In a fancy penthouse at the very top of the tallest building in Tokyo a sixteen year old boy named Kaito Amamiya was living a life that was already pretty amazing. He was doing great. Tokyo’s tallest skyscraper was where he called home. Kaito Amamiya was on top of the world. He was very young to have achieved this.
The big windows that went from the floor to the ceiling showed him the city.Down thirty floors, in a garage that you can take an elevator there was his matte-black Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut car.
His closet was really big. It had a lot of shoes in it. He had one hundred and forty-seven pairs of sneakers that you could not buy just anywhere. Each pair of shoes had its own picture taken. They were all written down in a list and insured for a lot of money. More money than most peoples houses are worth.
His special computer, a custom ROG laptop was turned on. It had a cooling system that used liquid and it was plated with rose gold. The computer was showing three screens at the time all of them showing money being made while he was sleeping. The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut car and the custom ROG laptop were a few of the many cool things that he owned. Notifications from four different social accounts (total followers: 4.7 million) pinged like expensive champagne bubbles.
He leaned back in his Herman Miller x Logitech throne chair. The black card was resting between his fingers, like a playing card. He let out a sigh. The Herman Miller x Logitech throne chair was really comfortable. He was still feeling tired. He looked at the card again wondering what to do next with the black card.
“Bored again.”
The moment the words came out of his mouth everything just stopped working. The world around him did this thing, like a big computer glitch.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The RGB lights in his room started to flicker like a video. The city outside just stopped shining like time stood still. All the noise just disappeared. It was totally quiet. Something really weird happened. Gravity just stopped working on him. The RGB lights in his room were still. The city outside was frozen, but he was floating.
Kaito's body lifted off the chair. This is what happened to Kaito. Kaito's body was no longer touching the chair because it had lifted off.
Kaito tried to grab the desk. The desk was right, in front of him. When he reached out his fingers went through it. It was like his fingers were made of smoke or something they just passed through the desk.
A low voice that sounded fuzzy spoke right inside the man's head.
【System Notice: Forced World Transfer Initiated】
【Privilege Level: None】
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
【All acquired assets, titles, affiliations, and status effects will be reset upon entry】
【Welcome to Layer 0 – The Unclaimed Frontier】
Before he could scream the penthouse and the city and the planet all came together like a piece of paper that you fold up. Everything got smaller and smaller until all he could see was a white dot. The penthouse and the city and the planet were all still there. They were folded inward like a special kind of art made out of light.
Then nothing.
When I finally felt something again everything just felt off. The sensation was not what I was used to, it was wrong.
Cold mud sucked at his bare feet.
Rain the color of weak tea hammered his face.
The man had on some gray pieces of cloth that were probably a t-shirt and some boxers, at one time. He did not have any shoes on his feet. He was not wearing a watch. The man did not have a phone with him. He also did not have a wallet. The man really did not have anything on him.
The man looked down at his hands. He saw his hands. They looked really familiar to him. His hands were the hands he had been using for a very long time.
They were empty.
Completely, terrifyingly empty.
A window with a cracked status suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. The blue text was really bright against the world, around him:
【Name: Kaito Amamiya】
【Class: Unassigned】
【Level: 1】
【Titles: None】
【Blessings: None】
【Curses: Heir of Nothing】
【Held Assets: 0】
【Debt: 847,392,110 ?】 ← (Transfer penalty from previous world)
Kaito looked at the number. He was really staring at the number. The number was all he could see. Kaito was thinking about the number.
Eight hundred forty-seven million something.
He laughed one time. It was an ugly laugh. Then he put his hands over his mouth. The sound of his laugh felt too loud in this wet place. The sound of his laugh was just too big, for this place.
Somewhere, behind him a big thing was moving through the bushes. The thing was really big. It was moving quietly through the undergrowth. The undergrowth was very dense. The big thing was moving slowly through it.
The man turned around.
A thing that looked like a mix of a wolf and old junk metal and bad nightmares lifted its head up. The creature had six eyes that were the color of old phone screens that do not work anymore and they were staring right at him. The creature was. The drool was a brown color, like rust it was making a hissing sound where it hit the ground.
The status window was really helpful. It was updated.
【Appraisal: Starved Ironjaw – Level 14】
【Threat Assessment: Lethal to current host】
Kaito's knees just gave out on him.
The man hit the mud hard. The mud was very dirty. The man got mud all over his clothes when he hit the mud. Hitting the mud was a shock, for the man. The mud was soft. The man hit it very hard.
No mansion security.
No bodyguard on speed dial.
No helicopter extraction.
No cheat code.
No retry button.
The man was a regular person. He was soaked to the bone, did not have any shoes on his feet, he had no money and he was finally just, like everyone else.
The Ironjaw took one step forward.
Kaitos' mouth started talking before Kaito's brain could think about what Kaito was saying.
I really do not want to die when I am playing on the tutorial difficulty. The tutorial difficulty is supposed to be easy. I am still having a lot of trouble. I keep dying of the tutorial difficulty. It is very frustrating. Playing on the difficulty should not be this hard.
The sky was really dark. Then lightning cracked somewhere far above the trees.
The rain really got heavier.
Deep down, inside him in the part that he was really ashamed of, a small and very angry voice spoke up:
Then stand up, rich boy.
For the first time in sixteen years,
Kaito Amamiya clenched his fists tight but they were empty; they did not have anything in them. The fists of Kaito Amamiya were closed tightly so that it was clear he was feeling very strongly about something and Kaito Amamiya was holding on to nothing at all.
…and stood.
