After that, the teacher told him to push the gate open when he felt ready.
Aren moved closer to it and placed his hand on the gate. The strange energy inside him began to react, as if it was answering the gate's call. He took a deep breath, gathered all his strength, and pushed.
At first, the door shook a little. For a moment, Aren thought it was going to open. Hope rose in his chest right away. But the next second, it stopped. The door did not open.
The small bit of happiness he felt disappeared just like that.
Aren gritted his teeth and used all the strength he had. He pushed harder and harder, even past what his body could handle. Still, the door would not move at all.
Not even a little.
Slowly, despair started to fill his heart. He could not stop thinking about his old life on Earth. Back there, he had lived a plain and boring life. No one knew him. No one cared about him. Was it going to be the same here too?
In this new world, there were so many strange and amazing things. So many chances. So many dreams. But if he still had to live like some normal nobody, then what was the point of being transmigrated here in the first place?
All those big dreams were right in front of him, close enough to see, but too far to touch.
Because he could not open the door.
Then, just when his mind was getting more and more messy, everything around him suddenly turned dark.
It was complete darkness. Thick and endless. He could not see even the smallest bit of light. Aren felt his chest grow heavy. He reached out with his hand, but there was nothing there. Nothing at all.
"Did I fail to awaken?"
The thought hit him hard.
"In this dangerous world, what am I supposed to do if I can't awaken? Why was I even brought here? Just to live an ordinary life again? Just to die one day because some beast happened to pass by?"
A bitter feeling rose in his heart.
"At least on Earth, my life was not in danger every day."
The last bit of hope inside him was almost gone.
And then, suddenly, a golden light appeared in the darkness.
It was small at first, but it felt bright enough to tear through everything around it.
The dark space cracked apart.
The darkness shattered.
Now he could see what was around him. Or maybe not.
There was nothing there.
No darkness. No light. No wall. No ground. It was just empty space, like a blank place with nothing inside it. Even calling it black did not feel right. It was strange and quiet in a way that felt wrong, like this place was outside the real world.
Still, Aren could somehow see himself. He could also sense the space around him, even though there was nothing else there. That made the whole thing feel even more weird.
Then, in the middle of that empty place, a golden light suddenly flashed in front of him.
A huge gate appeared.
Or maybe it was more than just a gate. It looked grand, old, and far beyond anything normal. And behind it stood a palace.
The palace looked ancient and majestic. It gave off a feeling that it had been there forever, like it existed before time even began. At the same time, it did not feel like something from this world at all. It was as if history had never touched it, yet it had still lived through endless years.
It felt old, but not only old. It also felt new, like it belonged to the future too. That was the strange part. It was like the palace did not follow the rules of the world. It stood above them, beyond them, in a way Aren could not understand.
Aren just stared at it.
He was completely stunned by how grand it was. For a moment, he could not even find the right words in his own mind. The empty feeling inside him, the one he was used to carrying, was gone for that moment. In its place was something deep and hard to explain.
This place, this palace, made him feel something bigger than shock, bigger than fear, bigger than wonder. It was a feeling he had never known before.
He was pulled toward the palace like he had no control over his own body. Step by step, he went closer until he reached the gate, then he walked inside.
The moment he entered, he saw a huge old hall. It looked ancient, grand, and quiet, like it had been standing there for countless years. At the far end of the hall, there was a small staircase leading up to a raised platform. And on that platform, there was a throne.
Aren looked at it and could not really explain what he was seeing. It was like the throne was beyond normal words. His eyes could see it, but his mind could not fully understand it.
Still, he kept walking.
He crossed the hall, went up the stairs, and stopped in front of the throne. Then, without thinking too much, he sat down on it.
The moment he sat down, he felt something amazing. It was a strong and strange feeling, almost hard to describe. But before he could truly enjoy it, he suddenly woke up and found himself back in reality.
He was still pushing against the gate. Just a moment ago, it had not moved even a little. But now, it suddenly trembled, then slowly began to move. A second later, it opened.
Still, Aren did not feel anything different in himself. He did not feel stronger, lighter, or changed in any clear way after opening the gate. That felt strange to him. But in the end, the result was what mattered. He had done it. He had opened the gate. No matter what he personally felt, the people watching had seen the result with their own eyes. He had passed the test, and now he could become a dimension explorer.
A small commotion broke out below. Aren's status would now be very different from the people standing there. Yes, his path would be dangerous, but at least he would not live like the large crowd below, leaving his future in someone else's hands.