*Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep*

"Urghh..." Lars groaned. He had reflexively awoken from hearing the familiar beeping of his phone's alarm. While still fighting with the remnants of drowsiness, Lars wondered whether the fact that he had been conditioned to wake up so easily by hearing a sound, meant that he was shaping up to be a wonderful corporate drone. His condition felt surprisingly good despite the drinks he had last night. Although, Lars was never one to have hangovers, and he didn't even drink a lot yesternight, he always felt a bit groggy the morning after having drinks. Just a little groggy though. In any case, that wasn't how it was this morning.

Lars' mood shot up. He felt great today. He thought it was likely because he was filthy stinking rich.

'It probably is that.' Lars thought. He opened his eyes, and sat up. "wha--HUUUH...!?!?, only to let out a strange cry. Lars' eyes went wide with shock at the state of his room. Or rather, the he was shocked by the absence of his room. Everywhere around him was just plain white. He didn't even know if he was looking at a wall or just an empty white space. Lars noticed belatedly, but the bed he had been sleeping on just now wasn't even his own bed.

"Did I get abducted...?" Lars thought out loud. Then a sudden realization hit him. "Are they after my money!?"

Lars thought that that was the only reason why someone would kidnap him. Although there was a miniscule chance that he may have unknowingly fooled around with someone else's girlfriend, so some dude abducted him as revenge. There was also the infinitesimally small chance that he got embroiled in some crap by his weed dealer. But Lars thought that the most likely reason was his money. The kidnapper probably locked him in here so that he could whittle down Lars' willpower, then coerce him into transferring the money over. But it didn't take long for Lars' thoughts to be proven mistaken.

MESSAGE

Greetings Mr. Lars Cromwell,

We apologize for the abrupt nature of our actions.

There was a very small time frame where your transfer could be safely completed, so we took action immediately.

Had we waited for a bit longer, your transfer might have been met with various... complications.

However, seeing as you answered the survey quickly, and we took action immediately afterwards, we assure you that there will be no such thing.

Lars looked at the floating blue box in front of him. The thought that he may have been dreaming crossed his mind, but owing to the fact that he had never dreamed before, he chose to toss the possibility out of his mind. The only possibilities left was that he was hallucinating from some drug he had taken at some point but had forgotten, or that he was hallucinating because of some drug that somebody else had made him take. Lars was willing to bet on the latter possibility, since he considered himself a responsible drug user, and wouldn't be taking any weird things.

Lars rubbed his eyes and slapped his cheeks, but the blue box wouldn't go away. Even when he turned his head left or right, the blue box would follow. Even when he closed his eyes, he could still see the blue box.

'Wow, I don't know what they gave me, but it's pretty damn amazing.' Lars inwardly praised the drug. He felt that his head was clear, and yet he was still hallucinating. Eventually realizing that the box wouldn't go away no matter what he did, Lars just gave up. He gave the box a look, and started reading what it said.

"Transfer...? What does that mean?" Lars wondered aloud. "A limited window of time... Ah. I get it now. It means that they could only safely kidnap me because otherwise, the complex's security would have caught them."

Lars nodded sagely to himself, convinced that he had understood correctly.

He was wrong.

The blue box in front of him lit up momentarily, then the text inside changed.

MESSAGE

You must be very confused, and we intend to offer you an explanation for your current situation.

To sum it up in a few words.

You have died.

"What..." Lars just sat there in shock while looking at the words inside the blue box.

'Dead...? But I'm right here though...?' Lars inwardly thought. He gave his privates a glance and thought, 'I even have morning wood. What do you mean I'm dead.'

The blue box flashed, and the text changed yet again.

MESSAGE

You must be wondering why you still retain certain functions.

Your death, and current state is a consequence of your transfer.

"A consequence of my transfer...?" Lars parroted. Then his eyes widened in realization. "So this is your fault...!?" Lars exclaimed while pointing at the blue box.

Maybe he quickly realized how foolish it was to blame a hallucination, but he put his hand down right after.

He still opted to stare at the blue box accusatorily though.

The blue box flashed momentarily again.

MESSAGE

We assure you that you have nothing to worry about.

As we have already received your consent, as well as the approval of Upper Management,

You shall be transferred to another world shortly.

"Transferred to--" Lars almost read the text out loud again, but he stopped himself. He then looked at the blue box strangely.

'I may be drugged but this blue box is definitely tripping on something too.' Lars thought inwardly. 'Wait a minute... consent...? What consent? I didn't sign anything!'

While he was complaining inwardly, Lars suddenly had a flash of insight. It felt as if a lightbulb had suddenly crashed into his head.

'I don't think that expression is quite right... Anyways, Consent, Upper Management and transfer to another world...' Lars mused. 'Is this about the survey question I answered before sleeping...?'

