Jack needed to orientate himself.

Everything felt weird. He didn’t know where he was nor did he know what was going on.

“Could you leave? I need time to think,” Jack asked Octavia.

She was perplexed by the request.

“Very well, my lord, if that is what you seek then I’ll obey,” she said and put on her robes and left his bed chambers.”

Jack teleported outside to see where he was using [Gate].

He found himself in front of the Demon Palace. But the area surrounding the palace was not from the game.

Jack had built the Demon Palace on a steep hill to get bonus defensive points to make raids and sieges more difficult for his enemies.

Now the Demon Palace was on a flat green plain. Expansive grassland extended as far as the eye could see.

This was the last place he would build his capital building. His surrounding villages were also not around. And no walls surrounded the palace, making it more vulnerable.

“[Map]!”

A screen showed up in front of him. The map he knew before was gone.

The map now only showed where the palace was located. But the rest of the map was covered in fog.

This seemed to confirm that he was not in the VRMMORPG game Kings, Magic and Wars’.

So where was he?

“My lord, we seem to have a problem,” a deep British-sounding voice that resembled a movie villains approached him from behind.

Jack removed the [Map] screen and looked to see who it was.

It was General Leofric. He was an NPC palace staff responsible for guarding the palace when Jack wasn’t around. But he didn’t sound the same as he remembered from the game.

“Leofric?” Jack asked.

“My lord, I believe we got transported to a new world. I don’t know how or why but I’ve already sent out [Scouts] to investigate the surrounding area.”

“Has your voice changed?” Jack asked.

“Pardon, Lord Zodark?”

“Your voice.”

“My voice has always been like this,” General Leofric responded frankly to Jack.

Then something clicked.

Jack went to Leofric’s [Character Description].

Leofric was [Beastman], a humanoid creature that had a face of a lion but was bipedal like a normal human. The General had an imposing stature, his arms were ripped and had fur, his eyes could pierce into any mortal’s soul and his voice was intimidating.

For roleplay purposes, Jack wrote many notes about Leofric that didn’t translate into the actual game. For example, Leofric is written to sound ‘British-like’ but NPCs who are beastman had only 4 voice types to choose from the game ‘Kings, Magic and War’. None of them sounded British so Jack was forced to pick a beastly deep voice instead.

In this world, however, the System might have taken into account the character description that he made for Leofric. Interesting.

“My lord, is something the matter? You seem lost in thought,” General Leofric asked with concern.

Jack wasn’t used to hearing Leofric’s new voice. But he shook the thought off him. He had more pressing concerns.

“I’m fine. Where is Lady Isoldea? We need to have an emergency meeting to discuss our sudden predicament.”

Leofric nodded.

“Uhm… my lord?” Leofric looked away from Jack with embarrassment

“Yes?”

“Are you going to the meeting looking like… like you do now?”

Jack stared down.

He had only briefs on. He forgot to put clothes on.

Then again, NPCs don’t comment on what Player Characters wear. Only other players do that.

Jack laughed awkwardly, “I’ll change immediately.”

So Jack went into his [Inventory] and put on robes befitting his character’s status.

Jack and Leofric then hurried to Lady Isoldea’s office. They entered the Demon Palace from the main entrance at the front of the building.

Jack was shocked when he saw the inside of the palace.

It looked far more alive than he remembered in the game.

He saw servants walking around the hallway, smiling and talking to each other whilst going on with their tasks. Some carried silver trays. Others were carrying cleaning utensils.

When Jack and Leofric walked past them, the servants would stop whatever they were doing and bow before Jack.

This was a level of detail he never saw in the game.

Guards patrolled the hallway and made sure to salute the two when they walked past.

The air had a hint of incense. The doors smelled of polished wood. As they passed the canteen area for palace staff, the smell of a delicious meal made Jack’s stomach grumble.

He was definitely not inside a game. At the same time, he knew this wasn’t real life since screens don’t open up out of thin air in reality.

“We’re here,” Leofric announced.

This snapped Jack away from his thoughts again.

“Let’s enter.”