No telling how long it took before Arthur tried to open his eyes. The bright light blinded him, causing him to squint.

But he immediately felt a pain in his neck, something was choking him. Arthur found it hard to breathe and his face turned red. He instinctively reached for his throat and felt something that looked like a rope around his neck.

There was no way to tear it off. The oxygen was gradually running out. To make matters worse, his feet were dangling freely in the air, there was no ground beneath them.

Arthur pulled himself together; there was no time to panic. He had to assess the situation. He looked up and noticed that the rope was tied to a tree. With the last of his strength, he began to swing in the air from side to side. Time ticked by in seconds.

Bang.

Luckily, the rope was old and couldn't take the weight.

Arthur collapsed to the ground and coughed. His neck burned with pain.

After catching his breath, Arthur looked around. The classroom he had been in a few minutes ago had been replaced by the scenery of an unknown forest. Instead of the annoying voices of his classmates, there was now the rustling of leaves and the crackling of crickets.

"Where the hell am I?"

Arthur shifted his gaze to the nearest tree. It was the same one he had just fallen from. Half of the torn rope was still dangling in the wind. Underneath lay a black man's bag, stuffed to the brim.

Now, however, it was the strange iron object that caught Arthur's attention the most. It looked as if it had been hammered into the wood. A small piece of paper was sticking out from under it.

Unknowingly Arthur had the idea that perhaps on this note, he would find his answers. What was his disappointment when he tore off the iron object and read it.

'Everything is a lie. The whole world is a lie.'

Only these words were written in a sloppy handwriting on the paper.

"What the hell? I have no idea where I am. And all I got were the words, 'The whole world is a lie.' That's just great."

Arthur felt dizzy, no strength left in his legs. He almost collapsed on the spot. He sat down, leaning his back against a tree. He needed to clear his thoughts.

After resting for a few minutes, Arthur turned his attention to an unknown object in his hand, under which was a note. At first, he thought it was just a strange piece of metal. But now, after twisting it and looking closer, he realized that it was something more.

It was small and fit in the palm of his hand. It was a ball of iron, from which four sharp claws protruded. At the top of the ball was what Arthur described as an "eye", which looked like a normal video camera.

"Hmm...Looks like a four-legged spider. And what is that? A drone?"

But no matter how much he tried to find the activation button or anything like it, he never succeeded. He sighed in frustration.

"Huh? What's wrong with my hands? Why are they so thin and small?"

Now his hands suddenly caught his eye. Arthur jumped to his feet, forgetting his fatigue. He had a bad feeling.

He began to examine his body. He almost screamed in shock.

"It isn't my body. I'm obviously shorter. It's weak, with almost no muscle. And why was I so thin?"

The only thing that looked the same was the color of my hair. But even then, it was long and shaggy, unlike Arthur's well-tailored short hair.

"Calm down, Arthur. Breathe. What's the last thing you remember? I was in class, and then I got hit and fell down. I woke up hanging from a tree. More than that, not in my body. So the million-dollar question is, what does all this mean?"

Arthur began to walk in circles, holding his arms around his neck. He spoke his thoughts out loud, it made it easier for him to concentrate.

"Huh...it's like the novels, isn't it? I moved into someone else's body? I'm wearing some kind of fantastic gray armor now, and a few seconds ago I was holding a weird robot spider in my hand. I bet I'm in another world."

Arthur laughed at the ridiculous idea. He laughed so hard for so long that his stomach began to hurt. But toward the end, the realization that this was no joke at all came over him painfully.

"Okay...so many questions. We should start with the easiest ones. If I'm in another world and I'm in someone else's body, shouldn't I usually get some sort of system or the memories of the previous owner. Hey...almighty god, if you can hear me, I'm waiting! - Arthur shouted. he put his hands on his waist and looked up at the sky with the challenge."

A second passed. Another one. Nothing happened.

"Well, of course...what was I counting on. I couldn't have been that lucky."

[System activated! Welcome, Host!]

Suddenly a cold unemotional voice sounded.

Arthur froze; he just couldn't move a muscle. It took a few moments before he was finally able to pull himself together and regain his composure.

Rubbing his eyes, Arthur was even more confused, a large virtual screen appeared before his eyes.

