[System Manager Alert!]

  [New arrival ining.]

  [Analysis determined potential adventurer’s mind to be too inpatible for process.]

  [System will rejed reroute the undesirable soul.]

  [tinue] [Override]

  Balthazar frow the text as he finished reading it. He did not fully uand what all of it meant, but he knew he disliked the part about rejeg someone deemed “undesirable” by the system.

  “Oh yeah?” he said, talking to the air around him. “Inpatible and undesirable like a crab using your precious little system, you stupid birds?”

  He ko be messing with things he did irely prehend, but the temptation to fiddle with his unintended manager access was too great.

  “Screw you, crow,” the crab muttered as he pressed the override option.

  [Are you sure?]

  [Undesirable didates may resist the process and cause uable effects to the bance of the system.]

  “Good. If it gives that stupid crow and his bird ies more trouble, I’m all for it.”

  [Soul reje overridden.]

  With that, Balthazar looked around, expeg something to happen, but as he gazed up at the sky again, he found the clouds had simply dispersed, and all that was left was the e sky of the setting suhe calm waves of the sea.

  “Well, that was disappointing!” he said with a shrug. “Hopefully me doing that didn’t ring any bells at bird tral. e to think of it, maybe I should have thought twice before pressing this. I should be trying to lie low, now that I got my system access back I ’t afford to have that crow show up to take it away again.” He paused and looked up and down the coastline. “Ah, I’m sure nothing will e of it!”

  As he turo the still levitating scroll, a new prompt appeared in front of the crab.

  [Manager Panel]

  [Would you like to enable silent mode?]

  “Huh? Silent mode? What’s that?”

  [Silent mode]

  [User’s as will not be logged or traced. Only to be used for testing purposes.]

  “Wow, hold on, this is exactly what I needed!” excimed the excited mert. “This new system is really starting to impress me! If I ehis then the crow and pany should have a much harder time figuring out what I’m up to. Hopefully, at least…”

  Balthazar firmed the prompt to enable silent mode, and a new line appeared.

  [Enabling silent mode will close your manager session.]

  [firm] [cel]

  “Ah, darn it! There had to be a downside, of course.”

  The crab pondered for a moment.

  “I wouldn’t mind pying with this mauff and seeing what I could make of it, but at the same time I know that’s bound to attrae attention sooner or ter, and I don’t want a repeat of that crow’s visit,” Balthazar sidered, as he paced bad forth, debating with himself. “For all I know, there’s already a bird ing this way to che what’s going on, and I doubt they don’t have an easy way to sort me out even with whatever tricks this so-called ‘manager session’ might grant me. No, for once, being sneaky and quiet is the right move. I o be smart if I want my pns to succeed.”

  Making up his mind, Balthazar pressed the firm option.

  [Silent mode enabled. System as will not be logged or traced.]

  Worried about any potential winged fiends appearing from above, Balthazar quickly dismissed the system s from his vision and the Scroll of Character Creation, having dos job, finally closed itself and dropped on the sand.

  “Alright, you’re ing with me—” the crab started, as he moved in to pick up the scroll, but as he did, the piece of paper simply crumbled into dust, mixing in with the grains of sand and disappearing into nothingness.

  “What?! Ah, e on! The old ones didn’t do that!” he protested in frustration. “Guess they don’t make them like they used to.”

  Looking up at the sky with , the crusta decided there was no time to cry over spilled part, and skittered his way back up the duo the road where his panions awaited.

  “Alright, we’re done here, guys,” he hurriedly said to Druma and Blue, who sat on some rocks, sharing a few rations of dried meat. “Time to get ba the road and find Rye.”

  The trio quickly got on the road, leaving Star Beach behind and heading north as the su and night quickly approached over the sands.

  By the shore, where the waves came a, the figure of a man appeared from the water. Ned by the tide a as an unscious pile s like the previous arrival, but instead standing, awake and alert, as he walked out of the sea, water rolling off his entire body as his heavy steps sank into the sand.

