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Chapter 1 - Chapter 0 – The Weight of Reality

The sound of rain tapping against the tin roof was the only thing keeping him company. Purbalingga's streets were quiet at this hour, but the silence was heavy, almost suffocating.

Arfan sat by the small window of his rented room, his back slightly hunched from hours of staring at the dull glow of his laptop screen. The spreadsheet in front of him blurred in and out of focus, his mind wandering away from the endless columns of numbers. Work had become mechanical—wake up, go to the office, come home, repeat.

Life here wasn't supposed to feel like a cage, but the bars were everywhere: rising prices, endless political scandals, corruption so blatant it made headlines without consequences. The news cycle was a constant parade of hopelessness, and he had stopped checking it entirely.

In those moments of quiet despair, Arfan had one sanctuary—fiction.

Novels, comics, games—worlds where heroes rose against impossible odds, where empires clashed among the stars, where one man's determination could change the course of history. They were more than entertainment; they were oxygen, the thing that kept him breathing when reality felt too cruel.

His favorites were always the same kind: vast universes, intricate power systems, and morally gray characters. And none captured him quite like The Legendary Mechanic. The story of Han Xiao, the rise from nothing to one of the most powerful figures in the galaxy—it was an escape hatch from the monotony of his life. But more than that, Arfan was fascinated by Esgod.

Esgod wasn't the protagonist, but his abilities were unique—Esper Evolutionary, the power to copy and adapt any ability, turning them into something greater. Dangerous. Unstoppable. Arfan had read those chapters dozens of times, studying every fight, every hint of weakness, every possible "what if" that could make the power even more broken.

He would imagine himself there, standing on alien worlds, facing fleets and supers, wielding abilities that could bend reality. It wasn't just a dream; it was a lifeline.

Outside, thunder rumbled. The rain was heavier now. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. Arfan rubbed his eyes, trying to fight the exhaustion crawling through his bones. The clock on his phone read 01:43 AM.

His shift tomorrow—no, later today—would start at 8. He knew he should sleep. But instead, he clicked open another tab, scrolling through fan theories about The Legendary Mechanic's unrevealed lore. A thread caught his eye: "If Esgod Were the MC Instead of Han Xiao". He chuckled. That would be wild.

The screen flickered for a moment. Arfan frowned. The lights dimmed, then steadied. A blackout? No—Purbalingga's power grid was unreliable, but not tonight. Still, a faint hum seemed to vibrate in the air, like distant machinery.

He leaned closer to the laptop. The glow brightened unnaturally, the colors bleeding into strange shapes. His vision swam, his chest tightening.

What the hell…?

He reached for the power button, but the image on the screen shifted—lines of alien text cascading faster than his eyes could follow. And then, a voice.

It wasn't coming from his speakers. It was inside his head.

"Your world is dying, Arfan. Do you wish to leave?"

He froze. His pulse thundered in his ears.

Hallucination? Stress?

"Do you wish… to live in another world?"

The hum grew louder. The rain outside faded away. The room darkened until the only light came from the swirling vortex on his screen. Arfan felt his body being pulled forward, as though gravity itself had shifted.

And in that moment, his thoughts were not of fear, but of opportunity.

Another world…? The Legendary Mechanic's world…?

If it was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. If it was death—well, his life here had long stopped feeling like one worth keeping.

"Yes," he whispered. "Send me there."

The vortex swallowed him whole.

And just like that, the rain, the room, Purbalingga—everything—was gone.

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