First World: Unknown to everything.

Edison glided through the night unbothered until his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Of course, he knew better than to take out his phone in the middle of the air, so he would put it on hold until he finds solid ground to stand upon.

Besides, it was probably Madison complaining about why he didn't take her with him.

'Hmmm.'

Looking below, seeing little dots resembling humans walking through the streets, he suddenly spotted something out of place.

'...robbers?'

Just as he was about to take action, the feeling of nausea hit him.

'...What?'

Trying his best to hold on, Edison in an apparent 'drunken state' wobbled through the air like a bird shot dead by a hunter.

'It's fine.'

Why so? Well, right from the start when he jumped off the building, he kept count on how much time was left until...

[Teleportation commencing...good luck in your endeavors. May The Creators bless your soul.]

'...it's not fine.'

...

..

.

As day turned into night, the full moon hung high in the night sky, lettings its beautiful luminescence shine upon the waves hitting the shore of a beach.

Unaware of the impending chaos that will soon cause a massive wave to hit every corner of the planet...

CRACK!

A small tear in space formed, a phenomenon completely out of the realms of humans, and with it came 4 small humanoid beings.

An old man, looking like he came from the Edo period of Japan, had a curious shine in his eyes while he scanned everything around him, completely ignoring his incapability to fly.

A youth with the clothes of a scholar had a surprised look on his face before it turned into panic and frustration.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

The scream of a young woman blasted his eardrums and imagining it bleeding only made it worse for him.

"SHUT UP!"

"I CAN'T! THIS IS TOO MUCH FUN!"

"Interesting...so what happens if I-"

The old man clinging to his back mumbled, still in his own world.

His youthful face twitched in annoyance.

"Please, please, where is he-"

With him holding onto a screaming pterodactyl, and a lost old man on his back, he quickly searched for the 'normal' person in their group, only to see something that made him go blank.

An emotionless, but pale face could be seen but...

"WHY ARE YOU SO FAR AWAY FROM US?!"

The boy could see him saying something, yet the lack of response from his expression made him have second thoughts.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

"FUCK YOU! Let me think!"

"If I slashed fast enough..."

"NO! I need something, just something-oh."

The youth forgot something crucial that made him special among the rest.

"Hehe~ How can I forget that I was a Mage? Silly me-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"FUCK! Mana Reinforcement! FLIGHT!"

A red sheen of aura covered his body, as a form of energy burst out.

The weakening arm holding the woman got strengthened to a high degree including the rest of his body.

However, it didn't seem too easy as sweat started to fall down his face.

"Arghhhh!"

With all of his willpower concentrated on flight magic, his body stopped its descent, as the momentum suddenly dispersed making him bend slightly forward.

"Thank goodness...we're fine."

"Boy, you forgot one."

The old Japanese man who came back out of his god-slaying delusions suddenly said.

"Huh!? AH! Mr. Caddel!"

During the time they were having a mental breakdown, Edison had a relaxing freefall to his death.

And...looking at the panic surfacing on the kid's face again, he suddenly pulled a string on his backpack.

An electric current flowed through the outer area of his clothes, as a black fabric stiffened and deployed itself, revealing its glory to the world for the first time.

'Just like Batman.'

Edison, who again freely glided through the night, turned his head up only to see the dumbfounded look on all of their faces.

Ignoring them, he calmly and steadily made his way to the shore, which was only about a hundred meters away.

'First test. Successful.'

...

..

.

Looking at his surroundings, all he could see was a surprisingly clean beach.

Unfortunately, he couldn't forget about the remaining people behind him who were also about to land.

"Wait! Hey, stop moving!"

"Nope~"

Even with strengthening magic, the boy couldn't hold a candle to this woman's physical strength for some reason.

THUD!

Now out of his grasp, she landed flat on the ground with her face buried in the sand.

Unlike her, the old man gracefully landed, before he also stumbled on a rock.

And with the boy left standing alone in utter numbness, he robotically turned his head to look at Edison admiring the scenery.

