"Ugh, if I'd known, I wouldn't have been stingy over that bit of money…"
Lucas couldn't help but complain, but even so, he steadily lifted each cardboard box and carried them into their respective rooms.
That's right, today was the first day Lucas moved into his new house. Because he wanted to save some money on hiring movers, he now had to do everything himself.
"Huff… huff…"
After placing the last box on the floor, Lucas dropped straight down, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath. Even so, the earlier grimace on his face was gone, replaced by a strange sense of satisfaction after finishing the work. After all, this was the first house he had ever bought, the house he would live in, the house he had built for himself.
"Oh right, I should text my parents to let them know."
No sooner said than done, Lucas immediately took out his phone and sent a message. But right after finishing, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over him.
Lucas didn't think much of it, assuming it was just the result of a long day of moving. Seeing that it was still afternoon, he simply lay down on the sofa which hadn't even been moved into the living room yet, and fell asleep.
This sleep was deep, so deep that Lucas wasn't even aware of what was happening to him.
When Lucas opened his eyes again, what greeted him was a pitch-dark house.
"Did I sleep all the way into the night… tch, whatever."
He muttered that and, without even checking his phone for the time, closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
He didn't realize that the scenery outside the window, once a street with neighboring houses was now gone, replaced by a dense forest filled with countless tree trunks.
However, he didn't sleep for long.
Bang!
A loud crash rang out, startling Lucas awake.
"What the hell was that?!"
He immediately jumped up, scanning his surroundings, but couldn't identify the source of the noise.
Bang! Bang!
Two more crashes followed. Lucas quickly turned toward the source and the sight made his entire body tremble in fear.
Outside the window stood two strange figures. He couldn't even tell if they were truly human or just human-shaped, because he could see a pair of faintly glowing red eyes from each of them.
And what terrified him the most was that they were continuously slamming against the glass, no words, only eerie growls and relentless pounding.
At first, Lucas thought it was just neighbors playing a prank with bizarre Halloween costumes. But as more red-eyed figures gathered outside the window, and as pounding sounds echoed from every direction of the house, he realized this was far more serious than he had imagined.
This was no joke.
As he stood frozen, not knowing what to do, his phone screen suddenly lit up, snapping him back to his senses.
"That's right! I can call the police!"
Like a drowning man grabbing onto a lifeline, Lucas lunged for his phone to call for help. However, instead of his usual cat wallpaper, the screen displayed a line of text on a black background.
"House… Upgrade System? What the hell is this?"
Lucas's mind froze again. Two utterly bizarre events happening at the same time left him unsure how to react. But hearing the frantic pounding outside, he knew he had to figure out what was going on.
And he had a feeling it was related to his phone.
He hurriedly fumbled with it, but every action only brought up a screen that looked like an RPG status panel.
[Master: Lucas Benedict]
[Level 0 House]
[Materials: 0 wood, 0 stone, 0 soil, 0 Demonic Stone]
[Upgrade: Demonic Stone 0/10]
[Note: Upgrade your house to Level 1 to unlock all system functions]
[Note: The house is currently under invasion. Please collect materials to reinforce its durability]
[Note: 5 hours 17 minutes remain until the invasion ends]
[House Durability: 9/10 (requires 1 wood, 1 stone, 1 soil, or 1 Demonic Stone to restore 1 durability)]
The flood of information made Lucas dizzy, but with his quick thinking, he grasped the key point - he was in great danger, and this so-called House Upgrade System was his only lifeline.
He didn't know what a Demonic Stone was, but the three familiar materials - wood, stone, and soil, he understood.
"But in a situation like this, where am I supposed to get stone and soil?"
"Oh right!"
Suddenly remembering something, Lucas rushed to the storage room. There, he had stacked several boxes of miscellaneous items, including a box of nutrient-rich soil he had bought for planting, and another containing an aquarium along with plenty of gravel.
To prepare for moving into this new house, Lucas had bought so many things it could be considered excessive. But he never imagined they would come in handy like this.
When he opened the box containing the aquarium, the number on his phone screen changed.
Stone from 0 to 1.
"This phone can't be used normally anymore… it's become the System's display…"
Lucas couldn't help but feel pained. His phone, filled with so much data was now as good as hacked, nothing left.
But at this moment, he had no time to lament.
After taking the stones he had planned to use as aquarium decorations, Lucas opened the box of soil meant for planting. Compared to the scarce stones, the soil filled an entire large wooden crate, so the soil count increased from 0 to 2.
As for wood, Lucas had no choice but to take apart a few boxes and wooden containers used for fragile items as a temporary measure.
2 wood, 2 soil, 1 stone.
That was all the material he managed to gather in ten minutes.
"Alright… but how do I use these… System?"
As he spoke, a glowing (+) symbol suddenly appeared next to "House Durability." Without hesitation, Lucas pressed it.
Immediately, more than half of the materials on the floor vanished, leaving only half the wood, half the soil, and a few insignificant stones remaining.
Looking at the wooden crate of soil, still intact, Lucas fell into thought. It seemed that for some reason, only items he considered as materials were counted while the wooden crate itself wasn't recognized as "wood."
"Sigh…"
Letting out a long breath, Lucas sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. Seeing the house durability restored to 10/10, he finally felt a bit relieved and had some space to think from the beginning.
He had tried turning on the lights and the TV, but nothing worked. Combined with the drastically changed scenery outside, he guessed that the house's water supply had also been cut off.
All of this led Lucas to a terrifying conclusion.
He was no longer in his old world.
Or more precisely, both he and his house had been transported to another world.