Chapter 2: Holy shit, I blew up my garage and woke up in another world?
The garage had always been my sanctuary.
The smell of heated metal, oil, and welding filled the air as tiny sparks flew from the workbench.
I couldn’t hide the smile spread across my face.
Standing before me was the greatest creation of my life.
A humanoid android, powered by a nuclear reactor that I had managed to miniaturize down to the size of a cellphone battery.
Years of research, countless failures, and sleepless nights had all led to this moment.
I had finally done it.
I ran my hand over the metallic surface of the android’s chest, where the small compartment remained closed.
Inside rested the compact reactor, silent and unbelievably powerful.
I picked up a precision screwdriver and walked over to the workbench.
The android’s abdomen was open, revealing miles of circuitry, optical fibers, and processing boards.
—Let’s eliminate these last few bugs... I whispered and got to work.
I connected a few cables.
Ran several tests.
Replaced a faulty microprocessor.
Recompiled part of the central system.
As I worked, my biochip beeped.
[Beep!]
A familiar sensation ran through my head.
A moment later, a translucent hologram appeared directly over my retina.
A complete three-dimensional reconstruction of the android’s interior.
Every cable.
Every circuit.
Every flow of energy.
Everything could be observed in real time.
I smiled.
It was simply perfect.
I closed the android’s abdominal compartment.
Took two steps back.
—Ready to boot up, metal boy?
Beside the workbench was a set of keyboards connected to a large floating display.
I reached out.
Pressed the startup key.
Hummmm~~
A deep hum echoed throughout the garage.
The lights flickered.
Then...
The android’s eyes lit up with an intense blue glow.
Its servomotors came to life.
It slowly moved its fingers.
Turned its head.
Then placed one foot on the floor.
And finally stood before me.
Its voice echoed with perfect stability.
—Unit #236... ready to serve!
I couldn’t help but smile proudly.
Finally.
It worked.
I crossed my arms and gave a command.
—Give me a status report.
The android remained motionless for a second.
Then replied.
—Initiating diagnostics.
A brief pause.
—All structural systems operational.
—Servomotors... ninety-nine point eight percent.
—Primary memory... intact.
I kept listening attentively.
Then it hesitated.
For only half a second.
—Power source...
Silence.
One of my eyebrows arched.
—Continue.
The synthesized voice replied.
—Oscillation detected.
My smile vanished.
At the same time, my biochip automatically displayed an alert across my vision.
[ALERT.]
The hologram changed color.
Green lines turned yellow.
Then...
Red.
A three-dimensional model of the nuclear battery appeared before my eyes.
The temperature was rising.
Far too fast.
That doesn’t make any sense...
I increased the hologram’s magnification with nothing more than a mental command.
Multiple readings began appearing.
[Temperature: 480°C.]
[620°C.]
[790°C.]
My heart started racing.
—No...
The android kept speaking.
—Reactor entering the process of...
The sentence was cut short.
Its entire body began to vibrate.
A piercing sound filled the garage.
~~Piiiiiiiiii...
On the hologram, I finally saw the problem.
A microscopic flaw.
A single layer of the containment system had failed to synchronize properly.
The nuclear reaction was entering a feedback loop.
Every second exponentially increased the amount of energy being produced.
It was impossible to shut it down.
My blood ran cold.
—No... no... no...
The hologram displayed a single message.
[IMMINENT MELTDOWN.]
My eyes widened.
A chill ran down my spine.
I took one step back.
Then another.
The blue light in the android’s eyes turned white.
Then...
Blindingly bright.
Its chest began to crack.
Beams of energy escaped through the fractures.
I knew exactly what was about to happen.
There was no time.
There was no escape.
I looked up in despair.
And screamed with all the strength in my lungs.
—I’m screwed!
A blinding white light consumed everything.
For a brief instant, the entire world seemed to disappear.
Then...
The explosion hit me.
BOOMM~~
It felt as though millions of needles pierced every inch of my body all at once.
My bones felt like they were shattering.
My skin burned.
My chest was crushed by an impossible force.
The pain surpassed anything I could possibly imagine.
I tried to breathe.
I couldn’t.
