Chapter 1

IDLE Database

Aldrin woke up in the middle of the night due to the beeping sounds coming from the desktop computer in his room.

'Did I forget to turn it off?' He thought.

Despite the sleepiness that he was feeling, Aldrin stood up to check it and turned it off for good. It's only 2 o'clock in the morning. The world outside was still silent while being illuminated by the two moons up in the sky.

[The secrets of the world. Will you dare pry into it?]

When he reached it and saw the advertisement flashing in his dimnet's browser, he furrowed his brows.

"Dang, games these days are trying to hook people with these boring ads. Why won't they focus on gameplay and story instead?" Aldrin clicked his tongue and complained.

However, despite complaining, he found himself moving the cursor to click on that huge ad banner.

Click!

Because of the silence of the night, the sound of that click filled his entire room. The poster they used was eye-catching. It depicted a gorgeous, kingdom-toppling beauty, gesturing to whoever's in front of the screen to come and take her hand. Whoever drew and animated it, they're naturally baiting those who are like Aldrin.

Someone lonely enough to turn towards fantasy to get by. He neither has a girlfriend nor a 'girl' friend. Hell, his only contact with females was on the dimnet where more often than not, they're male disguising as a female. Ah. There's his mother and his sister but it's been a while since he last saw them. There was also his previous co-worker at the convenience store but... they only had a working relationship and were not even friends.

"Let's see if you're a game worth playing."

Pulling his chair and sitting on it while forgetting his original goal of only turning off his computer, Aldrin waited for his browser to load the dimnet page.

He knew that what flashed on his screen was only a clickbait but at the moment, he's at the lowest point of his life; no job, no special skills and most importantly, no girlfriend.

Satisfying himself with games and any other things he could find. That's his current way of life. He's trying. Of course but at the current age, some things depend on your initial standing in life.

Truthfully, his family didn't have any high expectations from him. After graduating from high school, they only expect him to at least go out in the world to be something else.

However, with the state he was in right now, even his parents would have a hard time thinking about where they went wrong.

Currently, he's living in a small apartment with only one room without even a bed to sleep on.

He could only lie down on the floor which was either hot or cold depending on the current season.

As a consolation, he at least had his own desktop computer of his own. But that's because at this age and time, owning one wasn't a luxury anymore, electricity bills were as cheap as tap water. However, even after owning one, he was only using it to surf the dimnet or dimension net and play games all day.

If it was the long-lost era, he would be called a NEET. Not in Education, Employment or Training.

After waiting for a while, the dimnet page finished loading.

His dimnet's speed was among the lowest of the low, nonetheless, it was miles away from the norm of that long-lost era. The downside was… even a simple page would be worth a gigabyte of data to finish loading.

Somewhat excited despite being conned by the ads, Aldrin peeled his eyes open.

However, instead of his expected clickbaity and fan service-filled game where kingdom-toppling beauties would continue to entice him to sign up and play, a black screen filled with texts written in white registered in his eyes.

"What the heck is this? Is this dimsite hacked or did I get clickbaited to a potential dimnet virus beehive?" Aldrin wondered.

After rubbing his eyes for a while to check if he was hallucinating, Aldrin tried to read what was written on that dimnet page.

To his surprise… he couldn't.

"D*mn, did I enter a bogus dimsite? If this is all there is, I'm wasting my time even trying to understand it. F*ck this shit, I'm out!"

Feeling scammed despite being completely aware that he just randomly clicked a clickbait ad, Aldrin was about to turn off his computer and go back to his not-so-peaceful sleep.

However, before he could even do that, his eyes widened when all of a sudden, he could finally read what was unreadable earlier.

'Cosmic hell! I should really go to an optometrist to check my eyes.'

Before completely reading what was written, Aldrin rubbed his eyes once more to see if it would change again.

And to his expectation, it didn't.

