As his vision returned to him, White found out that the redness in his eyes had faded away. A moment later, he felt his head hurt immensely, causing him to throw up onto a grass patch nearby.

Hold on, why was he outside again? 

Immediately, White could take in sniffs of a distinct, grassy scent in his surroundings. The sight was familiar to him. This was [Radiant Plains], a low-leveled area.

There was no mistake, he had dived into the game? However, did he log out from this place before? 

"Ouch---"

Just as he was lost in thought, his arm was cut by a sharp blade of grass he was sitting on.

(...Wait a minute. Pain? I just felt... pain?)

There was no way the game would allow the user to experience pain. This was the first time this had happened to him in the virtual space. In addition, the surroundings felt too realistic. As if viewing an anime character from reality's interpretation, White felt a strange discrepancy with the virtual reality game he was once familiar with. Unlike the detached POV of the game like moving your character as if it were controlled by clumsy, puppet strings, White was sure that the vision he currently possessed did not disorient him. It was as if he was really seeing the sights around him through his own eyes!

(...What exactly is this...)

He decided to calm himself down and confirm something; A screen popped up before his eyes as he held up a bunch of grass.

〚 ♦ Pommel Grass ♦ Common Grade ✠ Material 〛

⤷ A patch of yellow grass.

(No... I can't calm down after all?)

Information about the grass floated up before his eyes in the form of a rectangular window. However, it was different from the item window he was used to seeing. The amount of information given was way too little!

No, that wasn't the main reason White was revealing such an astonished expression. It was the fact that he couldn't find the user interface anywhere within his vision!

The interface which was given to all users of VR, was not there! This meant that he couldn't log out! He couldn't access any of the map or status functions either!

⑆ Accessing Status Window ⑆

(Eh?)

 

(It... It appeared?!)

White's hands passed through the status window in a daze and as if it was merely just a hologram, the rectangular screen faded away on its own. The appearance, and description of the blue, translucent screen was foreign to him, that he was unable to accept it for the longest time.

(Level... 1?)

He laid face-down on a grassy field with the two suns hanging in the sky. The glaring sunlight seemed to pierce his eyes, making him grimace uncomfortably before sitting back up and closing his eyelids.

His thoughts turned cold, and slowly White began to process this information more carefully.

(But... if there's one logical explanation to why...)

(No way... right?!)

The possibility of a certain event that could happen continued to remind him of it----A wish-fulfillment chance that belonged only to him. Was it really happening to him right now?

White felt the prickly sensation brushing past his arms and then he lifted his body up slowly with a thumping heart. A wind breeze went over him, making his eyes close instinctively again. When it had passed, he began to survey the surroundings again. A familiar field covered in yellow grass common for beginners, that was Radiant Plains.

He had been in his apartment moments ago, and then an earthquake happened... followed by a blinding flash of light. The last thought in his mind was exactly it; a genuine wish to be reborn.

(After all these years, my request came in the form of a dissonant wish again.)

White recalled something in the past. Something strange like this had happened to him before, so he was quick to accept what had transpired. However, the magnitude of this 'wish' was far greater than he had ever dream of. White didn't need any further explanations, as this tale had been told countless of times before in the light novels on his shelves... or once had, shelves.

White's heartbeat became quicker and quicker, and the edges of his mouth began to curve up unconsciously. It was not easy to accept something this unbelievable. But that fear could not hide his excitement in return.

異世界, Isekai. In other words, a transmigration to another world. The young man had been summoned... to another world!

"Hehehe... hahahahaha!!!"

A rush of adrenaline pushed him back up, and he looked around like a child during Christmas. It had been a little different than he had expected, however. Not a single goddess had called him, nor did he receive any abilities that would qualify as a self-sufficient protagonist.

Even then, while the process of transfer into another world did not appear as grandiose as the novels White had read, he was simply satisfied that he had reached this stage in his life.

The young man was fulfilled.

"...I'm really not dreaming, aren't I..."

White chuckled as he rubbed the blood off the cut on his arm. He then clenched his fingers one by one, and released them again. As he 'calibrated' his own body, White could feel a new breath of life. A refreshing sensation of his fingers was felt; moving his limbs felt far less inhibitive than when he was all skin and bones. He had surely become a little more agile.

So this was the feeling of inhabiting the body of a 'player'. Even at Level 1, he couldn't help but feel admiration towards his 'new life'. Just then, his eyes squinted as he felt a glare against them, causing him to shield his eyes from the piercing light.

(...Wait, a glare?)

Thinking it was a mirror, the young man steadily walked towards it. He had not even considered the fact that it would be strange to find a mirror in the middle of a grassy field. But because White was still shocked from the fact that he had been transmigrated, such a slip-up in common sense was easily overrun by his excitement.

It turned out that the source of the glare was not a mirror after all, but a crystal formed tree. The colors of rainbow sparkled under the sun like a diamond. While there were quite a few rough edges, there were still some spots where it was simply a smooth reflective surface.

