Luke jabbed the glowing button without thinking twice. The world around him warped violently, as if some cosmic laundry machine had accidentally sucked him in for a rough spin cycle.
His insides flipped and somersaulted, and when the dizzying sensation finally ended, he landed hard on cold, uneven ground.
He barely had time to process before his stomach staged a full rebellion. Luke hunched over and puked into the grimy gutter of the alley he'd landed in.
Definitely not the cinematic entrance he'd imagined when designing the exploration feature. No swirling lights, no heroic poses—just cold pavement and bad smells.
"Why another alley?" muttered Luke, wiping his mouth and looking around. This place seemed like a modern world—but what kind of world had he ended up in this time?
He hoped, for his sanity's sake, that this wasn't some screwed-up zombie apocalypse or any other kind of terrible disaster.
Because honestly, no matter how good his class was, he was pretty sure he couldn't survive those kinds of worlds without a miracle. I mean, if you dropped a level-one Combat Mage into the middle of thousands of zombies, it'd be like tossing a rabbit into a pack of wolves — only the rabbit might actually have better odds.
As he stepped out of the alley, he saw the street was perfectly normal: normal cars rolling by, normal people walking, normal city noises. Nothing that screamed "end of days."
"It's a good thing it's a normal world and not an apocalypse," Luke said with a relieved sigh, shaking his head as if to clear away the lingering nausea.
Then, just as he started to relax, rain began to pour down.
"Seriously?" Luke asked, staring up at the sky as if it owed him an explanation.
But to his surprise, the rain didn't hit him at all. Not a single drop touched his skin. Curious, he looked down at his suit.
Did this thing have some anti-rain blocking spell? He hadn't really bothered to design the basic suit with weather protection in mind—it was supposed to be all about magic amplification.
"Well, since rain isn't a problem, might as well get to the interesting stuff," Luke said, a small grin creeping onto his face.
His blue eyes gleamed with a flicker of excitement. "Let's see what this world's got for me."
As Luke walked along the side paths, the rain falling gently around him, an hour passed in quiet observation. He'd learned one thing for sure: he was in Budapest. Beyond that, the city seemed utterly normal—nothing flashy, no hidden magical landmarks, no sudden bursts of energy or weird creatures lurking in the shadows. Just a regular, modern city going about its business.
That didn't exactly meet the criteria for the "exploration world" selection. In his game design, those worlds always had something special—rare resources, mysterious dangers, or at least some odd quirks that set them apart.
Luke sighed, thinking, Great. So this world's just a slightly damp Budapest. Not exactly thrilling.
Then, out of nowhere, Luke's shoulder brushed against a man walking along the side path. The impact was light, but enough to make him pause.
"Sorry," Luke said quickly, stepping back with a small nod.
"It's okay," said the man he bumped into, his voice calm and steady.
Luke's eyes flicked up to meet the man's face, and for a moment, something clicked. He felt like he'd seen this guy somewhere before—he was certain of it.
Not wanting to miss his chance, Luke quickly shifted his gaze to the man's back and decided to follow him. There was no doubt; he definitely recognized the guy from somewhere, but the memory was just out of reach.
After five minutes of trailing the man through the slick streets and narrow alleys, Luke finally remembered. That's the hybrid guy from the movie Underworld.
The name, however, remained stubbornly out of reach. Luke never had the habit of remembering guys' names anyway, even in real life. Names just weren't his thing. So forgetting this guy's name was par for the course.
So I'm in the Underworld movie world, huh? Luke thought to himself, following this unlikely protagonist through the dimly lit city.
Looks like I'll be dealing with vampires and werewolves. Luke winced at the thought, the reality of it settling over him like a cold weight.
Those creatures were way out of his league, especially with their enhanced strength. The kind of strength that could tear through doors or rip a man in half before he even had time to scream.
Definitely not the kind of fight he wanted to jump into unprepared. Even with his Combat Mage class, which still sat stubbornly at level one, he knew the gap between him and them was vast—like pitting a flickering candle against a raging storm.
Then, there was Selene—the beautiful Death Dealer. He couldn't forget her name. The memory of her from the films was vivid in his mind: black leather clinging to her like a second skin, eyes cold and calculating, movements sharp and efficient.
As a man, Luke was naturally drawn to beautiful girls, unlike some protagonists who spouted nonsense about women only slowing down the speed of sword drawing or some other ridiculous excuse to act like eunuchs. Those guys were clearly missing out. Beauty had its dangers, sure, but to Luke, danger and beauty often walked hand in hand.
Luke let a small smirk cross his face. Beauty's got a place in any story—and I'm not about to pretend otherwise. He could acknowledge the allure even while knowing she could probably kill him in three different ways before he hit the ground.