The teleport gate had been created using the secret technology of the One Association.
Its construction and operating principles were classified at the highest level—so secret that even the United States treated it as a top national security matter.
Not only that, the gate was installed with a special defense system: if anyone attempted to hack it or dismantle its components without authorization, the teleport gate would immediately vanish into another dimension.
Because of this, countless people and even nation-level organizations had tried to build their own teleport gates—yet none had ever succeeded.
Even now, access to The Oneness remained monopolized by the One Association alone. As a result, the One Association had become a world-class power, on par with the United Nations.
But even though the One Association monopolized the technology used to manufacture teleport gates, they did not monopolize the gates themselves.
Teleport gates were produced and sold like ordinary commodities—so long as you had enough money, anyone could own one. Of course, the price was far beyond what ordinary people could ever afford.
For example, the teleport gate installed at the One Association's Thailand branch was considered a medium-sized gate, capable of transporting only a few thousand people into The Oneness per day—yet it still cost as much as 300 billion baht, roughly one-tenth of the nation's annual budget.
Even so, as astronomical as the price was, the profits obtainable from The Oneness were even greater—many times over.
That depended entirely on the quality of the Players. If the Players were weak, the resources brought out of The Oneness would be limited. But if they were high-level Players, the value of those resources would multiply explosively.
After giving money to his mother and younger brother, Nawa was left with a dangerously small amount.
To be blunt, once he entered The Oneness, he would have almost nothing left on him. This time was an all-in gamble.
If he couldn't reap the profits he expected, he would never escape the fate of becoming a laborer Player for the rest of his life—working only to pay off the crushing interest on the money he'd borrowed from Play For Clash.
Thanks to the public transportation system these days, travel time on the roads had dropped drastically compared to five years ago. Even from the provinces, you could reach the One Association in less than half an hour.
All of that progress had come from The Oneness. The immense energy of power crystals—along with countless other things retrieved from The Oneness, such as items, magic inscriptions, and artifacts—had been fused with Earth's technology, pushing it forward in a tremendous leap.
Even now, Nawa couldn't help wondering whether this was truly the same world he had left five years ago.But no matter how far technology advanced, the human world still ran on money.
And because Nawa wanted to conserve the tiny capital he had left, he chose to rely on his own two legs instead of taking public transport. He spent nearly two hours running and walking to reach the One Association of Thailand.
If he'd been wearing ordinary clothes, his entire body would have been drenched in sweat and reeking by now. But he was wearing the white outfit that came with the Player device.
Not only was it durable and light, it also absorbed sweat and eliminated body odor extremely well. Nawa didn't feel sticky at all—nor could he smell anything unpleasant.
In truth, the clothing the One Association issued with the Player device wasn't anything special. It was merely a standard outfit. Even laborer Players didn't bother wearing it, because its defensive value was too low and it had no special effects.
But for Nawa, it was the only set of clothing he could bring into The Oneness.
Earth-made clothes, once taken into The Oneness, became far less durable—tearing more easily than paper. And it wasn't just fabric. Even Earth-made steel, once brought into The Oneness, was no better than dried twigs.
This was one of the main reasons modern weapons and advanced technologies couldn't be used there.
Just as he expected, the moment Nawa arrived at the One Association, countless eyes turned toward him. More than half of them held pity—sympathy for the fate he was about to face.
Wearing that outfit was no different from walking into a jungle naked. And plenty of others looked at him with outright contempt.
Nawa ignored those stares and headed straight for the teleport gate.
It was housed inside a colossal dome behind the building where he'd taken his Player exam yesterday. Once inside, he saw Players moving back and forth everywhere.
Many wore medieval knight armor. Some wore ancient Thai attire. There were even people dressed like martial heroes from Chinese wuxia films. The atmosphere felt like the gathering hub of an old online game.
Thailand had only around one hundred thousand Players, yet every day, no fewer than ten thousand people traveled in and out of The Oneness—and over eighty percent of them used this gate. Almost all of them were low-rank Players. High-rank Players rarely came here.