It served its purpose as a mirror, and White took the opportunity to see how he looked like now. 

Had he possessed a new body, or did he keep his old one?

After removing his mask, White gasped. He couldn't believe it.

"This is... me..."

White's appearance didn't seem to change much, but his face had turned just a little sharper and cleaner overall, the stature of a rather attractive young man before he fell into depravity. Indeed, White had the genes of a foreigner and an asian after all, the blend made his face appear quite exotic.

He felt nostalgic about how he looked now. There were no longer bags under his weary eyes, nor wrinkled skin from his lack of nourishment.

White was also dressed in the clothes he wore before he got transmigrated here. A black shirt and midnight jeans, a simple get-up which didn't seem to have changed much. If anything, his chest felt a little firmer and less baggy as if it had fit his body exactly now. Was this because the minimal chest muscles had returned to him in this new state now?

Honestly, he didn't care. The young man was simply happy he had gotten rid of anything that signified his ugly past.

He didn't want to be reminded of his previous self every time he looked in a mirror after all.

Speaking of which, this tree didn't appear in the game either.

(...Well... That's not important.)

After taking a longer look at himself with satisfaction, White crept over close to the entrance of a forest for shade. He quickly leaned himself against a big oak tree and narrowed his eyes wistfully. As White watched the empty grasslands in the distance while sitting down, he also thought about what to do from now on.

 

---

 

Because his character had inevitably returned to Level 1, White was filling in bits and pieces of information gathered on his own. In any case, he had surely been transported to another world molded just like the game.

Of course, that didn't mean that he should stop there. White had to think of his future plans from now on. He had a second chance in a fulfilling life after discarding his past, but he needed to think of a reasonable way to live from now on. That was how most of the protagonists thought of doing in the novels he had read, that was to live a 'peaceful and quiet life'. He may have become a coward, but he was also a gamer. He had played scary games before. In his mind, this was just another one of them. 

How would a common citizen see this world filled with magic and monsters? How were things different here from Earth? White was already looking forward to the life in the future.

But that was only in the future. For now, he had to think of immediate plans to survival and to get in touch with civilization. He had been relocated to Radiant Plains, where no one was around. Thus he should make it a priority to leave this place as soon as possible.

Without a map function, White had to rely on his memory of the game, and the closest route to someplace he could possibly stay at.

 

---

 

This game world was molded from the game, but that didn't mean that there were no differences between the two.

White had first learnt of this fact from the clothes he was wearing. Since he was still in possession of a convenient, all-appraisal ability to view "Item Windows", the first thing he did was to look at everything he had on him.

〚 ♦ Isekai Clothes A/B/C/D ♦ Isekai Grade ✠ Equipment - Set 〛

His clothes were jokingly labelled as something called the [Isekai clothes]. And after taking a look at their stats, White couldn't help but feel dismayed. 

〚 Isekai Grade equipment do not possess stats.〛

Looks like there were no way for him to 'cheat'. The system that was prevalent in this world seemed to be knowledgeable about otherworlders and took preventive measures (possibly) so that one had to start from zero honestly.

In the game, a player could equip up to a total of 6 armor and 6 accessory equipment excluding a total of 10 rings.

Armor equipment is categorized into Cap ✥ Top ✥ Bottom ✥ Overall ✥ Gloves ✥ Shoes ✥ Cape 

Accessories are divided into Ear ✥ Eye ✥ Face ✥ Necklace ✥ Belt ✥ Shoulder ✥ Ring

But it was strange how his clothes were still considered as equipment, even though they had no real use at all. He could only assume that the things brought from his original world were properly acknowledged as items. In which case...

Fumbling around his pockets, White found his apartment keycard and four pieces of rock candy.

〚 ♦ White's Keycard ♦ Isekai Grade ✠ Miscellaneous〛

〚 ♦ Grape-Flavored Candy ♦ Isekai Grade ✠ Consumable〛

...Turns out that he didn't seem to have brought much at all. 

(Hold on... this too.)

White took off the masquerade mask and inspected it. 

〚 ♦ Metronome Facade ♦ Isekai Grade ✠ Equipment - Eye Accessory 〛

There was nothing special about it aside from the name given by the system, but he felt that the mask would make him feel less unnerved when meeting with people in the future. It was a way for him to cover his eyes, something that brought him much social anxiety. After all, he had been hidden in his apartment for so long. Hopefully with time, this inhibiting condition of his would slowly get better.

Perhaps someone might point it out that it was strange for him to talk to people with a mask on his face, however to White, his current appearance was the normal one to him. He thought that people would understand if they knew what he had gone through in the past, but surely... he would stand out in a bad way.

(It's gone after all, I shouldn't worry too much. Well, let's... practice on getting this off for now.)

After taking a final comprehensive look at the windows of various equipment he had opened, White placed the mask back on his face and stood back up.