As if to answer Lars' thoughts, the blue box flashed again.

MESSAGE

Correct.

The answer to the survey has been treated as consent.

As said in the survey question, Mr. Lars Cromwell, You have been given an opportunity, and you agreed.

Hence, you shall be transferred to another world shortly.

"Uhh..." Lars was speechless. He did answer that survey seriously, but he didn't know that he would really be isekai'd if he answered yes!

The blue box flashed again. It felt different this time. It took about twice the time that usual for the light to fully dissipate.

Looking at it, Lars was a bit shocked by how much bigger the box had gotten, and how thick the text in it was.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Mr. Lars Cromwell, who has given his consent, shall be transferred to another world as Player ID: [Lars Cromwell]

He shall use the body of his [Avatar] as his real body.

He shall be given full authority over the [Dungeon] he created, [Fortress Castle] structure that hides the entrance as well as the [Forest] field that surrounds it.

Naturally, any items in it's [Treasury] will be included as well.

Additionally, Certain pieces of lore that Player ID: [Lars Cromwell] has inputted shall be adopted as bonus functions.

Such as the infinitely refilling pantry, and lore about the ambient aura in certain places.

As the Upper Management has noted that none of the lore he wrote was over-the-top, most of it shall be implemented.

The five [Heroic]-grade units that he has gathered shall also be put under his command.

As well as the various [Elite]-grade units that are tied to them.

All of the [Elite] and [Soldier]-grade units that he commands will also be included.

As Lars read the text, he grew visibly more excited.

Lars was an avid fan of Anime and Light Novels.

And if you have an interest in those, you would naturally come to know about the Isekai genre.

Lars really loved the Isekai genre. Even if an isekai novel received bad reviews, he would still read it. He would curse at it if it was bad, but he would still read it.

There was even a website that he frequented called ImperialRoad, that had people posting their novels in it. Naturally, people wrote Isekai novels there, too.

Lars inhaled the Isekai stories in that site. His metaphorical wiener as a reader would just become as hard as adamantium whenever he read a good Isekai.

Naturally, in the back of his head, in the very back of his head, Lars dreamed of being Isekai'd too. He wanted to just swing a sword around and maybe shoot some magic and stuff.

Then he would get a ton of bitches. Tons of bitches. Although he would prefer them to be the non-bitchy type of bitch.

He didn't actually like Isekais where the MC was overpowered, and where the MC had an extremely large harem. Rather, as a reader, he preferred that the MC was challenged constantly, and where he didn't have plot armor thicker than the earth's crust. He also wanted the female characters to be relevant to the story, strong, and have a personality that couldn't be fully described with a single archetype. Lars thought that people had different sides to them, so a character that would make you confused as to which personality archetype to place them on, is a realistic character. He wanted heroines that would make him feel that confusion.

But that was just as a reader. If Lars was going to imagine himself getting Isekai'd, he wanted to take it easy. He didn't want baddies showing up every time he went somewhere. He didn't want to have some sort of goal, like saving the world or something. He just wanted to explore, eat good food, sling some magic around... and maybe find a woman that he could genuinely love...

The blue box was basically saying that he would be Isekai'd with his undefeated Dungeon, the fortress that protected the entrance, and the forest that protected the fortress...

And if that wasn't enough, he would even have all his Heroes, and an army with him!

If he really was going to be sent to another world, and what the blue box said was true...

'I can live on easy mode!' Lars exclaimed inwardly. But then he had a thought that made him smile warmly. 'My Heroes... We've fought with a lot of stuff together... I wonder what will happen when we meet?'

Lars had 5 [Heroic] units. [Heroic] units were the strongest units in the game. They were often stronger than Player Avatars at the start, but over time, players could make their Avatars as strong as Heroes. That didn't detract from the value of a Heroic-grade unit though. Each Hero had special abilities that even players couldn't obtain. Furthermore, each Heroic-grade unit was unique, meaning nobody else had that unit. This ultimately made their rarity sky rocket. Even a player in the top 100s might only have one Heroic-grade unit, in addition to their Avatar.

Each Heroic-grade unit came with a bit of lore, but that tiny bit of text about them wouldn't really tell you a lot. Lars really wondered what his Heroes were like in person.

Again, the blue box flashed, shortly after the light subsided and the text on it had changed.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The [Mercenary Summoning] function can still be used with [Dungeon Essence] or [Super Dungeon Essence].

The [Gacha] function is also still available.

However, the [Mercenary Card] Exchange Center, has been disabled. So we regret to inform you that you cannot acquire more than the ones you already have.

The [Plaza of Heroes] has also been made inaccessible.

The [Essence Conversion Cauldron] has also been disabled.

