Chapter 1 • Alpha

"What the hell?"

I came back to my dormitory just to see a pitch black void devoid of any signs of life. Instead of my bland boring dormitory which was also devoid of any signs of decorations.

I don't really think that someone could be pranking me since this would probably take ages to create.

Based on my definitely trustable knowledge in illusion magic, it would take a considerable amount of mana to engulf my room to pitch darkness.

Dormitories are organised based on the overall talent of an individual students. For example, a genius's dormitory would, of course, be surrounded by other geniuses.

So that means, I'm surrounded by a bunch of normal boring idiots. Yes, I admit I'm a normal ass boring bastard.

Anyways, that would mean there's absolutely no way anyone from my dormitory would be able to prank me this hard.

I don't think anyone higher rank than me would have a grudge against a random normal dude like me. I got nothing to offer, man..

"Sigh.."

Well, I'm just going to report this sad scenario to the dormitory staff. It'll be a miracle if they even respond though..

I was about to walk back outside to report the situation when I heard a chilling voice out of nowhere.

"Greetings.."

The voice sounded really coarse and distorted. It honestly had me shivering. Even my balls.

I really don't like the situation I'm in right now. The poltergeist-like voice, combined with the eerie atmosphere of the void. It just feels and looks creepy no matter how much I see it.

"Nope, I'm out."

I tried to walk out the door since I had left it open out of the shock of seeing my dorm like this. However, the door was nowhere to be seen anymore.

It appears that the door has also been engulfed the pitch darkness. Even so, I should be standing right in front of the door anyways. It wouldn't be a problem. The only thing left to do is to simply find the doorknob.

"Ugh.."

Turns out I was wrong.

I kept trying to find the doorknob by touching everything in my line of sight. However, I couldn't find anything besides a flat wall.

If my memory serves me right, I don't believe that my door is that flat. It at least has some kind of design.

Well, I guess I could just use the trial and error method. The only thing stopping me is my laziness.

I tried searching the entire perimeter of my room by touching the walls. Because of that, I found that even my bunk bed was gone. I had clearly remembered that my bunk bed was right next to the wall.

I was about to continue searching for my door handle when the eerie voice suddenly spoken again. This time, I felt like it came straight from a tormented soul.

"Human.."

"Holy shit."

Damn, if this really is a prank, this surely has got to be the most dedicated prank of all time. I can't even imagine how much preparation this would take.

If this is a prank, they achieved their objective. Cause, I'm on the verge of pissing my pants.

For now, I gotta keep searching for the doorknob since I don't want to live in pitch darkne-

"Why are you still searching for the doorknob?"

Now, this has got to be a prank. There's no way a ghost would suddenly speak casually.

I've made up my mind. It's time to get serious and search for the doorknob. I don't care if it takes days or years to find it. I'll find this doorknob in total spite of this prankster.

"Bro. Your doorknob no longer exists. Since I feel bad of seeing you uselessly searching, I'll just show what I did."

Suddenly, I felt my whole body becoming weightless in an instant. I was falling.

What is this shit?! Only the people of Elite Class can create this type of situation. This has got to be either the highest level of manipulation magic or some cracked unknown ability.

Since I was falling, my first instinct was to try and slow down. Obviously, there was no way I could do that.

Therefore, my second instinct was to get a sign of direction. I knew that I was right next to the wall.

So, I immediately went and touched the walls so that I knew where I was. The size of my room was easy to memorise anyways.

What kind of sorcery is this anyways?

"If you're wondering what I did, I made the floor disappear. And also everything below that floor."

The eerie voice explained. I still had no idea where the voice was coming from. It felt like the voice came from every direction possible.

"Hey. You know what?"

I didn't know what the voice was about to say. However, I knew that things were about to get more complicated.

"I'll just make everything here disappear. Besides you, of course."

All of a sudden, the wall had also disappeared just like the floor below me. The walls were the only thing that gave me a sense of direction. Therefore, I was now completely in the dark.

The motion of falling and the pitch darkness.

"Hey, kid. I feel bad so I'll just put some lights here."

Tiny orbs of light surrounded me in a ring like form that somewhat resembled a sphere. Thanks to that, I could at least see my own body now.

"Hey! Whoever you are, stop messing with me! Alright?!"

I shouted. I was starting to get tired of the prank. Obviously, I just wanted to enter my room and sleep in peace. Of course, I can't do that since there's a particular individual blocking me from that dream.

"Hoh.. Lesser Mortal. You dare challenge my authority?!"

The tone of the voice changed from being an eerie ghost to a stereotypical elder god. You know, the one with a bushy beard whilst wearing ancient robes?

Anyways, the fact that this was likely not a ghost kinda eased the situation. However, there was now an extremely slim chance that this was indeed a god.

