Collision Between Worlds

The sun was at its peak in the blue sky, pouring its rays over the city. Half of the day had passed and at this time there were many pedestrians going from one place to another, some celebrating the end of a tiring day at work while others lamenting that they would now start their shift.

This was no different for the students who filled the streets, either returning home or going to school.

A boy, Archer, walked along the streets, part of the group of students leaving. He had black hair and eyes and an extremely ordinary appearance, the type you easily find on the street and ignore. He had nothing special about him, except for the bored and somber expression that did not match the excited looks of the other students who were finally going home after a tedious day at school.

The reason for his dismay was next to him. A boy of similar age, with blond hair and blue eyes, with a slightly stupid appearance. In contrast to Archer, he had an animated and cheerful expression as he walked beside him.

"Archer, you needed to see her this morning! She was as lovely as ever and... hehehe... that smile... that smile that would make a flower bloom!" the blond boy, Alex, babbled on and on.

"Yes, yes. I think you've already talked about her smile ten times," Archer just nodded his head, massaging his temple to try to calm down.

"Ten times? Well, you'd agree with me if you saw her. She's wonderful and..."

Realizing that another barrage of compliments was coming, Archer cursed himself for asking about Alex's supposed new girlfriend. He remembered being shocked to find out that Alex - inferior to him in appearance and personality - had gotten a girlfriend and out of curiosity, asked Alex what she was like, just wanting to know how crazy she was for dating his friend. However, as a result, Alex wouldn't stop talking about her, singing praises as if it were his breath.

"She's so amazing and beautiful! Besides, her intelligence is such that it would shame even the creator of Orange...

"Her steps are like the fluttering of an angel's wings, light and beautiful. Around her, she carries an atmosphere full of kindness and affection!

"Ah, I'm so in love. She's like an angel who fell from the sky, sent by destiny to meet me. She's so perfect..."

'He's not going to stop talking, is he?' Archer thought, trying not to tell Alex to shut up. No matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible for someone so perfect to exist. It was obvious that Alex was exaggerating a lot. His ears were already hurting after hearing so many compliments.

Then the smile on Alex's face widened even more and he waved his hand in a certain direction.

"Mary! Mary! Over here!" Alex shouted, waving his hand fervently.

Mary? If he didn't lack memory, Mary was the name of Alex's infamous girlfriend. Archer looked in the direction where Alex was waving. Although he felt a little animosity towards her because of Alex's high praises, he was curious to know how much of these praises were true.

A girl ran towards them, her school backpack swinging on her back. Her long black hair fell on her back and her brown eyes were shining. Her figure was relatively slim and small, giving her a cute and shy appearance. She was wearing a school uniform that Archer recognized as from a private school near where he and Alex were going. She was really pretty, but as expected, Alex was exaggerating immensely.

She quickly approached Alex with a bright smile and hugged him. Looking at him face, she asked, "It's only been a few hours since we last saw each other, but I've missed you so much. How are you, Alex?"

"I'm good, of course! And you? Are you not sick or hurt, are you?"

"Hehe, thank you for being so concerned. But I'm fine."

Archer's facial muscles contracted at the sight. The last thing he wanted to see was Alex hugging and exchanging words of affection with a girl.

"Um…," Mary separated from Alex and then looked at Archer, asking, "who is he?"

"Ah, I was so immersed with you that I forgot to introduce you two," Alex scratched his head and said, "Archer, this epitome of beauty and kindness is my girlfriend, Mary! And Mary, this is Archer, my best friend."

"Hi, Mary. Nice to meet you." Although still a little irritated, Archer tried to smile and greeted Mary.

"Ah, hi, Archer," Mary briefly nodded her head at Archer before returning her attention to Alex and starting to talk to him.

At least pretend you're not so uninterested, Archer grumbled quietly as he furrowed his brows. Although, there was no reason for her to try to socialize with one of her boyfriend's friends. Feeling a little out of place with the two of them talking between themselves, Archer decided to say goodbye.