[Do you want to change your average worthless life? Perhaps not… But I can give you a chance to completely turn that useless life of yours around. With just a bit of your DNA, you can take away this…]

'Worthless and useless…' That's too accurate, huh?

But what is 'this'?!

At least complete your sentence!

With a vein popping out of his forehead, Aldrin ended up voicing out his thoughts.

"If you wanted to scam someone out for his DNA, better do a good advertisement! And why are you targeting someone 'worthless' and 'useless' like me? Turn my life around?! Hah! As if it was that easy. Unless you let me win a lottery then… I'll give you the DNA that you want. But this incomplete ad? Alright, go on along now."

With his anger being triggered by what he read, Aldrin almost showered and filled his computer's screen with his saliva from shouting at it. Because of his anger, the impossibility of giving his DNA to the dimsite page flew above his head.

However, when he was about to finally close the dimnet browser and turn it off once and for all, the texts on his screen changed and that made Aldrin reconsider what he just said while his mind became awash with astonishment.

And following that, his dark room brightened like a sun peeking out from the far east when his whole screen suddenly flashed a blinding light.

If someone was spying on him from his opened window, that someone would probably think that he's browsing some dubious dimnet page in the middle of the night.

[Analyzing DNA… Registering… Transferring… Installing… Congratulations! You have been successfully bound to the IDLE Database.]

[You are detected to be at World Zone 89. Planet Dual Moon, Lonewind City, Lessworth Apartment, 4th Floor, Room 412.]

[The Idle Database will now reconstruct the initial data uploaded to synchronize with your current location.]

Huh? What in the twenty-one Cosmic Hells is this IDLE Database?!

But the most important thing is… why am I feeling amazed at this? Isn't this a bogus dimnet page?

And that address… It's too accurate!

"Who?! Who are you?! Of all people you will hack and track, why a worthless guy like me?!" Aldrin lashed out at his monitor, thinking that someone out there was looking through this dimsite, watching him at this moment in time.

However, his question was met with silence. That's obvious since the dimsite only contained a black background and those walls of text.

After a while, the text disappeared leaving only the black background.

Following that, like a system log, new lines of text appeared on his screen.

[Reconstruction and Synchronization Completed. Accessing Database…]

[Detected a lower dimension]

[Do you want to use the Idle Adventure Mode to send a Dimensional Clone?]

This time, after those lines of text, there were two highlighted choices. Yes and No.

Aldrin was still confused about this IDLE database or whoever was watching him that lured him to this… suspicious dimsite.

Nonetheless, he was weirdly feeling the anticipation of what would happen if he did click 'Yes'.

In this day and age where he was someone considered to be 'worthless' and 'useless', believing in something normally unbelievable was his best bet.

It said it can change my life, right? Go on and show me how you will do that! I don't have anything to lose anyway.

Aldrin held his breath as he moved the cursor towards the choice.

Click!

Along with that clicking sound, the apparent text disappeared again and like before, new lines replaced it.

[Idle Adventure Mode activated]

[Your Dimensional Clone will now be sent to a Lower Dimension…]

[Please be advised that you have the option to control your Dimensional Clone, otherwise, it will move by itself]

Chapter 2

Idle Adventure Mode

Aldrin watched as his monitor, which showed the bogus dimsite, automatically minimized and a software suddenly opened an unknown program.

At the same time as that, he felt an itch that he couldn't scratch as something left his body; a small shadowy figure ran down from his head and dashed towards the monitor.

He couldn't react fast enough to catch it and by the time his mind jolted him to do something, the small shadowy figure appeared to pass through his monitor's screen.

Although unbelievable, Aldrin could see that it was now existing inside his monitor. It ran along his taskbar and jumped to climb up to the opened software which was only showing a black screen.

As soon as he entered, a glowing spiral appeared from that black screen which sucked the small shadowy figure as if it was a whirlpool.

Aldrin rubbed his eyes to see if he was hallucinating, however, what was being shown in front of him remained the same.

