Chapter 4: Alternate dimension

[Player Out of combat]

Alex heard as he felt a sensation of falling.

*THUMP*

He collapsed on the ground.

Alex tried to look around, still feeling hazy from exiting the gate.

"Am I out?" He said to himself, Alex couldn't see his surroundings properly, there were bright lights everywhere he tried to look.

"FREEZE!" A harsh voice stunned Alex. He didn't understand what was happening. He tried to get a closer look and saw that many people stood around him, guns pointed towards him.

[Player earned 5000 exp. The level increased to 5]

"Hmm, it seems like we have another migrant… and a weak one at that." A smooth yet stern female voice said.

As the lights still limited Alex's view, a silhouette of a woman appeared in front of him.

"You… What is your name?" The woman spoke as she looked towards Alex.

Alex couldn't see the woman but he could see her features by the silhouette and he could say one thing, 'She must be pretty.'

The notification also distracted him, there were prompts in front of him but he had ignored them for the time being, he knew that his life was in danger if he made a wrong move.

"Alex." Alex replied as he tried not to get distracted by the woman or the prompts in front of him.

"Hmm, Full name not just the first!" The woman seemed angry by Alex's response.

Alex however didn't know what to say. Ever since he was a child, he didn't know his parents; he was an orphan. Because of that, he didn't know his own surname, but he also never made one for himself.

"I… I am an orphan, I don't even know my surname. My name has been Alex for as long as I can remember…"

Alex replied slowly. The woman nodded and took some time to think.

[Initial stage of the tutorial has been completed: Tutorial on UI shall initiate.]

[The player can call me system. If the player wants to begin the tutorial now, please reply; System start.]

"Hmm, that is fine. Age?" She asked once more. Alex seemed to be annoyed by the system, even at this moment, when guns were pointed towards him and he was being questioned, the system continued to give him prompts to the point of annoyance.

'System, I need silence for 5 damn minutes. I'm being questioned here!' Alex said in his mind. He just hoped that the system would register his thoughts as commands.

"20…" Alex, his tone a bit on the annoyed side.

"Hmm? Is that arrogance I hear, or annoyance? Are these questions already getting you annoyed?" The woman said in an aggressive tone. She didn't seem to like Alex's tone in his reply.

[5 minutes mute. Initiated]

"No… I guess my mind is still hazy after falling through the gate. I don't have any ill intents," Alex replied. He felt a bit more relieved now that the system had muted itself. He could have some time to reply properly.

The woman looked towards Alex for some time and said, "Hmm… I guess you're right. I'm only forgiving you as you are a bit cute..."

The woman said as he turned to the guards who were pointing their guns to Alex. "Well, I guess I'll take it from here Boys, all return to your stations. The gate seems to be closing. We are lucky it wasn't another attack, just a migrant. I'll take care of him."

After hearing her words, Alex also felt a bit relieved. The feeling of all those guns pointed on him made Alex feel somewhat restless.

"But miss…" A voice replied in annoyance to the woman's words.

"Shut up! You forgot your role here. This was the last forecasted gate in this region. I am free for today. So, I can do what I want. I shall take this migrant to Quarantine myself. I have a someone to meet there, anyway. Got it?!" She replied in a harsh tone.

The man didn't know what to say. He and the rest of the men put down their weapons and the light meant to blind Alex.

After the lights were turned off, Alex could finally see what was happening In front of him, he could also get a look at the woman who was questioning him.

The woman stood proud, in a green and black dress, which showed off all her curves but also gave her the aura of a proud and confident woman.

Her face was that of a beauty, but her expression was stern. Her hair was an unusual white colour, only up to her neck. Her eyes were green, which just complimented her entire looks.

Alex was flabbergasted by the woman and her beauty. She didn't look like the type who would be so stern, but her actions said otherwise.

"Stand up, Alex. I know you must be confused. I'll tell you everything as we head to the quarantine. But as I explain, you will also need to answer my questions as well." The woman said as she looked towards Alex. Her face was still stern, but her voice was softer than before.

Alex only nodded and stood up.

"Follow me." She said as she walked towards a car.

Alex nodded once again. He didn't know what to say.

Alex looked around his surroundings, he could see that there were many military troops nearby, but this didn't look like an army camp, his surroundings were that of a normal park. It seemed like the gate had taken Alex to a random place, and the military reacted as soon as it detected the gate.

There was a question on Alex's mind as he followed the woman. Everyone else there was in uniform, but the woman seemed to wear what she liked. 'She must be a hero, but again to have such authority over these military men, she must be a famous one, at least S rank… Which makes no sense, There aren't much S ranks in the world and I've researched them all but… I've never seen her before. It's like she popped out of nowhere. Does this mean that she is hidden by the government?' Alex was confused. He, being a super fan of heroes, knew all the S rank heroes but never saw her before. It was a surprise for him.

"Get in." The woman said as she sat inside the car, pointing towards the seat next to her.

Alex however was a bit hesitant on what to do. All of this was too familiar to him. The last time he listened to a government woman, he nearly died. This time might have just been the same, the so-called quarantine might have just been an execution chamber. Alex learned from his previous mistakes.

"Hmm, you must also be doubtful of us. I can't say much about that, but again, you have no choice. It's either get in with me and have a friendly chat as we head to quarantine or get forced by the military and get questioned as you travel to quarantine." The woman smiled.

Alex smiled awkwardly. It seemed like he didn't have any choice here. He nodded and entered the car.

"Hmm, good boy… We'll, I will introduce myself. I am Hana, and funny enough, I also am an orphan and thus, no surname." The woman said in a soft voice as she looked towards Alex.

Alex nodded, it seemed like the Hana sympathized with him and decided to personally take him to quarantine.

"Hmm, now tell me, How did you enter the gate?" Hana asked as she looked outside the window.

Alex wanted to say something, but he got a small whiff of a very sweet scent.' She smells nice.' Alex said to himself, getting distracted by Hana's scent

"I… I was brought to the gate saying that it was an opportunity, they never explained what it was, they just said that the heroes needed F-Ranks like me. I accepted as I had trust in the government, but they betrayed me. They took me to the gate and force me, and 9 others, into the gate. We were attacked by weird beings but I managed to escape by entering another nearby gate…" Alex didn't want to say what actually happened, what happened to him was something never heard of before so he had to bend the truth so he wouldn't look crazy.

"Hmm, you have been through a lot. But you don't need to fret over anything. The government you speak of doesn't exist here. Well, most of the things that you used to probably won't exist here but again, I do see some similarities…" Hana said as she looked towards Alex with a small smile, small enough that not many could see it, but Alex noticed the smile.

However, he was also very confused by Hana's words. He looked at her and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, that gate took you to an alternate dimension, you're on earth but a different one…"