In all honesty, I should have expected this.

I knew I was a bit gullible, but this… this was stupid level of complacency. I should have known.

I stood in place, staring at an empty wall and a door that should have been there, but wasn't.

Fucking cyborgs, man.

The bitch must’ve taken off before I could deliver my litany of prepared harsh words. I supposed it was time to move on, forget and forgive and all that. I was still salty though.

I checked, once, twice, three times. Nothing I did revealed anything new, the door simply wasn’t there, as if it hadn’t existed, to begin with.

I contemplated taking a jackhammer to that friggin wall for a second but ultimately decided to cut my losses and leave. I had shit to do.

Nothing for it, oh well. Another disappointing conclusion to a disappointing errand. Color me surprised.

Just as I walked back through the atrium in order to leave the library—and still feeling over the moon from the pleasant surprise in the form of a tiny inbox icon in my peripheral vision—the icon started flashing.

I stared at the inbox icon, at a loss on how to activate it, then I realized I knew jack about interfacing with it. I lifted my phone to eye level and—before thinking of the consequences—held the button to turn it back on.

The phone finished booting and lit up with a chime, and it never crossed my mind to question how I’d had a freaking HUD in my vision all this time with the phone turned off in the first place because that’s when things took a turn for the beautiful.

I probably looked like a drooling idiot standing in place while staring at empty air to my older self, but I was in actual heaven.

Because I was beholding the miracles of AR in first-person. And hell yeah it was worth it.

It was disorienting at first. I’ll be honest, I almost tripped and fell on my ass from sheer surprise at the spectacle going on around me. A spectacle that turned a big ass room made from nondescript concrete into a freaking explosive menagerie of colors, shapes, and lights.

I was standing on a reef at the edge of the ocean, and when I looked down and saw the dark waters ahead, I had a passing thought about the depths of the ocean and what dwelled there, and suddenly, I was there. I was visiting the deepest reaches, where gargantuan monsters lived and preyed, which made me think of how small humans were, and how we’re a speck on a huge tapestry that’s the entire freaking universe, and then I was out in that universe, looking at the trillions of tiny specks—stars—like an all-knowing god staring at my creations.

Omniscience aside, I then thought about the edge of the universe, and I was suddenly there. And as I stared at the nothingness before me, I realized I’d achieved my big dream. I was finally a fully functioning member of society, and there was nothing more to look forward to.

Ha! That pun was tasteless, I agree, but that’s all behind me now.

Fine, then! And before you say it, I know, I’m beyond redemption.

As I thought of all the puns I could be making at that moment, I found my vision blurring. Something was terribly wrong.

My perception was slowing down, and it wasn’t the projections being simulated around me, no. I could feel my own hands moving slower than they should. Every muscle in my body was responding slower. The message notifications on my phone’s screen were flashing at a glacial pace, and the seconds-hand on the wall clock was moving agonizingly slow.

Another thought struck me, was the world slowing down, or was my own cognition speeding up?

But wait, why was there a wall clock that I was staring at? And more importantly, the messages on my phone! Which I was supposed to check? I’d forgotten about that entirely. My phone… Where did the damn thing go?

“That finally caught your attention, huh?” A regal voice spoke.

I idly twirled my mustachios as I looked behind me with an inquisitive look, and by reflex, I was suddenly kneeling, which was somewhat hard to do in full fucking plate armor, I ruminated.

Wait, there’s something wrong with that sentence. what the f–

“Your Grace,” I addressed the queen reverently—from long-ingrained habit—as my mind did backflips at the previous sentence, and this situation I found myself thrust into. Where the fuck am I? Weren’t I just standing in a modern library?

No, I was standing in a spacious hall, where I’d been looking at a tall golden wallclock encrusted with gems, and now that I’d turned around, a beautiful queen—crown, scepter, regalia, and all—with a regal bearing.

“Ser Rufult, I greet and welcome you to The Radiant Court,” her tone was a bit haughty, if not intentionally so, “would you care for some refreshments? Just yesteryear I was gifted with the finest of minty wines, a tribute that was acquired from the breach after painstaking effort, I presume,” she twirled her scepter—which was faintly glowing with the barest hints of power—and paused, “a bit sugary for my taste, to be frank, but someone with your sweet a tooth might appreciate it much more than I,” she finished with a wink.

“I would humbly decline, Your Grace,” I—or rather this Ser Rufult, whoever the fuck he was—rejected her offer politely, “If I may, I am here to humbly request an audience with His Majesty.”

She scoffed at this, “Indeed, yourself and half the kingdom,” she seemed frustrated, “and his own queen, it seems.”

“Even your highness, my queen?” Ser Rufult wondered.

“Especially I, ever since that mad crook found his way into our courts. Him and his insane ramblings about a summo—” The queen’s reply was abruptly cut off as a demon sprang up behind her and opened its maw wide. Then time stopped. Oh no.

I’ve been Isekai’d into a freaking web novel. Fuck, I’d rather die. But how? I detected zero trucks in my vicinity. I was inside a library for fuck’s sake, how the fuck did I…? Ahh. The augs, the mystery game… I see now. I simultaneously freaked out and calmed down a little. Then I tried to enjoy the experience. I really hoped my body was fine back at the library. The scene was surreal though.

Meanwhile, after unsheathing his greatsword, Ser Rufult had taken a backseat and handed me the reigns. So this was the tutorial, I supposed. Well, then.

Time was still stopped, but as soon as I made a move, everything resumed again in slow motion. I saw a spectral ribbon in the air that I assumed I had to follow—if only because my arm wouldn’t easily move any other way. Slowly, I swung the greatsword along with the highlighted guideline, and it severed the demon’s arm in two. I then saw another guideline to follow, I let my body do as bidden as I leaped forwards and kicked the queen aside.

Then I was face to face with the demonic fiend, and try as I might, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of trepidation creeping up my spine as it nonchalantly grinned at me, triple rows of sharp incisors and all, and the smell.

I felt a bit heroic, facing such a demon, but by God above, the smell was enough to drive me away if I could run. I was honestly surprised at how they got the details of everything. I’d later learn that it wasn’t that intense for everyone, but oh well.

From that point, the guidelines weren’t restricting me as much, and I was free to act. It was about time to kick a demon’s ass and steal its bubblegum… or get kicked in the gonads.

Either option was up for debate at that point.