When the spiral, along with the shadowy figure, disappeared from his monitor, a windowed program with the title IDLE Database suddenly opened and ran by itself.

On its interface, there's only a huge line of texts that reads, 'Travelling to a Lower Dimension: Small Insect Colony #111222'

He hurriedly tried opening his Task Manager but the 'IDLE Database' was not listed as an ongoing task.

He thought of restarting his computer but decided against it in the end. The antivirus programs installed in his desktop computer weren't being triggered which means it's safe.

Or he only believed that it's safe because of his curiosity about this IDLE Database.

After waiting for five minutes, the IDLE Database program was still showing the same text but now with an added small font line at the bottom right. 'Loading 5%'

Scratching the back of his head, Aldrin decided to turn his attention somewhere first while he waited for that IDLE Database to load. He clicked for the browser which was minimized from his task bar and saw that the bogus dimsite had already closed. The dimsite returned to the same page where he saw the clickbaity ad.

There was no more ad but only an error message that was prompting him to reload the page.

He did reload it but what appeared wasn't the same clickbait ad anymore but just an insurance company ad that enticed its customers by saying 'You can die anytime. Insure now!'

After blowing a long exhalation, Aldrin shook his head and closed the browser.

And as soon as he did, he noticed that the IDLE Database which already created a small icon on his desktop was soon to finish its loading phase.

"Let's see. If this one's not real then I better go back to sleep. I still need to grind on Ranga Online tomorrow. I better reach Level 99 to rebirth and catch up with those fools." Aldrin yawned and scratched his itchy head again.

As if remembering something, he hurriedly pulled open a drawer from his table and picked the small mirror he was using to remove eye boogers in his eyes.

Facing the mirror on the part of his head where he was feeling the itch, Aldrin's face suddenly became filled with horror.

"What the f*ck?! Why do I have a hairless spot here?" He wondered.

He tried touching that spot and another itchy sensation engulfed his mind.

After scratching it for a while, he finally remembered the small shadowy figure that jumped out from him.

"That thing… is a clump of my hair? This IDLE Database asked for my DNA and now it used my hair to create that freaky shadow to send to a Lower Dimension? What will happen if it dies? Will my hair gradually thin because of it? Will I go bald eventually?!"

His thoughts immediately went haywire as they turned in the wrong direction.

However, before he could delve deeply into his despair of being bald while still young, the monitor that was showing the program called IDLE Database finally finished its loading.

The text shown in it was once again replaced and became the same font as what was in that bogus dimsite earlier.

[Commencing Idle Adventure Mode]

[Your Dimensional Clone has arrived at the destination]

[Your Dimensional Clone will be possessing your current strength]

[Do you want to control your Clone?]

Following the fourth line, two rectangular boxes appeared below it, giving the choices of Yes or No.

"Let's see. It's called IDLE Database with an emphasis on 'Idle'. Let's skip controlling it then and watch how this will unfold."

Aldrin was still unconvinced that this unnatural program that installed itself and made his hair move on its own could change his life. He's pessimistic that way after living his life as a worthless and useless guy.

Moving the cursor to the rectangular box that says 'No', Aldrin drew a deep breath before clicking it.

Click!

[Choice acknowledged]

[IDLE Database - Idle Adventure Mode will now commence]

After briefly showing that text, the black background disappeared and was replaced with a graphically beautiful rendered image.

It showed a wide open space that featured tall green lush grass. From afar, human-sized insects such as ants, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars move about.

"This is what it means as a Small Insect Colony? I thought it would be somewhat fearsome but these insects… they seemed to be living peacefully."

Aldrin couldn't help but comment. Nonetheless, he kept his eyes glued to the screen.

A few seconds later, the white spiral appeared above the sky before the little shadowy figure that was engulfed by it dropped down to the ground.

As soon as its feet firmly grasped the soft earth beneath, Aldrin saw the Dimensional Clone of his set its sight onto the nearest caterpillar.