"..." Lars just sat there staring at the text, his previous mood had plummeted greatly.

The [Mercenary Summoning] function still being up was good. [Mercenary] units were units that, unlike the [Heroic], [Elite] and [Soldier] units, did not respawn after a certain amount of time. Which meant that they were units that you bought, then would disappear after they died. This would make most people think that [Mercenary] units sucked, but they were still essential units to bolster your forces. After all, there was a limit to the number of [Elite] and [Soldier] units a player could have, and [Heroic] units were, as previously mentioned, extremely hard to obtain. They could only be obtained through the [Plaza of Heroes] or the [Gacha] or through certain conditions and [Events]. The Plaza was a place where players could buy Heroes with [Super Dungeon Essence] while the [Gacha] was a horrifying death trap that had abysmal success rates when it came to giving out [Heroic] units.

The [Gacha], as previously mentioned, was a place to throw [Super Dungeon Essence], which could commonly be obtained through microtransactions and through successfully destroying someone's Dungeon in a ranking battle. The [Gacha] would give you a chance to win either a really good item, a [Mercenary Card], or a [Heroic] unit. Lars was not aware what the specific rates for them were, but he was sure that the [Heroic] unit was below 0.000001%. There was also a 30% chance that you got a "Thanks for playing!" and a cup full of tears. Majority of the time, you would just get a good item from there with the occasional [Mercenary Card]. Lars didn't know about others, but he had never gotten a crappy item from the gacha. He still didn't have a good opinion of it though, since he had only won a Hero from the gacha once, even though he had spun it so much.

The [Mercenary Card] Exchange Center being disabled was obvious. [Mercenary Cards] or 'cards' for short, were used for [Mercenary Summoning]. If you had a card, you could use [Dungeon Essence] or [Super Dungeon Essence] to summon the unit in the card, however many times you want, since the cards were reusable. The [Mercenary Card] Exchange Center worked on the premise of exchanging [Mercenary Cards] with other players. If he was going to be sent to another world, unless a bunch of other players was sent together with him, there would not be any exchanging done there.

The [Plaza of Heroes] being inaccessible was also irrelevant, since it had already ran out of [Heroic] units to buy a long time ago. You would expect a shop to be able to refill it's stock, but the Plaza did no such thing. Lars had played the game from it's launch all the way to it's end, and he had never seen the Plaza get a new addition. At the launch of the game, there was about a hundred Heroes available there, but eventually they were all bought by players. Lars had been able to buy 2 before the Plaza ran out. After the Plaza ran out of Heroes, it never saw use ever again. There were plenty of memes about how Dungeon Soft Inc. should just go ahead and remove it if they didn't have plans to restock it. But some players (who were prepared to just whale out) and Lars (who had a large stock of super essence) was hoping for the day that the Plaza would sell Heroes again.

None of the above were problems, Lars thought they were either logical or acceptable. But the problem was the last line.

'The [Essence Conversion Cauldron] has also been disabled.' it said.

The [Essence Conversion Cauldron] or otherwise known as 'the cauldron' for short, was an alternate way to obtain [Super Dungeon Essence]. Players could throw items or [Mercenary Cards] into it, and depending on the quality of the item or the card, you would get super essence for it. In fact, if you got a really good item or card from the [Gacha], then threw it into the cauldron, you would get more super essence than you spent in the [Gacha]. Although, most people wouldn't do that since it would be a waste of a really good item or card.

The cauldron was one of the only ways that Lars had of obtaining super essence in the past, since he didn't have a job during the early stages of the game's run time. He eventually turned 18 and had access to the funds left by his parents, but Lars didn't want to use his parents' money on a game. Part of the money they left was from their Life Insurance after all, so Lars felt that it would be bad to use it that way. He only used the money that he earned from a part-time job while he was college for the game. So in addition to his Avatar's mage build, he also focused his skillset in crafting. That way, he could throw some of the items he made into the cauldron, and get some super essence for it.

Lars was a mostly free-to-play player, so the cauldron was a vital tool for his rise to the top!

And now that tool was disabled!!

Lars was feeling pretty gloomy, but he tried his best to be optimistic.

'I mean, at this point, there isn't much else I can do to improve my Dungeon, so I won't be using super essence that much. The only other thing I would use it on is the [Gacha], and there ain't no way I'm playing that death trap.' Lars thought. 'Oh, but I could still have used it as emergency resources for summoning mercs...'

Lars slumped his shoulders, having failed to bring his spirits up. The difference between [Dungeon Essence] and [Super Dungeon Essence], aside from super essence being the game's version of gems or diamonds, was that there was no limit to the amount of super essence a player could hold. [Dungeon Essence] regenerated over time, however there was a limit to it's capacity. Lars was the top player in the world, so he had naturally increased the regeneration rate and the max capacity that he could hold, but he still preferred having a huge stockpile of super essence that he could use to summon mercs, just in case some jerk made it all the way to his Dungeon's entrance.

