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[Start of the chapter]
Morning light broke through. The horizon slowly shed the curtain of night, and streak after streak of dazzling gold pierced the clouds and spread in every direction, announcing the overture of a brand-new day.
"Ha… ha…"
Beside this unusually white beach, a gentle sea breeze swept past, stirring even that unusual "seawater" into rippling layers of small waves.
In a corner of the shore, softly forgotten by the "waves," stood a strange tree that looked like a palm but also not quite a palm. Beneath it, a simple yet oddly charming little white house stood quietly. The material of the house was so similar to the spotless white sand around it that it made one curious, secretly guessing where it had come from.
"Oh, it's morning already!"
Inside the little house, a short-haired boy—slightly thin, about fourteen—sat up from the ground. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, then sprang up briskly and lightly pushed open the snow-white little door.
His clothes were a bit ragged, but his features were fairly delicate. His neat short hair added a bit of handsomeness, and his black eyes were deep and alert, carrying a maturity and steadiness far beyond his age.
"The clouds on this island… they're really incredible…" The boy stepped out lightly, glancing back at the crude shelter and the soft, cottony "sand" underfoot, and couldn't help but sigh in awe.
Even after seeing it countless times—after even piling these clouds up with his own hands to build the house—he still couldn't hide his amazement. This soft island cloud was completely different from the soil below the Blue Sea. It was soft, yet it could be compressed and shaped, used to build houses or for all sorts of other purposes. Walking on it felt like trudging through mud—an oddly unique sensation.
Even more amazing was that this island cloud could be processed. Once compressed, it could turn into hard cloudstone—an ideal material for building houses or making furniture.
And that strange white sea, by his guess, was also formed from island clouds with a lower density gathered together. It looked like a blue ocean. Even people who couldn't swim could float around in it at ease, never sinking. More shocking still—Sea Kings and ordinary fish actually lived in this "sea," full of life, making it a spectacle to behold.
"Train for two hours, then go fishing!"
The boy narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the gently heaving white sea, and made his plan for the day. Then he stepped into an area where the island cloud was unusually firm—stepping on it felt like stepping straight onto solid ground.
"One, two, three…" The boy bent down. His limbs were lean but packed with strength as he planted them steadily on the ground-like island cloud and began doing push-ups with meticulous focus.
As his body rose and fell, his breathing kept a steady rhythm—unhurried, unstrained—like this kind of training was simply routine for him, as natural as breathing.
"Fifty… fifty-one… fifty-two…"
After finishing more than fifty push-ups in a row, his breathing was still as steady as ever, and his expression hadn't changed in the slightest. It was a jaw-dropping display.
After all, even an ordinary person who could do a hundred consecutive push-ups would usually have their face flush red from blood rushing up by the time they hit fifty, with breathing turning heavy. Yet the boy looked completely at ease—his physical ability was astonishing.
"Two hundred ninety-four… two hundred ninety-five… two hundred ninety-six…"
Only when he passed two hundred ninety did a blush finally appear on his face, and his breathing grew a bit heavier, no longer as effortless as before.
"Three hundred!"
With a light shout, the boy completed three hundred push-ups in one go, then stood up quickly. The redness from the exertion gradually faded back to normal, and there wasn't even a trace of sweat on his forehead—again, an unbelievable sight.
"Even though my body got smaller, it seems like my strength and stamina didn't take a hit. If anything… they might've gotten a little stronger." The boy looked toward the "White Sea" behind him, lips curling into a smile as he muttered to himself, "And all those old injuries from years of insane training in the army… seems like they got healed after crossing over…"
"Looks like this little trip comes with benefits, huh!"
After training continuously for two hours, once he finished the push-ups, the boy moved on to sit-ups and other intense exercises. When he figured the time was about right, he finally stood up, drenched in sweat, and went back into his crude little house. He took out a simple fishing rod and a small bottle.
Looking at the hook made from rough iron wire, and the bait inside the small bottle, the boy couldn't help feeling lucky. "Good thing there are bugs in the island cloud that are kind of like earthworms. Otherwise… I'd have no idea what I'd do!"
As for that hook… he'd dug up a relatively stiff wire from a trash heap, then bent and fussed with it until it looked like this.
…
Mieko—was the boy's name, and he didn't belong to this world.
In his previous life, Mieko was an orphan, raised in a welfare home. The director of the home had once been a retired soldier, and under that influence, right after graduating high school—with no money for college—Mieko directly enlisted.
A little over a year after joining the army, Mieko—an ordinary special forces soldier—passed an extremely harsh selection through outstanding performance and successfully entered the legendary special operations brigade. It was only then that he realized this world was far less peaceful than it looked on the surface.
During a classified mission, Mieko was hit by the enemy's rocket artillery.
He'd thought he was definitely dead, but when he woke up, he found himself lying on a strange white beach. In the end, judging by his appearance, he confirmed that the body was still his—only it had inexplicably become smaller, turning him into a fourteen-year-old boy.
All over his body, aside from a camouflage vest and camouflage pants that were not only torn but also completely the wrong size, the only thing he had was a precision electronic watch on his wrist.
But after checking it, Mieko found helplessly that the watch's satellite positioning systems had all failed. Now it could only be used as an ordinary digital watch.
Not long after, he was surrounded by a group of people wearing bizarre uniforms and carrying strange weapons. They claimed to be the Royal Army—and they were speaking Japanese.
These so-called Royal Army types didn't care where he came from. They directly informed him that if he didn't pay an entry fee, he would be expelled from the island.
At the time, how could Mieko have any money—let alone money from this world? Before he could even figure out what situation he was in, he had no choice but to hand over that precision electronic watch.
Because the people here had never seen a digital watch like this, they assumed it was extremely valuable. That was how Mieko was allowed to remain on the island.
In the end, with guidance from a kind Royal Army soldier, Mieko found some higher-density island cloud near the beach—cloud that had formed into cloudstone—and built a shabby little house.
(End of Chapter)
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