I usually write on webnovel, but figured I might as well upload it here too.

P.S. I don't upload consistently, so be warned.


MC's POV

"-ey - up!"

"..."

"-ey wa- up!"

"Auggh... My head..." I groaned while sitting up.

"Are you awake yet?" A feminine voice suddenly called out.

Looking around, I tried looking at the person talking but didn't see them. What I noticed though, was that I am currently in the middle of a forest.

"Seeing how your heart rate increased from 47bpm to 64bpm, am I right to assume you are up?" The feminine voice called out again.

Looking around again, I looked for the voice but failed. Since I couldn't find them, I decided to just answer. "Yeah, I'm awake. Though, I would like to know who you are and where am I."

Finishing my piece, I continued looking around. This time, I noticed a small light hanging off a tree. Seeing what is the only source of light here, other than the moon and stars, I walk toward it.

Getting closer, the suddenly got brighter, and then the voice responded. "I see. So you too do not know where this is."

"Well yeah. Where I was from, we didn't have forests this intact. And to be honest, I don't even think we even had this much greenery nearby any of the cities."

"I see. This seems to be a problem. We don't know where we are and how we got here."

When the voice stopped, the light dimmed a bit. 'I see, so the light is where she's talking from.'

Now being close enough to grab whatever the light was, I noticed it looked like one of those smartwatches that were advertised a few years back. Holding the watch, I inspected it. The watch had a black strap with metallic silver for its strap holder. As for the watch itself, I was covered in gold with what looked like a button on one side and an SD card slot on the other.

The watch screen, where the light was coming from, displayed a lot of numbers. From the looks of it, it seemed to be processing something.

Noticing that I still don't know who I'm talking to, I asked again, "By the way, you still haven't told me who you are."

Now even a few seconds later, the watch's screen changed. Like before, the light has gotten brighter, but now a more important detail was displayed.

"My apologies. I am an A.I. system created by Dr. Roots and Dr. Carol. The Advanced Logistic & In-consequence Cognizing Equipment system, or simply put the A.L.I.C.E system."

"Alice... okay. I'll just call you that."

'The A.L.I.C.E system huh? Why does that sound so familiar?'

"Understood, but sir, what is your name?"

"Oh, it's -!?"

When I was about to give my name, a sudden wave of pain came and assaulted my head.

"Aahhh!" Clutching my head, an influx of information was jammed into my brain. From what I was able to process before the pain intensified was where I was, and more importantly where Alice came from. After what felt like hours, the pain finally subsided.

"Haa... Haahh... Haahhh..." Taking a couple of heavy breaths, I look towards the watch I dropped.

Picking up it up, I wrapped it around my left wrist, screen palm side up.

"Hey, Alice... I think... I got our answer... to where we're at..." I said with a bit of difficulty.

"I see. First off, I am glad you are doing better. Now, can you please inform our current location?"

Before saying where we were, I pulled out an SD card that was conveniently placed inside my jacket's inner pocket. Holding the SD card, I tell Alice, with a bit of uncertainty, "I believe we aren't in our original world."

"Pardon?" Alice voiced in disbelief.

Hearing Alice's disbelief, I couldn't really blame her. I couldn't believe it either. "Yeah, like I said, it seems that we aren't in our original world. More specifically, we both come from different worlds."

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, I spoke again, this time with a little more uneasiness. "During the little mental breakdown I had, I was 'told' to insert this SD card into the watch. That way, you'll be able to understand too."

"... Understood. Give me the card. If what you are saying is true and what is in this card can help, let us hope it will not be too difficult to proceed."

With Alice giving her consent, I slid in the SD card. After a few minutes of Alice reading the card, she popped back up on the screen.

"It seems you were unfortunately not lying. The data I received from the card was very... in-depth."

'Figured. Whatever information was in that card, it would hold a lot more compared to what I got. There's only so much a human's brain can handle.'

"To keep things simple, I'll state the more important ones."

Nodding my head, Alice began,

"First, the Otherworlder will receive information about their current predicament."