  As the new arrival reached the beach, he stopped, breathing fast as his intense gaze sed the area, an expression of ire mixed with fusion about his circumstances carved into his face.

  “Where the hell am I?”

  ***

  Warren had it all. A perfect life full of aplishments even before reag his thirties, with a well-paid job in a rge corporation and a beautiful fiancée, a healthy body and sharp mind, he did plenty of sports and even still had time to do some gaming with his friends on the weekends.

  Everything about him was just perfect.

  And then he died.

  Dragging himself out of an unknowo an unfamiliar bead wearing strange rags, Ren—as everyone usually called him—looked around, searg for any clues as to what had happened.

  “What is this pce? How did I get here?” the young man asked himself as he tried tain his breath. Any on person would have likely lost sciousness in those deep waters after such a rough dive, but not him. Years of swimming practid havihe captain of his water polo team meant Ren was an excellent swimmer with an impressive lung capacity.

  Steeling his mind, Heartha’s new arrival sed his surroundings with great care, assessing the situation with the same calm and logical perspective he’d always use when resolving plex problems at his job.

  “I don’t know this pce, but there does not seem to be anyone else here, nor are there any immediate threats. That’s good. I o focus and figure out what’s the st thing I remember.”

  Still standing on the liwee and dry sand, thick droplets of saltwater dripping from every end of his body and ragged clothing, Ren closed his eyes as he rubbed his forehead, trying to unscramble his thoughts and find out what had happened before.

  “A crosswalk. Yes, I was crossing the street, because the light was green. I remember… tires screeg, and… a wide metal grill, from a truck. Where was I ing from? Work? No, a house. My parent’s house? There was a girl there, too. Yes, my girlfriend, she… she…”

  Ren’s thoughts were growing heavier and harder t to the surface of his brain, and as his eyes snapped open, a milky yer appeared over them, like a fog settling over his mind.

  “No!” he excimed, clutg his head with both hands as his knees hit the sand. “What’s happening?! There’s something trying to y mind!”

  Suddenly and with a loud snap, Ren spped his own face, and after squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, he opehem back up, the mind haze gone from his sight.

  Out of nowhere, a line ht text appeared in his vision.

  [Fatal error]

  [Inpatible mind. Mind haze aborted.]

  [Please tact your mao correctly wipe your memories.]

  “What was that? Why was something attempting to wipe my memories? I almost… I almost… what was it that I was remembering?”

  The young man rummaged through his brain, searg for details, any specifics about his past, but quickly realized that he could only remember fragments. Like a maddening feeling of something at your fiips that you just ot reach, or a name oip of your tohat you just ot recall, he remembered things, he just could not remember what they were.

  Reeling from the effects of the unfinished mind haze that took memories from him without also taking the knowledge of having lost them, Ren stood back up and took a deep breath, remembering all the breathing teiques to use during stressful situations that he had learned from his martial arts csses. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember his teacher’s face or name, only that he had those lessons at some point in his life.

  Fog his sights ba the straext, he frow the st line.

  [Please tact your mao correctly wipe your memories.]

  “Why would I ever do that?” Ren said. “And where did this strange UI e from?”

  Taking another look around and towards the forest and hills past the duhe young man rubbed his thoughtfully.

  “Judging by the c of the vegetation, it seems like this pce is currently undergoing its autumnal season, but I still clearly remember it to be the middle of winter as I was crossing the road just now, given the snow and winter clothing I recall wearing, so that means I’m nowhere near home. I could be in a different part of the world, but if I was in a different hemisphere, that should mean it would be summer instead. No, something about this o and the ndscape doesn’t feel right. If only I could remember my geography csses more clearly…”

  Ren exhaled and crossed his arms as he looked around again. Ever the pragmatic thinker, he started nodding slowly.

  “No, as unlikely as it might sound, this seems to be a different world from mine.” He focused oext in his eyes once more. “With some kind of… system interface.”

