I stepped into my room and immediately let out a sigh. The off-white paint on the walls and the black carpet was soothing to my already aching head. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing my robe in its current state, so I’d been forced to hide it for the time being and make my way back to the first-year dorms without it.

I pulled off my shoes, kicked off my slacks, and slipped into a pair of jogging pants I had laying on my bed for just such an occasion.

Thank God I don’t have to share a room anymore.

Because of trouble stirring in the East, the Emperor had seen fit to expedite the process of getting the freshman to the Academy. Four hundred eleven and twelve-year-old were loaded onto a train and brought to the Academy eight months ago.

Unfortunately, this did present a minor problem— there wasn’t enough room. The first-year dorms were already occupied by the previous year’s students. And none of the other dorms were equipped to handle us either.

Not that I blamed them. I didn’t want to room with a group of twelve-year-olds either, and I was one of them…

The Academy was huge, there was no doubt about that, but not even it could accommodate everyone. So, the incoming students were relegated to magically constructed cabins located behind the Academy.

Each one was large enough to fit eight children in a dorm room style setting. And no, they were not separated by gender. Let me tell you, despite my prior age, my current body is that of a teenager going through certain… Things.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t romantically interested in any of the girls. My body still forced a certain level of awkwardness into the situation.

Honestly, I thought the entire thing was stupid. We should’ve been separated by gender, but because this world was designed to be a harem anime, the people here don’t follow the normal rules of logic.

No matter how much I complained about it, throwing a bunch of prepubescent teenagers into a gender-neutral cabin without any sort of supervision makes perfect sense to them. That fact was something that I seriously struggled to adapt to.

But after living here for a while, I’ve learned to stop questioning their reasoning. Those conversations never went anywhere, anyway.

I locked the door behind me to ensure I had as much privacy as possible. I wasn’t actually worried about someone stumbling upon what I was doing.

There was only one person who ever came by my room, and she’d been called back home for the time being. But there were more than a few students who didn’t like me for one reason or another, and there was always a chance they’d try to do something when I least expected it.

That was something I’d had to learn the hard way…

I raised my hand with my palm facing away from me. My index and middle fingers were pointing towards 12 o’clock, while the rest were curled into my palm. I consciously sent mana into my fingers, causing them to glow with a bluish black light.

I began to rotate my arm clockwise; the motion leaving a trail of light in its wake. At the same time, I started twisting my hand so that by the time I returned to the twelve o'clock position, my fingers were facing me.

Once the motion was complete and the light trail formed a complete circle, the light flashed once, and a phenomenon known as a (Summoner’s Gate) was created in front of my hand.

The gate started out at a measly six inches in height, but rapidly grew until it was slightly taller than I was, and twice as wide. It was about as thick as a piece of parchment paper and looked like stained glass.

I personally thought it was really cool looking. I still got goosebumps from the sight and knowing that I was the one responsible for creating it was enough to make me slightly giddy.

Once the portal stabilized one point six seconds later; yes, I’ve timed it, I stepped inside.

A one-hundred and six story, dark-red, brick apartment building built into a slight L-shape appeared in a void of perpetual darkness. The darkness seemed to shift and crawl around the building like a swarm of angry locusts, but never connected with its rough exterior.

I chose the appearance and built this apartment for sentimental reasons… It was the apartment I lived in on earth, and it was the only thing I had left of my old life— other than my memories.

I blinked, and suddenly found myself standing inside the building. I sensed that I was somewhere near the bottom of the building. Which, considering I was here to check on my new ‘project’, was the place I wanted to be.

I glanced at the Northernmost wall and my senses were confirmed when I saw a large piece of white cloth nailed to the wall. On it, the word ‘Troll’ was written sloppily in black ink…

Even in this world, my handwriting is garbage.

Unlike the uniform six room configuration most of the other floors possessed. This floor had seven small rooms on the western wall, four small rooms on the eastern wall, and one large room on the northern wall. Each room had a transparent door that was the same color as my gate, and heavily reinforced to prevent any accidental escapes.

I didn’t know if that was even possible for them to revolt, but there was no harm in being cautious.

Peeking into the large room, I saw the corpse of the troll laying on its back. After the ghouls damn near bled the thing dry, I was worried the creature would die before I had the chance to capture it.

Given enough time and mana, the troll would become my summon. In doing so, its skin would turn the same color as my gate, and it would begin to draw sustenance from my Mana Core.

But that was only if I’d planned to keep it.

I focused for a minute on what I wanted, and the troll’s body disappeared silently. At the speed of thought, I appeared outside of another room— I knew this one dominated the surrounding rooms and was over a dozen stories tall.

One hundred and sixty-nine Ghouls prowled around the room like the monstrous wolves they resembled in mannerism, if not appearance.

In this room, the Ghouls lived in relative peace, as each not only had a place to sleep, but also received ample mana from me to stave off hunger.

And no, I didn’t capture all these Ghouls. I received one Ghoul as part of a bribe, and a rather neat part of my Summoner’s Gate was the ability to copy any creature I capture, at the cost of a chunk of my mana reserves and a bit of patience.

Because I have slightly more mana than the average mage, I could create sixteen Ghouls a day, if I wanted to. But that would cut into my other projects, so I have limited it to an average of one or two per day. Which has worked out far better than I could’ve ever imagined. Though, there was one other ability that I discovered— completely by accident.

The ghouls saw the half dead troll laying before them and rushed towards it. I watched as they ripped the troll to pieces, each getting at least a single bite. And in doing so, they activated the second ability afforded to me by the summoner’s gate: the Ghouls began to mutate before my very eyes. Their muscles writhed like a thousand worms as they absorbed the trolls strength.

