Chapter Nine

"Think, Kyle, it's what you do best."

He tried to stand up in an attempt to gather his thoughts. However, the piercing pain from his head came back—and his bottom slammed the soft bed.

Groaning, he pressed his palm on top of his head, face distorted in pain. It wasn't until a while that he began to feel better. Without a word, he sized up the room he was in once again and stopped at an object.

It was that unsightly lamp from before. Although the small size, it was capable of fully illuminating the room he was in. He grabbed the object from the desk and observed it.

'What is this thing?'

Kyle carefully studied its exterior, wary to not touch anything that directly emanated light. Before long, he found something that appeared to be a switch at the bottom.

Tapping his fingers on the instrument, he finally decided to flick the button. With the sound of a click, the light that lit up the room disappeared. With another click, the room brightened once more.

'…Perhaps this is a fruitful trip after all.'

Putting the tool to where it belonged, Kyle stood up slowly—cautious of falling down again. He glanced at the corners of this room and was about to rummage it to his desire. But before he was able to do so, he once again felt that sense of familiarity engulfing his body.

'This sensation again?'

Kyle's mind stirred as various thoughts circulated through his mind. In the end, he let his body follow the sense of intimacy. Standing in front of the dresser, he opened the first drawer and took out a pair of matching clothes.

Both of them were dyed in brown and dark red color. They seemed to be made for the purpose of combat, as the colors were painted in a camouflage pattern.

The uniform looked neat, so Kyle had no reluctance in wearing them. The fabric held his skin tightly, but the ventilation was great—there was no sense of discomfort nor resistance when he moved his body around.

Then, still letting his body follow the tingling sensation, he closed the drawer and opened the one directly below it. It was half-open and pulling it created a clanking noise. Unfazed by it, he opened the drawer to see various tools inside.

'These are?'

He bent down slightly and grabbed a ball-shaped object. It was made of some kind of metal and had a huge circle on its surface.

"Hmmm."

Kyle had no idea about what this thing was and observed it in detail. After finding no clues, he started to experiment frivolously. Shaking and throwing it to the floor didn't seem to affect it whatsoever, and no switch could be found on the hard ball.

As the last effort, he tried to insert his energy into the round object. And to his surprise, he discovered that there was a place for his energy to sit on—as if he was holding an artifact.

'Wait a minute?' Guiding his energy to penetrate the ball, he discovered that this thing was actually an artifact. He didn't realize it at first because it looked nothing like the artifacts he was used to seeing.

The shimmer from the artifact looked pleasant in his eyes now, and he attempted to activate the artifact—eager to witness its prowess. Within a second, a small gust of wind blew from the huge circle on its surface.

Feeling the cold breeze on his face, Kyle closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation.

'It seems that my body didn't change at all.'

When he manipulated the energy earlier, his cycle of energy was the same as remembered—as clear and abundant as usual.

Being an intellectual, he had speculated about his current situation. It was easy to figure it out after he thought about it shortly. This place was overflowing with novelty, one he had never experienced before.

The structure of the artifacts was different as well, otherwise, he would've been able to tell if that ball was an artifact at first glance.

Before he had lost his consciousness, Kyle had grasped the blue orb on top of that square tower. The President had also told him that the building originated from ancient Antisian and that their ancestors owned technologies that they don't possess.

A novel yet familiar place he had never seen before, that floating ball of light, plus the words of the President. He would be an idiot not to piece these puzzles together.

"So, that floating thing transported me here…"

That orb he had touched teleported him into this new place, with nothing except his own body and the faint sensation of fading familiarity. To that, all he could say was—

"Great!"

Kyle was exhilarated at his current predicament—no, at his current fortune. His face unconsciously broke into a wide smile, and his eyes turned into crescent moons.

He had been wishing for moments like these, where he would be plunged into an unfamiliar place, alone by himself.

Barely containing his joy, the happy teen observed the assortment of artifacts inside the drawer. He was close to prying open their shells before his door was swung open one more time. This time, the person ran inside the room and rushed to Kyle.

"Stop dilly-dallying, we are about to depart now!" He yelled.

Kyle suppressed his desire to inspect the artifacts and swiped his gaze over this man in front of him. Just like him, he was wearing brown-red clothes painted in camouflage patterns. His face looked childish, but his lean body appeared fit and buff.

Once again, Kyle felt his body being familiar to this person. He didn't let his annoyance show up on his face and tapped the other party's shoulder.

"I'm close to finishing, just wait for me outside my room."

"Fine, but be quick!"

After being reassured by Kyle, the person ran out of his room—leaving the door wide open. But for some reason, Kyle felt helpless instead of contempt.

This made him ponder once again.

'My memories are still intact, and nothing seemed to be particularly wrong with my body. But for some reason, I feel familiar with this room I'm in. That person that came in too just now, felt close to me.'

He furrowed his brows while he contemplated, but his hands below him moved to find the artifacts that suits him best.

'Does that mean that only my consciousness was transferred here? But if that was the case, why is this body the exact same as my own? Wait, how do I even confirm that this isn't my own body, but one that belongs to someone else.'

'What if, this person's body is the exact same as my own. If so, how can I confirm it?'

Chewing his lips, he kept fumbling around the drawer—looking for the perfect artifacts for him to wear. A few seconds later, he raised his hands and started touching his own face. And as if he was unsatisfied, he touched every other part of his body.

This continued until an urgent knock was heard outside the room. "Hurry up would you?!"

"I'll be there soon!" Kyle once again rummaged the pile of instruments to find some that would suit him.

After a minute, the door to his room was swung once again. But this time, it was Kyle who opened it.

He was holding a red ball with both of his arms. In his right wrist, a bracelet laid comfortably—and his shoes shimmered as the mechanical parts reflected light from its surface.

Outside his room, the baby-faced man was walking around in circles. His eyes were slightly wet and his fists were tightly clenched. When the door finally opened, he broke into a run and yelled behind him.

"Quick! We're going to be left behind!"

Upon seeing a person's figure getting smaller and smaller, Kyle inadvertently circulated his energy and sprinted as well. If he didn't follow this person in front of him, someone might suspect him of not being from here.

He didn't know anything about this place, after all. And his body is telling him to follow this man in front of him. And even though he was running quickly, the distance between the two of them didn't shorten.

'He's fast!'

Seeing that figure over the distance, Kyle focused all of his energy into running—almost dropping the artifact he was holding at the time.

In the span of fifteen seconds, they traveled from the fifth floor to the surface. They came out of the building and arrived at a barren field, filled with people.

Their arrival attracted the attention of many people there. They observed the baby-faced man and Kyle as they made their way to the field, finally stopping before colliding with any of them.

Under their gazes, Kyle was about to speak with the person he was chasing—before a stern voice resounded.

"Almost late, but both of you managed to arrive in time."

In front of everyone, a stern-looking woman spoke while staring at the watch on her wrist. She wore a similar uniform with all of them, except the bright-red fabric wrapped around her elbows. With her black hair tied in a ponytail, she extended her right arm.

"Let's not make this long, you lot know what you should be doing."

"…!?" Kyle widened his eyes. On the ground they were standing at, blinding light started to illuminate—covering everyone present on this field.

But as if they were used to it, nobody made a single remark regarding this. The confused teen was about to ask for the baby-faced person's explanation, but a brisk voice echoed first.

"Then, without further ado, may luck be present to all of us!"

With the stern woman's voice as the signal, the blinding light engulfed all of them. At the next moment, no one could be seen standing on that field.