What Areth saw when he looked out the window was none other than the flying island he had stared at for hours behind a screen, every single detail of it designed by his own hand. The magic tower, the blacksmith's forge, the training grounds, the manors he had painstakingly planned, and countless other buildings all lay before his eyes. And this was only the visible portion. There was also an underground section.
He had purchased this island through an in-game purchase option. Nearly half of his entire savings had gone into it, because it was the most expensive item ever sold in the game.
Areth was at a loss for words.
He was still stunned, and understandably so, but slowly a strange new sensation began to form inside him. His body started releasing dopamine and serotonin at the same time.
Because he felt happy.
Even if what he was experiencing was not real, even if it was nothing more than a dream, he was content simply to see the game he had poured hundreds of hours into, the game he genuinely loved, from this close.
Most likely, he would wake up soon, disappointed, dragging himself to work in the early morning hours.
So he wanted to enjoy it.
He wanted to look for a long time.
He just wanted to stay here a little longer, before that damned alarm sound rang out.
Without taking his eyes off the island, Areth felt time slow down. There was no wind, yet the air still seemed to move, like the unique pulse of a world steeped in magic. Mana currents drifting around the flying island were invisible to the eye, yet raising goosebumps along his arms. This was not a game interface. It was not a statistic measured by numbers.
This was something that existed.
And it belonged to him.
At that moment, a sound tore through the silence.
A deep, resonant rumble, metal and stone moving together.
Areth flinched.
This was not an alarm. It was neither shrill nor unpleasant. On the contrary, it was heavy and dignified. The massive double doors behind him were slowly opening. The hinges sounded as though they belonged not to an ordinary mechanism, but to some ancient apparatus. With every centimeter they opened, an oppressive sense of authority filled the air.
Areth turned around.
The doors were an exact replica of the ones he had designed and redesigned countless times in the game, tweaking them purely for aesthetic reasons. Beyond them, a silhouette appeared.
It was indistinct. The light came from behind, leaving the figure shrouded in shadow. Yet the posture was familiar. Too familiar. Shoulders straight, head slightly bowed, respectful without submission.
The figure knelt.
"Lord Areth, I apologize for entering without knocking, but there is an urgent matter…"
Still stunned, Areth walked toward the kneeling woman at the far end of the vast room. She had long black hair and wore a maid's uniform. Her eyes were deep black, her features soft. She looked Asian, or more specifically, Korean or Chinese.
"Alya…?"
Hearing the confusion in her lord's voice, the woman hesitated. She had come to report an emergency, but her master seemed focused on something else entirely.
Carefully, she looked up into his light-yellow eyes. "Yes, my lord?"
The young man inside Areth was reeling. He had created the character standing before him with his own hands.
After spending an obscene amount of money to purchase the island, the game had allowed him to create thirty servants who had no apparent function and existed only on the flying island. And now, the first NPC he had created, Alya, stood before him.
For a moment, Areth hesitated, unsure whether to reach out. Instinctively, just as he had done countless times in the game, his fingers twitched as if trying to summon an interface. Of course, no window appeared. There was no command list, no "NPC Information" tab.
There was only Alya.
Kneeling, her head slightly bowed, her breathing indistinguishable from that of a real human. Her shoulders rose and fell ever so slightly. The sound of fabric shifting, the faint scrape of her knees against the stone floor… none of this existed in the game. None of it belonged to any animation package.
"Lift your head," Areth said, the words leaving his mouth before he fully realized it.
Alya hesitated.
Even that hesitation sent a chill through him. NPCs did not hesitate. They received commands and executed them. But Alya seemed to be weighing propriety, as if measuring her place. Finally, she slowly raised her head.
Their eyes met.
Areth's heart sped up for a brief moment. Those dark eyes were not empty, lifeless gazes. There was curiosity in them. Anxiety. Even a faint trace of guilt.
"I beg your forgiveness, my lord," Alya said. "Entering without knocking was a grave disrespect. However…"
She paused.
Areth recognized that pause. In the game, it would have been the brief delay before a quest dialogue. But no. This time, she was actually breathing.
"However?" Areth prompted.
"Our ship was suddenly displaced by an unknown force and transferred to an unknown location. Lady Lysandra immediately placed the ship into stealth mode."
At first, Areth did not understand what she meant by "ship," but then he remembered. The flying island functioned as a ship. It did not resemble one, but it operated like one, made possible by its mana reserves.
Areth did not know what to say. How should he respond? He remained silent for several seconds.
This silence was not intentional. His mind was trying to separate overlapping layers of reality. Game knowledge, memories, mechanics, purchase screens, mana reserves. All of it was there. But so was the woman kneeling before him. She was real. She was breathing. She was waiting.
And waiting was not NPC behavior.
Areth finally realized that until now, he had been nothing more than an observer. Now, he was inside the scene. There was no save screen. No chance to pick the wrong dialogue option and reload an earlier save. The thought made him tense. He still wondered whether this was all a dream.
But what if it was not?
What if he truly had been reincarnated?
What if this situation was now his new reality?
He had read and watched dozens of stories like this. So before answering, he decided to act as the person he himself had created, Areth Dom Othalnmalkor.
With that thought, Areth straightened his posture.
Areth Dom Othalnmalkor was nothing more than the sum of the decisions he had made, the dialogue options he had chosen, and the system he had built over countless hours in front of a screen. If this world was a continuation of that game, then showing weakness here would be the gravest mistake of all.
His gaze hardened. The confusion on his face slowly faded.
"Stand up, Alya," he said.
This time, his voice was different. Heavier. More composed. It did not sound unfamiliar, even to his own ears.
Alya rose at once. She did not lift her head too much as she stood. She clasped her hands in front of her. Another detail that did not exist in the game. Areth noticed it and mentally filed it away.
"I want your report from the beginning, clearly," Areth said. "No panic. No speculation. Tell me only what you know."
Alya took a deep breath, as if trying to ease the pressure she felt.
"Yes, my lord. While the ship was following a standard route, it was suddenly seized by an external force. It was not a teleportation spell, at least not one we recognize. The mana flow was forcibly distorted."
Areth narrowed his eyes slightly.
That was important.
"Where is Lysandra?"
"She is currently at the main mana core. She has reinforced the barriers. However, the ambient mana density in our current location is unstable. If we remain here too long, it may place strain on the core."
Areth closed his eyes for a moment.
The mana core.
He knew very well what happened in the game if the core was damaged. The flying island did not immediately shut down, but control was lost. And loss of control meant falling.
And at that moment, Areth realized something else.
This world would not provide him with ready-made answers. There were no quest markers. Where to go and what to do was entirely up to him.
When he opened his eyes again, Alya was looking at him. Waiting for orders.
"Relay this to Lysandra. Do not disengage stealth mode, and be careful not to increase mana density." After a brief pause, he added, turning back to Alya, "And gather everyone in the throne room. I will be there within an hour."
Alya absorbed the instructions, then bowed her head.
"Understood, my lord. I will inform her at once."
And so, under his new name, Areth gave his first order in his new life.