With a small tear rolling down his cheek, he thought that at least there was one 'normal' person which also didn't seem quite normal as his definition of normalcy got twisted ever since he got into this group.

"Hey, Mr. Caddel! How'd you do that, some kind of artifact you made?"

As he walked close to shake his hands, Edison quietly returned his greetings.

"Jared, is it?"

"Yup! And you somehow seem much different than I expected! I thought you would look like a...grumpy old man who hadn't seen his wife in ages or something like that. Hahaha!"

"I'm 22."

"No, like... never mind, anyways how'd you do that?"

"Do what."

"Like, how you glided through the air."

"I'm rich."

"....what? Th-that doesn't explain how...?"

Jared stupidly looked at Edison, who looked behind him.

With the view of a woman and an old man spitting out sand from their mouths, Edison himself was quite bewildered.

"PUH! PUH! PUH! This is so like me. PUH-"

"Stop exaggerating. The crunchy texture is quite nice, to be honest."

"What?"

"What?"

"...?"

Everyone looked at him.

Awkwardly giving a smile, the old man embarrassingly said,

"What I meant was, I...hadn't had food for a while..."

Still having two gazes piercing holes at him, he continued.

"Everything seemed delicious...really."

"I second that!

The woman replied with an enthusiastic tone before she set her gaze upon Jared and Edison.

She energetically waved her hands at them while smiling brightly.

"Hello!"

Standing, she straightened herself.

"Shinmen Musashi! Though, I suppose Musashi-chan is also fine. It's great to finally meet all of you!"

"Likewise, Jared Lorenz."

"Hmmm, Sasaki Kojiro. Kojiro-san is fine for me."

"Edison Caddel."

As they were introducing themselves, Edison silently analyzed everyone.

Jared Lorenz. Standing at an approximate height of 1.77cm, he looked like a typical teenager that would have young girls fawning over him. Short turquoise hair and with the same color set as his eyes, he would be something akin to a 'young prince charming.'

Looking over at the young woman, supposedly called Shinmen Musashi, standing tall at 167cm, she had clothes on that Edison couldn't exactly pinpoint what they were called since he wasn't that knowledgeable regarding Japanese culture and the same could also be said about the four swords she had strapped onto her waist, but her choice of color made her stand out a lot. Other than that she was otherwise unique in her own way...

Then...

As he was about to peek at Kojiro, he came to know that he was also being analyzed by his target.

Both of them came to a staredown, with neither backing down from their gazes.

After minutes of silence between them, Kojiro unexpectedly sighed with a slight smile.

"This is truly incredible."

Glancing at Edison again, he sat down with his face leaning towards his open right hand.

"You...how long did it take?"

Being questioned by him like that, Edison was a bit confused.

"What is it that you mean by that question?"

"Haha! Never mind, I'm glad we have you on our team!"

While they had their little conversation between them, Jared and Musashi observed them with a questioning look. Well, Jared was the only one really confused, as the person beside him acted like she was.

'Hmmm.'

She had lightbulbs going on and off, but...

'It's fine! I'm hungry!'

"I'm hungry!"

Without a moment of thinking through what happened, she immediately voiced her thoughts.

"Same."

"Yup, definitely, affirmatively, absolutely, and everything else that ends with -ly."

"Where are we?"

Edison was the only one still concerned about their location and mission.

"Mission later, food now!"

Musashi couldn't be bothered right now. She wants food!

"Wait, I might have something."

Jared proposed whilst touching a particular ring on his finger with his eyes closed.

A moment later, dozens of packages seemingly poured themselves out of the ring.

"WOW! I can smell it! This aroma of deliciousness, this overflowing amount of...of..."

"Let's just eat."

Edison coldly cut in, grabbing his desired meal, he slowly sat down in place and began unwrapping the warm box with steam coming out.

"Why so rude~ Oh wait, should I still call you Vengeance or Edison? Wait, Edison's too long...how about Edis...Ediso...Edi...?

"Edi is fine."

