《Project Relife: 2x Isekai System》 Chapter 1: Isekai Ticket Chapter 1: Isekai Ticket In every era, the four gates of Heaven''s space, time, numerics, and energye together to create a Saviour Soul. A soul that will act as a guardian and will protect a universe from its greatest cmity. Like the other times, this time too, the four great gates came together..... Fck, this intro is too long. I am skipping to the main part. Hope you enjoy this novel. "Come on,e on,e on. Just do it!!" Xin screamed in excitement as he stared towards Truck Kun, approaching him at full speed. The so-called girl to be saved in this novel was already saved. Now Xin was just waiting for the truck to hit and send him on an Isekai. Crash!! Everything became dark around. Xin closed his eyes in joy and hoped to open eyes in a different world~~ When Xin''s eyes bleared open, he found himself standing before a person with an elderly face. White hairs, long beards, and a pair of spectacles giving him the exact features of a true Isekai god. The elderly figure sipped tea from his silvery cup and invited the person before him toe and have a seat in the cafeteria made on top of clouds. ck eyes, a small nose, and a fair Asian face with semi-long hairs, Xin went near and took a seat as asked by the person before him. He was somewhat confused, as the person before him didn''t have a Kami tag on him, as it should have been in one of those isekai anime. "So, are you a god or an angel?" Xin asked. His eyes gleamed right then. Just some moment ago, darkness and emptiness were visible in his eyes. He was in a daze. But the moment he saw the person with the name tag "Itsuki," his eyes began to glow. "I am ne" before Itsuki said something, the person sitting before him opened his mouth again and threw a wave of questions towards him. "Will I be reborn as a new life? Or will I get transferred into a world of sword and magic? And will I get a harem or single girl?" Hearing the person''s barrage of questions, Itsuki asked him to calm down and hear him out first. "Okay, tell then," Xin replied and allowed the elderly figure to tell his part of the story. "Thanks," replied the elderly figure and introduced himself. "Xin Karlos, age 24. Hear me out. I am neither a god nor an angel. I am an ascended Saviour, known by the name Itsuki Mizuhara." The old man sipped his tea once again. "Okay. Since you already know my name, I don''t think I have to introduce myself again. So, what''s the reason for calling me here? If I''m not wrong, I died some hours ago, in that truck kun event. If I am right, then a soul is called to such a ce after death, then there must be one of the two reasons. God killed him by mistake and wants him to start a new life in a different world. Or God wants him toplete any mission for them. So which one is it?" asked the person named Xin Karlos. Hearing his deduction skill, Itsuki choked on his tea. The fantasy creation level of the earthlings was something that he should never underestimate again. He made a note of this in his mind and opened his mouth to answer his questions. "Both. This time both things happened with you." "Oh~~~!!" Xin eximed and didn''t say anything about it. Seeing his demeanor, Itsuki asked him why wasn''t he angry about it? And like thest time, this time too, he got choked after listening to the reply given by the person named Xin Karlos. "Why should I get angry about it?! I am getting a chance to get to another world, also getting a chance to save a world. What else can I ask from God aspensation? And since you are sending me to save a world, you will give me some cheat skills or cheat powers, right?" Listening to his question, Itsuki blinked at the boy with amazement. It was his first time seeing someone more excited about his isekai trip rather than his previous world life. ''Must be the effect of those mangas and anime,'' Itsuki shook his head before he replied to his question. "Yes, you will get your share of cheat skills and power. But before that, hear out the entire story from my side." "Okay, tell," Xin agreed and listened to his narration attentively. ording to Itsuki, Xin was supposed to be born in a world of programming and magic. But during his soul transportation, something happened, and his soul was split into two. Upon hearing it, Xin frowned and narrowed his eyes. Itsuki didn''t show any reaction and continued the story as he was narrating before. One part went to a universe devoid of magic andnded on a called earth, while the other partnded in the world of programming and magic as nned before. The person born with the half savior soul in the world of magic was a talented genius for sure, but at the same time, he was also the target of many. In his entire life of fifty-two years excluding some, each and every friend he had made have betrayed and backstabbed him at one point. At one point, he couldn''t take it anymore and ended his life by hanging on the rope. Listening to his narration, Xin felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. The first thing that blew his mind was the thing that he was only a half soul. And the second thing that was making him feel frustrated was the bad ending of his other part. On earth, Xin was the second-best international programmer in the market after his dad. And his property alone gave him a tycoon ranking in the top twenty. But listening to his other half''s story, he was feeling bad deep inside his heart. "So, what am I supposed to do now?" Xin asked with a frown. Even though he was feeling bad, he was not connected to that other soul. So he put it aside and jumped to the main topic. Chapter 2: Mission Name?!! Chapter 2: Mission Name?!! Itsuki nodded and answered his question after taking another sip of his tea. "Restart again, and this time with a full soul." Xin "" He was expecting some sort of cheat skill and an isekai ticket aspensation. But after hearing the word ''Restart,'' his expression darkened. He knew it well that restart means retaking birth as a baby, learn everything from scratch, then take revenge on the bad leads, bleh, bleh, bleh.... fantasies. But he wasn''t interested in them. All he wanted was a cheat skill and an isekai ticket to a different world. Seeing Xin was losing interest in his uing mission, Itsuki resumed his narration. He told him how the world of magic got destroyed after two years of his other part''s death and how the entire universe was affected by that event. Xin didn''t show much of a reaction to it and replied an "Oh~~~" after listening to him. "Well, I know you won''t be affected much by it, so let me give you a taste," Itsuki snapped his finger while pointing it towards Xin. "Huh!! What''s this guy doing now?!" Xin murmured. He was about to add something when everything became dark around. Countless memories began to intrude his mind. Betrayal, betrayal, betrayal. Was the only thing he could find in the memories. The first betrayal was at the age of twenty, the second betrayal in the university, the third in the Defence Academy, the fourth..... the fight..... There wasn''t a single moment in his life when he didn''t get betrayed by someone. Even during thest moment of life, he was about to get crossed by one of his dearest friends. But before he did, the other part of Xin ended his life by hanging on a rope. Tears began toe out from Xin''s eyes after he experienced everything in those memories. He was no longer the guy who doesn''t care a shit about his other part. He tried to stop his tears, but no matter what, it didn''t stop. His eyes became swollen, the white membrane turned red. After some minutes of effort, he was finally able to control his tears gushing and looked towards the person named Itsuki again. "Will you say the same now?" "No." "Good," The conversation ended in three lines. Xin asked Itsuki what was that? And why was he feeling so bad for his other part? And Itsuki answered him byughing that some minutes ago, he merged both the souls into one. Now they were one, as they should have been from the beginning. After talking about some other matters, Itsuki finally posed the thing that he wanted to blurt out. "Xin Karlos, hear me out. Are you willing to restart your life? And save the world that''s destined to doom without a Saviour Soul." "Ah yes, I will save. But I was expecting a fresh isekai ticket." "Ahahaha, Ahahahaha,"ughed Itsuki. And kept onughing till Xin asked him to stopughing and tell him the reason for hisugh. Seeing Xin was getting irritated, he refrained fromughing and told him something new for his ears. "Xin Karlos, do you know the aim of this mission?" "Yes." Xin replied. And stated his mission objective. That was to restart his life in the world of magic, save it from its greatest cmity. And to do that, he has to stand on top of the other people in that same world. Revenge was a must for him, as he wouldn''t get peace of mind without his sweet revenge. Itsuki nodded his head in approval and asked him the name of this mission. Xin was somewhat confused by his question since he had never seen or read any anime or manga where the god asks the mission''s name. So he simply shook his head to convey he didn''t know and waited for Itsuki to spill out the name. "Project Relife: 2x Isekai," blurted out Itsuki. "Interesting~~!!" Xin eximed. He was about to ask what the 2x signifies, but before he did, a portal abruptly opened up behind him and started to pull in everything around it. Xin jumped off from its chair and looked towards Itsuki, asking for an exnation. "Oof, looks like it''s almost time. I know what you want to ask. And the 2x doesn''t signify the two souls. Well, you will find out soon. And I have given you your part of cheat skill sets. Use it wisely!!" Before Xin replied something, the portal became fierce and sucked him by force. Zwap!! The portal closed off. And Itsuki returned back to his seat. After taking another sip of tea, Itsuki turned behind and called out someone, "Sister Otsuki, wasn''t it you who created that space vortex during my journey?" "You found out now?" replied a sweet voice from the dark. "No, found out long ago. But wanted to thank you now. Cause of you, that soul evolved to Cyan and got his new soul color." "Hehehe, kiddo, if you knew about it, you should have thanked me earlier." "Ah, I wanted to do the same. But suddenly got an urge to wait and see when you will tell from your side." "Tch, tch, ungrateful brother of mine," cursed the owner of that voice and faded into the darkness behind her. Itsuki, too vanished from his seat and looked forward to the cyan soul''s new journey named Xin Karlos. Everything was dark. Xin was floating in the darkness with a mind full of thoughts. In the abyss ck darkness, someone called out his name, Xin! Xinn!! Mr. Xin Karlos!! Xin abruptly opened his eyes and found himself in his high school ssroom. Before him was a person with a bald head, fat tummy, and a French mustache. Xin recognized the person in an instant and stood up at once, "Professor Han!!" Xin eximed with surprise. In his previous life in the world of magic, Professor Han was one of those characters who helped him build a solid base in magic spells. But one day, he lost his life due to a conspiracy by some higher-ups who were jealous of Xin''s sess. Tears gushed down from his eyes, and Xin became emotional again. Since he was getting another chance, he swore himself to save the Professor''s life this time. Chapter 3: Initializing the 2x Isekai System….. Chapter 3: Initializing the 2x Isekai System¡­.. Seeing his crying face, Professor Han thought Xin didn''t know the answer, crying to make an excuse. He was getting ready to put on his ruler in action when Xin suddenly hugged him and began to cry out loud. Professor Han didn''t know what to do there. Earlier, he was of the idea that Xin was making excuses to escape from punishment, but judging from his expression, he became sure that wasn''t the case there. After contemting for some time, he decided tofort Xin and put his hands around him. "Mr. Karlos, what happened?" He asked in a low voice. Xin heard his voice and snapped out of his contemtion. He looked around and found the professorforting him. He gently wiped his tears and asked the professor to release him from his grab. Professor backed off and asked, "You fine now?" "Yes, I am fine," Xin replied in a low voice and gazed towards the question on the green board. It was just a simple binary search question, having multiple loops to make it look like aplex program. For people like Xin, who used to have the Rank 2 programming title, such questions were nothing more than a child''s y. He snatched the chalk from Professor Han''s hand and went towards the green board. Since it was the first day of high school and many new students had taken admission, everybody was pretty much a stranger to each other. When other students saw him crying like that upon getting asked to solve the question, they thought Xin was poor at studies and making a dramatic scene as an excuse for not answering the question. Everyone''s eyes were set on the tall, handsome figure walking towards the board. ck eyes, ck hair, and fair skin added with his slim tall built Xin was no less than a model in the ss. Xin went near the board, stared at the question for one minute, turned around, and said, "Done!!" Everyone in the ss frowned on his statement and started making an evaluation of whether he was bluffing or not. Professor Han went near and saw the programming on the green board. It was untouched,pletely untouched. Not a single thing was changed on it. He asked Xin what extra thing he had done there. Xin pointed out the third loop in the question and showed that he had changed the value from the constant number 5 to a variable X that will make the program run smoothly without any error. Professor Han took his time and pondered over it. But no matter how he thinks, he couldn''t figure out how the program will work with a variable X rather than the constant 5. Since the professor was keeping his quiet, the rest of the students were also keeping their calm. Some were typing out the programming on their devices to check out the validity of Xin''s correction. While the rest were just waiting for a chance to tarnish Xin to make a bluff and waste ss time. "Done, done," two voices echoed one after another, attracting the professors and the entire ss''s attention. The first voice belonged to Xin, while the second was made by one of the girls sitting on the first row. Professor Han turned around and saw Xin holding hisptop. He took it from his hand and clicked on the "Compile & Run" option to make it run and check out the result. Sess!! Sess!! Came a notification, and the program began to run as it should have been. Professor looked towards Xin andplemented, "Good job, Mr. Xin." Xin nodded head in appreciation and turned towards the girl who typed out the hundred twenty-lined program with the same speed as him. Blue eyes, short dark grey hair with blue shades apanied by her diamond-shaped beautiful face. A top-notch beauty queen. No one in the ss knew her name, except the two persons standing near the green board. Professor Han knew her name as he was the one who helped her in her registration work, and for Xin, he knew her from his previous life on magical earth. "Aoi Kawazaki, right?" "Yes. How did you know my name?" asked the blue-eyed girl. Xin was in trouble now. He remembered they hadn''t held the introduction session yet, and in his new life, he hadn''t talk with her before. Xin began to look here and there for an answer. Suddenly, his eyes fell on her desk. Her name was written clearly on one of her notebooks. Xin pointed his hand towards the desk and said earlier he had a look at her notebook. "Oh~~~!!" eximed Aoi and handed over herptop to Xin to show its sess. Xin looked at the program and thanked her for typing out the codes for him. She shook her head with appreciation and sat on her seat again. Back to Professor Han, he was still amazed by Xin''s answer. The answer he had in mind involved adding ten more programming lines, but the answer that Xin showed was quite simple. He just had to change a value then done!! He still couldn''t believe that a high school student could solve that question. To rify his suspicion, he wrote down another question on the green board and asked Xin to solve it. Xin looked at the question for a while, then indulged himself in solving the problem. Such questions were child''s y for him, and he was having fun while warming up with them. "Done!!" Xin eximed with a smile on his face and turned around towards the professor. Upon turning back, he saw something strange whose reason was out of his thinking capability. Everyone in the ss had fallen asleep on their desks. Even Professor Han was seen to be sleeping in a standing position. Before he does something about it, a mysterious wave hits Xin and sent him flying towards the green board. He lost his sense and closed his eyes with confusion. After an unknown amount of time, a voice echoed in his mind. Magiculus Particles detected Initializing the 2x Isekai System.. Generating a name for the system Name Generated, Daisy!! Master Identification Xin Karlos!! Chapter 4: First Wave Chapter 4: First Wave Xin heard the mechanical voice in his mind andined in his heart; if Itsuki were nning to give him a female system, wouldn''t it have been better if it were a sweet female voice? Upon hearing his whining, Daisy started working and processed it as soon as possible. Master Xin Karlos, First Wish Sweet System Voice Wish Granted!! Voice Module 70X15 has been sanctioned to Daisy!! "Huh, that''s fast," Xinmented. Now instead of that mechanical voice, he heard a feminine voice. Xin recovered some of his strength and stood up with difficulty. He remembered how an unknown energy hit him and sent him flying towards the wall. "Gahhh, now what''s this mess?!!" Xin groaned with anger. All the students were asleep, and the teacher had also joined the party. Before he said something else, Daisy''s voice echoed in his mind again. Magiculus Particles Detected First Wave has hit the earth! First wave has hit the earth!! Xin saw the system''s floating notification, simr to a smartphone. He made an attempt to click on them, but no extra info window was popped up before him. Seeing making gesture was useless, he made an order in his mind, "Ah~~ Daisy, can you hear me?" "Yes, master. I can hear you." "What''s this first wave? Any idea?!" "Yes, master. My database has ample information about the first, second, and third waves. But before that, I have a wee message for you." Xin "..." ''Wee message~~!! pfft feels like a game, lol.'' Xin willed, and the system''s message window opened up. The letter was addressed to him. And the sender was none other than Itsuki. ______________________________ Dear Xin, Nyaa~~~ I hope you are fine. I think it''s your first day on earth. I wish you sess in your revenge. And hope this time the world won''t get destroyed like thest time. Since there is a charge on the number of characters I am using right now, I am keeping it short and simple. Thest time the magical world got destroyed, we tried to reverse time and send your soul there. But due to some unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to do so. Since trillions of souls were on the line, we decided to merge your earth and the magic world into one. We have sessfully nted the magic world''s characters on your earth, and for magic, we will add it within a month. Hope you enjoy your stay there. Nyaa~~ Itsuki out~~~ _______________________________ The first thing that came to Xin''s mind was the question, "Is this Itsuki a cat god or an isekai god?!" Apart from this, many other questions were bubbling up in his mind. Like what did he mean by "merged the two worlds." While he was pondering about it, Daisy sounded again, giving him his first mission with a notification. First Mission Generated! First Mission Generated!! This time Xin didn''t try to make any gesture and used his mental energy to open the notification. And as expected, it opened up. First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine Fruits. Time Remain: 7/7 Days Fruits Collected: 0 Xin saw the name Red Pine, and an old memory popped up in his mind. He remembered that in the world of magic, people used to feed Red Pine to small babies till they be seven years old and awaken their magic. The purpose was to expand their vessel for storing magic and make it strong and sturdy from both inside and outside before they awaken magic inside. Xin understood the mission''s motive, which was to make his magic storing vessel sturdy and stronger. He began to think of different ways to collect them, but couldn''t think of a way for collecting that many at once. The first thing he did after getting his mission was to get out of the school and look at the nearby ces. The best ce for observation was the school terrace where they used to have lunch along with friends. Since everyone had fallen asleep, he took the terrace''s key from the guard''s office and unlocked the door to the terrace. After having a look at the nearby ces, he realized everything had stopped around him. The cars, the buses, the hustle bustle on the streets, everything had stopped around him. "Sigh, Daisy, you here?!" "Yes, master. Daisy here." "What''s the meaning of these waves? Can you exin?" Xin knew the gods were using waves to add magic to that world, but it actually signifies, and its effects were still unclear. Daisy went through her database files and found the file that clearly exined the magic waves and their effects. While Xin was contemting about the waves, a screen materialized before him. Xin got startled by the screen and took a step back as he was not used to it. Before he read the screen''s content, he asked something that he wanted to ask for a long, "Daisy, this is one of those MC''s system screen, right?! The screen that only I can see?" "Yes, master. It is as you said. Only you can see this screen. And the new phrase "MC''s system screen" has been added to the dictionary!!" Xin "" Now that he had confirmed that the screen was exclusively visible to him, he took a breath of sigh and began to read the content on the screen. Chapter 5: Perverted Professor, really?!! Chapter 5: Perverted Professor, really?!! _______________________________ First Magical Wave (Saisho no Nami): Adding a thinyer of magic to earth and letting it develop on its own. Effects: It will introduce New nts and animal species on earth. Second Magical Wave (Dai ni Nami): Adding magiculus particles to the atmosphere. Effects: People all around the world will be able to awaken and use magic. Third Magical Wave (Dai san Nami): Adding the enormous amount of mana from the world of magic to the normal earth. Effects: Earth will be a different ce from what it used to be before. "Oh~~!!" Xin eximed on understanding the meaning and the effects of the three waves. "Daisy, how many minutes till the effect of the first wave disappears?" "Twenty minutes, thirty seconds, master!!" Upon finding out the exact time left before everyone woke up, Xin hurried back from the terrace, locked it as before, hung its key in the security guard''s office, and returned to his ss again. Everyone was still asleep as they were before. After looking at everyone present in the ssroom, Xin''s eyes fell upon the girl sitting in the first row. The girl who typed out the program with the same speed as him and showed it to the professor. "Aoi Kawazaki?!" Xin muttered. He remembered Aoi was a character from the magical world whose magic chanting andbat capability were top-notched. Though he didn''t have much of a friendship with her, he rememberedpleting a mission with her once. It was thest mission of her life, after which destiny pulled her inside an abyss of conspiracies. Seeing Aoi was getting fame, name, and sess at a faster rate than her other siblings, some of her cousins poisoned her with the Wu Tou Jian and paralyzed her entirely for life. Since she was the only child of her family after bing disabled, the same cousins conspired against her family and made them exiled from their n. Though Xin wasn''t deeply involved in all this, he was somewhat aware of her situation. When he found out about this, he wanted to help Aoi at any cost, but he was entangled with his problems at that time. Since he was getting a chance this time, he swore in his heart not to let those misfortunes befall on her again. While he was pondering about saving Aoi, Xin realized something that he had forgotten for a while. "Daisy, in my previous world, Aoi was conspired by her cousins, and she became disabled for her entire life. But this time, the world is not the same So what I wanted to ask is will the same misfortune befall on her again?" Daisy finding an answer... Initializing the destiny meter... Destiny Determined!! The answer is yes!! "Oh, then she can''t escape her destiny, even when she is on earth?!" "Yes, master, she can''t escape from her destiny. That had been destined for her. But" Daisy stopped at that and didn''t show signs of speaking further. Xin scowled and asked her why she stopped in the middle. And to his surprise, the answer was something that was giving him pain in his kidneys. "Master Itsuki had designed me in such a way that sometimes, before telling an important matter, I will pause for some time." "Oh, and a pause for?" "Pause for creating suspense," answered the system in a solemn voice. Even though she had installed a sweet voice module, she stillcked emotions in her voice. Xin "..." He was dumbfounded by the answer and facepalmed on Itsuki''s programming. "What was that guy thinking while programming her for such things? For suspense, really?" After some seconds of creating the so-called suspense, Daisy continued and answered, "She can''t escape her destiny. But she can be saved from her destiny." Upon hearing this, Xin raised his frustrated face and asked, "Then can I also change her destiny?" "Yes, you can change her destiny." A smirk appeared on Xin''s face. He went near Aoi and was about to pat her head when a sound came from his behind. "Xin Karlos, I love you. You are the best!!" Xin coughed up and turned around to see the owner of that voice. And to his misery, the owner was professor Han, not a pretty busty sexydy as expected. Xin heard a cracking voice in his heart and went near the professor to help him wake up from his sleep. "Professor Han, Professor Han. Are you all right?" "Yes, baby. Your darling is alright!!" Xin "" ''Must be the effect of that wave,'' he thought in his mind and sprinkled some water on the professor''s face. "Baby, just a few more minutes. Let me touch your soft soft mountains for some more minutes." Xin "" This time, he became sure that the professor Han he knew and the professor Han before him had different characters. "Daisy, you already know my question. Spit out the answer, quick." "Yes, master," Daisy replied and added that the professor Han of this world and the professor Han of the magical world he used to know have the same character. Xin didn''t even wait for a minute and fired his second question towards his system. The professor Han he knew was a very rigorous teacher but soft at heart. He was calm as a river and gentle as mother nature. But the Han before him sounds pretty much like an old pervert. So his next question was about Professor Han, "Daisy is this perverted side something that he had never shown to the public?" "Affirmative!!" "Sigh~~~" Xin became speechless and admitted that he knew little about professor Han from his previous life. Xin went near him again and sprinkled some more water on his face. After calling Xin "darling, darling" two more times, professor Han opened his eyes and saw Xin looking at him silently. Chapter 6: Hacking into the mainframe computer Chapter 6: Hacking into the mainframeputer "Ehh Mr. Karlos, why are you looking at me like that? And where am I, in the first aid room?" professor Han asked in confusion. Xin stood up and let him take a view of the entire ss with his own eyes. It was pretty much dead and silent. Seeing everyone in the ss was sleeping, professor Han abruptly stood up and had a closer look at them. Not a single student was awake except Xin. "Mr. Xin, any idea, what happened to them? I don''t think they are acting. Something feels wrong here." "Yes, professor, not only them but the entire world is sleeping right now." Professor Han "" It was hard on his part to swallow that news in one gulp. Something came to his mind, and like Xin, Professor Han too rushed into the security guard''s office, took the key of the terrace, and climbed up high to take a look at the nearby ces. And like Xin, he found the whole world had stopped around him. Not any human, nor any machines were working around him. While he was taking a look at the school surroundings and the city, Xin followed him to the terrace and acted like he hadn''t been there. "Mr. Xin,e here,e here. See this!!" Professor Han shouted at the top of his lungs. Xin went near and pretended to be an innocent guy who didn''t know anything about these happenings and eximed, "Damn!! The whole city has stopped working." "Yes, Mr. Xin, not only the city but the factories outside the city have stopped working. I can''t see any smokeing out of it now." "Oh, yes, I observed just now." After checking over the city from the terrace, both of them returned to the ssroom and thought of ways to wake up the rest of the students. Being a hardcore otaku and novel reader, Professor Han was getting ideas out of the world. At one moment, he was thinking about the plot of that novel where the male lead and the female lead were the only ones who remain alive on earth, and everyone else died because of some virus. But he rejectedparing that plot and their current situation because both of them were males, and he didn''t want to spend the rest of his life with another male. He still wanted to get a hot, sexy, figured chick as her wife. Next, he thought of a plot where they would be stuck in an apocalyptic world and have to fight for their survival. But then again, he rejected that idea since he couldn''t see any signs of the apocalypse or any zombie around him. While he was busy thinking about different novel plots andparing their current situation to those plots, Xin was doing something shady in the ss with hisptop on the teacher''s table. Since they hadn''t held any introduction sessions, and Xin was pretty much new to that world, he took the chance when everybody was asleep and hacked the school database to look up their name, family, and background. After saving a copy of the entire database on an online cloud storage service, Xin shut down hisptop and had a look at his old professor. "Professor Han, what are you doing there?!" Xin asked in confusion. Some time ago, Professor Han was fantasizing about the novel plots and their current situation outside the ssroom. But when Xin went outside, he was not there anymore. Xin followed the sounding from the down floor and found Professor Han there, before the principal''s office. Xin asked again, "Professor Han, what are you doing there?! Are you trying to do something?" Before Xin continued, Professor Han replied and said, "Hiss!! Don''t make a noise. I am not doing anything shady." "Then why are you trying to open the principal chamber door?" Professor Han sighed out and told Xin the entire story that happened some days ago. As usual, professor Hanpleted his duty for the day and passed through the principal chamber heading towards his home when he heard a loud noiseing from the inside. "Dad, how can you do something like that?!! You still have your kids. And you are giving it to someone else." "Yes, you all are my kids. And all are well off enough to lead your own life without being dependent on me, then why do you all have a problem if I give it to someone else?" Professor Han told Xin how the principal''s kids were forcing him to sign on some papers and take something from him. They even threatened him to sign on it, or else they will burn down his entire empire. Xin already had a hunch about what might be those papers and what was the thing that they wanted to take from their father. He understood why his professor was curious about it and wanted to take a look at it. After pondering over it for some time, Xin offered help to professor Han by saying, "Leave it to me." Being a hardcore otaku and a detective movie lover, Professor Han was of the idea that Xin will kick the door and break it like those detectives and agents in one try. But his expectation was crushed when Xin went near the door and flicked it once to open it. Professor Han "." Xin "." Both were dumbfounded, looking at each other. Professor Han was surprised at how Xin opened the door of the chamber with just a flick. And Xin was dumbfounded by seeing the dumbfounded face of the professor. "What?!!" Xin asked while knitting his eyes. "Mr. Xin, how did you do that?! Opening the door with just a flick?" "Oh, this? I just hacked the mainframeputer, then essed the triyered secure database of thepany that''s providing CCTV and automated door service to our school and opened it from the keys found there." This is what Xin was about to yell out, but then he remembered he was not the programming genius Xin anymore. Even though he hacked thepany''sputer and its secured servers as usual with his smartphone, he could no longer tell about that to anyone, not for the time being at least. After snapping out of his astonishment professor, Han couldn''t contain his excitement and asked, "Mr. Xin did you hack theputers of thepany providing our school CCTV and automated door services and opened it from there?!" Xin "" The moment professor Han asked him about hacking; he literally got choked. Even though he was not showing it on his face, he was suffering waves of heart attacks from inside. While Xin was hacking theputers, he was taking extreme precautions not to let his professor know what he was fiddling on his mobile and silently hack theputer to ess the servers. ''Then howe he found out about it?'' Xin pondered. "I have seen people in the movie how they hacked theputers just with their mobile phones and touch the door with a stylish pose to open it after that." Xin "" "Well, never mind. You are just ast-year high school student. I don''t think you even know about ethical hacking. Forget about hacking thepany''s multiyered secured server." Xin "" "I think you are just checking the material of the door, and it opened up on its own." Xin "" "Well, good for us, let''s go." Said Professor Han and led the way to the principal chamber. Chapter 7: Dawn of a new era Chapter 7: Dawn of a new era Professor Han was the one who hurriedly went inside the principal chamber without taking any precaution, but Xin wasn''t a fool like him. First, he re-essed the database, turned off the CCTV''s inside the principal chamber, and then he went inside. "Professor Han, even though you told me about all this, and we even barged into the chamber, what are you nning to do now?" asked Xin. As much as he knew Professor Han was not someone with malicious intentions, if he is doing something sneaky, there must be a reason behind it. And as expected, Professor Han''s reply fulfilled his expectation. "Hahaha, don''t worry. I am not doing anything shady. Principal Zhang is like my well-wisher. He has helped me many times in the past. I just want to find out what''s in that file mentioned by his kids and help him in any way possible." "Oh~~." "Yes, so our first work now is to search for a file that doesn''t have the school logo on it." Xin nodded and began to search for a file with the same description. While he was searching for the file, he kept on peeking at his wristwatch for the time. Eighteen minutes had already passed, and after a few minutes, the effect of the first wave was about to be worn off. Xin somehow wanted to get out of the principal chamber and get a safe spot for him to take some rest, but Professor Han was dead set on finding the file there and was still searching around for it. While Xin was searching for the file, he randomly made a wish saying, ''I wish the system could help me find the file.'' Just after a second after his wish, a notification came from the system. Stating, Initialising the search..... Scanning the room... Finding the desired object Object found!! "Huh~~!!" Xin eximed in astonishment. The speed at which the system searched the file was exceptionally fast for him. It took her just three seconds to search the file in the room. He was calcting the search duration and a possible way to make AI search that fast when he heard a sound from his rear. "Ah. This headache, what the hell just happened here?" Both Xin and Professor Han got startled by the voice and froze at their ces. Xin was the first one who gathered enough courage and turned around to have a look at the source of that voice. Professor Han, too gathered enough courage, swallowed hard, and turned around to have a look at the source of the voice. Since the room had only three members, it was pretty apparent to whom does the sound belonged? Without a doubt, the voice belonged to the Principal, and without a doubt, they were going to be in trouble soon. "Damn, damn, damn!! Retreat, retreat now!!" Screeched Professor Han at the top of his lungs and left the principal chamber as fast as possible. Xin too followed him back out of the chamber, but before he did, he went to the left side corner of the room and picked up a file from the gap between the two wardrobes. After escaping from the tiger''s den and catching up with their breath, Professor Han turned towards Xin and asked if he found the file or not? Xin nodded in disappointment and replied a "no" to him. Professor Han sighed and asked Xin to follow him to the ss. On their way back, they saw everyone was waking up and bing sobber. Seeing them getting conscious, Professor Han wanted to check the conditions of his students. Upon entering the ssroom, both of them found only one student waspletely awake, and the rest of the students were still bbering in their sleep. "Miss Aoi, are you alright?" Professor Han asked with concern. She answered Professor Han''s question while rubbing her forehead, "Yes, somewhat fine, I can say. My head aching like I have been hit by a steel rod." "Oh, any other problems?" She nodded and slept again on her bench. Professor Han went near her and was about to check something when Xin stopped him from going and asked him toe and see the online posts and news. Some foreign countries, scientists, and researchers who woke up faster than others checked the satellite footage captured by their respective country''s satellites and discovered an unkno passed by earth, some hours ago. The passing of aet at a closer distance from the earth wasn''t a new thing. It always happens from time to time. Halley''s Comet is one such example. But this time passing Comet was not as ordinary as the Halley''s Comet. When scientists and researchers checked the wave data recorded by the satellites, they found the record of a new wave whose oscition value couldn''t be recorded by the high-tech satellites. Not only that, but they also found out a peculiar property of these waves, which was the most shocking discovery in human history. When these waves entered the earth''s surface, they altered the atoms, molecules, and chemical properties of many things on earth. This was the very reason many unknown species of nts and animals were emerging on the earth''s surface. Professor Han read the news articles and felt as if his leg was bing softer. Their era was undergoing a major evolution. To be alive at a time like that and see all the changes happening before his eyes~ Thinking about it, his happiness was soaring through the skies. He will see the dawn of a new era and be the first generation to experience it!! This was one of the greatest privileges that only some million people out of a hundred thousand trillion people get in every era. While the Professor was fantasizing about the dawn of a new era, Xin was secretly reading that file that he had stolen from the Principal''s Chamber. Chapter 8: Offer from the Professor Chapter 8: Offer from the Professor The first few pages were about the general terms and conditions that are usually mentioned before a contract. The main uses of the file stating the transfer of ownership started after a whole of twenty pages. Xin wanted to read them thoroughly when Professor Han called him to return his smartphone. Xin hid the file again and went near the Professor to take it back. Seeing the visible excited expression on the face of the Professor, Xin knowingly asked him the reason. And as expected, the answer was somewhat rted to theing of a new era. Professor was overly enthusiastic about it. And was waiting for it toe as soon as possible. While Professor was telling Xin about all the things he heard on the news and read on articles, some sounds came from the ss. Both of them rushed inside and found everyone was pretty awake by then. Xin checked his system for the time remaining and found it was showing a 00:00 then. "So, the time hase, huh?" Xin questioned himself in a low voice. And went near the Professor to help him manage the students and clear out the visible confusion. That day no more sses were held, as ordered by the national government and international government bodies, and instead, they were told about the uing new era and its advantages and disadvantages. Not only Xin''s school, but the government, teachers, and local managing bodies all over the world were doing the same, gathering people at one ce and telling them what''s happening and what''s going to happen. Though the information circting throughout the world was the same, the reaction and the responses the higher-ups of the government departments were getting was different. Panic among the people about the uing future was alike across the globe. But apart from that, some other peoples like businessmen, business tycoons, and some hidden families had different views about it. As anticipated, giant corporations and multinationalpanies were searching for ways to make money out of this new uing era, and for them and their dictionary, something like fear and afraid had no business in it. Meanwhile, many hidden families worldwide were aware of the magical waves and know what''s going to happen soon. They were getting ready toe out of seclusion and dominate the world as quickly as possible. The day passed, and the night came. Xin returned home as soon as they let the students go and went directly inside his room. Since no one was home and his mom and dad were on tour, he locked all the doors and hit the bed. The first day of high school was a tiresome day for Xin. Not because it was the first day, but because of his transfer to another world. Then getting hit by that wave, and so on. The moment he closed his eyes and went to sleep, countless memories began to unzip in his mind. Previously, when the unzipping process was going on, Xin stopped it at mid, at that time and handled the current issues at hand. But now that he was free, the process got initialized again, and Xin was filled with eighteen years of memories just in one night. Next morning, Sunday. Xin woke up pretty early in the morning and went to the terrace to do some stretching exercises. The Xin of the magicless earth was pretty much of a nerd guy. He and exercise were like arch enemies from eternity. But for the Xin of the magical world, exercise was like his daily food for him. Never in his life had he missed a single day without exercise. And that particr character of Xin had been imprinted in the new Xin, having soul from both the worlds. After doing vigorous exercise for one and a half hours straight, Xin returned from the terrace and made some toast and green tea for him. His parents hadn''t returned yet. And he was pretty much alone in the home. "Daisy, show me the status bar of the current mission." "Affirmative, master." First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine Time Remain: 6/7 Days Fruits Collected: 0 Xin saw the status bar of his mission and began to think of ways toplete the task. Finding and collecting Red Pine fruit wasn''t a problem, but collecting as many as ten thousand of them was a problem. While returning home from school, Xin kept a record of the number of magical red pine trees that had started growing around his home and school. And he found out a little over twenty of them were there in his locality. He was hoping to get at least two hundred fruits out of these trees, as he was pondering about the ces where he can find more of these trees, when "Beep!- Beep!-Beep!!" came a sound from his mobile. Xin picked up his phone and found the number was unknown to him. "Who could be this person, calling me this early on a Sunday weekend?" Xin muttered and picked up the phone while nibbling the toast in his mouth. "Hello, who is this?" Xin asked in a firm voice. If he wanted, he could have gained ess to the tel department''s database and get the caller''s information. Forget about information. He could have passed some firewalls and got his entire bio-data. But doing such sinful work early in the morning, Xin didn''t feel like it and simply picked up the call to find out the caller. "Yes, Mr. Xin, it''s me, Professor Han. Are you free right now?" "Oh, Professor, from where did you get my number?" "Ahahaha,"ughed the Professor and told him he got it from the school directory. After greeting each other morning and talking about some here and there mundane stuff, Professor Han came to the main point and posed the offer which was the main reason for the call. Chapter 9: Natasha Chapter 9: Natasha "Mr. Xin, yesterday after everybody left the ss I went there again to fetch my teacher''s diary. At that time I saw the second question again solved on the green board" "Okay" Xin replied with confusion. For him, questions like that were not much of a problem, he solved it just after a nce at it. He was more interested in the offer that Professor Han wanted to pose before him. "Yes, and that question was not academic. One of my friends working at the Nen Enterprises asked me to help me develop that program with him. And the first question I gave was a part of it." Xin already had a hunch that both the questions belonged to a single program. So he solved them in such a way when both the programs are executed individually, they will work perfectly fine, without any error. But when put together with the main program, they won''t work at all. And to make it run, they either have to ask Xin for help or solve it themselves. Professor Han continued and asked him toe to the restaurant behind the school for lunch. They will meet his friend there and discuss developing that program. He also mentioned signing a contract if Xin agrees with their conditions. Xin understood it was more of a work-rted business lunch rather than a casual lunch. He agreed to reach there on time and hung off the phone after greeting him a bye. It was 9:30 am, and till then, his parents hadn''t returned. Early in the morning, he got a message from his mom that they will be dyed due to some flight dy issues and will reach home by night. So without any dy, Xin put on his trousers, wore his ck hoodie, and went out after locking the home and giving the keys to the apartment''s security guard. Since it was a Sunday, the roads and the subways should have been filled with motorbikes, taxis, and buses. But due to the strike of the first magical wave (Saisho no Nami), roads and subways had been filled with enormous giant trees that have started growing there out of nowhere. Some of them were wild grasses that underwent mutation and grew in size. While the others were magical trees having miraculous properties of their own. Xin was tempted to pluck some fruits and flowers out of the trees and store them in hisptop backpack for future use. But observing the police was on patrol, and they had put on "stay away" yellow tape around, he refrained his urge and went towards the school to meet the Professor. Though it was already past ten in the morning, the sun wasn''t out, and it was pretty much of a cloudy day. Televisions, newspapers, radios, and all other broadcasting media had only one news as the headline. "The Dawn of a new era, Is it a gift or a curse?" Many exorcists, temple heads, and religious ces heads were of the opinion that the world ising to an end, and if a second wave hits, humanity will perish in an instant. Meanwhile, scientists were in the opposing party and were iming that the earth''s ecosystem was going through a mutation, more like an evolution due to an external agent''s interference, referring towards the newet. On his way to the restro mentioned by the Professor, he stopped at one of the convi stores to get himself a sandwich and a cold drink for his breakfast. While he was getting out of the store, a person in a blue mask, ck hoodie bumped with Xin and spilled the cold drink on his clothes. The man was in a hurry. He stood up as fast as possible to flee from there without offering an apology. Meanwhile, Xin took his time, checked whether hisptop was alright or not, then stood up from that ce after some time. Not a single second had passed since he had stood up when a group of people dressed in ck suits like bodyguards came running towards him and asked him to drop that bag and surrender. Before Xin asked them what was the matter and was their problem, they showed Xin the tip of their guns and asked him to do as told. Xin cautiously put his backpack on the ground and raised his hands to avoid getting fired by their weapons. One of the men in a ck suit appearing to be their boss was about to say something to Xin when a sound came from their rear, attracting everyone''s attention. "Idiots. You all are idiots." Shouted the youngdy in annoyance. Xin had a look at the owner of that shrill sound through the gaps between the bodyguards surrounding him and found out it was a young girl with a bob cut and violet eyes. "Idiots, are you all blind?" she shouted again and asked her bodyguards to put down their guns. "Even I can see from afar that the burr bumped into him and ran away in that direction. Then howe you can''t see all this from a close-by distance?" Silence~~ Utter Silence~~~ No one dared to open their mouth and reply to her back. "Why are you all standing here? Go and catch him, or do you want me to give youmand for that?!" Upon listening to this, some bodyguards in ck went after that thief. While two of them stayed beside the beautiful girl for her protection. Xin picked up his backpack and took another peek at the girl. Violet eyes,yered bob, cut hairs, a ck crop top with white stripes, and a denim jacket over it. The girl had a sharp pointy face and a small ck mole near her mouth, giving her a striking feature on her already beautiful face. "Oh, I am sorry for my guard''s misbehavior. I am Natasha, and you are?" Chapter 10: Hands behind your back Chapter 10: Hands behind your back "Not someone you should know about," Xin answered in a cold voice. From the look of that girl, he had never met her in his previous life, not in his magical world nor on the ordinary magic-less earth. The girl gritted her teeth as she was pissed off by Xin''s rude behavior and was about to shout out something at him when Xin shouted in anger, "Damn it. That burr, he took my purse. Boy, you are dead for sure this time." Xin put on his backpack and ran in the same direction as those of the bodyguards. The girl was still bewildered about the sudden behavior change of the boy. Just a second ago, he was acting like a cold CEO character, but the moment he found out his wallet was stolen, he became a hot-blooded man and chased after the thief. After following the bodyguards for some distance, Xin found himself in an old abandoned steel-producing factory. The bodyguards were searching for the burr here and there while Xin was hiding behind an empty water storage tank and waiting for the burr toe out. Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Sound of the gun firing. All the bodyguards became alerted and took out their pistols and searched for their enemies around. If it were the Xin of the magic-less earth, he would have fled from that ce and let the bodyguards handle it on their own. But the Xin of the magical earth, though naive in rtionships, was a pro-veteran, close-rangedbatant. Defeating some rats with some toys was not a big deal for him. But before he dived into the battle, he stopped for some more minutes to see the performance of the bodyguards. All of them were six feet and above. And adding up their body bulging with muscles, Xin wanted to see if they were only for show or they had some use too. While he was contemting about it, Bang!! A bullet was fired from somewhere, and a bodyguard fell on the ground with a screech. He was alive, but the bullet hit him in his thigh. He was no longer able to stand and fell on the ground as a result. The other guards covered him in the middle and looked here and there to trace the ce of firing. Bang!! Came another sound. Before they turn and see who got injured this time, the gunfire echoed again, shooting down one more of them. Only three of them were left then. One was the captain-like figure of the bodyguards, and another two looked like the team''s vice-captains. The three of them regrouped at one ce and were whispering something to each other when two more gun firing sounds came out of somewhere. Now the leader-like figure was the only one standing in the middle of that ce. All of his teammates were already injured with bullets. And he was the only one who was still safe among them. "My time hase finally," muttered the person standing in the middle. Though he was pointing his gun somewhere and was acting like a cautious person, deep inside, he had lost it all. He had already closed his eyes. All he was expecting now was to hear the firing sound of the gun and close his eyes forever. But this time, something happened out of his expectations, and he heard a sounding from his side. Thud!! All he was expecting now was to hear the firing sound of the gun and close his eyes forever. But this time, something happened out of his expectations, and he heard a sounding from his side. A body fell from the sky. He got a little scared over it and took a step back when another sound came from his back. Thud!! This time the sound came from behind a box. He went near that ce with extreme caution and took a peek behind it. As expected, a body wasid there. He slowly went near it and checked for his breathing and heartbeat. That person was alive, just unconscious at that time. He was thoroughly inspecting the person to search for any bullet mark or syringe mark used to knock him down when he heard another gun firing from the middle part of that factory, where he and his teammates were standing earlier. "Who? Who are you, tell me?! I am warning you, don''te closer or else I will~~." Clutch! Thud!! This person, too, fainted like the other two of hisrades. For some minutes, the head of the bodyguard didn''t move from his ce. Just a second ago, he saw something that seemed utterly lie to his eyes. Rather than a lie, he wasparing it to the scene broadcasted in action movies. The burr shooting down the guards previously, was threatening a boy wearing the same hoodie as him. He was warning him again and again, "Don''te any closer, or else I will fire at you." He had even pointed out a semi-automatic rifle towards him. He was about to fire a bullet to give him a warning when the boy vanished from the scene and appeared behind the burr holding the rifle. After that, only two sounds echoed in the dark empty factory, and everything came to an end with that. Xin snapped the neck of that burr and threw him on the ground. After taking his wallet and wearing his backpack, Xin left that ce and left the thief fainted on the floor. The fight had already ended. And the victor was already decided when someone interrupted in between and said, "Hands behind your back. We havepletely surrounded this area. All roads, drainage, sewage have been blocked. You can''t escape now." The leader-like figure of those bodyguards balled his hand and exhaled out in frustration. The game was over; the victor had been decided and even exited the ground. After thepletion of the match arrived the useless police, with its world-famous dialogue, "Hands behind your back. We havepletely surrounded this area." He took the bag stolen from his mistress and went outside with his hands behind his back. Seeing it was her bodyguard, the beautiful girl with a ck mole asked the police to put down their guns and let the mane to their side. Chapter 11: Food rush Chapter 11: Food rush After clearing the police misunderstanding and narrating them, the entire event inside, Natasha and the bodyguard left that ce and let the police do the rest of the cleaning. For Natasha, she got her vanity bag back, which was more than enough for her. Now back to the main plot: It was already 12:30 PM, and Xin hadn''t reached the restro yet. Professor Han and his friend were already at the restro and had been waiting for Xin. Ding Dong~~ Came a sound from the main door of the restro telling someone has entered. Professor Han stood up to take a peek and found it was Xin, the MVIP that they had been waiting for. "Mr. Xin, here." Called out Professor Han. Since it was a small family restaurant and many people came and went around, Professor Han had reserved a seat in the far-off corner of that ce and invited Xin toe there. Xin went near the table numbered 7 and had a seat with the Professor. Before them was a person in his 30s with trimmed beards and rectangr-rimmed sses. Judging from the getup, he looked like one of those nerd scientists who go around with their whiteb coat on, and the same case was applicable here. "Mr. Xin, this is my friend about whom I was talking about." "Hello," greeted the person in the whiteb coat. Xin nodded and greeted him back. After taking a good look at him, Xin determined that person was someone whom he had never met in his previous life. "Okay, let me introduce myself first. I am the Project Manager, also the Chief software development engineer of the Nen Enterprises. My name is Nen." "Huh," frowned Xin and sat straight on the sofa from hisfortable position. "Then you are also the owner of yourpany?" "Yes, I am also the owner." Professor Han intervened in between their talks and asked them to order the dishes they like. Nen and Professor Han ordered curry rice and chicken steak for them, while Xin ordered soup and some French fries for him. While the three of them were eating, Xin was the only one eating quietly. The other two were eating and reminiscing about their childhood and university day memories. Xin was in a hurry and wanted to get out of there after striking a deal with them for collecting the fruits, but the two of them were busy in their old memories and gossiping for hours like neighborhood aunties. Xin wanted to do something about it, but Professor Han was also there. He had yet to spend one whole year in his ss as a student. Doing something rude would have left a bad impression on him. Amidst his talk, Professor Han noticed that Xin had alreadypleted his soup and was about to finish the fries. Since their talk had just started and he didn''t want Xin to leave in the middle, he asked to order something for him. Xin shook his head and politely refused. But then Nen, too, insisted on ordering something. Both of them were there for business talks, but they were getting indulged in leisurely conversations since they met after so long. The thing that was missing at that time was a bottle of sake or some bottles of beer. But to their misfortune, it was a family restaurant, not a Japanese Izakaya, or else their reunion party would have continued till night. Seeing none of them showed signs of stopping and forcing him to order some food so that he would stay there for an extended period, Xin got pissed and thought of an idea to stop their talks. "Waiter, here, please," Xin called the waiter and asked him to bring the menu again. As he was willing to order more food, the waiter brought the menu instantly and handed it over to Xin. "Mhm. How many chefs do you have here?" Xin asked while turning over the pages of the menu books. The waiter was bewildered by his question. Even then, he answered his question, "Sir, we have one executive chef, two head chefs, and five sous chefs." "Oh, nice. You have a perfect group here." "Yes, sir." Replied the waiter and asked why was he asking about the chefs all of a sudden? Was the food not up to their standard? Xin nodded and said he was somewhat hungry and wanted to order some variety of dishes as soon as possible. The waiter was confused about it. Because if he wanted to order, he could have ordered as the others do, why ask about the chef count. And soon, he found the answer to his question. "Ah, bring three chicken steaks, three butter naan, three tes Manchurian, one te butter chicken, and some fried noodles." Hearing his order exceeding fifty thousand yens, the waiter gulped and pondered whether that customer was pulling a prank on him or really wanted to order all things. Though Nen was busy in his talks with Professor Han, he noticed the waiter''s hesitation and took out his exclusive ck diamond card and put it on the table. The waiter understood they were not pulling a prank on him and went to the kitchen running to inform the chefs about it. The card was still there, and Nen went back to his chatting again. Till then, he had the idea that Xin had ordered all those foods for the three of them. As every item was ordered thrice, but littleter, he did find that the whole set of the order was for him alone, and no outsiders allowed. And he came to know this fact when Xin stood up abruptly and went to sit on an oversized table beside them. Both the friends looked at him and asked him in unison, "What happened, Mr. Xin, any problem?" Xinughed at their question and replied that the table they had booked was somewhat small and may not be able to contain all the dishes he had ordered. So he moved to arger ce to amodate all the dishes in one ce. The door of the kitchen opened, and a massive vor bomb exploded in the air. The hot and spicy smell of the dishes was prevailing in the entire restro. Chapter 12: Nen Enterprises Chapter 12: Nen Enterprises Every customer''s eyes were pulled towards it to see the one who had ordered all those dishes. Including the waiter who had taken Xin''s order, two more waiters came along to serve the variety of dishes he had ordered. But upon seeing they were sitting on different tables, they became puzzled and stopped at one ce. The waiter who had taken Xin''s order was somewhat smart and understood Xin''s intention. Since the table they had reserved was somewhat small, he moved to a bigger table to amodate all the dishes on it. He was about to ask Professor Han and Nen to move to the bigger table as soon as possible so that they could serve for them when Xin intervened and said, "Ah, waiter, why are you standing there in a daze? I am quite hungry now, serve everything here. I don''t think the two of them will be eating anything, they are stuffed with curry rice, I guess." Professor Han "." Nen "." Both of them had the same idea as the waiter. Both were thinking Xin had ordered all those things for the three of them, but when they found out those all were for him, only their jaws dropped. Dropped and hit the ground. ''Can this boy eat everything he has ordered?'' Nen pondered in mind. For Professor Han he didn''t mind it much, since Nen had already taken out his ck diamond exclusive card, giving Xin full permission to order and eat anything he likes. Just within a second, all the dishes were served before Xin. The waiters were quite trained in it and did their work as soon as possible. Xin carried the bowl filled with butter chicken and smelled it from near. "Ahh~~~~," He made a sound with pleasure. "This is the best cooking I have ever seen and tasted in this city." "Thank you, sir, I will pass yourpliments to our chefs. I am sure they will be pleased by hearing it." "Please do." And with that, Xin dug into the feast served before him. The smell of chicken dishes, especially the smell of the butter chicken, was creating explosions upon explosions in that entire restro. Nen was watering heavily after sniffing the smell of the butter chicken and wanted to join Xin in it, but his stomach was already filled to the brim, and eating any more would have resulted in vomiting for him. Professor Han pulled his attention towards the talk again and began to talk about the recent events. Though Nen was paying attention to his talks and replying to him sometimes, most of his attention was pulled towards Xin. After some minutes of digging in, Xin had already finished more than half of the food served before him. In just a little more than six minutes, he finished all the