[Status.]

Name: Arno Mann

Overall Rank: G-

Experience: 0/870

Mana Core: -

Bloodline Grade: -

Strength: 1.2

Agility: 1.1

Stamina: 0.8

Perception: 1.7

Luck: 0.5

Charisma: 0.1

Skills:

[Manipulation of Mana]: Advanced.

Note: There is no mana in your body. However, your level of control of external mana has reached a high level.

"Okay... this must be legendary status. Only why aren't my stats legendary at all? I wonder what the averages are in this world?" - Arthur asked aimlessly, not expecting an answer.

[The stats of an ordinary person are at the level of 2.5. A standard G-class hunter is more than 5.]

"Wow...seriously? Well, that explains a lot. I really feel like a ton was dropped on top of me."

The blond guy started swinging his arms and legs vigorously from side to side. Each movement was difficult. He checked his status one more time.

'Who could possibly have such a low status? Has he spent half his life in a coma and had all his body parts atrophied?'

Arthur said [Status] and the screen reappeared before his eyes.

"M...that's not my name. Arno Mann?...hmmm. I've heard it somewhere before. Where? ... Isn't that the name I saw yesterday in a novel I was reading?"

Arthur sighed bitterly.

"Is it karma? Was I so bad in a past life that I got this exact body for all my sins? I wasn't a saint, of course, but I didn't kill or rob anyone. Then why?" - Arthur shouted with hatred and kicked the wood with his foot. He grabbed for it immediately, even that blow hurt him.

After hopping on one leg for a while, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

"If I understand correctly what happened here, Arno hanged himself. And the paper I found is a strange suicide note. But in the novel, he's definitely alive. How is that possible?"

[Ding! The first mission is received!]

Description: In the original story, Arno Mann survived. His sister Elia found a second farewell note left at home. Using her powers, she went back in time and prevented his death.

Task: Find the note at home and prevent Elia or Sophia from seeing it.

Reward: 350 experience

2 attribute points.

Penalty: If you fail, time will be rewound and your consciousness will disappear.

Time remaining: 2h 37 minutes.

Arthur blinked a couple of times. He couldn't quite comprehend what was written here.

"Um... what do you mean my consciousness will disappear?  Will I go back to Earth?"

[No. The host's consciousness has already been transferred to the world of Eridanus. Return is impossible. Therefore, failure means death.]

"That's just great.  How lucky his sister is to have this divine bloodline."

The world of Eridanus described in the book was inhabited by 2 different kinds of people.

The first species, the "original" inhabitants or, in another way, simply "natives" were called Eridanus. These people were physically strong but weak in magic.

Since Eridan had no mana of their own, the people of this world were born without a mana core and could not make magic themselves.

To replace their own mana, they mostly used mana stones. Arno's advanced level [Manipulation of Mana] meant that he could control the mana released from these stones well.

The mana stones were represented by 4 elements: fire, water, wind, and earth.  And two advanced ones: light and darkness.

However, the Eridanians found their own way to obtain the mana core. To do so, they hunted demons, took their kernels from them, and implanted them in themselves. Depending on the level of the demon's core, their subsequent developmental potential depended on it.

The second kind of human was the Arboreans.  They were aliens who came from another world.  In fact, they were not invaders of any kind, but rather simple refugees.  Their world had been destroyed about a hundred years ago by countless hordes of demons.

Unlike the Eridanians, the Arboreans lived in a mana-saturated world, and so were born already with a mana core. They were skilled in magic and possessed various bloodlines.

Over the centuries of the development of magic, a certain division emerged depending on the difference in the resources used. The richer and more powerful families had better bloodlines.

They were divided into bronze, silver, gold, and divine

The last bloodline was the most unique and powerful.  It manifested only in those whose ancestor was one of the many gods.

The mother of Erik, Arno, and Elia was an Arborian. And the father was a common Eridan.

Though they were of mixed blood, Elia and Erik possessed powerful divine bloodlines.

So Sister Arno's bloodline abilities had to do with manipulating time.  She could speed it up or slow it down, or even go back in time.

That's why there was such a strange task in the mission. If Arthur didn't make it in time, Elia would simply go back in time before he got to this world. And obviously, that would be the end of him.