I tried to scream.
No sound came out.
Only pain.
A pain so intense that my brain seemed incapable of comprehending it.
And then...
As quickly as it had begun...
Everything disappeared.
Absolute silence.
Darkness.
.
.
.
.
Some time later.
.
.
.
Or perhaps a very long time later.
.
.
.
Who could possibly know?
.
.
.
.
In another world..
.
.
.
The first thing I felt was air violently rushing into my lungs.
—AAAH!
I jerked my head up, gasping like someone who had just escaped death.
My heart pounded against my chest.
Instinctively, I ran my hands over my body.
No burns.
No pain.
No injuries.
It had all felt so real.
I took several deep breaths, trying to regain control of my mind.
That was when I realized.
I was no longer in my garage.
Nor was I in a hospital.
I blinked several times.
What...?
My gaze slowly swept across the room.
I was sitting in a wooden chair, my face resting on a table covered with ancient books.
Some were completely open.
Others displayed pages covered in strange symbols and diagrams.
There was also a glass flask containing a strange green liquid.
The only illumination came from several lit candles, casting a yellowish glow that made the shadows dance across the walls.
I swallowed hard.
—Where... am I?
My voice came out as little more than a whisper.
I slowly stood up from the chair.
The wood creaked beneath my weight.
I looked around the rest of the room.
It was a simple bedroom.
A wooden bed rested against one of the walls.
Beside it was a small chest reinforced with iron fittings.
A single door occupied the opposite corner.
The walls were made entirely of gray stone.
There was no electricity.
No outlets.
Only candles.
My mind began racing.
A hospital?
A museum?
Some kind of reenactment?
No...
None of it made any sense.
Then an utterly absurd possibility crossed my mind.
—Could this...
I slowly looked down at my own hands.
—...be... reincarnation?
My voice was barely audible.
—Did I... reincarnate?
The very instant those words left my mouth...
My head felt as though it exploded.
—Ugh...
I clutched my forehead tightly.
Hundreds...
No.
Thousands of images flooded my mind.
A childhood.
A father.
A mother.
A small estate surrounded by farmland.
Days spent procrastinating and doing stupid things.
It all happened within a matter of seconds.
I staggered backward.
I almost lost my balance.
I took a deep breath until I managed to organize that avalanche of memories.
Then I understood.
Those memories weren’t mine.
At the same time...
They were.
The owner of this body was also named George Gil.
It was like looking at an alternate version of myself.
Another George.
Another life.
Another world.
A world where magic was real.
Mages walked among ordinary people.
Dragons ruled the skies.
Dwarves built underground cities.
My heart began racing again.
But this time...
It wasn’t fear.
It was disbelief.
I looked at my hands once more.
They were smaller.
Younger.
Without the burn marks, calluses, or tiny scars I had accumulated over years of working as an engineer.
I ran my fingers across my face.
My skin was smooth.
My body felt light.
A small laugh escaped me.
—So... it’s true...
I took a deep breath.
—I really died.
For some reason...
Accepting that was far easier than it should have been.
Perhaps because I had witnessed my own death.
Or perhaps because, in the face of the evidence, denial was pointless.
I slowly shook my head.
—Who would’ve thought...
A faint smile formed on my lips.
—After building an android powered by a nuclear reactor the size of a battery... I’d end up waking up in a fantasy world.
I walked toward the open window.
The moment I looked outside...
My breath caught.
—My God...
I was incredibly high up.
The clouds seemed close enough to touch.
Far below me, a gigantic forest stretched as far as my eyes could see.
The endless sea of green was bathed in the light of a colossal moon.
A silver moon.
Far larger than Earth’s.
Its light illuminated rivers, mountains, and valleys, turning the entire landscape into a painting.
I stood completely motionless.
It was beautiful.
As I gazed at that impossible view, a few more memories surfaced naturally.
This time, without any pain.
Just information.
I was the son of a baron.
When my talent for magic was discovered during the affinity tests, my father made a decision that changed the fate of our entire family.
He sold half of his territory as payment to secure my admission into the Great Magic Tower of Arcangrove.
One of the many towers that existed.
...
1589 Words
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