Curiosity led Zane to approach the lamp affixed to the wall, the only one in the room. He saw many cables, like an electrical network, glowing brightly behind the lamp. These long cables ran along the wall, curved out of the room, and traced the stairs down, lighting up the dark stairwell with their glow. Zane turned to look around. He walked to a desk covered in scattered documents, picked one up, and tried to read it.
"Hmm? I can read this writing. Clearly, this isn't the alphabet. There's no writing like this on Earth... so this isn't Earth?" Zane wondered.
Reading the document in his hand, he learned that all the files contained data on various research conducted by a man named Kane Howards. Zane picked up a few more papers and read them. He found the new information fascinating.
He read files about crystals that generated magical power, making them a resource for various technologies and weapons that helped human life. Zane looked at the lamp on the wall; although there was only one, it illuminated the entire room like several torches or oil lamps placed inside.
"Magic, huh... honestly, I've only ever heard of it and seen it for the first time. I always thought magic was just like stage tricks, just illusions," Zane muttered.
He pulled up a chair and began taking the files on the desk to read. After reading many documents that were scattered on the desk and stacking them back neatly, he found a paper that was drawn like a blueprint for a tube-shaped machine and the machine that activated it, powered by magical energy and natural energy, specifically lightning. Zane read the title.
"Hmm, so that machine upstairs is for resurrecting someone. This man named Kane is very clever," Zane said, still oblivious.
When he read the second sheet attached behind it, Zane's face immediately changed. The paper showed a picture of a human body divided into several parts. Without delay, Zane ran to a mirror, and his eyes immediately widened.
It turned out his body consisted of several connected body parts joined by sutures, making his skin multi-colored, but he also looked like a zombie, like Viola had when she turned and bit him. Zane touched his cheek and scratched it with his hand until his skin peeled and tore off the flesh.
The wound immediately healed without him feeling even an ounce of pain. Then, he took off his arm again, and a shotgun barrel was truly embedded in his arm, replacing the bone. He reattached his arm, and the sutures closed again, but this time the stitches looked alive and pulsed like a zombie's. He stared into the mirror and saw his bright green eyes as he thought.
"I... I became a creature like in horror movies... Frankenstein mixed with a zombie... weird... truly weird," Zane said in shock.
Zane went back to the desk and reread the sheet. The drawing also stated that the entire skeleton in his body, except for his head, was specially made of Mithril using alchemy, giving it incredible healing power and also functioning as a magic conductor to flow magic throughout the body.
But the most terrifying thing was that his head used a zombie head from another world summoned using summoning magic a week ago. In other words, Zane had been dead and a zombie for a week before being brought back to life. Zane instantly felt weak. He slumped into the chair, holding the sheet. He tried to process what had happened to him.
"This means I was summoned to this world when I was infected and becoming a zombie. Then I was brought back to life as a strange creature in this world, and the virus is still infecting me. So I'm a zombie modified into Frankenstein. If I read it right, that's roughly it. Where exactly is this?" Zane mumbled to himself.
He stood up and walked to the bookshelf. He read the titles of the seemingly thick books, then took a book on world history and immediately opened it. The world he was in was called Easteria. The city he was near was called Heinz City, one of the largest cities in the Carden region, which belonged to the Frieden Kingdom. After a war against the demons 500 years ago, only the Frieden Kingdom remained in the world, its territory encompassing one continent.
In the past, many races other than humans inhabited the world of Easteria, such as Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, and Dragonewts, but now they no longer interfered with world affairs and chose to live in isolation, unknown to humans.
"So this is definitely not Earth, and looking at it, this world is still in the European medieval era. This is truly... I don't know how to describe it," Zane thought.
He kept reading and turning the pages. Gradually, a smile started to appear on his face, forgetting and ignoring what had happened to him. Then he picked up another book and read about magic. It turned out that magic in the world of Easteria was powered by quartz crystals, mined by the Dwarves in ancient times and continued by humans in the present day.
Magic energy could be equated to a power source like electricity on Earth. Humans could not use magic directly, but they used magical tools called artifacts for various purposes. Zane looked back at the lamp on the wall.
"So that lamp is an artifact because it's powered by magic... amazing but strange," Zane mused.
Then he looked at the cables beneath the lamp. Curious, he walked downstairs, following the long path of cables from every lamp attached to the wall. His steps led him to the tower's basement room. There, he saw a large, bright white quartz crystal placed inside a tube, right above a device like an electrical generator on Earth.
He looked around. It turned out that besides being the crystal generator's location, the basement room also functioned as a warehouse. Many items were stored there, from weapons like beautiful swords and strong-looking armor suits to protective leather clothing, paintings on the walls, and glass art lined up on cabinet shelves, historical mystical masks, and many others.
Zane began to wander around, examining the items one by one, but what caught his attention were a pair of pistols that used flintlock technology, except that they used crystals instead of flints. Zane picked up both pistols and tried aiming them. He looked into the fairly long barrels and saw that the barrels were rifled like modern pistols.
Zane tried pointing the pistol at the wall and pulled the trigger. "Blam," the pistol fired a cone-shaped fireball toward the wall. Zane looked at the pistol again and examined it. He realized that the crystal in the flintlock mechanism could be replaced. The crystal inside the pistol was red, indicating it contained the fire element.
Zane looked at the table. He saw a box containing eight crystals that could be attached to the pistol, two of each color: blue for the water element, green for the wind element, and yellow for the earth element.
Next to the box was a small box that looked more luxurious than the previous one. Zane opened it. Inside were two small purple crystals, indicating the lightning element. There was a piece of paper behind the lid. Zane took it and read the contents. It turned out to be an explanation of the origin of the crystal, which was created by an alchemist by combining or fusing the four previous elemental crystals into one.
"This is interesting. I'm genuinely interested in learning more about this world, magic crystals, and magic artifacts. (He paused to think) Alright, I've decided. I will study everything starting today and live peacefully in this world," Zane thought to himself, smiling.
After that, he began to wander around, took some clothes, put them on, and started going up and down, exploring the tower and turning on all the lights.
***
Meanwhile, a beautiful little girl, around 8 years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes, in her room in a luxurious mansion right in the center of the city, was stunned looking at the tower on the hill visible from her mansion. The tower, which was always dark, now appeared brightly lit from afar. Her mouth hung open because she knew that the tower was an empty tower that city residents never approached because it was considered haunted, the reason being that the tower was actually a relic from the ancient war against the demon race.
"Huh... what's going on at that tower... it's scary," the little girl muttered fearfully, then hid under her blanket.