Chapter 2: Entrance Ceremony (Part 1)

When he woke up in the morning, the world had changed.

No metaphors or jokes, it literally had changed.

“What is this…”

He was quietly looking at the attendance check window that appeared in front of him, and suddenly his head felt like it was going to split!

“Ugh!”

A wave of information rushes into his head.

Ian Clark, age 17, the eldest son of Baron Clark, a freshman at Canopus Academy, today was the entrance ceremony…

He complained because of the dizziness and nausea caused by the flood of information, and headed to the bathroom as his instinct led him. As he vomited while leaning against the sink, he carefully looked up at the mirror.

“Who is this?”

In the mirror, a handsome gray-haired man stood with a sullen expression.

*****

There was a game called [Project Luna]. A gacha game that did its best to steal the users money.

Ian Clark was an extra in that game.

‘I don’t even remember the guy…’

Hell, if it had been a game that had depth enough to remember even one extra, it wouldn’t have been called a gacha.

He was suffering from an incurable disease, so was going to die with regret even today or tomorrow. But to think that he would possess a character from a gacha game like this. Even he wondered if he had gone crazy because of the illness. But this energetic body and vivid reality made him no longer suspect that he was crazy.

‘And above all…’

[Main Quest Occurs!]

[Save the world.]

The square hologram window was floating in front of hi,. This hologram, which seemed too complicated to be materialized by his brain, dispelled that doubt.

Looking at the quest window, he burst into laughter.

“Why should I save it? I am going to die anyway…”

He showed a self-ridiculing smile and got up. He was going to die anyway, so he had no intention of saving the world.

‘I wish I had a young and healthy body. Then I would be able to live and enjoy the rest of the journey well.’

Tiling Tiling!

[Save the world!]

This time the exclamation mark was added. He continued to swing his arms to make it disappear, and the details appeared.

[Reward: A healthy body.]

[Death on failure.]

“Ah, are you trying to bribe me now?”

It hurt my self-esteem.

*****

It was worth it to give this thing a try. To be precise, it could grant him a healthy body which he coveted so much.

Ian quickly changed his clothes and opened the door. A huge arrow was floating in his sight.

[Participation in the entrance ceremony (NEW!)]

‘If it’s the entrance ceremony… isn’t that the game prologue?’

As he walked, he thought about the story of the game. 

As a mobile game that depended on illustrations, its story was very poor.

Somehow, for some reason, the Demon King was resurrected and threatened mankind.

The protagonist entered the academy that trained the summoners and eventually defeated the demon king. It was such a boring story.

‘It had a cliche story… so its revenue depended on the gacha.’

With that in mind, Ian followed the arrow and the auditorium appeared. He opened the auditorium door and went inside. There were already many other students in the auditorium besides him. The fact that their hairs were colorful proved that this world was in the game.

As Ian was spending his time looking at the different hair colors that made him nauseous, the lights in the auditorium suddenly went out. After a while, the light at the front of the auditorium lit up, and a woman appeared.

“Everyone please pay attention!”

All the chattering teenagers shut their mouths and looked at the woman. She nodded as if she liked their behavior, and began to introduce herself.

“I am the principal of the academy. My name is Catherine.”

She was a woman too young to be the principal. Surprised by the fact, the cadets caused a commotion. 

However, this world was a world where summoners were revered, and the fact that a young woman became the principal meant that she was a summoner with a powerful summon.

“Quiet!”

She raised her hand, the pattern on the back of her hand lit up, and then the space was torn apart.

Thud!

A huge hand protruded out of the torn space. The auditorium was filled with just one giant arm.

A gigantic summoned beast that could seemingly to kill all kinds of monsters by simply squashing them down with its weight. 

The students who saw it started to tremble little by little.

She sent her summons back as if she didn’t need to show any more.

“I think this is enough for my introduction. If you have any more questions, please come and visit me in person after the entrance ceremony.”

Having said that, she began to read the script she had brought with her, as if all this pretentiousness was bothering her.

After reading out the words and advice that were commonly said by the principal, and some points to be cautious of as a cadet of the academy, she moved on to the last part of the entrance ceremony.

“From now on, we will take the oath of admission.”

The oath of admission, one of the events that users who encountered this game for the first time praised as picturesque. The reason why even the users who were angry at the imbalance and lack of ingenuity still continued to play this game.

A red-haired girl appeared on the podium. Her fluttering hair was red as if it was dripped in blood.

Upon reaching the podium, she was handed a paper by the principal and began taking the oath.

“Oath.”

“I, as a cadet of the Canopus Academy. Will uphold dignity and honor. I swear to dedicate this body for the sake of mankind.”

“Cadet representative, Stella Eritz.”

The entrance ceremony was finished as soon as the oath ceremony was over. However, just because the entrance ceremony was over did not mean that all the events were over.

“Cadets, please follow us.”

The most important event in this world about to begin. Ian followed the teacher while feeling slightly nervous. Following the direction of the teachers, the cadets headed to the temple as a group. The temple was a very familiar space for Ian.

‘How many times did I come here?’

The most important place in the gacha game and in this world, it was the Temple of Summoning. One of the few places in the world where one could summon the summons. Because of this temple, the Academy was the cradle of the continent and the most important place in the empire.