'It would've been nice if my head exploded when it happened' I grumbled.

"Second, the Otherworlder will receive help from either a system or an a.i. In this case, you received an a.i. to help."

"Third, the Otherworlder will receive skills that will help him adjust. The skill themselves should have already been identified by the Otherworlder."

"Yeah, got what they are from the earlier event."

"Fourth, the Otherworlder will receive items and tools that would help throughout their journey."

"Fifth, the most important one, they will complete the task given to them. The task should have already been sent to you, correct?"

"Yeah, but I don't even understand it," I answered back, with a pensive face.

"Yes. The task given is too vague and it does not state if we can return after completing the given task."

"Haa... How are we even supposed to complete this in the first place?" I complained out loud.

A few seconds of silence passed before I remembered what I was supposed to say before getting that headache.

"Hey Alice, I almost forgot to say. My name is Kane, sadly, it seems like I can't remember my last name..."

"Kane... understood, I have registered your name inside my database."

Completing the introductions, a sudden thought came to mind. 'Since I can't remember my last name, I might as well give myself one, right?' Thankfully, there was a last name that sounded cool and was pretty convenient given the situation.

"Alice, if I remember correctly, you were an a.i. created to help the EX-S Gundam right?"

"Correct"

"Alright, then I think I got a last name for myself!"

With my declaration, Alice tilted her head in confusion before nodding to go on.

"I'll take the last name of Iota. Kane Iota. Pretty neat right!?"

"Iota... Iota, that was the other name of the S Gundam, the I Gundam I believe. I see, so that is what you want to go with. I believe that is a good name choice."

"Yup, since we'll be partners from now on, we might as well get along."

"Yes, let's get along."

"...Though, before any of that, we'll need to wait till day until we can do anything," I muttered out loud. "Would you happen to know when it's sunrise?"

"With the information provided, yes. Give me a few moments to adjust it to our time." Alice replied, the watch screen flashing about.

While waiting for Alice to complete the adjustment, I decided to walk around. Moving toward and alongside the mountain I started to hear what sounded to be metal clashing.

"Alice, you were for the S Gundam, so is there any chance for it to be here?"

"Sadly, I do not sense the S Gundam nearby, but there seem to be other mobile suit signatures in the area. It also seems that are currently preparing for what looks like a fight. Is this the reason for the question?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask in case they start coming our way."

"No need to worry Kane, they are not moving toward our location."

'Hm, it should be alright if I get a little closer to see them right? It would also help to see what kind of mobile suits they are.'

"Alice, I'm going to take a closer look, so can you keep giving me updates in case they move in our direction?"

"That would be no problem, but before you go I need to inform you of a couple of things."

Upon hearing Alice, I hummed and nodded.

"For your previous question, it is currently 10:12 pm, it'll be sunrise at 6 am, roughly in 8 hours," Alice informed, flashing back on the screen.

"Mm, thanks, Alice. What about the other thing you wanted to say?"

"Yes, that. As I stated previously, I am currently not connected to the S Gundam, but it feels like I am connected to something here."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but widen my eyes. Before doing something stupid in surprise, I took a quick breath, calming myself. 'Phew, that could've been bad. I really don't want those mobile suits looking in my direction.'

Calming down now, I asked, "Why didn't you say that before?"

"The reason is due to the syncing signal being very weak. I was only able to sense it after doing another safety scan. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"No, you're good," I said, not really upset. "As you said, it was a weak signal, it wasn't your fault. Now that you sense it, should we check it out?"

"There are no other signatures near it, so I believe it should be safe. I will update you if I sense any nearby."

Nodding at that, I followed Alice's instructions and moved toward this mobile suit. After a couple of minutes of following Alice's instructions, I spotted the huge mobile suit. The mobile suit was leaning against the mountain, with its weapons also leaning against it.

Getting closer, I noticed what the mobile suit was. Seeing it, I couldn't help but mutter in shock and disbelief.

"No way... it's the -"