"Hah! Take that, rival friend!"

With her still cheery smile, she teasingly started poking Kojiro who awkwardly held the metal tools he now knew as a fork and spoon.

"I didn't even say anything..."

"Hmmm, don't care~"

"...."

As his mouth twitched in annoyance, Jared looked at everyone around him eating.

'Not even a thank you!?'

...

..

.

Sitting around the campfire they made with Jared's magic, they sat in their own corner doing their own things.

Musashi was being her usual self, striking up random conversations, making the otherwise cumbersome atmosphere warm.

Kojiro, had his eyes closed for some reason, but would still talk once in a while.

Jared, well he was still upset that no one thanked him, but the satisfaction on their faces was enough to make him swell up in pride.

'Hmph, of course, I made this myself, be proud before your maker!'

Delusions swarmed his mind until he noticed something and snapped out of his thought.

"Hey, Mr. Caddel, you ok there?"

Edison had been lost in his thoughts for a while now, but hearing the sudden intrusion, he plainly answered.

"Homesick."

"Ahhh, already kicked in huh?"

Smiling bitterly, Jared laid down on the sand with his eyes looking at the stars.

"Well, it's understandable since you basically got snatched out of your world and ended up here with people you don't completely trust yet. But in a way, isn't it...thrilling?"

"...?"

Edison looked at him with a question mark hovering above his head.

"Like, think about it. We're in a new world, something all of us could've never imagined being in. Well, mine had some realms, but that's beside the point! The unknown, the adventures, the relics of its pasts, and so much more! This is like a dream come true for people like me."

"I'm not like you."

Edison dryly replied.

"Yes, but even then...cheer up man. It's not like we won't ever return to our world. Even if we spend a year or more here. It still only be like a few minutes or hours there. Furthermore-"

"I got it."

With the same tone, he walked away from the campfire and made his way along the shore.

"...is he going to be okay?"

Jared didn't want a rift to form between their group, however, looking at Edison's mental state, he wasn't so sure...

"He's fine."

Abruptly as it came, Kojiro confidently said with a smile.

"Why do you say so?"

"Because he's strong, I think!"

Even Musashi said so with her usual cheerful behavior.

"...?"

"Well, I'm not sure about the physical aspect, but I can tell he's strong-minded! Yup!"

As she said so, she stuck her hand out.

"Food!"

With the same bitter smile, he gave her what she wanted.

"Hehe! Yummy!"

Looking at the reputedly strong swordswoman stuffing herself full like a chipmunk, Kojiro couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Heh, but you see, he's someone the least we should worry about."

"Why are you so confident?"

"Well, Musashi-chan would've probably said something along the lines of-"

"Fwordswofwman's inswtinct!" (Swordswoman's instinct!)

"I knew it..."

...

..

.

Silently listening to the peaceful waves crashing into the shoreline, Edison stood still.

He inspected every inch of his body, calmly feeling this strange state he was in.

He felt calm, dead calm.

It was almost like he...

Became one with the mind.

His body moved automatically on instinct, his mind immovable as it could not be affected by external factors and cannot be stopped on the way to its destination.

Complete confidence and without fear...

He opened his eyes and looked at the view in front of him.

The waves moved so slowly.

His senses were heightened to the extreme, as his mind was aware of everything around him.

And with that...

He lashed his leg, only to feel a presence.

It dodged and reassuringly smiled.

"An amazing achievement...Nonetheless, you certainly overdid yourself...Edi-san."

Kojiro awkwardly scratched the back of his head while looking around.

"People would think you were crazy if they saw you in the middle of the day like this, hahaha!"

"Really?"

Coming out of his trance state, Edison also scratched the back of his head.

"Hmmm, well never mind that. How was it?"

"I'm unsure."

Hearing his answer, he nodded with understanding.

"It's only natural."

Kojiro calmly treaded along the sand while looking behind him.

"Well, I'll explain along the way. We should make haste, the sun's sunshine is upon us."

"... It's morning?"

...

..

.