The mutation period ended approximately thirty minutes later, and the ghouls were left much larger than they had been prior, with a third eye opened on their foreheads. The third eye was larger than the others and emitted a faint amethyst glow.

As I thought, they didn’t gain much from the troll. At least, not much that I could see. Maybe it would be different if they absorbed some type of elemental creature. Maybe— An overwhelming spike of pain pierced my brain and I dropped to my knees.

[ Synchronicity has reached the minimum value… Activating “Watcher” protocols to ensure the survival of the host.] A strange robotic voice boomed at a volume almost beyond my ability to recognize.

What’s happening? I groaned as another lancing pain nearly caused me to faint. I blinked the pain away and took a moment to focus on what was happening.

There was a flash of light in front of me that forced me to squint, then I was dumbfounded to see the light begin to solidify into tiny squares about the size of my thumbnail, whose number quickly grew beyond my ability to count. Slowly, the squares of light combined to form a transparent spherical construct like something out of a sci-fi movie… Or a video game.

No… You didn’t.

[Hello, user.] The construct was floating at eye level, its large crimson eye watching me as I climbed to my feet.

Author, you can’t do that. I’m pretty sure there’s a copyright issue here…

[Author? What do you mean, user?]

“Great, you can read minds too.”

[I do not possess that function. I primarily exist inside your mind. Which grants me access to your mental faculties, strictly in order to better serve the user.]

“Right… And… Why are you here?”

[To serve the user.]

“You keep saying that. Who’s the user?”

[You are.]

“… I guess you did mention that already, didn’t you? Okay. What are you here to serve me for? And what’s the “Watcher Protocol—” The construct split apart horizontally and formed a floating computer screen.

***

The Watcher Protocol is a collection of systems designed to assist the “Watchers”, humans stolen from their home worlds through various means and deposited in a fictional universe.

***

“Okay… But how—”

[Please wait until the presentation is finished.]

***

Watchers are not chosen based on some “Fate” or “Destiny.” All humans possess the inherit ability to become a watcher, it’s only a matter of being stolen from earth.

The creator of the “Watcher Protocol” was tired of humans being stolen away by every half competent divine being, royalty with a grudge, or sheer dumb luck. Thus, the “Watcher Protocol” was created to punish those who would steal a human from their rightful place on earth.

The creator of the W.P would like you to know how sorry they are for allowing you to be taken from your home, and hope that you will use their gift to thrive in your new world…And show those responsible why it would be a bad idea to take another human.

***

Once I was finished reading the “presentation”, the construct broke down into a collection of lights that soon returned the construct to its original shape.

“So… I didn’t get this system because I’m special or some kind of chosen one?”

[No.]

“Damn. And here I was hoping for some kind of cheat that would ensure my survival, while making me super overpowered—” The construct quickly expanded into the computer screen, revealing an entirely new screen.

***

Main Menu

Synchronicity with OC | 43.7%

Fate | (32)

Fortune | (200)

ç Fortune Store | Personal Stats è

***

Um…

[A proper explanation will be given later.]

“Good. Because this doesn’t make any sense. Seriously, could they have made this any— ” A faint voice at the edge of my senses called out to me. My eyes widened as I remembered the still open gate floating in front of my door.

I sighed in annoyance.

“Don’t go anywhere!” With a thought, I found myself outside the building. I stepped through the portal and closed it behind me.

I took a second to collect myself before I opened the door and smiled at the old woman standing in the doorway.

“Hello.” I said with what I hoped was a cheerful smile.

“Hello, sweetie.” The old dorm matron smiled back. “You received a letter in the post today.”

“Really?” I accepted the white envelope from her outstretched hand and quickly retrieved the letter inside.

My hand froze a second before I could unfurl the letter. My eyes locked on the golden seal holding the letter together: The Lion was the emperor’s symbol, and he used it everywhere he could.

So, when I first laid eyes on the silver lion staring back at me from the center of the seal, I almost rolled my eyes. It was only the presence of the old woman that kept me from doing so. She was a well-known supporter of the emperor and disliked it when people trash talked him.

The old woman would have a cow if she knew how I actually talked to the emperor.

I broke the seal and unfurled the letter.

[You have been cordially invited to the palace in two days’ time. Please dress in your finest and come prepared for dinner.

P.S: if you’re not here, I’m sending Kami to get you.

You have been warned.

Sincerely, Emperor Gesshin the First.]

This time I did roll my eyes. I wadded up the letter and tucked it into my back pocket.

“Everything all right?” The old woman sweetly asked.

“Umm… Yeah, I guess so.” I laughed.

“Okay, sweetie. Make sure you don’t forget anything~”

“I won’t, and thank you, ma’am.”

I shut the door and pressed my back against it. I once again sighed in annoyance, then slowly slid into a seated position.

[Anything I can help with, User?]

“Gah!” I yelled. Quickly turning my head to find the construct…

“Where are you?”

[I exist primarily inside your mind.]

“Wait, so you’ll always be able to talk to me?”

[As long as the user allows. My audio settings can be tweaked at the User’s convenience.]

“… This is my fault. I was the one who thought things were getting too boring, and now I’m stuck dealing with this.”

[You have my sympathy, User.]

“You can feel sympathy?”

Is it really that advanced?

[No. But my programming indicates you would respond better to words of encouragement in situations like this.]

I paused for a moment to fully absorb its words… Then I let out another sigh and massaged my temples.

“You’d make a horrible motivational speaker, you know that?”

[I don’t know what that is.]

“Right, sorry. Was just making a joke.”

[Oh. A joke… I have been programed to understand humor. Perhaps if the User told better jokes, I would understand?]

I paused in the middle of climbing to my feet and sighed for a third time.

“Okay, I deserved that one.”