Not having a way to stock up on super essence was going to restrict him quite a bit. Then Lars realized something else.

'If I'm going to be sent to another world, then how else am I going to obtain super essence...? I can't perform microtransactions there! Fuck!!' Lars cursed inwardly.

As if responding to his complaints, the blue box flashed momentarily and the text on it changed again.

Message

We realize that the removal of the [Essence Conversion Cauldron] function as well as your inability to perform microtransactions will make it impossible to obtain [Super Dungeon Essence].

In response to this dilemma, we have decided to give you a certain amount of super essence depending on a number of aspects.

First, we have appraised the entirety of your properties and belongings. This includes any land, or places and objects that you own.

Second, we have estimated the total amount of money you would have earned, factoring in career advancement, should you have continued to work till retirement at the age of 60. As well as pensions you may have benefitted from had you lived till 80.

Third, we have noticed that you hold a 30% share of two rapidly expanding companies. We have estimated what the highest value they could have risen to during your lifetime.

Fourth, we are aware that you have recently won a tremendous amount from a lottery, that would have been payed to you in increments.

We have converted all of the above's value as well as any money that you already have into [Super Dungeon Essence], and the amount will be deposited to your account, upon arrival.

Despite all of this, the fact that you will not have any other way to procure more [Super Dungeon Essence] remains.

We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause.

We hope for your understanding.

"Wow..." Lars muttered unconsciously. He began furiously performing calculations in his head,

Lars' properties and belongings were fairly simple. He owned a condo, but hadn't bothered buying a house yet. It wasn't that he couldn't buy one, he just saw no reason to do so. Lars wasn't someone who wanted luxurious things so the furniture in his condo, focused on comfort and longevity, rather than brand name. The most expensive things he owned were probably his custom built PC and his tesla, which was a gift from Randy and Jin.

He couldn't tell much about the second or the third aspect though. He worked as a software engineer in a game company, and the company he worked for payed well. Lars knew that he wasn't an amazing worker though, so he didn't know what the chances of promotion were, if there were any. Naturally, he also couldn't really tell how much the stocks would have improved in value over the years.

As for the fourth, even though Lars had laughed at his phone like an idiot while looking at his bank balance, he hadn't actually gotten all of his winnings yet. He was supposed to be payed in increments over time, but it seemed that whoever was sending him to another world planned to convert the entire amount to super essence.

In any case, Lars didn't have the smarts to estimate exactly how much he would be getting, but he sure as hell knew it was going to be a lot.

He would probably have more super essence than the entire player base has ever had. Probably. Lars was very bad at math.

All in all, Lars no longer cared if he couldn't get more super essence. Lars was used to not using super essence, since he was mainly a f2p player. The only places he really used it on was improving his Dungeon and it's various aspects, but he had already improved it so much. There wasn't much else he could improve at this point.

Lars was growing more and more excited. At this point if some fucker popped out of nowhere and told him 'It's a prank~!', Lars was sure that he would murder that person.

'C'mon c'mon. Hurry up and send me over there!' Lars thought impatiently. He couldn't help but feel a prick in his heart, thinking that he would never see his friends ever again but...

'They'll be alright.' Lars smiled warmly, thinking about Randy and Jin. He was sure that they would be down for a while, but he knew that they would bounce right up and fly higher than ever before. That was the type of people his friends were.

As if responding to his excitement, the blue box flashed brighter than it ever did. Two boxes appeared, one on top of the other.

Message We hope you enjoy your new life in another world! ANNOUNCEMENT

Player ID: [Lars Cromwell]

Shall now be transferred to Hall #07921220567106, ID: [Gravidia]

Transfer starting in: 3...2...1...

As Lars watched the countdown tic, he couldn't help but smile.

He was smiling brightly, excited.

He was... until the bed he was sitting on suddenly disappeared

"Whu--?!" Lars spluttered.

Ignoring the strangeness of having one's bed just magically disappear, one would expect to fall on one's ass afterwards.

However that wasn't what happened.

"SHIIIIIII-" Lars kept falling and falling, since apparently, the ground under the bed, had decided to vanish as well

The blue announcement box, which hadn't opted to fade away like the message box did, lit up momentarily.

ANNOUNCEMENT The Transfer has commenced.

"YEAH!? NO SHIT IT'S COMMENCED!!" Lars screamed at the box, while plummeting downwards. The feeling of freefalling was not a pleasant one, he eventually couldn't stop from screaming. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU---"

Lars continued falling, while shouting every curse he knew.

The blue box never left his vision.