  He quickly ruled out the possibility of dreaming, as he was sure he would have woken up already if he chose to, given his mastery of lucid dreaming, after taking a three-month run of seminars on the subject.

  “Is this some kind of… video game? I’m sure there is no VR teology this advanced yet, I keep up with every major teews outlet, I remember that much. Yet, why do I see a user interfa front of my eyes?”

  A groan came from the sand nearby, and Ren quickly turo it, his eyes homing in on its sourstantly thanks to his razor-sharp senses, gained from a lifetime of tennis practice with professional athletes.

  A young boy, wearing simir rags as Ren's, was sitting up from the sand, holding his head with one hand like someone waking up with a hangover.

  As the arrival rushed towards the awakening adventurer, he noticed a strange red imprint c most of the boy’s face, like a star-shaped suark.

  “You there!” called Ren. “ you uand what I’m saying?”

  The boy frowned as he rubbed his head. “Yeah, of course I . Why?”

  “Good, there is no nguage barrier, at least,” the other said, more to himself than anyone else. “What is this pce?”

  “I don’t know,” said the younger adventurer as he stood up. “A beach?”

  Ren groaned in frustration befrabbing him by the shoulders. “Who are you? Some kind of NPC? Is this a VR game?”

  “What?” asked the befuddled boy.

  “Are we in some kind of virtual reality world?!”

  “No! I don’t think so, at least.”

  “How did you get here? Do you remember that?”

  “I… I… I’m not sure? Something about bright headlights?”

  “A truck? Were you hit by a truck while crossing the street too?”

  “I… oh god… was I? I… I think so? Did I die?!”

  Re go of the boy’s shoulders, turning to the side into his own thinking process.

  “It’s as I feared. This isn’t some game. This is real, like some kind of reination, but… something’s wrong about it. And why ’t I remember my past? Only fragments of what I’ve lost?”

  The red-faced young man tapped Ren’s shoulder. “Hey, uh, you alright, pal? You're talking to yourself a lot there.”

  Ren turned around in a fsh, his expression being sour.

  “Alright?! arently just died and someone or something wiped our memories, that is far from alright. How are you not more ed?”

  “We died?! Oh damn, that doesn’t sou at all,” replied the addled boy.

  “Useless,” muttered the other. “Clearly too mentally weak to withstand the mind hazing. His brain is probably all scrambled.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing. Try and focus: have you seen a all since you arrived here?”

  “No,” said the boy. “Wait, yes, I think so. He was the stra mert I’ve ever seen, I tell ya.”

  “A mert?” repeated Ren. “Who was he? What was his name? Where is he now?! Answer me!”

  The new arrival moved up on the previous newer, their noses nearly touched as Ren grabbed the colrs of the boy’s soaked burp shirt.

  “Woah! Easy, pal! No need for that! His… his name was Balthazar, I think! And I don’t know where he went after he took my scroll!”

  “Scroll?” said Ren, slowly letting go of the colr. “What scroll?”

  “A scroll in a bottle that was shining for me somewhere around the sand here. He told me a bunch of stuff and, hing I knew, I traded him the scroll for a ch. Damn, where did my ch go? Do you think he scammed me?”

  “A scroll in a bottle…” whispered the young man, turning away from the fused boy and looking around with a scowl.

  Soon after, he spotted it: a twinkling shiny spot in the middle of a mound of sand, being him to it.

  Ren rushed to it, leaving the other new arrival behind, and found a bottle with a rolled up piece of paper inside.

  Frantically opening it and pulling the scroll out, he was shocked when the piece of part escaped his hands and floated in front of him, slowly unrolling itself.

  Food minute, Ren stared at the page in front of him and the glowi dispyed in his eyes, struggling to e to terms with what he was witnessing. Despite his well-educated and open mind, the fact that su undeniably magical thing was real and happening was still stunning to him.

  Meanwhile, the other aspiring adventurer had already shrugged and gotten on with looking for his dropped ch.