"Bye, Alex and… Mary. I just remembered that my sister asked me to come home earlier today," he gave a random excuse and quickened his pace, distancing himself from the couple.

As he walked, Archer couldn't help but wonder how someone like Mary could be interested in Alex. She wasn't the perfect angel that Alex kept babbling about, however, her beauty wasn't something easy to come by and her disposition certainly wasn't common considering the uniform of one of the most expensive schools in the city. In comparison, although from a wealthy family, Alex didn't have much money because of how stingy his parents were, and he wasn't the smartest or most handsome type.

'I'm sure any random guy from the crowd is better than him… Ah, fuck it.'

Why was he so annoyed with something that had nothing to do with him? Was he jealous because Alex had a girlfriend? Just thinking about it was already irritating, however, Archer couldn't stop the thoughts from coming to mind.

Maybe he should find a girlfriend too?

"Forget it, it can't be that simple."

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Archer soon realized that he was already arriving home. Thinking of his older sister, who was probably preparing lunch for him, Archer unconsciously smiled. He could have lunch at school during the break, however, his sister insisted that he should eat hers.

Archer lived only with his sister who was nine years older than him. When he was only six years old, his parents divorced, and the two siblings had to keep moving between their parents' new homes. When his sister turned eighteen, she got a good job as a programmer and rented a house in another city for the two to live in. It was then that Archer met Alex, and both became friends by sharing a common interest in games. Since then, for the following seven years, Archer lived with her, only visiting their parents from time to time.

While thinking about what he would have to eat today, he felt annoyed when the sunlight suddenly hit his face and made him lose balance, dropping the backpack he supported on one of his shoulders to the ground.

"What the hell is this sun—"

Wait, the sun? Shouldn't it be at the top of the sky since it's still noon, how could it be hitting his face? Besides, since when is sunlight so colorful…?

Bang—!

Along with a flashing light in seven colors, a deafening roar echoed in his ear. Archer opened his mouth, but couldn't emit a sound. For a brief moment, he lost all senses of his body. He heard nothing, smelled nothing, saw nothing, and felt nothing. Only his mind remained, filled with shock and fear for what was happening.

When his senses finally returned, everything had changed. He was no longer on the busy street of the city, but in a completely different place.

His eyes widened as he watched the landscape around him. He was in a green field, surrounded by majestic mountains and a dense forest. A stream ran nearby, and he could feel the cool breeze on his face. He was unable to feel the pollution and impurities in the air due to human actions.

Archer felt dizzy and almost lost his balance. After hyperventilating for a while, he closed his eyes and opened them again, calming down a bit.

"What happened?" he wondered, unable to believe what was happening.

Suddenly, a floating screen appeared in front of him. It had a rectangular shape, a transparent blue color, and had some characters written on it. Still stunned, Archer looked at the screen and read its content.

[Great Journey]

[You have been randomly chosen among the rational beings of the planet called Blue Planet to participate in the pre-collision between worlds. Like you, several other people were chosen, either from the Blue Planet, or from thousands of other worlds, all meeting here on this planet called Tremus. Congratulations, traveler!

Oh, yes. All travelers have access to a status window where they can check their information!

Remaining time for the end of the first journey: 721h37]

"W-what?"

What kind of absurdity was this?

Journey? Pre-collision? Tremus? Other worlds? Status window? With so much information being thrown directly at him, Archer didn't know what to make of it. It was too absurd to be real.

'Yes, think carefully. So it was all a dream in the end. Well, there was no way Alex could get a girlfriend, much less, I end up in an isekai and be thrown into another world.'

When he thought that, Archer felt a little more relaxed. In the end, he was probably sleeping in his room. It was strange that the dream had lasted so long, but it was still a dream. There was no need for him to be scared if it was all a dream.

"Damn it! Hell! This shit is too real to be just a dream!"

The wind that hit his face, the smell of grass and trees, what he saw, everything seemed too real. It was highly doubtful that his mind could create all of this.