"Would you stop?"

Even so, I think this is still an incredibly well executed prank.

"No. This isn't a prank. This is for real."

The voice said in a purely serious manner. I could tell that there was no slight hesitation or lies in his words.

"What do you mean by that- Wait. I never said a word that this was a prank."

At that point, I felt a sudden chill throughout the entirety of my body. I never said that this was a prank to the voice.

Did it just read my mind?

Could it be that this prankster is an actual god?

***

I was completely confused. I had no idea how this prankster could've read my mind. I'm quite obsessed when it comes to abilities and magic but I've never heard of anything like mind reading before.

If it's not mind reading, I still have no clue how this prankster managed to figure out exactly what I was thinking.

Well, there is a slim chance that this might be a god. Hence, I'll probably have to keep this guy busy. If it's just a prankster, he'll slowly expose his secrets eventually.

"If this isn't a prank, then why are you even here besides messing with me?"

I said. It's a simple logical question. I don't see how this dude would answer this without saying "I don't know." or straight up ignoring me.

"I am here because I am."

What? I can tell that this dude immediately answered my question with no hesitation at all. Even without shame too.

However, it seemed that his professional attitude was slowly diminishing which was quite a good sign.

"What? Answer the question, drug addict."

I really wasn't mad at this dude. Simply disappointed. I figured that I would try to provoke this dude by calling him a drug addict.

Although he seemed "professional", his voice had already returned to the original eerie tone. However, since this dude gave me some lights, the atmosphere didn't feel as eerie anymore.

Because of that, it just seemed coarse and rough as if he had swallowed a shit ton of crystal addictives. I'm not going elaborate on those crystals since it's just plain boring.

"Drug addict..? Now that I think of it, I do sound like a drug addict, huh.."

Bingo! It seems that my provocation had somewhat worked. The result wasn't exactly like what I had imagined but more or less, it succeeded. He took the bait.

Because of the fact that this man didn't answer my question and only focused on my provocation, I knew immediately that this wasn't a god. Rather, a really dedicated prankster which had accidentally exposed themselves.

Logically, I don't think literal gods would be concerned about their voice. Hell, I don't even believe that gods know drug addicts exist or not. All of them either simply stays silent or hangs out in their dedicated temples and answer random prayers all day.

"Well, is this better now?"

The prankster said. This time, something had changed.

Earlier, his voice seemed like a nearly overdosed drug addict at some random shady alley.

But now, it now seemed less coarse and rather soothing. If I had to describe what it felt like, I got to say that it seems like a rehabilitated drug addict that became a yoga teacher.

"Is it better? I don't know. You sound like a yoga teacher now."

"What?! Yoga teacher? Aren't I speaking normally?"

I really want to laugh in this prankster's face right now. Of course, he's speaking normally. However, the way he speaks is a bit soothing though.

I want to laugh but I also don't want to lose my ring of lights around me. Also, what happened to the mind reading before? I guess this prankster just guessed that I would think that way.

"Of course you're talking normally. It's just that the way you talk is like a yoga teacher."

"Sigh.. Turns out I'm really not cut out for pranks after all."

He said it! Finally!

I was 100 precent correct. I just knew that this man was a prankster. The fact that he only took notice of my provocation, that was already a fatal mistake. I don't have to worry whether this is a god or not since I got confirmation now.

"Let's just get down to business."

"What business? You've already finished your prank. Now if you don't want to get reported, please politely fix my room. Alright?"

What kind of business is that guy talking about now huh? Just get out and fix my room, will you? I'm seriously getting sick of him stalling for more time. I don't care if it's a last trick up the sleeve. Just get out.

"Bro. How will you report me though? I could just leave you here to starve to death."

Even though I hate to admit it, he's right. He could just leave me here to die. Conveniently, the staff in this particular section of the dormitory is really irresponsible and unresponsive.

So, it's doesn't really matter if I get to report this incident. They'll probably just say "What? You got pranked this hard? Just get over it." This probably means I'm going to die from starvation after all.

"Don't worry though. My original goal wasn't to prank you nor kill you anyways. You just gotta believe what I say, alright?"

"..Okay."

It's not like I can do anything meanwhile. I just want to sleep. However, I can't really adjust to his current surroundings since I'm still falling. So, I'll just have to listen what this prankster has to say.

"You might not believe me on this but.. I'm the creator of this world. More precisely, I'm the author of the novel you're currently living in."

"What?"

What did he just say? The author of the novel I'm living in? This is the man that pranked me?

I was shocked. Out of the possible outcomes, I did not expect this in a million years. Just why?

Why would this dude, that had just pranked some poor random dude, embarrass himself by saying something so ridiculous? Author? I think this dude has some identity issues here.