food. He was asking the waiter to bring the menu again when Nen shifted to the big table and asked the waiter to clean the table as soon as possible. Seeing Nen shifted there, Professor Han too shifted and sat in between Xin and Nen. "Mr. Xin, I think we should start talking about the project. Our talks will continue forever. We must have wasted your precious time." Xinughed and said it was rather him who got to eat a wholesome lunch, thanks to him. Nen cried inside and emphasized the word "wholesome-lunch" inside his mind. Xin alone munched down the food for six to seven persons, and he was referring to it as wholesome!! Seeing the grin on Xin''s face, he understood Xin did it knowingly to pull him out of their talk and start their business talks. "Mr. Xin, the programs you solved yesterday, were small units of arger program," he was about to say something else when Xin interrupted in the middle and started talking. "Yes, I know. Those two units belonged to arge unit. I think the entire program has twenty-seven units, and you must be facing problems with thest seven units." Nen "" "And if I am not wrong, you have been asked to develop this program by either ar" Xin was about to blurt out some more when Nen intervened and said, "It''s a deal then!!" Professor Han "" He was really curious about what Xin was talking about and wanted to ask his friend if he was telling the truth or not. But after seeing his abrupt interference, he understood it was something secret and serious. "Senior Han, I am taking your student for a while. Don''t worry, I will drive him home safely, before 10 PM." And with that Nen stood up and dragged Xin out of the restro. On the way, he also paid the bill and tipped the waiter for his service. Seeing the sudden change in behavior he became confirmed that something big was going on with Nen Enterprises and digging into it may bring trouble for him. So, he decided to stay out of it and let Xin handle the situation as he seems fit. Outside the restro, just at a walking distance, Nen had parked his matte white Gx77180 Ferrari model, one of the best sports and expensive cars of that time. Xin whistled after having a look at his car and asked if he can handle speed or not. Nenughed off his question by saying it was his little sister''s car that he had bought this time. After having a nice look at the car, both of them sat on it and drove towards the Nen Enterprises at full speed. While Nen was paying the bills for the food, he was telling Xin about not telling the programming stuff to anyone and must keep everything a secret to himself. After traveling a little over fifteen kilometers, both of them reached their destination and parked the car in an underground parking facility. The fifteen stored buildings above werepletely bought off by the Nen enterprises for their official and unofficial works. On their way to the top floor, Nen was exining how his office works and which were the floors reserved for his family members. After hearing him out, Xin found out something interesting, and something that he had expected long ago. Though Nen was the owner of thepany, he wasn''t the executive body there. Chapter 13: Project SEDS Chapter 13: Project SEDS Nen''s younger sister who had done CA and CS courses was thepany executive body. Excluding the major decision of thepany, Nen was never troubled to do the official paper works. He had left all those works for his younger sister. He was more of a geek or nerd who liked to y around with hisputer,ptop, and programs. After showing Xin his personal cabin, both of them headed to the eighth floor where he had set up his self-designed custom-made supeputer for his work. Xin was highly impressed by Nen when he said he was the one who had made that supeputer, and that too from scratch, without the help of any external third party. After turning on all the servers and starting theputers, Nen showed Xin the entire programming about which Xin was guessing at the restro. The program really had twenty-seven units and as deduced Nen was having problems in thest seven units. "Mhm As expected, in this one you have made some mistakes here and there. But no problem, I canplete the program in half an hour." Nen "" Listening to Xin''s promation, Nen was really surprised, also suspicious of Xin at the same time. Surprise because he was aware that he had done some mistakes in the above units, and spotting the mistake at a first nce, was not something any high school student can do. And suspicious because he was not sure if Xin was really a high schoolst year student or someone sent there by any rivalrypany. Though he was introduced to him by his university time senior and one of his good friends Professor Han, even then he was still not sure about it. "So tell me now," Xin asked again and dragged Nen out of his contemtion. "Huh, tell what?" "Tell who asked you to develop this program. Judging from its structure and application feasibility, it''s not something any techpany would ask you to do." "Yes, you are correct." Nen stopped at that because beyond that point the info he was going to provide was going to be confidential. And to make it avable to Xin, he had to ask him to sign certain papers and an agreement of confidentiality. Xin understood it was the normalpany norms and signed on the paper without hesitation, which clearly stated that he will not disclose thepany secrets to anyone. And he was found to breach this use he would have to pay nine hundred million dors for thepany loss and viting the disclosure agreement. After signing the paper, Nen became somewhat assured as Xin signed them as soon as possible and didn''t make a scene out of it. "Mr. Xin, now that you have signed the agreement, let me show you something." Nen began to make gestures in the air to swipe the screen of his wall-sized ss screen. After opening some folders and entering the passwords in them, Nen opened a file and posed it before Xin. The title of the heading was "Project SEDS" Xin''s eyes widened upon seeing the name on the screen. Like Nen, Xin too made some gestures in the air to swipe down the screen and had a thorough look at the contents of the files and the presentation. Everything became clear to him now. The Nen Enterprises, the Project SEDS, the twenty-seven units of the program, everything was making sense now. In his previous life, he had developed a whole set of hardware designes for the Japanese government that was part of a joint mission called, "Project Space Exploration Delta Spaceship." The aim of the mission was to prepare a spaceship that can take humans and explore the universe. And this project took ce in the magical world, during the time when Xin retired from his special forces because of his disability and joined the research department to showcase his talent there. At that time it was someone else who had developed this program, and Xin had a rough understanding of it as he had some contribution in it. But when the soul and mind of Xin from the magical world merged with the Xin of the magic-less earth having a vast knowledge of programming skills, he revised, redesigned, and made a new program out of the old program that he had seen in his past life. One more thing he remembered from his past life was the work distribution. Sincepleting the entire program of the Delta Spaceship operating system wasn''t possible by onepany, it had been divided into three parts. One part was given to the Special Forces of the government sector, and two other parts were given to twopanies from the private sector. Seeing Xin was contemting about something from thest fifteen minutes, Nen got worried and shook his shoulder to bring him back to reality. "Uh, huh, yes?!" Xin asked in a puzzled voice. "Mr. Xin, you have been quiet for thest fifteen minutes, so I thought of~~" "Oh, yes, yes. I was thinking about something." Xin was still hesitant whether he should put his nose in this matter or not when the system''s voice rang in his mind. New long-term mission generated!! New long-term mission generated!! Xin knitted his eyebrows and clicked on it to check out the content of the mission. Long-term mission: Complete Project SEDS. Time Limit: N/A Reward: ??? This time there was a reward forpleting the mission, but for some reason, Xin wasn''t able to check what''s the reward. Xin didn''t think about it for the time being, and whispered, "ept," in a low voice. Mission epted!! Mission epted!! And with that, the system''s UI screen vanished before his eyes. Observing Xin was keeping quiet, Nen asked him again about what he was contemting earlier. This time Xin didn''t act dazed like the first time and blurted out the thing that he was hesitating to tell earlier. "Mr. Nen, not only I canplete this part of the program, I canplete the other parts too." Nen "" Chapter 14: Chief Head of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, Yamamoto Satoru Chapter 14: Chief Head of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, Yamamoto Satoru He waspletely bbergasted and taken aback when Xin mentioned about the other parts. He already had a hunch that Xin couldplete the seven parts that he was having trouble dealing with. But when he mentioned the other parts, he waspletely taken aback, because it was known to very few people that the entire program has been divided into three blocks. And has been given to three differentpanies. The room became silent, no one was opening their mouth and taking the initiative to break the silence. Only the sound of the server fans was audible in that room. Xin realized he messed up their convo and created a block between them. Now that he thinks in the past, it was known to very few high-ranking officials that the program had been divided into three blocks and was given to three differentpanies. To make up for the blunder that he made this time, he broke the ice and added, "Mr. Nen, have you started writing the other parts or you will start soon? This one is the first block, I guess." Hearing his question, Nen became sure that Xin didn''t know about the distribution of the main program and was about to tell him something when the semi-automatic electric door of the room opened and four people entered the room. Xin recognized one out of those four persons in a ck suit. If he was not wrong, it was the Chief Head of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, and his name was Yamamoto Satoru, a character from the magical world. And from the rest of the three, he had met that girl named Natasha and the head of the bodyguard only once. Thest person with a full sleeve blue shirt, he was not aware of his identity, nor was he bothered to know about it. "Youuu." Shouted Natasha in anger. Before she uttered something else, the bodyguard behind her went near Xin and grabbed his hand with a crying face. "My saviour, I finally met you again!!" Nen "" Natasha "" Yamamoto "" Unknown side character "" "Ah, yes, Mr. Head Bodyguard?!" "Yes, yes. I am the head of the bodyguard team. My name is Hasegawa Ichirou." "Oh~~" "Yes, and thanks again for saving my life. I had already lost my hope back then." Excluding Xin and Natasha, everyone had a puzzled expression on their faces. Since Nen was the one who had assigned Ichirou for Natasha, he broke the silence first and asked out what happened and why was he thanking Xin with a crying face. Ichirou released Xin''s hand and began to narrate the entire incident. How Natasha was doing some shopping in a shopping mall and how a burr snatched her bag and ran away. He and his other mates chased after the thief and tried to catch him, but they were unable to do so. On the way, the burr bumped with Xin and stole his purse too. And that was the time when they surrounded him, thinking he was the thief as they both were wearing the same color hoodies. Natasha couldn''t resist her urge to interfere and jumped in between Ichirou''s narration. "And bro, his teammates are dumb enough that even after pointing out that the person they had surrounded was just a passer-by and the real burr had already fled, they kept on staring at me, instead of going after him." "Cough," Ichirou intervened and narrated the rest of the story from there, of how they followed the burr to an empty factory, how they were firing at them from darkness, and how Xin snapped everyone''s neck, making them unconscious. Hearing all this, Nen and Yamamoto had one question in mind and both of them asked it out at the same time. "Why the hell did you go after that burr? Even after knowing they were using guns, and the bodyguards were getting wounded from them." "Because that purse has my 120 Gb Smax129 premium model, limited edition pen drive that I didn''t want to lose." Nen "" Natasha "" Yamamoto "" Unknown side character "" Once again they became dumbfounded by his answer. The person before them went after the burr, even after seeing the bodyguards were getting defeated because he wanted to retrieve his special edition pen drive!! Yamamoto and Nen began tough at this and thought Xin was a pure tech-lover by heart. After listening to the bodyguard''s head, the entire story of how Xin defeated the armed burr, Yamamoto and Nen became interested in him. For Nen, he took an interest in him because Xin was already a good programmer, and he could clearly feel the unfathomable potential in him. And for Yamamoto, he was interested because fighting armed burrs was not a small thing that anybody can do, and right at that time, they were standing on the 8th floor''s main server room. Where Nen had set up all the important servers in addition to his self-designed supeputer. Only a few were allowed toe inside that room. While Yamamoto was having a close look at Xin, the unknown side character standing on the side from the past two minutes spoke out his first dialogue, "Huh, dad, if I am not wrong this one is Project SEDS presentation file?" Upon hearing the name, all of theirughs and talks abruptly came to an end and the room suddenly became quiet. Everyone in the room was looking at Sen with amazement, while Xin was looking at Nen with bewilderment. "Lad, who is this person? Care to exin?" Yamamoto questioned. Before Nen replied to his question, he took out the remote from his pocket first and closed the door of the room with a ten minutes permanent close feature. Observing Nen was making the talk secretive and confidential, Natasha became curious about who was that person? And what was his identity? Earlier she was somewhat furious at him. As Xin rudely replied to him and didn''t answer his questions. But after he knocked down the burr and making his way to her brother''s main server room, where only high-ranking officials were allowed to enter, she became somewhat interested. "Everyone, let me introduce this talented individual. His name is Xin. Xin Karlos." Nen hadn''t even finished his introduction and was going to add something when the person in full sleeve came forward and asked, "Mr. Xin graduated from which university? I was reading at Howard University tillst year and have never seen you there. Must be from Oxford, I think." "No," Xin answered with a single word. "Then Cambridge, I am sure of it now." Chapter 15: Bring it on Chapter 15: Bring it on Xin was unable to understand why he was asking him about his graduation university and asked out the same for rification, "Ah. Mr~~" "I am Kansaki Ryuu. Kansaki my family name and Ryuu given name." "Oh, Mr. Ryuu, may I know why you are asking about my university background?" "Why not? I mean talented individuals like us who graduated from international universities are the only eligible people to enter this main server room, having this supeputer here." Nen and Yamamoto frowned and greeted teeth on hisment. They were about to say something, but before they did Xin intervened and replied, "Mr. Ryuu, for your kind information I am not a university graduate. I am a high school studentst year." Ryuu "" After hearing his reply, he didn''t even look at him and turned towards Nen. "How could you let an ordinary high schooler enter this room and see the details of that project? Aren''t you viting the disclosure agreement?!" he asked in a hoarse and rude voice. All this time Natasha was keeping her quiet as she knew if her brother had permitted Xin to enter the room then there must be some reason behind it. Not only Natasha, but even the bodyguard and Yamamoto were aware of it. Ryuu was the only one who was acting rudely and was showing superiorityplexion. Since Nen was more of a work type rather than talk, he turned around and swiped the screen of hisputer. "Mr.Ryuu, can you solve these two problems in five minutes?" Xin also turned around and found it was the same question that professor Han had given him to solve. Ryuu took a look at the question and turned towards Nen saying, "Mr. Nen, what nonsense are you spouting? Isn''t it a part of your block of program?!" "Yes, so what?!" "You want me to solve this?" "Yes!!" "And what will I gain?! I mean, I am doing part of the work that you are supposed to do and get money." "Oh, then let''s make a bet. If you can solve both the questions in ten minutes, I will hand over the entire project to yourpany. And if you can''t then you will hand over your part of the project to us." Ryuu "" Now he was in a pinch. If he loses, then not only will he lose his face, he would also lose a million-dor project. Since he was dipping his hand in it, he asked something that had been bugging him for a while. "Mr. Nen, before I start, can you tell me the reason why the time limit is five minutes per question? Can''t you make it longer like a week or a month? You know this right, this is a" before he spouted something, Nen stopped him in the middle and said that the person standing before thempleted both the questions with just a look. Xin didn''t even take five minutes, and Nen was giving Ryuu five minutes time per question, which was a great mercy on him. Ryuu couldn''t believe a high schooler can solve the questions with just a look and gaze at him with eyes of suspicion. After pondering over it for some time, he opened his mouth and posed the thing that he had been thinking about for the past few minutes. "Mr. Nen, how about this bet? I will try to solve these two units in ten minutes, and if I can''t I will hand over the project to you, but if I was able to solve it, you will give me your part of the project. And I would like to make another bet if Mr. Xin here can solve any two blocks from my part of the project, then I will transfer one million USD to his ount right now. And if he can''t then he has to give me one million USD for wasting my time, and you have to give me Miss Natasha''s hand for marriage." Nen "Sure." Xin "Bring it on." Both of them knew that the trickster was proposing them a double bet with more advantages on his side, but both of them were confident enough in themselves so they agreed on it without thinking anything. Natasha and the bodyguard were the only ones who had no idea where the convo was going, and how in the world she got dragged into it. As for Yamamoto, he was enjoying the show from the sidelines. He had utter trust in Nen, cause he knew Nen was not one of those who would make a bet without knowing his limits. So as per the bet, Nen showed the same two units of the program that Xin solved within a minute and asked Ryuu to solve them. Ryuu knew he can''t solve the program within ten minutes, because solving one single unit takes two to three weeks. So to buy some more time for him, he made another proposal and posed it before them. "Actually, I was thinking since Mr. Xin is still young, and at most he can be a junior programmer, so why don''t we give him the first chance? And since I am a generous person, I will give him two weeks of time to solve any two debug, any two units, add the rest of the required lines and present it before us." "Mhm." Nen was considering his proposal. He knew in two weeks'' time Ryuu could take some external help and solve the two units that had been assigned to him as a part of the bet. But at the same time, it was lucrative too. Cause in two weeks he can help Xin solve any two units from the program assigned to him by Ryuu. He was contemting about it when a voice echoed in his ears, "Not needed, I can solve it, right now." Hearing his answer, different people made different expressions in that room. Natasha and the bodyguard werepletely dumbfounded. Yamamoto doubted his ears, and he was somewhat in the same category as bbergasted. Ryuu''s heart was already in his mouth. And for Nen, he was already showing a war victor smile on his face. "Show me the blocks," Xin asked in a cold voice. Chapter 16: Kansaki Ryuu Chapter 16: Kansaki Ryuu Till then, Ryuu hadn''t recovered from the shock. As deduced by Nen, he was actually nning to take help from Korea''s best programmer by shoving him a lot of money. Though it was expensive, he had to keep his face too. So it was pretty much of a necessary expenditure for him. But when Xin refused the proposal and said that it was not needed, his titanic of ns drowned in the cold icy sea of the northern hemispheres. Now he was in trouble. Big enough that he may lose a 100 million USD project. Observing and spectating all these from the sidelines, Yamamoto was getting curious, so to speed up the show he asked Ryuu to show Xin the block of the program and let him solve any two out of it. Now that even the chief of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces was asking him to do, so he had no way to escape. He took out a small silver-colored pen drive out of his coat pocket and handed it over to Nen. Nen inserted the pen drive in the USB port and scanned the USB for any potential viruses. He knew Ryuu was a trickster and he may not want others to see his file or stole it, so he may have set up some traps on it, as security for him. But nothing of that sort detected, and the USB was notified clean. Nen opened the USB and the file inside it and disyed it on the main screen. Even before Natasha and Yamamoto could have aplete read of the program consisting of hundreds of lines, Xin just had a re at them and eximed, "That''s easy!!" Listening to hisment not only Ryuu but Yamamoto too got a heart attack. ''Reading and analyzing the logic, then find a solution just within a second!! Just who in the world is this kid?'' was the question in everyone''s mind. Xin sat on thefy chair, ced before theputer, and took out hisptop out of his backpack. Nen understood what Xin wanted to connect with the supeputer through hisptop and control the same with it. So even before Xin turned around to ask, Nen went near and typed in the password and id for essing his self-designed supeputer. "Oh, thanks." And with that, he began to operate on the given block of data. First, he copied all the texts and pasted them in thepiler. Next, he sorted them out into the seven different units using space bar to make it easier for him to operate. Andst the final part of debugging and adding extra lines in the programming if required. But before he did thest step he turned around and stared directly towards Ryuu. Since Xin was giving him an intensive gaze, he had to open his mouth and ask him the reason for his intensive stare. Xin grinned and asked him to start his smartphone''s stopwatch. Ryuu frowned and started his stopwatch as asked by Xin. Kansaki Ryuu, though he had some tendencies of self-unting and narcissism, he was one of the best programmers in his university. Whilepleting his graduation in America, he was once sent to apany in his third year for doing an internship. There because of a certain dispute, he was challenged by the head programmer of that prestigious multinationalpany for a showdown. They were asked to develop a certain program for a small financepany on the spot, before the eyes of hundreds of staff. When the news went viral after some staff live telecasted it on YouTube, hundreds of news reporters flooded the building for broadcasting the showdown. It took both of them almost the same amount of time toplete the program. Since this time they were working individually instead of a group, both of them took four hours to write the program and another two hours to debug it and to do a finalption and run. In total, they took six hours toplete that work, but that was not the end of the challenge. Afterpiling the program and handing it over to the small financialpany, they were asked to use each program for a week and tell them their feedbacks. And the result waspletely unexpected. The head of the programmer had designed a seamless and bug-free program for thepany, but in the end, he couldn''t win the bet. Ryuu had also built a seamless and bug-free program, but the extra thing he had added was his innovative ideas. He had added a special feature in that program that would show the user their monthly expenses, and yearly expanse in form of different graphs. And not only that, but it would alsopare their bnce, saving, and expenses to the average of thousands of people having ounts in the samepany. And this was what made him the victor of that bet. After getting positive feedback from the small financialpany and defeating the head programmer of a multinationalpany, his name and fame spread like fire overnight. He started to get jobs and internship offers frompanies like Microsoft, Apple, Java, but he refused them all. All he wanted was toplete his graduation there and return back to his homnd, Japan. To sum it up, not only he was a talented programmer, but he also had patriotism for his country. And when Xin asked him to start his stopwatch, it became something like an open challenge to him. This time he didn''t say anything and instead took out his smartphone to Chapter 17: IDE (Integrated Development Environment) Chapter 17: IDE (Integrated Development Environment) To record the time as asked by Xin. Everyone''s eyes were dead set on Xin. Natasha, Ichirou, and Yamamoto were gazing at Xin''s fingers, which were fluttering and ying around on the keyboard. All they could see was the touching of his finger on top of the keyboard with a gentle light touch, then jumping onto the other key nearby. Since the three of them had little to no knowledge about programming, all they could do was staring at Xin and keep on gazing at his typing speed in disbelief. For the other two, they were also taken aback after witnessing Xin''s typing speed. But that was not the only thing that was giving them heart attack upon heart attacks. Their eyes were mainly focused on the big monitor which was projecting contents of Xin''sptop. Xin was using a normal looking ordinary code editor to debug files and add operations onto them. Ryuu watching it from the rear couldn''t take it any longer and rmended Xin to use a standardized IDE (Integrated Development Environment) at least. Nen also wanted to tell the same, but he stopped after seeing the unique UI (User Interface) of the IDE Xin was using. He had been a programmer and developer for thest twelve years, but never in his life had he seen an IDE with a unique design like that. Upon hearing Ryuu''s suggestion, which sounded more like an order, Xin turned around and asked, "What''s the problem with the IDE program that I am using right now?" Ryuu gritted his teeth and went near Xin to give him his answer. "Highschool boy, the thing is this program is written in Python programmingnguage, I hope you know that much at least." "Yep, I know. So what about it?" "Then why are you using an outdated IDE like this one?! Never in my life, I have seen an IDE as outdated as this. Even the IDE used in American schools is better than this." Xin got furious at Ryuu for annoying and nagging him during his work and asked him to suggest a good IDE for him. Ryuu pondered and rmended the standard IDE, VS Code for his work. ording to him, the VS Code checks the code on the fly and gives out error messages like syntax error and stuff as you type the program. You don''t need to wait for thepiler or interpreter to give an error message after you run the code. Seeing Ryuu was giving him a good lecture about IDEs, Xin asked him about the advantages of IDEs over a normal text editor. He already knew the difference between them as they were some of the basic fundamentals in the study of coding and programming. What he wanted to do was to judge and gauge Ryuu''s understanding of IDE programs and software. Ryuu glowered at Xin for asking him a fundamental level question and replied to his answer in a deep voice, showing his anger in it. "Mr. Xin, it is very well known to everyone that IDEs checks for syntactical errors, waste allocations and code indentation for better readability of code. This allows for more optimized codes to be generated. These things are not avable when using in text editors. They just write what you type without helping the programmer by suggesting some more efficient ways." "Mhm, nice. Passable for now, I guess." Hearing his reply not only Ryuu but the others too got a feeling that Xin was acting a little arrogant. Till then Ryuu was the only one who was showing off his knowledge and his skills to others, but now Xin had also joined him in it. "And what are the disadvantages, Mr. Ryuu?" Xin asked while debugging the program. He wasn''t even looking at Ryuu nor his facial expression while doing his work. All he wanted to hear was a clear and passable answer from him. While both of them were at it, Natasha somewhat felt curious about it and went near her brother to ask about it. Since her field of expertise was totally different from programming that includes building up logic, formting a program,piling and running it, she asked her older brother to give her an exnation in easynguage. All those technical terms and words were bouncing over her head. All he could understand was that Ryuu was trying to show off and flex his supremacy over Xin in programming knowledge, but somehow he ended up getting examined by Xin. Since Ryuu was already getting examined by Xin on his knowledge ofpilers, he didn''t back off and give him a reply to show off his understanding of the topic. "Some of the disadvantages include startup dys and wrong suggestions. To make code more readable, many IDEs force programmers to write the correct statement in a different way. Which sometimes can be quite irritating, this decreasing the efficiency of programmers." Ryuu replied. Nen was trying to make his sister understand about the topic the two of them were discussing when he heard the loud voice of Ryuu asking Xin to use a better IDE to write that program. Nen got interrupted and turned towards Xin to advise him the same. Since the bet not only includes money and his reputation but also his sister''s life, he didn''t want Xin to lose it at any cost. "Mr. Xin, I think you should use the VS code at least to run these programs. I am not sure if your" "Done!!" Xin eximed in a husky voice. Everyone''s eyes shifted towards the big monitor, and the contents disyed over there. Till some moments ago they couldn''t see anything clear as Xin was typing very fast and the screen was scrolling up and down rapidly. But now that his work was done, they could clearly see the debugged version of Ryuu''s program. Before anyone else did something or had a look at the program, Yamamoto went near the screen, took some photos of the screen, and sent it to someone on WhatsApp. Xin frowned over it but didn''t take any action since Nen and Ryuu were quiet about it and were not taking any action for sending the solved program to someone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Discord link: https://discord.gg/YCCADwDQpm Chapter 18: Test run complete!! Chapter 18: Test runplete!! Nen went near the monitor and started to read the codes line by line. Ryuu also went near and did the same, reading the codes line by line. Half an hourter~~~ Xin was ying a game on his mobile as he didn''t have anything to do there. Natasha, Ichirou, and Yamamoto were standing just at a distance from him as they were waiting for the other two to break the silence there and tell them something about Xin''s programming. The room waspletely quiet. Only one sound wasing in the room and that was the voice from the game that Xin was ying at that time. Beep Beep Beep!! Beep Beep Beep!! Came a sound from somewhere. Excluding Ryuu and Nen who were immersed in the program the others turned towards Yamamoto and gave him an intense re. "Hahaha, forgot to turn on DND mode," Yamamoto excused himself from there and went out of the server room for some time. Meanwhile, Ryuu and Nen were already done with their study and to their surprise, Xin hadpletely solved that block containing twenty-seven units, instead of solving two as decided on the bet earlier. And what''s more interesting was the logic that he had used in them. They were simple and easy to understand, but the way he had used them in the program was something for which they had to give him full credit. Nen tilted his neck towards the left, then tilted it towards the right, to stretch and rx his neck, as he was having pain from staring at the screen for a long time. Ryuu too did the same and elevated his neck from pain. "Mr. Nen, what do you think? Should we give it a try?" Ryuu asked in a low voice. Though he was acting almighty and arrogant half an hour ago, but after reading the program and the logic used in them on the screen, he forgot about it and started to develop some respect for Xin. "Any doubt?!!" Nen replied. Both of them hadpleted reading the program in the first fifteen minutes, as it was very easy to understand, and used another fifteen minutes to think of better ways and logic to write the program. But no matter how much they thought, they couldn''t find better logic that was used by the high-schooler behind them. "Mr. Nen, you have installed that specialpiler on this supeputer of your right?" "Yep, I have it installed on it." "Good, let''s copy-paste it there and try running it. I don''t think this old, outdated IDE has any inbuiltpiler. And even if it has one, I don''t think it can run this" Before he blurted out something, Xin interrupted in between them and said, "It will work." Simultaneously, he tossed a coin towards hisptop. The four of them were looking at the coin with their mouths open when Ryuu realized where it was gonnand. He pushed Nen and was nearing the ce where Xin had connected hisptop with the supeputer, but before he reached the coin,nded on theptop and hit the Enter button of theptop. Just a second ago, Ryuu realized that the coin was targeted towards the keyboard of theptop. And after observing the path it was taking, he became sure that it would definitelynd on the keyboard. He didn''t have any idea what Xin was nning, but he was getting a feeling that if the coin hit theptop and the inbuiltpiler of the outdated IDE somehow starts up, then it will just ruin the entire program typed out there, and Xin would have to debug and type it again. Though he was against Xin in the beginning but after reading witnessing his debugging the entire block of twenty-seven units, and that too in less than half an hour he didn''t want to let go of Xin and wanted to take him as his assistant. As expected, the coinnded exactly on the Enter button of the keyboard, starting the inbuiltpiler of the IDE that he was using. Suddenly many windows popped up on the screen, hiding the program that was earlier disyed on the code. Nen and Ryuu face palmed as they understood that the inbuiltpiler was outdated enough that it couldn''tpile and run the source code. Abruptly, the two of them raised their heads and turned around when a sound was made by the notification alert of Xin''sptop. Compiling first unit.. Comptionplete~~ Running programplete. Test runplete!! Error found: 0 This time before Ryuu said something, Nen went near hisptop and observed the execution of the inbuiltpiler of the IDE program that Xin was using. Compiling second unit.. Comptionplete~~ Running programplete. Test runplete!! Error found: 0 Compiling third unit.. Comptionplete~~ Running programplete. Test runplete!! Error found: 0 In the same manner, all the units were tested and got a zero error on them. Usually, when a programpiles itself and runs, it happens on one window. But in case of Xin it was different, twenty-six windows popped-up for checking the twenty-six units. After theption and a sessful run of the entire program, the software stopped and again showed the source code typed on the IDE like any other software. The room was silent. Once again only one sound could be heard in the room, and that was the sound of the game that Xin was ying on his smartphone. Suddenly, the automated door of the room opened up, and Yamamoto came running into the room. "Nen, Ryuu, the program is correct. The kid has solved it perfectly." Natasha was curious where was he till now? And fired out her question without hesitation. Yamamoto turned towards Xin and said he took the pics of the solved program and had sent it to the head of the JSDF research division to know the authenticity of the program. Chapter 19: 25 Million USD Chapter 19: 25 Million USD After reading the program multiple times and doing a test run of the logic in mind, the other party confirmed its authenticity and said that the program was absolutely correct. Upon getting the confirmation, Yamamoto ran back to the server room to tell the others about it. But till then, Ryuu and Nen had already seen the program in action. The room became silent again. This time there was no time from Xin''s gamey. When Yamamoto entered the room, Xin muted his mobile and continued ying. The three of them were watching each other with eyes of furious wolves, ready for the assault anytime. The room was bing cold from the air conditioner being turned on for a long time. "Mr. Xin, would you like to work under me?!" the three of them blurted it out at the same time. Ryuu, Nen, and Yamamoto had the same thought going on in their head at that time. Hire the kid, bring him under them, and polished the rough crystal into a diamond. But little they knew at that time that Xin was FL (wless) diamond, of the highest purity. "No interest." Was the answer they got after a second of asking that question. Natasha "" Yamamoto "" Ryuu "" Completely bbergasted. They didn''t know the kid refused on a whim or have any reason behind it. Natasha could understand why Xin refused Ryuu''s offer since he had a fight with him some time ago and he may not want to join hispany. But what about the other two? They were pretty good options for him to choose from. Observing her brother was keeping quiet and wasn''t making any offer, Natasha took the chance and talked with Xin about the benefits of joining the Nen enterprises. "Ahem, Mr. Xin, I think you should reconsider your decision. It''s not toote yet. If you join us I assure you ourpany will give a hearty sry, time to time bonus, and other benefits." Xin was ying his game, but at the same time hearing her proposal. Upon listening to the words "other benefits" Xin stopped ying and turned towards Natasha with a smirk. "What extra benefits can you provide?" Natasha couldn''t answer the question since it was too sudden for her. Seeing his sister was trying her best, Nen took part in it and answered his question. "Mr. Xin, for example, if you want we can transfer you to a good university in abroad. Like the Oxford or the Howard. Whichever you want." While Nen was telling Xin about the offers, Ichirou and Natasha wereughing in their minds. Sometime ago Ryuu was mocking Xin for being a student of a small school, and now the same Xin was getting asked to get transferred into the best universities in the US. Seeing Nen and his sister were doing their best to get Xin under them, Ryuu toonded on the battlefield with a powerful weapon of his. "Mr. Xin" he called out with a loud voice. Stopping the conversation between Xin and Nen. "I know, I was a little rude in the beginning, and I apologize for it. Putting that aside, I can see you have great talent and vast potential in programming and coding. So would you like to join mypany? And yes, my offer is better than Mr. Nen and Natasha." "Oh~~!!" Xin eximed and asked him to shoot it out. Ryuu grinned at it and thought Xin was somewhat interested in it. So to bring him under hispany, he threw the biggest bet for him. "Mr. Xin, 25 million USD per year package." Natasha "" Nen "" Ichirou "" Their hearts literally jumped up to their throats after listening to the sry package. Generally getting a 50,000$ to 80,000$ job is the highest a programmer can get in apany, and that too working their ass off for years. For further raise, there were only two options for them. Either make something new and show thepany your value or wait for some years to get a breakthrough in the sry. But here, Ryuu broke all those standardized practices and went off the chart to offer him a good bet as a sry. Now that Nen heard about Ryuu''s offer, he was thinking about something. But before he executed his n, her quick-witted sister saw through Ryuu''s n and offered Xin a better sry. "Mr. Xin, 35 million USD." Some seconds ago when Ryuu threw his biggest bait of 25 million USD, both Nen and Natasha understood what he was nning, and what were his future ns. Project SEDS was divided into three parts, and three different parties were asked to solve it. The remuneration for it was 100 million USD for each party. Ryuu was nning to take that 100 million USD and offer Xin a quarter of it. Which sounded fair on the surface, at least. Since the Project SEDS was not given to Xin directly, but he got his through Ryuu, he would have gotten a quarter of it, instead of getting the majority of it. And in the eyes of Ryuu, Xin was just a high schooler. He was damn sure that Xin would agree to his proposal without even thinking. And once Xin signs a contract with him, he can make Xin work on bigger projects for him, whose values were more than 100 million USD. Though the siblings realized about his ns within some seconds. Natasha was the one who perceived it faster than Nen. She was apany CEO in the profession, and when things revolve around money, her brain works faster than everyone present in the room, except Xin. Without thinking much about it, she made that offer of 30 million USD since she decided it was just a small investment for a future with lots of money through Xin and his skills. Amidst these talks, one person was there, whose head had already stopped working after hearing the offer of 25 million USD. Chapter 20: Biggest job offer ever Chapter 20: Biggest job offer ever And this person was none other than Ichirou, that head of the bodyguard team. He had been in the security and in bodyguard business since the starting of his career, and the highest he was ever offered was 1 million USD by Nen, for the safety of his sister. Big figures like 24 million USD and 25 million USD were making his mind nk. Not only his mind, but even his senses were also in the process of shutting down. At one point he was having difficulty standing there without coughing blood. Back to the main plot, Ryuu threw an even bigger bet and raised his previous 25 million USD to 35 million USD. No matter what, he wanted Xin under him. And for the same, he was ready to raise it as much as 50 million USD. After witnessing Ryuu offering another bigger bet, Natasha was getting ready to propose a yearly package of 50 million USD when a music rang in the room. Everyone''s eyes towards Yamamoto. It was the second time when his ring tone interrupted their conversation. Last time he had excused himself and went out to talk, but this time he didn''t do so. And instead picked the call in the room, in the middle of their conversation. "Oh, really!! Nice, I can all out now. Ahahahaha, ahahahah." Observing his sudden burst ofughter, everyone in the room were getting a bad vibe out of it. After hanging off the call, Yamamoto first turned towards Ryuu, then gave him an evil grin. Before Ryuu asked him the reason, Yamamoto turned towards Nen and Natasha and gave them the same evil smile. "Sorry kiddos, even though your dad is a good friend of mine, business is business." Ryuu "" Nen "" Natasha "" They had already made the hunch that Yamamoto was gonna enter the battlefield; they were just waiting there to see the weapon that he was gonna take out to fight with them. "Ahem, Mr. Xin, as the representative of the JSDF research department, I am inviting you to join this secret organisation working directly under me and the Prime Minister." Nen "" Xin "" Ryuu "" Ichirou "" Forget about the rest three this time. Even Xin was taken aback by this offer. All of them became sure that Xin would ept this invitation, and join the JSDF research department, under the head of defense, Yamamoto, and the current Prime Minister. "You must be thinking, what are the benefits of joining our organisation and how is it superiors to the offers made by Ryuu, Nen and Natasha right?" "YES!!" three of them replied at once, excluding Xin. He knew Yamamoto would start telling about it, even if he refused to listen. So he kept his mouth shut and let him spit out the benefits. "National secrets, international secrets, wide connection throughout the nation, perks of being a high-rank officer like getting national-level security for your parents and rtives in time of your need. Andst, but not the least, a hearty sry of 75 million USD, excluding bonus. They are paid to us separately." Defeat, utter defeat. Till then Ryuu, Nen, and Natasha were ying with tanks, guns, and missiles, But Yamamoto dropped an atomic bomb on them. The field cleared at once, no enemy remained. On a side note, after hearing the benefits, Nen and Ryuu were tempted to ask the process of getting invited to the JSDF research department. But they stopped their urges to do so, after seeing Xin in between them. They could clearly tell their skills and knowledge were inferior to the kid after reading the program solved by him. Now everyone''s eyes were set on Xin, they were just waiting for him to agree. And as expected, he did say "yes" atst with a smirk. Is what I wanted to narrate, but like the other time, this time too Xin refused the invitation. This time not only Yamamoto, but the others also got disappointed. Though they couldn''t get him in theirpanies, they wanted him to join the JSDF research department. They knew if he joined that department he could have climbed greater heights, along with his skills. But after witnessing him refusing one of the biggest ever offers, they got disappointed and curious at the same time. Disappointed, because if he works anywhere else, it would be a waste of his knowledge and skills. And curious, to know the reason why he refused a job offer of a 75 million USD yearly package, followed by other benefits. Since Nen and Ryuu were more frustrated about it than Yamamoto, they couldn''t contain themselves anymore and asked out the reason. "Mr. Xin, can you please tell us the reason why you refused Mr. Yamamoto''s 75 million USD job offer," Ryuu asked in a serious tone. Nen too got serious and asked, "Mr. Xin, do you have any other ns or any reason that you refused such a big offer?" "Ah I have, actually." Xin replied in a low voice. "What?!!" this time the head of the bodyguard team Ichirou couldn''t endure the torture and joined the other two. Xin was literally offered a job that was seventy-five times more than his. If asked, he would have epted the invitation without even thinking twice. But Xin here refused it without having a second thought about it. "The thing is, I am just a high school student, I still have to graduate from a good university." Ryuu "..." Nen "" Yamamoto "" "In addition to that, I don''t want to be tied down to any specificpany organisation andpany. I want to be a free bird soaring through the sky." After hearing his reply, this time Natasha couldn''t hold it inside anymore and urged him to ept one of the offers at least. The three job proposals had offered him more than enough money that he could earn in his lifetime. After hearing her urge, Xin exhaled and said, "Miss. Natasha, I have no interest in money. I am not tempted by them." Funny thing, after saying this line, Xin turned towards Ryuu. Chapter 21: Something strange Chapter 21: Something strange And asked him to transfer the one million as they had decided earlier for the bet. Natasha frowned over it and was about to tell him something when Nen stopped her and nodded his head to refuse her idea of asking Xin about it. Hearing this Ryuu was somehow feeling weird at that time. Just a moment ago Xin said that he wasn''t interested in money, then just after another moment, he was asking him to transfer the bet money as soon as possible. "Mr. Ryuu, can you do it now, please? I am getting dyed for home, and I still have to buy myself some food for dinner." "Huh, yes, yes. Sure, by scan or number?" "Scan." Xin showed Ryuu a QR code which was directly connected to his bank ount. Ryuu scanned the code and transferred one million USD to his ount as his prize money, for winning the bet. Interesting thing, not a single drop of anger or arrogance wasn''t visible on Ryuu''s face anymore. After witnessing his skills, he wanted to hire him at any cost. And not able to do so was the only regret that he had in his mind at that time. "Thanks for upholding your promise." With that, Xin was exiting the room with Nen, when Yamamoto asked him to stop and answer him something before going. "Yes, what question?" Xin asked in a polite tone. "Kiddo, just a curiosity. What are your mom''s and dad''s upation?" This was one of the questions that everyone in the room wanted to ask, but they forgot about it in the flow, and started to think about Xin, who was contradicting himself on his statement about money. Now that Yamamoto had shot the question, he was reconsidering about it. He was of the idea what if Xin gets a misunderstanding that he was asking that question to look down on him and his parent''s profession. But nothing of that sort happened, and Xin answered his question in a polite voice. "Well, my mom is a small employee in the Cyber Crime department in a small prefecture, and dad works in a trading organisation." "Oh." "Yes, anything else? If not, then I am taking my leave." "Ah, wait, wait." This time Natasha was the one who stopped Xin from departing. "Yes?" "Mr. Xin, if you don''t mind, can you please tell me what will you do with thatrge sum of money you got today?" Hearing this question, Nen facepalmed and behind Xin and greeted his teeth in irritation. Since the day her sister has be the CEO of thepany, her mind has been transformed to that of a money thrift. "This money?! Just an addition to my pocket money, I guess." With that, Xin left the room and went down to the parking area. Nen informed the others that he would return in half an hour and asked the others to have fun in the cafeteria. Others agreed with him as they were there to discuss some business-rted matters with him. Now, in addition to that, they wanted to know more about Xin, and how Nen found this prodigy. Nen was willing to take Xin up to his apartment and declined his offer, saying he could walk from there. And Nen''s car won''t fit in that narrow road. Nen too didn''t say anything else against it as he was telling him a valid reason and dropped him before the same convi store, where Xin bumped into that burr and met with Natasha and her bodyguard''s after that. Xin went inside the store to buy himself an obento (Japanese lunch box) for dinner and Nen turned back his car return. On his way back, he saw something strange while Xin was paying for his obento, and took a pic with his smartphone. After returning to hispany, he parked his car as usual and went to the cafeteria area to meet up with the others. Funny thing, the ce was named Cafeteria in name only. In reality, it was no less than a four-star restro. Since Nen and his sister don''t often return home forpleting their work and research work and stay mostly at the rooms built on the seventh floor, their mom had gifted them an entire troupe of maid and servant. For taking care of their daily needs. And some good four star restaurant''s chefs were included in that. When he entered the Cafeteria, he found Natasha and Ryuu were discussing something with each other withughter, and Yamamoto was having a big bowl of traditional soba noodles. For the bodyguards, they had returned to their rooms prepared for them on the same seventh floor of that building. Since it was a tiring day, Natasha asked them to take a break and have a good sleep. The building was being guarded by another group of guards, so she was safe inside thepany. Nen went near the two and asked them the reason behind theirugh. Upon seeing Nen, Ryuu abruptly stood up and bowed down to Nen, asking forgiveness. Nen was somewhat confused by Ryuu''s sudden apology and asked him the reason. Ryuu returned to his standing position and said the apology was for his rude behaviour earlier. Ryuu exined he had some superiorityplexion, and it acted up after knowing Xin was from a local government high school, instead of any foreign university. Since Ryuu was apologising, Nen wanted to scold him for dragging his sister into the bet. But before he did Natasha interfered and informed his brother that some time ago she found out her bestie was Ryuu''s girlfriend. Ryuu too took the chance and apologised for the same, saying he dragged Natasha on impulse and didn''t have any ulterior motive. He already had a girlfriend he was nning to propose to her soon. Nen understood that Ryuu was a short-tempered guy with some superiorplexity. "Must be the hormone of youth," muttered Nen and went near Yamamoto to talk about something important with him. Since the topic was rted to Xin, the other two also joined them in it. Chapter 22: Evil grin Chapter 22: Evil grin Next day~~ Xin woke upzily at 9:30 in the morning and had a quick shower to refresh himself. Till then his parents hadn''t returned, so he was pretty alone in the big 8 BHK apartment. After taking shower he checked the freezer for something and found it was empty. Usually, his mom used to do the shopping for home and fill the freezer with fruits, vegetables, and snacks. But now that she was out of the city for some days, no one was there to do the shopping and stuff things in the freezer. "Sigh looks like I have to go outside for breakfast. Home delivery will take more than half an hour, I guess, due to the growing magical weeds and nts, in the middle of the road." With that Xin put on a white long sleeve shirt, trousers, and a navy blue hoodie on top. Suddenly, his system''s screen appeared before his eyes with a notification on top. "A notification, now? I don''t think I have triggered any missions right now" whispered Xin in a low voice and clicked on the notification to check its content. First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine Time Remain: 5/7 Days Fruits Collected: 0 Punishment: Losing a part of your memory Reward: ??? Xin read the update of his first mission and asked Daisy about it. "Daisy, what does it mean I will lose part of my memory?" "Itsuki Sama has made this system with the simple concept of rewards and punishment. If youplete the mission, you will get a reward, and if you fail, you will get a punishment. Replied Daisy in a female voice, devoid of any emotions. "Oh, it''s the same I have read in mangas!!" "Yes, and about this time punishment, you will lose one of your recent memories, like forgetting a part of your programming knowledge that you have acquired till now." Xin "" With some difficulty, he swallowed the mass forming in his mouth and asked why didn''t he show the punishment to him in the beginning? Daisy said till that morning she was configuring and adjusting some of her features as per the magiculus level of the earth. Xin replied to her with a, "I see," and was about to ask her one more question when the doorbell of the house rang. Xin thought it was his parents, and without checking he opened the door saying, "Wee back mom, wee back da." He stopped at that and looked at the figures standing before him. A man in a whiteb coat, a man in an army dress with many badges on his coat, and two more people behind him. The man in the whiteb coat was none other than Nen, and the other one with badges was Yamamoto, for the other two Xin had already guessed they were from the army. Yamamoto, "Good morning, kiddo." Nen, "Good morning, Mr. Xin." "Morning, morning. Howe you are here?" Xin asked with a smile on his face. As far as he remembered, he hadn''t revealed his address to any of them. Then howe. While he was pondering about it, Yamamoto dragged him back to reality by saying, "Won''t you invite us in?" Xin came out of his contemtion and invited them in. The living room wasrge and spacious enough to contain ten or eleven people. Xin asked them to take a seat on the sofas and went to the kitchen to make some green tea and cookies for the guests. While he was in the kitchen, the other four were whispering and talking about something to each other. "Here, have some tea and cookies. Mom isn''t home or else she would have made something for you all." With that, Xin ced the crackers in the middle of the teapoy and handed over green tea to each one of them. The other two soldiers were the first ones who attacked the cookies on the teapoy and grabbed as many as possible in their hands. From the looks at least anyone could say those cookies were not the ordinary ones avable at every home. Even someone like Nen, who doesn''t care much about extravagant foods and snacks, had already guessed those cookies were not homemade or something that can be found in the country. After having a bite of those cookies, Yamamoto made a satisfied face and eximed, "Limited edition, imported cookies from France, the Neon''s!!" Upon hearing the name, "the Neno''s" Xin choked on his tea and started to cough before them. Nen ced his cup on the teapoy and went near Xin and brought him a water bottle from the freezer. "Thanks, Mr. Nen." "Hahaha,"ughed the head of the JSDF, Yamamoto, and took another piece of cookie from the te. After Xin stopped coughing, Nen went back to his seat and emptied the tea first, as it was getting colder with time. The room waspletely silent, no one was starting the talk. Yamamoto and his two soldiers were busy emptying the te of cookies. And Nen was doing something on his phone. For Xin, he was already freaking out and sweating profusely because of Yamamoto. Even though Yamamoto was busy eating the cookies served on the teapoy, he was giving Xin a creepy, evil grin each time he came forward to pick up a cookie. Few minutester~~ Yamamoto and the two people with him finished the cookies on the te, and Nenpleted his work on his smartphone. All of them were staring at Xin now. An interesting thing, everyone had an evil grin on their faces. Xin understood they wanted to tell something and have been waiting to shoot them down at once. But he was not sure why the other two wereughing, he was sure he didn''t know anything about those two, neither in this life nor in his previous life. ''Then why are these two giving me a grin like that? I can''t even sense any hostility from any of them!!'' After showing Xin an evil grin for some minutes, Yamamoto exhaled out and started to talk about the topic for which Xin had been waiting for thest half an hour. Chapter 23: The four envelopes Chapter 23: The four envelopes "So Mr. Xin," Yamamoto started the talk by calling out his name. "Yes?!" "Can you tell me again, what are the upations of your parents?" A smile appeared on Xin''s face as he thought they were going to ask him about his parents first then persuade him again about joining the JSDF research department. All the worries within his heart got cleared, he answered Yamamoto''s question with delight, "My mom works as an employee in the Cyber Crime department and my dad works in a small tradingpany?" "Oh, yes, yes, I remember." Said Yamamoto and took out an envelope from his coat. "Here is a gift from me," Yamamoto handed him a big grey colored envelope. Following Yamamoto, Nen also took out an envelope from hisb coat and handed it over to Xin. The other two also took out one envelope each and handed it over to Xin. All of a sudden Xin felt like something was wrong and looked towards Yamamoto again. The humble and ploite Yamamoto wasn''t their anymore. But instead, he was witnessing a devil with a wide grin and sparkles in his eyes. Xin turned around and realized Nen and the other two soldiers were making the same face. For a second he was thinking, should he attack them and make them unconscious? But he rejected the idea as he couldn''t feel any hostility from them. Amidst of his thinking, Nen broke the ice and asked him to open his small envelope first. Xin was in a daze for a while, but after hearing his voice, he snapped out of it and took out Nen''s envelope out of the four envelopes. He tore the it from the top and took out a white folded paper from inside. Judging from outside, he was getting a feeling it was an appointment letter. Xin ced the other envelopes on the teapoy and unfolded the paper in his hands. Thump!! His heart stopped beating and jumped up to his throat. Xin folded the paper again and looked towards Nen and Yamamoto with a shocked expression. "Look, look. Look inside and read out the contents." Xin again unfolded the paper and started to read it out in a low voice. _______________________________ Name: Xin Karlos Age: 18 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX Bank name: Central bank of Japan ount type: Savings Card: 1 Type: Premium, ck diamond Current Bnce: 210 million USD _______________________________ Xin''s expression darkened. Nen had gifted him his bank ount details, with the transaction history attached after that slip. Xin had no idea how in the world he found out about it, and how did he obtain the details? He wouldn''t have been shocked if it were someone working in the banking sector, but Nen, he was from a private sector, and getting information about him from a government bank. Amidst his contemtion, Yamamoto spoke again and asked Xin to open the rest of the envelopes. After opening and reading the first one, he wasn''t sure what the other envelopes contained. Till some time ago he was of the idea that the envelope given to him by Nen contains an appointment letter and the other contains papers like perk, benefits, and insurances. But after reading the paper from the first envelope, he was not sure what those four were up to and what they gifted him in those envelopes? Since the two soldiers brought by Yamamoto were grinning hard after Nen, he picked up the envelopes gifted by them and tore them at once. Two folded paper came out from the two envelopes and fell on hisp. Xin ced the envelopes on the teapoy and unfolded the first paper. __________________________________ Name: Honsei Tachibana Age: 40 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX upation: Cyber Crime & Forensic Officer Position: Cyber head in the Asian branch of INTERPOL Net Worth: 536.393 Billion USD _______________________________ Xin "" He didn''t waste another second and unfolded the other paper from the other envelope. ______________________________ Name: Satoshi Abeno Age: 46 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX upation: WTO Employee Position: Head of WTO Asian Branch Net Worth: 897.980 Billion USD _______________________________ Xin again, "" He didn''t know what to say and how to look at the faces of the two sitting before him. Yamamoto broke the silence and told the things that he had been wanting to say for some hours. "Mr. Xin," He shouted in a loud voice. Xin got startled and replied, "Sir, yes, sir." "So, what were you telling before? Your mom is a small employee in the Cyber Crime department of a different prefecture." "And the father works in a small tradingpany," Nen added from the sidelines. If it were any other time, Xin would have beaten Nen to death for adding fuels, but now was not the right time to do so. All he wanted to do at that time was to escape that situation. Xin swallowed therge chunk forming in his mouth and emptied down the bottle that Nen brought some time ago, while he was dying from coughs. "Mr. Xin, you know, what trouble I underwent yesterday, for this?!" "No~~" Xin answered in a quivering voice. "Ha!! How will I know?! I was the one who had to answer all the higher-ups, in one night. Forget about higher-ups, I had to visit two different countries for giving some exnation." Xin "" After reading all those papers containing information about his parents and their biodata, only one question was making chaos in his mind, ''How in the world Yamamoto found out about them? Aren''t their identities international top secrets? Then howe someone like Yamamoto got his hands on these papers?'' Now that he had opened the three envelopes, he was getting curious about the contents of thest envelope. The one gifted by Yamamoto. Out of the four one contained his bank information and biodata, another two contained info and biodata about his parents, ''Then