And in this case? If it wasn't a dream, what was happening? Was he really in another world?

"Ugh, this is too much to think about right now. For now, I better calm down, besides, how do I open this status window and - wow!" Archer was surprised when a similar floating screen appeared in front of him.

[Status Window]

[Name: Archer Reyes

Age: 16 years old

Height: 1.75 meters

Gender: Male

Title: Traveler of the Blue Planet

Attributes

Strength: 9 Speed: 11 Resistance: 10 Mana: 1]

Archer looked at the words carved on the screen and evaluated his information. As he observed his attributes, he remembered that usually in games, the minimum points that players started with in each attribute were about 10, in addition to the extras that were related to their classes. In this case, he should be a little below average. Also, there was that last attribute that made him feel excited, even after finding himself in this unreal situation.

'Mana! That must mean I can use magic!' he thought, excitedly. However, to his dismay, he could not feel that single point of mana inside his body.

"Is it because I have very little? Then how do I increase it? It doesn't seem to have a level system... Hmm?"

Archer thought he had heard a noise coming from the side. He turned immediately with an alert look.

When he looked in the direction of the noise, he saw a creature with a human-like figure dragging an animal resembling a deer. The humanoid creature had green skin, bulging eyes, and a huge nose. He was the height of a child and wore a small loincloth that covered only his private parts, revealing his huge belly similar to that of an alcohol addict.

The creature was using its giant nails to tear a piece of the deer, eating while dragging the animal around. Blood was scattered around them, forming a red path, and the smell made his stomach churn.

Archer's blood immediately chilled at that horrible sight and by an instinctive reaction, he quickly hid behind a tree. He covered his mouth with his hand and held his breath, afraid to make any kind of noise.

'Shit, shit, shit! What is that? A goblin?! They weren't like that in the games!'

He already expected that beings like goblins would appear, after all, this was a fantasy world. However, seeing a real goblin face to face was very different from seeing it on a cell phone screen. It was much more terrifying and scary than he thought it would be. Archer's face was pale as he hoped the goblin would leave without noticing his presence.

"Krwkekek," the goblin was tearing and eating pieces of the dead animal he carried with one hand. He didn't seem to have noticed Archer. At least, that's what Archer thought.

From the corner of his eye, Archer saw the goblin looking in his direction with interest and felt a shiver run through his whole body.

'No... shit... why?'

He had hidden as quickly as possible and made no noise. Archer didn't even have time to figure out why, the goblin's gaze immediately locked onto him and a twisted smile spread across his face.

"Kekekekke," a laughter similar to a cackle came out of the open-mouthed and blood-and-meat-covered goblin. He certainly seemed very happy to have found a new prey.

"Fuck!" Archer panicked and started running as fast as possible away from the goblin.

However, this was a creature accustomed to hunting, even before Archer's first move, the goblin had already shortened the distance enormously with a small run. Archer accelerated his steps even more, breathing in a completely messy way. The goblin only laughed in response and continued running towards him.

Archer was not used to the grassy and tree-filled terrain, how could he escape the goblin who had spent his entire life here?

Kwak!

"Ahck—!" Archer stumbled over a stone in the middle of the path and fell to the ground. He tried to get up and run again, but before he could do so, the goblin jumped over him and grabbed his leg with sharp claws. Due to Archer's previous movement, the goblin's claws ended up tearing his skin and spreading blood everywhere.

"Aaaaahh!!!" he screamed, feeling a searing pain run through his entire body. His eyes became wet and tears covered his contorted face.

"Help!! Someone?! Help!"

"Kiekekekkee!" The goblin enjoyed his desperate screams. Still on top of Archer, he took out a small dagger tied to the loincloth he was wearing.

Seeing the small dagger shining in the sunlight, Archer's desperation increased even more as he shook his entire body trying to get rid of the goblin's grip. However, the more he moved, the more he hurt himself and the less strength he had.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Am I going to die? No! I don't want to die...! Please, I don't want to die...!'