"Is this me…"
Rakim muttered to himself.
All his attention was focused on his blurry reflection in the copper mirror.
He had a pale skin tone, a frail-looking body, rough palms that bore no signs of comfort, and thick, long black hair.
"Hmm." Rakim stroked his chin and observed himself for a bit more.
He soon traced his fingers through his long hair and frowned a little.
This long hair, capable of attracting every female's envy on earth, was now useless to him since he had no idea how to keep his hair in check. He picked up a knife from nearby and removed it.
A minute later, a Rakim with short hair stood in front of the mirror and admired himself with great joy.
"Indeed, I look much better," Rakim commented with a nod and started cleaning up the hair on the floor in a relaxed manner.
One would wonder why he seemed so relaxed. For anyone to find themselves in a different world after waking up, it was quite natural to panic and almost go to the brink of insanity.
The reason was that Rakim had already been informed about it.
Let's start from the beginning, then, my fellow readers.
Flight GJ-5643 was flying to Beijing with 243 passengers on board.
Rakim was also one among them.
At a mere age of 13, Rakim had discovered his interest towards coding.
From then on, he started learning various programming languages and ended up making and contributing towards several projects online in the next five years.
During his leisure time, he was fully immersed in reading Chinese web novels. They provided him with the much-needed respite and reinvigorated him.
That's why when his application to study at Beijing University was accepted, he was on cloud nine, and so were his family members.
Seeing the jealous faces of his cousins was the additional delight that he savoured.
After a very busy month filled with packing and buying new things, Rakim was finally all set to leave his country.
"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"
Rakim gave one final wave to his family members and went inside the airport.
This was the first time he was going by flight, so he was a bit nervous during all the check-in procedures. Finally, he was inside the flight and waited patiently and expectantly for the plane to take off.
If only he had known that his first flight was also going to be his last, he wouldn't have gone on that flight, but alas, what's done is done.
During the landing procedures, the landing gear of flight GJ-5643 malfunctioned, opening only halfway. The result? The flight's nose smashed down on the runway, and before long, everything was covered in flames.
All 243 passengers on board died in that accident.
…
'So, I'm dead, huh…' A wisp of soul that was traversing its way through a dark, narrow tunnel said to itself the moment it gained consciousness.
"Where am I even going?" The wisp voiced out, but no one answered him. Just like him, there were a lot of wisps around him. They were all going towards the same direction.
"STOP!" A loud noise made the wisp stop in its place.
To the wisp's surprise, it was the only one who had stopped while the rest acted as if they had not heard anything.
"Hehe, I finally got a suitable soul! What's your name?" The other party asked.
The wisp looked at the purple-coloured orb from where the voice had come, in confusion.
"I asked, What is your name?" The purple orb asked once again.
"Rakim…" The wisp answered.
"Rakim, is it? Oh, you're quite a young soul as well, haha! You lucked out, kid. Among those 243 souls, yours was the only one that had read web-novels and could therefore hear me," The orb said and continued.
"I'll keep things short. I'm sending you to the world of cultivation you've read about in so many web novels. Of course, I'm quite generous, so I'll be giving you an interesting ability that would hopefully help you in avoiding death in the world I've created. Any questions?" The orb asked.
"Who are you…?" The wisp asked.
"Me? I am the creator of the world you're entering…" The orb paused as it noticed the space surrounding them shaking a bit.
"Looks like we're short on time, so the question session is over. I'll be sending you to the cultivation world right now." With that, the purple orb started collapsing, and the surrounding area became chaotic.
"Entertain me and the readers well, Rakim," The purple orb said something before finally collapsing.
However, Rakim was unable to hear his words. Its voice got submerged in the loud, shattering sound of the surrounding space.
The next moment, Rakim found himself sucked inside the spatial crack the purple orb had created.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in this new world.
____
"Phew!" Rakim took a sigh of relief after sweeping all the hair out of his shabby little house.
"That orb said that he would give me some ability. Why don't I see it yet? Rakim thought
"System!" Rakim called out a few times, but the system didn't show its appearance.
"Golden Finger!"
"Status!"
"Ability!"
.
.
He tried a lot of words, eventually even shifting to profanities, but nothing happened.
"Was I duped by that orb?" Rakim muttered with uncertainty.
His attention was then attracted by the rays of the sun entering through the small window opening.
Looking at the orange light, a sense of familiarity washed over Rakim. On Earth, too, the sun felt the same, and he couldn't help but think back on his previous life.
"Mom…Dad…" He muttered sorrowfully, "Don't worry about me for too long…I wanted to earn a lot of money and give you all the riches I could, but I ended up dying…I'm sorry,"
He no longer felt as excited as before about the cultivation world as thoughts of his family's well-being entered his mind.
At this point, a thought crossed his mind.
'Wait…if this is the cultivation world, then wouldn't it be possible for me to go back to my world if I reach the pinnacle of martial arts?' Plots from several stories he had read flashed past his mind, and he became more and more certain that this was possible.
After a few minutes, a sense of conviction replaced his earlier gaze. He had made up a decision.
"I'll reach the pinnacle and get back. Mom and Dad just wait for me. Your son will shatter the concept of time and space if he has to, but will surely be back!"
As if responding to his decision, a sudden cracking sound came from inside his heart, making Rakim fall to his knees in pain.
"Argh!" Rakim clutched his head in pain.
The next second, memories of this body's original owner started pouring into his mind, and he lost consciousness thereafter.