[Level 3 Caterpillar (Difficulty: High)]

With the difficulty highlighted in red-colored font, the Dimensional Clone then switched its gaze to the second insect nearest to it.

[Level 1 Worker Ant (Difficulty: Normal)]

[This Worker Ant is part of a nearby ant colony, killing it while other ants from the same colony are nearby will turn all of them hostile to you]

Reading everything that was being shown to him, Aldrin nodded his head.

However, since he chose not to control the Dimensional Clone, it moved by itself.

Aldrin then saw the status log update of the Dimensional Clone in an opaque rectangular text box at the lower left side of the program's interface.

[Found a target: Level 3 Caterpillar]

[Difficulty higher than the default setting]

[Switching target]

[Found a target: Level 1 Worker Ant]

[Difficulty matched the default setting]

[Attacking Level 1 Worker Ant]

Before he could finish reading the status log of the Dimensional Clone, his eyes became fixed and wide-eyed when it immediately ran towards the targeted Worker Ant.

As it waded through the tall grass, the Dimensional Clone raised its leg and viciously kicked the Worker Ant.

"Eekk!"

The Worker Ant shrieked in pain and stood up immediately. However, the Dimensional Clone followed up its initial kick by chasing after the Worker Ant.

After another kick, a punch and lastly pulling the ant's head off of its body, the battle ended with Dimensional Clone's victory. But it didn't come out unscathed. Before pulling its head off, the Dimensional Clone was stabbed on its abdomen causing black blood to leak out of its body.

Below, the status log was continuously being updated in real-time as the Dimensional Clone was fighting the Worker Ant.

[Dimensional Clone kicked the Worker Ant and dealt 5 damage]

[Dimensional Clone chased after the Worker Ant, sent another kick and dealt 7 damage]

[Dimensional Clone punched the Worker Ant, breaking open its thin carapace and dealt 10 damage]

[Dimensional Clone killed the Worker Ant by pulling its head off]

[Dimensional Clone was stabbed by the Worker Ant's fangs and received 10 damage and Bleeding status]

[You received 5 IDLE points]

[A Worker Ant has witnessed the fight and was now on its way to report its finding to the colony]

[Dimensional Clone decided to retreat and hide to recuperate]

While he was reading the status log, Aldrin was also watching his Dimensional Clone move from where it killed the Worker Ant to leave the immediate vicinity and hide behind a gigantic leaf.

"In the end, this is just an intricate Idle Game. How will this change my life, I wonder?" He murmured but his eyes never left the screen and the Dimensional Clone that was holding onto its abdomen to stop the bleeding.

[Dimensional Clone has entered a critical stage. It will die in thirty seconds if not treated immediately]

Treated? There's a hole on its stomach! What kind of Idle Game will punish a player like this…

While he was complaining about the game, he noticed a few more rectangular boxes below its interface.

There were at least five tabs that were locked behind a padlock icon earlier but when the Dimensional Clone killed the Worker Ant and received IDLE points, one of the tabs was unlocked.

There were only thirty seconds, Aldrin didn't think twice as he moved his cursor and clicked onto it.

To his surprise and joy, Aldrin was presented with what he needed at the moment.

The first tab was named 'Player Menu' and there were functions that popped up when he clicked it.

[Restore the Dimensional Clone's Health: 5 IDLE points]

[Double the Dimensional Clone's Damage: 20 IDLE points]

[Double the Dimensional Clone's Speed: 20 IDLE points]

[Double the Dimensional Clone's Armor: 20 IDLE points]

[Leave the Lower Dimension]

Chapter 3

Dimensional Energy

5 IDLE points. That's the amount the Dimensional Clone got from killing the first Worker Ant.

'This should be an idle game, right? Why is it so weak that it was already about to die after killing one?'

'Is this the tutorial phase? Probably not. It should be the opposite if that was the case. Instead of being too hard, the enemies should be too easy to let the player get a good feeling for the game.'

