Chapter 99: Through Portal

[You have used the Temporary Dimensional Travel Ticket.]

Tremble!

"What the—?"

The moment Kyle ripped the ticket in half, his entire room began to shake violently. The floor quivered beneath his feet, furniture rattled, and objects on his desk threatened to tumble to the ground.

For a moment, he stood there, bewildered by the sudden commotion.

Was this supposed to happen?

He glanced around his room, watching as everything trembled as though an earthquake had struck the building.

Fortunately, he wasn’t particularly worried about the shaking itself. Considering that the System was responsible for whatever was happening, he assumed it had something to do with his ticket.

Still, this wasn’t what he had expected.

He had imagined a beautiful, Minecraft-style portal appearing peacefully in front of him, perhaps with a few sparkling particles and a satisfying magical sound effect.

Instead, his room was shaking like it was about to collapse.

"Always doing the most out-of-pocket shit," Kyle muttered, rolling his eyes. "Couldn’t you just do anything normally for once?"

He folded his arms and waited for the next development.

If the System had gone through the trouble of shaking his entire room, surely something interesting was about to happen.

*Whoooooosh!*

*Zzzzzzzzzzz!*

After nearly a minute of rumbling, the shaking abruptly stopped.

Silence descended upon the room.

Then, directly in front of Kyle, a dark, spherical portal materialized in midair.

Its surface twisted ominously, resembling a swirling mass of black smoke and distorted space. Strange ripples moved across its surface, while a faint, unsettling vibration seemed to emanate from its depths.

Kyle’s smile vanished.

"What the fuck is that? Shit’s looking demonic!"

He instinctively took half a step backward.

This was absolutely nothing like the friendly portal he had imagined. There were no colorful particles, no reassuring glow, and certainly no inviting view of the destination on the other side.

The entire portal was pitch-black.

He couldn’t see anything inside it.

For all he knew, it could lead to a peaceful forest—or straight into the mouth of some enormous monster.

"Are you sure that’s the right portal?" Kyle demanded, staring at the System notification. "Can you confirm that everything’s working properly and the ticket didn’t glitch out or something?"

His voice cracked slightly toward the end.

He wasn’t proud of it, but the portal looked genuinely sinister. Even if he had spent days preparing for his first interdimensional journey, he hadn’t prepared himself for something that looked like a gateway to hell.

[That’s the correct portal. Don’t worry about it. Entering will be safe.]

Kyle stared at the notification.

"...You’re sure?"

[Affirmative.]

He hesitated for another moment before exhaling.

"All right. If you say so."

He trusted the System or at least, he trusted it enough to believe that it wouldn’t accidentally send him into the void because of a technical malfunction.

With that reassurance, Kyle squared his shoulders and began walking toward the portal.

It hovered only a few feet away.

One step then another.

He extended his hand slightly, half-expecting some strange force to push him back.

Nothing happened.

"Here goes nothing."

Kyle took the final step.

*SHLUUURP!*

"WH—"

The moment his foot crossed the portal’s boundary, an overwhelming force seized his entire body.

It felt as though an invisible vacuum had activated around him, dragging him forward with tremendous force. Before he could even finish his exclamation, his body was pulled into the swirling darkness.

His surroundings vanished.

For an instant, there was nothing but darkness and the sensation of being dragged through an impossibly narrow passage.

Then—

***

*THUD!*

"Gah! Fuck!"

Kyle landed on the ground.

Fortunately, the surface beneath him was covered in thick, soft grass, cushioning his fall. He didn’t suffer any injuries, though the sudden landing left him momentarily disoriented.

He scrambled upright, instinctively checking his body.

Everything seemed fine.

His arms and legs worked normally, and he couldn’t feel any pain beyond the brief discomfort of his awkward landing.

"Damn it. A little warning would’ve been nice."

He brushed his clothes off and noticed a faint green stain on his elbow.

There was barely any dirt on him, but he wiped it away anyway before finally lifting his head.

"Where am I? What world is this?"

The question died on his lips as he took in his surroundings.

His eyes widened.

Trees was the first thing he noticed.

Trees surrounded him in every direction, but calling them ordinary trees would have been an insult to the sheer absurdity of their size.

Their enormous trunks rose from the ground like colossal pillars, while their branches stretched so high that the uppermost sections disappeared into the distant canopy.

Each tree looked like a skyscraper fashioned from wood.

Kyle slowly tilted his head backward, attempting to locate the tops of the nearest trees.

"Holy shit..."

He had never seen anything remotely comparable on Earth. The forest was so immense that it felt like he was in the lands of giants.

Sunlight filtered through layers of leaves high above, creating scattered golden patches across the forest floor.

It was beautiful and a little intimidating.

[Time Remaining: 29 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 29 Seconds.]

A notification appeared in front of him, accompanied by a countdown.

Kyle blinked.

"So the timer starts immediately, huh?"

He had barely arrived, yet a few seconds had already been deducted from his thirty-day allowance. It wasn’t particularly concerning, but it reminded him that his time here was limited.

Another notification appeared.

[Temporary Travel Point Marked.]

[You may return to your original world at any time. Your return location will be the designated point in your original world.]

Kyle nodded.

That was reassuring. At least he had confirmation that his return mechanism was functioning properly.

He could explore this world without worrying about being permanently stranded simply because he couldn’t find his way back.

However, before he could contemplate his situation any further, he suddenly felt something wrong with his breathing.

"Khugh—!"

He clutched his chest and inhaled sharply.

The air felt strangely heavy.

Every breath seemed to require more effort than it should, as though his lungs were struggling to process the atmosphere around him. He tried breathing through his mouth, but the sensation persisted.

"What the hell is happening now?"

[Initiating Basic World Adaptation.]

A faint warmth spread throughout his body and the discomfort disappeared almost instantly.

Kyle took another breath and then another.

Everything felt normal again.

"Oh! I can breathe properly now."

He inhaled deeply, testing his lungs. The air no longer felt heavy, and his breathing had returned to its usual effortless rhythm.

The System had adapted his body to the world’s fundamental environmental differences before the situation could become dangerous.

"That’s actually pretty convenient."

Kyle rolled his shoulders and began testing his movements.

He swung his arms, rotated his wrists, bent his knees, and kicked his legs through the air.

Everything worked perfectly.

There was no stiffness, no unusual resistance, and no discomfort in his joints. His body moved just as naturally as it had on Earth.

He even performed a few light stretches to ensure that his muscles were responding normally without any trouble. He was confident enough to even do some backflips too right now but he avoided doing that.

"Perfect."