does the fourth one contain information about my family backgrounds? That can''t be possible, since mom and dad always hide about it, and haven''t told me about it yet.'' Chapter 24: CBJ147911121416 Chapter 24: CBJ147911121416 "So, wanna know, how we found out about all these?" Yamamoto asked again. And this time he said this while rubbing his forehead in pain. Xin didn''t know what to tell anymore, since his lie waspletely exposed. After mustering some courage, only two words came out of his mouth, "Please, start." "Mhm, it will be better if Nen starts the narration. I will be the one ending it, anyway. What do you say, Nen?" asked Yamamoto. "Oh, sure, sure." And with that, Nen continued his narration from the day before. After dropping Xin before the convi store Nen started to turn back his car for returning and Xin entered inside the store to buy himself an obento for dinner. After turning back his car Nen remembered he hadn''t given his card to Nen. He was gonna get out of his car and went near Xin for exchanging their cards when he saw something in Xin''s hand. Something that no ordinary student can have on their hand. At the counter of the convi shop Xin was using a Premium ck Diamond VIP card for paying his bills. The thing that intrigued Nen was not the Premium ck Diamond VIP card but the small logo embedded on it. Sometimes ago Xin told everyone that his father works in a tradingpany, and using a ck Card was not a big thing in his case, since anyone could say that it must be an add on (additional card) thates with the main Premium ck Diamond VIP cad owned by Xin''s dad. But the small logo on his card was something that attracted Nen''s attention the most. The Premium ck Diamond VIP card had a WTO logo on it. Something that the WTO issues only to its employee, after five years of service. At first Nen doubted his eyes, so he took out his smartphone and used the zoom feature of his camera to have a closer view on the card. And as seen before, it really had a small logo of WTO on it. Nen took a pic of it in Xin''s hand and drove back to Nen enterprises building as fast as possible. After reaching there, he observed Ryuu and Natasha have be friends, followed by Ryuu apologizing to him for his misbehaviour. After Yamamotopleted eating his traditional soba noodles, he showed them the pic that he had taken some time ago and asked them to observe the small logo on it. Just like Nen, Natasha thought it must be an add-on ck Card of Xin''s father, and they must have given him for his daily necessities. But when Nen pointed out the small logo on it everyone''s eyes widened and they saw the logo of WTO on it. The WTO (World Trading Organisation) is the only international organisation dealing with global rules of trade between two nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible. And getting a Premium ck Diamond VIP card with a logo of WTO is not as simple as getting a normal ck Diamond Card. Everyone was bbergasted when they found out Xin had some connections in WTO. Be it a direct connection or an indirect connection through his parents or rtives, it was not something they mustn''t underestimate. While everyone was thinking about his identity, Ryuu proposed the idea it could be one of those fake logos. Like the cheap stickers avable in markets. Everyone agreed upon it and started to think he must have pasted a cheap sticker on the card. Only two people in the room didn''t get convinced about it and dug further into the matter. The first one was Natasha, and the second one was Nen. He knew very well that all thepany funds of his and his fathers were deposited in different banks. And since Natasha was the one handling money-rted matters in thepany, she has connections and friends in many banks. Some hours ago Ryuu had transferred 1 million USD to Xin through a scan. So Nen asked Ryuu to login to his bank ount and print out the bank details about Xin''s bank. Ryuu logged in to his bank ount and printed his recent transaction history. On top of which was the transaction of 1 million USD, to ount number CBJ147911121416. Nen took the slip and asked Natasha to use her connection to check out Xin''s ount. Natasha had a close friend in CBJ (Central Bank of Japan) so she asked her friend to get info on the ount number CBJ147911121416. Now usually it''s a vition ofws to leak information of one customer to another customer, but Natasha and the bank manager were good friends, so she leaked the information, and sent them a PDF copy of Xin''s bank details. Natasha received the PDF and without even opening it, she forwarded the file to his older brother sitting beside him. Nen clicked on the PDF file and opened its content for a read. And this was the thing that he saw inside. _______________________________ Name: Xin Karlos Age: 18 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX Bank name: Central bank of Japan ount type: Savings Card: 1 Type: Premium, ck diamond Current Bnce: 200 million USD _______________________________ Natasha''s expression darkened, and Nen''s eyes widened. For Natasha, she was more shocked by Xin''s bank bnce. An hour ago when he was leaving she asked him what he would do with that money? And Xin''s answer at that time was, "Just an addition to my pocket money." Natasha was somewhat confused about his statement at that time. But now she was clear about it and understood the meaning of "an addition to pocket money." For someone like Xin who has a bank bnce of more than 180 Million USD, a small 1 Million USD doesn''t mean much. For Nen, he became sure that Xin is not from normal family background, and the matter wasn''t as simple as they were thinking. A high schooler refused a 75 Million per annum sry package thates with other perks and benefits in addition to the sry. Later they found out that same kid has a bank bnce of 200 Million USD. Xin stopped the narration at that, and asked, "Mr. Nen tell me one thing, how did you find out about my parent''s jobs and biodata?" Chapter 25: Got visited by some guests Chapter 25: Got visited by some guests "Mr. Xin, I aming to that part, don''t worry," Nen replied and continued the narration from the part where he had left earlier. After showing Xin''s bank bnce to Ryuu and Yamamoto, everyone became sure that Xin was not an ordinary high schooler. At that time the matter had already taken a big turn, big enough that Yamamoto decided to interfere in it, as the Head of the JSDF. He called the JSDF research division and asked them to send every piece of information about Xin and his family. Not only Yamamoto, but Ryuu also took part in it by calling some of his friends in the education department and asked them to collect and send him information about a kid named Xin Karlos. Both of them used their power and connections to dig out Xin''s and his family life history, but all they could find was Xin''s birthce and some of the schrships that Xin had achieved in the past. Yamamoto was pissed as the matters regarding Xin and his family were erased from every record and took out hisst trump card that he had been saving for a while. And that was to call the Prime Minister directly and ask him to order the census office for sending him data on the high schooler. Nen, Natasha, and Ryuu were afraid of his hidden trump card and advised him to stop. But he didn''t listen to them and called the personal assistant of the Prime Minister for his request. Since the request was something unreasonable and out of the blue, the personal assistant was hesitating in the beginning, but he had to admit defeat before Yamamoto''s persuasion. Hearing all this how a small matter became a national matter Xin face palmed and thought he should have told them about his father at least. After the PM''s confirmation, the Census Office started to din in Xin''s and his parent''s record. As it was getting dyed, Yamamoto and Ryuu took their leaves and went on their different ways. Nen and Natasha were tired, so they also wrapped up the remaining work of the day and went to their own rooms on the seventh floor of the building. One hour had already passed and Yamamoto hadn''t received any response from the Census office. On his way back home he received a call from his house servant pleading him toe home as soon as possible in a trembling voice. It was his first time to receive a call like that. His house was guarded with high-level security forces and no one was there living there at that moment except him and some servants. His entire family was kept at a different ce for security reasons. Upon reaching home he found out his house was covered with many helicopters and all of them had logos of FBI and INTERPOL. Yamamoto had no idea what in the world he had done that the two biggest organisations helicopters were swarming over his house. He got out of his car in haste and went inside the house as fast as possible. Inside he was greeted by two vice heads of FBI and INTERPOL asking him why he was trying to get information about Xin and his family, what were his intentions, and so on. After talking with them for hours and undergoing a fast investigation, they found out he was telling the truth and he had no ulterior motives behind it. Not only Yamamoto, but also the other three were dragged into this matter and got visited by the FBI and INTERPOL. Since Yamamoto was the one who had requested this investigation on Xin, he was asked to present himself before some of the higher-ups in Singapore and USA and give them a proper exnation personally. The matter was going out of hand, attracting the attention of many social media, so the Prime Minister had to interfere in it personally and clear up Yamamoto''s name from all this fuss. After taking care of everything on the PM''s direct request, the censorship on Xin''s family was removed by the FBI and INTERPOL and was given to Yamamoto as per his request. The PM couldn''t talk much with him as he had a meeting early in the morning and asked him to visit him in the evening for a talk. Yamamoto was keeping his curiosity at bay and asked Ryuu and the others to meet him at Nen''s enterprise cafeteria. None of them had a proper sleep after that event and were waiting for Yamamoto toe and exin everything to them. Early morning, 7 AM. All of them were gathered in the room, sitting on the same table on which they were sitting the day before. Till then Yamamoto hadn''t opened the files on Xin''s parents and was waiting for everyone to gather. "So, I am doing it now," Yamamoto informed the others in a low voice and opened the first file which had information about Xin''s mother, Honsei Tachibana. _______________________________ Name: Honsei Tachibana Age: 40 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX upation: Cyber Crime & Forensic Officer Position: Cyber head in the Asian branch of INTERPOL Net Worth: 536.393 Billion USD _______________________________ After reading the first page of the file they understood why the INTERPOL was involved in this matter, and this also exins why an ordinary high schooler can debug and solve such hard programs. Xin''s mother was a Cyber Crime & Forensic Officer, and that too not in any smallpany or organization. She was the head of the Cyber Crime department in the Asian branch of INTERPOL. After turning out some more pages and reading more info about his mother, the file came to an end, it was time to open the second file, containing information about his dad. Everyone was sure that his father was an employee in WTO, but they weren''t about his post. Yamamoto mustered enough courage and opened the file on Xin''s dad. And the first page he saw was something like this. _______________________________ Name: Satoshi Abeno Age: 46 DOB: XX.XX.XXXX upation: WTO Employee Position: Head of WTO Asian Branch Net Worth: 897.980 Billion USD ________________________________________ All of them present in the room knew about Satoshi Abeno, as he was a powerful figure in Asia. But none of them knew he had a son, and that son was none other than Xin!! Chapter 26: JSDF Headquarters Chapter 26: JSDF Headquarters "Ahahaha, hahahahaha," Xin startedughing at the narration of Yamamoto and Nen. As the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. This was what exactly happened to them. They were curious enough that they reached near the census office to get information about him. After telling Xin the aftermath and their frustration from this event, Yamamoto asked Xin to tear and open thest envelope. After knowing everything, Xin was sure that thest envelope wasn''t rted to him and his family''s biodata, ''it must be something else,'' was the idea in his mind. And as predicted, it was a letter written by the Head of the JSDF research department, directly to Xin, requesting him to provide assistance in some matter that they have been facing problems to deal with. After knowing his identity, they hadn''t mentioned any remuneration in the letter, and instead they were asking him what he wants as a remuneration. Xin smirked after reading the letter and got some ideas of what he wanted as remuneration. "Mr. Yamamoto, I am ready, when do you need my help, and what sort of help?" "Oh, good. Actually, I don''t know what type of help and what works. After seeing your program yesterday, the head of the JSDF research department asked me to recruit you, on his behalf. But after you refused, he asked me to bring you as a guest developer." "Oh!! Okay then. So when should I go, and where should I go?" Xin asked in excitement. He already knew what they were gonna ask him as a help, and he was ready to help them with that, and as a remuneration, he wanted to ask them to do something that he had been nning to do for a while. "Let''s go now then?! Or is there any problem?" Yamamoto asked in a polite voice. "No, no problem," Xin replied. And with that, all of them departed for the JSDF hidden headquarter, which was built a thousand kilometers away from the city, literally in a different region. On his way to the headquarters, Xin wanted to stop at one of the convi shops and buy something for his breakfast, but Nen didn''t give him a chance to do so. From his home to the JSDF headquarters all this time he was talking with Xin about some of the problems that he had been facing in some of his other projects. And to Nen''s surprise Xin gave him a solution for each and every problem. Nen was getting excited as not only he got the chance to solve many of his problems that he was facing in his other projects, he was also getting a chance to visit the JSDF headquarters for the first time. All this time Xin was maintaining some boundary between him and Nen. To be precise, the conversation was a one-sided conversation, where Nen was asking the questions and Xin was answering them. Both Yamamoto and Nen could feel that Xin was keeping distance from them, but what was the reason they were not aware of that. After Nen stopped asking, the atmosphere became awkward and all of them were staring at each other. Yamamoto was staring at Nen and Xin, Nen was staring at Yamamoto, and for Xin, he was staring out of the private jet, in which they were traveling at that time. Just in half an hour they reached their destination andnded in the JSDF headquarters. The jetnded at an airport that was specially made for the nes and helicopters of the JSDF. Afternding at the airport they had to travel some fifty kilometers or so, to reach the headquarters where the head of the JSDF research division head was waiting for Xin to arrive. Xin got out of the car and had a look at the JSDF headquarters. From a rough estimation, he could say that ce was built on more than five hundred acres ofnd. Starting from airports to weapon producing factories, chemicalboratories, training grounds, and so on. Anything to everything rted to the army was present there. At the center of this vast area was a huge institutional building covering at least 50 acres ofnd with sses on its windows. "Cool!!" Nenplimented Yamamoto on whether he can take some photos or not. Yamamoto instantly refused his request and asked both of them to sign the contract of confidentiality first. ording to which, if they leak any information or posted anything rted to the army, their citizenship will be canceled and they will be dered anti-nationalists. Nen shuddered at the thought of this and put his smartphone inside his pocket. On the other hand, Xin was showing no reaction and was looking here and there in search of something. Yamamoto sent both of them to a special cabin where they signed the paper of confidentiality and agreed before the camera that they will abide by thews and keep JSDF rted matters a secret to the general public. Aftering out from the cabin, one of the army cadets took them to the screening room where they were checked head to toe for security purposes. After getting a green signal from the office on duty, Nen got a VIP guest ID card, while Xin got an MVIP guest ID card. Once again, Yamamoto weed both of them to the JSDF headquarters and summarised all the rules for them. Both of them nodded after hearing him out and followed him inside the headquarters. ording to Yamamoto, the JSDF research division was at the farthest corner, and they have to cross the other facilities before reaching there. While he was acting as their guide and making them familiar with that ce, suddenly a sound came from somewhere. Both Yamamoto and Nen turned towards Xin and looked at him in disbelief. Xin facepalmed and got embarrassed for his actions. "Pfft, hahaha, hahahaha," the two of them startedughing and asked Xin what had he eaten for his breakfast? Xinughed in embarrassment and said that he was going out for breakfast when they arrived and started to talk about those envelopes. Chapter 27: Café lady Chapter 27: Caf¨¦dy "I see, seems like we are also at fault for not letting you have your breakfast," said the head of JSDF head Yamamoto and took out a card from his pocket. "Here," he tossed the card towards Xin and asked him to eat whatever he wanted from the army cafeteria. Xin was hesitant in the beginning since he knew that the army cafeteria doesn''t serve good food. But when Yamamoto mentioned he can have officer level food using that card, Xin didn''t hesitate any longer and directly asked him the direction of the cafeteria. "Go straight from here, then turn left, walk ten meters, then turn right. You will see the cafeteria there." "Thanks, see you after some time." With that, Xin headed towards the army cafeteria as directed by Yamamoto. While he was walking towards the army cafeteria, he was reminiscing about his time in the special squad army camp of his previous life. Though he had many bad memories rted to the special squad army camp, he had some good memories too. On his way there he felt somewhat emotional and decided to eat something sweet to cheer up his mood. The cafeteria was as big as a conference hall and had many vacant seatsid here and there. Xin had a look around that ce and found out the ce where they were serving food. In the far corner of the hall onedy was serving soup, bread, natto and fried eggs to everyone. Some were taking bread and nattos, while the others were taking bread, natto and eggs. Xin waited for some time and marched near that ce when the crowd around there dispersed. Thedy on serving duty observed Xining near the counter and thought he must be one of the new recruits. "Hey young man, are you new here?" asked thedy in charge of the cafeteria. "Hmm" Xin turned around, looked behind his back, and asked, "Miss, are you asking me?" Thedy got delighted on hearing the word, "Miss" and asked Xin toe near the counter. "Yes, kid you. I am talking to you. Since it''s your first day here, and I am feeling generous today, I will give you an extra egg for your breakfast." "Hehehe," Xinughed in confusion and didn''t reply anything to her. ording to Yamamoto, he could have an officer-level delicious lunch by using that card. But here thedy was telling that she would give an extra egg and the same bread-soup for breakfast, like the other cadets. "Young man, show me your card first. I have to mention it on the records too." "Card?! Oh yes," Xin took out the card given to him by Yamamoto and handed it over to the cafeteriady. "Woah woah woah!!" she eximed in astonishment and looked towards Xin again. A long slender body built, with ck hairs and ck eyes. Judging from his age, she could tell Xin was not more than 20. ''Then howe this kiddo has an officer level food pass?'' thought the cafdy. Xin understood what thedy was thinking and showed his MVIP guest ID card to her. "Oh~~!! So you are a special guest, it seems?" asked the cafdy. "Yes, it''s my first time here. And since I was hungry Mr, Yamamoto gave me this card and asked me to eat whatever I want." "I see, lucky you are. This is an officer level food pass. Let me fetch that menu card for you." The cafdy went to the room behind the counter table and brought out the menu card specially made for high ranked officers. Xin took the menu and had a look at its contents. Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Indian. All these types of dishes were present in that menu card. Xin licked his lips and started to choose the things that he wanted to order. Thedy thought Xin must be overwhelmed by the variety of dishes written on the menu and must have been experiencing difficulty to choose one amongst them. But little did she know at that time that Xin was having difficulty but not in choosing dishes, rather he was facing difficulty in limiting the dishes that he wanted to eat. He wanted to try the Indian super spicy chicken curry, some Chinese Sichuan pork, Peking roasted ducks, steamed vermicelli rolls and some dumplings. From Italian, he wanted to try some Lasagna, Ribollita and some Polenta. For dessert he wanted to eat some Japanese dango and amanatto. Observing Xin was taking time and had been contemting about it for thest four minutes, thedy thought she should help him and tell him the best dishes from the menu. So that Xin won''t have much difficulty choosing one from them. She was about to rmend him the best dishes, when Xin broke the silence and said, "Decided!!" "Oh, which one?" asked thedy. She was a little disappointed as she wanted to rmend Xin her favourite and the best dishes from the menu, but before that Xin had already decided something for him. "Ah, I want this Indian super spicy chicken curry." "Oh!! Only a curry, right?!" asked thedy and was going to the backside of the caf to take out his order when Xin stopped him and asked her to write down some more dishes for the order. The cafdy thought Xin must have chosen one or two more dishes to go along with the curry. But little did she know at that time Xin wouldn''t limit himself and would order all the things that he wanted to try from the cafeteria. "With the curry bring one te of Chinese Sichuan pork, Peking roasted ducks, steamed vermicelli rolls and one te dumpling." Cafdy "" Xin didn''t stop at that and continued to order the food items, "From Italian please bring Lasagna, Ribollita and Polenta one te each. Ah, for dessert some Japanese dango and amanatto will do the work." Cafdy "" Chapter 28: Sunada Aisen Chapter 28: Sunada Aisen It was simply out of her expectation that the slim looking person will order that many things for his breakfast. Since her work was to serve food to the cadets and the officers, she didn''t show any reaction on her face and listed all the things that Xin had ordered. But deep down in her heart, she was thinking, "Can that boy really eat all those things that he has ordered?" Normally, be it a cadet or an officer they used to take trays and bring food for them from the counter, but since Xin order was quite big and would take them some time to prepare them all the cafdy asked him to sit at one of the benches and she would take the food there when prepared. Xin''s stomach was already grumbling in hunger, so he asked thedy to serve him some soup and sat on a bench near the counter. Xin was drinking soup from the spoon and at the same time was looking around the cafeteria, observing the cadets sitting here and there. Some were ying truth and dare by rotating beer bottles on the table, while others were gossiping with each other while enjoying their breakfast. Xin looked down and was drinking soup from his spoon when a loud voice stuck his ear out of somewhere. "You piece of vermin shi* how dare you to talk with me like that?!!" Xin choked on his soup and started to cough for some time. After his coughing stopped, he turned around and looked here and there to have a look at the source of that sound. "You mother fuc*** bitch, who is the vermin shi* here?! It''s you, not me!!" Xin found the source of this squabble and saw some boys and girls were fighting with each other. He knew such happenings weremon in army campus, and didn''t bother to interfere. He was reminding himself that he was not the same Xin from the world of magic who used to train in the special squad army camp, and the dispute going on there has nothing to do with him. While she was thinking about all these, the cafdy came in between and served him his Indian super spicy chicken curry. "Hehehe, wondering about those kids, right?" "Yes" Xin said in a low voice while trying the chicken curry with his spoon. "Well, it''s a daily thing here. Theye, they have fun, they fight, and at the end they be friends again. Nothing new. Don''t mind them and enjoy your breakfast." "Yes, expected so, to be honest." "Yep, enjoy your curry. I will bring the other dishes in some minutes." Thedy went behind the caf and Xin started to enjoy his chicken curry with delight. Not only did he have food, he also had some good entertainment going on at a distance. Sometimeter the people''s dispute intensified and all of them went out to solve it among them. Xin was curious about how they were gonna solve their dispute, but he didn''t want to leave his curry in the middle. After some minutes of this event, the cafdy came again and served some steamed vermicelli rolls for Xin. He thanked her again and started to enjoy his breakfast in the empty hall alone. Although he knew the matter was not rted to him, deep inside he wanted to go there and have a look at the dispute, but then again he didn''t know where they went and what they were gonna do to solve their dispute. While he was pondering about it a voice dragged him out of his contemtion. "Hey bro, you are a trainee like us, right?" Xin snapped out of his contemtion and looked raised his head, to have a look at the person who was asking him this question. A six feet tall guy, with bulging muscles and spiky hairs. Xin didn''t answer him with a "yes" or "no", and instead replied to him in a twisted way, "Yes, I am new here." When Xin said "new" he meant the first time in the JSDF headquarters. But the guy with bulging muscles misunderstood his answer and thought Xin was a new trainee. "Good, good. Man, you don''t know, you are a lifesaver?" Xin frowned at his statement and asked, "How?" The cadet with bulging muscles sighed and started to tell everything to Xin. Sometimes ago they had a dispute over something with the girls, and the girls challenged them to a fight. Xin chomped down one of the rolls as it was getting cold and asked, "What type of fight?" "A fight of three. The group that scores two out of three will win." "Oh~~!!" "Yes, and we lose the first one." Said the cadet in embarrassment. Xin "" Later he exined that the firstpetition was of coin tossing and they lost to the girls in it. Xin facepalmed and asked him, "What''s the nextpetition?" "Dodgeball!!" "And you need my help in it?!" "Exactly!! You are quick to catch up, junior. By the way, I am a second-year trainee. You are a first-year, I guess. Never seen you around." Xin didn''t reply anything and lightly nodded his head. All this time he was curious about that dispute and the person before him was there to invite him in it. He didn''t waste any time and agreed to help him in it. Both of them left the cafeteria hall, and before going Xin left a note for the cafdy, telling him he will be back in half an hour. On his way to the training room, the second year trainee introduced himself and told Xin about the current situation of the dodge ball. The spiky-haired guy''s name was Sunada Aisen. And ording to him, two of their yers got injured while ying. Xin entered the training hall and saw the points on the scoreboard. Girls have 4 and boys 3. On top of that two boys were injured there. One had a slight fracture on his ankle while the other had a swollen eye, making him unable to see properly. Chapter 29: Watanabe Sarena Chapter 29: Watanabe Sarena Xin instantly turned around and asked, "Aisen senpai, don''t tell me" "Yes." "Damn!!" "We two will be substituting those two." Xin facepalmed and turned around to have a look at the girl''s team. Three girls and all of them had a perfect figure and toned body. He was ncing through their perfectly shaped body when his vision fell upon the girl at the back. Till some moments ago she was wiping out her face, drenched in sweat. But the moment her face became visible, Xin''s heart stopped and came to his mouth. ''Same face, same eyes, same hairs!!'' Only one-word name came to his mind, and that was Watanabe Sarena. She was one of those people who lost her life while saving Xin. In his past life in the world of magic, she was one of those seniors who always stands for Xin and helps him out in times of his troubles made by others. But like Professor Han, she too became a hurdle and an obstacle for many. Hence, she paid the price with her life. Unlike the first time, Xin didn''t cry nor be emotional upon seeing his past life senior. Instead, his heart was filled with joy. After taking birth again and meeting Professor Han, he became sure that sooner orter he would meet his past life friends who had helped him a lot in the time of his need. On that day after returning home, he had made amitment that he would help and save each and every person who was close to him in his past life. Meeting Sarena was also in his expectations, but that''s also after joining the special army camp, after the selection fest event. But this sudden meeting with each other was something that took him by surprise and sent him into contemtion. From the moment Xin spotted Sarena, he started to act weird. On a first look, anybody could say that he was acting like a love-struck bird, which was pretty obvious, after having a look at one of the campus belle. But deep inside he was reminiscing the past that he had spent with her, as her junior. Xin kept on staring at Sarena and waited for the game to start. Behind him was Aisen, regretting his decision of calling a first-year newbie trainee for this match. ''Tch, tch. I should have known that only very few can resist the charm of the campus belle.'' The two of them were already in the dodge ball court, and Xin was still acting in a daze. Deep inside, he was overjoyed from seeing Sarena once again in his life. But this time he wasn''t a junior to her, nor was she a senior to him. He wanted to go near and embrace her in his arms. But doing that would have given him the tag of a pervert and a lecher. All those feelings were getting jumbled up in his mind and the result was he had been in a daze from the past few minutes. Out of the six balls, the boy''s side had only one ball, and the girl''s side had the rest. Till then Xin hadn''t snapped back from his state of overflowing happiness and was standing dazed in the middle of the court. The referee blew the whistle, and the game resumed once again. The boy''s side had two yers, one was Xin, and the other was Aisen. On the other hand, the girl''s team had three members. One was Sarena and the other two, her ssmates. The two of them picked up two balls each, while Sarena picked up one ball for her. On the other side, Aisen thought Xin waspletely useless and picked up the ball on their side and got ready to throw. The atmosphere was getting tensed up. The girls were more in numbers and also had more balls, while the boys were less and had only one ball. Not only Aisen but also the other boys nearby were thinking the trainee brought back by Aisen waspletely useless. The girls made the first move and threw a ball towards Aisen, on the boy''s side. The ball was thrown with tremendous strength, and speed was fast enough to hit and injure any civilian. But Aisen splendidly dodged the ball by moving to his side and let it go past him. Suddenly, he remembered the newbie trainee was just behind him and still in a daze. Even before he thought of something else, his body moved on its own and shielded Xin from the ball that wasing at him at high speed. Phwwt!! The referee blew the whistle and with that one member was eliminated from the boy''s team. Everyone present their face palmed and thought they were destined to lose that match. Their one and only hope Aisen was just eliminated while defending the newbie trainee that he had brought himself. Without any dy, Aisen went out of the court and let the game continue again. But beforeing out, he put his hand on Xin''s shoulder and whispered something in his ears. The score now was 5-3, and the girls were on the lead. The referee blew the whistle again, and the game resumed once again. The girls were pretty confident now that they would definitely win the match and the victory will be theirs. From the starting of the game, Sarena had been feeling weird for some reason. But she was not sure what it was. Only now when she looked towards thest boy standing on the boy''s side she realized it was Xin''s intensive re that was making him feel ufortable. Since he was the only one left, the three of them got ready for thest round and started to aim the balls at Xin. Sometimes ago when Aisen was inside the court, and everyone was shouting and cheering for him. But when ites to Xin, not a single person was showing interest in him. Chapter 30: Dagger Queen Chapter 30: Dagger Queen The training hall was quiet, and only one sound was audible in the entire hall, and that was the dribbling of the dodge ball by the girls team. Sarena was feeling ufortable from Xin''s re, and she was nning to teach him a lesson using the dodge balls in her hand. After discussing a strategy with her friends, in case Xin dodged her first throw, Sarena turned around and was getting ready to throw the ball when she observed the boy on the other side had already closed his eyes. For certain reasons, her feeling of difort turned into disgust for someone like Xin who wasn''t even trying to fight back and was standing there like a log. Sarena pitched her hand back and with all her power she threw a dodge ball aiming towards Xin''s face. Following her, another girl of the team threw the dodge ball, aiming towards Xin''s stomach. Till then Xin''s eyes were closed, and with that, the boys had also closed their eyes. They didn''t even have a drop of hope that will win the match, not by chance or by luck. One of the trainees in sses who was ying earlier closed his eyes, as he didn''t want to see the boy getting smashed with two dodgeballs. But sometimeter, when he didn''t hear the expected whistle sound to dere the elimination of thest boy, he opened his eyes and had a look at the view before his eyes. Xin didn''t get eliminated, and instead, he was ying with two dodge balls in his hands. Shocked!! Completely Shocked!! Not only him, but the others were also shocked after seeing his gamey before their eyes. The ball thrown by Sarena was directed towards his face, and the ball by her friend was aimed at his stomach. All the boys were of the idea that they were done for, and the game was over. But before their eyes, something unexpected happened, and the course of the game took a major turn. When the dodge ball by Sarena was about to hit Xin on his face, he abruptly opened his eyes and stopped the ball just at a close distance near his face. Xin also dodged the ball aimed at his stomach region and caught the ball with his other hand. Not only the boys, the girls were also taken aback by thiseback. Before the girls prepare themselves and get ready for the attacks from Xin''s side thud! Thud!! Phwwt!! "Game over," shouted the referee and dered the boy''s team as the victor of the match. No one, literally no one, could believe what was happening before their eyes. It was true that the referee dered the boy''s team as the victor of the match, but deep inside he was doubting himself and his eyes, that saw the things happening before his eyes. Xin caught both the dodge balls and without stopping he took aplete turn and threw them back at the girl''s team. One ball hit Sarena and her friend at the same time, while the other hit the third girl of their team. And with that the game came to an end and the boy''s team won the second round of thepetition. It took some time for the others to realize that they won the second round. But Aisen was the first one who snapped out of it first and went near Xin to hug him with joy. "Yes, yes, yes!! Thanks, newbie. Thanks to you, we are in a tie with the girl''s team now!!" "Hahaha, it was nothing much. The girls of the other sides were just weak and slow to react." Aisen heard hisment and thought of the time when the boys were bombarding the girls with dodgeballs and the girls were dodging them all like agile cheetahs. Now it was time for the third round of thepetition, and like the first time, the referee will scratch a card and tell them about the nextpetition. Like the other time, this time too, the referee put his hand in a box and took out a card out of it. Not only the boys, but the girls were also getting breathless to know about the next game of the event. The referee scratched the code, had a look at its content, and dered, "Dagger fight, the next game will be dagger fight!!" Aisen "" The boy in sses "" Other boys "" Dead, they were destined to die now. Campus belle Sarena was also known by the name Dagger Queen, and having a dagger fight with her means only one thing, the opponent is destined to lose. Their joy turned into despair, and their facial expressions darkened. Now, in the time of their despair, they needed only one thing, and that thing was called a scapegoat. Someone who will represent the boy''s side and will have a fight with Sarena that they were destined to lose. At this point, they just wanted to save their name from being disgraced and bing aughingstock. No one was willing to fight her. Even Aisen, who was acting like the leader of the boys, was hesitating to fight with her. Phwwt!! The referee blew the whistle, asking the boys to send their representative. Only five or six boys were there, and all of them were hesitating to fight with her. "Hey newbie!! Why don''t youe for a fight?! I can give you some pointers." Everyone turned around and saw it was Sarena calling the newbie for a fight. Aisen swallowed hard and tried to talk with her. "Sarena, are you kidding? How can a newbie fight with the Dagger Queen of the campus? Hey newbie, why don''t you tell" Upon turning around, Aisen realized Xin was not there anymore. "Aisen, look above, above!!" insisted the boy with sses. Xin was already standing on the fighting tform at a distance from Sarena. ''Damn this guy!!'' Aisen face palmed again and thought the newbie was walking towards his death. He was somewhat lucky to win the dodgeball match against girls. But in a one-on-one fight with the Dagger Queen, there was no chance he would win against her. Chapter 31: Icepick Grip Chapter 31: Icepick Grip Xin has already removed his hoodie and had it kept on a bench nearby. From a first look, anybody could guess that Xin was an army cadet or a trainee, for sure. And the thing that was making this obvious was his perfectly shaped six-packs and his bulging out biceps. "Are you ready? Should we start the match?" Sarena asked in excitement and took out her daggers, pointing them towards Xin. Looking at the way she was holding her daggers, Xin remembered the time when Sarena used to teach him about dagger fighting and closebat tactics. After observing that Xin was not making any movements and was acting dazed like the previous time, Sarena became more cautious and started to give him an intense re. Because thest time he was acting dazed, they had their guards off and Xin took that chance to strike back and took them by surprise. "Hey newbie, don''t get distracted in the middle of a fight!! If you lose your focus then we will lose!!" "Yes, yes. Don''t lose focus ande to your senses." Hearing the loud voices of the people, Xin was dragged back from his contemtion and started to focus on the current matters. All these times he was lost in the past and reminiscing about the memories that he had spent in the special army camp with Sarena. Now that the gods have given him a second chance to live and do as he wishes, he made another oath of protecting Sarena from any danger and to be her guardian and mentor this time. He wanted to return her favor and kindness in terms of knowledge and guidance. Though Sarena was revered as the Dagger Queen in her past life, her strength was pretty much average in front of the people who were involved in the Project 5th GOH. After remaining quiet for some minutes Xin looked towards Sarena and replied her with a smile, "Haha, I would have been ready to fight with you if I had a dagger on me, but the thing is I don''t have any, right now." Sarena frowned and pondered was the newbie trying to escape the fight or plotting something else against her. Before she reached a conclusion, Xin spoke again and asked her to give him the spare pair of daggers that she used to keep in her bag. Sarena was taken dumbfounded when Xin mentioned the spare pair of daggers in her bag because as far as she remembered never in her life she had told or mentioned anyone about the spare pairs in her bag. Before she asked Xin how he found out about this Pwt!! The referee blew the whistle again and asked them to provide Xin with a dagger. Sarena went near the edge of the fighting tform and asked one of her friends to bring her backpack. She opened it and took out a dagger from a secret space inside her bag. Everyone else was surprised when they saw the daggering out of her bag and started to ponder about the newbie''s identity. Aisen and some other boys were thinking Xin must be an ultra pro stalker to know about such a secret of the campus belle. On the other hand, Sarena''s friends were thinking that the newbie must be her cousin or childhood friend who knows Sarena and her secrets by heart. Sarena herself was not sure how in the world a boy, and that too a newbie, found out her secret that she had never told anyone in her life. It would have made some sense if a girl or one of her friends in girls had found out about her secret, but a boy. She wasn''t sure anymore and dismissed the thoughts in her mind. She threw one dagger towards Xin and asked him to catch it. Xin grabbed the dagger in mid-air and started to swing and y with it, to check out its weight andpatibility with him. Sarena closed the chain of her bag and was returning it to her friend when Xin intervened again and asked her for the second pair. Now Sarena was really pissed about it, not only the unknown newbie knew about her spare pair secret, but he also knew how many she had hidden inside as spares. Seeing the annoyed face of Sarena, the girls were thinking that she will tell the newbie something or refuse his request. But the oue was somewhat different. Sarena exhaled out to calm down her brain and threw a second dagger towards Xin. Now both of them had two daggers each and were ready for the fight. The rule was simple, they will have the fight without their scabbard, and they have to stop the dagger before touching their opponent''s vital organs. The one who touches the vital organs of his/her opponents more than thrice will win the match. Once again Sarena pointed her dagger towards Xin while holding her knife in icepick grip (reverse grip). Seeing she was ready for the fight, everyone''s eyes shifted towards Xin. Everyone present there had seen Sarena and her fighting styles, even then they were unable to defeat her. What they were more curious about was to see the style that the newbie was gonna use to fight Sarena. And to their surprise, Xin was also holding his both daggers in icepick grip. They thought it must be a coincidence since most of the dagger users used to grab their daggers in icepick grip rather than forward knife grip because like an ice pick, the tremendous force can be brought to bear on the point, not only when oriented downward, but when an enemy is behind or beside. One more advantage of this holding technique is that when the fist moves as in a cross punch, the de and cutting edge can be raked across the enemy in a shing motion. This grip technique also allows the knife to be oriented with cutting edge of an enemy, even when guarding with the forearm. Chapter 32: Match Over?!! Chapter 32: Match Over?!! Sarena also bit her lips when she saw Xin was holding the dagger in the same style as her, but didn''t say anything to him. Since the match was about to start, she didn''t divert her mind in useless thinking and try to focus all her concentration on the match. Like the other times, this time too Sarena closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, had her left-hand dagger pointed towards Xin for attack and the other dagger behind her back for defense. This was one of thebat positions that had been passed down in her family as a training manual of dagger fighting. After getting ready for the match, she gently opened her eyes and had a look at her opponent, the newbie. Xin was also ready for the match with his right-hand dagger pointing towards Sarena and left-hand dagger behind his back. It was exactly the same posture that Sarena and her family descendent had been using for generations. Only one little change was there, and that was the exchanging of the offensive and defensive hands. Sarena was using her left dagger for offense and right for defense, while Xin was using his left for defense and right for offense. After seeing his posture not only Sarena scowled over Xin but the other girls too became more curious about his identity. First, the newbie came and defeated one of the campus belle and the Dagger Queen in dodgeball. Then he revealed Sarena''s secret about spare pairs of daggers in her bag and now taking the samebat posture as her. After pondering and joining all these clues the girls reached the conclusion that the newbie must be Sarena''s boyfriend, cause as much as they remembered Sarena was the only daughter and the single child of the Watanabe family, one of the most secretive and famous ninja families of the nation. And if it were any of her rtives, then they would have gotten the privilege to see at least one top figure of the Watanabe family, who would havee to drop the rtive in the JSDF headquarters. But in thest few days, no such person hade there neither to visit Sarena nor to drop any of her rtives. On the other side, the boys were also contemting about it and they reached the conclusion that Xin must be Sarena''s younger brother. They knew that Sarena was from a famous and reputed ninja family, but they didn''t know that she was a single child. One more reason they reached this conclusion that the newbie was Sarena''s younger brother and not boyfriend because everyone, literally every boy, had a crush on the campus belle Sarena. No matter what, they didn''t want to believe that Sarena was in a rtionship with that boy. So, their brains automatically rejected that option and picked up the conclusion that says the newbie must be Sarena''s younger brother. Excluding the three standing on the fighting arena, all the boys and the girls had a smug smile on their faces. For boys, they were seeing Xin as adder to climb up to the campus belle''s heart. And for the girls, some were in preparation to impress Xin and make him theirs, while the others were getting ready to tease Sarena and make her tell about their love story. Unaware of the schemes, plots, and conspiracy going on around him, Xin was standing on the fighting tform and was waiting for the referee to blow his whistle and start the dagger fight. Suddenly, he felt a chilling sensation throughout his body, and with that, he started to hear the cheering of the boys and girls for the newbie. "Hey newbie, you can do it. We all are with you!!" said a boy. While some other girls were cheering him on by saying, "We know you are special you can do it. You can do it!!" Hearing the sudden cheers from both the boys and girls side not only Sarena and Xin but also the referee was having doubt about what he was hearing. All the people present there knew and had witnessed Sarena''s skills in dagger fighting. ''Then howe these all people are cheering for the newbie, instead of their Dagger Queen?!'' thought the referee. Seeing the match was getting dyed, Sarena loosened her stance and asked the referee in a polite voice to blow his whistle. The referee too agreed on her request and blew the whistle to make a loud sound. Pht!! Upon hearing the sound, everyone stopped cheering and focused their attention towards the newbie. Out of those two, none of them were making any move. Both of them were in the same stance, and both of them were in the same posture. Sarena was looking into Xin''s eyes, and Xin was looking into Sarena''s eyes. Slowly, Sarena stretched her left leg back and was getting ready to attack. Simrly, Xin also stretched his right leg towards his back and was getting ready for the attack. Seeing both of them were using the same set of moves, the girls became sure that the newbie was her boyfriend, who knows everything about her by heart. And the boys became more convinced that the newbie was definitely her younger brother. They were using the same set of skills that means they must have trained under one master of the Watanabe household. Since the newbie was only mimicking her skills and wasn''t making any real attacks, Sarena took the initiative and decided to make the first attack on Xin. She hold her breath inside and plunged towards Xin with lightning speed. Her figure was visible while she was getting ready for the fight, but the moment she plunged towards Xin her figure disappeared out of everyone''s sight. Just in a sh, she went beside Xin and made the first attack on his left shoulder. Abruptly the blurry figure of Sarena, which wasn''t visible to anyone before, became visible, and they saw her leaning backward and falling to the ground for some reason. Chapter 33: 24/7 CCTV surveillance Chapter 33: 24/7 CCTV surveince Everyone was shocked. Just after a second of the match, their campus belle and the revered Dagger Queen copsed, and they had no idea what in the world happened in that one second. Phwt!! The referee blew his whistle again, and dered Xin the winner of the match. Though the match came to an end, and the boys team won two matches out of three all of their faces werepletely paled. A newbie defeated the Dagger Queen in less than a second, and the most frustrating thing, they couldn''t even see what happened before their eyes. All they saw was Sarena''s figure disappearing when she plunged towards Xin, then falling onto the ground after reaching near Xin. The training hall was quiet. Not the boys nor the girls. No one was uttering a word. Amidst of this silence someone came from outside and broke the silence of the training room. "Hey you newbie,e here if you are done. You ordered food is getting cold." Xin turned around towards the entrance of the training room and found it was the sweet cafdy who was preparing his order in the meantime. "Yes, yes,ing," Xin replied and jumped off from the fighting tform and went towards the cafdy. Till then no one, literally no one, had recovered from the shock, and they wouldn''t even have recovered but the timely appearance of JSDF Head Yamamoto dragged them back to reality. Just after a minute of Xin disappearing with the cafdy Yamamoto entered the training room and observed the crowd in the training room. Seeing no one was talking nor were they moving, he made his way up to the fighting tform to see what was actually going on there. On top of the stage, only two people were there. One was standing straight like an army cadet, the referee. And another was lying unconscious on the stage, Sarena. Although Sarena was known as the Dagger Queen and one of the campus belles, she wasn''t popr enough to be remembered by JSDF Head, Yamamoto. He only remembered that the girl was somewhat good at using daggers. But that was not the thing which was troubling him at that time. The thing that was bugging him was the weird behavior of all the cadets, and that too after seeing him, head of the JSDF. Without contemting too much about the situation, he turned around andmanded, "Cadets, attention!!" Everyone present there heard the loud hoarse voice of Yamamoto and snapped out of their shocks. Aisen and the referee were the ones who first snapped out of it first and became aware of their surroundings. Standing before them was the JSDF Head, Yamamoto. And they had no idea when and how they came there and climbed onto the fighting tform. But before anything else, Aisen did the thing which was most needed at that time. And that was to greet back the officer, in an army way. "Sir, yes sir!! Cadet Sunada Aisen, reporting, sir." "At ease!!" Yamamoto shouted again. Till then everyone had alreadye to their senses, but no one was uttering a word before Yamamoto. After scanning through the entire area, Yamamoto''s eyes fell upon the only cadet who had replied to him. After pondering something, he made a hand gesture and ordered Aisen toe near. Without any dy he climbed onto the stage and made a salute to pay his respect to Yamamoto. "Hmm What was your name again, Aisen right?" "Sir, yes sir!!" "So, care to tell what happened here? And why were you spacing out before I came?" Initially, Aisen didn''t reply to his question. But when he saw Yamamoto knitting his eyebrows, he broke the ice and narrated the entire incident that happened there sometimes ago. After having a basic knowledge of the situation, Yamamoto looked around and asked, "Where is that newbie? Who defeated the so-called the Dagger Queen of the campus?" "Gone." "Gone." "Gone." Three people replied, one after another. The first was Aisen, the second was the referee standing near Yamamoto, and the third was a boy in round spectacles. "Hmm" Yamamoto frowned over and asked, "What''s the name of this boy you were talking about?" But unlike the first time, no one answered his question this time. It was not like they didn''t want to answer, but before giving him a reply they must know the answer themselves, and they had no idea who was that person, and what was his name. All they knew that he was a junior brought by Aisen from the cafeteria. Aisen too nodded his head and replied that he didn''t know the name of that newbie. He was in a hurry so he kind of forgot to ask him his name. Yamamoto deeply exhaled and ordered the girls to take Sarena to the pharmacy, and dispersed the rest of the cadets. But before dispersing he stopped Aisen, the boy in spectacles, and the referee. "You three, follow me to the recording room." Since the room was fitted with numerous CCTV cameras Yamamoto decided not to waste any time with the clueless cadets and went to the recording room to have a look at the footage recorded there. The three of them were following Yamamoto to the recording room, but on their way, the cadet with sses remembered something and sneaked out to check something in the training hall. Japanese Self Defence Force Head Quarters or in short JSDF HQ was one of the ces in the nation having the highest tier of security in the country. Its purpose, to train the specially selected individuals for top level missions and make them work under the secret organisations, that work directly under the President and the Prime Minister. Apart from working as a training ce, it also directs and givesmands to the other sub-branches throughout the nation. Since it was a ce of utmost importance, the entire JSDF HQ was ced under 24/7 CCTV surveince. Chapter 34: Never fail to amaze me Chapter 34: Never fail to amaze me And the recording room was the ce where all the servers and monitors were kept to save the data of all those footages. After entering the recording room, Yamamoto ordered the staffs to cut out the formalities and asked them to show him footage of training hall 8. The staffs started their work and began to download the footages of training hall 8 from the server, which was connected with the training halls. Since the footages generated per day was in terabytes they used to store it in servers, and whenever needed they just download the specific footages from their respective servers. While they were waiting for the video to get downloaded, the cadet in spectacles came running and barged into the recording room without permission. Before anyone said anything to him he went near Yamamoto and showed him the hoodie that he found on one of the benches of the training hall 8. Seeing the cadet was panting heavily, Yamamoto asked him to sit on the chair nearby and took over the hoodies from his hands. On a first look, Yamamoto remembered that he had recently seen this hoodie, but where he was unable to remember. "Sir, check in, check inside the pocket." Said the cadet who sneaked out earlier and brought back the hoodie from there. Yamamoto nodded and put his hands inside the left pocket, but nothing was found there. He took out his hand and checked the right pocket, and this time he found something inside it. A rectangr-shaped thing, with anyard attached to it. Yamamoto grabbed the thing inside and dragged it out from the right side pocket. _____________________________________ Name: Xin Guest: MVIP Validity: 1 Day Date: XX.XX.XXXX _______________________________________ Yamamoto "...." Till that time Aisen was facing towards the screen monitoring the download progress. After some time when he turned behind, he saw Yamamoto holding an ID card and a hoodie in his hands. "Sir, may I have a look at the ID card? I remember now, that newbie was wearing this hoodie when I saw him in the cafeteria." Yamamoto didn''t say anything and simply handed over the ID card to Aisen. This time Aisen was the one who got the shock. His expression darkened. All this time he was of the idea that Xin was a newbie, but it turned out he was an MVIP guest of the JSDF HQ. After seeing his card, not a single word wasing out of him. All of a sudden Yamamoto broke the silence and started tough in the silent recording room. Everyone''s eyes were fixated at Yamamoto, as why the Head of the JSDF started tough out of the blue. Afterughing to his heart''s content, Yamamoto stopped and took back the ID card from Aisen. "Damn this kid!! Never fail to amaze me. Ahahahaha, ahahaha." Seeing Yamamotoughing again, Aisen thought he must have gone mad. But he threw out the idea as fast as possible and focused on the word ''this kid'' spoken by Yamamoto. Judging from the lines he spoke, Aisen understood that Yamamoto somehow knows that person, and he must have some other achievements to make him say the line ''never fail to amaze me''. While he was pondering about it, the staffs of the recording room notified them that the download wasplete, and they can see the video then. All of them present there went near the screen and asked the staffs to y the video. The first video was of Xin ying dodge ball against the girls team. Yamamoto saw how Xin was acting dazed after seeing Sarena and how he defeated the girls team in a single turn, though it was pretty impressive but he couldn''t find out the reason why all the cadets present in the room were spacing out after seeing his fight. The next video was of Xin defeating Sarena, and the most awaited video of that time. Aisen, Referee, and the boy with spectacles were paying the utmost attention to the video as they were unable to see what happened in the match before their eyes, and how in the world did that boy defeat the Dagger Queen, she couldn''t even put up a fight before him. Observing the video had a lot of info dumps, the staff skipped some parts and yed the video from the part when Sarena was plunging towards Xin to attack him. The staff clicked on the resume button and just like the real fight, the video came to an end within a second. Aisen, the boy with spectacle, and the Referee, these three were staring at the video with their eyes widened and minds nk, even after watching the video for multiple time they were unable to understand what happened in the match. Yamamoto was also surprised by the speed of Xin''s movement and asked the staff to trim out that specific part of the footage and y it in slow motion. The staffs in charge of the recording room did as they were asked to do and showed the slow-motion version of the video to Yamamoto and the others. Everyone was paying close attention to the video, sometimes ago Yamamoto was fiddling something on his smartphone but when the video was yed he stopped fiddling at once and focused his all attention on the video. The video started from the part when Sarena plunged towards Xin to attack him. After covering the distance between them with a lighting speed, she went to his side and was nearing his dagger towards Xin''s waist region, but before she did anything to him, Xin turned towards his side with a smirk on his face and hit Sarena in her neck. And that was the region she lost her senses and fell on the ground just after a second of starting the match. Forget about Aisen, Yamamoto, and the others. Even the staffs of the recording room were bbergasted and astonished by Xin''s quick reaction and speed. "Ahahahaha, ahahahaha, ahahahaha" Yamamoto started tugh again. Not only Xin''s background and skills were extraordinary, his fighting skills were also extraordinary. Earlier he wanted to recruit Xin as a software developer for the JSDF research division on behalf of its head, but now he wanted to recruit him as a special agent working directly under the President. Finding such individuals who are good with technology and good inbat was a very hard thing for them, and now that he had spotted one. Chapter 35: Shocking news Chapter 35: Shocking news He didn''t want to let Xin go. After watching the video one more time, Yamamoto went out of the recording room in a hurry. And before going, he asked Aisen to find Xin and escort him to the JSDF research division. Meanwhile Xin, unaware of the events that were going on around him, was enjoying roasted pork and honey in the cafeteria. After eating everything he had ordered earlier, he was still feeling somewhat hungry, so he went through the menu again and ordered a full-body roasted pork and honey, a dish that cadets used to eat in groups. Seeing the tes stacked near him and the hunger of the young man the cafdy was wondering ''just how in the world can this boy eat this much?! And even after eating that many things his belly isn''t bulging out?!!'' Not only the cafdy, even Xin himself wasn''t sure what''s the reason for his monstrous appetite that day? And where was the destination of those foods that he had been eating for a while. Since the morning he had been feeling hungry as he couldn''t eat anything due to the sudden visit of Nen and the others. He was pretty happy when Yamamoto gave him the officer level food pass and asked him to eat as much as he wanted. But once he started eating, he realized his hunger was not calming down, and instead it was increasing with every food dish that he was munching down. Xin even tried to ask Daisy about it. But for some reason, she didn''t give a reply or any response to his question. So to satisfy his irresistible hunger, he ordered full-body grilled pork with tons of honey spread over it. After finishing the entire grilled pork Xin thanked the cafdy and went out of the cafeteria to have a look at the rest of the JSDF HQ. Half an hourter, when the cafdy was carrying the stacked tes near the bench where Xin was eating two cadets in uniform came around, and asked thedy about a boy wearing a navy blue hoodie. The first cadet was Aisen, and the second was the boy in spectacles named Hiroshi. Since the breakfast time was over and it was past 9:30 am (Service time) they had put on their uniform. After being ordered by Yamamoto they headed towards the cafeteria asking the whereabouts of their MVIP guest, Xin. The cafdy knew the two of them very well, as they used to help her with dishwashing sometimes when they have free time. Hearing the voices of the two familiards, thedy put all the tes on the table and stretched her hands to alleviate her pain. "You mean that kid with the food pass of Mr. Yamamoto?" she asked while rotating her neck. "Yes, yes. We are searching for him. He is an MVIP guest of the JSDF HQ and we have been ordered to take special care of his needs." Aisen replied in a serious voice. "Oh!! That kid finished eating half an hour ago and went out for a