What an edgelord.

"I can tell that you absolutely don't believe me by the look on your face which is fine, I guess."

"Of course I don't believe you. Are you trying to gain some followers for your stupid belief or something?"

I mean, I assume that he's trying to start a religion for money or something.

Nowadays, there's at least a several hundreds of religions or cults in the empire. It's not like all of the religions I said have been around for centuries.

Most of these religions are makeshift ones that tend to only exist for money and fame. There was this stupid idiot of a emperor. He was so stupid that it is allowed and even obliged to mock the bastard.

Anyways, that certain emperor created a law that basically encouraged religious freedom and a bit monthly funding for the religion's founders.

Because of that, people just took advantage of this and made tons of religions which ended up making them slightly more richer.

I also have no idea why the Imperial family never bothered to remove the dumb law and why other people tend to follow some random religion that popped up out of nowhere.

The most successful religion that had been created due to the law was quite ironic. There was some random dude that did their everyday things and a group of scholars kept following this dude like stalkers.

They were convinced that his normal life was the pinnacle of humanity and that his life was the true way to live our lives. Henceforth, those group of stalkers founded a religion based on that random dude.

The religion was named Normalism which is such a creative name. I have no clue why this religion had gotten a tens of thousands of followers.

Anyways, I assume that this is what this prankster is doing. I really pity him. Is his family in a financial crisis right now?

"Sigh.. No, I'm not trying to get some money through religious means. I'm serious here."

"Really? So, your only goal here is to embarrass yourself here? Man, if you feel sorry, just apologize. Don't embarrass yourself because I'm going to feel pitiful."

If it's not a religious money grab, then it must be that he feels bad about the prank he pulled on me. It has to be since there's no way he's this delusional, right?

"Look. I'm not here to do that. I'm the author of this world and you have to believe me here."

"What? You're actually serious about this?"

"Of course! That's what I was trying to say all along!"

No way. I assumed that he felt bad about the prank. However, I didn't consider the chances that this man was actually delusional as hell! Damn, what have I come across?

"You just gotta believe me with this, alright? I'm just trying to help you av-"

"Help me? What kind of help is this supposed to be? You're just delusional as hell and you know it."

I cut the prankster off. I didn't even want to hear any of his words anymore, knowing that it would all just be random delusional bullshit.

"Man. I knew people won't believe me for this but I didn't expect to get this harsh treatment."

"What else would you expect, idiot? You seriously thought that someone, that just got pranked, would actually take the time to consider believing your delusion?"

I couldn't believe this. Why was he trying so god damn hard to spread his untrue beliefs to some random person? Just why?

This dude was seriously pissing me off every minute that passed by.

"Ugh!! Listen here. Three months from now, a huge gate from the eternal sand dunes will engulf the academy into chaos and all these monsters will massacre a bunch of p-

"Bla bla bla, again. I ain't believing all this fearmongering stuff you just unleashed to me."

"Stop cutting me off!"

"You could've prevented all this stuff from happening if you just had the right mind to fix all of the mess you've done and silently piss off."

Why must God, whoever or whatever created this peculiar situation, give me such a challenging ordeal? This wasn't damaging my physical state. However, I wouldn't be surprised if I needed stress therapy after all this shit.

"Sigh.. Yeah... You're right... I give up."

The prankster said in a really pathetic state.

I was trying my absolute best not to instantly burst into laughter after I heard the pathetic words that the supposed delusional "author" said.

I bet he was crying enough tears to fill the entire ocean because of his failure in spreading his crappy cult. If he even has one.

"Well. Good luck surviving the chaos three months from now. I tried to help you but it seems that reality is cruel after all."

There he goes, babbling random shit again and amazingly, still stalling for time... I can't believe this idiot.

"Yeah yeah yeah, now get the out of here and fix the mess you've made."

"Ah, sorry. I'll try to convince someone else to believe me. I don't care how long it takes."

What? This delusional guy is trying to recruit more people into his cult? How I pity him.

"Alright. So when are you going?"

"Right now. I'll be watching you closely. If I was in your shoes, I would do the same honestly. Call me if you need help or anything."

"Ok."

I said while lifting up a middle finger in all directions. I couldn't see which direction that prankster was. So, I had to compromise.

In an instant, the pitch black void vanished to thin dust and in it's place was, at last, my long yearned dormitory.

I immediately leaped onto my bed, knowing full well that I successfully bullied quite possibly the most delusional prankster known to man.

"Well, "Author", Let's see if your chaotic event does happen after all. Maybe I'll believe you or not?"

Life in the academy was quite boring since I wasn't yet a full fledged student. Thanks to that idiot, I was now looking forward for the predicted event that would happen three months from now.