  “This… this is ridiculous,” Ren quietly said to himself “Levels, attributes, skills… This is like a game world, except it’s all real and happening to me. How? Why did I have to die and end up here?”

  His expression slowly shifted away from fusion and anguish to a frowning anger.

  “No, someone is responsible for this. Someone has to be behind this whole charade ing i people here. I must find them a some answers. Find out what they took away from me. I o go back.”

  His eyes snapped back up to the scroll, reading through its requests aions of many values and options. Despite his spectacur social life and busy schedule, he was also an aplished gamer with multiple wins at several Esports tours and an expert uanding of strategy and plex meics.

  To say nothing of his magnifit proficy as a cook.

  Or his fwless driving skills.

  Or his gift with gardening.

  Or the things he could do with his—

  “I don’t have time for this right now,” Ren suddenly said. “If I am to use this system to my advantage, I must first learn and uand how this world works and then build a well-thought-out character. I ’t afford to recklessly spend any points without full knowledge of what they will entail. Only a fool would do that.”

  Ren stood up and quickly snatched the floating scroll, which stopped glowing with a sudden whimper as he stuffed it inside his pocket.

  “Whoever this Balthazar is, he must be the oh the answers, or perhaps even the mastermind behind it all.” He scowled at the horizon. “I will find him, and I will get back what was taken from me.”

  Pg his sights on the road past the dunes, Re out with determination on his step, stopping at a wooden sign before heading south.

  Meanwhile, ba the beach, the other new arrival was still wandering by the coast, searg for his lost ch.

  “Oh, , what’s this?” he said, leaning down to pull on a pinkish appeig out of the sand.

  Moonlight slowly rolled over the white sands of Star Beach as the sound of waves on the shore drowned out the muffled screams ing from behind another killer starfish hugging its prey, in arip around the natural circle of an adventurer’s life.

  ***

  “Huh, I wonder why my antennae feel so warm,” Balthazar mused as he made his the road leading north, trying to meet with Rye.

  Gazing up at the sky above, the crab khey could not keep going much longer. Despite his inexperieh travel, even he khat the darkness of night meant dangers could be lurking anywhere, and that they’d o stop and make camp until m.

  “Hey, Druma,” said Balthazar, turning to the goblin walking a few steps behind. “We should stop and make camp soon, so we will o get a fire going, fht. you gather some firewood?”

  The assistant gave the crab a firm nod with his head. “Yes, yes, boss!”

  “And you, Blue,” Balthazar tiurning to the drake following along at a zy pace. “ you maybe fly up and do a few rounds over the roads to see if you spot Rye before it gets too dark?”

  The golden-eyed creature slowly cocked an eyebrow at the crab, as if expeg something more.

  Balthazar rolled his eyestalks.

  “Please?” he said.

  With a fp of her powerful wings, Blue took off past the forest opy and soared across the streaks e, purple, and bck of the dusk sky.

  With his two travel panions going their own ways, Balthazar tinued on through the road, lost in his own thoughts as he kept aalk out for the archer.

  As he pondered on what to do once he found Rye, the crab heard a twig snapping up ahead.

  “Well, well, well…” a raspy voice said, as a man wearing dark browher armor stepped out from behind a tree on the edge of the road. “Turns out that guy at the tavern wasn’t lying. There really is a mert crab traveling on this road. You owe me five s, Tem.”

  “Heh, yeah, boss,” a ratty-looking man said with a nervous ugh as he appeared from the opposite side of the road.

  Balthazar’s eyestalks stood up. He didn’t need his Monocle of Examination to kly what those guys were. Bandits.

  As the crab took a tentative step back, he heard more noise ing from the edges of the road behind him. Two more bandits emerged from the shadowy woods surrounding the winding path, eae fnking him from a different dire.

  “Uh… evening, fels,” the nervous mert said. “I see my reputation precedes me, ha ha. Do you guys need something?”

  The one woman in the group stepped closer, pulling a knife from her belt.

  “Yes, crab. Your , or your life. You choose.”