walk." "Went out for a walk?!" Hiroshi intervened. "I mean, went outside. Before going, he said if anyonees here with a hoodie tell them to meet him near the JSDF research division. He will head there after having a look and walk around the HQ." "Oh okay, JSDF research division then. We will head there as soon as possible." With that Hiroshi turned around and was going towards the exit of the cafeteria when Aisen asked the question which he had been curious about for a while. "By the way, I have been wondering for a while, why are all these tes stacked here? Was there any party or officer level party while we were gone?" The cafdy nodded her head with a look of disapproval and told them it was neither a party nor an officer level party. It was that MVIP guest, Xin, who ordered tons of foods and munched them all alone. Hiroshi was listening to their conversation and when he heard that the MVIP guest, Xin, was the one who had chomped down foods of more than ten persons, he made a note in his mind of never inviting him for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. God knows how many zeros he would get on the bill if he let him as much as he wants. Afterpleting their talk with the cafdy, both of them went near Yamamoto and reported Xin''s whereabouts and his big appetite to him. Yamamoto was a little shocked with the thought ''Howe that slim looking person can eat that much without gaining any weight?!'' But he left the question as it is for some more time when he got notified of even bigger news. "Cadets, dismiss!! Some urgent works havee up. It''s something not rted to us, but I want to investigate it for some reason." Aisen and Hiroshi thought it must be some secret high-level information that he got notified of some minutes ago and left the room as soon as possible. "What the fu** is happening in the world now? Have they gone mad or something?!" Yamamoto muttered in confusion and irritation. As he had said earlier, the news that he got was not something rted to him or the JSDF HQ. But it was something that gave a big shock to governments of the different nations, especially the countries of the Asian continent. Meanwhile Xin, he was wandering here and there around the JSDF HQ like a ghost in his casual wear. Some trainees were looking at his get up and were having thoughts like ''Lol, who is this guy?! Wandering here and there and there in trousers!!'' Xin was well aware of their intensive staring at him and his casual dresses. But he wasn''t paying attention to them, as he was busy reminiscing about his past and the time that he had spent in the special army training camp of his past life. In the world of magic, Xin was recruited for the special-forces in the first year of his university. That was the time when he entered the special army training camp and came in contact with Sarena and some others. Chapter 36: Kokoro no Ishi Chapter 36: Kokoro no Ishi But this time due to the merging of the two worlds the special army training camp had be the JSDF HQ, and all the facilities, rooms, and internal designs were exactly the same as the special army training camp of his previous life. After wandering around to his heart''s content, Xin decided to head towards the JSDF research division whose head had specially invited him as a guest, asking for assistance. JSDF research division, a department which was responsible for a variety of matters rted to the Japanese Self Defence Force. After hearing the name some will get the idea that it must be a department filled with geeks, nerds, and scientists who research day and night on software and hardware like a team of coding developers. But this department was more than that. Software, hardware, weapon designing, chemical weapons, gadgets invention, forensic research, space research all these terms were encapsted under the term JSDF research division. And the head of this multipurpose versatile department was. Well, no spoilers about this character. Xin reached outside of the JSDF research division and had a look at the digital navigation board fixed on the side of the main entrance. Since the research division was the encapstion of a variety of sub-branches, the navigation board was there to help newbies like Xin to help and find out their destination. One more thing that Xin observed was the location of the different branches throughout the navigation board. Excluding the forensic department, all the other branches were located deep underground. "Cool, it was not like this in my previous life!!" Xin eximed and started to search for the location of the branch dealing with software and hardware development. After going through the navigation board for some minutes, Xin finally found the location of two branches that deal with software and hardware. He wasn''t sure where he could find the JSDF research head who had invited him for help and was pondering about it when two figures appeared behind him and called out his name with respect. "MVIP guest, Mr. Xin!! Cadet Aisen and cadet Hiroshi are at your service, sir!!" Xin was startled by Aisen and turned around with his ferocious eyes. Both of them felt as if they were staring into the eye of a demon and were unable to move their bodies. Seeing those two were the cadets from earlier, Xin calmed down and turned his wild ferocious eyes to human-looking normal eyes. Aisen and Hiroshi were still paralyzed in their ces. So to make theme to their senses, Xin took his hand between those two and snapped his fingers to make a loud noise near their ears. "Huh, what? What happened?!" Hiroshi blurted out in a disturbing voice. After snapping out of it he was somewhat feeling disturb and was in no mood to talk with anyone. All he wanted at that time was to go home and watch some moe-moe animes to heal his mind. Besides him was Aisen. Unlike Hiroshi, he was a strong-minded fe, and he remembered what happened to them some minutes ago. As mentioned by the cafdy, that Xin will head towards the JSDF research division after having a look at the JSDF HQ, they reported it to Yamamoto and were heading near the entrance of the research division. And to their fortune, they found Xin just near the entrance. Since Xin was an MVIP guest, Aisen thought of greeting him an army way and went beside him to do so. He was expecting a good praise or a salute in return, but instead Xin got startled from his sudden intervention and showed them something that he had mastered in the world of magic, after experiencing countless missions and battles. Xiong Yan was the magical term and Eyes of Intimidation was the general term that peoples of the world of magic used for describing that power. This doesn''t involve the use of magiculus particles (mana) but rather it uses the user''s willpower and mental energy to intimidate the enemies. Though Xin hadn''t inherited any of his past life''s magical powers, but his mental energy and his battle experiences were some of the things that he had inherited from his old worlds. Aftering to his senses, Aisen couldn''t think of anything properly, and blurted out the thing that he wanted to ask after experiencing Xin''s Xiong Yan. "Mr. Xin, who is your teacher? How did you master Kokoro no Ishi (Will of heart)?!" Xin "" Hiroshi "" For Xin, he had no idea what was Kokoro no Ishi. It was his first time hearing a term like that. Neither in the magical world nor on the magicless earth had he heard of a term like that. For Hiroshi, he knew some things about that term, but he was astonished and was thinking, ''Howe Aisen blurted out his family secret to a stranger like that?'' Xin didn''t take much time to respond and replied to his question after probing through his memory. "No, sorry. It''s my first time hearing that term. And for the thing that you experience now, I am really, really sorry about that. I was contemting something and that loud salute of yours startled me." Seeing the polite behaviour of Xin towards them and listening to his sincere apologies, both of them became sure that Xin wasn''t like the other high-ranking arrogant officers who boast and misuse their powers on others. Both of them nodded their heads to ept his apologies and informed him that they were sent there by Yamamoto to take care of his necessities, and help him in any way possible. Xin replied to them with an "Oh~~!!" and asked them where he could find the head of the JSDF research division head. Hearing the mention of the JSDF research division''s head, both of their expressions darkened, and a sudden chilling sensation passed throughout their body. Observing both of them were keeping quiet, Xin thought they may not know about it and was about to Chapter 37: I am just a high school student Chapter 37: I am just a high school student Say something when Hiroshi intervened and said, "We know where you could find the chief." "Chief?!" "Yes, chief. I work under her, in the technical department. And we call her chief." "I see!!" Xin eximed and asked Hiroshi what kind of person was the Chief? Angry, moody, arrogant type or gentle, lovely, nice type. Hearing Xin asking about what kind of person she was and guessing about her personality, their eyes widened. They were shocked by the facts that Xin predicting before them. Hiroshi swallowed hard and said, "You will find out soon, what type of person she is." Xin felt somewhat weird as that type of answer was keeping him in suspense, but he didn''t investigate it any further as he wanted the suspense to keep ongoing. After talking about some other trivial matters, Aisen and Hiroshi returned him his hoodie and the ID card that he had forgotten on the bench of the training hall and asked him to put on his ID card. The underground facility was built thousands of meters below the ground level and needs special permission and security checks before using the elevator to go there. The guards on duty did a thorough checkup on Xin and gave him a green signal for using the elevator after that. Aisen and Hiroshi were the regrs of the underground facility, so they just had to show their ID cards for using the elevator. After hopping on to the elevator, Aisen configured it and made its descending speed slow. It was the first time for Xin, and he didn''t want their MVIP guest to puke all over them. Slowly, the elevator started moving and their most awaited descent began. Xin was filled with excitement to see the underground facility and to check out the new things that have been added there due to the merging of the two worlds. The descent was very slow, and the atmosphere was very quiet, Hiroshi couldn''t endure it more and broke the ice by starting a topic. "Mr. Xin, you don''t look that old. If you don''t mind, can you tell us your age?" Hiroshi asked politely. He didn''t want to offend the MVIP guests, so he was asking it with a mix of casual and polite. Such that if Xin got offended, or he gets angry, he could apologize to him for his mistake and ward it off by starting some other topic. Xin didn''t reply to his question instantly. Observing he was keeping his mouth shut, both of them thought they did it. They sessfully offended an MVIP level guest of the JSDF HQ. Aisen was getting ready to apologize on behalf of Hiroshi and Hiroshi was getting ready to apologize and start a new topic, when Xin looked towards them and asked, "Sorry, did you ask something?" Aisen "" Hiroshi "" Both of them were thinking ''Is this guy deaf, or he was just indulged with his mobile.'' Xin took out the small ear pods that he had been wearing for a while and asked them again, "Sorry, did you say something to me. I was wearing earpods so" "Hahaha," Aisen burst out inughter and repeated the question that Hiroshi asked earlier. "Indeed, I am younger than you two." "Younger, by how much?" Hiroshi asked while smiling. "I am just 18. Last year high school student." Xin "" Hiroshi "" Both of them were dumbfounded when they found out their MVIP guest was just a high school kiddo, and not any big corporations orpanies head. Xin was observing the shocked faces of the two cadets and wasughing like crazy deep inside his heart. He knew that once he revealed educational qualifications, both of them would be expressionless. And that was the funniest thing that he had been expecting for a while. Now that they found out Xin was just a high school student, they were feeling ufortable to address him by Sir. Seeing both of them have been muted, this time Xin broke the ice and asked them about them. "Ah, brother Aisen, right? How old are you?" Both of them snapped out of their daze and answered the question that was asked to them. "Hehehe," Aisen started with augh and replied, "Sir, you are giving too much respect to me. I am just a technical staff of the JSDF research division. Ah, also I am 21." "Me too, me too 21," Hiroshi added. "Oh~~!! Then both of you are in the technical division? I knew about Hiroshi senpai since he had mentioned it earlier. But looking at Aisen senpai, I thought he must be in thebat division." "Pfft, ahahahaha, ahahahahaha." The three of them startedughing and the serious atmosphere broke down. Afterward, Aisen told him that he belonged to a family that has produced many outstanding army officers. He was also nning to join thebat division, but when they found out he had an aptitude for the technical division they recruited in the JSDF research division. Xin, "Oh~~" "Yes, and this guy still loves doing workouts and exercises." "Oh, that exins his perfectly shaped abs and six-packs." "Hahaha," Aisenughed again and thanked Xin for hispliment. Now that the atmosphere had lightened, the other two kept on asking Xin about him. Like how did he be an MVIP level guest, and why was he invited by their chief. Xin didn''t find any harm in answering their question and told them the entire story of how he met Mr. Nen and how he made contributions to a special project. He omitted the part of Ryuu challenging him and told him an edited part of the story. Both of them were carefully listening to him and were joining the clues that they had in mind. Xin was continuing his part of the story when Hiroshi interfered in the middle and asked, "Mr. Xin, by any chance you were talking about Project SEDS?" Xin frowned and became alerted after hearing the name of the top-secret project. He wasn''t expecting the trainee cadets to know about top secret things like that. Chapter 38: I have a condition Chapter 38: I have a condition Observing Xin became alerted and was having suspicions on them, Hiroshi added that they were also part of the project and they had signed the contract of confidentiality with the army. Xin calmed down and eximed, "Oh!!" "Yes, then are you the one who solved the one given to Mr. Ryuu?!" "Yes, I am the one." "I see, you are quite a genius then!!" Afterplimenting Xin for his coding skills, Hiroshi jumped onto the topic and started to ask him some parts that he was having problems understanding. Amongst the question, not all were unknown to Hiroshi. He had sneakily added some questions to test Xin''s knowledge. After a ten minutes discussion with him, both of them became convinced that Xin really was the prodigy programmer who had been invited by their Chief. The descent was very slow, and they were only halfway to their destination. Seeing the atmosphere became silent again, Aisen was feeling a little ufortable. Xin started to fiddle with his mobile again and Hiroshi joined him in it by taking out his tablet and noting down the things that Xin had taught him earlier. Out of the blue, Aisen remembered the rumours of the day before, ording to which Xin had declined a job offer of 75 million USD per month thates with extra perks and benefits. He was pretty sure that once he graduates from the academy and bes a full-time technician in the JSDF research division, he would be able to get a yearly package of at least 12 million USD per annum. But that also after working there for five to six years. And the kiddo before him declined a 75 million USD package just like that. It was hard to swallow on his part that a high school kid like him declined such a big amount. ''Either it''s a lie or there must be some reason behind it.'' He was nodding his head while thinking about it, when Xin called him out and asked him the reason for his nod. "Ah, oh, this?!" Aisen replied in a weird way and was unable to give him a reply. Xinughed and asked, "Is there something that you wanted to ask?" Aisen nodded his head twice and said, "Yes." "Shot it out senpai, don''t hesitate!!" Xin gave him his full consent and waited for his question. "Ahem, Mr. Xin, if you don''t mind, can you tell us the matter around the 75 million USD job?" "You mean the one offered by JSDF?" "Yes, that one." Upon hearing the mention of this topic, Hiroshi stopped fiddling with his tablet and started to listen carefully to their conversation. Since Aisen had started the topic, he was pretty sure that Aisen would try to dig out as much as possible from Xin. So, he decided to stay silent and enjoy the convo that was gonna take ce before him. "So what do you want to know about it?" Xin asked casually. "Sir, is it really true that they were offering you a 75 million USD job?" "Well, I will tell you about it. But before that, I have one condition for you both." "What type of condition?" both of them asked simultaneously. They had already made a hunch that Xin would ask them to keep their mouth shut about it and not to tell anyone on this matter. But they werepletely taken aback when Xin posed his condition before them and asked them to do it no matter what. Both of them were hesitating toply with his condition in the beginning, but when Xin forced them to do it and said that he won''t tell them about that 75 million USD matter, both of them agreed toply with his condition. It was nothing big. Xin just wanted them to call him by his name. He was just feeling ufortable when two persons older than him, and soon to be his seniors, were calling him ''Sir''. Aisen and Hiroshi were bbergasted when this weird request of Xin. And they were not ready toply with it. They were strictly ordered by Yamamoto to address him with respect. But what Xin was asking them to do waspletely the reverse of that. Both of them were not intending to call him by his name, but as mentioned Xin forced them toply with his condition, hence they agreed and started to call him by name. "Good senpais," Xinmented and told them everything about the 75 million USD offer. Judging from Xin''s expression, both of them determined that the kid had been really offered a good sry package, but for some reason, he refused them all. "Xin, why did you refuse all the offers? I mean, you are good at coding, and they were giving you a handsome sry What else do you want?" This time the one who asked this question was Hiroshi. He had been waiting for a while for Aisen to shoot out this question towards Xin. But after waiting for five to six minutes, he couldn''t take it anymore and decided to ask him out himself. "Ah" Xin stopped at that. Now that he thinks he himself wasn''t sure what was the reason for refusing those job offers. Nen, Yamamoto, Natasha, and Ryuu assumed that Xin wasn''t interested in those offers since his parents were very big figures in Asia. And Xin himself had more than enough money for spending throughout his life. But that was partly a reason for refusing those offers. Now that Xin thinks about it he wanted to spend his high school life without doing any extra work. It was true that he had been given a mission to save the world from destruction and take revenge for the Xin of the magical world. But the other Xin, from the magicless earth, didn''t want to do any work and ck around in his high school years. In his previous life, he was revered as one of the best programmers, and like his dad, he was also a workaholic from the early time of his teenage years. Chapter 39: Underground Market Chapter 39: Underground Market From a very early age of thirteen, Xin started to work with his father. At the age of seventeen, he was already managing and holding twenty-five percent of thepany share. Which was quite a big amount in itself. An interesting thing, no one, literally not a single member of the Board of Directors, was against giving that much of a share to a little kid of seventeen years. Instead, some were proposing the idea of giving him thirty-five percent of thepany''s share. Though the Xin of the earth was already a well-aplished figure from the very beginning of his childhood, one thing he sacrificed in all these was his time of having fun and hanging out with his friend. Since he was a prodigy in both studies and programming, his parents had arranged homeschooling facilities for him. He just had to go school on the exam days, sit in a room alone,plete the paper and return home. He was devoting most of his time to his dad''spany and its work. And in all these he sacrificed some things that every child does throughout their schooling period, i.e. having fun with friends. Xin was in a dilemma now. He wanted to take revenge, save the world, at the same time he wanted to ck around and have fun with his friends. The thoughts of the two Xin from before were colliding with each other. Seeing Xin became quiet all of a sudden and was lost in his thoughts, Hiroshi thought he didn''t want to answer his question. To change the topic, he was about to say something when Xin came out of his contemtion and gave him a reply to his question. "I want to ck around!!" "Sorry, what?!!" "I want to ck around and have fun in my schooling years. I can always find a job or two after graduation. But before that, I want to have fun and live my life without much stress and work." Hearing his reason, both of them went quiet. Now that they think Xin was only a high schooler, pushing him to a job of 75 million USD also means that he would be spending most of his time doing work in any office or the JSDF research facility. Children of that age used to goof around and have fun with their friends. It''s a period in a child''s life where they live their life to the fullest and try to have fun as much as possible. Cause once they start doing a job, their life would beparable to hell. Wake up early in the morning, have breakfast, then run for the office. Entering your workce with your boss shouting and scolding then diving into the piles of files. Both of them got the essence of what Xin was trying to tell and its significance in a child''s life. No matter how fulfilling the job is, a timees in everyone''s life where they want to take a break from everything and look back at their pasts. A past where they goof around, ck around and have fun with friends. These types of memories are one of the most important things that helps a person toe out of depression and work pressure. Not only that, but it also cheers them up, making them ready for a better tomorrow. "The time which you should cherish!!" Aisen blurted out. "Yes," Xin replied with a single word. Suddenly, a sound came from the elevator, telling them they had reached their destination. The doors of the elevator opened up, and before their eyes were the top-secret, underground JSDF research facility. On the left side was a line of super-fast TX120 jets, and on the right was a line of XD771 helicopters, specializing in warfare and rescue missions. Xin had a look at his both sides and only one thing came from his heart "Cool!!" "Hehe," Aisenughed and told him it was just the entrance of the underground facility. The real stuff was inside the base, built at a distance from there. Later Xin realized that the elevator was joined with a big steel bridge. And the jets and helicopters were kept at its both sides. On the other side of the bridge was the real JSDF research facility, built inside a cave-like structure. After walking on the bridge and covering 250 meters the three of them reached near the cave-like structure, and entered inside it, after showing the guards their ID cards, and an extra check on Xin, since it was his first time. "Woah!!" Xin eximed. Though the outside was somewhat good, the inside of that ce was marvelous. Everything was nned ording to the needs of the staff living there. Starting from the air venttion, water, oxygen to broadband, pizza delivery, and fast food centers, everything was present there. It was like a small city under the ground. Xin was even more amazed when he saw the underground JSDF market. Where trainees could buy anything to everything, by exchanging their merit points. Before going into the office of the technical division, Xin strolled around the market with the other two. During his time in the market, he observed not only daily necessities, but gadgets and weapons were being sold in the market. And when I meant weapon I didn''t mean those old times AK47. AS50''s, SA80, M4 Carbine, Remington 700, Colt 6920 were some of the models getting sold there. Xin recognized some of them, and for the rest, he was taking the help of the tags used on them to identify the models. One intriguing thing that he noticed was the design and the models of those guns and rifles. All the weapons on sale were the models from the magicless earth. Not a single model belonging to the magical world was there. The reason was pretty obvious too. Magic and magiculus particles were not introduced there yet. So how could the concept of magical weapons exist there? Chapter 40: Hiroshi senpai’s girlfriend Chapter 40: Hiroshi senpai¡¯s girlfriend After wandering here and there in the underground market, it was finally time for Xin to enter the technical division and meet with the JSDF research division head. As expected, the building was quite magnificent. It was a business type building with sses fitted all over its wall. Xin whistled andplimented, "awesome!!" Aisen and Hiroshi smiled at him and said that it was just the beginning. He will get more astonished when he will see the inside structure of the building. Xin also was getting curious about it and containing the same curiosity in his heart he entered the building with the other two. Yet again, he had to show his ID card to a security guard and let them check his backpack. After giving him a green signal, Xin went to the reception area and found both the cadets apanying him were talking with someone. A girl in her 20s, with brown hair and round sses. She looked towards Xin, then turned towards the other two again. "Is he the one you two were talking about?" asked the girl sitting at the reception table, while adjusting her sses from the right side rim. "Yes, yes. He is the one!!" both of them replied at once. The girl was a little startled by seeing their excitement and asked Xin to present her his ID card. "Oh, sure. Here," Xin handed over his ID card and waited for the explosion to get triggered. The receptionist took the card casually and had a look at its content. "Umm. Name of this boy Xin, MVIP guest, signed by Yamamo.." She instantly stopped muttering and looked at Xin with her eyes widened. "Aaaa.An MVIP guest?!!" eximed the receptionist. On the side Aisen and Hiroshi wereughing to their heart content and were enjoying the live face pping scene before their eyes. The girl clenched her fist and shouted, "Cadet Aisen, Cadet Hiroshi, why didn''t you tell me that you have brought an MVIP guest with you? Hmph!! I won''t talk with you for a week." Meanwhile Xin, ''Am I the only one who is getting this feeling, or this girl is your typical tsundere type character?'' While he was thinking about this, the receptionist turned around Xin and red at him like he hadmitted any crime. "Hmph!! I won''t talk with you too. How dare you trick me like that?!" She stood up from her chair and went out of the building towards the botanical park of the underground city. Xin was totally clueless on what to do thereafter. He just entered the building and showed his ID card as asked by the receptionist. God knows what made the girl angry, and she left the building. He turned towards Aisen and pointed his finger towards the outside direction, asking him what to do now. Aisen nodded and pushed Hiroshi to go after the receptionist. Hiroshi looked towards Aisen and slowly whispered, "What about Mr. Xin?" Aisen didn''t reply and instead ced his hand on his chest, conveying leave it to me, don''t worry. Hiroshi nodded again and ran after the girl towards the botanical garden of the underground city. Xin somewhat understood what was going on there and what''s the rtion between those two. All this time he was giggling inside and once they left Xin couldn''t contain himself and asked, "So she is Hiroshi senpai''s girlfriend?" "Pfft, hehehe," Aisen burst out and started tough. Seeing Aisenughing without any control, Xin too got caught up in it and joined him in hisughter. Afterughing to their heart''s content, Aisen gradually stopped and told Xin about Hiroshi''s girlfriend, Aka the receptionist. Her name was Takaki Chihiro, and she indeed was a real tsundere character. "Oh~~!!" Xin eximed and began to ask questions about those two. Aisen started to tell Xin about those two and at the same time was leading him to the upper floor where they needed his help. After some time of talking, Xin got the information that both of them started to date each other one year back, and entered into a rtionship some months ago. Aisen was gonna tell him some other interesting things about the couple when his phone began to ring and he excused himself from there. Before going, he showed the way to the Software Research and Development room to Xin and asked him to head inside without him. Xin nodded and went in the direction as instructed by Aisen. "So this one is the SRD room," Xin murmured and barged inside the room without knocking or asking for permission. Inside of the room was pitch dark, only someputers were on and a big monitor was hanged at a distance. Xin went inside and had a look at the various rows ofputers and desks. Not a single staff was there. It was weird as in a room asrge as that not a single one was present. After checking through some more rows, Xin went near the big screen and started to read the contents on it. Since it was a pain to read everything while standing, he sat on the chair nearby and continued his read of the contents. Fifteen minutester, Xin finished reading all the contents on the big screen and found out it was the outer framework program of Project SEDS. The two big blocks of the program that he had solved earlier, including the third block, were the core logic program. And the program before him was the outer framework project. Whenbined together it would create a seamless Operating System for the aircraft that''s gonna be used in Project Space Exploration Delta Spaceship. One more thing that he noticed was itsplexity and unnecessary coding lines. While writing aputer program it is advised to keep use of minimum lines and make it as simple as possible to avoid any type of errorter, but the program before him was filled withplex logics of multiple lines, that can be written in a single line or two, without increasing the length of the program. "Mhm. Line number 1052, if we change the X into !X and A+B into (++A+B) the program will run better." "Yes, but what about the extra cache generated in it?" "It won''t generate, I can vouch for it." Chapter 41: Quantum Protocol Super Computer System (QPSCS) Chapter 41: Quantum Protocol Super Computer System (QPSCS) "You sure kiddo?" "Yep, I am sure. Why don''t we check it out now?" With that, Xin dragged the office chair near the desk and started to modify the program as he was telling earlier. The whole program had six thousand lines, and Xin was trying to modify it as soon as possible. While he was doing his work, he suddenly felt thirsty and started to search for a water bottle with his left hand, while typing with his right hand. The person on his side sensed that Xin must have been feeling thirsty and handed him a cold coffee can. Xin thanked the person without seeing and kept on doing his work. Now that the feeling of thrist was gone, his hands were working faster than before. The person looking at his hand could faintly see the figure of his hand all over the keyboard. Observing from the speed anybody could estimate that his typing speed was definitely over 250 words per minute (WPM). Half an hourter, Xin stopped moving his hand and stood up from the chair to straighten his back. "Ahh. My back," Xin groaned and started to do some stretching exercises. Meanwhile, the other person took the keyboard and started to fiddle with the program modified by Xin. After doing some additional changes, she clicked on the Enter button and started the program. To her surprise, the programpiled sessfully and ran without any problem. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. Xin was drinking the remaining of the cold coffee when someone entered the room and turned on all the lights. Xin''s eyes got dazzled by the lights and he closed them to get adapted to his surroundings. Some secondster, he slowly opened his eyes and saw the figure before him. The figure who was talking with Xin and asking him questions sometimes earlier. A hot beauty with long slender legs and a busty figure. Apanied by her rectangr sses, she looked like the goddesses of sses. Xin''s heart skipped a bit, and he kept on staring at that figure. He had already realized that the figure was the head of the JSDF research division and the one who has invited him as an MVIP guest for some help. The above-written words are something that I wanted to narrate, but in reality the figure before him was not like that. Standing before him was a small figure of approx ny centimeters, wearing a blue frock with white dotted patterns. On top of the frock, she was wearing a bigb coat, half of which was already trailing on the ground. ck eyes, smallmouth, and beautiful bob cut brown hairs. This typical loli before him was known by the name Minohra Natsumi. And she was the head of the JSDF research division. Xin was totally speechless, and not a single word wasing out of his mouth. Even after trying his hard, not even a single sound came out of his mouth. "There you are, Mr. Xin. I forgot to tell you it''s almost lunchtime, and all of them are in the underground city cafeteria." "Oh~~!!" Xin replied while keeping his stare towards the small figure before him. Aisen switched on the rest of the lights and was going near the big-screened monitor when Xin couldn''t control his temptation and blurted out the thing that he wanted to say once in his life. "Aisen senpai, if you don''t mind, can you tell me who is the little kiddo, Is she lost, or her parents work here as staff?" Natsumi "" Aisen "" Because of her small figure, Natsumi was not visible from a distance, only a small part of her body was visible. But that part too was getting obstructed by the desks and chairs spread all over. Aisen suddenly stopped his march and froze at his ce at once. Hearing from the description that Xin was telling he could tell this small kiddo was none other than the Chief Minohara Natsumi, the multi-talented prodigy who had done master''s degree in various disciplines. Though she was a genius and her actual age was twenty-five for some reason her growth stopped at the age of nine years and since then she was revered as the Loli Prodigy behind her back. She had mastery over software, hardware, forensic, weapon designing, and many other fields that were beyond theprehension of normal students. At the age of twenty, afterpleting her graduation, she was recruited as a trainee for the JSDF research division. But just within two years at the age of twenty-two, she showed her versatile skills in different divisions and got the position of the vice head in the JSDF research division. One year after that, at the age of twenty-three, she designed the Quantum Protocol Super Computer System (QPSCS) a device or more like a remote control pair through which humans can send their spacecraft and satellites to different dimensions and see the video and images recorded over there. This achievement of her gave her the biggest promotion of her life, making her the head of the JSDF research division, at a young age of twenty-three years old. Now that Aisen knew Xin was asking about Natsumi, their Chief, he called Xin near and told him small things that he shouldn''t mention before her. "Xin, I will tell you this thing only once. So hear it carefully and fix it in your mind. If you see that little kiddo with bubble print frock and a long over-sizedb coat, don''t mention words like small, kid, kiddo, loli, before her." "Oh~~!!" Xin eximed and asked why he shouldn''t. Aisen lowered his voice and replied, "That lil kiddo is the head of our JSDF research division, Minohara Natsumi." "I see, and what should I do if I by mistake blurted out those words before her?" Aisen became silent for a moment. He looked here and there to check the presence of any third person then whispered in Xin''s ears, "Bribe some sweet things to her. Most preferable is chocte since they are easy to carry in your pockets. But other sweet dishes and desserts also work." "I see so that''s how it works around here?" "Yes, even though she is twenty-five, she gets tamed whenever we show her some choctes." "Oh, then do you have some, for now?" Aisen checked his pocket and replied a no. He didn''t have any choctes on him at that time. Chapter 42: Beginning of the conference Chapter 42: Beginning of the conference "Why are you asking, though? I don''t think she is here. Even if she is here, the desks and table will hide her small fig." Aisen stopped at that and realised the Loli Prodigy, Natsumi was somewhere there. And her small figure was small enough that she was getting covered by the desks and chairs. Xin smirked and didn''t reply. Aisen''s mind was in chaos and it was running like horses to get a way out of there, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t think of an escape n. Suddenly a sound came from behind, Aisen got startled out of his wits. It was the voice of his Chief and the Loli Prodigy of the JSDF research division. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked in a sweet voice. People of her age shouldn''t sound sweet and should have a mix of heavy and shrill voice. But her body growth had stopped for some reason, and so was the case with her voice box. Aisen froze at his ce and didn''t dare to utter a single word. Seeing Aisen was in no condition to speak, Xin replied in his stead and said that they were talking about her and her achievements over the years. She was a fairy sent from heaven. She was like a gift for mankind. Hearing Xin''s praise, the small girl started to blush. Aisen was dumbfounded again when he saw his chief reacting to such low-level praise and flirts. For a second he had the thought of using it on the Chief, but he avoided doing it as the consequences may not be as good as Xin. So instead of praising Natsumi, he went near Xin and started to whisper praise near his ears. "Brother Xin, you are great. Till today no one was able to tame that Loli Tyrant like this. You are the first one to do that. You have my respect." Xin "" "And please, let me call you my big brother. Even though I am older, you have all the qualifications to be my big brother." "Okay." Xin agreed hesitantly and allowed him to call him big bro from thereon. Meanwhile, Natsumi was looking at them and was trying to hear what they were whispering to each other. But due to her extremely short height, she was unable to do so. At one point she really got pissed and shouted out at those two, "Mo!! You two, keeping all the talks to yourself. Why don''t you share some with me?! Hmph!! I won''t talk with you anymore." Xin "" Aisen "" Somehow Xin was getting the feeling either the female staff in the underground city were tsunderes or the first magical wave must have affected them somehow. While he was pondering about it another voice resounded in the room, dragging Xin out of his contemtion again. This time the owner of this sound was Yamamoto, and behind him was the huge crowd of the technical division who wanted to have a look at their first ever MVIP level guest. "Ahem, Miss Natsumi, if you are done with him, can I take him for an introduction?" "Sure, sure. You can. I am done for now." "Thanks." Yamamoto took Xin to the auditorium of the underground city and arranged a big conference for the purpose of introducing Xin and his achievements to others. Half an hourter, the auditorium was filled with JSDF research division staff, and the majority of them belonged to the technical division. Some were sitting on the chairs, while the others were standing and had their focus set on the rostrum. The room was dark, and all the lights were focused on the tform. Some had already gotten the news that their MVIP level guest had arrived, while the others were pondering about the purpose of gathering them there. Suddenly, the lights focusing on the stage were turned off. The gossip in the auditorium stopped. Everyone was expecting to see the guest now. sh!! All the lights in the room were turned on, and the figure of their guest became visible. Many of them were dazed by the light, and it took them some time to get adopted to the surrounding. When their eyes recovered, and the figure became visible, they becamepletely shocked. Not a single one was making noise there. Suddenly, amongst the crowd, one of the members started to p. Looking at him, another person near him began pping. Following those two, some others started to p, and like that the chain of pping spread throughout the auditorium. It was a way of the army, to show respect to their guests and seniors. Xin knew very well about it, and he nodded his head in response to their ps and wishes. After some minutes, when the ps stopped, Yamamoto took the mic and handed it over to JSDF''s research head Natsumi. While giving her the mic, Yamamoto showed her a grin, and in return, Natsumi grinned back with an eye blink. Aisen and Hiroki observed this action of those two and started to doubt the purpose of that conference. All the members invited there had little to no knowledge about the purpose of the conference. People like Aisen, Hiroki, and Chihiro were of the idea that Natsumi gonna introduce Xin as the MVIP level guest to everyone and thereafter organise a seminar with Xin as the head speaker. While some others were of the idea that their Chief gonna introduce the guests to them, and make a new team that would make contributions in the top-secret, ssified works of Project SEDS. Suspense, anticipation, expectation, and excitement had engulfed the auditorium. Some were even finding it hard to suppress those emotions. Amidst the utter silence, a sound reverberated in the entire hall. "Ahem, mic testing 1, 2, 3. Mic testing 1, 2, 3." Everyone was paying close attention to the speaker now. The owner of this sweet voice was none other than their Chief, and the Loli Prodigy of the JSDF research division. Chapter 43: Message Notification Chapter 43: Message Notification "As you all know, our specially invited MVIP guest has safely arrived at the HQ. And now I am going to announce something that we decided half an hour ago." The surprise of the conference was about to reveal everyone''s heart was beating faster. In the entire room, only two people knew about the surprise. One was JSDF''s Head Yamamoto, and the other was JSDF''s research division head Natsumi. Both of them had a grin on their faces, and both of them were feeling very happy from the inside. Without doing any further dy, Natsumi spilled the bins and announced the surprise that she had been keeping for a while. "From today onwards Mr. Xin will be the vice head of the entire JSDF''s research division." She fired it out in one breath. And was waiting for the others to show their reaction. This news was something that caught everyone off guard, present there. Even Xin himself was not sure how in the world and what in the world happened that he became the JSDF''s research division vice head. No one, literally no one, was making a sound in the auditorium. Other members, including Aisen and Hiroki, were thinking they would either release the list of members for Project SEDS but the reality was something that waspletely unexpected by them. Xin was the one who recovered from it first and went near Yamamoto for asking what''s going on there, and how they could make him the vice head without his consent. He was about to start when Yamamoto turned around and asked him to check his smartphone. Xin was bewildered and was thinking ''Why in the world he is asking me to check my smartphone.'' Knowing Yamamoto from his past life, he knew his character and was well aware that he was not someone who would joke around in such a situation. Xin took out his phone and checked it thoroughly. Nothing was new there. Everything was the same, the same wallpaper, the same apps, and the same mobile settings, ''Then why did he ask me to check my mobile phone?'' Xin pondered. He was keeping it back in his pant pocket when a notification popped up in his mobile, informing him that he received a text message from a number. Xin clicked on the notification and opened the text message. It was a message from his dad, along with the message a link was attached there. He clicked on it and opened the website that was given in the link. The loading of the page was pretty slow, and Xin was havingwork issues as he was many levels under the ground. Yamamoto observed the trouble that Xin was facing and offered him some help by connecting his smartphone to the JSDF high-speed Wi-Fi connection. Xin thanked him with some hesitation and went away to a distance to have a look at the content of that website. Meanwhile, on the stage, Natsumi was waiting for the others to say something, and the others were waiting for Natsumi to say something. One was waiting to see the dumbfounded expression, and the others were waiting for someone to reveal some more information. Amongst the audience present, many of them had been working there for years and were dreaming of bing the vice head of the JSDF''s research division one day. But the titanic of their dreams sank in the deep sea when a young-looking kiddo entered the JSDF HQ and was announced as their new vice head. After spending some time in a daze one of the senior software developers stood up and asked out one of the questions that many other aspirants wanted Natsumi to answer. "Miss Natsumi, can we know about the educational qualification of our new vice head? I know, he must have more than enough qualifications than any one of us present here, since he has been chosen by you. Even then I want to know something about him." "Oh, educational qualification?! Mister Yamamoto will tell you about him. I haven''t read the entire file on him." With that, Natsumi handed over the mic to Yamamoto and went to the background. Seeing the JSDF head was the speaker now everyone was paying close attention to him. And for the one who had asked, he was already trembling in fear. It was fine as long as Natsumi was the speaker, though she had characteristics of a tsundere she was not as unreasonable as Yamamoto, who can suspend someone for simple reasons. "Yes, so who was it again, asking about Mr. Xin''s educational qualification?" Hearing this, all the heads turned towards the person who had asked question sometimes ago. Yamamoto gazed directly into his eyes and replied to his answer with a reply, "Last year of high school." "" "" "" The answer was short and simple, nothing big orplex. But it was hard for everyone to digest and process that information. Some were even doubting their ears on what they heard a second ago. MVIP level guest, the new head of the JSDF research division, was a high school kiddo. Not even a graduate or a university student. The person who asked the first question wanted to ask some more questions, but seeing Yamamoto was in charge of the mic and the current speaker, he didn''t dare to do so, and simply sat down after thanking him. The auditorium became silent again, and Xin was nowhere to be found. After opening the link on the message, he rushed out of the auditorium and started to talk with his parents. Natsumi knew what was going on there and had a grasp of the situation. When she saw Aisen and Hiroshi following Xin, she asked them to stop and let him have some time alone. Sometimes earlier a victory smile was visible on Xin''s face, but after reading the contents of the website his smile faded and his expression darkened. Since Aisen and Hiroshi were the ones standing closer to Xin, they observed the change in his facial expression and became somewhat worried for Xin. Chapter 44: Former Employees?! Chapter 44: Former Employees?! While Xin was out talking with his parents, Yamamoto was rifying the doubts of the audience seated in the auditorium. In the beginning, everyone was hesitant to ask questions to the topmost authority and the most unreasonable person of the JSDF HQ. But after observing he was in a good mood and wasn''t bing unreasonable as he used to be in the past, everyone started to ask him questions about their MVIP level guest, Xin. Starting from his qualifications, to age, experience, contributions, achievements, they dug out everything about Xin. Only one thing was there that none of them had dared to ask, and that was his family background. Though some were skeptical about making an eighteen old kid their vice head but after hearing his contributions of solving two blocks of Project SEDS, and that too within half an hour all of them calmed down and started to believe that he must be one of the young prodigies of that era. And asking about parent''s upation and family background could be considered as an insult and mockery to a respectable prodigy like Xin. They were afraid of what if Xin''s parents belonged to a small family or had some ordinary upation.. And after knowing what if someone tries to ridicule him for his small background. The auditorium became silent again, the barrage of questions had already stopped. Yamamoto was looking around expecting some more questions, but to his dismay, no one was questioning anymore. He was expecting someone to ask him about Xin and his family background. He wanted to give them a big shock and a face pping situation, but then again, everyone was afraid of Yamamoto and no one had enough courage to fire out that question before him. Seeing no one was asking about it, Yamamoto himself started the topic and raised the curiosity of the audience present there. He was perfectly ying with the audience and kept on tampering with their curiosity. He started the topic by saying, "By the way, any guesses about Xin''s background?" This one question piqued the interest of the silent masses, and everyone started to gossip about it. They had been restraining themselves from discussing such a topic in fear, but now that Yamamoto gave them a signal, they jumped over the restrictions and started to discuss it. Seeing everyone''s curiosity was increasing, Yamamoto added some fire to it. "Silence!! Looks like none of you can guess. Let me answer the question." He stopped his speech in the middle and let the audience''s curiosity rise again. Watching the scene of Yamamoto ying with her staff, Natsumi thought of learning this art of torturing from him, someday. While she was pondering about it, Xin returned and stood beside her. "Done talking?" she asked in her sweet childish voice. "Yep, done. What''s Mr. Yamamoto doing, by the way?" "Torturing us." Replied Aisen. "Huh?!" "From thest ten minutes, he had been ying with us and tampering with our curiosity about your family background." "Oh~~!!" Hearing the voice behind him, Yamamoto realized that Xin had returned. He called him to the front and asked him to reply to the audience''s questions. Xin confidently took over the mic and started to look around the audience sitting before him. After scanning through the area, Xin broke the silence of the auditorium and started to answer everyone''s question. "So let me tell you who are really curious about me, I am not from a very big prominent family. I belong to an average middle-ss family." Hearing Xin''s reply, some were feeling ashamed to ask questions like that to a prodigy. While the others were searching for a chance to ask him about his family upation. Xin was standing silently on the stage, waiting for someone to ask any other question, when one of the people from the first row stood up and asked out the question which had been wanted by many. After firing out the question, the person in his mid-thirties sat down and was observing Xin''s reaction and demeanor. Some people may not feelfortable answering such questions and may get enraged. But here the situation was a little bit different. Xin was forcing a smile on his face and showing it to therge audience seated before him. Some were thinking that Xin was feeling ufortable and was not in a mood to answer the question. The person who asked the question realized he shouldn''t have asked such a question to a kid like him, and that too before arge audience as big as that. He was going to say something and change the topic when Xin switched on the mic again and started to answer his question. As the saying goes, ''curiosity killed the cat''. It''s one of the old idioms that has been in use for a long time now. But this time in ordance with the situations the idiom changed a little and became ''curiosity ughtered the cats.'' Here the cats were therge audience filling every corner of the auditorium, and the thing that killed them was the answer given by Xin. "Well, my father is a former employee of a tradingpany, and my mom is a former employee of a Cyber Crime department, in a small branch." Now that their questions had been answered, everyone reached the conclusion that Xin was from a middle-ss family and one of the youngest coding prodigies. The JSDF must have offered him a big sry package to recruit him for the research division, and after seeing his work he must have been promoted to the position of vice head of the research division. Meanwhile Yamamoto, he was trying his hardest to control hisughter, and not tough like a crazy old man before the audience seated before him. Last time too Xin answered him, Nen, and Ryuu in the same pattern. That his father was an employee of a small tradingpany and his mom was an employee in the Cyber Crime division. Later only they did find out that his parents were at the topmostyer of the chain and not some middle-ss employee as described by Xin. This time a small difference was there, and that was the word ''former''. Xin was using the word ''former'', before the upation of his parents. Everyone was confused on why he was adding the term former and what were their current upations? Some were of the idea that his parents must have left the jobs after Xin got a big sry package, while the others were thinking that the army must have offered them some better high-level jobs. None of them had expected it was a lie and all of them were busy deriving out their own conclusions. Seeing the research division''s staff and their discussions Yamamoto couldn''t stop hisughter any further and all of a sudden began tough. "Whahahaha, whahahah, ahahahah. Mr. Xin, you are trying to fool them like me. Hahaha, ahahaha." Though Xin was standing at a distance from Yamamoto, his mic was on at that time. Everyone heard theughter of JSDF Head and his statement that he made on top of the stage. ''What did he mean by, you are trying to fool them like me? '' was the question going on in everyone''s mind at that time. Chapter 45: One more condition Chapter 45: One more condition "But Mr. Yamamoto," Xin called out with concern. "Don''t worry, Mr. Xin, they are all trusted members working under Miss Natsumi. In addition, there won''t be any harm if they know about your parents'' former jobs. Their new jobs will be made public soon, with their former jobs and other backgrounds." "Okay, okay. Understood," Xin agreed and turned towards therge audience again. The time had finallye when their curiosity would be fulfilled by their MVIP level guest, Mr. Xin. "So, as you heard now, their new jobs will be made public soon. And for now, I can only tell about their former jobs, is it good enough?" Without even taking a second, the masses agreed and asked him to reveal the job of his parents. They were getting impatient at this point. They no longer wanted to stay in the dark. "Okay, since you all agreed, let me tell you. My father was the former head of the WTO Asian Branch. And his name is Satoshi Abeno." This was the first wave of the attack, and the result, more than half of the masses were stunned. Completely brain dead. They were expecting it to be something at the national level or local level, but the reality came out to be something different and his father was an international figure. Now that knew about his father, they were more curious to know about his mother. If the father was a WTO head, then they could expect the mother to be a CEO or assistant of any MNC (Multi-National Company) at least. Xin didn''t give them much time to recover and fired the second arrow. "And for my mom, her name is Honsei Tachibana, and she was the Cyber Crime Head in the Asian branch of INTERPOL." Aisen "" Hiroshi "" Chihiro "" Rest of the masses "" Dumbfounded again, curiosity kills the cat, evolved in that situation, and became curiosity ughtered the cats. Mom and dad, both his parents, were international figures. Xin just needed to raise his one finger and half of the world woulde under his feet for his help. Money wasn''t a problem for a person like him. It was well known to everyone present there that the sry of a WTO head was somewhat equal to half of the GDP of a medium-sized country. Forget about the sry of his mom. Seeing the auditorium was developing an awkward atmosphere and the members present over there were having a hard time digesting the information, Natsumi went near Xin and asked him to hand over the mic to her. "That''s it for today, end of the conference." She put an end to the conference and asked them to disperse from the auditorium. Everyone was shocked enough, enough that they weren''t asking any questions or doing any discussions after knowing about his family background. The afternoon passed like that, and Xin spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the underground city with Aisen and Hiroshi. The day came to an end, and it was already the nighttime. While Xin was goofing around Natsumi and some of the senior developers were analyzing the codes written by Xin. ording to their opinions, the program was way much better and superior to the program that they were nning to develop. Not only that, but it also uses the simplest of the simplest logic to solve the problems thate in the way ofpiling and executing the program. After going through the program again and again, all of them reached the decision that Xin will be given the vice head position in the development of Project SEDS. Natsumi would be the leader, and Xin would be second to her in the rankings. After goofing around and having fun around the underground city, Xin was summoned to a conference room and they gave him all the confidential documents about Project SEDS. Natsumi exined to him about his work, the working hours, and many other stuffs that he was curious to know about. For Xin, it was a well-arranged and carefully nned work schedule. He was allowed to work from home or school and needed to visit the JSDF HQ once or twice every month. The JSDF would be responsible to arrange his transportation and safety while traveling between both the ces. What''s more, his sry was not based on a fixed monthly or yearly rate. He would earn money from the amount of contribution he had made in different projects. This was one of the incentives that Xin liked the most. If they were to give him a fixed monthly or yearly package of sry, he would have to work for a fixed duration of hours like a corporate ve. But with this new system he could choose how much amount he wants to do and the amount of fee he wanted to get as his pay. They had also asked him to be the consultant of the technical department and had promised him to pay suitable remuneration as per his service and advice. Xin ran an eye through the contract and read all the terms, conditions and uses written over there. After giving it a quick read, Xin gently tossed the contract on the table and asked Natsumi to add one more use in it. "One more term?!" She eximed with curiosity. As much as she knows the contract was tailored made for Xin and all the terms and conditions were in his favour. ''Then what else does he want to be added in it?'' "Yes, one more condition. I need the authority to mobilize the JSDF troops at will, for valid regions at different times." Natsumi''s jaws hit the ground when she heard the condition that Xin was asking to be added in his work contract. He was basically asking one of the privileges that had been given to very few higher-ups of the JSDF HQ. Including Natsumi and Yamamoto, three other peoples had this type of power, and Xin wanted to be the sixth one to hold this kind of power. She made a note in her mind that Xin wasn''t any ordinary high schooler who could be lured in by showing name, fame, and money. Chapter 46: System Warning!! [Hibernating the system] Chapter 46: System Warning!! [Hibernating the system] The conference room became silent again, all the higher-ups present in the room were pushed into contemtion. Xin was only a high schooler. ''What would he do with the power to mobilize the JSDF troops, at will?'' was the question in everyone''s mind. Some were staring at the table while the others were staring at Yamamoto. He was sitting at a distance from Xin thinking about whether to agree on his demand or not. Seeing Yamamoto was taking his time to decide over the matter, Xin asked them to decide it as soon as possible and not to waste any of his time. The demeanour shown by Xin was something that he had learned from his dad on earth, during important business deals. Xin was ast year high schooler in everyone''s eyes, but for Yamamoto, he was a cunning businessman, who knows how to get the most out of something. With a deep sigh, Yamamoto stood up and said, "Mr. Xin, nice to have you on board." "The pleasure is mine," Xin replied with a smile and went near Yamamoto to shake hands. Xin was one of the most precious talents of the country, and losing him would have been a huge loss for them, so after pondering over this topic for a while Yamamoto agreed to the demand proposed by Xin. He added an extra use in the contract which gave Xin the power to mobilize the JSDF''s troops at will. But that was not the only thing mentioned there. For extra precautions, Yamamoto had added some extra terms and conditions on the uses of his power. Like he can''t misuse it, he can''t use it to bully innocent civilians. He can''t use it to go against his own country or lead a civil war. Xin read the newly printed contract once again and signed up the contract, in which Xin was the Party B (Employee), Natsumi was the party A (Employer) and Yamamoto was the Party C (Witness). After signing the contract, Natsumi took Xin and showed him the quarter allotted to him as a member and the vice head of the JSDF research division. It was a 3 BHK quarter with furniture and supplied water connection. Excluding a bed and a dining table set, not much furniture was there. Xin was bewildered as he couldn''t understand why they were allotting him a quarter in the JSDF HQ. ording to the contract he can work from home or school then what''s the use of a quarter for him. Natsumi got the hint from his puzzled expression and exined to him the reason for allotting him a quarter. ording to her, the research division may summon him on weekends, public holidays, or vacations. It would be inconvenient for him if he doesn''t have a house of his own. Xin understood it was one of the additional perks and dly epted the key from Natsumi. Since the day wasing to an end, Xin decided to stay in his new quarter and spend some time there. Slowly the night came to an end and a new day started at the HQ. The day before, Xin invited Aisen and Hiroshi to his new quarters and had a barbeque party with them, along with beers. In the JSDF only high-ranking officers were allowed to ess bears from the cafeteria, and that too twice in a month. The same was applicable for Xin too, but there was a catch. Xin was not someone from the JSDF HQ, his permanent den was his home (Outside of JSDF Campus) where he could buy as many as he wanted. He redeemed his two chances to buy beer and bought a big set of 30 beers to go along with his barbecue party. On the surface, the asion of the party was to celebrate for bing the vice head, but the main motive behind it was something else. He wanted to befriend Aisen and Hiroshi and make them his trustworthypanions. The Xin of the magical world was someone who couldn''t judge people and as a result, used to get deceived by them. But the Xin of the earth who was a business tycoon along with a programming prodigy could