No.2: Alternate World

Upon wearing the helmet, a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours streamed past his eyes. His mind drifted as he felt his consciousness slowly dissolve into the stream of vibrant colours, as though blending with it.

Already used to this process, and knowing it often took a while, Felix decided to keep his mind preoccupied so as not to get lost in the flow of colours.

Recalling how he had to lie to his sisters about working late whenever he went to Dom’s apartment to use the Astral Link Helm, he felt bitter.

Though he didn’t like lying to them, since he knew how much they worried about him, he had decided against telling them, as they would most likely try to stop him, likely stating that it wasn’t worth the risk.

However, he was determined to see this through no matter what, which led to his decision to keep it from them.

Not to mention, he had worked ten times harder than usual just to purchase the Astral Helmet. The cost was worth a small fortune for commoners like him and had taken far longer to accumulate than he initially anticipated.

Even then, it all came down to chance, whether one would possess attributes strong enough to draw the Zeniths’ attention and earn a Streamer Contract.

Let alone the fact that death in the alternate world also meant death in their own, rendering them incapable of returning upon dying here. That was why he didn’t plan on telling his sisters anything about this.

‘At least, not until I’ve achieved my goal.’

Snapping out of his thoughts, he soon realised that the rate at which the colours flowed around him had begun to intensify, to the point where they resembled a constellation of tiny shooting stars zooming past him. Or rather, was he the one zooming past them?

Felix wasn’t sure.

His consciousness faded soon after as everything around him slowly grew dim and distant, his vision darkening in the process.

Waking at the sound of noise that drew closer by the second, Felix could finally feel his body again after drifting through a sea of colours.

Coming to, the voices growing louder as he did, Felix instinctively squinted his eyes to avoid being assaulted by the ambient light.

Upon adjusting, he glanced at the figure squatting beside him.

A huge, broad-shouldered man, visibly in his thirties or so, with a short scruffy beard and a slightly untamed look, casually smiled at Felix.

A strange sword, an odd mix between a longsword and a short rapier, rested in its sheath strapped to his waist.

“Welcome back, kiddo. We thought we’d have to carry you all the way before you came back.”

Hearing the man’s words, Felix briefly recalled the events in this world that brought him here.

Upon finally saving enough to purchase the Astral Helmet, Felix had been over the moon at this achievement.

However, his excitement had been short-lived. Upon being projected into this world, he soon discovered that his class ranking was the weakest, being a mere F- Rank.

Not to mention, his Class was something called a Faymancer, which according to the description meant he could summon Fairies. But due to his extremely low ranking, the probability of him actually doing so was a thousand to none, practically none existent.

Dejected upon hearing this, he also learned that it was practically impossible for a low-ranked individual to improve their attributes. This left his chances of getting sponsored by a Zenith, and becoming strong enough to access powers in his own world, far worse than the likelihood of him being able to summon a powerful Fairy.

Left with little choice, he began to wonder if all his efforts had been in vain, and if he was forever destined to live a weak, mediocre life, at the mercy of those with true power.

About to give up, he accidentally stumbled upon a group conversing about obtaining an item capable of upgrading one’s Rank, while in need of one extra member with a specific attribute type.

Realising he had a skill that matched their requirements, and a chance of upgrading his rank, even if only to E-Rank, Felix decided to take the risk. Anything was better than his current situation.

Though he was slightly skeptical about joining a group he knew nothing about, he also knew that if he didn’t take this chance, he would continue living a life dictated by the actions of others.

Scratching the back of his head, Felix awkwardly replied to the burly man.

“Sorry, Mr. Smith. I had a few things I needed to sort out back home.”

Waving off the apology, the burly man patted Felix on the back.

“I told you, there’s no need for formalities. Just call me Hans.”

An awkward smile crept onto Felix’s face at Hans’s casual behaviour, despite the obvious age gap, and he simply nodded in response.

Confirming that Felix was ready to resume their journey, Hans moved toward the centre of their group.

Picking up a magenta-coloured crystal roughly the shape of a rugby ball, embedded into the ground, Hans looked at its dimming glow, which receded by the second. His expression deepened as he did.

Turning toward the group of about fifteen people, he took a deep breath before addressing them.

“Now that the last of the Return Crystals we prepared for this trip has been used, I’m sure you’re all aware of what that means.” He paused briefly, letting them process his words. “And with that, we’ve lost our last means of returning to our world. That being said, this is your final chance to turn back.”

Seeing that none volunteered to return despite knowing the risks involved, he smiled subtly.

“Then I guess we keep going.”

With that, the group followed behind him as they continued their journey.

Glancing at the dust particles of the Return Crystal, now crumbled after expending its last bit of energy, Felix paused briefly, his mind wandering.

From his recollection, a Return Crystal was an item procured from a guild, secretly created by people from his own world as a means of traveling back home. It could only be purchased or exchanged through such guilds, which were secretly owned by people of his world.

Despite the fact that most already knew their chances of dying and never returning were high, they continued nonetheless.

Most of the people in the group were low ranks who had already lived in this world for years. They had long accepted that the chances of ever becoming strong enough to return, even with a portion of their powers, were close to none. As such, this was their last chance to upgrade their Class Rank and build a better life for themselves.

Felix was no exception. It had already been about a year or two since he first arrived in this world. He had been taking odd tasks and jobs, hoping to level up his attributes by chance, all of which had been in vain until now.

Though their group wasn’t the only one searching for the item that could upgrade their Class Rank, most others were searching for higher-tier versions.

Those had a higher probability of increasing one’s Rank to a much higher level, with a slight chance of even attaining an S+ Rank.

However, a clear downside was the competition. It was extremely high, with most competitors already being sponsored by Zeniths. This made acquiring such items exponentially more difficult than most could handle.

As such, those opportunities had nothing to do with low Ranks like them. They had to settle for a less demanding option.

Despite the lower Tier, it was no less dangerous.

Some suspected the difficulty ranged between D to C+, far beyond what most low ranks could handle. Many had already given up, deeming it not worth the risk.

However, with Hans leading the group, most felt at ease. He and the Vice-Leader were the strongest among them, with some even suspecting Hans might be D+ Rank.

Hence, they had not suggested turning back earlier.

Gazing back at the group, Felix caught up to them as they made their way toward a place that could very well determine their fate.

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