Chapter 2: Dragon Ball World, Saiyan
"Infinite Horror… VR game?"
Shin was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected that after waiting for two and a half years, the system that finally activated would actually call itself a game.
He knew of Infinite Horror; it was a web novel he'd read in his previous life. The novel revolved around the concept of completing missions by traveling across different worlds, sparking a whole genre known as the "Infinity Stream."
More importantly, in novels of this genre, the protagonists usually traveled across these worlds as part of a team, not alone.
"Could it be that I'm not the only 'player' in this 'Infinite Horror VR Game'?"
Scratching his head, Shin hesitated. To be on the safe side, he didn't use his real name for his username.
"Let's go with 'Zuke' as my username."
[Checking username… Username not taken]
[Welcome to the game, Zuke. You are the only player in this world. Enjoy your game.]
[Please confirm the user agreement.]
"It really is a game, huh."
Though there was nothing visible in front of him, Shin felt a flood of text pour into his mind—it was undoubtedly the user agreement.
Just like in games where you're expected to read pages of terms and check the box by "I agree," most players would usually skip through and check the box blindly.
But this time was different; the terms were directly implanted in his mind, so Shin took the time to read through them carefully, finally confirming one thing.
—The terms were exactly like any standard online game user agreement!
With a mix of amusement and exasperation, Shin agreed to the user agreement. Instantly, he felt a slight tremor, as if something had fused into his body.
[Dear Zuke, your game is the Dream Version. Please start the game after entering sleep.]
[In-game, your body and mind will still recover.]
"So this thing takes up my sleep time, huh?"
Shin mused, realizing he didn't need to worry about setting aside time to play if it only occupied his sleeping hours.
With this in mind, he quickly got ready, heading to the bathroom to wash up—a basic bedtime routine he always followed.
Afterward, Shin put on his pajamas, got under the covers, and prepared to sleep.
Though it wasn't even 7 p.m. yet, his eagerness to dive into this "Infinite Horror VR Game" overrode any concern about sleeping too early.
Even if it called itself a game, the system had followed him to this world, so Shin doubted it was purely for entertainment.
With such thoughts, he calmed himself, gradually slipping into sleep. Soon, as his consciousness blurred, he opened his eyes once more.
{Transitioning to Zuke now.}
This time, however, he found himself not lying on his bed, but floating in a pool of liquid.
"What's going on? Why am I in water?"
Instinctively, Zuke struggled, but he quickly noticed that, despite being submerged, he could still breathe.
This liquid, although it filled his nose, didn't cause suffocation. Instead, it made him feel strangely comfortable.
Before he could grasp the situation, a long beep sounded above him, and he felt the liquid around him drain rapidly through an outlet beneath him.
As he was lowered by the receding liquid, Zuke realized he was inside some sort of strange mechanical pod, with tubes attached to his body.
Just then, the pod's door opened, revealing a strange figure with a face like a frog's, holding a tablet-like device. The figure glanced at him disinterestedly and said,
"Zuke, your injuries have fully healed. You can return to duty."
Hearing this, Zuke instinctively stepped out of the pod—learning that he'd apparently been healing inside this chamber after sustaining injuries.
Even more significant was the frog-faced alien's attire, which Zuke recognized immediately.
—It was the battle armor of Frieza's army!
{This is the Dragon Ball world, and you are currently stationed on Frieza's base."}
Zuke's brow furrowed as he realized his situation. It made sense that this person's face resembled a frog; Frieza's army was full of aliens with strange appearances.
"And from what he just said, I seem to be a combatant in Frieza's army… injured in some battle and sent to this healing pod."
Turning to look at the pod behind him, Zuke now recognized it as one of Frieza's healing chambers—the very one that Vegeta had used to recover after fleeing Earth in Dragon Ball.
"Hurry up and put some clothes on! I have no interest in watching a shirtless man strut around," the frog-faced alien grumbled impatiently, noting that Zuke was only in shorts.
Snapped back to reality, Zuke quickly spotted a fresh set of armor on a nearby table, clearly prepared for him.
While he was a bit reluctant to wear armor styled after Frieza's first form, it was certainly better than staying shirtless. Zuke took the armor and put it on.
"This guy's attitude toward me… it seems my rank here isn't very high."
Thoughts ran through his mind as Zuke recalled how the soldiers in Dragon Ball treated Vegeta with utmost respect. With a power level around 18,000, Vegeta was a small captain in Frieza's army, whereas he clearly didn't receive such treatment.
Once he'd put on the armor, Zuke clenched his fist slightly—a surge of powerful energy flowed through his body, and he could feel that at full strength, he could likely shatter a planet.
—This wasn't an exaggeration. In the Dragon Ball universe, a power level in the hundreds was enough to destroy the moon from afar. As a member of Frieza's army, his power level was surely in the hundreds at least.
As for his exact power level, he'd have to check later using Frieza's scouter.
"Oh, right, your tail hasn't regrown," the frog-faced alien added with a smirk as Zuke prepared to leave.
"But for you Saiyans, not having a tail is one less weakness, isn't it?"
Zuke froze—so he was a Saiyan in this world.
To be continued…
(T/N: The MC chose the name Goblin as his username, but I swapped it to Zuke for the reader's convenience.)