easily read through the minds of the people, determining their characters. Since the cadet used to crave good food and alcohol, Xin called both of them and had a party with them to strengthen their rtion with them. The next day Xin woke up early in the morning and was drinking some water to sober up when the system window popped up in his mind. First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine Time Remain: 4/7 Days Fruits Collected: 0 Punishment: Losing a part of your memory Reward: ??? "Sigh. Daisy, can''t you stop showing me this progress window every morning? I have a sharp memory, I can remember my progress pretty well." "Can''t do master. Currently, you don''t have ess to the administration window." Daisy replied in a very sweet voice, devoid of any emotions. Xin was thinking the conversation wasing to an end since the system usually talks from her side, but this time something unexpected happened and Daisy started a topic from her side. "Master, why don''t you start collecting the fruits? ording to my calctions, it will take you six to seven days just to collect a thousand fruits on your own." Xin smirked at her question and questioned her back, instead of answering her question. "Then if you know it would take me an entire week just to collect a thousand fruits, then why didn''t you give me a month or two forpleting the mission?" Daisy "" She didn''t have a reply to the question. Xin was gonna add something else when another window popped up in his mind with a notification that the system was going into hibernation mode. System warning!! System Warning!! Cause: Low level of magiculus particle on earth Immediate Solution: Hibernating the system Xin "" He wanted to tease the system for a while, but before he did, the system went into hibernation mode and ruined his chance to have some fun with her. Chapter 47: Audio Broadcast Chapter 47: Audio Broadcast After taking a quick shower in his newly allotted quarter, Xin woke up the other two and asked them to freshen themselves in his bathroom. Aisen and Hiroshi took on the offer and took showers in his quarter. While they were busy in the bathroom, Xin was taking his time and was cleaning the bedroom. The night before he had a st with the other two, and as a result beer cans were spread all over his room. Xin picked up all the cans, cleaned his room, and put all the trash in the gigantic dustbin outside of his quarter. Morning time~~ 10:30 Am~ After having his breakfast at the cafeteria, Xin bid farewell to his tworades and headed directly towards Yamamoto''s cabin. The cabin was located at a faraway distance from the main building and was as big as a mansion. Xin was amazed by the design of the exterior and went inside the building to have a talk with him. Yamamoto was talking about something with Nen and Ryuu, at the same time having a watch on all the CCTV cameras. When he observed Xin was marching towards his cabin inside of the building, he stopped his talk with the Nen and Ryuu and pointed his finger towards the monitor. Nen knitted his eyebrows as he was confused about what he wanted to convey. But Ryuu understood his gesture within a second and turned around in a hurry to have a look at the monitors behind him. "Speak of the devil," Ryuumented. Yamamoto, "And the devil is here!!" Nen understood what they were talking about and waited for their devil to enter the cabin. Some minutes ago Yamamoto was weing Ryuu to the JSDF HQ and was telling them about Xin''s contract uses. While they were signing the contract, Nen was taking a seminar on the surface. So he was pretty much clueless about Xin''s additional conditions. For Ryuu, he was invited to JSDF HQ on Xin''s request the day before. They didn''t know his intention of calling him there, but since it was a request from the vice head of the research department, they did it without asking any questions. Sir, can Ie in?" Xin asked politely. "Yes Mr.Xin, pleasee in." "Thanks, sir." With that, he entered the cabin and had a meeting with Yamamoto and the others. After greeting the three of them, he sat on the sofa near the mahogany table and asked the other three toe there. "So, Mr. Xin, can you tell us the reason why you called me here?" Ryuu raised his voice of concern. As much as he knew, Xin was way much knowledgeable and talented than him and Nen. He couldn''t think of any reason for why he was summoned there. "Mhm. I aming to that point, but before that, I have a little talk with Mr. Yamamoto." "Cough, cough. Yes, please tell, I am all ears." Replied the JSDF head Yamamoto Satoru, who was busy fiddling with his smartphone sometimes ago. Xin nodded and told him the reason for his visit. He wanted to mobilize a small part of the JSDF troupe for doing some chores for him. Hearing Xin''s statement, Yamamoto choked on his coffee and stared at Xin in disbelief. When he heard the word ''chores'' he was thinking of works like cleaning his quarter or doing some grocery shopping for him. Not only him, the other two also had funny ideas about his statement. Seeing the dumbfounded faces of the three Xin thought his statement was not clear enough and made them understand what he meant by some chores. "So you just want to mobilize a small group and want them to collect some of those weird fruits for you?" Yamamoto asked in a puzzled voice. He had no idea what would Xin do with those wild fruits that started to grow after the first magical wave hit the earth. Not even the international scientists were sure about those fruits. They only knew that those fruits were not poisonous, excluding that they had no information about those fruits and their uses. "Yes," Xin replied in a serious tone and added that he wanted at least ten thousand of those fruits. Once again, the three of them were dumbfounded when they heard the number of fruits. For Yamamoto, he was pretty curious about their uses and what Xin would do with them. He was about to fire out his question when Xin asked them not to ask him any further questions about it. "You will know about it when the timees." He made them shut with a single line. The three of them became disappointed and stared at the Red Pine fruit that Xin had kept on the table as a reference. From the outside, it looked reddish-brown in color and was covered in a hard shell. The inside of the fruit was white and had a strange odor around it. No one was brave enough to taste the fruit and tell the others about its benefits. All they were capable of was doing research upon research on it. "Okay, you can mobilize the JSDF for your chores. But this time let me do this." Xin nodded and let him do as he wished. He wasn''t sure what Yamamoto meant by that, but he was sure of one thing that with the interference of JSDF Head Yamamoto his work would bepleted before time and that too in a highly efficient way. After discussing some other matters, YamamotAo finally stood up and went near his table to do a small broadcast. The entire JSDF HQ was under the surveince of CCTV cameras, and near each CCTV camera, a small speaker was fitted to facilitate a smooth audio broadcast. "Ahem, Hello 1, 2, 3. Mic testing." Hearing the sounding from the speakers, the entire JSDF HQ stopped working. All of them were paying attention to the broadcast now. Chapter 48: Beer redemption scheme Chapter 48: Beer redemption scheme "All troops of JSDF HQ. I repeat again, all troops of JSDF HQ Special troops included, there is a special mission that I ammissioning this time. I repeat again, I am COMMISSIONING A SPECIAL MISSION." Hearing the broadcast, everyone''s eyes widened. ''What could be the mission that he was even trying to mobilize the Special troops?'' was the question in their mind. The JSDF Special Troops, a groupposed of all the elite members who have shown outstanding performance during their service period. Age wasn''t an eligibility for getting added to this troops. Even a trainee or an undergraduate cadet can join this group as long as he/she has something that makes them different and special from the others. "I want everyone to cross the area X20 and collect a special type of fruit for me. The fruit looks like a groundnut and reddish-brown in color. I will post an image soon, for reference." Everyone was confused on why he was asking them to collect those wild fruits that grew out of nowhere. After the first magical wave hit the earth, the entire JSDF campus was severely affected by it. Wild nts and trees started to grow everywhere around the HQ, affecting the transportation of cadets and other vehicles. After discussing the matter with other higher officials, Yamamoto decided to make a special team for uprooting all the wild nts within a radius of five-kilometer around the JSDF HQ building. For the area beyond that, they decided to name it Area X20 and restrict everyone''s ess to it. Only the research division was allowed to ess beyond that area. When he heard Xin''s request of collecting those fruits, he came up with the idea to mobilise the entire JSDF and collect as much as he wants. After telling everyone about their mission, he also added an incentive that hundred red pine fruits can be exchanged for a bottle of beer. In addition, there wasn''t any restriction on how many bottles anyone could get using that method. Some seconds ago after making the broadcast he was gonna switch off all the equipment connected to hisputer. But Xin asked him to stop and sent him a message writing the incentive of beer redemption. Yamamoto''s n was good, but there was one major w in it and that was theck of a perfect bet. Having experience from his previous life as a programmer and entrepreneur, he knew well that the cadets won''t work efficiently till they don''t throw a bet for them. The beer redemption scheme worked as the perfect bet for them, and Xin was the one who was carrying all the costs of beer that was about to be distributed. Earlier very few cadets were showing interest and were eager to participate in the mission, but when they heard about the beer redemption scheme, everyone became excited and started to think of ways to collect more fruits than the others. Some of them were excited enough that they were already leaving their work and were heading towards the entry gate of area X20. Beer, whiskey, wine, and other alcoholic contents were strictly controlled in the JSDF HQ and very few of them had ess to them. This fruit collecting mission was something that could give them a stock of beers for an entire month or two. The ordinary staff and cadets were thinking of collecting 500-1000 fruits each so that they can stock up beer for the next uing months. On the other hand, the special troops members were nning to collect 2000-3000 fruits each so that they could get a big reserve of beer bottles for them. Unknown to all these intentions brewing on in their minds, Xin was of the idea that he would get at least 5000-6000 fruits for sure. For the rest, he was thinking of hiring someone and make them collect the fruits for him. Now that the work of fruit collection was dealt with, Ryuu got impatient and asked Xin the reason for summoning him there. Deep inside he had a fear that Xin had called him there to bully him using the power of his research division vice head position. But that wasn''t the case in reality. "Oh yes, I almost forgot about you. I have called you here to work with me as my temporary assistants." "Temporary assistants?!" Nen blurted out. "Yep, temporary assistants. And I need the help of you two toplete a part of this project." Ryuu pondered over his statement for a while, then asked, "What type of help?" "I want you two to make a new IDE software for me. The one I am using right now iscking some majorponents and features for Projects SEDS. I will give you the source code of my current one and you will try to add all the features that are necessary for the uing projects." Now usually Nen and Ryuu, both of them would have started to negotiate the price if it were any other client, but this time the client was the vice head of the JSDF research division. Asking him about remuneration was a shameful and embarrassing act that they want to avoid at any cost. More than that, they were willing to do it for free and establish a good rtionship with him. Xin had already thought of a good way topensate them, and that was by making them his permanent assistants in future. On a first thought, it may not sound like nothing special but if they became his assistant, not only would they be able to earn big, they would also be able to get all the knowledge and experience that he had acquired in his previous life. After having a brief discussion with the other two, Xin gave the source code in a pen drive and asked them to start the project as soon as possible. Both of them agreed in unison and left the room to start their work. Xin also left the cabin after thanking Yamamoto for his help and marched towards the underground city where he was allotted a specially designed cabin of his own. Chapter 49: [System upgrade complete] Chapter 49: [System upgradeplete] A big room of 770 sq feet. Thates with the most advanced and top-notchputers, monitors and processors of the country. In the middle of the room was a mahogany table with sofasid on both sides. Xin looked around his cabin and gave out a smirk with satisfaction. From a normal high school student to vice head of the research division, it took him less than seven days to achieve that position, in this life. In his previous life, in the world of magic, he joined the research division after he became disabled and was forced to resign from thebat division. It took him six and half years after that to be the vice head of the research division, but that too also for a short duration of eight months. After that, he was fired from his job on suspicion of selling information to other countries. ****** Area X20, before the entrance of the gate~~ Thousands of cadets were assembled to take part in the missionmissioned by Yamamoto. Since the HQ had over fifty thousand members and allowing all of them in at the same time was pretty much impossible, the management issued some rules on the fruit collection mission. Rule 1. All those who want to participate would be divided into groups of nine hundred members. Rule 2. Each group will be allowed to go in once and collect as much as they can within a time limit of two hours. Rule 3. Once theye out, they aren''t allowed to go again. Following the rules issued by the management, the cadets, elite members, and the other officials started to make groups of nine hundred. The mission started at 1 PM in the noon and kept continued for the next few days. The first group that went inside brought 7000 fruits in total, the second one brought 4000, the third one brought 6000. Unaware of the fact that he had already surpassed his quota, Xin was spending thest few days in his cabin trying toplete the Project SEDS all on his own. Thanks to the programming knowledge of his previous life and the memories of Xin from the magical world, he didn''t face any problem andpleted the program in the next three days. ****** Night of the seventh day~~ Thest day of fruit collection, Xin was sleeping soundly on his working desk, afterpleting his work and submitting it all to Yamamoto. At the end of the first day, he was informed that they had already collected over 10000 fruits, as per the request made by him, and they will store them all in a safe ce for him. At that time, Xin thanked them for his hard work and asked them to collect some more for him. The system had given him the quota of 10000 fruits but he asked them for some more as he was worried about the quality of the fruits. It''smon knowledge that if you pluck a hundred fruits from a tree, then at least ten or twenty of them would be of poor quality. So to counter that problem, he had asked them to collect some more. The management misunderstood his words and kept on collecting fruits for the next few days. No one alsoined since they were getting a chance to get free beers for plucking and collecting some fruits. The seventh day and thest day of fruit collection mission came to an end when the clock struck 00:00 and many notifications began to pop up in his mind. Xin was sound asleep and had no idea what was happening around him. Next day~~ 10:00 AM. Xinzily woke up from his table and started to rub his eyes. From thest few days, his screen time was over twenty hours per day. His eyes were burning as if someone had thrown chili kes into them. "Gahhh" Xin groaned in pain. System notification!! [1] System notification!! [2] System notification!! [3] System notification!! [4] System notification!! [5] System notification!! [6] System notification!! [7] System notification... Seeing that many notifications were popping up in his mind, Xin closed the system window and went back to his quarters for a quick shower. He hadn''t taken a bath in thest few days and was feeling quite dizzy because of it. After refreshing up his body and mind, Xin sat on his bed to open the notification windows from earlier. "Daisy, you here?" "Yes, master, I am here." "Good, open all the notification." "Affirmative," Daisy replied and opened the first notification that popped up at 00:01 midnight. First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine Time Remain: 7/7 Days Fruits Collected: 76789 Xin "" He had no idea how in the world JSDF collected that many fruits in thest few days. All he knew was that they had collected fruit over 10000, he wasn''t expecting it as much as 76789. Xin cleared up his unnecessary thoughts and asked Daisy to open the rest of the notification at once. "Affirmative, opening all the notifications at once." Second Wave has hit the earth!! Second Wave has hit the earth!! [System upgradeplete] [System upgradeplete] [Update package Purple Phoenix in use] [First Mission: Collect 10000 Red Pine (Completed)] [Generating Reward.] [Reward Generated!!] [Second Mission Generated!!] [Second Mission Generated!!] Xin "" Half of the things written there were going over his head. He was able to understand everything till the reward notification of the dimensional storage, but after that, he was having a hard time understanding the rest of the terms mentioned in the system windows. "Daisy, what''s the meaning of those terms below the reward notification of the Dimensional Storage." [Creating a system manual..] [Creationplete!!] This time arge window popped in his mind exining all the terms that he wanted to know earlier. _________________________________ Reward: A type of remuneration forpleting the mission. Bonus Reward: A type of remuneration for showing extra effort in a mission. Bonus gift: A type of remuneration sent by an ascended saviour. Extra Bonus gift: A type of remuneration sent by an ascended saviour for showing extra effort in a mission. Extra Bonus Reward: A type of remuneration generated by the system onpleting a mission. System Points (SP): Can be exchanged to buy useful things from the system. Book of Devourer: A book containing the skill of devouring. _________________________________ Chapter 50: Vessel Construction Chapter 50: Vessel Construction ''Damn!! Feels like I am going to be an OP character soon.'' While he was processing the System Manual information, a new window popped up before him, containing the information about his second mission. [Mission Name: Magic Vessel Construction] [Progress: 0%] [Time Limit: 42 Hours] [Reward: ???] [More Info] {Construct a durable and robust vessel for storing high grade of magiculus energy. The vessel quality must be SSS} Xin remembered, in the world of magic, people used to grade magical vessels based on their quality, starting from rank E to rank SSS. While rank E being the lowest and SSS being the highest quality amongst them. A magic vessel''s work is to store the magic energy absorbed by the user and use it in time of need. In the world of magic, it was also known by the name "Second Heart". Since it acts as a heart and pumps magiculus particles throughout the body. Magic vessel construction is an event that happens only once in the life of a mage. Once formed, it is pretty much impossible to upgrade its size and quality. Xin was pretty much aware of it, and he knew the secret of building a SSS rank vessel. He quickly put on his clothes and set out towards Area X20 to collect all the Red pines. On his way there he observed like the first time this time too all the members had fallen asleep. Not a single human was conscious after getting hit by the second magical wave. Upon reaching his destination, he spotted a big truck near the camp and went near it to look at its inside. As expected, it was the truck filled with thousands of Red pine. Xin scanned his surroundings for thest time for signs of any conscious living beings, using his System, and when he couldn''t find any, he started the first stage of vessel construction. The first stage was pretty much straightforward, and the name of the process was "Breathing". Vessel construction using Red pines is not a natural process, and it requires magiculus energy to feed upon and use as a source of energy. Before consuming the fruits, Xin had to store magiculus particles as much as possible inside his body and use it during his vessel construction. He sat cross-legged at a distance from the truck and started the process of breathing. Inhale till his lungs were full, then exhale till he runs out of air. Though it sounds like normal breathing, it had different effects on his body. During his practice, whenever he inhales air, oxygen, other gases, and magiculus particles enter his body and get diffused with his blood vessels. Whenever he exhales, the extra residue of air and magiculus particlese out of his body along with other gases. By repeating this process, again and again, Xin was trying to fill his body with magiculus particles and use them at the time of vessel construction. Slowly the day came to an end, and darkness prevailed throughout the sky. Xin gently opened his eyes and directly looked above. For a normal person, he/she would have seen the night sky filled with millions of stars and a big bright moon, but for Xin, he was unable to see those. All he could see was an aurora-colored sky filled with numerous celestial beasts and spirits. A smirk appeared on his face after watching the mysterious phenomena, and he advanced towards the next step of vessel construction. ''Daisy you here?'' Xin questioned in his mind. "Yes, master. I am here." "Good, tell me now how to use that Book of Devourer?" "On it, master." [Initializing the Skill acquiring function.] [Materializing the book.] [Materialization sess!!] After showing this notification, a brown-colored book materialized in the air. Xin was amazed by the System''s materializing function and was thinking whether it could materialize some weapons of his previous life or not. "Master, please open the book and ce your right hand on it." Xin nodded and did as he was instructed by Daisy. The moment his hand came in contact with the book, it started glowing and vanished in thin air. Before Xin asked the book''s whereabouts, a massive load of information began to appear in his mind. [New Skill acquired!!] [New Skill acquired!!] [Skill name: Way of the devourer] [Uses: 1] Xin frowned at thest line of the notification and asked Daisy about the same. After her exnation, he got to know that Way of the Devourer was a one-time skill granted to a user, and it cannot be used more than once for some reasons. Daisy also mentioned another devouring skill that was way much superior to the way of devourer. But to unlock that permanent Skill he has to unlock the system store first, then buy out that Skill in exchange for 1200 SP. "Mhm, understood. Let me process the information of this book first. I will think about the system storeter." "As you wish, master," Daisy replied. With that, Xin sat on an enormous stone nearby and started to process the massive load of information that appeared in his mind out of nowhere. After going through all the information, he got to know why that Skill was a temporary one and why its use was only one time. No doubt it was a superbly awesome skill that can help him to consume ten thousand fruits at once, but at the same time, it had a side effect around it. More like it was a double-edged sword. ording to the information written in that book, if he couldn''t control the power extracted from the fruits, instead of making a sturdy, perfectly shaped vessel, the Skill will generate a randomly shaped vessel with low capacity and durability. Xin gulped down the chunk forming in his mouth and started tough at the risk of using that Skill. Xin from the world of magic was abat genius and a prodigy in many other fields. But he was of the mindset "If you don''t lurk around danger, then danger will not lurk around you." Chapter 51: Red pine liquid Chapter 51: Red pine liquid His ideology was simple, no matter what you do, do it with extreme precautions. Taking a risk was a big no from his side. But now that the two souls were merged, only the dominant characteristics would remain, and the weaker ones would disappear. In this case, the Xin from magicless earth had the dominant character. His mindset was utterly opposite to Xin from the world of magic, "If you don''t y with danger, then danger will y with you." His ideology was the result of his parent''s business and tycoon backgrounds. From a very early age, he was being taught, "No risk, no gain. Bigger the risk, the bigger the gain." As time passed, he began to understand the proper meaning of those words and adopted those words into his life. So when he saw the risk of using that skill instead of pondering over and over or bing apprehensive, he became more excited about it. Each and every cell of his body was telling him, "This skill is a st. Try it, enjoy it!!" He was getting ready to initialize that skill when Daisy interrupted Xin and posed another system window filled with system notifications and tasks. [Host has acquired the Dimensional Storage] [Host has acquired the Expansion Infinity] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] Xin read the tasks and determined they were not mandatory missions like before. He asked Daisy for confirmation, and as expected, those were not mandatory. "I will do the configurationter. For now, initialize the skill Way of the devourer." [Affirmative!!] [Initialising Skill Way of the devourer] [Initialisation Complete!!] Xin was standing before the truck when his body felt a jolt out of nowhere. He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground. When the systempleted the initialization, the book''s contents were downloaded onto Xin''s memory, and the vast knowledge of that skill began to appear in his mind. The skill, Way of the devourer, was pretty simple. Xin just had to concentrate his focus and read the text that was appearing in his mind. For the rest, he just had to depend on the skill to show its miracles. Huff!! Xin took a deep breath in and started chanting the texts appearing in his mind. To his surprise, he had never seen or heard about those texts, but he was reading them fluently as if he had known them by heart, The spell had 37 stanzas, and each stanza had 14 verses in it. Xinpleted the first stanza, and he was already running out of his breath. In reality, he had enough air in his lungs toplete two more stanzas, but the spells were affecting his mind with illusions and hallucinations. After finishing two more stanzas with some difficulties, Xin took another deep breath and started chanting the spells appearing in his mind. This time when he was chanting the spells, he was getting a feeling as if the magiculus particles in his blood were getting depleted at a faster rate than before. Xin''s eyes were closed. Even then, he was able to feel the changes in his surroundings. At that time, exactly ten thousand Red pines were hovering over his head and were making a giant circle above him. Xin was somewhat aware that the Red pines were hovering above his head, but he was not aware of their numbers above him. While he was in the middle of the fifth stanza, the Red pines began to glow and converted their form into a red-colored liquid. This was the liquid that he needed the most and the liquid used for creating a strong magic vessel. Xin felt this liquid''s presence in the air and began to absorb it directly from his surroundings. The massive liquid pool made a giant bubble above him and began to enter his body through his mouth and nostrils. While he was reaching the end of the ninth stanza, the second batch of ten thousand fruits was hovering above his head. Afterpleting the ninth one, the fruits glowed again and transformed their state to the liquid form as before. This process continued for some hours, and red pine liquid continued to enter his body through his mouth and nostrils. After entering his body, the liquid volume waspressed to the size of a small drop. Later the drop was sent to a ce between his stomach and the abdomen. Usually, whenever the liquid reaches its destined position, the Red pine consumer tries to embed magiculus particles in it. When Red pine liquides in contact with magiculus particles, a magic vessel is formed from thebination. After that, the consumer either depends on his/her luck to get a strong, sturdy magic vessel or uses his/her mental power to control the construction process. Xin was the one who belonged to the second category out of these two. He was nning to use his mental energy to construct a pyramidal-shaped strong magic vessel using that liquid''s power. But here was the catch, Xin was not only a probat expert but also an outstanding researcher in his previous life. After joining the research division on a particr project, he discovered a way to get the most out of the red pine liquid. Once he was performing an experiment on the liquid with aboratory centrifuge, he discovered something new that no one in their world had discovered till then. Xin was intrigued by the results, and he began to perform some more experiments on it. After fiddling and ying with Red pine liquid for some months, he finally reached a conclusion that no one had discovered till then, Whenever we shake or induce some movement in the Red pine liquid, the hexagonal-shaped molecules in it deforms and separates out from each other. This was just the beginning of what he discovered from his various experiments over the months. He also got to know that after deformation. Chapter 52: _Alpha736.10 Chapter 52: _Alpha736.10 The atoms radiate out a special type of energy, making the Red pine liquid hyperactive and unstable. To make this liquid stable, he used a variety of chemicals and conducted a lot of experiments on it. The best way he found out after all those experiments were to induce movement in the liquid or, to be precise, induce movement in the atoms. Whenever these atoms undergo a movement, the extra energy in them radiates out, making them superbly stable on microscopic levels. He also got to know if magiculus particles are added to the liquid during its movement, the extra energy that was supposed to be radiate outbines with magiculus particles to generate a particr type of energy called "_Alpha736.10". This Alpha736.10 is the energy that the human body develops from the day of birth to the day of magic awakening in a body. After forming a magic vessel and awakening magic powers, the human body stops making this type of energy and instead radiates out energy known by the name of "Beta736.10" to maintain the magic vessel''s shape. On a side note _Alpha736.10 and Alpha736.10 have some significant differences between them. Alpha736.10 is a type of energy produced in the human body along with some other energies like Dexon223, Rizon332, etc. On the other hand, _Alpha736.10 is an artificially created energy that does not have any other energies mixed in it. In conclusion, Alpha736.10 is an impure type of energy, while _Alpha736.10 is a pure type of energy without any impurities. Xin was already at the end of the 36th stanza, and he had collected sixpressed drops in total. After chanting thest verse of thest stanza, the rest of the 10789 fruits hovered above his head and changed their form into liquid like the other times. As before, Xin absorbed them through his mouth and nostril then stored them in a ce between his stomach and the abdomen. The truck before him was totally empty now, and not a single piece of fruit was left inside. All the living beings were sleeping like before, and the magiculus particles in the surroundings were increasing rapidly. This was the effect of the Second Wave (Dai ni Nami) that Daisy had exined to him before. Xin abruptly opened his eyes and realized his entire body was drenched in sweat. The moment he opened his eyes, sweat flowed down from his forehead and entered into his eyes, giving Xin an irritating sensation. Xin took out his hoodie and wiped out the sweat throughout his body. Two steps, "Breathing" and "Absorption," were alreadypleted. Only one step remains. Thest step was "Formation," which includes making _Alpha736.10 energy and use it to make a magic vessel. Xin had umted 7pressed drops in his body. As mentioned earlier, he had them store in a ce between his stomach and abdomen. After catching up his breath and recovering some of his strength, Xin sat cross-legged again and started thest stage of vessel construction. He started off this process by taking a deep breath in and collecting all the magiculus particles on his forehead. Since he would use mental energy for vessel construction, he needed the magiculus particles on his forehead to amplify its powers. Now generally, any other person would have started the Formation Process of vessel construction, but Xin added one more step in it and made the entire thing a four-stepped process. He added an extra process called "Energy Stabilization," which involves generating _Alpha736.10 energy by adding magiculus particles topressed drops in motion. All this time, he was rotating the seven drops in a circr motion, making their energy hyperactive and unstable. After umting all the magiculus energy on his forehead, he used his mental energy to pour magic energy equally in each drop. He kept on their rotating them in motion and pour equal magiculus energy in them. Two hours Three hours Four hours Six hours Eight hours Nine hours After nine hours, the Energy Stabilisation process wasing to an end. He only needed tobine the seven drops to one and make it ready for thest process of construction. After giving his body some time to recover, Xin advanced towards thest process of Energy Stabilisation and started integrating those seven drops. His body was burning hot like a volcano and releasing sweat like a fountain. The integration process was consuming every ounce of energy inside his body. Be it magiculus energy or cellr energy, everything was getting sucked to the ce between his stomach and abdomen. Xin''s veins were popping out throughout his body. His weight was going down at an rming rate. All his extra fat and starch reserve were getting burned. And to his misery, he had no control over these phenomena. All he was doing at that time was to try his best and integrate the seven drops into one. After squeezing out and burning every ounce of energy from his body, Xin finally integrated the seven drops into one. He was on the verge of copsing when the seven drops were about to merge. He was keeping himself conscious just by his sheer willpower andtent mental power of his brain. The moment the seven dropsbined, notifications flooded on his screen. [Emergency!!] [Emergency!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [The user haspletely depleted his energy!!] [Shutting down the system to conserve energy] [Daisy shutting down in 3, 2, 1] Chapter 53: [Alert!!] Chapter 53: [Alert!!] Everything became dark around. Xin fainted on the ground due to over exhaustion and energy depletion. Daisy was in hibernation mode to conserve thest ounce of energy inside Xin. Everyone was sleeping due to the effect of the Second Wave (Dai ni Nami). No one was around to take care of Xin. Some hourster, movements became visible on Xin''s body. He was trying to clench his fists and gather some strength to wake up from his dream. His eyes were closed, and he was stuck in a dream induced by the effect of the Second Wave (Dai ni Nami). Xin inside his dream~ Everything was dark around. Not a single thing was visible in his dreand. All he could see was an expansion of darkness around him. He had no idea what that ce was and where he was going. Xin was just moving here and there in search of an exit. He was getting a feeling the more time he spends there, the more he would be haunted by something terrible. He was trying to escape that ce as soon as possible, but no exit was there to his misery. All he could find was darkness, darkness, and darkness around him. Suddenly, his body stiffened, and an old memory emerged in his mind. It was the memory of his first betrayal at the age of twenty. Like the other days that day, too, he woke up in the morning,pleted his assignment, and set out for school. On his way, he saw many students were staring at him and gossiping something among themselves. The Xin from the magical world didn''t know what they were talking about, nor was he interested to know. He knew many students were jealous and envious of his excellent magic skill. He was the top student of his academy, having the best skills and magic power. He was only missing two things in his student life. One was connections, and the other was financial support. Being a kid from a middle-ss family, his financial status was not that good. He was getting by on all expenses using the money of his university schrship. And for connections, he had not a single connection at all, not to any powerful families nor to any famous pavilions. All he knew was Professor Han and the principal of that academy. These two were the only persons in his life who used to help him in time of his needs. Be it a financial crisis or any other crisis, these two never backed off and helped him in whatever way possible. After walking for another half an hour, Xin took a bus and reached his destination, the Xeon University of magiculus and research. One of the best educational institutes of the nation that produces extremely meticulous students for the country. Xin went near the main gate of his university and saw a huge crowd gathered there. It was unusual for such a big group to gather near the main entrance. He was well aware that the guards wouldn''t have let the students do as they wish unless it''s a top-level executive of the institution or a figure from any powerful family. Xin made his way through masses and reached near the center of attraction of that crowd. Before him was a tall figure with bulging-out muscles and a girl with long slender legs. Xin was able to see their figures but not able to see their faces. For some reason, their faces were blurred. Xin tried to widen his eyes and had a clear look at them. But to his dismay, he wasn''t able to do so. As long as he remembered he had neither myopia nor hypermetropia, ''then what could be the reason for my blurred vision?'' Xin pondered for a while and thought of using an eye technique to recognize those face''s owner. He was getting ready to use that technique when suddenly his heartbeat began to rise. An enormous aura got him by surprise. His body was trembling in fear and while his mind was filled with murderous intentions. Out of nowhere, the system window popped up before him, obstructing his entire vision. [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Host''s mental health in danger!!] [Restoring the seal 10%] [Restoring the seal 20%] [Restoring the seal 40%] [Restoring the seal 60%] [Restoring the seal 70%] [Restoring the seal 90%] [Restoring the seal 95%] [Restoring the seal 100%] [Restorationplete] [Adding an additional level of lock on the seal] [Addition of lockplete!!] When Xin opened his eyes, he found himself in the same ck space as before. Nothing was around him, and all he could see was an expansion of darkness. [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 67%] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 73%] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 78%] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 82%] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 87%] [Magic vessel constructionpletion rate: 91%] Xin saw the progress of construction and shouted out, "What?! When did the process start?!" "When you were unconscious, master," Daisy answered in an instant. Xin looked around his surroundings and asked, "I am still unconscious, I think. I mean, look at this space around me. You are understanding what I wanted to say, right?" "Yes, master. I can understand. I can help you escape from this ce. But that''s not the main issue now. Your vessel construction has already exceeded 90%, and it''s pretty much impossible now to make a SSS grade vessel, using your mental energy." "Mhm I know that. Let me check its condition." Xin closed his eyes and tried to sense his vessel construction, the ce below his stomach and above his abdomen. The drop that he had integrated before had already vanished, and a ball-shaped vessel was forming inside his body. A spherical vessel is not the worst type, but at the same time, it''s not the best type. It was ranked pretty average in the world of magic. Not so good, yet not so bad. Chapter 54: White lotus Chapter 54: White lotus Before starting thest process of construction, Xin had to connect the vessel with one of his internal organs. Some tend to connect the magic vessel with their hearts, while others connect it with their abdomen. If the vessel is not connected by its user, it would automatically connect itself with any random organ of the body. But in Xin''s case, nothing of that sort happened, and instead, it was floating in his abdomen region. It was his first time to witness something like that. His construction process had already crossed 80%, but his vessel root wasn''t connected to any organ. Apart from that, he was squeezing his brain to think of a way to stop the construction process. Ny-two percent, Ny-three percent, Ny-three percent It was nearing itspletion, and Xin had no idea what to do in such a situation. If he ended up with a spherical-shaped vessel, not only would it limit his potentials, but it would also decrease his chances of evolution. While he was wrecking his brain, suddenly, a notification window popped up before him. [Host has acquired the Dimensional Storage] [Host has acquired the Expansion Infinity] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] Seeing the same notification appearing, again and again, Xin got pissed and yelled with anger, "Lol Daisy, it''s not the time for that!!" [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] [Host is requested to configure both the rewards] Daisy didn''t reply to his vexation and kept on spamming the same notification on the screen. Seeing the spam wasn''t showing a sign of stopping, Xin finally gave up and asked her to pose the instruction manual. The vessel construction was a lost cause now. He didn''t have any n or backup to reverse the process. He let it be as it was and diverted his attention towards the reward configuration process. "Show me the manual," Xin ordered in his mind. [Creating a reward configuration manual] [Creation sess!!] [Reward configuration manual] {Dimensional Storage: A reality illusion space that can be used to store anything. Must connect its root to an internal organ before using it. Expansion Infinity: A special one-time package, used for expanding the dimensional storage} Xin read the manual on the screen and had some thoughts about it. An insanely crazy idea wasing to his mind, and he was tempted enough to try it out. After pondering some more about it, he finally decided to throw away his hesitation and follow the n that he had been making for a while. "Daisy, open the gift package Dimensional Storage." "Affirmative, master." [Opening the reward package, Dimensional Storage] Suddenly a white lotus materialized out of nowhere. Xin went near the materialized object and touched it with his finger. Upon touching the lotus, he felt as if an unknown energy entered into his body. Xin closed his eyes with the lotus in his hands and tried to trace the whereabouts of that energy. He did so by mobilizing his mental power and letting it pass throughout his body. It was one of the standard methods used in the world of magic to find any defects or know the body''s condition. Half a minuteter, Xin found out that unknown energy wasn''t stationary in his body, and instead, it was moving here and there as if it''s searching for something inside his body. Xin abruptly opened his eyes and asked Daisy to exin about that unknown energy. But before she did, Xin''s forehead began to glow, and a white lotus mark materialized on his forehead. Tons of information were flooding into his mind. He was having a hard time processing them at once. After taking some long breaths, Xin finally processed all that information and learned about the lotus mark on his forehead. ording to the system''s information, the white lotus was the vessel of the Dimensional Storage, having roots simr to that of a nt. Before using the Dimensional Storage, he had to connect its two primary roots with his body and let it absorb energy from there. The unknown energy from earlier was like a searching device that determined Xin''s forehead was the best ce for connecting the roots and transferred the Dimensional Storage there. Xin could clearly feel the connection of the two branches and its effects on his mind. He felt as if the power of space had been embedded in his body. A dazzling smirk appeared on Xin''s face. He was moving onto the next part of his n, which was to connect the root of his magic vessel with the root of his dimensional storage. This was the n he came up with after reading the manual provided by the system. ''If both the things have roots, then why don''t connect them into one?'' The construction process had already crossed ny-nine percent, and the vessel''s shape was finally getting materialized. It was just a step behindpletion. Just at that moment, Xin mobilized all the magiculus energy in his body to intervene in the construction process frompletion. While the magiculus energy was stopping the process, his mental energy was trying to connect the root of the Dimensional Storage with the magic vessel''s root. The Dimensional Storage had two primary roots, and Xin was trying to connect one of them with his vessel. Both the roots were far away from each other. One was at the abdomen, while the other was on his forehead. In the beginning, Xin was nning to extend both the roots and connect them somewhere around his chest. But after observing the mental power consumption of the task, he decided to exert force on the magic vessel and extend its root towards his forehead. Meanwhile, the effect of the Second Wave was wearing off gradually in the outside world. Some cadets were trying their best to wake up from their dreams while the others were half awake from their sleep. Since the entire area was covered by fog and mist, they could not see what was happening behind the Red pine truck. On the other side, Xin was using everyst drop of his mental energy to extend the vessel''s root towards his forehead. His head was getting heavy, and his heartbeat was getting unstable. The oxygen level in his brain was depting faster. He had no other means to supply oxygen except breathing air through his mouth. [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Alert!!] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Decrease in Host''s oxygen level] [Preparing the emergency oxygen supply] [Preparing the emergency oxygen supply] [Preparing the emergency oxygen supply] He knew the first two were rted to his health status, but not sure about the third one. While he was pondering over it, a gentle aura appeared around his body. The uneasy feeling from earlier disappeared all of a sudden. His heartbeat was bing stable, and his brain was getting enough oxygen for generating an enormous amount of mental energy. After recovering from his fatigue, Xin decided to give it onest shot and finish it in one go. He closed his eyes again and took one long deep breath in. He didn''t let it out from his lungs and instead used that momentum to extend his vessel root towards his forehead. [Sess!!] [Sess!!] [Sess!!] The notification window appeared again. Xin didn''t waste time in checking the notification and gave out his final order to the system. "Daisy, apply the Expansion Infinity, now!!" Xin screamed at the top of his lungs. "Affirmative, master." [Applying the Expansion Infinity] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 10%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 20%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 30%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 50%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 60%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 70%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 80%] [Applying the Expansion Infinity: Progress 99%] [Expansion Infinity sessfully applied!!] Thud!! With that, Xin fainted on the ground and fell into a long deep slumber. Chapter 55: Magiculus Investigation & Research Bureau Chapter 55: Magiculus Investigation & Research Bureau Afterzily waking up from his bed, Xin scratched his head with confusion. The night before, he had asked Daisy to wake him up sharply by 7 AM, but it was already 11:30, and she hadn''t done anything to fulfill his order. "Daisy, it''s already 11:30, lol!! Why didn''t you wake me up earlier?!" Xin asked in a rough voice. "Bish, check the system notifications!! I had been trying to break your slumber for thest few hours. rm, music, vibration, and what not I tried?! But s, no effect on you." Xin "" He opened the system window to check for the notifications. Since the number of notifications was exceeding hundreds, Daisy had made small groups out of them. [System rm (x50)] [System rm: Music (x50)] [System rm: Vibration (x50)] Xin dispersed the system window and started to think of the events of the week before. For some reason, he was missing the previous version of Daisy, who used to talk politely with her master. Days before, when he fainted near Area X20, Daisy received an update package directly from Itsuki, containing the new features and a new set of cheat skills for Xin. Though he was unconscious, his soul was strongly bonded with the system. Daisy pulled his soul into her core and offered him two update packages to choose from. The first one was KRM (Knowledge Reward Mission) update package, while the second one was a PRM (Power Reward Mission) update package. Somehow Xin was already informed about those packages, and he knew which one was the best package for him. As per his knowledge, if he chooses the PRM update package, the system will be configured to make him an OP overpowered character. On the other hand, if he chooses the KRM update package, the system will be configured to give him more information about past events and technology. Xin was a SSS ss veteran in the world of programming and magic. Hisbat skills and magic control were top-notch. Only the Seven Heroes of the nation were able to match up with his powers. He was confident that if he can reach such an extent in his previous life, he can do better in his present life, with some additional help from the system. What he needed the most was information about past events. He was betrayed repeatedly in his past life, and he had little to zero clues about those conspiracies. Xin ordered in a rough voice, "Choose the KRM update package." [Downloading the KRM Update Package] [Download Complete!!] [Extracting files in host''s brain] [Extractionplete!!] Like the previous times, this time also tons of information exploded in his brain. He understood only bits and pieces of those files as they were written in some aliennguages simr to a mix of ancient Sanskrit and traditional Japanese. To his surprise, not only ancientnguages, he also found some traces ofputer coding in the extracted files. Xin was excited to read them all and decode the programs. He was getting ready to do the same when the timely interference of Daisy stopped him. She asked Xin to choose some supplementary modules and applications forpleting the system setup. Daisy showed him a bunch of modules and asked him to choose one to go along with the KRM update. Xin doesn''t want to waste his time reading the info of those modules, so he randomly chose one of the modules and asked her to use the same. [Initialising (KRM.exe)] [Initialising (GG module)] [Updating current voice module.] [Cumtive Progress 10%] [Cumtive Progress 20%] [Cumtive Progress 30%] [Cumtive Progress 30%] [Cumtive Progress 40%] [Cumtive Progress 50%] [Cumtive Progress 60%] [Cumtive Progress 70%] [Cumtive Progress 80%] [Cumtive Progress 90%] [Cumtive Progress 100%] [(KRM.exe) setupplete!!] [GG module instationplete!!] [Updating current voice moduleplete!!] Back to the present scenario. Later only he did realize that GG stands for Gangster Girl and GG module has been applied onto the system. From thest six days, Daisy was talking like a gangster with her master. After knowing about the GG module, Xin asked Daisy to revert back and apply some other module. But to his misery, a system notification appeared before him saying he can''t change a module before fifteen days. Xin was reminiscing about the past few day''s events when a sharp, loud voice dragged him back to reality. "Bish, go and take a shower!! Did you forget you have to meet with that nerd today?" "Ugh, oh yes," Xin replied in a timid voice and jumped off from the bed. Even though it was the sixth day, he wasn''t used to the system''s new GG module. After doing his daily chores and taking a shower, Xin put on his hoodie and set out for the restaurant. On his way there, he observed many wild nts and trees that were growing previously on the road had been uprooted by the newly formed MIR Bureau (Magiculus Investigation & Research Bureau). This Bureau was formed under the directmand of the World Government and had seven branches under itsmand, representing the seven continents of the Earth. After a walk of fifteen minutes, Xin finally reached his destination, the family restaurant that serves the best food in his locality, the Crowls Den. "Boss give me the usual," after ordering his food, Xin took a seat in the corner of the room, waiting for the arrival of his food and his backpack. Ding Dong~~ A chiming sound echoed in the room, notifying the arrival of a new customer. Xin was busy eating his sandwich, not even bothered to look at the entrance. After some time, two figures approached near his table. One was wearing a whiteb coat, while the other was wearing a silver-colored office outfit. Yes, the figure in a whiteb coat was none other than Nen, and the girl beside her in office outfit was his sister Natasha. "Ahem," Nen made a sound gesture to draw Xin''s attention towards him. Disturbed by the sound, Xin raised his head and discovered the two siblings were already there. He abruptly stood up and asked the both of them to have a seat opposite to his table. "Good morning Mr. Nen, good morning Miss Natasha." "Good morning, Mr. Xin," Nen greeted back. Natasha also greeted back, but it wasparable to an insect''s squeak, barely audible to the normal ears. Both of them were feeling awkward as the person before them was not less than an international figure. His mother was the vice president, while his father was the president of the newly formed MIR Bureau, Asian branch. Xin didn''t have any great achievements like his parents, but he had gained the title of the JSDF research division''s vice leader just a few days ago. Seeing the atmosphere was getting tense, and both of them were maintaining silence, Xin started the conversation by asking them about his backpack. "Mr. Nen, have fetched my backpack from the HQ?" "Oh, yes. I have your backpack." Nen replied in a quivering tone. Days ago, when Professor Han introduced him to Xin, he wasn''t facing any problem talking with Xin. But now, after getting to know about his parents'' upations and earth-shattering backgrounds, he was feeling a little overwhelmed by his presence. Nen was having a hard time just to utter a single word before him. Chapter 56: Chiseki Pollens Chapter 56: Chiseki Pollens Observing none of them were starting the conversation, Xin took the initiative and broke through the iceberg between them, "Miss Natasha, why don''t you order something? Though this ce is a bit small, it serves the best food around here." "Huh, food?! Yes, food," Natasha staggered. Her nervousness was clearly visible on her face. She quickly went through the menu and ordered a cheese sandwich and chicken soup for her. Nen also picked up the menu and started to scoured through the list for ordering something. He was pretty much of a geek, and an introvert, foods like chips and cup noodles were running through his veins. It was bing hard on his part to choose something normal other than chips and noodles. "Cough, cough. Bro, don''t take too much time," Natasha whispered near his ear. "Ha!! Easy for you to say." A few minutester, Nen couldn''t decide anything and ordered the same food as his sister. In the meantime, Xin was fiddling with hisptop, checking some of thetest updates installed on it. Few days ago, hisptop was confiscated by the MIR Bureau. He was of the idea that they must have noticed the small hackings he had done in the past and seized hisptop for the same reason. Later, only he got to know that hisptop was confiscated on his mom cum vice president''s order for adding new updates onto it. For some reason, he was getting many updates at once. It was as if nature was preparing him for the uing events. His intuition was also exactly on point. His new mission was gonna be something that he had never achieved before, in the world of magic. Nen and Natasha were enjoying their food when suddenly Natasha started to cough for some reason. Xin thought she must have choked on the soup and was coughing for the same reason. Nen passed her a ss of water and asked her to drink it in one go. Natasha emptied down the water in one gulp, as asked by his brother, even then the cough didn''t stop. Earlier, Xin wasn''t bothered by her coughing. He continued to stare at hisptop and analyze the newly added features. But when the cough didn''t stop, he raised his head and had a look at Natasha. "What the fck!!" Xin abruptly stood up and stared at Natasha with bloodshot eyes. Judging from his expression and red eyes, Nen became sure that he got irritated from Natasha''s constant coughing. "Mr. Xin-" before Nen gave out an exnation, Xin went near Natasha and licked her on the forehead. Natasha "" Daisy "" Nen "" It took them some time to process the event that happened before their eyes. Before any of them, utter a single word Xin went near Natasha again and bit her lightly on the earlobes. Natasha had no idea what he was nning to do, but she was sure of one thing now, that Xin was a pervert for sure. On their first meet, Xin was somewhat cold towards her, but now he was showing his affection towards her. In the meantime, after biting her earlobes, Xin closed his eyes and started to do something inside his mouth. Daisy observed his master''s weird behavior and started to analyze his brain functioning. "Mhm I am sure of it now," Xin muttered. "Daisy, can you recheck it for me?" Xin ordered in his mind. "I am already doing bish. Don''t order me around!!" [Initialising the Spiritual Microscope] [Inserting the samples] [Initialising the test] [Progress Rate 5%] [Progress Rate 10%] [Progress Rate 15%] [Progress Rate 25%] [Progress Rate 35%] [Progress Rate 45%] [Progress Rate 65%] [Progress Rate 75%] [Progress Rate 85%] [Progress Rate 95%] [Progress Rate 99%] [Sample analysisplete!!] [Chiseki Pollens detected!!] [Generating new mission] [Generationplete!!] [Second Mission (M): Earn 1 Million Honour Points] [Duration: 30 Days] [Punishment: ???] [Reward:???] [Event Mission (S): Purify air around the city] [Duration: 1 Day] [Reward: 10000 HP] "Whoa, whoa, whoa, two missions at once?!" After getting the missions, the first thing Xin did was to minimize the mission window itself and erge the analysis window. He remembered Chiseki Pollens were also called Blood Cough Pollens, known for their microscopic size and macroscopic harm. Xin clicked on the analysis window and asked Daisy to give him detailed information. Though he had some information about the pollen, he wasn''t that knowledgeable about them. As always, Daisy generated a well-detailed report and posed it before Xin. [Chiseki Pollens] {Also known as Blood Cough Pollens Size: Microscopic Damage: Macroscopic (Internal Organ Rupture) Prevention: Can be burned by fire attribute} After reading through the report, Xin decided to cure Natasha first and afterward check the city''s status. Chiseki Pollens were small in size, invisible to the naked eye. As their name suggests, they are small pollens produced by a special kind of tree grown in the wilderness. In his previous world, such trees used to grow away from the city in the wilderness, fruits that produce such pollen were usually eaten by magical birds even before they ripenedpletely. Chiseki pollens usually stick onto the living being''s foreheads and release a peculiar type of hormone into their body, which causes excessive coughs and ultimately blood cough. When Xin came out of his contemtion, he finally noticed the status of his surroundings. Natasha had already entered the first stage of Blood Cough while the others, including Nen, were coughing like crazy. As mentioned by the system, fire attribute attacks can get rid of those pollen, but the fire must contain magiculus particles and hot enough to pull all the pollen towards it. If it were Xin of the past, he would havepleted the mission in a second, but the current Xin hadn''t mastered any skills, and what''s more, he had yet to awaken his fire element. After remaining silent for some time, Xin thought of a unique way to create a magical fire. Though he had yet to awaken his fire element, he was sure that it exists somewhere inside him, waiting for the right time to re up. Chapter 57: Shattered the high school science Chapter 57: Shattered the high school science One more thing that he was sure of was his body''s resistance to fire. It was pretty obvious that fire mages have high resistance to fire and fire-based attacks. Xin was nning to use that to his advantage and cure all the people present in the restaurant. Meanwhile, Natasha had started to cough blood while the others were entering the first stage of Blood Cough. Xin decided to make Natasha his priority and use a simple trick on her to check whether it''s working or not. "Don''t worry, I will cure your sister right away," Xin murmured and carried Natasha in his arms. Nen didn''t even try to resist him from doing so. The reasons behind it were very simple. First, Xin was the only one in the restaurant who wasn''t affected by the pollens. Second, Nen was able to see a light in Xin''s eyes that gave him assurance of his words, and third, Nen himself wasn''t in the right condition to do anything for his sister. So, at a time like this, it was the best decision to take the help of someone who seems to have expertise in this field. Xin carried Natasha in his arms andid her down on a big dining table, generally used for a big family with eight to ten or even more dining members. Not only Nen''s but even the owner''s eyes were deadlocked on Xin''s activities. Each and every one of them was coughing on top of their lungs, and Xin was the only one who was breathing normally without having any health issues with him. "Boss, I am borrowing the lighter and some paper from the kitchen," Xin informed the owner and barged into the kitchen without any hesitation. When he came outside, his left hand was wrapped in a big roll of paper dipped in oil, while his right hand had a big gas lighter on it. Nen''s, and the owner''s eyes widened with surprise. Both of them had a bad premonition about it. Nen thought Xin will burn down Natasha to get rid of herpletely, while the owner was of the idea that Xin will burn down the entire restaurant to get rid of the unknown virus. "Cough, cough. Mr. Xin, what are you nning to do?!" Nen asked with some difficulty. He was having a bad time from continuous coughing; just to take in a single breath and pump it throughout his body was bing a hard task for him. The owner also wanted to ask the same, but when he saw another person asking the same question, he didn''t bother to ask and waited for Xin to give out his reply. "Mr. Nen, don''t worry. I will get rid of the-" before Xinpletes his sentence, Nen intervened and asked, "Get rid of the problempletely?!" "Yes,pletely," Xin answered in a solemn voice. By this, Nen became sure that Xin was nning to burn down his younger sister, and the owner became sure that his restaurant would be in ashes soon. Without any ado, Xin put on the fire on his left hand and headed near Natasha, intending to cure her cough. Listening to their conversation, the other customers of the restaurant started to tremble in fear. They were afraid that their turn maye next after the girlid on the table. Anyhow and at any cost, Nen wanted to save his sister, but due to excessive coughing and puking out blood, he didn''t even have enough strength to raise his hands. Saving his sister was like a far more unachievable dream for him. In the meantime, Xin set his left hand on fire. Letting the paper burn and catch mes. Just at the right moment when the me rose up high, he mobilized a small portion of magiculus particle from his newly formed magic vessel and mixed it inside the me. Suddenly, the mes changed and became milky white in color. It was Nen''s first time to see something like that. Though he was a software engineer, he had read his part of chemistry, as far as he remembered, white mes can be produced by igniting Epsom salt with some fuels, and that too under special conditions and temperature. But Xin created white mes without Epsom salt, just by using some roles of paper and a gas lighter. The other customers were also dazed by this phenomenon. Before their eyes, someone changed the color of the me without using any special chemical or instrument. Their amazement was thrown to a different level when the me changed again, and this time its color was blue. Unaware of magiculus maniption, some assumed that Xin somehow achievedpletebustion and got mes with max heat. But their high school science waspletely shattered when the me changed again, and this time its color was violet. He raised his hand high up in the air and let the me rise even higher. This time only the intensity of the me increased, and no change in color. Half a minuteter, Xin closed his eyes and started to manipte magiculus flowing through his body. He was sending more and more magiculus particles into the fire as a source to feed upon. Slowly the fire on his hand started toe out and levitate above his hairs. Nen was bbergasted at the sight of this. Not only Nen but the others were also dumbfounded by this phenomenon. They had no idea what was going on there, but they were sure of one thing now that kid was not simple as he seems. Nen wanted to see more, what happened next, and what Xin nned to do with his sister, but due to excessive blood loss, his vision became blurry. He was trying his best to stay awake and see the things happening before his eyes, but to his dismay, his body couldn''t endure it anymore, and he fainted in a sitting position. Chapter 58: Hiasobi (Fire Play) Chapter 58: Hiasobi (Fire y) The levitating fire shifted its position from top of Xin''s head to top of Natasha''s forehead. What Xin was trying to do was rtively simple. Due to the magical properties of the Chiseki Pollens, they get attracted to warmer ces. Xin was trying to pull all the pollen out of her body by keeping a magiculus fire near Natasha. As predicted, the fire pulled out the pollen and burned them down to ashes. Now that his experiment was sessful, it was other''s turn to get treated. Without any dy, Xin rushed into the kitchen and brought three toilet paper rolls out of somewhere. This time he didn''t wrap his hand with papers. Instead, he put them on the ground and let them catch fire from the magiculus fire that he had prepared before. The same phenomenon happened again, and the fire changed its color to violet. In Natasha''s case, it was only a single person, so he didn''t face any problem while treating her. But now, he had to treat more than twenty patients present in the restaurant. Curing them one by one would have consumed a lot of time for Xin. He was pondering what to do and how to cure them all at the same time. Out of nowhere, another weird idea came to his mind. Alchemy was the answer that he wanted to use in his current situation. Generally, alchemy involves refining nts, minerals, and other substances into medicinal pills and elixirs. And to refine these pills, alchemists use pill furnaces and cauldrons, a unique pot that runs on high-grade magiculus fire. And to control those high-grade magiculus fires, there exists a set of skills called Hiasobi (Fire y) techniques. Xin was nning to use Hiasobi to control the fire and mobilize it around the restaurant. The concept was very simple. In pill refining, they do it with a cauldron here. Xin was trying to do without one. Xin sat cross-legged before the fire and started to chant something before it. Very few people were conscious at that time, as for the rest, they fainted due to excessive blood loss. What they were witnessing there was something beyond their imagination. The fire before them was changing its shape and slowly transforming into a bird. The owner of the restro was the first person who recognized it at first nce and shouted at the top of his lungs, "It''s a phoenix, a violet phoenix!!" Xin smirked at the owner of the restro and continued to do what he was doing before. By chanting the special spell, he was temporarily injecting a part of his inside the violet fire. The logic was very simple, mages can control their soul ording to their will. If they want, they can leave their bodies, and if they wish, they can re-enter their bodies. By injecting a small part of his soul inside the fire, Xin was aiming to control the fire at his will. One thing that took him by surprise was the shape of the fire. Magiculus fire is a special type of fire that uses magiculus particles in the air as its fuel source. During the process of soul injection, it takes the soul''s shape and shows the injector''s spirit beast. Dragons, Pegasus, Basilisk, Manticore, Cerberus, etc., were considered legendary spirit beasts in the world of magic. In his previous life, Xin had a Bahamut Dragon as his spirit beast, which can destroy the enemy forces just by his single nce. Though violent, it was his onlypanion who has never betrayed him in his life. When Xin thought of Hiasobi, he low-key wanted to see his spirit beast before its awakening, but his wishes werepletely shattered when a phoenix spirit appeared out of nowhere. "Never mind, I will look into this matter at a different time," Xin whispered and started the first y of the Hiasobi. The first y''s name was Eiyo o atareu, which literally means nourishing the magiculus fire. Xin closed his eyes and started to emit a special light from his forehead. This light was his mental energy, materializing in the real world by interfering with the lines of illusion and reality, making its way to the magiculus fire. The phoenix before his eyes received his energy and majestically opened its wings. Kyuuuuuuun!! A loud screech echoed in the restro. Everyone was startled by this voice. Xin didn''t bother to exin them about the phoenix and instead continued onto the y''s second phase. The second process of the Hiasobi (fire y) was named Kaiho, which literally means release the spirit beast formed through the magiculus fire. This time Xin focused all his attention on the phoenix and tried to form a mental connection with it. Though the phoenix was a part of his soul, it became apletely different entity after entering into the magiculus fire. Xin was just getting started when a system notification appeared before his eyes. [New Info] {The Purple Phoenix is a part of the system, and the system is connected to the host cum master, Xin. Second step fire y, Kaiho can be skipped. Click on the button below for skipping this part.