. May waved her hand at him, "...Never tell the hyums that you are human. You will land somewhere near Archon, it's a village mostly housed by Humanity Engineering staff, but there are also hyums there, so be careful not to reveal your identity – don't go anywhere, a friend of ours will fetch you."

"You will return to your real body once you sleep, or are incapacitated," Dr. May followed up,

"Remember not to neglect your real body, Mr. Winters…

…now off you go."

"T–"

And before Julian could even say anything, the pod just closed on him. And not even a second later he felt his soul almost being chucked out of his body as the pod just suddenly launched without any warning – the only thing he could really do was grit his teeth.

He was calmer than most of the other players that went before him, however, as he was used to not seeing what was happening outside. He could hear several things – a sort of hymn, and then a drum. It was weird, almost like music.

And after what seemed like a minute, Julian could feel the pod slowing down until it finally came to a complete stop. And soon, his eyes instinctively squinted as light seeped into the pod as it opened up.

"Am I… in Artemia?" Julian could really only cover his eyes ever-so-slightly as he stepped out of the pod… and the light just rushed through him like a tidal wave, crashing over him in a flood of colors that made him completely disoriented.

The darkness that he had been a companion of ever since he came into existence, no longer anywhere to be seen...

...but Julian did not really know what to feel. Happiness, perhaps?

It was beautiful, sure, but it also left him grappling with a confusion that knotted in his stomach – or perhaps that was because of literally being thrown from outer space. He blinked a couple of times, desperate to make sense of this weird kaleidoscope, but nothing clicked.

Nothing clicked… that is, until he crouched down; his fingers brushing against the slightly dried grass.

"Huh… grass," a small smile started to crawl on Julian's face as he held the grass in his palms – soon, however, he felt a drop of water on his hand; his smile, now suddenly accompanied by a trail of tears.

Julian had absolutely no idea what to feel right now - he was confused, in awe, in joy… all at the same time. He was scared that his vision was blurring, but he also started to understand that it was because of the tears dripping from his eyes.

He was never really capable of crying before – and it felt… nice.

"Haha…" A small chuckle escaped his lips as he stood up while looking at his hands, he then moved toward a nearby tree; his chuckle almost turning high-pitched, "This… is a tree. It's… wow. Everything… everything is… bigger."

Julian then looked up, only for his eyes to instinctively close due to the harsh brightness of the sun – Julian persevered, however, as he wanted to see if it was as MEGAN described it to him.

The sun radiates warmth and brilliance, casting golden light that dances on landscapes, igniting the sky in vibrant hues, and nurturing life with its gentle embrace… it is beautiful – is what MEGAN described it as.

If MEGAN says that this is beautiful… then it is.

"I wish you could experience this with me, MEGAN."

<...>

<...lol, what is happening?>

Unbeknownst to Julian, however, not only was MEGAN seeing what he was seeing…

…thousands of people are too.