I stood at the very front of a massive crowd of people. As if this was some kind of military drill, everyone appeared to be paced evenly across a vast, open plaza.

But there was another group of people that didn’t abide by a single set of rules that everyone else appeared to follow.

Their shouts broke the otherwise pristine silence of the clearing. While everyone else stood their ground with grave looks on their faces, those people walked around the area as if they owned the place.

But the biggest difference that set those two types of people apart was their looks.

I couldn’t tell what I was dressed up with as I didn’t dare to move a muscle. Only by moving my eyeballs around did I realize that the people undergoing the same ordeal as me… Were wearing rags at best.

The drillers, as I quickly came to call them, were on the opposite end of the clothing spectrum. Donning exquisite robes, they didn’t seem to mind the heat of the day.

Right, the heat. Only once my initial shock passed did I realize how hot it was. I was in this world for a few minutes at most, yet fat beads of sweat already trickled down my forehead.

‘Heck, what the hell am I even doing?’ I scolded myself in my thoughts. While the experience was still pretty surreal, I had no other choice but to start thinking.

‘I think you will manage.’

Those were the words of that strange, light-made being that summoned me to this world. In other words, it had trust in my abilities. It believed I was well equipped to settle in this world.

That’s why, without even a second of hesitation, I focused on what I could do best.

I started thinking.

Tic.

I felt something at the very edge of my perception. It was like the sound of a fly’s wings. Not noticeable when one was focused on something else and extremely annoying once noticed.

‘Is this some sort of trial?’ I thought, forcing my mind back on the track.

I was sent to another world. That alone bore a hint that all the other cliches of situations like that would apply.

‘System start!’ I shouted in my mind while taking care not to let this reflect on my face.

‘Boot up!’ I made another attempt. ‘Status on!’ I continued shouting all kinds of random words that could somehow awaken my blessing.

After all, that light-made being mentioned, it would use all its power to help me out. Surely, that didn’t mean just letting my consciousness survive the transmigration alone, right?

I couldn’t tell how much time passed when I finally gave up on my attempts. Not completely, obviously. Years of coding and fixing RPG systems of my creation taught me patience, if not anything else.

I simply noticed something that would not be possible back on earth. The already hot day turned into a total blaze. The sun continued to climb higher and higher in the sky. With nothing to shield me or anyone else in the crowd from its relentless rays, it was only a matter of time before the first cases of heatstroke would appear.

What’s more, the temperature growth didn’t seem normal either. I could accept that another world would have higher tolerable degrees of heat, but it was rising way too fast for it to make any physical sense!

‘Wait, I cannot think like that,’ I thought, forcibly pushing this disbelief aside. ‘This is another world, god damn it! Who said the physics of it will work the same way?’

Thump.

A dull sound announced that someone had failed to withstand the heat.

Contrary to their earlier attitude, the drillers didn’t shout. They simply approached the body, and judging from the sounds, dragged the poor fellow away.

‘Fuck, I cannot get distra…’

Tic.

I barely managed to avoid snapping at this feeling. Just as I hoped to regain my focus, it threw my thoughts into disarray.

‘I need to focus,’ I told myself, forcing my agitation down. Whatever this feeling was, it could either serve as training to my mental resilience or a pitfall that would bring the attention of drillers to me.

Tic.

This time, I didn’t allow this annoying feeling to take the better of me. The instance it passed, my thoughts returned to what I considered my most important task.

‘Powers, manifest!’

‘Heritage, come forth!’

‘God’s bloodline!’

‘Summon the God’s bloodline!’

The more I tried, the harder it became to come up with new words. Was I doing something wrong? Or maybe the call necessary to awaken my powers had to be even more complex?

Or maybe, I was simply trying too hard?

Thinking about this, working hard was the one thing I could always take pride in. Not that I liked it, but the need to take care of my sister gave me the impetus to push through the boredom and hardships alike.

So maybe actually going for simplicity was the key? That being from before told me to trust in my bloodline after all…

‘Bloodline!’ I shouted internally.

Tic.

‘System!’

Suddenly, my vision changed.