} [Skip/Deny] Since he was in a hurry, he didn''t give it much thought and clicked on the skip button. Suddenly he felt a jolt in his spine. It was a feeling that now he and his magiculus formed spirit beast have synced their senses into one. The majority of the hard work was over now. All he had to do was to mobilize the fire around him and cure all the patients nearby. Xin slowly stood up and had a look at the patients nearby. Around forty-two victims were there, including the shop owner and his three waiters. Xin didn''t make any dy andmanded the fire to cure everyone. "O'' the fire of my inner beast. Heed mymand and save the life of these many." The fire on the ground reached as high as the ceiling. It split into many parts asmanded by its user and started to do its work. Each and every fire was doing the same task, going near the forehead, suck in the pollens, and burn them into ashes. Just within a fraction of a minute, all the customers were brought back into their senses. Natasha was the first one to gain her sense, and she was also the first one to see the miracle happening before her eyes. A weird colored fire was sucking something from everyone''s forehead, and Xin seemed to be the one controlling them. Before she called out Xin''s name, someone approached behind her and put his hand on her mouth to stop her from talking. Chapter 59: Snakes (?) Chapter 59: Snakes (?) Natasha slowly turned around and found it was his brother stopping him from talking, "Don''t talk for now. Can''t you see? He is focusing his attention on that fire to save everyone?" "Mhm" Natasha observed what Xin was doing and refrained herself from intervening. Xin was sweating profoundly as his new body wasn''t used to such things. If it were the Xin of the past, it wouldn''t have be a problem. But the current Xin hadn''t refined his body, nor had undergone any special evolution or training. Slowly but steadily, the magiculus fire was curing everyone in the restaurant, starting from the waiters to the customers to the owner everyone was getting healed, Xin was taking a breath of sigh when he felt some changes in the magiculus fire, "Huh?! That''s weird!!" Xin talked to himself in a low voice. Observing Xin''s work wasing to an end, and he was rxing a bit, Nen went near him and passed him a handkerchief. Xin nodded his head in appreciation and received the handkerchief from Nen. Since he was sweating a lot, the small piece of cloth became wet with just one wipe of his face. Xin frowned at it. He was about to say something when someone threw a towel on his face. "Use it, boy, that handkerchief won''t suffice you," spoke a person from his side. A smile appeared on Xin''s face after hearing the voice. He knew that voice and the owner of that voice very well. It was Zinon, the second owner of the restaurant and the person he had been calling boss since the beginning. "Thanks, boss," Xin replied in a loud voice. After wiping the sweat on his face and body, Xin threw it back to Zinon and asked him for a cold ss of water. This Asian 6 feet figure with brown eyes was one of Xin''s best friends. Though Zinon was four years older than Xin, they were like best buddies when seen together. Xin and his parents often visit their restaurant for breakfast, dinner, and lunch, and this was the very reason that made a good bond of friendship between these two kids. Not only the kids but their parents were also good friends. After drinking a cold ss of water, Xin stood up again and continued to cure everyone around him. One by one, everyone was waking. Some were terrified and making noises by seeing the scene before their eyes, while others were bbergasted enough to remain silent until the end. An hourter, Xin''s work wasing to an end, and with it, the fire was on the verge of exhaustion. He was taking another breath of relief when something strange happened again. A slight fluctuation in the magiculus fire, he had also felt the same an hour ago, but after giving it a quick thought, he concluded he must be tired since his body wasn''t used to alchemy yet, and feeling things like magiculus fluctuation in the fire. But when the same thing happened again, his suspicion became certain that someone was tampering with his magiculus fire. Xin narrowed his eyes and turned around to find the culprit behind it. Nen, Natasha, Zinon, and everyone else observed he was acting strange. Some time ago, he was standing in one ce and curing everyone, but suddenly for some reason, his facial expression changed. It was as if he was looking for someone. Their guesses were also correct. Xin was searching for the one who was fiddling with his magiculus fire. The restaurant wasn''t nothingpared to big ones, but it had two big rooms to amodate customers. The first room was for those who want to have any light foods like a sandwich, soup, or just rice balls. The other room was for customers who wanted to eat something heavy for lunch or dinner. Xin and the others were in the first room, and the fluctuation wasing from the second room. After pondering over it for a bit, Xin turned around and headed towards the other room. Zinon and Nen followed him to the other room as they were curious about his weird behavior. The second room looked exactly the same as the first one, just the size was double inparison. "Mhm Where, where, where?!" Xin asked himself. Nen saw the desperate expression on his face and asked, "Mr. Xi-" before he uttered another word Zinon stopped him from talking and asked him to observe. After looking here and there, Xin finally found the source of fluctuation and its location in the room. There was a small two-seater table on the left corner of the room before table number 17, which was the reason for his magiculus fluctuation. Xin slowly went near the table and had a look at its customer. Two girls wearing the same jeans and tops were lying on it. From a first look, anyone could say they were twins for sure. One more thing he observed was the magiculus fire near them. For some reason, it was depleting at an rming rate, which was the very reason for the magiculus fluctuation. Nen couldn''t hold it any longer and asked it out in one go, "Mr. Xin, what''s wrong with those twins? You have been staring at them for a while." Now that he had asked out the question, he was waiting for his reply, and as expected, he got his answer as soon as he asked. But its content was something that neither of the two could understand. "I am not staring at those twins. I am staring at those snakes above them." Nen "" Zinon "" They had no idea what in the world he meant by ''the snakes above their head.'' Nen remained quiet for some seconds, then fired out his question again, "Mr. Xin, what snakes are you talking about? I can''t see anything!!" Upon hearing this, Xin abruptly turned around with a deep frightening expression on his face. "Zinon, can''t you see those snakes on their heads?!" Xin asked in a loud voice. "No I can''t see anything." "Ahaha, hahaha, hahahahaha, hahahahahaha," Xin started tough all of a sudden. It was as if he discovered a treasure in the middle of a deserted ind. His frightened expression was nowhere to be found, and all they could see was a victory-winningugh on his face. "Who would have thought I could find the Miracle Twins here?! Ahahahah, hahaha." Chapter 60: The Asclepius twins Chapter 60: The Asclepius twins The moment he saw the snakes he felt as if something was wrong, something which was out of the world, like something was off. After giving it some thought Xin realised what was wrong, and what was that feeling he had been getting since earlier. The twins before him were blessed by the god Asclepius, and were known as the Miracle Twins. The blessing of Asclepius, the god of healing was one of the most rarest thing in the world of magic. ording to the magical world mythologies Asclepius is the son of Apollo and the only god whose skills are recognised by the Snake of Wisdom and the Snake of Healing. Later the two snakes bestowed him their powers and gave him the title of God Of Healing. In the magical world the Miracle twins were none for their alchemy and healing skills. Not only medicine they had achievements in tycoon ranking too. In the beginning years they were in top 200 but after theiring of age they awakened the true power of the snakes and entered the top 20 in a short duration of 6 months. Xin was sure, with the power of the snakes and the blessings of Asclepius those twins would have a great future filled with name and fame ahead. But he wasn''t interested in them, what he was eyeing was the favour of the two snakes. He wasn''t sure whether he could gain the favours of the twins or not, but he was confident that he could gain the favours of the snakes by providing them what they needed the most at that time. "Ahem," Xin cleared his voice and approached near the two girls, to be more precise, approached near the snakes above their heads. Chapter 61: Cobra Wine Chapter 61: Cobra Wine Xin was sure, with the power of the snakes and the blessings of Asclepius, those twins would have a great future filled with name and fame ahead. But he wasn''t interested in them. What he was eyeing was the favor of the two snakes. He wasn''t sure whether he could gain the twins'' favors or not, but he was confident that he could gain the favors of the snakes by providing them what they needed the most at that time. "Ahem," Xin cleared his voice and approached near the two girls, to be more precise, approached near the snakes above their heads. Hiss!! Hissss!! The two snakes started hissing on observing Xin''s movement. And the reason was also pretty obvious, they wanted to protect their hosts and the chosen ones from any kind of harm and danger. Xin cautiously approached near the snakes and bent down up to their level, "Hey, you two thieves, stop hissing," Xin asked in a calm voice. It was neither a request nor an order. It was more like teasing someone to make them furious. Hearing Xin''s words, the Snake of healing fell for his provocation and replied in a heavy voice, "Hissssssss, puny Human!! Do you even know who am I?! I am-" Before he continued, Xin intervened in his talk and said, "The Snake of Healing, and the blessing of Asclepius." The two snakes backed off in fear and maintained some distance from Xin. Judging from their behavior, Xin deduced that the Snake of Healing has a hot-tempered character, while the Snake of Wisdom was a calm typed character. The Snake of Wisdom had been observing him from the beginning. He was neither furious nor responsive towards Xin. Only the Snake of Healing fell for the trap and started talking with him. "Cunning Human, who are you?! What''s the name of your deity? Which kind of blessings do you have?!" This time the Snake of Wisdom opened his mouth and hissed out a lot of questions towards Xin. "Hehehe, calm down, Wisdom Snake. I don''t have a deity like these two girls, and for your second question, let me have you a taste of it," Xin abruptly moved his hands and touched the snakes at the center of their eyes. Hisssssssssssss!! Hisssssssssssssss!! Hissssssssssssssssssss!! Hissssssssssssssssssssssssss!! The two snakes became furious and started to hiss at each other. On a closer look, Xin could tell that they were afraid of the existence before them rather than being furious. Be it a blessing or a deities blessing, it always needs an enormous amount of magiculus energy to use those powers. Though the twins were blessed by the god of Healing, Asclepius, they weren''t blessed in their magic vessel part. There was a limitation on how many times they can use the blessings in a day. On the other hand, Xin had merged his magic vessel with his infinite storage space, giving him the ability to use any skills or blessings as many times as he wants in a day. Xin took advantage of this and let the snakes feel the capacity of his magiculus vessel. A few minutes ago, when he touched the snakes, he allowed them to enter into his mind and gauge his vessel''s depth. The snakes were somewhat confused about it, ''Why this human letting us have a peek at his vessel?'' was the initial question that came into their mind. Even though they were confused, they didn''t miss the chance and dive into his magiculus vessel to gauge its capacity and strength. And this was the very thing that Xin wanted them to do at that time. Make them jump into his vessel and let them have a taste of its capacity. "Hisss!! Human tells us the truth," The Snake of Healing asked in a loud voice. It couldn''t resist the fear inside and blurted out something that Xin wanted them to ask. The Snake of Wisdom calmed down after some seconds. It was showing rxed behavior on the outside, but deep inside, he was trembling in fear. It was his first time to meet a human with a vessel as big as that. They were of the idea that his magiculus vessel was somewhat big. Little did they know at that time, it was not big but rather an infinite storage vessel. "Hehehe," Xinughed with a creepy expression again and didn''t give an immediate answer. If it were someone else, the Snake of Healing would have beaten him/her to death, but currently, the person before them was someone having a lot of magiculus on him. And it was also the thing they needed the most at that time. "Great Human, don''t y with us like that. Please tell us your identity. Who are you? Which deity is supporting you from the shadow?" Xin facepalmed at his question and replied, "Didn''t I jus-" Before he said something else, Nen intervened the convo and asked the question that he had been keeping in for a while. "Mr. Xin, why are you talking with those unconscious girls?" Nen asked with a puzzled expression. "Ah, almost forgot that you two can''t see them." "Can''t see whom?" asked Zinon. "Ugh" Xin hesitated for a while. He wasn''t sure whether he should let them see the snakes or not. After giving it some thought, he decided to let them see the spirits before them. "Mr. Nen, Xenon, pleasee near," Xin touched them on their foreheads and made a special mark on them. It was a power-sharing mark that temporarily allows the user to share some of his powers with the others. In the beginning, both of them felt a little drowsy, but soon they got adapted to it. Suddenly the world around them became as colorful as ever. They started to see the magiculus and the spirit particles around them. In addition, they were able to see the two snakes conversing with each other. This was their first time to see something as weird as that. Two snakes were talking, and that too fluently like humans. Only one thing was odd, and that was their hissing sound at different intervals. Nen rubbed his eyes in disbelieve while Zinon rubbed his forehead in confusion. Only one thing was bubbling in their mind, ''How in the world can these snakes can speak like us? And that too with this much fluency?!!'' Xin knew what they were thinking and asked them to go near the two snakes. Nen wasn''t sure why he asked them to go near those poisonous creatures and hesitated for a while before going near. On the other hand, Zinon knew Xin never meant any harm to him and went near the snakes without hesitation. "Hissss damn!! Now, these two humans can see us!! Bighead, tell, what should we do now?" "Whoa, Xin, are they talking about us?" Zinon asked with excitement. Instead of getting afraid or nervous, he was getting more enthusiastic about the two snakes. And the reason was something that none of the two snakes had guessed till then. Zinon belonged to a family of chefs. Making tasty food and strong wines was one of their specialties. In some countries, Snake wine, and to be more specific, Cobra wine is considered one of the top-grade wines. Some dealers even grow high-quality cobras for the same purpose. Not only it''s a high-quality wine, but it''s also a type of drink that can give immense pleasure and relief to its drinker. Seeing the two snakes were palm-sized, Zinon was tempted to catch them and put them in containers with rice wine or grain alcohol. Only one question wasing to his mind at that time, ''If normal snake wine can give unfathomable pleasures, then what type of pleasures would these talking snakes give if I make some wine out of them?! '' Seeing the evil grin on his face, a cold sensation ran throughout their body. The two snakes weren''t aware of Zinon''s intentions, but they were aware that the brown-eyed guy was nning something bad against them. "Hu-hu-hu-human, wha-what wh- whyy a- are are you smiling like that while looking at us?" asked the Snake of Healing. Though he was a short-tempered one, his attitude took a major turn aftering in contact with the person before him. As if all his senses were warning him, do not fiddle or bad talk with this person, or else the oue will be something bad. Not only him but also the Snake of Healing, too, asked him something simr, "Human, I can feel a hostile feelinging for you for some reason. You are making me feel suffocated with your behavior. And care to exin, why are you smiling like that while looking at us?" "Huh, what are you two talking about?! I have met you two just now. What made you feel hostility from my side?! It''s not like I am gonna put you in a ss jar and make special cobra wine of you two." Xin "..." Chapter 62: Make a deal Chapter 62: Make a deal "Cough, cough," Nen broke through the silence and resumed the conversation again, "Then how will you exin those ss jars on your hand." "Huh?! What are you talking about?" Xin asked with a puzzled expression. Since he was standing behind Zinon, he was unable to see those jars. Hisss~~~!! "You humans are scary. You want to make wine out of me, the great Snake of Healing?!" Hearing the name of the snake, Zinon got another idea in his mind. He was already aware that those snakes weren''t the ordinary ones, and they can speak humannguage for some reason. Now that one of them had revealed their identity Zinon was nning to make unlimited special cobra wine out of them. Making a snake wine is rtively easy if you have some experience in it. It usually involves slicing a snake along its belly and draining its blood directly into the vessel filled with rice wine or grain alcohol, or any type of herbs, but then again, there are different variants of making special cobra wines. After hearing the phrase ''Snake of Healing,'' Zinon got the idea that the snake can heal itself, which means he can cut him down as many times as he wants, make wine out of it, then use that snake again after its healing period. And since the snake has healing properties, he was nning to add some Chinese herbs like hundred year old ginseng to make a very strong wine. "Cough, cough," this time Xin was the one who made the coughing sound, to drag out Zinon out of his contemtion. Xin went near Zinon and whispered, "Zin, I think it''s not the right time to think about those things, now." "But Xi-" before he said anything. Xin intervened and promised to bring him some good-quality snakes for making cobra wine. "Sigh, if you are saying so, I will believe it for now. Better bring a big snake then." "Will do, will do," Xin promised and sessfully diverted Zin''s mind towards something else. Back to the main plot, the two snakes were trembling in fear now. Their existence was simr to that of a deity, but they had very little to no power at that time to face the humans before them. And the reason behind it was pretty simple, those snakes awakened from their slumber not so long ago. Xin was sure the Chiseki pollens were the catalyst that made those twins awaken their spirits before theiring of age. "Ahem, let mee to the main topic. I know you two just woke up from your sleep and were stealing magiculus from my alchemy fire. Weren''t you?" "You hu-" the Wisdom Snake stopped the Healing Snake and asked him to stay quiet for a while. "Human, I don''t know about you or how you know about us. I can''t neither sense hostility nor sense friendly vibes from you. For some reason, I can''t read your mind or the air around you. Tell me the reason for approaching near these two girls." "Mhm Actually, I don''t have any business with these girls. I have business with you two." "With us?!" The Snake of Healing asked in an egotistical voice. "Yes, with you. I will help you, and in turn, you help me out with something." "Mhm I am all ears." Observing the events from the side-lines, Nen was having a hard time swallowing all these matters. First, some weird particles caused them blood coughs, then Xin using some magical fire to treat them, and now Xin talking with two snakes. Somehow all these things felt like a dream to Nen. Not only Nen, many others like Zinon, Natasha, etc were having a hard time swallowing their new reality. "Coming of a new age, huh?!" Nen questioned himself. On the other hand, Xin had started bargaining with the two snakes. In the beginning, he told them that he can supply them with magiculus particles and let them recover their power. This thing made the two snakes happy. Happy enough that after hearing this much, the Snake of Healing was about to agree on his proposal. But in time got stopped by the Wisdom Snake. "Human, you will supply us with power. What do you want in return?" This was the question that Xin was expecting from them. He took a long deep breath in and blurted out in one go, "I want three favours from you two." Hiss~~!! The Snake of Healing got pissed on hearing the word ''favour'' and raised his head to bite Xin. The term ''favour'' holds a significant meaning for spirits and deities. It''s the same as going to great extents to fulfill Xin''s wishes. The Healing Snake was furiously hissing at Xin while the Wisdom Snake looked at him with red eyes. Deep inside, he was outraged. It was his first time to see a human who was demanding favours from them, but at the same time, he was keeping his head cool. Cause the figure before him was no ordinary human. If he can supply them with a vast amount of magiculus particles, then he can suck in all the particles around and stop their growth temporarily. Not only that, Wisdom Snake was afraid that one wrong step and Xin may harm their hosts too. After keeping silent for a while, the Wisdom Snake finally opened his mouth, "Human, do you think you can supply us with enough magiculus particles? I agree that you have aparativelyrger vessel than others, but that doesn''t mean it has no limits." "Yes, and since we are in a weak state right now, we weren''t able to gauge your magiculus vessel''s depth, or else" the Healing Snake stopped at that and started to give Xin an intense re. He was trying to use his skill ''Stun'' on Xin. While using Stun, he was unaware of what he was trying to do. Nor was he aware of Itsuki''s blessing and the system''s support for Xin. [Warning!!] [Warning!!] [Warning!!] [Host exposed to stun attack] [Preparing countermeasures] [New skill downloaded!!] [Points Consumed: 500 SP] Before Xin got a grasp of the situation, the Snake of Healing started to hiss in pain. None of them had any idea of what was happening. The Snake of Wisdom felt like something was wrong, and he was missing something. To verify his theory, he abruptly jumped towards Xin. Thud!! He crashed with an invisible barrier before reaching Xin''s body. Not only the snakes, even Xin was surprised by this event. "Daisy, what was that wall? Do you know anything about it?" Xin asked in his mind. "Useless bish, don''t you even know about your own blessings?!" "I have a blessing?" Xin asked with astonishment. In his previous life, he didn''t have any blessing from any type of god. So, when Daisy mentioned his blessing, he felt a little joy in his heart. "Gahhh~~!!" Daisy screamed in anger and said, "You useless piece of shit, you have the blessings of Ascended Saviours!! And they are a level above the deities of this world." Xin "" Before he understood what he heard just then, the Wisdom Snake bowed down before him and asked in a frightened voice, "O'', the great Human, please forgive me for my rude behaviour. I didn''t know you are the son of an ascended saviour!!" Xin "" bbergasted again, he didn''t know, just what in the world was happening around him. First Daisy said he has blessings of ascended saviours. Upon hearing this, Xin assumed this person was none other than Itsuki. Cause he was the only person who introduced himself as an ascended saviour. Now the snake spirit mentioned him about being the son of an ascended saviour. ''Hmm He must be mistaking the blessing as something else,'' Xin gave it some thought, then looked towards the snake again. "I think you are misunderstanding something. My father and mother are normal human beings, not some asc-" Wisdom Snake stopped him at that and asked him to drop the matter. "I think the time hasn''te yet. You will know when the timees." Xin wasn''t ready to leave it at that and wanted to clear out their misunderstandings, but judging the current situations, he let it go, for the time being, and focused on the current events at hand. "So, are you willing to make this deal with me?" Xin asked again for confirmation. Many things happened, just within a fraction of minutes, and they got distracted from the main topic. "Yes, I am willing," Wisdom Snake replied with a nod. The Healing Snake was still pondering about it. Some moments ago, he tried to use Stun in Xin, and for some reason, it backfired on him. Not only backfired, but it also wounded his eyes. Though the wound disappeared within a second, it was a major insult for a spirit like him. After judging the situation''s pros and cons, the Healing Snake too agreed to make a deal with Xin. Now it was Xin''s task to feed them magiculus particles and make them grow as soon as possible. Chapter 63: Sixth sense Chapter 63: Sixth sense "So Mr. Xin, what''s you gonna do now? And you were acting weird cause of these snakes?" Nen asked in a low voice. After seeing the Snake jumping onto Xin, he didn''t want to anger it and undergo the same. "Hmm For now, I will cure the rest of the customers in the restaurant. After that, I will fulfill my deal with them. And for your second question, yes, I was searching for these two snakes. They were sneakily absorbing magiculus from the alchemy fire." "You hu-" Healing Snake was pissed again on hearing the word ''Sneakily,'' but got stopped in time by the Wisdom Snake. "Indeed, we were absorbing magiculus from the fire to recover our strength." "Good, now wait here for some time till I get the rest of the people here. I will be back after that." The two snakes nodded in unison and promised not to absorb any magiculus for the time being. Xin and the group headed towards the first room where Natasha and some other customers were resting. In the past half an hour, everyone in the room had recovered some of their strength. They were waiting eagerly for their saviour to appear. Upon entering the room, Natasha was the first one to notice Xin and call out his name with a smile on her face, "Mr. Xin is here, finally here!!" On hearing the name, every person in the room stood up at once and showed him respect by bowing down. The system''s window popped up out of nowhere and started to show notifications one after another. For a second, Xin was dazed by the number of points he was getting at that time. After the notifications stopped, he asked Daisy to add them up and tell him the total amount. "Useless trash, can''t you do a simple task like that," Daisy shouted in anger and added that he had gained a total of 500 Honour Points (HP) by saving the lives of the people present in the restaurant. Xin was busy chatting with his system, forgetting the fact that people were still bowing before him. "Ahem, Mr. Xin, Mr. Xin," Nen whispered near his ears. Xin came back to reality and realized people were still bowing before him. Without doing any further dy, he asked them to rise up and sit in their ces. Nen and Zinon were tasked with looking after everyone and exining to them more about the Chiseki Pollens. On their way back from the second room, Xin taught them about the pollens and asked them to teach the same to other customers present in the restaurant. In the meantime, Xin was fastening his work of healing the rest of the customers. Though everyone was curious about what Xin was doing and the trick of controlling the mes, no one disturbing him by asking him such useless questions. The reasons behind it were very simple. The first reason, they do not want to disturb him and make him lose his concentration by asking such irrelevant questions in a situation like that. Second reason, after the first wave and second wave, many hidden families and cultivation practitioners wereing out of their hides, they assumed Xin must be one of those practitioners and controlling those fires using some Chinese cultivation technique. Xin took another half an hour to cure all the customers and bring them back to their top condition. With this, his current Honour Point added up to 1000 and another 500 as a bonus. "Heh, Only 1500 HP out of 1 million. Still have a long way to go." After taking a rest of ten minutes and recovering some of his stamina, Xin went to the second room again and asked the Wisdom Snake toe along. Though suspicious, he followed him to the kitchen and asked the reason for calling him there. Xin remained silent for a while before asking him something that he didn''t want anyone to know. Fifteen minutester, both of them came out of the kitchen. Xin had a victory-winning smile on his face while Wisdom Snake had a war losing expression. Judging from their expression Zinon was sure that Xin must have gotten what he wanted, and the Snake must have faced miserable defeat. "Ah, Zin, can you shift all the customers from the second room to the first room, except the two twins? I need to do some work there, and I don''t need any type of disturbance." "Sure, be right back in some minutes." Zinon left that ce and started to move everyone to the other room. Just within a minute, he emptied the entire room and handed it over to Xin. "Thanks. While I am inside, don''t let anyone disturb me or enter inside." "Worry not, I will help Mr. Owner in that," Nen replied with a smile. Xin assigned them their works and entered the second room with the Wisdom Snake. Only five people were present there, actually three humans and two snakes. Xin created aplex circle on the ground from the bottle of tomato sauce and asked the two snakes toe there. The purpose of the circle was to act as a medium and transfer magiculus particles to the snakes. He could have done it directly, just by touching them and transferring magiculus particles into their vessels. But he wasn''t sure whether the snakes could handle his power or not. While Xin was busy inside the restaurant, the outside world was bing a mess. Train, ne, car, and bus everything had stopped. Some people were coughing blood while the others were fainting on the ground from excessive blood loss. Medical, first aid and ambnce services were unavable as the respective institutions'' workers were suffering from the same blood cough. Only a few people were safe from this disaster, and they were none other than the cadets of the underground JSDF city. When this disaster started, JSDF HQ evacuated the majority of the members to the underground city. And for the rest, they were given special suits to protect themselves from the pollens. Research division under Natsumi was trying to get a cure for this pollen, but they were failing again and again in the experiments. It was not like they were noob scientists. It''s just that they were trying to find a scientific solution caused by magical pollen. Their very approach was wrong, to begin with. It was not their fault, in the first ce. Amidst all these, one more problem was arising somewhere, actually not somewhere it was arising all over the world. And this problem was termed Wildlife Evolution. Magiculus particles are a type of mysterious particles, having different effects on different species of flora and fauna. For humans, it strengthens and boosts their physical psyche, while for animals, it makes them undergoplete evolution. Now that magiculus was avable in the atmosphere, every species on earth, be it animal or nts, was inhaling these mysterious particles and circting them throughout their body. Wild animals were the first ones who were undergoing evolution, and the reason was none other than their sixth sense. Since ancient times, people believe that animals have a special power to foresee the future or predict the future. They know what to do and what not to do in times of disaster. In times of tsunami and earthquakes, it has been observed that terrestrial wild animals move to higher grounds to protect themselves on water. While aquatic animals create a disturbance in the water and migrate to different sea beds. ording to scientific research, some species of fishes possess remarkable sensitivity to pressure waves with frequencies below 50Hz, which allows them to sense earthquakes at least 1 to 3 Richter Magnitudes smaller than those detectable by human beings. Another report tells that snakes and fishes are themon animals in reports dealing with unusual animal behavior prior to an earthquake or tsunami. Both organisms possess particr sense organs. Snakes can perceive vibrations and infrared radiation, while fishes can perceive electric fields. Terrestrial animals also have some superpowers like that. They can sense the ionization of the air caused by therge rock pressure in earthquake zones with their fur. It is also conceivable that animals can smell gases rted to quartz crystals before an earthquake. In this case, animals had already sensed the changes in the atmosphere and ecosystem. Thanks to the contribution and involvement of the magiculus particles. They had made themselves ready for the new changes, which was why they were the first ones to undergo evolution. In case of humans, they were unaware of magiculus particles, and no need to tell they were afraid and apprehensive about this change. This was why magiculus wasn''t affecting humans at the same rate as it was affecting animals. Cause humans weren''t epting magiculus while wild animals were epting it with open hearts. Chapter 64: Fenrir Chapter 64: Fenrir Outside of the city, inside a big cave, a new cmity took birth in the world. Unaware of its power and origin, it was enjoying its time with its mother and siblings. Seven baby pups and a mother wolf were the inhabitants of that cave. The cave was located deep inside the jungle and was free from human interference. No human can enter inside the jungle, thanks to the protection of the forest guards and the wildlife conservation act. But that day, an exception happened, when the entire city was suffering from the problem of Chiseki Pollens, a group of hunters broke into the wildlife century. Their motive was simple, kill as many as they could and load them all in the truck. It was a very special day and once-in-a-lifetime chance. All the forest guards and the officers were called back to the city for rescue operations. No one was there to guard the forest, which was the perfect chance that team Alpha wanted to take advantage of. Team Alpha was a group of hunters specializing in hunting and selling animals. A team of expert poachers, in short. Generally, they hunt whenever they get an order or amission, but that day was special. Observing a golden chance like that, none of them could control their greed. They packed their weapons, checked their traps, and set out their camps to hunt for some wolves. The forest they were currently roaming was a national reserve for arctic wolves. They are often called pr wolves or white wolves found in the Arctic regions of North America and Greend. Thanks to its istion, the Arctic wolf is not threatened by hunting and habitat destruction. A few years ago, ording to a conservation n made by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, Japan was given a few arctic wolves and was asked to raise them at their ce. It was a backup n to save their species from any disease or virus in the near future. If the arctic wolvese to extinction for some reason, then the ones kept in other countries can be used for the revival of the species. Team Alpha started their killing spree around noontime and continued till evening. It was quite a good day for them. In the beginning, they were only setting traps to kill the arctic wolves, but when they found out the wolves were acting strange and weakened for some reason, they started to kill them by hand (With a knife and dagger). The haul was good, the day was good, and the profits were out of their expectations. Everything was going good, and team Alpha was very content that day. They were going to earn billions by selling the furs, ws, teeth, skins, and most importantly, the arctic wolves'' meat. These all things would have happened with them, and they would have be billionaires if not for the misfortune that fell upon them that night. After having their dinner, the members were taking turns in guarding the camp and rest in between. It was already past 11, and Jia, one of the group''s skilled hunters, was guarding their camp alone. While roaming here and there, she heard a squeaking sound from somewhere. At first, she thought she must have been hearing things,ter she realized that sound wasing from somewhere near. After searching here and there and following that sound, she finally found the sound source and hit the second jackpot of the day. Since the inside of the cave was dark, and she didn''t want to alert the wolves by using a torchlight, she sneakily went inside the cave and used her thermal sensing sses to scan the cave inside. Seven baby pups and one big wolf were sleeping soundly at the end of the cave. Though their camp was near, they could not spot it, thanks to all the trees hiding that cave, like a camouge. After giving it some thought, she returned back to the camp and unpacked her weapons for the hunt. They were done for the day and had already packed everything. They were nning to move out of the forest and meet their dealers the following day. Jia equipped herself with her guns and dagger and returned to that cave again. She didn''t wake up the others as she didn''t want to share her profits this time. The preys were baby pups and a mother wolf. She was of the idea that she will kill them in a sh. And this was thest and the most memorable mistake of her life. Like the first time, she sneakily went inside and hid beside a rock to observe her prey. After confirming its safety, she slowly moved forward and lighted up a small bomb in her possession. Her n was simple, throw the bomb and kill everyone in one go. More than the skin and ws, she wanted the meat of those baby pups. She lighted up her bomb and threw it deep into the cave. The mother wolf woke up from its sleep after smelling the odor of the explosives. She started deep in the dark and realized someone had invaded her territory. The explosive was dropped just before her kids, and she had no way to stop it from exploding. Without thinking much, she jumped onto the baby pups and acted as a shield to protect them from the explosion. BOOM!! The noise prevailed throughout the area. The other team members heard the noise and ran towards the source of sound in a hurry. Upon reaching the explosion site, they found out the cause of the explosion and the person behind it. The reason was their TN 36 high power explosives, and the one behind it was none other than Jia, the youngest member of the group. As soon as they reached there, they started the rescue operation. They knew what Jia was up to and why she didn''t call them, but they didn''t give it any thought and started their rescue operation. Things like that were every day urrence in their field field of work, and Jia was still the youngest member amongst them. In the world of magic and magiculus, events like these give birth to legendary mythological beasts, and this time it was the mythical beast, Fenrir. Fenrir, also called Fenrisulfr, a monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. He was the son of the demoniac god Loki and a giantess, Angerboda. Fearing Fenrir''s strength and knowing that only evil could be expected of him, the gods bound him with a magical chain made of the sound of a cat''s footsteps, the beard of a woman, the breath of fish, and other ult elements. When the chain was ced upon him, Fenrir bit off the hand of the god Tyr. He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. ording to one ount, Odin''s son Vidar will avenge his father, stabbing the wolf to the heart and tearing his jaws asunder. Fenrir figures prominently in Norwegian and dic poetry of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the poets speak apprehensively of the day when he will break loose. These are just mythologies of the magicless earth. But the mythologies of the magical earth were a bit different. ording to its mythologies, Fenrir was a mythological beast that fought alongside Indira, the god of rain and thunder. Its contribution to the fourth demonic war was much higher than any other god at that time. Some gods were jealous of his achievements and set a trap for this legendary holy wolf. They lied to him by saying Indra, one of its best friends, is in danger on the other side of the battlefield. The other gods said they can''t go there to his rescue since they have to hold their respective stations. Fenrir understood what they wanted to say and ran to the other side of the battlefield to save his best friend, Indira. But Indira wasn''t there on the other side. It was the base camp of the trickster god Loki. What happened after that can be guessed very easily. Fenrir tried to fight with Loki, the god known for his mischiefs and trickery and got wounded heavily. And what''s more, he fell into an illusion trap at the end. Where he saw Loki as Indiara, his best friend who hase to his rescue. When the real Indira came for his rescue, he saw Fenrir getting along with Loki at the battlefield. It was impossible to kill Fenrir at that time, so he snatched away his divinity and threw him into the mortal world. When Fenrir woke up in the mortal world, it found itself stuck in that realm and unable to cross the realms as it could do before. After wandering here and there for thousands of years, it finally gained a part of its divinity again, by doing virtuous works here and there. The divinity was enough to make him a powerful deity in the mortal world, but not enough to let it jump realms. ording to the old folklore, before dying, Fenrir left a treasure on earth for his descendants. With a will that whoever has the faith will awaken the treasure within. Many historians in the world of magic tried to decode the meaning of his words, but none of them understood its meaning. After removing the debris and rescuing Jia, the other members gave her emergency first aid and asked her why she didn''t inform them about it. They knew the reason was greed, and she wanted to keep the profit up to herself. Even then, they asked her as a formality. Before she replies anything to them, a squeaking sound came from the debris. "Let''s check there, first," said one of the members of the hunting team and searched for the source of that sound. They found one of the pups was lying away from the debris in apletely safe zone after searching here and there. It was neither hurt nor even scratched. When the mother wolf saw the explosive before her- Chapter 65: Luo Rin Chapter 65: Luo Rin She quickly made a decision to save one of the pups and put him in the natural underground bunker nearby. It was big enough that only one of the pups would have fitted there. She didn''t take much time and picked the weakest pups out of them. The one who had been sleeping near her all this time. Members of the team Alpha were astonished upon discovering an alive pup, and that too totally unscratched. Simon, the leader of the group, asked one of the members to bring the pup with them and not to harm it in any way. On the other side of the camp, Luo Rin, team Alpha''s official medic, was giving treatment to their wounded member Jia. If spoken truly, she wasn''t an official member of the group, she was just a poor medical student who had to drop from her university, and the reason was none other than money. All these years, she had been surviving on the money sponsored and awarded by different schrships andpetitions. But she couldn''t hold it any longer when ites to thest year of her studies. The university demanded ten million Japanese yen for covering the fee of an internship trip overseas and the expanses of living there. Luo Rin had already saved up that much from doing part-time work and helping around the professors and doctors in their works and clinics. She would have be a full-fledged doctor with dual specialist degrees in surgery and internal medicine. But fortune wasn''t on her side at that time, and she went through a truck ident. On that day, like the other times, she helped one of her professors in her private clinic and was returning home. On her way back, she bought some meat for her family and was crossing the road when she heard a barking sound from behind. It was one of the puppies kept at the pet stores. Somehow it had escaped the shop and followed her trails, thanks to the meat she was carrying for the night. She had almost crossed the road when the light turned green, and the vehicles at a distance started up their engines. The puppy was still in the middle of the zebra crossing, and it would have safely crossed the road with Luo Rin if not for the interference of a trucking towards it at full speed. Everyone was looking at the puppy and the truck moving towards it. They were of the idea that it would move from the way before the truck reaches near him. But something like that didn''t happen, and Luo Rin knew the reason behind it. When the small puppy heard the noisesing from a distance, it got startled and froze at its ce. It didn''t dare to move from the zebra crossing. It was its first time toe out of its small cage and to witness something like those giant monstrous, sound-making creatures. Luo Rin didn''t think any further and ran towards the puppy to save it from danger. What happened after that is a part of history and the most cliched one. The truck hit the girl, she was sent flying, and obviously, the puppy was saved. Her parents didn''t have enough money for her surgery, so they used up the money that she had been saving for her lifetime. After some months, she recovered back to normal, ready to rock in her internship, but the one thing she was missing at that time was the money for her internship. Every penny of her savings was used up in the treatment. She was left with a zero bnce ount in her bank. In time of her distress, team Alpha reached out to her and proposed to her a contract that she needed that time the most. The terms of the contracts were very clear. She had to follow them around Japan and take care of their health for the next one year. Since they were very famous poachers, governments of different nations had set a bounty on their heads. It wasn''t easy for them to ess health facilities and other institutions freely, likemon people. Rin thought they must be a group of foreigners who wanted to hire her as their private doctor or something like a family doctor during their stay in Japan. She didn''t give it much thought and signed the contract without checking out their backgrounds. Though she got her money in advance, it was alreadyte for her to deposit. The university rmended her to apply next year and drop out till then. If it were any ordinary average skilled student, the professors would have rmended him/her to repeat the year, once again. But here, the person mentioned was Luo Rin, the best medical student of their institution and the multi talented student, versatile in both surgery and internal medicines. Instead of telling her to repeat, they asked her to drop. They rmended her to do some internships within the country. They were even willing to offer her and introduce her to the same, and the condition was she would have to work in the university after graduation as an intern professor for the next three years. They didn''t want to let go of a prodigy like her, and we''re trying every possible means to let her stay as their institution. She had already nned up everything, which involved applying for the overseas internship followed by her graduation. At the same time, she was nning to work as a personal doctor for team Alpha and do the other internships offered by her professors. Some days ago, she got a call from team Alpha, asking her to travel outside of the city. They didn''t tell her anything in detail and instead gave her a vague exnation about their work. They told her they were going to do some work outside the city and may need medical assistance in case someone gets injured. As asked by them, she traveled to the mentioned location and was received by one group member. Till then, she was unaware about them and their work. All she knew was their group name, team Alpha. Back to the current situation, she was treating Jia with her hands shaking in fear. Never did she expect that her employers were a bunch of poachers and that too famous ones. It was pretty much of a torture to see all those arctic wolves getting killed for a soft-hearted girl like her before her eyes. It was a new experience for her and something that she would never forget in her life. Though she was against it, she didn''t convey the same to team Alpha. Chapter 66: YOU SON OF DEVIL! Chapter 66: YOU SON OF DEVIL! She was afraid if they can kill that many wolves mercilessly, then what''s a human before them? Just another animal that works on two legs instead of four! She was putting up a tough front on the outside but was devastated from the inside. When the day came to an end, she went inside her camp and asked the others not to disturb her, not even for dinner. The others understood what she was going through. It was her first time to witness something like killing animals, and allowed her some time alone. All she could do inside was to sob to her heart''s content and let it out in one go. When she heard the sound of an explosion, she wiped her tears and rushed out of her camp. The others also got alerted and hurried out from their sleeping bags. "Miss. Rin, please stay on standby," ordered Simon, the leader of the group, and afterward headed towards the source of that sound, along with his other members. After discovering the copsed cave and Jia under the debris, they rescued her and gave her some emergency first aid on the spot. Later they sent her to the camp to get treated by Miss. Luo Rin. Though the other team members were irritated, they were somewhat happy too. Irritated because of that, Jia kiddo their peaceful sleep was disturbed. And happy because they got another big, arctic wolf and its kids on their profit. "Simon, those wolfs are already half burned. I don''t think they will be edible after few hours." Said one of the group members. "Yes, boss, we should just do a small barbeque party here and dispose them into our stomachs." "Hateful!! All you can think of is food, meat, and barbeques. Last time you told the same, and we ended up eating that mountain bear by ourselves." "No boss, this time I also agree with them," Intervened another girl from behind. Blonde hair, diamond-shaped face, and long sharp nails (Thanks to the beauty treatment called nail extension). This beauty of the group was known by the name Sk. The one and only lover and girlfriend of Simon. Both of them were in their mid-twenties and were nning to get married after this mission. The other members were also aware of their love affairs, but they pretend as if they had no clues about it on the surface. Sk was carrying the baby pup in her hands and was caressing him like her own baby. The pup''s fur was soft enough that she was getting addicted to them. Deep inside, she had developed an urge to keep the pup as her pet. Seeing even Sk was suggesting a barbecue, Simon couldn''t deny any further and agreed with them on their proposal. The baby pup was still inside its warm dreams, spending time with its mother and its creator. Suddenly, a chilling sensation ran through its body, a devious voice sounded in its ear, "Wake up, my descendent. Wake up. Summon your willpower, and use my spirit. Wake up, my descendent, wake up!!" The baby pup quivered and started to make squeaking noises in fear. Since its birth, it had seen the mother wolf and its other siblings only once. All this time, the baby pup was sleeping near its mother and trying to gain strength for walking. The next time it opened its eyes, he saw something terrible that no kid should watch on opening his/her eyes. One of the poachers was butchering his mother, while another poacher was cutting his siblings into pieces. Seeing the scene before the baby pup was thrown into shock. His mind went nk. He had no idea who were those people, and why they were cutting his siblings. When he saw its mother''s skin peeled out of her body, it started toprehend everything. The knowledge of the Divine Beast began to unfold in his mind. This time, the Mythological Divine Beast Fenrir bestowed his power on the small pup and made him underwent rapid growth. Suddenly Sk felt as if the puppy became heavy, and a chilling sensation ran through her spine. Before she could look at the pup in her hands, one of the team members shouted in agitation, "SK RUN! THROW THAT PUP AND RUN!!" Sk was taken aback by such action. She didn''t know what was happening and why her team members asked her to run. Before she could give it some thought, Simon and other team members joined up and shouted like the previous one, "SK THROW THAT SON OF A DEVIL AND RUN!!" Seeing their faces covered with sweats, Sk felt as if something was wrong. Earlier she was of the idea that they were pulling some sort of prank on her. But after Simon joined up telling her the same, she felt it wasn''t a prank anymore. While she was immersed in her contemtion, a bone piercing pain brought her back to reality, "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. She jolted the pup in her hand to have a look at the source of the pain. She already had a hunch about that pain. The little pup was the one to inflict a bite on her. She raised her right hand and had a look at its condition. She was expecting a small bite mark and some bleeding here and there. But the reality came out to be very different. Her entire hand was chopped off from her wrist. Blood was gushing out of it like water from a fountain. But she was unable to feel the pain anymore. Bang!! Bang!! Simon fired the shotgun in the air. The first shot was a sign for everyone in the camp. That something happened on their side, and they need emergency backup as soon as possible. The rest of the members hurriedly picked up their weapons and ran towards the source of that firing sound. "YOU SON OF DEVIL! HOW DARE YOU-" Bang!! Chapter 67: RUN! GUYS RUN!! SIMON RUN!! Chapter 67: RUN! GUYS RUN!! SIMON RUN!! Simon fired another bullet, pointing it towards the baby pup. The pup jumped to his side and dodged the bullet with absolute ease. It was Simon''s first time to see an animal who dodged his bullet like a human. ''No, it must be his animal instinct. Such creatures don''t have any intelligence. It must be his luck or just by chance, hmm.'' Simon pondered over it for a second, then shot another bullet towards the baby pup. And like the first time, the pup dodged it by jumping towards his side. The other two team members observed the baby pup''s movements and determined it wasn''t a dumb creature like the others. It had some intelligence like humans. One of them nodded head to the other and pulled out the gun from his pocket. Bang!! This time the one firing the bullet wasn''t Simon. Instead, it was one of his teammates. As expected, the pup jumped to his right to dodge the bullet. And this was what they wanted. Some seconds ago, they made a n to distract the pup with a bullet, and when it jumps to its side, another will throw a butchering knife to get it off guard. As nned, before the moment the pupnded on the ground, another member threw one of the butchering knives that he was using before. Bullseye!! Shouted the one with knives. He had confidence in his skills and was optimistic that his knife will pierce through the target. But again, little did he know at that time, the pup had received the Supreme Blessings of a Divine God. The knife hit the target as predicted, but it didn''t pierce the pup as expected. Everyone present there was shocked. Sk was lying close to the pup, squawking and screaming in pain. Earlier, when she saw her cut-off hand, she didn''t feel any pain. The reason was very simple, her nervous system and receptors weren''t that fast to react to the pup''s action. A few secondster, her brain recognized the damage inflicted on the body and sent signals of pain. At this time, others were making the n of distracting and throwing the knife. The knife hit the pup on its head. But before piercing through his body, it froze up and was shattered into pieces. Sk was the one who saw this thing from near and recognized the crescent moon mark on his head. "RUN! GUYS RUN!! SIMON RUN!!" Though she was feeling the pain, she didn''t care about it anymore and asked the others to flee. The crescent moon sign disappeared after the knife was shattered. It was on the pup''s head just for a few seconds. And those few seconds were enough to give out a sinister feeling that Sk had never felt before. More than her own life, she became concerned about the others. Sk was acting weird for sure, and only she was aware of the reason. Others had no idea what she was up to and why she was telling them to flee. Now that they had ceased fire, pup took the chance and decided to take them down, one by one. Grhhhh~~!! He made an intimidating sound and plunged towards the member holding the knife. "Ron, be careful of that little devil!" Simon warned him beforehand. Ron was the name of the member holding the knives before. He was holding the knife with its edge out, nning to stab the small pup on its back. But then again, he wasn''t aware of the Fenrir Blessings, and that was thest mistake of his life. The pup was at a distance of five meters from Ron. He was sure it would be sure kill and the end of that little devil. The tiny pup was moving toward his prey with the help of his small paws when suddenly, an ice blizzard formed out of nowhere. And to everyone''s astonishment, the blizzard didn''t harm them in any way. Instead, it was getting concentrated around the pup. Judging from the view, Simon and the others figured out somehow that pup was attracting the blizzard towards him. "Bad luck of that little devil," Ron muttered with sympathy. They were getting ready to take Sk and leave that ce when the blizzard became more violent, uprooting the trees around them. "Return back to the camp. I will join you shortly with Sk." The other two obeyed Simon''smand and were heading towards the camp when Ron screeched out for some reason. The other member ahead of Ron turned around timorously to find his friend lying on the ground, with a sharp-edged ice piece piercing his stomach. Blood was gushing out from hisrade''s body, and he had no idea what to do in that situation. Whether to run away from the blizzard or save his woundedrade. Before he could take any action, another piece of sharp ice came out of the blizzard and pierced him on his left thigh. Aaah!! Simon was trying to cover the distance between him and Sk when he heard the groans of his team members. ''Shit, shit, shit! Looks like something happened on their side.'' Unaware of the fact that hisrades were on the verge of death, Simon was trying his best to cross the blizzard and reach Sk on the other side. Suddenly, the blizzard stopped, and the surrounding became silent again. Everyone''s eyes were wide opened. Simon, Sk, Ron None of them were able to believe their eyes. The cute little pup was gone. It wasn''t there anymore. And instead of it was standing a big white-furred wolf. It wasn''t moving from its ce nor attacking the killer of its family. Simon was getting an ominous feeling: if they do not get out of that ce, they will be ughtered for sure. Judging from the figure of the wolf, it was approximately 2.8 meters in height. Simr to that of an Asian elephant. One stomp, and they will be dead. Chapter 68: Triggered Chapter 68: Triggered Sk wanted to screech out again and ask the others to run without her, but when the blizzard calmed down, and the surrounding became visible, she no longer had the gut to say so. Reason number one was the gigantic figure standing just at a distance from her. She didn''t want to shout and be the first one to get stomped by that giant Great Wolf. Reason number second was the condition of herrades that was beyond the point of helping at that time. Ron and the other teammate were bleeding heavily. Judging from the severity of the wounds, they would need emergency surgery to stabilize their situations. If not, then there is no hope for them. On the other hand, Simon had utterly lost his senses before the majestic figure, and the absolute power of the Great Wolf all he could see was despair, despair, and despair! He was already aware of their end and epted that they have no way to escape from there. Amidst his contemtion, a bullet sound echoed in the air, dragging him out back to his current situation. The bullet was fired by a semi-automatic Ak47, and the one firing the shot was none other than his teammates. It was a basic protocol set by the team leader to fire a series of bullets before reaching an emergency site. The motive was to fend away the wild animals (if there are any). But little did they know at that time that there wasn''t any wild animal in the first ce, and waiting for them was a gigantic divine beast. If it were any other asion or other situation Simon would have been happy after hearing the noises of the bullet firings, but right now, he was greeting his teeth and cursing his teammates deep inside, ''Mothe**fckers! Don''t fire the bullets randomly, and try to observe the situation here. If I die now, I swear I will hunt you down by bing a ghost.'' The bullet firing sound was getting louder as the members of his team were getting closer. At one point, Simon''s heartbeat stopped for a second when the great Wolf before him red in his direction. "Shit, I am dead. I am dead. I am dead!" Simon was repeating those lines again and again. He had a shotgun on him with plenty of bullets to take down a gigantic elephant. But for some reason, he had lost his courage to do so. The Great Wolf before him was emitting a prideful and majestic aura. Not only that, but he was also getting shivers and ominous feelings after seeing the crescent moon mark on the forehead of that great Great Wolf. ''A prideful king with a devil soul'' was the phraseing to his mind. Just when he was submerging deep into his contemtion, his teammates arrived on time and gave him another heart attack by firing directly at the Great Wolf from a distance. Bam! Bam! Bam! At this point, even Ron and Sk were cursing in their heart, ''Barbeque fckers don''t shoot at that great Great Wolf randomly. You have ns to visit the graves? Sure, go on. Don''t drag us in with you!'' Sia, one of the female members of the team and the cousin sister of Jia, was firing bullets at the Great Wolf with a semi-automatic Ak47. She was one of those characters who kill first then ask herself the reason for her action. Upon seeing a big white-furred wolf, her vision became focused on her prey. She didn''t consider nor observe the situation around her. All she was doing at that time was to fire at the Great Wolf from a different position. The other members were aware of her frenzy behavior and took the chance to reach near their wounded members. Two of the girls reach out near Sk. Another two reached out near Simon, and the rest went near the two severely injured members. The two girls didn''t know what happened there and how Sk lost her hand, but they were sure the wound wasn''t inflicted by that great Great Wolf. If it were that great Great Wolf then Sk wouldn''t have been alive by them. "Ahem, Sk that wou-" Before one shepletes her sentence Sk raised her hand and pointe it towards that Great Wolf. The female teammate wanted to ask her the reason, but Sk didn''t wait for her to beat around the bush and directly told them the reason. Their eyes widened with astonishment. Now that they were seeing it before their eyes, they realized its size wasparable to any Asian elephant. "Oh, my holy shit!" Eximed one of the team members helping Ron and his other teammate, "That Great Wolf is a fcking monster. How in the world did it grow thatrge?" Ron somewhat knew the answer and eagerly wanted to spit it out before his teammates, but he was not in the correct state to do so. While they were busy dealing with the Great Wolf, Luo Rin, their personal doctor, was applying medicines on Jia, the group''s youngest member. After giving her proper treatment and applying ointment, she went out of her tent and let Jia rest inside. Luo Rin wanted some water for Jia and went out of her camp to ask for water. But to her surprise, not a single member was there. The campsite waspletely empty. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bam! Bam! Bam! Luo Rin jumped back upon hearing the firing sound and tripped over her feet to fall back on the ground. "Aaah~" She groaned in pain and stood up as soon as possible. Judging from the sound, she was sure the poachers had gone for another round of hunting. Though she was feeling bad for the wolves, she was helpless like the other creatures. She had to pay the intern fee, and team Alpha was sponsoring that money for her. She had to work for them for an entire year without any failure. While she was reminiscing about the past events, something weird happened inside her, and her body began to glow. She was trying her best to understand the situation, but the current phenomena were something out of her expertise. She was trying to control the light, but to her despair, it wasn''t stopping at all. Instead, it was glowing brighter and brighter. ''What could be the reason for this light on my body?!'' Luo Rin questioned herself in a severe tone. ''Is it soul awakening? Or an evolution?! No, no, no wait Stop getting funny ideas, stop getting funny ideas!!'' Luo Rin was a serious student from the very beginning of her academic years. In her entire academic year, she had followed the same routine till her graduation. Wake up early in the morning, do some workout, yoga followed by stretches. After that, a shower, breakfast, then directly to the school. In school, she was a nerd girl who was found with a book all the time. Be it sports day or annual function or cultural festival, she always had a book in her hands. The same trend followed till universityst year, and it would have continued for a lifetime if not for the ident she went through. After the ident, she was advised five months of bed rest and four months rehabilitation period. She was feeling bored all this time. She even asked the nurse and doctor to provide her with some medical books, only to be denied strictly by the doctor. ording to them, during these nine months, she wasn''t allowed to put any stress on her brain. It was yet another dull day when a TON (Typical Otaku Nurse) entered into her life. Seeing the patient was getting bored, she lent her a manga from her collection. Since she had nothing to read, Luo Rin took on the book and gave it a read. As the story progresses, her interest developed even more in such genres. Back to her current situation, her condition was somewhat simr to the symptoms written in that book. It was a manga describing the evolution of humankind. A holy light wasing out of her body, and she was feeling as light as a feather. Her body was experiencing something that she had never felt before. Back to the main plot, Xin was almost done with his job. From thest few hours, he had been supplying the Asclepius twins with plenty of Magiculus Particles. Since they had just awakened from their sleep, they had little to no power in their body. But after devouring all the magiculus fed to them, their power was recovering slowly. At one point, they couldn''t devour anymore and had to undergo an unnned breakthrough. The moment this phenomenon happened, a virtuous light spread throughout the city. No one knew the source of the light, nor they wanted to know at the time of a crisis. But suddenly they felt a warmth from this light. Citizens throughout the city were suffering from coughs and blood coughs, but when this light fell on them they got a sense of relief in their minds. It wasn''t a permanent reliefe, but was more than enough for the patients on thest stage of the blood coughs. The same light also fell on Luo Rin, and triggered. Chapter 69: Sekhmet Chapter 69: Sekhmet The Divine Spirit inside her. Sleeping inside was a Divine Deity known by the name of Sekhmet. The Egyptian lion goddesses and the goddesses of healing. This was a Chain Resonance Phenomenon where awakening and breakthrough of one Divine Spirit leads to the awakening of other Divine Spirits around it. The reason it got triggered was simple. The Asclepius twins were mainly known for their healing attributes, and Sekhmet was also known for her healing attributes. When the spirit inside Luo Rin sensed the power of the Asclepius twins, it got the signal that the right time hase for it to enter the new world and help out its owner. Many things were happening at the same time. On one side, Xin was trying to recharge those snakes with magiculus particles, while on the other side, Luo Rin had unknowingly awakened her powers. Jia, the youngest and the wounded member of the group, was resting inside her tent when she saw a dazzling lighting from the outside. She was sure it wasn''t a fire nor the dazzling sunlight of the day, ''Then what could be the source of this light?'' She pondered deep inside. Without wasting much time in contemtion, she got up from her bed and tried to have a look at the campsite. She wanted to go out and check personally, but her body wasn''t in a condition to do so. "Holy Shit!!" She blurted out in fear. Standing before her was a big giant with the head of a lioness and the body of a human. And this giant was the reason for the light invading inside her tent. She had no idea what that thing was and where its origin was. But she knew one thing for sure, that she mustn''t show any hostile behavior towards it. The spirit of Sekhmet was releasing a unique light healing flora and fauna around it. And Jia was not an exception in it. Just bying in contact with that light, Jia''s wound started healing at a faster rate than before. Just a minute ago, she was having difficulty sitting and walking around, but after getting basked in that light, she had recovered enough to jump around and gobble up the food near her. She wanted to go out and bask her entire body in that light, but for some reason, her instinct was telling her not to do so. If the Asclepius twins were known for their kind and gentle healing, Sekhmet was known for her brutal and aggressive healing. She was one of those spirits who would harm her patients, even more to cure them of their wounds and diseases. Sekhmet also had a strong sense of justice in her heart. Before healing any patient, she would check her life record and weigh the points of her good deeds and bad deeds. If the person has virtue is negative then forget healing she would harm them even more and may end up killing that person in that process. And if that person has enough good deeds, she would harm them even more to give them a perfect recovery from their diseases. Whether you are good or bad doesn''t matter if someone went near her for healing that that person would get tortured for sure, be it a virtuous person or a devilish. Jia wasn''t aware of all those things, but her hunter instinct was telling her not to go near that thing. Go near, and your death will be inevitable. As she was pondering what to do next, a warm, gentle light passed through her body, making her feel drowsy. This was the light containing the gentle blessings of the Asclepius twins. "Wahh~~!!" She eximed in a low voice. Her entire body waspletely healed. Any sort of remaining pain vanished aftering in contact with that light. She wasn''t sure about the origin of that second light, but she was sure of one thing, that it was way much gentle and heartwarming than before. Amidst her contemtion, the light began to dim away, and the giant started to disappear in the air. The surroundings became apparent, and the small, timid figure of Luo Rin became visible. Jia was astonished when she spotted their private doctor in the middle of the camp, where the giant was standing earlier. ording to her spection, either that girl was a goddess sent from heaven or been possessed by a divine deity. Now that the gigantic figure was gone, she could have gone near her and ask her about that healing ray, but for some reason, Jia could feel an oppressive aura around Luo Rin. She was afraid if she goes now, she may get more wounded than her previous time. Believe it, or not her spections were precisely on point. At that time, Luo Rin was not in her senses. It was the Egyptian Spirit Sekhmet who had taken possession of her body temporarily. A few minutes ago, when the spirit awoke from its deep slumber, it happened to sense its friend Fenrir nearby. And after having a look at the situation, she understood the situation around his friend Fenrir. She deduced that the baby pup had inherited the power of the Great Fenrir. And was undergoing the process of soul integration. On the other side of the forest, when the giant projection of Sekhmet appeared, the other members of the team witnessed its power, including Ron, Simon, and Sk. All their wounds werepletely cured, and the bleeding from earlier stopped all of a sudden. If it were someone else, he or she would have started praying to that projection. But for Simon and his team, they were praying no matter what happens, that thing shouldn''te near them. Jia was looking at that gigantic projection from its backside and had no idea about its facial expressions. But that was not the case with Simon and his group, who were directly looking at the face of the projection. Red eyes, lion head, and a devilish expression. More than enough material to make them tremble at their ces. The Sekhmet projection didn''t have any expression like that in the beginning. But when it sensed its friend Fenrir and got to know its situation, her expression changed, and she started releasing an oppressive aura. Sekhmet''s will to help Fenrir was strong enough that she took over Luo Rin''s body temporarily. Jia wasn''t trying to approach Luo Rin and was observing her from a distance. Hush!! Her figure disappeared in the thin air. Jia, who was keeping an eye on her, got baffled by this. Hurriedly she put on her jacket and went to the ce where Luo Rin was standing earlier. "The fck," She cursed out, "Where is that girl now?" Though she was curious about that projection, she was also worried about Luo Rin. She was observing her from the beginning and realized Luo Rin was a timid kiddo like her. To be precise, as she used to be in the past. Jia and Luo Rin were in the same age group, but one became brave with time while the other was still a timid kiddo. On the other side of the forest, the Giant Wolf was looking up towards the night sky with a dazed expression on its face. As if it was waiting for something or waiting for somebody. Shush!! Luo Rin, currently possessed by Sekhmet, reached near the ce where Simon and his team members were standing in a daze. They had been sucked out of their strength after witnessing the devious expression of the projection. No one was making a sound or any movements. All of them were standing still at their ces. When Luo Rin came into their sight, Simon was the first to recover and went near her running with hopes. "Miss Rin, you came at the right time. Please have a look at Sk and the others," Simon pleaded with agitation. Luo Rin didn''t reply anything to him and just nodded her head to agree to his request. Seeing the arrival of their personal doctor Simon took a breath of relief. He sat down on the ground and let Luo Rin treat her girlfriend Sk. Sk was also feeling a sense of relief upon the arrival of their personal doctor when she suddenly felt something was wrong with her. Her hunter instinct was alerting her that instead of a doctor, a predator wasing near her. Like Jia, Sk was also observing Luo Rin since the time she joined her team. ording to her, she was a timid kiddo who excels at medical studies and practicals. She used to give out an aura of love andpassion, but the Luo Rin before her was giving out the feeling of dominance and oppression. The others hadn''t felt that oppression yet, and Sk was the only one to get a hunch about it. She didn''t state it before anyone but was waiting for Luo Rin to show her true colors. Chapter 70: The moon came near Chapter 70: The moon came near Luo Rin went near Sk and picked up her right hand at a distance. She was staring at it as if it was the hand of an alien species. "Hmm" Luo Rin was pondering something when Simon went running near him and asked with a deep voice, "Miss Rin, do you think you can re-attach her hand? It''s not been an hour yet and orrdi-" before he says something else, Luo Rin ced her finger on his lips and asked Simon to keep quiet. "Mr. Simon, let me do my job. And you do yours." Simon was taken aback by her reply. It was well known to everyone that Luo Rin was a timid kiddo. On their first meet too, they had to face a lot of trouble talking with her. Because she was staggering repetitively while talking with the strangers. Her cold answer and her facial expression assured Simon that Luo Rin was a pro in her profession. Though timid, she knows what''s the right thing to do in a situation like that. After picking up the detached hand, she didn''t return near Sk; instead went near Ron and the other teammate, who was heavily wounded earlier. Thanks to the healing ray from before, their condition was a bit stabilized. But they still needed some form of emergency treatment on the spot. "Hmm" Luo Rin started to ponder again. Seeing their doc wasn''t saying anything, Ron became impatient and asked Rin with some difficulty, "Miss Rin, dooo. You think I will sur" before he asks out his question, he ran out of his breath. Rin nodded her head and replied, "Survive or not?" "Yea, yes," Ron replied while pointing her eyes towards the wound on his body. Luo Rin didn''t reply to his question and instead turned towards the Great Wolf, staring at the night sky. Until then, everyone was forgetting the fact that the Great Wolf was still there, and the danger hasn''t been avoided yet. For some reason, when they saw their doctor, they became off guard and forgot about the current matters at hand. "Shit!! How could we forget about that devil?! It''s still here. The son of devil is still here! Miss Rin, let''s evacuate this ce first." Simon said in a loud voice. He was in a haste to leave that ce as soon as possible. He didn''t know what that giant creature was? And how in the world it came into existence But he was sure of one thing that it''s a good chance for them to escape. If not now, they won''t be able to do so in the uing future. Once again, Luo Rin didn''t reply and just nodded her head to agree on his request. Simon turned around and was heading towards Sk when Luo Rin tossed him the detached hand and asked to keep it safe for her. Simon wasn''t sure what her intention was. But he did as he was asked to and wrapped it in a piece of cloth. Within the span of a few seconds, everyone, including the wounded members were ready to depart from that ce, leaving that Wolf alone in that ce. They were almost halfway to the camp when Sk felt something was wrong, and they were missing one member. As taught before, they did a quick member count and realized no one was missing there. Sk muttered with confusion, "That''s weird! I feel like we are missing someone." Simon wasn''t sure why she was feeling so but was sure she cannot be wrong. "Wait, let me count again. We have all the nine members and our doc-" "That''s it!" Ron intervened in between. "Miss Luo Rin! She isn''t here!!" "Fck! For god''s sake, where is that timid kiddo now? Did she stay with that Wolf to get eaten by it?!" Simon passed on thisment. Though he said it in a joking manner, no one, literally no one,ughed at hisment. Luo Rin was a valuable asset for them. Especially in a time when their team members were heavily injured and wounded. Observing no oneughed at his joke and instead staring him back with expectations, Simon got pissed and said, "Okay, okay! I will bring her back. Wait for me here." "Good," Skmented on his reply. While the others nodded head with appreciation. Back on the site Luo Rin was standing close to the Great Wolf and was caressing him on its back. Though Simon was a bit irritated, he went near that copsed cave again and searched for their timid doctor Miss Luo Rin. "Miss Rin, miss Luo Rin, where are you? Can you hear my voice? If yes, then please reply." He wasn''t shouting with a loud voice but still was loud enough to be audible by Luo Rin if she were near. Simon was avoiding the ce where the Giant Wolf was standing. The reason behind it was very simple. First, he didn''t want to be killed by that monster, and second, the most obvious why enter the danger zone if you search for her in a safe ce. But to his despair, he couldn''t find her in that safe area. It was hisst option to enter that danger zone. He had to do so because Luo Rin was nowhere to be found. Upon entering that ce, he spotted a girl in a whiteb coat standing near the Great Wolf while caressing on its back. He didn''t want to believe his eyes even then. He had to believe in them. Cause the girl standing near the Great Wolf was none other than Luo Rin. "Shit, has that girl gone mad?" It was hard to believe on his part that the timid girl of their group was standing near a ferocious beast without any fear in her body. ''Isn''t she afraid of dying?'' Whatever was the reason Simon was not willing to go near that Great Wolf. "Miss Luo Rin, miss Rin!" This time he shouted on top of his lungs. As the leader of the team and the current employer of Luo Rin, it was his duty and obligation to keep her away from all sorts of dangers. He shouted again and again, called her name again and again only to be ignored by her every time. Simon was reaching the limits of his patience at one point. He was thinking of went near and drag her out from there. But he shook off the idea after seeing the gigantic Wolf beside her. Till then, Luo Rin wasn''t showing any movements. She was just caressing the Great Wolf on its back. But suddenly, something happened, and she pointed her hands towards the dark night sky. Not a single star was there, and everything was being hidden by the clouds. Luo Rin pointed her hand towards the night sky and started to move her fingers weirdly. Simon wanted to intervene Luo Rin and wanted to ask what she was doing there. He was about to cover the distance between them when he felt an ominous auraing out of Luo Rin. Gradually the clouds in the night sky started to clear out, and the stars became visible to the naked eyes. Simon was bbergasted by this scenario when something even more astonishing happened before his eyes. He clearly remembered it was a new moon day, and the illuminated part of the moon was supposed to face towards the sun. But for some reason, a giant moon appeared out of nowhere on that day. Even more surprising fact: Judging from Luo Rin''s finger movement, Simon felt as if Luo Rin was pulling the moon towards them. At this point, Simon wanted to run away from there. He had a hunch that neither the doctor nor the Great Wolf was ordinary. Who would say a doctor ordinary after she pulls in a moon out of nowhere and that too on a new moon day. He wanted to evacuate from that ce as soon as possible, but to his misery, his legs were not working anymore. They were frozen at the ce where he was standing. On that day, something special happened throughout the. Though the moon came very near to the, none of the cities or viges were getting illuminated by its lunar light. All the lights were being concentrated at a single point on the. And that ce was none other than the ce where Luo Rin and the Great Wolf were standing together. Witnessing all these phenomena from a distance, Simon was afraid and astonished at the same time. Scared with the thought that the Wolf will kill him soon. And amazed by observing the never seen magical phenomenon before his eyes. As the lunar light fell on the Great Wolf, its milk-white furs started to glow blue. Not only the Wolf but Luo Rin also started to go blue. The ominous feeling from before was decreasing gradually, and a warm, gentle feeling was spreading in that area. Chapter 71: He was gagged with a sword.... Chapter 71: He was gagged with a sword.... Once again, Simon was bbergasted by seeing this phenomenon before him. ''Just what in the world is going on here?'' Was the question in his mind. While he was busy contemting about it, the Great Wolf suddenly started howling, "Awoooooooooooo~~." Hearing the howling, not only Simon but also the other members felt a tremor in their hearts. They felt as if it was a warning that the Great Wolf will gonna hunt soon. And the howl was a message conveying to them his arrival. "Shit, shit, shit! I don''t care about that girl anymore. I am leaving!!" Simon was turning around for his great escape when someone ces a hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Simon, team leader. Where you going? Why in a hurry?!" Simon turned around realized it was their timid doctor, miss Luo Rin. For some reason, he was feeling a different vibe around her. As if she wasn''t the Luo Rin they used to know. Even though he was feeling all these, he didn''t state it before her and asked in a polite voice, "Miss Rin, what were you doing there with that devil wolf? Aren''t you afraid that it will kill you?" "Why should I be afraid of my friend?" Luo Rin replied with a smile. Yet again, Simon felt it deep inside his heart. That something is wrong with this Luo Rin. To test his spection, Simon asked her another question. "Miss Rin, tell me. ording to the rules of our group, what should you do if one of our group members gets injured in between a hunting mission?" "Huh, what type of question is that?" Luo Rin asked with confusion. Listening to her reply, Simon felt a little relieved. The timid girl from before hasn''t changed at all. ''I must be imaging things due tock of sleep.'' Simon was conveying this when Luo Rin went near him and said, "Isn''t it obvious kill that member followed by other members." Hearing this reply, a chilling sensation ran down his spine. Before he could do anything, BANG! A bullet was fired in the air. Simon turned around in a hurry and found out Sk was the one who fired the bullet towards him. It didn''t hurt him but passed at a very close distance from his ear. One mistake, and his ear would have been shattered to pieces. Simon gulped the chunk forming in his mouth then asked with a trembling voice, "Sk, why did you fire the bullet towards me?!" Sk didn''t reply to his question and instead fired another bullet that passed near his ears. At this point, Simon was doubting the sanity of his girlfriend. ''Why in the world is she firing towards me?'' was the doubt in his mind. One more thing he observed was the behavior of his other members. They were quietly standing beside Sk, giving her their utmost support. A thought came to his mind, ''Are they trying to kill me and take my part of the money?'' But he dismissed this thought as soon as possible after remembering the loyalty of his team members. His team members were more like a family to him. ''Then what could be the rea-'' amidst his pondering, a voice rang in his ears, "Simon, run! Run from there!! Both of them are monsters." Simon didn''t know they were asking him to run. He didn''t give it a second thought and ran towards his teammates from there. "Aaah!" Simon groaned with pain. He was very close to reaching his friends when something happened, and he fell to the ground. There wasn''t any rock or trap to make him lose his bnce, then what could be the reason While he was thinking about it, a sharp pain kicked in from his button part. Simon looked down and. "A monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. He was the son of the demoniac god Loki and a giantess, Angerboda. Fearing Fenrir''s strength and knowing that only evil could be expected of him, the gods bound him with a magical chain made of the sound of a cat''s footsteps, the beard of a woman, the breath of fish, and other ult elements. When the chain was ced upon him, Fenrir bit off the hand of the god Tyr." "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. ording to one ount, Odin''s son Vidar will avenge his father, stabbing the wolf to the heart and tearing his jaws asunder. Fenrir figures prominently in Norwegian and dic poetry of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the poets speak apprehensively of the day when he will break loose." And found one of his legs was missing. In the meantime, Luo Rin was chanting and narrating some weird tales to everyone. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him." "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him." "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him." At one point, voices started to echo in the surrounding. The same tale of ''He was gagged with a sword'' had been reverberating in the entire forest. Even Jia sleeping inside her camp, could hear the reverberation from inside. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. "Gahhhhhh!! Just what the hell is going on here?!" Jia shouted with irritation. She was having a nice sleep when this Sword Gagged tale disturbed her sleep. At one point, she was thinking of shooting down that person reading this again and again. Simon wanted to screech out in pain. He was missing one of his legs, but after listening to the reverberation, only one thing wasing to his mind, ''Please, kill me! Somebody kill me!'' The pain from the wound wasn''t severe enough, like the pain he was getting after hearing that reverberation. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. "He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnark (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. ording to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. "Shit, shit, shit!!" Ron cursed in anger. Like Simon, he was also severely wounded, but after gearing that reverberation, the pain from the wound became negligible, and the pain from hearing became severe. The one who was chanting this tale was none other than Luo Rin, and the one mentioned in the story was none other than the Great Wolf standing near her. For the past half an hour, the wolf was waiting for the moon to show up. Chapter 72: Its a type of super explosive Chapter 72: It''s a type of super explosive Now that the moon had shown up in the night sky and that too on a new moon day, Great Wolf was taking this chance and absorbing lunar light to unlock his dormant powers. This was the very reason for his body glowing blue. The same was also applicable for Luo Rin or rather the spirit insider her. Sekhmet was absorbing the pure lunar light and using it to break through from her current level. Back to the plot, the tale of the Fenrir was reverberating throughout the jungle. Not a single ce was devoid of this voice. Luo Rin was narrating it repeatedly to tell the world about the birth of a new King. Since ancient times Divine Beats were categorized into many types, and the Kings were the ones standing on the top of a particr species. A few moments ago, Sk was firing bullets towards Simon, and Simon had no idea why she was doing so. It was Luo Rin. All this time, she was aiming for Luo Rin. The timid girl wasn''t the same anymore. Now she had ahead of a lion and a hollow behind her head. All in all an Egyptian Goddesses descended on earth. Sk wasn''t aware of that creature''s intention, but she was convinced enough, if let loose, it will kill every member of their team. The turn of events was getting weirder and weirder. Their day started with ample good luck and was ending with tons of bad luck. First, Jia got caught in an ident, then Sk followed by the other two members of the group. Now their personal doctor was acting weird. Strange phenomena were happening around them, and they had no idea what in the world they should do in a situation like that. Besides all these, the Last Boss of the plot, Great Wolf, hadn''t taken any actions yet. It was busy recovering its power from the lunar energy. At a time like this, another misfortune fell on them, and Simon loses his right leg. A few moments ago, when he was running towards his gang, Sekhmet condensed oppressive lunar energy on her hands and threw it towards Simon. After losing a leg, Simon wasn''t in a state to groan or screech from the pain. With some difficulty, he turned around and saw the ferocious lion-headed girl who inflicted the wound on her. The damage was irreversible. He knew it well. So instead of groaning, he snatched the AK47 from Sia and started firing towards Luo Rin. The expectation was to roast her with bullets, but reality came out to be different than his expectation. Forget roasting; the bullets couldn''t even touch her. All the bullets were cut into two before reaching near her body. And the one behind this action wasn''t Luo Rin. It was the Great Wolf. His time in seclusion was over. It was time for him to show his powers to the world. Sekhmet nodded their head and let the Great Wolf take on from there. In the meantime, she sat cross-legged on the ground and started preparation for her breakthrough. Awoooooooooo!! His howl was enough to gather all the arctic wolves all around the jungle. Just within few minutes, thousands of wolves gathered behind him. If it were any other asion, team Alpha would have started their work of killing and butchering the wolves. But the current situation at hand was forcing them to control their greed and think of a way out of there. Seeing all those wolfs before her, Sia was getting ready to fire at them. She was well loaded with bullets and ammunition. She was just about to start when Sk stopped her from firing. "Give me all the bullets and ammunition!" Simon ordered in a pissed-off voice. Usually, Simon was a chill guy. Never shout or get angry on his team members, But this time was different. He was thinking of the best way of survival. And that was to let them escape while he will stay behind and buy time for them. Fighting that Great Wolf was totally out of the question. Earlier Sia was firing bullets at him only to get crushed into powder. "Can''t you hear me, Sia!! Give me those god damn ammunitions." Sia got startled by Simon''s behavior. She was about to pass him the ammunition when Sk stopped her from doing so. She already had a hunch about his idea. She didn''t want him to go for the let-me-be-the-sacrifice way. She was wracking her brain and was trying to find an optimum solution out of there. Suddenly an idea shed in her mind. A n that will let them escape safely and that too without any sacrifice. "Simon, I already know what you are thinking. But why go for that way if I have a better way to escape." Hearing Sk, the others also got a hint of their leader''s n. And with all honesty, they didn''t want to follow that n. "Better way?! You are saying you have a better way!! Do you think we have any chance to defeat all those wolfs with our current weapons?!" "Sk replied in a calm voice, "Yes, we have." Everyone became silent for a minute. No matter how they think, they couldn''t think of a way to achieve that impossible. Even if they achieve the impossible, it was totally out of the question to defeat the Great Wolf with their current ammunition. They either needed rocketunchers or tanks to fight with that beast. "Are you forgetting what we have in our shoes?" Sk asked with a smile. "Shoes" Simon was in a daze for a second. Suddenly a smile bloomed upon his face. "Shit! How could I forget about that?! Damn, love you, Sk. You are the best." The couples were getting engrossed in their talk while the others were getting clouded by confusion. "Cough, cough," Ron intervened in-between and asked them the reason for their smiles. "Ah yes. Telling you, telling you." Simon removed his boot and took out a small packet out of it. Everyone was dumbfounded by seeing a small packet out of his boot. "Hehe, this is a real live saver!" Simon snugged it as if it was a packet of drugs then handed it over to Sk. She also snugged it like Simon, and a smile became visible on her face. At this point, Ron was convinced that the packet contains Heroin for sure. Or else why would they smile after smelling that small packet. He was hesitant to ask this or not when Sia took the initiative of asking out the question. "Boss, care to tell what does that small packet contains? Since when you have started drug traffic-" Before shements, Sk jumped in between and said, "What nonsense are you spouting?!" "Isn''t that a drug packet?" "Here," Sk tossed it towards Ron and ask him to smell it. Ron was somewhat skeptical, but in the end, he gave it a try and snugged it like the others. He was expecting some sweet-smelling addicting taste. But ended up smelling something pungent. "Eww~~!! What''s this weird smell? I thought it would smell fruity." "Ahahahahah, ahahahaha." Simon startedughing all of a sudden. For him, it was his one and only lifesaver. Something that can give them a chance of escape. "It''s PENTA," Sk replied. "PENTA?!" Ron and Sia asked back at the same time. "Yes, PENTA. Its scientific name is Pentaerythritol tetranitrate." "Penta what nitrite?" Sia asked in confusion. For a muscle head like her, it was hard enough to pronounce the full name of that powder. "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!! ARE YOU FCKING KIDDING ME?!" Ron asked in excitement. His feeling of joy was getting out of control. "Hehehe, then you know about it, kiddo?" "How can I not?! We used to y with PENTA when I was in the German Army." Unable to understand anything, Sia stopped them in between and asked, "Guys, care to exin me too. What''s this PENTA thing you are talking about?" Hearing this, Ron jumped up with excitement and started his long, lengthy exnation. ording to him, Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate is the lipid-soluble polyol ester of nitric acid belonging to the family of nitrovasodtors that exhibit vasodtory property. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate releases free nitric oxide (NO) after denitration reaction, which triggers NO-dependent signaling transduction involving soluble guante cyse (sGC). NO binds reversibly to the ferrous-heme center of sGC, thereby causes conformational change and activates the enzyme. Activation results in increasing cellr levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) within vascr smooth muscle, which results in vasodtion mediated by cGMP-dependent protein kinases. Furthermore, this agent causes arterial and venous bed dtion in a dose-dependent manner. Simon, "" Sia, "" Sk, "" Other members, "" A sudden silence prevailed throughout. Even the Great Wolf listening to their conversation was dumbfounded for a second. Though it had invaluable knowledge from the past, it had never heard those scientific terms before. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH~~!!" Sia couldn''t understand a single thing and shouted on top of her lungs. Everything went above her head. Not a single thing was there that didn''t bounce from her brain. Seeing the poor condition of the girl, Ron pitied on her and exined in a simplenguage, "It''s a type of super explosive." Simon, "" Sia, "" Sk, "" Other members, "" Chapter 73: King of explosives Chapter 73: King of explosives "Fcker, couldn''t you exin that before?! Why beat around the bush, just why?!" Seeing Sia was getting enraged Sk intervened and asked her to calm down. Even Simon was surprised by Ron''s knowledge about PENTA. What he said was exactly true. Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate is actually a lipid-soluble polyol ester of nitric acid belonging to the family of nitrovasodtors that exhibit vasodtory property. Years ago terrorist used such explosives to cause terror throughout America. After many delegations and considerations the World Govt banned the production of such explosives, and gave out exclusive license to defense forces of different countries. Before bing a poacher Simon used to work in the French Army, and getting such explosives from theboratory was a child''s y for him. Even after retiring from Army he could get his hands on this powder thanks to the connection he had made earlier during his service time. Back to the topic, Pentaerythritol tetranitrate releases free nitric oxide (NO) after denitration reaction, which triggers NO-dependent signaling transduction involving soluble guante cyse (sGC). NO binds reversibly to the ferrous-heme center of sGC, thereby causes conformational change and activates the enzyme. Activation results in increasing cellr levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) within vascr smooth muscle, which results in vasodtion mediated by cGMP-dependent protein kinases. Furthermore, this agent causes arterial and venous bed dtion in a dose-dependent manner. Thanks to all these reactions it got its title of a Super Explosive. Years ago when Simon formed his current team he had hid some amount of powder in everyone''s shoes. The reason was to use it in a state of emergency, like the one they were currently in. Sk was the only person having knowledge of this powder in everyone''s shoes, and that too by chance. Later on when she asked Simon showing him the powder she got to know about it. Simon was nning to collect all the packets and ignite them at once. The result would have been obvious, no need to tell about it. A big BOOM!! End of the Great Wolf and end of the other arctic wolves surrounding them. Ron didn''t wait for Simon to exin his n and took out two shoes from his shoes. The other too followed the same and gathered all the small packets hidden in their shoes. A total of sixteen packets were collected out of a total of eight members including Sk and Simon. "Hmm This much should be okay." Simon was talking to himself and formting a n when Sia asked him about the n. Even Sk wasn''t sure about his n. She only knew once ignited it would go BOOM!! Who will ignite? When will they ignite? She had no idea about it. Till then Simon was sitting on ground holding his other leg in hands. For some reason he was convinced that his leg can be attached. It was just a hollow hope that he had been breeding in his mind. SK and the others had already noticed it. Simon hadn''t recovered from his trauma, yet. Even then he was wrecking his head to get a way out of there. Suddenly an idea shed through his mind. Simon stared at his leg that he had kept on hisp then started at the big giant wolf before then. The idea was pretty simple and without any dy he posed it before his teammates. "Guys we will apply the B & B tactics" Ron, "" Sk, "" Other memebrs, "" "Ahem, Sir Simon care to exin this B & B tactics of yours," Sia asked in a sweet voice. Though it was sweet on the above she internally she was getting pissed of their current situation. She was having a nice sleep when that cave copsed thanks to her younger cousin. She was fine even though her cousin got caught in it. The thing causing her trouble was her half coursed sleep. Before Jia, Sia was guarding the camp. After Jia took up the duty Sia went for her much awaited night sleep. Not even an hour passed when they heard that explosion sound out of somewhere. In short she was fond of sleeping, and someone didn''t allow her to sleep in peace. She was getting even more frustrated cause she was in a life and death situation with those wolves while her cousin was taking a nice nap in her camp. "Cough, cough. Cough, cough!" Hearing the sound of coughing Sia''s contemtion broke at the middle, and she was dragged back to their current situation. "Girl, did you understand a single thing I exined now?" Simon asked with a frown. When Sia was thinking and regretting about her sleep Simon was exining about his n of escape. He was just about to end when he noticed Sia was in a daze, for some reason. "Eh Hehehe, boss you just order around I will follow whatever you say." Hearing her reply everyone face-palmed and thought it would have been better if Jia were here instead of Sia. She could at least hear and give some suggestions. "AAhhh," Simon groaned in anger and showed a packet of powder to Sia. "Do you know what this is?" "No, no idea at all." "Sigh Hear me out clearly. I will exin only once this time." "Okay Go on!" Simon showed her that small packet of powder again and snuggled it like thest time. Later he revealed it was the king of explosives, made from thebination of five different super explosives powder. The first in line was was TNT. Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is the most useful military high explosive. Although it had been known for many years and was used extensively in the dye industry, it was not employed as an explosive until thete neenth tuary. It is an excellent military explosive in itself, but its most valuable property is that it can be safely melted and cast either alone or as a slurry with other explosives. This is because there is a wide spread between its melting point and its dposition temperature. It has two shorings: first, it is extremely insensitive in the cast form, and second, it is difficult to cast without air holes. The first problem can be ovee by drilling a hole, about 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) in diameter, the length of the charge in the shell and filling it with trinitrophenylmethylnitramine (tetryl); the second, by using a mixture of 40 percent trinitroxylene (TNX) and 60 percent TNT. This mixture not only casts perfectly but can be detonated with a smaller tetryl booster. The second powder used was the PENTA or PETN mentioned before. ording to Simon PENTA was one of the chemicals to bnce out the shortings of TNT. The third chemical used in it was the TATP. The chemical TATP belongs to a group of molecules named peroxides, which contain weak and unstable oxygen-oxygen bonds, and that are not found in TNT. This means that TATP is a lot less stable and more prone to spontaneously exploding. TATP is also known as the "mother of satan" and with good reason its explosions are known to be about 80% as strong as TNT, but the substance is much harder to handle. A firm shock or knock is enough to trigger an explosion, which means it''s quite easy to identally blow yourself up in the process of making it. Simon paused for a second then move onto the fourth chemical, RDX. A "nitrogen explosive", meaning that its explosive properties are due to the presence of many nitrogen-nitrogen bonds, rather than oxygen. These bonds are extremely unstable, since nitrogen atoms always want toe together to produce nitrogen gas because the triple bond in nitrogen is very strong and stable. And the more nitrogen-nitrogen bonds a molecules has, like RDX, typically the more explosive it is. Since TNT doesn''t contain any unstable nitrogen-nitrogen bonds, RDX packs more power but it is often mixed with other chemicals to produce different effects, such as making it less sensitive and less likely to explode unexpectedly. It is alsomonly used in controlled demolition of buildings. This time Sia was understating fourty percent of the things told by Simon. Inparison to Ron, Simon was way much better at exining. Thest chemical used to make that powder was Aziroazide azide. Among the least stable nitrogen-explosives is aziroazide azide which has 14 nitrogen atoms, with most of them bonded to each other in sessive, unstable nitrogen-nitrogen bonds making them prone to explosion. Attempts to touch or handle this chemical (and some may say so much as even look at) can cause it to detonate, breaking those bonds and turning them into multiple molecules of rapidly expanding nitrogen gas. The reaction creates a huge amount of heat and so only tiny amounts of this chemical have ever been synthesised for testing which have blown up inside expensive pieces of analysis equipment on many asions. You''d have to be pretty crazy to createrge amounts and exins why it hasn''t yet found any use. Chapter 74: Something miraculous happened!! Chapter 74: Something miraculous happened!! Hearing all these, Sia was feeling nauseous again. Simon was exining it in easynguage for her, but she was not sure why in the world he was taking her chemistry ss? And that too in the middle of a life and death situation! Seeing Simon was showing no signs of stopping, Sia couldn''t take it any longer and stopped him in between, "Boss, boss, boss. I have a very tiny brain from the very beginning. And right now, half of its functioning. Thanks to the fifteen minutes of sleep I have gotten till now. Can you pleasee to the main point? As I said before, I will follow your orders blindly." "Sigh I want you to know this for your own good in the future. Anyway, if you want to know in short, then here it is: We will bait that big Wolf toe near with the help of my detached leg and st him off with all these super explosive powders." Sia remained silent for a moment, then asked, "And what will be the radius of this st? How far should we run beforehand to avoid getting caught in it?" "Hmm Typically you should stay five hundred meters away from such explosions but for safety, make it seven hundred." "Alright!! And how will we make hime here and take this bait? And won''t he and the other arctic Wolf attack us when we start running from here?" "Yes, we may able to keep that big wolf busy by offering him your leg piece, but what about the others?" asked the other members. "Hahaha!! Isn''t it obvious? We will feed them the meat of their kin!" Sk gave some thought to it then hesitantly asked, "You mean." "Yes, I will put some powder on the meat of those pups that we have acquired earlier, and BOOM!!" "st them all!!" Ron followed after. "Yes." And like that, they made their n to escape from there. Some members were feeling bad about using their leader''s leg as bait. It was just a ridiculous idea. But they had to survive and escape that ce too. Simon felt that everyone present there was somewhat hesitant about this n. So to kick out their hesitation, he said something that sounded more reasonable and assured to them. "Well, guys, listen here. Don''t make faces while using my leg. It''s hopeless now. I can''t attach it back again. So instead of letting it rot or burn somewhere, I think it''s a better n to use it to save our life." Ron was about to say something, but for some reason, he kept it up to himself and didn''t pose it before the entire team. Sia observed this and pointed it out to everyone by saying, "I think Ron wanted to say something about this." Everyone''s focus was shifted towards Ron from Simon. Sk was eyeing her like a tigress, while the others were watching him like audiences watching him start hisedy show. "Yo, you guys, don''t stare at me like that. I know something that I think I should share with you all." "Yes, tell then. We are running out of time." "Telling boss. Actually, it''s a piece of news beneficial to you. Actually, not you. It will be beneficial to both you and SK." Sk frowned on his statement and thought, ''Beneficial to us?'' "Yes, I know, you must be thinking about it. Then let me tell you, one of my friends is a doctor in WHO, and he needs someone to volunteer in one of the projects he has been working on." Sk bit her nail and asked, "You want us to be hisb rats?!" Seeing Sk was losing temper, Ron didn''t beat around the bush and blurted it out in one go, "They are working on a project to regrow limbs andpletely heal wounded parts of the body. It''s been already tested on rats and monkeys, and the sess rate is over eighty-three percent." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!!" Listening to this news, Simon''s joy was getting out of control. It wasn''t beneficial news. Instead, it was life-changing information for him. Even though he was the one to propose the n to use his leg a bait, deep inside, he was feeling bad for it. ''So, that''s how my hunting journey wille to an end.'' Was the thought in his mind. Not only Simon Sk was also getting fired up after hearing that news. After losing one hand to the Lil pup, she was thinking she would be a burden for Simon in the future. But after hearing this news, her mind changed, and she got the confidence that ''Yes, I still have a chance!!'' Both of them were fired up after hearing this news, and the determination of living started to ze in their eyes. Not even the other members had determination as strong as their leader and vice leader. Sia was happy about their mental recovery and would have let them be happy for some more time when the sudden movements of the Wolf alerted her and the other members of the group. Like catching prey, all those arctic wolves were moving forward to attack the group of poachers. Great Wolf was sitting at the back and enjoying was enjoying the show to his heart''s content. In reality, the mind of the Great Wolf should be clean and filled it innocence. It was just a pup that underwent sudden growth thanks to the power bestowed by the Fenrir. But along with powers, he had inherited a small part of his consciousness too. The part which contains all the evil, trickery, and devious characteristics of the Fenrir. Simon hurriedly removed the clothes on his detached leg and stabbed it with a knife here and there. He wanted it to bleed from all parts. So that he can give apply those powders on it and offer it to the Great Wolf. On the other side, his other members took out the meat bag from their backs and started applying those super explosives on them. Simon had ordered them to watch him and carefully follow the steps. Sk, Ron, and one other wounded member of the team were the only ones who weren''t doing anything rted to applying explosive powder. They were keeping an eye in all directions and firing bullets every once in a while to keep away the wolves froming near. On the other side of the field, Luo Rin was meditating in the pure lunar energy to break through her current realm. It was actually Sekhmet doing all these, and Luo Rin was sleeping inside her body. Amidst her meditation, something miraculous happened, and a white-colored scale fell upon her body. It was big enough to cover her entire body like a bedsheet. Sekhmet abruptly opened her eyes and removed the big scale on her body. It was as white as the lunar light and radiant like a high-grade diamond. She instantly fell in love with this enormous scale. On closer observation, it was the scale of a snake. A giant white snake. Whose height must have been equal to a thirty storage building! Sekhmet only knew two snakes who can grow as tall as a thirty-storage building in her whole life. Yes, the answer of the twin snakes of the Asclepius Twins. They were the only ones to absorb a vast amount of energy from nature and increase their power as folds as possible. ''But why? Why all of a sudden?!'' Sekhmet thought in her mind. First, they helped Luo Rin by radiating that energy and help her awoke her spirit. Then gifted her the big white scale of the Wisdom Snake,monly used to make wearable for schrs. ''Are they secretly observing me from somewhere? Or are they interested in my host?'' After giving it, some thought she decided that couldn''t be the case with those snakes. ''They must have picked the best host to be their masters. Then why? Just why are they helping me from the shadow?'' Not only Sekhmet, even the Great Wolf was charmed by that white scale. Sekhmet was charmed because of its beauty. But Great Wolf was captivated by the energy radiating from its inside. "Awooooooooo" The Great Wolf turned around and started howling at the scale on Luo Rin''s hands. "I know in real, right? Even you are showing interest in it. Mhm Decided then, after cleaning out those flies, we will distribute them equally. I only need a small part of it, I think. You can keep the rest." Hearing this, a wide grin appeared on his face. It was as if someone offered him Dog Food on thepletion of his task. Since Luo Rin was standing at a faraway distance and was connected with the Great Wolf through telepathy, no one was able to understand what she was talking about. All they saw was the Wolf turning towards Luo Rin then turning towards them again with a pair of fierce eyes than before. Chapter 75: Songs & Poems Chapter 75: Songs & Poems Author''s note: The next two chapters including this one have a lot of poems in it. You can skip them if you want but they all are connected to the character and Jia and the plots involving her in future, So better to keep some lines in mind. _________________________________ Observing the looks on the Great Wolf''s eyes, they got a hunch. If they don''t speed up their work, they will be done for, for sure. Without wasting any more time, they sped up their work and applied those explosives powders on the fresh meat of the baby pups and detached leg of Simon. Sekhmet frowned over their actions and thought, ''Foolishness!!'' She had already seen through their n and was waiting for them to execute it before the Great Wolf. I wanted, she could have ughtered them all, at once. But she had no intention to do so. You ask why? And the answer is why she should do so!! The night was dark, the atmosphere was fiery. Standing on the stage was the Great Wolf and a bunch of humans with passion. What she wascking was a bucket of popcorn at that time. Cause why not?! The drama wasing to its climax, and she was feeling excited about it. Will the Great Wolf, let them live? Or will he ughter them all?! Back to the subplot, team alpha was almost ready to rock. They had used a majority of the powder on Simon''s leg with the intention the Great Wolf wille near and get caught in a big st. And rest of the powder on the baby pup''s meat to pulverize the wolf army before them. "Ready?!" Simon asked with some difficulty. Though he had wrapped a cloth around his wounded leg, his blood loss was no sign of stopping. The other members of the group nodded and replied, "We are ready, boss!" "On my mark then, 1 2 3!! Now!!" Everyone grabbed the meat assigned to them and threw it in different directions as nned before. Sia was the strongest member of the group, physically. So she was assigned to throw Simon''s detached leg towards the Great Wolf. She went some steps back and made some way for a runoff. "Hmm Well, Boss, I don''t think I should tell this or not at a time like this, but." Seeing Sia was hesitating to speak up, Simon took on the lead and asked t her to speak whatever she wants. "You sure about it?" Simon with a solemn expression, "Yes, I am sure." "You won''t get angry, right?!" "I won''t get angry!!" "Then-" Before Sia asked something else, Sk intervened and said, "Dear Sia, if you have something, tell it now. It''s not like we are in a hurry, but those wolfs marching towards us are in a hurry." Seeing Sk getting pissed, Sia didn''t hesitate any more and blurted it out in one breathe, "Boss, you know, I used to work as a chef in a KFC restaurant, right? Whenever I see this detached leg of yours, I always imagine it as a big chicken''s leg piece. Deep-fried and served with extra sauces on it." Simon "" Sk "" Other members "" The atmosphere became awkward around them. None of them were nning anything toment on that topic. Meanwhile, Ron wasn''t sure whether it was a joke or sarcasm and asked out the same. "Guys I couldn''t understand the joke. Anybody care to exin?" He asked in a soft voice. Observing no one was taking the initiative, Ron changed his question again and asked, "Was that a sarcasm then? Correct me if I am wrong." "Leave it, Ron," Sk replied instantly. Simon, "Leave it." "I agree. Leave it." Ron was feeling a bit dumbfounded now. The atmosphere became awkward again. And it would have continued to be like that when Sia noticed the wolves were advancing at an rming rate. She spun the leg piece high up in the air and threw it towards the Great Wolf. Simultaneously, the other members threw the meats in different directions as decided earlier. It was a sess!! It was a sess for them. The arctic wolves were enchanted by the smell of the meat and started fighting with each other to get their paws on it. Simon and the group started dancing with joy. Though the idea was a bit ridiculous, it worked somehow for them. Suddenly, Ron noticed something was wrong and asked everyone to shut up. Seeing Ron had a terrified expression on his face and not a joking one, Simon took the initiative and asked him the reason for his frightened expression. Ron pointed his hand in the opposite direction and said only one line, "That big wolf." Everyone was curious about why he was pointing towards the Wolf. Upon shifting their gazes in the opposite direction, they witnessed something that was entirely out of their expectations. The Great Wolf didn''t even bother to touch the meat before him. And instead of licking it like a dog, he was marching towards team Alpha with a majestic pride in his eyes. