"Ding!" A crisp chime that seemed to come from his very soul rang through Xiao Ran's mind, jolting him awake from endless darkness.
As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw an enormous, empty, tidy space with an inexplicably sci-fi feel, roughly thirty meters high and wide. Apart from Xiao Ran and the Holographic Projection before him, the vast room was completely bare. On the white walls to either side, made from some unknown material, hung several monitor-like displays showing an endless, magnificent starfield.
Xiao Ran's eyes widened like lanterns, his face full of confusion and bewilderment. Anyone who had gone to sleep normally only to wake up somewhere other than their own bed would probably have had the same expression and thought: Where... where is this? How did I get here?
Before Xiao Ran could fully wake up, a voice that seemed to sound beside his ear yet reached directly into his soul rang out:
"Ding. Welcome to the Space Fortress Prometheus."
"Your designation is 678."
"You are currently in the Real Zone. You may undertake missions related to Real Robot mecha here, and your mission rewards will be distributed here."
"In thirty minutes, you will enter a Mission World to carry out your first mission. This mission is a group Newbie Mission. No veteran pilots will participate."
"You have thirty minutes to familiarize yourself with this fortress within your authorized access level."
"Your current attributes are: Hit: 2 (2). Affects shooting ability and accuracy. Agility: 1 (1). Affects close-combat ability and strength. Reflexes: 6 (6). Affects reaction speed and dexterity. Spirit: 8 (8). Affects skill consumption and perception. Constitution: 3 (3). Affects physical fitness and endurance. (The values in parentheses represent normal values, while the values outside represent your current physical condition.) Skills: None. Overall Evaluation: Unrated."
The initially bewildered Xiao Ran suddenly froze. His blank eyes slowly turned astonished, and then his lips unconsciously stretched into a huge grin, pulling his mouth wide open. Combined with his blue Doraemon pajamas and bare feet, he looked ridiculously dazed and adorable.
Several minutes passed as the thirty minutes ticked away second by second. Xiao Ran suddenly slapped himself hard across the face. The crisp sound and burning pain told him that none of this was a dream—it was an utterly inexplicable reality.
"What the hell, is this the Main God Space?" Xiao Ran shouted as he looked up at the smooth ceiling, his tone caught somewhere between laughter and tears.
The emotionless voice echoed beside Xiao Ran's ears. "This is the Real Zone of Prometheus Fortress, located at a point where dimensions intersect in the universe. It exists in a different dimension from your original world. This place was created by the true Main God of the universe, while I am the Main System responsible for managing everything related to it."
Xiao Ran had never expected the voice to answer him, but its response made him realize that this definitely was not some realistic dream, but a cruel fact. Xiao Ran had never been particularly nervous by nature, yet even he felt tense now. Whoever or whatever had pulled him from another dimension to this place was either a god or an alien with unimaginably advanced technology. Either way, it was absolutely not something he could resist or offend.
He pressed a hand against his wildly beating heart. He truly felt fear and unease toward the unknown, along with a faint excitement that had come from nowhere. Xiao Ran asked, "How did I get here?"
"A program circulating in a certain star system in the universe. It is a key to Prometheus Fortress. Once you download it to a terminal and open it, you will arrive here."
"A program? A terminal?" Xiao Ran's expression suddenly turned strange. He remembered habitually playing with his phone before bed. He had even downloaded a game from a publishing platform, one with no description and only artwork resembling a robot war game. It had Gundams, Zakus, and even mecha like Sebasuta and Getter.
Having loved this sort of thing since childhood, Xiao Ran had downloaded the game immediately. More importantly, he clearly remembered that the program's download count had been a conspicuous zero. After opening the game and staring at its endlessly spinning loading screen, he had somehow fallen asleep, only to arrive here afterward.
Xiao Ran gave a bitter laugh. It seemed he had found the reason he had come here. There was no one else to blame but himself. If he had to blame anything, it was his own itchy fingers and bad habit of needing to mess with his phone at night before he could sleep.
Although he felt somewhat upset, especially by the hollow feeling in his chest, he looked at the less than fifteen minutes remaining and forced his thoughts to clear. "Are there other people in this fortress? Why am I the only one here?"
"Prometheus Fortress gathers everyone who has used a key from various locations within a star system. Once you complete the Newbie Mission, you may travel to other areas of the Real Zone and communicate with others."
Xiao Ran raised his eyebrows. This time, he keenly noticed the phrase "various locations within a star system." That meant Prometheus had other people—perhaps quite a lot of them—but they all came from different planets within the same star system. Xiao Ran had no idea what aliens looked like, but if they could be called people, their differences from Earthlings probably would not be too great.
But wherever there were people, there would be a pecking order. Where there were strong people, there would be weak ones. Xiao Ran regarded that saying, learned from games, as an absolute truth. Looking at the attributes displayed in the virtual projection before him, he asked, "What level do my attributes put me at here? Among newcomers, I mean."