Following that logic, this idle game that was presented to him didn't have any tutorial, only tooltips that would show up whenever he would point his cursor onto something.

Aldrin shook his head and moved the cursor to the five choices presented to him and turned his eyes back to the Dimensional Clone that was clutching its stabbed abdomen wherein its black blood continued to flow out of it.

It appeared fierce and powerful when it charged towards that Worker Ant. And he could honestly say that the graphics of this game were leagues ahead of any other games.

The downside was… Aldrin didn't know where it actually came from and how it could pluck a clump of his hair to be sent inside the game.

He wasn't dreaming, he's well aware of that. Moreover, he could still vividly recall everything that happened ever since he was roused from his sleep.

'That ad… It's possibly specifically aimed at me.' He suspected.

Shaking his head once more, he cleared his head and began focusing on what was happening inside his screen.

'Should I let it die? Seems to be a waste to heal it by using the only IDLE points it got.'

As he wandered his cursor to the other choices presented to him, it was painfully obvious to him that the other three were grayed out.

He only had 5 IDLE points and those three choices needed 20 to activate. If he couldn't understand that then he's even worse than being worthless and useless.

Hovering the cursor above the last choice 'Leave the Dimension', a descriptive pop-up tooltip appeared on the game's interface.

Upon seeing that, he hurriedly read it before making his final decision.

[Leaving the Lower Dimension while your Dimensional Clone is still alive will convert the total IDLE points it got during this run to an equivalent Dimensional Energy. However, it will still count as a used-up chance of playing in Idle Adventure Mode.]

… Aldrin's expression instantly froze after reading the highlighted words.

Dimensional Energy!

Among everything written on it, that's the one thing that instantly took Aldrin's interest.

'Is this real? Converting Dimensional Energy? In the first place, is this even possible?' He disbelievingly muttered to himself.

He's not waiting for an answer since he's alone. If ever, the only companion he had were the night birds chirping outside his window.

However, although unbelievable, he couldn't help but become even more suspicious of whoever was behind the bogus dimsite that was the origin of this IDLE Database.

His suspicion of its developer watching him at this very moment was turning even more concrete.

Not that Aldrin was afraid of him. Truthfully and with complete honesty, Aldrin deemed his existence as useless and worthless.

His family was actually thoroughly disappointed in him. After graduating high school, he failed every college application he took an entrance exam for. Moreover, when he thought of applying for a job instead, the best he could get was to be a part-timer at a local convenience store.

He did that for at least two years before quitting. Since then, he became a slacker who spent his days playing on his PC. It's already a wonder that he could still pay the rent for this low-end apartment with only what he saved when he was doing that part-time job.

He did have a source of income but that's too little to sustain a rather normal life.

That's why, he thought that if the one behind this IDLE Database was someone who would do him harm, he's the one losing out, not Aldrin. Because that someone wouldn't be able to benefit from tricking him who was already at the bottom rung of this society.

Putting the identity of the culprit at the back of his mind, Aldrin brought his focus back to the descriptive popup.

If the IDLE points could truly be converted to Dimensional Energy then he's getting the jackpot here!

That's the idea running inside his head at the moment. In fact, he was too excited that if he was really being used as a guinea pig, he would be willing as long as they delivered what they promised.

What is Dimensional Energy?

It is the Energy that led humanity to enter the Dimensional Age!

Back in the old times when humanity's home planet, Earth, had run out of resources and was about to bring everyone on the verge of extinction, the last of the brightest minds walking on Earth discovered Dimensional Energy.

The origin of Dimensional Energy was debated back then and it was continuing until now. However, one theory stands out the most among the numerous possibilities that were presented.

It was called the 'Everpresent Theory'. It was stated that Dimensional Energy has existed ever since the start of time and humans couldn't just perceive it before its discovery.

