A rosy garden surrounded the lawn, with a single tree standing at one corner. Within this modest plot of land stood a single one floor house. It appeared small, at least from the exterior. Damien stood at the entrance without a trace of amusement in his eyes. He was not even disappointed, as this was entirely normal for the young man, despite having once lived in a vast mansion with numerous assets under his name.
'A normal living home, it is.'
At the very least, he had the entire compound to himself, so a sense of peace still followed him into this world. The only concern was the rent, which exceeded three hundred Els, the currency used in Elypia, every month. His salary amounted to roughly five hundred Els, meaning that after paying this month's rent and a few additional bills, he would be left with less than fifty Els.
This realization made Damien grumble quietly. Only a few hours ago, he would never have needed to worry about matters like this, aside from taxes, but that no longer mattered. He knew he had to accept his circumstances quickly, and he had no difficulty doing so.
The real issue was whether his savings would be sufficient to purchase the Exalted weapon he wanted, which could cost as much as buying a duplex. In that case, his savings might not be enough at all. The thought left him increasingly frustrated, especially considering that his arrival in this world had not even reached four hours yet.
Normally, none of this would have been an issue if the original Damien had held on to his family's wealth, which had been entrusted to him during his escape with his younger sister.
But no. He had given most of it to her, acting as the 'big brother', and separated from her so they would not be captured together if they were ever discovered. It was a fairly sound strategy for someone his age at the time, yet the outcome was grim. He had lost contact with his younger sister and was now unable to locate her.
Damien sighed and placed a hand over his face.
"He made far too many mistakes. It would have been better to split it evenly than to hand over eighty percent of it to a little girl. Of course, she could have been robbed and killed anyway."
Without dwelling further on the matter, he walked into his compound. The street was quiet, with only a few people passing by at distant intervals. There were many houses similar to his, as all residential buildings were constructed on individual plots, with no shared compounds.
Truthfully, this design greatly reduced potential disturbances or conflicts that might arise from strangers living together within the same space.
He opened the door, and upon stepping inside, he was surprised by how neat and well arranged the interior was. There was only a single white couch in the living room, a small floating flat screen television, and the kitchen positioned to one side. The house contained just two additional rooms, his bedroom and the restroom. The bathroom was integrated into the restroom, and every area was impeccably clean. A small robot, barely one and a half feet tall, ensured this silently, monitoring the entire space every minute.
Damien sat down on the couch and set the blue box aside. The tiny robot immediately rushed over, cleaning every spot he had stepped on up to where he was seated within seconds before quietly retreating.
He leaned back against the couch and placed one arm behind his head as his thoughts began to churn.
All odds were stacked against him, but the sooner he began, the better and faster the results would be. He could not afford to rest now that he had quit his job. Not to mention, his salary would soon be credited, as the month had already concluded.
The timing was perfect.
'Jeez. In a few hours, I should receive the money,' he thought, ruffling the hair around his face.
He was still somewhat indulged in this man's beauty. It might have been normal for beings like him to possess such captivating handsomeness, yet he was clearly drawing far more attention than other demigods ever would. A faint sense of pride settled in his heart.
Despite his mind being occupied with practical concerns such as how to fund the monster hunting career he was about to begin, something far heavier lingered in the back of his thoughts.
The forced reincarnation.
Of course, he was not foolish enough to overlook that. He had read several webcomics where similar situations occurred, only for it to later be revealed that someone from that world had summoned the protagonist to save it. In those cases, the body they entered usually had to die first. That might explain why Damien had been lying on the restroom floor. Yet there had been no blood at the scene, nor did he recall anyone killing him. This meant his situation was likely very different from those shallow summoning plots. The truth behind it might run far deeper.
However, if someone had truly summoned him here to save this game world, then they had made the greatest mistake of their entire existence, no matter how long they had lived.
Damien frowned.
Slowly, he would deal with that problem. For now, he needed to survive, grow stronger, and accomplish his admittedly mediocre goals as well. Perhaps along the way, he would uncover the darkness behind his arrival in a game he had not even created an account for.
He folded his legs on the couch and retrieved the phone from his pocket to review his savings and check the price of a low tier Exalted weapon. Upon checking his bank account, Damien realized he had only 1500 Els in savings, so this might actually work in his favor if the weapon remained around this amount without exceeding 2000. He then browsed authorized stores, created an account on one of them, and searched the Exalted weapons category, making sure to set the price cap to something he could afford, and probably not, yes.
Alas, after encountering several terrifying prices that made him gasp hard enough to generate oxygen in quantities comparable to a single tree, he finally came across a low tier Exalted dagger with a curved blade and a golden handle. It offered only negligible buffs to attack and damage capacity, with no special skill attached, as expected, and it cost 1700 Els, so he added it to his online cart.
With that settled, Damien only needed to wait until he received his final salary so he could add it to his savings and purchase the weapon.
Just as he was about to turn on the television to waste time, since his house was devoid of games or anything remotely entertaining aside from academic books, he caught the faintest trace of movement at the corner of his eye.
He paused, slowly tilting his head toward the direction.
"...Did my damn shadow just wave at me?"