Crowne woke up, but somehow the day had turned strange. No one was there. Only an empty, dark forest.
He stood, scanning his surroundings, but Sylvara, Velrisa, and Ronan were nowhere to be found. There were not even traces of them leaving.
And besides, it was impossible for the three of them to leave without him.
"What is this?" Crowne muttered. He lifted his gaze upward, and that was when he saw it—a gigantic eyeball above the sky, in the very place where the moon should have been.
"This is not the world I came from."
Crowne drew his sword, preparing for battle. At the same time, a tall figure approached him. The entire body of this being was made of blinding white light.
Crowne took a stance, channeling Mana into his sword. Yet the moment he did, his blade twisted into the shape of a cobra. It instantly spat venom toward his eyes.
Crowne swiftly threw the snake away, narrowly avoiding the venom it had spat at him.
"Who are you?" the white figure asked.
Crowne frowned.
"I should be the one asking that. Who are you?"
The figure stepped closer. When it was near enough, Crowne used his modified Wind Step Slash.
In an instant, he appeared behind the being of light and launched a spinning kick aimed directly at its head.
Through!
His kick hit nothing. It was like striking the wind. The figure turned around. Crowne followed with another attack, this time punching its body.
The result was the same. Nothing.
He leapt back, but before he could land properly, his arm was suddenly seized by the glowing being. When Crowne tried to resist, his body was lifted and slammed brutally into the ground.
Bang!
"Aaaarrrgh!" Crowne screamed in agony.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
"Why do you have the power to summon magical beasts from another world? Who exactly are you?" the figure asked again.
Crowne's brow furrowed.
"I don't know. It was simply available in my system."
He staggered to his feet and readied himself again. His chest felt tight, and he nearly collapsed once more. Looking around, Crowne felt the place grow even stranger.
The figure of light said nothing. It only watched him—or at least, that was what it seemed like. There were no eyes, no mouth, no nose, nothing at all. Just a humanoid shape made of radiant white light.
"What is your purpose in entering my world?" the being asked again.
Crowne frowned deeper. He could not comprehend what the entity meant. Before, he had simply been a zookeeper on Earth—in the modern world. Suddenly, he died and was reborn into this world of magic.
He had received the class Beast Tamer and a system.
That was all Crowne knew. He did not know why he had been reborn here, nor why he was chosen to be a Beast Tamer. He knew nothing.
"I truly don't know," he answered.
The being of light raised its hand. At once, an enormous magic circle appeared. At the same moment, a meteor manifested in the sky and plummeted downward.
Crowne's eyes widened. He could never hope to stop that meteor with his strength. If Sylvara or Velrisa were here, maybe it could be handled. But now, Crowne only clicked his tongue in frustration.
Frustration at his own weakness.
"Tell me why you exist in this world, or I will kill you," the figure demanded again.
Crowne clenched his fists tightly.
"I already told you—I don't know. I swear, I know nothing!"
The being snapped its fingers, turned its back, and vanished. Crowne fell to his knees, his legs too weak to support him. He had nearly died just now.
At that instant, Crowne awoke, gasping for breath. His body trembled, cold sweat dripping from his temples, his chest rising and falling heavily.
He gripped the ground, clutching the dirt with shaking hands.
"Ha… ha… hhh…" Crowne stared around with a bewildered expression.
There were Sylvara, Velrisa, and Ronan, calmly eating. The Gorthak meat wasn't even finished. As if only a few seconds had passed.
Crowne glanced around again. Everything looked normal. The sun was still overhead. It was still daytime.
He stood.
"Was that all just a dream?"
Crowne touched his chest, and the pain was still there. The crushing slam from before felt real. That meant what had happened truly happened.
Yet everything around him felt too strange. Crowne scratched his head in frustration.
Velrisa noticed and tilted her head.
"Master, aren't you going to sleep after all?"
"How much time has passed?" he asked in return.
Velrisa found the question odd.
"You only sat there a few minutes ago. You said you wanted to rest."
Crowne's eyes sharpened. Deep inside, he was certain.
What had happened was real.
"Who is that being?"