As to what the catalyst that allowed for them to detect it right when the whole race was in crisis, no one knows. Perhaps it was because someone was looking out for humanity or it was just the survival instinct of humanity that triggered it.

In any case, thanks to that Energy, the impending doom of the whole human race was averted.

Dimensional Energy was the one that allowed for the world's technological mileage to reach another threshold. Applying the said energy to the Earth's technology at that time, the last of the Scientists, Inventors and the likes successfully created a method to open a Dimensional Portal, migrating the last of humanity to the farther reach of the universe where they could start anew.

Moreover, Dimensional Energy that was integrated into every form of technology also allowed for humanity to terraform planets for human settlement.

It was already thousands of years since that day and at this point, humanity had once again proliferated. And it's not just on one planet.

However, the resettlement of humanity and becoming a universal civilization didn't go as smoothly as one would think.

As the history books stated, humanity faced many challenges before fully establishing themselves in this new sector of the Universe where they migrated to.

There were the so-called Dimensional Rifts opening up that spewed out beasts and monsters of unknown origins that could utilize Dimensional Energy to strengthen themselves.

Because of those rifts, a lot of emerging human settlements in a lot of habitable planets they were trying to terraform were destroyed.

Although the humans at that time tried to fight back using weapons that also utilize Dimensional Energy like the Metadomes; two or four-limbs mechanical constructs that could be piloted by a human much like a new generation of weapons, that was proven not enough.

The bitter struggle against the Rifts continued on for more than three centuries until one of the leading Scientists at that time risked the uproar of those Human Rights Advocates to experiment on copying the beasts that could utilize Dimensional Energy on their bodies.

And he was successful in his experiment which led to the birth of the so-called Energy Refiners.

Taking in the literal meaning of that title, they were humans who could refine Dimensional Energy to strengthen themselves. Furthermore, due to their ability to refine and use the Dimensional Energy for themselves, the new generation of weapons such as the Metadomes that was utilizing the same energy became a lot more terrifying weapons in their hands, allowing the humans to finally get to an even ground against the beasts, monsters and other beings coming out of the rifts.

As more and more humans became Energy Refiners, the fight to defend against those Rifts subsided and the new age for humanity arrived.

"Change my life? If I can become an Energy Refiner because of this then… use me to your heart's content!" Aldrin almost shouted as he decided to pick that last option.

There's no guarantee that the Dimensional Clone could kill another ant now that the colony would be alerted by the ant who witnessed the killing. Besides, he's more excited to find out if what he read was true.

Being an Energy Refiner wasn't for everyone and especially not for someone poor like him.

Back then, the first Energy Refiners were artificially made through lab experiments but as those Energy Refiners gave birth to their children, most if not all of them became natural Energy Refiners and it continued onto every generation.

Sadly, Aldrin's lineage didn't hail from any generation of Energy Refiners.

However, it's not like there's no path for those unlucky ones. There was a way for non-Energy Refiners to become one.

It was to undergo the same treatment as those artificially-made Energy Refiners or… just be lucky enough to get the ability to harness the omnipresent Dimensional Energy and strengthen oneself.

The treatment needed loads of money which Aldrin didn't possess while he's as unlucky as he was useless and worthless.

But with this chance presented to him, if it was true then changing his entire life wouldn't be a dream anymore!

As soon as the game interface darkened, Aldrin saw the clump of his hair in the shape of the Dimensional Clone leave his screen and go back to where it was plucked out.

Following that, he read what showed up on the interface which detailed this particular run of the Idle Adventure Mode.

[Idle Adventure Mode Run Time: 2 minutes, 39 seconds]

[Total Creatures killed: 1]

[Total IDLE Points gained: 5]

[Total IDLE Points used: 0]

[Total IDLE Points to be converted: 5]

[Lower Dimension Conquest progress: 0%]

[Remaining Chances: 4 (will reset at 0:00 local time)]

[Evaluation: F- Rating]