Industrializing Another World

Chapter 1

One late 2002 Autumn night in Iowa, William was driving home from a college lecture. That was when a drunk truck driver hit him. Everything immediately became fuzzy, and the last thing he heard was his car alarm. His senses weakened and all that he could see was pure darkness, even the car alarm was fading away into the distance. "Is this what it feels like to die?" he asked to himself. William was only hearing himself in his head as his speech was gone by now. After what felt like an eternity, he began regaining his senses. He opened his eyes and was blinded by the light, brighter than the ones at a football stadium. A voice originating from the light spoke to William, and at that point, he presumed that it was some sort of an omniscient being.

The omniscient being tells Willaim about going to another world where there is magic. The thought of going to another world made him skeptical. After all, it mostly happens in Japanese light novels. "I guess all those authors were not delusional after all. What did they call the god? Equonus was it?" William thought. William bluntly asked for information regarding the political and economical situation of this otherworld. The omniscient being replied; "There wasn't enough room in purgatory and you didn't deserve hell, so this is the only option. Think of it as medieval Europe, there are serfs, and etc. As for politics, it is complicated; it depends on the region. Which one do you want to inquire about?" William did not want to delve too deeply at the moment and was satisfied enough on the matter and proceeded to the next question. He asked if his body could withstand the diseases. The being nods and explains that all his immunities would be the same as an average native human. William then asked if he would be provided enough food and water to survive a week. The being insisted that it wasn't evil, so food and water for one week were promised. William proceeded to ask about the languages. The being told William that it will alter his memory data to know middle English and be able to understand other English dialects.

William inquired about the laws of physics. The being says that they are the same as the ones on earth, and magic must follow those laws of physics. "For example, you can use magic to transfer energy from a dog to a tree, but you can't create or destroy energy", the omniscient being continues. The magic of this world is matter and energy manipulation. The concept of mana is equivalent to the concept of energy. Therefore, the conservation of energy and matter applies in this new world as well.

"Now then, you get 3 wishes. No wishing for more wishes, no wish for someone's death, no wishing to fall in love, and no wishing for me." the omniscient being says. William thinks for a minute and says; "I wish I could wish for more wishes." William said that proudly believing that he had outsmarted the being. The being warns him about breaking a rule. William rebuts, saying that he wished to amend the rules. The being reluctantly allows him to continue the wishes. Seems like the being isn't omniscient because it clearly did not expect him to wish that. Then, he used his second wish to wish for 100 wishes. At that moment, the being had to put its foot down because 100 wishes would be too much. "3 wishes in total, no more, no less. Take it or leave it." the being said with a hint of irritation. William said sarcastically; "I decline your generous offer, I would like the 100 wishes." The being filled with anger shouted, "Do you want the 3 wishes or not?" "Of course I do, I wish I could wish for more wishes...", William told the being. But before he could finish, the fuming being said "You will either go to a late medieval age world or sit in the void, what you earthlings call hell, for eternity!"

William thought, "This supposed not-so-omniscient god has anger issues, maybe it needs a therapist or something. I don't need to worry about college anymore, but I don't want to spend 14 hours per day manually farming. I want the riches and success that factory owners gained during Earth's industrial revolution!" He made up his mind and wished for three things; a country the size of Portugal, independent from other nations, a guidebook for this world similar to an interactive encyclopedia, and money, enough money to purchase twenty thousand gold bars the size of his forearm. Of course, there were more things that he desired apart from the ones that were requested in the wishes.