I could still see the world in front of me. The open plain just ahead and a magnificent chain of mountains far off in the distance were still visible. But now, three semi-transparent windows suddenly emerged.

Thump.

Another person fell. Distracted by the sound, I allowed the windows to disappear before I could actually read through their rich content.

‘Tsk,’ I clicked my tongue only to put my straight face right back on. The little sound I made instantly attracted the sight of the nearby driller.

Thankfully, after looking at me for a moment, his eyes moved over. I was safe for now.

‘System,’ I called again, this time not allowing the appearance of the windows to startle me.

Tic.

Thump.

Ignoring the background noises of the world, I focused on the window’s content.

From the left, a window marked as ‘Body Status’ appeared.

BODY STATUS

***

– Name: Arthur (Fian) Pendragon

– Age: 17

– Status: Exhausted

– Hidden Status: Mentally exhausted

– Body Status: Mortal

– Hidden Body Status: Apostle

***

‘So I’m Arthur now?’ I thought, barely stopping myself from clicking my tongue again. Fian was my surname back on earth, one that allegedly came from some kind of ancient nobility.

Not like I cared much about that. Actually, it was the second surname, the one gifted to me by my current world, that drew my attention.

‘Pendragon?’ I thought, feeling how a massive part of my mental strength evaporated. ‘Are you for real? What am I now, some kind of hero from the founding legends?’

I didn’t linger on this information for long. The first rule of programming or creating RPG games was simple. I actually learned it all the way back in the math class of my primary school. And it was to always take stock of the entire picture first.

Moving my eyes over to the second window, located right in the middle of my view, I read through its content.

PROGRESS STATUS WINDOW

***

– Body status: Mortal

– Growth status: Body Purification

– Body status modifier:

– Endurance:7/100

– Willpower:10/100

Body Purification:0/300

{

– Skin Purification:0/100

– Flesh purification:0/100

– Bone purification:0/100

– Innards purification:0/100

– Core purification:0/100

}

***

Finally, I could feel the tingle of excitement. I didn’t need to understand what ‘Innards Purification’ actually meant. The fact that it was portrayed with an actual progress counter meant that I would sooner or later figure it out.

But more importantly, I could actually track my progress now!

Whatever that progress would turn out to be.

‘I guess I will have to move over from mental exercise to the physical one, huh?’ I thought. That was the one thing I managed to make out of the entire thing.

But I didn’t linger on this window either. I moved my eyes over to the next panel, one stuck to the right side of my vision.

Tic.

Objective status window:

***

–

***

It was empty. As empty as a window one could find in a building, not in a game. But this lack of information inside the window itself didn’t mean it was useless.

Because the name of that window itself taught me quite a lot.

‘So I should expect some missions to come my way.’ I made a mental note of the fact before distancing my consciousness and taking a look at all the windows at once.

Tic.

This time, this annoying feeling was followed by a series of thumps. I failed to count how many times did I hear someone fall to the ground. Yet, as I thought about it, I realized that the heat…

No, it could no longer be called a heat. The temperature made me feel like some kind of massive weight pulled my entire body down. As if the gravity itself increased under the influence of the scorching sound.

But I couldn’t care any less about it, as I noticed something of immense importance.

Tic.

The number within the middle window of my status jumped up by one.

Now, I finally learned what this annoying ticking was all about!

Over the last three tics, my endurance jumped from seven to ten!

What it meant, though, I had yet to discover.

*******

[FULL STATUS]

BODY STATUS WINDOW

***

– Name: Arthur (Fian) Pendragon

– Age: 17

– Status: tired

– Hidden Status: Shocked

– Body Status: Mortal

– Hidden Body Status: Apostle

***

PROGRESS STATUS WINDOW

***

– Body status: Mortal

– Growth status: Body Purification

– Body status modifier:

– Endurance:10/100

– Willpower:10/100

Body Purification:0/300

{

– Skin Purification:0/100

– Flesh purification:0/100

– Bone purification:0/100

– Innards purification:0/100

– Core purification:0/100

}

***

Objective status window:

***

–

***