Because Players at that level usually belonged to a guild—almost always one of the country's three giant guilds.
And guilds of that scale had their own small teleport gates reserved for high-level members. The entry and exit patterns of powerful Players were considered guild secrets; if leaked, it could cause serious consequences.
Nawa noticed that some Players still carried huge backpacks and piles of supplies, even though they had dimensional storage. But he didn't ask. It wasn't his business, and it didn't seem important.
His gaze moved to the massive structure at the center of the plaza.It looked like the Giant Swing landmark in Bangkok—or like the torii gates at the entrance of Japanese shrines.
Except this one looked as if it were made of solid gold, not painted wood.The golden gate towered over fifty meters high. In its center was a faint, oval-shaped white energy curtain, which glowed whenever someone walked through.
Nawa immediately knew: this was the teleport gate that would take him to The Oneness—a land filled with monsters and countless dangers.
Unfortunately, from where he stood, he couldn't see what lay beyond the gate. A metal wall over thirty meters high split the enormous plaza in half, with the teleport gate at its center.
Before approaching the gate, Nawa stopped at the power crystal shop. He spent every last bit of money he had, buying thirty copper-colored power crystals, each about the size of an adult thumb.
In The Oneness, people didn't use money. They traded using power crystals.There were three types:
Low-grade (copper)
Mid-grade (silver)
High-grade (gold)
A single copper crystal was worth about 100 baht.A silver crystal was worth 10,000 baht.A gold crystal was worth around 1,000,000 baht.
Sometimes people simply called them "coins."
One hundred copper coins equaled one silver coin, and one hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin.
"Hah…"
Nawa let out a long sigh as he placed all the crystals into his dimensional storage.This was his entire operating budget for surviving in The Oneness.After taking one deep breath, he stepped into the teleport gate.
The instant he passed through the pale white energy curtain, he could see nothing but white light. Not long after, the system's alert rang inside his head, and a message window appeared.
Ding.
( Your rank is Rank E. )
( Teleport gate usage fee: 10 copper coins. )
( Would you like to pay? )
( No ) ( Confirm )
Nawa thought, Confirm.
Ten copper crystals floated out of empty space—then were immediately swallowed by the white light.
( Because you possess the title "The Gifted," on your first teleport, the system grants you a special privilege: you may choose a safe-point destination within the Kingdom of Yothandia. The cost is 50 silver coins. )
( Would you like to use the special privilege of your title? )
( No ) ( Confirm )
Nawa read the message with a complicated feeling—he couldn't tell whether he should be happy or frustrated.
From what he knew, when a Player teleported into The Oneness, they would normally be sent back to the last location where they had logged out.
But sometimes, that location wasn't safe to return to. In The Oneness, danger could appear at any moment. A peaceful grassy hill today could become the center of a monster swarm tomorrow.
To deal with that, the One Association had installed special devices at highly secure areas. Around these devices was a kind of field that made monsters difficult to notice, increasing Player safety when teleporting into The Oneness.
Players called these places safe points.
Within the Kingdom of Yothandia, safe points were scattered throughout the realm.Players of Rank B and above had the privilege of choosing to teleport directly to a safe point instead of returning to their last logout location.
Naturally, it wasn't free. The fee depended on the Player's rank and how far the chosen safe point was from the logout location. The stronger the Player and the longer the distance, the higher the cost.
For a beginner, choosing a good safe point could make hunting far easier.
But unfortunately, Nawa didn't have the money.
Fifty silver coins was equivalent to nearly five hundred thousand baht.
He didn't waste time agonizing over it.
( Player has declined the privilege of the title "The Gifted." )
( The system will now teleport the Player by random selection to a safe point within the Kingdom of Yothandia. )
The message window faded away.
Only the white light remained—growing brighter than before.
Nawa felt the same sensation he'd experienced when he entered the Himmapan Forest five years ago. Before long, the white light began to recede…
…and the landscapes of The Oneness started to appear before his eyes.
If you want, paste the next paragraph and I'll continue in the same voice and formatting.