Chapter 78: The Wrong Place

The first message was composed entirely of question marks, and this meant its data was missing and its contents could not be determined, unlike the second message, which despite its brevity was clear and comprehensible.

[ Good luck ??? ]

A message of only two words, no explanations, no numbers, nothing, as though it were a whisper from the unknown telling him that everything he had previously thought was true.

He had not come to this world by chance; someone had brought him here, and whether it was intentional or by mistake, what was certain was that the transfer process had not gone well, or rather had not been completed.

In truth, he had been aware of this from the beginning, but obtaining evidence that confirmed it caused an entirely different question to cross his mind:

’If my transfer did not proceed as planned, does this not mean I did not arrive at the destination I was supposed to arrive at?’

A glimpse of surprise appeared on his face, ’Wait a moment, have I been in the wrong place this entire time? No, perhaps I did not even arrive at the right world at all and ended up stranded here.’

More questions and doubts arose in his mind, but he kept his thoughts clear, and after taking a short while to process everything, he smiled bitterly, saying: "This is absurd. System, tell me who..."

Suddenly he fell silent, swallowing the question he had been about to ask. There was no use, the system would not answer him, his bloodline would not answer him, no one would answer him, not even the unknown person who had sent the message.

There was no way to contact him, for at the end of the messages screen there was a small note in a cautionary red font saying that this contact no longer existed.

He was alone, and this was a truth that had not changed.

"You know what, it does not matter." Disappointment appeared on his face.

In any case, if his new hypothesis was correct, and he was now lost in the wrong world, then this changed everything, and this time in a positive way.

A faint sigh slipped from his lips, signaling his relief, and without lowering his guard he continued analyzing his situation seriously.

’Perhaps the person who transferred me from my world is the same person who is trying to breach the system. Do they wish to find me after losing my trail? It is difficult to say for certain. What is certain is that I will not allow him or them to manipulate my life however they please.’

Despite his bloodline keeping him calm, an intense killing intent emanated from him that contradicted his relaxed expression.

His lips twisted in a small cold smile, and he said:

"After all, it seems that being stranded in this place was not such a bad thing. Yes, I went through some hardships, but why complain? I’m alive, free, somewhat safe, and most importantly, I’m still myself."

With the change in his perspective, he realized that many of the things he had previously considered curses, were in truth blessings, and for this reason he reorganized his priorities again and made several adjustments to the plans he had thought of just a few minutes ago.

Although his intention to go to the human empire had not changed, he decided to postpone this matter for a few more months. Gathering information was necessary, but it was not very urgent right now, so it was better to find another way or source that was safer.

For some reason, the spider woman crossed his mind, and this was logical, for she had been the only creature he knew in this world, and although she had harmed him in several ways, he could not deny that she had also helped him, for she had taught him and protected him, and eased his loneliness a little.

He closed his eyes, and in that moment, her image appeared inside his mind. Her slender body, her captivating red eyes, her soft voice, every detail of her was clear as though she were standing directly before him.

He contemplated her face. There was nothing to say, and nothing had changed in his thoughts or feelings, she had been a dangerous monster and no matter how foolish he became or how enchanted he was by her, he would not forget that.

He took a deep breath, and without thinking about her further, he opened his eyes, and directed his gaze to the messages screen again.

At that moment, a strange notification suddenly appeared, or rather a loading bar moving at great speed.

[ Updating messages... ]

"What?" Arthur was a little surprised, and before he understood what was happening, the bar reached its end. Then, another notification appeared that was even stranger than the previous one.

[ New contact added ]

[ Unknown 2 ]

"There is still more?"

With a kind of hesitation, he pressed on the new name that appeared in the contacts list. The profile was empty, and there were no messages in the conversation window.

This was expected, so he showed no reaction, but his expression tensed a little when he saw what was in the lower part of the conversation screen.

[ Send a message ]

"Huh, can I communicate with this person?" He asked spontaneously, unable to hide his astonishment.

[ Yes. ] The system replied tersely.

Upon receiving confirmation, his expression turned serious, this was a grave matter, especially since he did not know the identity of whoever was on the other end, perhaps an enemy, or perhaps a potential future ally.

He stared at the familiar "Send" icon for several minutes, and in the end decided to ignore all his reservations. Despite the risks, he would send a message.

He mentally issued his command to the system, and a keyboard containing letters of the Latin alphabet appeared.

He thought carefully about what he would write, and since he was not certain whether the other party could understand English, he settled on sending a simple greeting.

To make the message appear friendlier, he placed a waving hand emoji at the end, then pressed the send icon.

[ Sending... ]

He watched the loading bar with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. His only fear was that the other party would be able to track his location somehow, but he quickly realized there was no need for that.

The moment the loading bar reached 99%, he heard a faint notification sound, and a red screen appeared before him.

[ Message Transmission: Failed ]

[ Timeline Malfunction ]

[ Timeline Recalibration Initiated... ]