"You belong to Earth, a low-level technological planet in the Real Zone. Whether in technological development or physical development, your planet is far inferior to the other planets in the same region capable of receiving keys. Low attributes and no skills are entirely normal."
Xiao Ran felt a drop of cold sweat slide down his face. The mysterious voice's answer seemed irrelevant, yet it had thoroughly explained his current situation.
"What are other people's attributes generally like? And are there any other Earthlings?" Xiao Ran asked rapidly. "You mentioned mecha missions earlier. Are pilot attributes related to that? You've mentioned the Real Zone several times. Are there other zones besides the Real Zone?"
"Among newcomers in Prometheus Fortress's Real Zone, average attributes range from fifteen to twenty. The possibility of newcomers with high attributes cannot be ruled out. Most people begin with one or two skills." The mysterious voice had originally been devoid of emotion, but now it seemed slightly puzzled. "Logically speaking, someone like you should have been almost incapable of opening a key that led here. Therefore, you are the only exception like this in all of Prometheus Fortress."
He had somehow drawn the one-in-six-billion chance, and Xiao Ran felt like he was about to collapse. In the slang from back home, he was completely screwed.
"A pilot is the operator of a mecha. Pilot attributes are equivalent to your personal attributes. The higher your attributes, the greater the strength you can display while operating a mecha. Even without a mecha, you can still display formidable personal combat power. You may use Merit Points earned from completing missions to strengthen your attributes, or improve them through training. Merit Points may also be used to purchase other items and skills, maintain your equipment, and replenish supplies."
Xiao Ran firmly committed words like pilot, mecha, Merit Points, attributes, skills, and equipment to memory. These were all words that could determine whether he lived or died. Pilot and mecha especially made Xiao Ran, who had loved this kind of animation and game since childhood, feel excited. Being able to pilot a giant mecha—that was the steel romance belonging only to men. For that kind of romance, perhaps danger could be pushed back a little.
"Prometheus Fortress is divided into the Real Zone, Super Zone, and Fantasy Zone. Different zones cannot currently communicate with one another. The missions carried out in the Mission Worlds they enter are also different, and the rewards they receive vary as well."
This series of exchanges had given Xiao Ran a rough understanding of this world. Prometheus Fortress seemed to be a place centered around mecha, where people had to travel to various worlds to complete missions, becoming stronger and gaining more things in the process.
Xiao Ran felt somewhat fortunate. The Real Zone, Super Zone, and Fantasy Zone should correspond to the Mission Worlds they enter: Real Robot series, Super Robot series, and Fantasy type robot series. I don't know exactly how Super Robot and Fantasy type are distinguished, but I'm glad—glad that I'm in the safest, most controllable Real Zone. If I ran into one of those Super Robot worlds, I might not even know how I died.
"Can I return to my original world?" Xiao Ran asked the question he cared about most.
"Your current authority level does not permit an answer. Your current authority level is: Private."
Xiao Ran raised his eyebrows. "How do I raise my authority level?"
"Complete missions issued by the Main God. When your total Merit Points reach a certain threshold, your authority level may be raised."
Although he had not received an answer, the voice had not explicitly denied that Xiao Ran could return. Thinking of the people at home, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in his heart. He took a deep breath and asked calmly, "Information on the mission I will carry out."
"The mission you will carry out is a group Newbie Mission. The mission cannot be selected. Information regarding this Newbie Mission will be displayed in the projection before you."
The Holographic Projection before Xiao Ran suddenly changed. When he saw it, his heart seemed to stop for a moment, and his breathing became hurried. His voice trembling, he suddenly asked, "You said earlier that I'm the only Earthling here. Before carrying out missions, does anyone know what the Mission Worlds are like?"
"What you describe is basically impossible. Whenever someone completes a mission and returns to the fortress, unless they possess a special item, the Main God automatically erases from their mind the events and mission developments related to the Mission World during the mission. Only basic information remains. Their memories are returned only when they enter that same world again."
Xiao Ran's eyes lit up. "What about memories from outside the mission period?"
The mysterious voice answered, "There are no memories outside the mission period that can be erased."
"Hahaha..." Xiao Ran clutched his stomach and burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he could not stop, until tears ran down his face. "I don't know what kind of place this is. It's full of aliens, and I'm nowhere near as strong as they are, but I have an advantage that can let me defy the heavens!"
The images appearing on the virtual display represented animated series, films, and games from Earth involving Real Robot mecha. Although they were merely pictures that could not explain anything, Xiao Ran recognized every one of them immediately. The most numerous among them were from Earth's most famous mecha franchise: Gundam.
Among them, representing the unselectable Newbie Mission World this time, was an image of Earth facing countless enormous hourglass-shaped orbital colonies from afar.
"Group Newbie Mission World: Gundam SEED. Countdown begins... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Entering now..."