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!!" Simon cursed out in anger. Anger wasn''t the only emotion bubbling inside him. Feelings like fear, hatred, anguish, frustration were stirring up inside him. Not only, but Simon, the others were also having feelings simr to that of their group leader, Simon. Slowly, slowly but steadily, it started. And Sia was the first one to feel it inside her. She was the first one whose brain and body undergoing a big wave of adrenaline rush. She didn''t think any further and carried Simon on her back. "Guys, we are getting out of here. No tactics will work at this moment." In just a span of a minute, everyone underwent the same adrenaline rush and prepared themselves for the great run. The biggest run of their life. A run that will decide they will live or not. A run that will decide they will be rich or not. And a run that will decide Sekhmet will have fun or not. Witnessing her drama was getting heated, she couldn''t stop herself anymore and started to sing out the songs of her time. "Throughout history, it has always been forlorn through the centuries it has been forwarned never mess with a woman scorned payback was what I was taught, revenge was my only thought yet, what I bargained 4 was not what i got revenge was the only thing...on my mind its all I could think about all of the time what kind of misery would it bring.... to you...but karma did its voo-doo and it striked me, not hitting you the irony of it all, was that it was you who were supposed to fall I was the one burned, but quickly my lesson was learned that revenge may be sweet, but karma is a force you cannot beat by gods good grace, and happenstance I was the one pped in the face, twisted circumstance karma took revenge''s ce, and it was I who was disgraced I got the rain, as you bathe in the sun I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.." Hearing this song team Alpha remembered the time when they used to kill hundreds of animals, mercilessly. Though in the song Luo Rin mentioned women but in reality, it was a reference to all the animals the lives they had killed till then. "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Clouds are shifting, changing skies Into darkness, into night Through the forest, left or right? Is it truth or just more lies? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night Which is dark and which is light? Which path is your soul''s demise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Grasping tendrils hold you tight Clutching shadows drag their prize Into darkness, into night Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Into darkness, into night Secrets that are dark Secrets better left unnoticed Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond Whispering of a book A book of death and evil A book terrible but great Great Old Ones are sleeping Great tentacled one waits dreaming Dreaming in water Dreaming through ages Ages of exalted nothingness Ages of worship Worship the Great Ones Worship or perish Perish in unspeakable horror Perish knowing their anger Anger reaching the tallest mountains Anger prating the depths of the seas Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind Mind shing through images Mind cannotprehend them Them with their mighty forms Them with tendrils of darkness Darkness overwhelming Darkness begetting nothing Nothing is scarier than nothing Nothing is more powerful Powerful visions show the truth Powerful is this ancient book Book of eldritch horrors Book depicting the end End of life itself End of the Old Ones'' dreaming Dreaming of the people''s terror Dreaming of his awakening Awakening Terror" One after another, Luo Rin was posing songs to her heart''s content. And every poem had a deep meaning behind it. Team Alpha understood every bit and piece of them while Simon and Sk were utterly engrossed in them. Chapter 76: The meaning of life Chapter 76: The meaning of life "What the?!" Sia eximed with horror. Their group leader and vice leader werepletely engrossed in those melodious songs. Though it was melodious it was biting them in their back by making them remember of their bad karmas. "Every cause has an effect, and every effect has a cause" Hearing this line from Luo Rin everyone understood their fate was destined to die there. Die in the night under the pure white light of the lunar. Everyone was getting heartbroken and frustrated from deep inside. Their will to live was vanishing slowly thanks to the enchanting songs of the Healing god Sekhmet. Sia was the only one who had a strong urge to live and had a strong will to support her decision. "I will escape out of this shit ce!! And I swear I will take Sk out of here! She had saved my life in the past, now it''s my turn to save hers." With that she carried Sk on her arms and took a deep breath for a run. Simon was already hanging onto her back. If it were someone else from the group he/she would have fallen on the ground by then. Carrying two people each weight in between sixty to seventy wasn''t a small task. The other members stared at Sia and were thinking about the pressure on her body. A tiny Asian with a height of five feet four inches was carrying two people of six feet. Looking from afar even Sekhmet was surprised by her physical psyche. But s, it she had to die at one time or another. Sekhmet didn''t stop her songs and continued to add them like a drama''s background songs. Her sweet melodious, enchanting voice was boosting the morals of the great wolf and crushing the wills of team Alpha. Sia didn''t hesitate any more and started running towards their camp. The only ce that can give them chances of survival. They had bought a variety of guns, machine guns, rifles, semi-automatic rifles for the purpose of hunting and poaching. But s her small body couldn''t handle the weight of two people. She gritted her teeth and stood up, only to fall on the ground again. Her leg had be red, showing a swollen part and indicating a small fracture. The other members of the group was watching her from a distance, only to feel pity for her. ''If that small girl has a will to live, then why don''t we have so?'' was the question in everyone''s mind. At the same time they heard the same song again, "Throughout history, it has always been forlorn through the centuries it has been forwarned never mess with a woman scorned payback was what I was taught, revenge was my only thought yet, what I bargained 4 was not what i got revenge was the only thing...on my mind its all I could think about all of the time what kind of misery would it bring.... to you...but karma did its voo-doo and it striked me, not hitting you the irony of it all, was that it was you who were supposed to fall I was the one burned, but quickly my lesson was learned that revenge may be sweet, but karma is a force you cannot beat by gods good grace, and happenstance I was the one pped in the face, twisted circumstance karma took revenge''s ce, and it was I who was disgraced I got the rain, as you bathe in the sun I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.." ''You were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with..'' these two lines were repeating on everyone''s mind. Each time they listen these lines they gets closer to the meaning of life. The mantra of a good life is do good, stay good. Every effect has a cause and effect has a cause. Here the effect was team Alpha on the verge of death and the cause was their bad karma. Everything in the world works in a cycle. Be it life, be it death, or be it something else. The more they hear her songs the more they were getting enlightened. When everyone was getting depressed Luo Rin thought of changing her theme, and y some more with their emotions. "Sometimes you just have to push yourself just to get out of bed. You stay up ''til 2am just wishing you were dead. You ask yourself, "Why can''t it be someone else instead?" You get tired of all the thoughts in your head. You lose sight of who you want to be. You me yourself, screaming, "Why am I me?" You wish you could just be free. Open your eyes and you''ll see That life is what you make it, and sometimes it''s hard. We get battered and bruised, mistreated and scared. We forget what''s important. We forget our drive. We all need a focus point, A reason to survive. Find your passion. Find your drive. Find something that makes you fight, And you will survive." The words of her songs resonated with team Alpha''s heart and they slowly regained the drive to live and fight. The drive to fight their destiny and win against it. The drive to break the cycle of karma and win against it. Now that she had cheered up their spirits she make them realise about their lost innocence. Something they lost the moment they killed an animal. "Wind whistling, Snow glistening, We try not to, But we''re all listening. Loud screams, Bad dreams, It''s very far, But close it seems. Sad day, Lost our way, All we can do Is simply pray. Innocence gone, Life no longer long. We may not know, But we''re all doing wrong. Joy lost, The Holocaust. We look to see Hearts covered in frost. Wars fought, Sins taught, Making mistakes, Hoping not to be caught. Not taking me, Pushing for fame. As advanced as we are, We''re still all untamed. Too much pride, Needing a guide. We will deny it, But behind lies we hide. Hurting others, Betraying brothers. Many forgetting To appreciate mothers. Lies are fed, Filling heart and head. Through all of these years, Innocent blood has been shed. Children abandoned, Lonely and stranded. We''re all wasting the life That we have been handed. Taking from the poor, We''re loving no more. Fight to be free, End up starting a war. People starting fights, No longer enjoying the sights, While mere mortals are taking Our God given rights. Soldiers killed, Void can''t be filled, Pay close attention, For pure souls have been tilled. Need to find peace, Work together like geese, But greatest of all, The hate needs to cease." Hearing this tears started toe out of team Alpha''s member. They were understanding every bits and pieces behind those lines. And realized how wrong they had be. Luo Rin was feeling excited after ying with their emotions and didn''t give them a chance to recover. She continued again, "And then I realized that to be more alive I had to be less afraid so I did it I lost my fear and gained my whole life." This uplifted their spirit and gave them the power to run from there. When she posed another song before them, "Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world''s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! Trust no Future, howe''er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o''erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o''er life''s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn tobor and to wait." Something this foggy day, a something which Is neither of this fog nor of today, Has set me dreaming of the winds that y Past certain cliffs, along one certain beach, And turn the topmost edge of waves to spray: Ah pleasant pebbly strand so far away, So out of reach while quite within my reach, As out of reach as India or Cathay! I am sick of where I am and where I am not, I am sick of foresight and of memory, I am sick of all I have and all I see, I am sick of self, and there is nothing new; Oh weary impatient patience of my lot! Thus with myself: how fares it, Friends, with you? At this point members of team Alpha had no control over their feelings. They were getting sad, they were getting angry, they were feeling joy, and they were feeling despair. Chapter 77: From Heaven Chapter 77: From Heaven Their heart, soul and mind was in absolute control of Luo Rin. She was controlling them like wooden puppets. If she wants the will to live in them increases substantially. If she wants the will to die in emerges drastically. And if she wants the will to fight back in them emerges, considerably. Sia, Simon, Sk, Ron and the other members of the group could clearly feel this power of puppetry and the art of maniption but they were entirely defenseless against it. In their present scenario it was not about defenseless or not, it was about getting defeated or relinquishing to the opposite side. They simply didn''t have any chance to win against their enemies. Seeing the drama wasing to a halt Luo Rin gradually stopped her singing and let team Alpha have a control on their minds. Sia and Ron snapped out first and became aware of their surroundings. The arctic wolves were advancing at an rming rate and they had little to less time for their escape. Both of them nodded and pointed their guns towards the enemy side. Earlier they were nning to escape some distance then set off those explosive powders on fire. But now it waste for that. If they want to escape then they have to take the risk of using theirst trump card. Bang!! Bang!! Two bullets were fired towards the enemy side. One bullet was targeted towards Simon''s leg behind the Great Wolf while the other was targeted towards the wolf army around him. The first bullet was fired by Sia and its target was the explosives applied on the meat of the baby pup''s meat. BOOOM!! A loud sound came from the other side. The explosion was fierce enough to pulverize everything around a radius of 250 meters around it. The second bullet was fired by Ron with a difference of some nano seconds after the first fire by Sia. BOOOOOOOOOM!! This time the explosion was fiercer than thest time. Witnessing the sight of the explosion they became sure the Great Wolf was dead for sure. But the danger around them wasn''tpletely gone yet. Standing on the other side of the field was Luo Rin whose head was that of a Lioness then. They were confident in their explosives for killing that gigantic wolf before them but weren''t sure how to defeat a human with lioness head. The explosion sound was so thunderous that the other members snapped out their confusion and started running towards their camp. Earlier Sia was carrying both Simon and Sk but now she was only carrying Simon on her back. One of the bulky member of the group offered her some help and asked her to handover Simon. Everyone had recovered from the effect of the enchanting voice. Their hunter instincts were working normally now. They were determined to leave that ce and escape death as always. Team Alpha with full spirits started their great escape and on their way they fired bullets for twice again. The thunderous sound of explosives echoed in the surrounding again. Sekhmet was watching this show from a distance. She was getting excited just by imagining the scene when the Great Wolf wille out of explosion and tear those humans into pieces. But to her dismay that scene never happened, and team Alpha escaped that ce safely. Back on the camp, Jia was sleeping soundly, and had no idea about what''s happening on the outside. **** Early morning, time around 7 AM. Jiazily woke up from her sleeping bag and drank some water from the water bottle near the bag. Her memory was hazy and her body aching all over. For some minutes she sat on her ce like a statue and started wandering what''s she doing there, and why her body was in pain. Slowly and gradually her memory became clear and she remembered why she was in pain. It was none other than her own fault that she was injured and suffering from pain. She remembered howst night she went inside a cave, exploded some bombs and let that entire camp. She was taking her time to process all those information when tons of information flooded onto her mind. How she got wounded, how she was brought back here. Then that gigantic projection and Luo Rin everything was flooding into her mind. She wasn''t sure why she was feeling restless. All of a sudden some songs emerged in her memory. She wasn''t sure when did she hear those songs and who was the one singing them for her. I was the one pped in the face, twisted circumstance karma took revenge''s ce, and it was I who was disgraced I got the rain, as you bathe in the sun I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.. "You were graced, as i was defaced" Jia, "." She wasn''t sure revenge of whom and what karma rted to her. Then suddenly another song echoed in her mind, "payback was what I was taught, revenge was my only thought yet, what I bargained 4 was not what i got revenge was the only thing...on my mind its all I could think about all of the time what kind of misery would it bring.... to you...but karma did its voo-doo and it striked me, not hitting you the irony of it all, was that it was you who were supposed to fall I was the one burned, but quickly my lesson was learned that revenge may be sweet, but karma is a force you cannot beat" Sia, "" Utterly speechless once again. Like the first time she had no idea just what in the world are these songs. Before she can reminisce about it another wave of songs hit her mind. "Wind whistling, Snow glistening, We try not to, But we''re all listening. Loud screams, Bad dreams, It''s very far, But close it seems. Sad day, Lost our way, All we can do Is simply pray. Innocence gone, Life no longer long. We may not know, But we''re all doing wrong. Joy lost, The Holocaust. We look to see Hearts covered in frost. Wars fought, Sins taught, Making mistakes, Hoping not to be caught. Not taking me, Pushing for fame. As advanced as we are, We''re still all untamed. Too much pride, Needing a guide. We will deny it, But behind lies we hide. Hurting others, Betraying brothers. Many forgetting To appreciate mothers. Lies are fed, Filling heart and head. Through all of these years, Innocent blood has been shed. Children abandoned, Lonely and stranded. We''re all wasting the life That we have been handed. Taking from the poor, We''re loving no more. Fight to be free, End up starting a war. People starting fights, No longer enjoying the sights, While mere mortals are taking Our God given rights. Soldiers killed, Void can''t be filled, Pay close attention, For pure souls have been tilled. Need to find peace, Work together like geese, But greatest of all, The hate needs to cease." Hearing this tears started toe out of team Alpha''s member. They were understanding every bits and pieces behind those lines. And realized how wrong they had be. Luo Rin was feeling excited after ying with their emotions and didn''t give them a chance to recover. She continued again, "And then I realized that to be more alive I had to be less afraid so I did it I lost my fear and gained my whole life." "The irony of it all, was that it was you who were supposed to fall I was the one burned, but quickly my lesson was learned that revenge may be sweet, but karma is a force you cannot beat by gods good grace, and happenstance I was the one pped in the face, twisted circumstance" "karma took revenge''s ce, and it was I who was disgraced I got the rain, as you bathe in the sun I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.." "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight "Clouds are shifting, changing skies Into darkness, into night" "Through the forest, left or right? Is it truth or just more lies? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night Which is dark and which is light? Which path is your soul''s demise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Grasping tendrils hold you tight Clutching shadows drag their prize Into darkness, into night Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Into darkness, into night Secrets that are dark Secrets better left unnoticed Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond Whispering of a book A book of death and evil A book terrible but great Great Old Ones are sleeping Great tentacled one waits dreaming Dreaming in water Dreaming through ages Ages of exalted nothingness Ages of worship Worship the Great Ones Worship or perish Perish in unspeakable horror Perish knowing their anger Anger reaching the tallest mountains Anger prating the depths of the seas Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind Mind shing through images Mind cannotprehend them Them with their mighty forms Them with tendrils of darkness Darkness overwhelming Darkness begetting nothing Nothing is scarier than nothing Nothing is more powerful Powerful visions show the truth Powerful is this ancient book Book of eldritch horrors Book depicting the end End of life itself End of the Old Ones'' dreaming Dreaming of the people''s terror Dreaming of his awakening" At this point for some reason tears wereing out of her eyes. She wasn''t sure what was the origin of those songs. But she was confident in one thing that the singer of those song must be a goddesses, descended from heaven. Chapter 78: Family Reunion?!! Chapter 78: Family Reunion?!! Amidst her crying, unknowingly, she fell asleep. She was experiencing a warm andfy feeling wrapping around her. Never in her life had she felt something like that. The next time she opened her eyes, she found herself in a weird ce. The tent, camp, sleeping bag, everything was gone. She was sleeping on a soft bed, and the ceiling had a fan fitted just above her. "Ouch, ouch," Jia sat up with some difficulty. She was feeling as if someone beating drums inside of her head. Her vision was still blurry. It took her some time to get used to the lights around her. After her vision got cleared, she realized something was strange. Till then she was feeling she was in her room, but now she got to know it wasn''t her bed and she was in a hospital. "What the fck!! Who brought me here?" Observing the patient recovered from hera, the nurse sleeping near her abruptly stood up and ran out of the room. It was already over midnight. The nurse on duty was feeling drowsy and tired after a tedious day. After knowing the patient was in aa, she thought of taking a small nap near her. ''Not like she will recover tonight.'' With this thought, the nurse on duty was taking a nap when the patient, Jia, suddenly recovered from hera. The nurse on duty was already in her dreams when she heard someone cursing near her. Upon opening her eyes, she saw the Asian girl cursing and throwing tantrums on her bed. She was still half asleep and had no idea what to do in that situation. So instead of interacting with the patient and clearing her doubts, she ran out of the room. To call a doctor on the night shift. Fifteen minutester, a group of doctors and nurses entered the room only to find out the patient was sound asleep. The nurse on duty had nothing to support her im of the patient waking up. She would have been in big trouble if not for the CCTV cameras fitted in the four corners of the room. Everyone dispersed from the room, leaving two nurses for night duty. Fifteen minutes ago, Jia was actually throwing tantrums and continued to do so even after the nurse left the room. She tried to stand up from her bed and follow the nurse when a wave of energy surged from her body, making her body heavy and sending her to deep sleep. The next time she opened her eyes, it was already noon. And this time, the room was not empty like the first time. It was filled with security guards, doctors, nurses, police, and some people in ck coats. One more person could be spotted in the crowd with a Nike cap and a blue hoody on him. Jia was in a daze after seeing that many people. She thought she is done for, and all those people were there to arrest and interrogate her. She had strengthened her mind and was getting ready for the uing interrogation sessions when ady in a silver officer suit came out of the crowd. Jia thought thisdy must be the interrogator. But her expectations were crushed when thedy went near her and started crying near the bed. Jia "" She had no idea why in the world that woman was crying. As far as she remembered, she had killed numerous animals and wild animals but never killed any human or someone''s puppy, ''Then why in the world is this woman crying before me?'' Before she could ask her anything, a tall person emerged out of the crowd with fierce red eyes. Judging from the color of those eyes, she was sure that person was he angry with her. Enough to show her those bloodshot eyes. One more thing she noticed was the weird clothes that a person with red shot eyes was wearing. It looked like some traditional Japanese Kimono but all white and having some red fire patterns here and there. Nevertheless, she wasn''t much bothered by it. What she was thinking was to escape from that ce and meet up with her team as soon as possible. The male in a weird white dress closed the distance between them and started staring at Jia with red eyes. After some brief moment of staring, he went extremely near her and suddenly hugged Jia in her arms. Jia was bbergasted by this action of that person. She was making spection and predictions whether that person will attack her or rant at her. But the reality came out to be something different. After hugging her for a moment, the man in the weird dress turned around and directly went out of the room. Jia couldn''t even see his facial expression after hugging. When she thought this wasing to an end when an elderly couple entered the room. The old man had long white beards while the woman beside him had silver-white hairs. Wisdom was written all over their face. Anyone could say they have reached the peak of gaining all worldly wisdom and transcend from this mortal world. For a moment, Jia was like, ''Wtf, since when I am using words like transcending, mortal world?!'' Though she used it in her thoughts, it was something new for her. Grown and raised in America, she wasn''t used to such traditional cultivation terms. The room was as silent as a graveyard. No one was making a sound or taking the initiative to speak something. Seeing the silence was getting awkward, Xin couldn''t take it anymore and said, "Oh, okay, then. I am waiting outside of the room. You can have your family reunion." And exited the room. Jia showed a glim of happiness when someone broke through the awkward silence. But this happiness didn''tst even for a minute and changed into disappointment. The room became silent again. Everyone was staring at each other. The doctors were staring at the old couple. The nurses were staring at the woman in the silver office suitdy, and the old couple was staring at Jia. For Jia, where she was staring? Isn''t it obvious?! She was hiding inside her bedsheet. It may sound stupid and childish, but she didn''t have that goodmunication skill. A few momentster, something weird happened again, and the room was left with a bunch of doctors and nurses. "Miss Xeng, can youe out of your bedsheet, please?!" asked the female doctor in a gentle voice. Jia wasn''t ready toe out, but she finally came out after much persuasion and convincing. The same female doctorplimented, "Good, now can you let me check your health condition?" In the beginning, Luo Rin was hesitant, but once again, after much persuasion, she finally agreed. The male doctors exited the room and let two female doctors and some nurses do the rest. After aplete physical check-up, they couldn''t find any wounds, scratches, or any sort of cut marks on her. "Good," the same female doctorplimented again. As of now, Jia was feeling a littlefortable with her. Next, the doc asked her to follow her to the nurse and cooperate with the radiographers. After hearing the word ''radiographers,'' she felt weird and started getting weird ideas. ''Will they make me a cyborg, or they have already made me one?'' Bizarre ideas like this wereing into her mind. And she can''t stop thinking about them for some reason. Till then, she was sitting on the bed. The physical exams from before didn''t need her to on the ground. Now when she jumped out of her bed and looked at the nurse, she felt something was weird. Something wasn''t right. The nurses observed weird expressions on her face and asked her whether she was facing any problems in walking around. Jia just shook her head and didn''t reply to anything verbally. Suddenly, she realized why she was feeling something was off. It was her height!! She had undergone spontaneous physical growth. Now that she realized what''s wrong, she observed her fingers and hands. She noticed not only her height but her entire body had undergone changes. Earlier she used to have dwarf-like fingers. But now she has long, pretty, sexy fingers. Apanied by her long, sexy legs. Seeing the surprised expression on Jia''s face, everyone became concerned. They had no idea what''s wrong with their patient and why she was looking all over her body. ''Is it a trauma? Or any past memory surfacing?'' thought one of the doctors. All they could do was to wait till she calms down then ask her about her weird behavior. After checking all over her body, Jia got a thought in her mind. Seeing the patient looking around here and there, one of the nurses asked, "Miss Xeng, do you need something?" "Huh, who? No, yes. I need. Washroom where?" she couldn''t speak properly and stumbled here and there. Upon asking, a nurse took her to the washroom and stood outside the room to prevent anyone from entering. Chapter 79: Calling her from a distance Chapter 79: Calling her from a distance Inside of the washroom, once again she witnessed something to make her dumbfounded for a moment. In addition to her height, her facial structures have also changed. Now she looked like a pure Asian girl emerging from the eastern most side of the continent. And to her surprise, she had seen that face earlier. Yes, she remembered her face resembled someone whom she had met earlier. When? And where? She couldn''t remember. The nurse waiting outside of the room felt bored all of a sudden and started a conversation with Jia to kill some time with her. "Miss Xeng, can Ie inside?" Jia didn''t answer for a while. She was still in a daze from the shock she got earlier. After pondering over her question she replied in a low voice, "Oh, yes. Sure." The nurse waiting outside entered the washroom and stood just beside Jia. After looking at her for some time, she initiated the conversation again. "Miss Xeng, I have to say this. You look exactly like your mother. A super identical photocopy." Jia "" As much as she remembered, she was an orphan who got adopted at the age of twelve. And never in her life had she seen her original father and mother. ''Howe she is telling about my parents then?'' After giving it some thought, she asked the nurse with some hesitation, "Have you seen my parents?" The nurse, "" It was her time now to get confused now. Seeing the nurse had a confused expression on her face Jia showed a more confused expression on her face. Both the human in the washroom were confused af. None of them had no idea what the other party was talking about. Observing the atmosphere became awkward, the nurse took the initiative again and asked, "Didn''t I just met them sometime earlier?" "You met them sometime earlier?" Jia questioned her back. The nurse questioned back again, "I didn''t me them sometime earlier?" Jia got pissed of this stupid conversation and posed everything in one go before her, "Miss nurse, hear me out. I was an orphan raised in an orphanage till the age of 12. Later I got adopted by a hunter couple and spent my time with them." "Ah, oh yes. It''s understandable. You don''t know much about it yet." "Don''t know much about what?" "Your true identity!!" "What identity?!" "Your true identity!! You are the Omyo princess of our country." "I am the what princess of which country?" "Miss Xeng, you are the Omyo princess of our country." Jia "" At this point she was thinking her soul either have transmigrated to another world or she was in a world of fantasy. Never in her life had she thought herself as a princess. It was like how could she think in the first ce? She was raised in an orphanage till the age of 12. After that as mentioned earlier she got adopted by a couple who were professional hunters and poachers by profession. Never in her life had she felt the luxury of a princess, then how could she think of being one? After some moment of silence she spoke again and asked the nurse to exin everything to her. Before telling her all these both of them exited from the washroom and headed towards their next destination, the radiography room. On their way the nurse exined how she was brought to the hospital by a young boy and how she was admitted by the same person. She was being shifted to another room when a top executive of the hospital saw a small symbol on her forehead. Jia somewhat understood her situation. ''The boy must have found me in the camp But what was he doing there in the first ce? And what happened to my team? Did they abandon me? Or got caught by the local government?'' Many questions were bubbling up in her mind. And she wanted some immediate answer to them. One more thing that was bugging her was the term, ''Radiology room''. It sounded like a term that came out of a Sci-Fi fantasy novel. Deep inside, she was thinking of escaping from there. Unknowingly while she was contemting about it they reached their destination and even entered inside the room. Jia was taken back for a second. It was actually like the room she had fantasized earlier. Many big high-tech machines were there, and it looked like a room from any Sci-fi anime or manga. Just one small correction was there. Instead of machines to turn her into a cyborg machines rted to health services were kept there. Starting from CT scan to MRI, Ultrasound, Fluoroscope, and many other high-level equipments were there. And with this Jia understood the meaning of radiology room. It was not a room to create cyborg and instead was a room to check the medical condition of a patient using various high-tech equipment. It took her one and a half hours to give all the exams and additional one hour for the reports toe out. Since Jia was a VIP patient, her examinations and reports were given utmost priority and other check-ups had been stopped for the time being. In the meantime, when they were waiting outside the room the nurse was telling her rest of the part from where she had paused earlier. After being recognized by a top executive, the person who brought her to the hospital was taken to a room and got interrogated by a group of specialist interrogators. It sounded weird to Jia when she heard someone being interrogated in a hospital. After giving it some thought, she skipped that part and asked the nurse to tell her further. "Well what happened after that was rather surprising for everyone in the hospital. Suddenly many cars arrived at our hospitals." "Many cars? What''s so special about it?" Jia knew that it''smon in a hospital. Daily hundreds and thousands of patients visit medical for check-ups. ''Then what''s so special about these cars?'' She thought in her mind. Amidst her thinking unknowingly, her consciousness entered into a different dimension. A dimension filled with varieties of shining marbles. For some reason she wasn''t feeling unfamiliar with that ce and getting a feeling of familiarity out of nowhere. She wandered, and wandered and wandered. For countless hours she wandered here and there. She was floating in that space, going near each marble, picking them up, searching something in them and tossing them away. Author''s Note: Read the song carefully written below. Suddenly that same song echoed in her mind, "I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.. I was struck with pain and you had all the fun you were graced, as i was defaced karma is not a force to be reckoned with.." "Hmm This song again?! Its splitting my head into two!" She covered her ears and was trying to prevent that sound from entering into her mind. But no matter what she do, she was unable to stop it from reverberating. "Clouds are shifting, changing skies Into darkness, into night Through the forest, left or right? Is it truth or just more lies? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night Which is dark and which is light? Which path is your soul''s demise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Grasping tendrils hold you tight Clutching shadows drag their prize Into darkness, into night Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Into darkness, into night Secrets that are dark Secrets better left unnoticed Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond Whispering of a book A book of death and evil A book terrible but great Great Old Ones are sleeping Great tentacled one waits dreaming Dreaming in water Dreaming through ages Ages of exalted nothingness Ages of worship Worship the Great Ones Worship or perish Perish in unspeakable horror Perish knowing their anger." "Stop it!! Just stop it!" Jia shouted in anger, those songs were repeating again and again. As if they were telling her do something or giving her some clues. Just a few seconds ago she was getting irritated by this sound. But after giving it some thought she started taking pleasure in it. Understanding each line from the root. Searching the meaning behind them. And getting the right marble gem for her. "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night" "Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as day grows slight Into darkness, into night Secrets that are dark" "Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond" "Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind" These were the four paras that were resonating with her soul. Whenever she hears that part she felt like a if someone is calling her from a distance. Chapter 80: Scientific Riddles?! Chapter 80: Scientific Riddles?! "Should I try to decode them like the female leads do in movies?" with this thought in mind Jia started her deduction and tried to join the connections between the four paras. The first part was "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night" She recited those lines, again and again, trying to find the words which were causing turmoil in her heart. It was true that those four lines were creating resonance with her, but there were some lines that were creating a turmoil in her heart. An experience and a feeling that she had never felt in her life. After reciting them for repeatedly the words she got were ''Moonlight'', ''Blooms'', ''Night''. These were the three words that were creating the unexinable turmoil in her heart. She didn''t waste much time and moved on to the next part, which was "Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown, or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as the day grow slight, Into darkness, into night, Secrets that are dark" "Hmm" Upon reading the second stanza, she didn''t feel that feeling from the word ''Moonlight'', ''Blooms'' and ''Night''. This time the words which were attracting her towards them were ''Rise'' and ''Grows''. Only two words this time. A word less than the previous time. After getting five words in her mind she got enlighten and thought of making a sentence out of them. Time was limited, and she knew it deep inside her mind. She knew she can''t enter that dimension again unless someone triggers it for her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moonlight rise grows and bloom in night. Rise, grow, bloom, moonlight in night. Bloom moonlight rise and grow in night. Glow rise moonlight bloom at night.. Thousands of sentences like that were forming in her mind. But none of them were satisfying the quench in her heart. After giving it some thought she made up her mind and decided to sort out such special words from the other two stanzas. "Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond" The shortest stanza of all. It was quite easy for her to recite it multiple times and figure out those special words out of it. The words that she got from this stanza were, ''Unnoticed'', ''Movement'', and ''Whispering''. Now that she had gotten three more words on her list in addition to the previous five she wanted to try making some sense out of them. Something that can help her out of that ce, or something that can find her a shiny marble in that dimension. She was about to begin when abruptly an unknown energy wrapped around her. "It''s not the right time yet. Search thest divine words from the prophecy~~," A chilly sensation ran through her spine. The voice was creepy yet gentle. Loving yet domineering. Jia deduced that voice was guiding the way of her and tried to follow it as instructed. Thest stanza, "Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping, but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind" Thest stanza was a bit hard for her to figure out. Every word of this stanza were creating a turmoil in her heart. Even after reciting it multiple times she couldn''t figure out the divine words out of them. Now she was trapped in a pinch, and time was running out of her mind. No matter how many times she recited, she couldn''t distinguish the energy level between them. At this point she had already figured out that a special type of energy of a specific wave length was hidden inside each of those words. And only some specific type of energies were creating a resonance with each other and a turmoil in her heart. ''Mhm They are creating resonance and turmoil. Resonance and turmoil, resonance and turmoil.'' For some reasons she kept on repeating those two words ''Resonance'' and ''Turmoil''. Suddenly an idea shed through her mind, ''If the words are creating a resonance bying near each other Then won''t they create an ultra resonance oning across a word that can match with the same energy level as them?'' "Possible indeed!" Though she was formting a n in her mind, she herself wasn''t sure how she was speaking in terms of energy and levels. Simple things were bingplex, andplex things were getting even moreplex. At one point she lost control on her mind and let it calcte the Space-time paradox and solve the Quantum energy calctions around her. Tons of information was rushing into her mind. And Jia on the other had no understanding of how she wasprehending every bits and pieces of those information. Starting from normal mathematics, to general mathematics and advanced level mathematics, everything was going into her mind. She wasn''t a prodigy like Xin, or Natasha was somewhat good during her academic time. Yet if we exin in more detail she was one of the best example of an average student. Who sometimes scores more and sometimes scores less as per their preparation for the examinations. Nevertheless, she didn''t have such a brain to process advance level mathematics like she was doing now. After mathematics, another subject started uploading in her mind. And this subject was thepanion and the old friend of mathematics, known by the name Physics. Physics, ssical physics, modern physics, nuclear physics, atomic physics, geophysics, biophysics, mechanics, and acoustics. All the 12 types of physics were being uploaded into her mind. Starting from the truth of ck holes to the energy levels of different nts, every secret of the universe was unfolding in her mind. At this moment the value of her brain was way much higher than a supeputer which can only deal with a limited type of physics. She felt like something wasing out of her mind, and as predicted, something actually came out of her mind. Riddles!! It was another set of riddles that came out of her mind. " Debate and rate With added weight While patterns picked Associate A crime of rhyme Debating time The pros and cons In sad sublime The base of space With time will race Futureing It''s pacing grace Fulfilled from where In Space or air Separate lives Two fabrics fare?" She hadn''t taken a breath of relief and was getting ready to solve the riddle when something else bubble up in her mind. "There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective, in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to the Myth Of The Given the error of assuming A modern Newtonian machine clock universe out there in which space-time is absolute, linear, singr, and primary Which is wrong, of course - Rtivity established the Subjectivity of Time''s Passage while Quantum Mechanics challenges Time as a Prime Concept rcing it with Causal Consciousness Modern sciences have been transformed into postmodern sciences with a viable Theory Of Consciousness The Outer Ego co-creates within its own Perspective, Space-Time Continuum, Subconscious and Inner Ego A unique Version of Objects and Space-Time called the MULTIVERSE, therefore our bodies and minds are a kind of Space-Time Machine. Space time matter Objects, cause and Effects all are mine And I belong to all. How can I detach myself? All are mine And I belong to all. I am the concept, I am the nature, I am seeing all, I am observing all, I am experiencing My life with all. I am telling all And I am asking myself Who I am and where I am going at this moment With all. I am testing all colours Including ck and white, I am trying to keep Contact with all In their space.. Spare me not The astronomy It lingers in my thought Rattling my whole anatomy The ck holes In my thought Drilling huge holes The continuum I fought Cast it''s shadow as my dice falls What is it all about Should it be what I can do Or what I should have done Perhaps what it should do The shooting star Shoots again It has a gun in its hand It dies in the end Of its shooting I then just watch the moon And I bite on To my rusty spoon I will be there soon In the morninging The sun rising And I Forever smiling With my thunder bellowing The acid rain itching I smile on. Dream of space time reality is time each moment shown in space with time almost like all space is time might all space be time other of memories of space in time fyce of a time lord''s memories space time feast to remember memories'' pacing time all life is time count time eternity of time time is all memories indeed, all time is memories memories of time eternity of memories of time." Jia, "Heh Sure, as if I am free all day to solve these riddles!!" Chapter 81: DOMINANCE Awakening Chapter 81: DOMINANCE Awakening Standing at the highest peak of frustration and depression, Jia closed her eyes and tried her best to shut down her brain mechanisms. Even though she was in a dream-like dimension, she was feeling nauseous for some reason. After taking a long deep breath, she screamed on top of her lungs, "Aaaaah!! What the! Can''t I live a normal life like a patient?!" After venting out her anger, she got a hold of her emotions and started solving the half-solved riddle from earlier. ''Moonlight,'' ''Blooms,'' ''Night,'' ''Rise,'' and ''Grows'' were the five divine words chosen from the prophecies. For thest set of words, she thought of creating a resonance by joining the terms with each other. Thest stanza or the so-called riddle or prophecy was "Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind" ''Hmm. Now topare and match the energy levels, should I just use pairs of two or use any other way?'' After giving it some thought she started making pairs like, Night-Sleeping Rise-Mind Grow-Forever Rise-Forever Sleeping-Rise.. And so on like that. After spending some considerable time in making such pairs, she finally found thest set of divine words needed for her task. ''Night-Forever'' ''Sleeping-Rise'' These were the two pairs that were creating an ultra resonance derived from the words earlier. Now that she had all the words on hands, she tried again to make a meaningful sentence out of them. ''Let me remember the divine words again. The first one was Moonlight, then Bloom, followed by Night, Rise, Grow, Forever, and thest one was sleeping.'' After remembering all the words, she was trying to re-arrange them and make some sense out of them. She had a hunch that if she made something meaningful out of them, not only she will get a reward, the doors of exiting will also be opened before her. But if she fails, then the consequences will be. Her brain was working faster than that of a supeputer to re-arrange the words and make some sense out of them. In just a few seconds, she calcted thousands ofbinations for re-arranging the words with the same energy levels, but for some reason, all of them were ending up in failures. The energy generated from each sentence was somewhat unstable. For example, in the beginning, she made a sentence, ''In the night moonlight bloom forever and sleep.'' She felt the energy levels were bnced till Moonlight, but after that, it was distorted for some reason. Including this, she had tried thousands ofbinations and even added some words from her side to bnce out the output energy of the sentence. But to her despair, she was failing again and again. Amidst solving, she figured out that those seven words were not enough, and she can add words from her side to increase or decrease the energy. Back in the real world, Jia was sleeping soundly on thep of the nurse. And to the nurse''s surprise, she was mesmerized by Jia''s beauty. She want Jia to sleep on herp for eternity and keep on staring at her beautiful figure. While she was engrossed in observing her beauty, a tall figure in a blue hoodie appeared near her and sat on one of the chairs near the nurse. This tall figure in hoodie was none other than out MC Xin who was tired to his bone thanks to the events that happened before. "Huff!!" Xin hold in some air in his lungs and released it out slowly. He was just closing his eyes for a small nap when he felt some fluctuations near him. Xin abruptly stood up and checked out his surroundings to find the source of energy fluctuations. He was feeling as if someone was using the power of ''DOMINANCE'' to create some fluctuations in magiculus level. Generally, fluctuations weremon in the world of magic but right very few people had awaken their powers. Some may hurt others in this process, while others mayplete this process safely. Now, it was not Xin''s obligation to help out every person on Earth in their awakening process. No one on the except Xin had any idea on how to help someone in such times. So he had decided to help as many people as possible whenever he can. While he was searching for the source of this fluctuation, he heard someone murmuring in his ears. "Debate and rate With added weight While patterns picked Associate A crime of rhyme Debating time The pros and cons In sad sublime The base of space With time will race Futureing It''s pacing grace Fulfilled from where In Space or air Separate lives Two fabrics fare?" "There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to The Myth Of The Given the error of assuming A modern Newtonian machine clock universe out there in which spacetime is absolute, linear, singr, and primary Which is wrong, of course - Rtivity established the Subjectivity of Time''s Passage while Quantum Mechanics challenges Time as a Prime Concept recing it with Causal Consciousness Modern sciences have been transformed into postmodern sciences with a viable Theory Of Consciousness The Outer Ego co-creates within its own Perspective, Space-Time Continuum, Subconscious and Inner Ego A unique Version of Objects and Spacetime called the MULTIVERSE, therefore our bodies and minds are a kind of Space-Time Machine. Space-time matter Objects, cause and Effects all are mine And I belong to all. Xin turned around and got to know this sound wasing from his proxy. And to his surprise, the source was none other than the girl saved by her, known by the name Miss Xeng. Till then he didn''t know her real name and was calling her by the name Miss Xeng as called by the doctors. Seeing the nurse was engrossed and out of her senses, Xin went near her and tried to hear Jia''s murmuring again. How can I detach myself? All are mine And I belong to all. I am the concept, I am the nature, I am seeing all, I am observing all, I am experiencing My life with all. I am telling all And I am asking myself Who I am and where I am going at this moment With all. I am testing all colours Including ck and white, I am trying to keep Contact with all In their space.. Spare me not The astronomy It lingers in my thought Rattling my whole anatomy The ck holes In my thought Drilling huge holes The continuum I fought Cast it''s shadow as my dice falls What is it all about Should it be what I can do Or what I should have done Perhaps what it should do The shooting star Shoots again It has a gun in its hand It dies in the end Of its shooting I then just watch the moon And I bite on To my rusty spoon I will be there soon In the morninging The sun rising And I Forever smiling With my thunder bellowing The acid rain itching I smile on. Dream of spacetime reality is time each moment shown in space with time almost like all space is time might all space be time other of memories of space in time fyce of a time lord''s memories spacetime feast to remember memories'' pacing time all life is time count time eternity of time time is all memories indeed, all time is memories memories of time eternity of memories of time." "Mhm Looks like this girl gonna awake her powers soon. And judging from the energy she is releasing, I think it will be a DOMINANCE awakening." Meanwhile, Jia, "I am the nature, I am seeing all, I am observing all, I am experiencing My life with all. I am telling all And I am asking myself Who I am and where I am going at this moment With all. I am testing all colours Including ck and white, I am trying to keep Contact with all In their space.. Spare me not The astronomy It lingers in my thought Rattling my whole anatomy The ck holes In my thought Drilling huge holes The continuum I fought Cast it''s shadow as my dice falls What is it all about Should it be what I can do Or what I should have done Perhaps what it should do The shooting star Shoots again It has a gun in its hand It dies in the end Of its shooting I then just watch the moon And I bite on To my rusty spoon I will be there soon In the morninging The sun rising And I Forever smiling With my thunder bellowing The acid rain itching I smile on. Dream of spacetime" She was trying to solve the first pair of riddles inside and unknowingly reciting the second pair of riddles outside. Xin had already heard and remembered them by heart. Not only remembered , he had also prepared the answer at the tip of his tongue. In case something goes wrong in the process, he can tell her the answer and help her a little in her awakening. Chapter 82: Virtual Studio Magiculus Encapsulation Code Chapter 82: Virtual Studio Magiculus Encapstion Code "Moonlight bloom when light night grow forever and sleeping. Light night bloom when forever grow and sleeping. Light of the moonlight." Jia was already at herst breath. Every time when she makes a sentence part of her mental psyche was getting depleted by it. Till now she had already tried thousands ofbinations and not a single of them had a bnce energy level as expected. She was trying again and again with herst breath only to get failed repeatedly. Then suddenly, in time of her pinch, a sound echoed in her mind. "Hey girl, can you hear me?" Before she replied something to that voice another message echoed in her mind, "Nevermind, I am sure you can hear me. Listen to me carefully to what I am saying. It''s a long, lengthy exnation and I can''t repeat it again for you." Jia nodded and concentrated her utmost attention towards that sound. Her mental energy recovered by 5% just by listening to that mysterious voice. In the outside world, Xin sat back again in his seat where he was sitting earlier and formed a mental thread with Jia, besides her. Mental thread, it may sound somewhat simr to telepathy but its way much different from it. In the world of magic, telepathy used to exist in the early stage of development. People used to do telepathic connections with each other for talking about things in secret and avoid eavesdropping of a third party. But as the society began to learn and understand the fundamentals of magic it was only a matter of time when schrs and prodigies discovered the shoring of using telepathy. First of all, it the telepathy channel can be hacked by anyone. As long as they knows some basic coding and some mathematics, they can easily hack a channel and eavesdrop on it. Second, a telepathy channel can be broadcasted to a lot of people using a simpleptop orputer as long as they have a wifi connection around them. So countering all these shorings and to add many new features the Magiculus Development Society came up with a new way ofmunication called Mental Thread. Generating a Mental Thread involves a lot ofplex calctions and some bits of coding. Xin took less than one nanosecond to generate one and connect it with her target, Jia. As mentioned before, Mental Threadmunication techniquees with lots of features, and one such feature was called Power Sharing/ Energy Sharing. Through this a user can transfer his/her power to the other side and can even pull energy from the other side. Xin was using the Divine Speech voice module tomunicate with the other party. Divine Speech, as the name suggests, refers to a type of speech in which the user embeds his voice with his own luck and magiculus particles. Whoever listens to this voice gets his/her energy recovered just within a fraction of seconds. The more they listen the faster will be the progress of recovery. Inside her inner world, Jia had almost recovered one-third of her strength. She was listening to the voice with utmost concentration and trying to understand as much as possible. But to her dismay she couldn''t understand a single word being spoken by the voice. Truthfully it was not her fault in the first ce. Xin was using thenguage of VSME Code to exin everything to her. VSME Code or Virtual Studio Magiculus Encapstion Code was a type of magic developmentnguage used in the world of magic. In the early stage of magic development, society needed something to control the magiculus energy in their society and that was the time when spells and chants were constructed. Though spells and chants were good enough in the beginning but as the society progressed they became more and more inefficient on their uses. The first problem was rted to power consumption, and the second was rted to energy output of magiculus particles. While casting a spell some users may consume 100 megabytes of magiculus and produce 20 megabytes of energy as an output. On the other hand some may consume 100 megabytes of magiculus and produce 99 megabytes as output. This was one of the major problem of the past centuries and was tackled by introducing programmingnguage in application of magic. In the beginning engineers and programmers designed equipments embedded with programs which can absorb a specific amount of energy and release the same amount as an output. Specially designed equipments became the ace of the century. Everyone started using them and the power input, output problem came to an end. But this was not the true end of the story. Some yearster the new generation of kids started showing the trait of Quantum Memory. With the help of this they can remember the entire program embedded on the Specially designed equipment and use it without any external means. During this time, many new programmingnguages were developed and the one standing at the peak was VSME Code or Virtual Studio Magiculus Encapstion Code. Xin was encapsting a variety of energy, including the divine speech energy inside his VSME Code and delivering it to the inner world of Jia. Now that Jia was full of energy, she was getting impatient to try out the riddles again. She was hoping to get some sort of clue from that mysterious voice but to her dismay something like that didn''t happen. Suddenly the divine speech echoing in her mind stopped and Xin started speaking in humannguage. "Miss Xeng, are you here? Listen to me, I will recite the riddles first and tell you some clues afterwards. Don''t get distracted or stop me in between." Jia nodded and like the first time paid her utmost attention towards the voice. "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown, or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as the day grow slight, Into darkness, into night, Secrets that are dark Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping, but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind" The riddles wereing to an end and Jia was about to take a breath of relief. It was nerve wrecking to listen those riddles again and again and make some sense out of it. A warm smile was to bloom on her face when dark clouds of despair appeared before her. Xin didn''t stop at that and continued further reciting some poems from the second riddle. " Debate and rate With added weight While patterns picked Associate A crime of rhyme Debating time The pros and cons In sad sublime The base of space With time will race Futureing It''s pacing grace Fulfilled from where In Space or air Separate lives Two fabrics fare? There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective, in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to the Myth Of The Given the error of assuming A modern Newtonian machine clock universe out there in which space-time is absolute, linear, singr, and primary Which is wrong, of course - Rtivity established the Subjectivity of Time''s Passage while Quantum Mechanics challenges Time as a Prime Concept rcing it with Causal Consciousness Modern sciences have been transformed into postmodern sciences with a viable Theory Of Consciousness The Outer Ego co-creates within its own Perspective, Space-Time Continuum, Subconscious and Inner Ego A unique Version of Objects and Space-Time called the MULTIVERSE, therefore our bodies and minds are a kind of Space-Time Machine. Space time matter Objects, cause and Effects all are mine And I belong to all. How can I detach myself? All are mine And I belong to all. I am the concept, I am the nature, I am seeing all, I am observing all, I am experiencing My life with all. I am telling all And I am asking myself Who I am and where I am going at this moment With all. I am testing all colours Including ck and white, I am trying to keep Contact with all In their space.. Spare me not The astronomy It lingers in my thought Rattling my whole anatomy The ck holes In my thought Drilling huge holes The continuum I fought Cast it''s shadow as my dice falls What is it all about Should it be what I can do Or what I should have done Perhaps what it should do The shooting star Shoots again It has a gun in its hand." Chapter 83: Once again?! Chapter 83: Once again?! Slowly the recitation came to an end and Xin moved onto the second phase of his n. "Miss Xeng, listen to me. The divine words that you have sorted out are good. They have bnced energy, but that''s the very reason you can''t bnce them anymore." "How so?" "Mhm It''s like Ahh how to say" Xin paused in the middle. After giving it some thought he came up with a solid example that could give Jia a perfect idea of what she was doing and what she should do. In the meantime Jia was muttering the riddles again to check if she had missed any divine words by chance, The first part "Moonlight blooms as day grows slight ck and purple shroud your sight You could follow intive cries Into darkness, into night." ''Moonlight'', ''Blooms'', ''Night'' were the words that she got from the first riddle. She recited the riddle again to re-check if she had missed anything. And at the end of the recitation she determined she hadn''t left out anything. Moving onto the second riddle, "Falling, diving from the heights Will you drown, or will you rise? Moonlight blooms as the day grow slight, Into darkness, into night, Secrets that are dark" Like the first time this time too she did a thorough check-up on all the lines and tried to sort out the divine words amongst them. And like the previous time she got the three words ''Moonlight'', ''Blooms'' and ''Night''. Though she was getting everything correct Xin''s speech was still echoing in her mind, ''The divine words that you have sorted out are good. They have bnced energy, but that''s the very reason you can''t bnce them anymore.'' "What could he meant by that?" After giving it some thought and unable toe up with an answer she moved onto the next riddle. "Unnoticed movement Unnoticed whispering Whispering from beyond" Once again like the previous times she concentrated her mind to find the words create turbulence. ''Unnoticed'', ''Movement'', and ''Whispering were the three words that she got. Till then Xin was thinking about an example and Jia was utilising that time by re-checking the riddles again by the help of her enhanced memory. Thest stanza, "Seas so ancient and wide Seas to contain the sleeping Sleeping as they were ced Sleeping, but not forever Forever they will always exist Forever in the back of your mind" Previously thest stanza was a bit hard for her to figure out. Every word of this riddle was creating a turmoil in her heart. Even after reciting it multiple times she couldn''t figure out the divine words out of them. But this time she didn''t have to undergo through all that. She instantly focused on the words that she had gottenst time and checked them for any mistakes. And yet, once again she got the words, Grow, Forever, and thest one was sleeping. Now normally she should have felt happy after thepletion of her task. But currently her facial expression that of un-satisfaction. "Tch, tch. What am I doing wrong?!" On the outside Xin was just about to exin when he got a call from somewhere and had to leave his work in the middle. Before going he didn''t say much to Jia and said, "Be right back in some minutes." Jia was dumfounded by his response. At one point she was thinking the person helping her must be a noob god and must have fled after unable to solve her problem. She didn''t give it any more thought and started to analyse the second set of riddles. She was sure that she will get some words from second set to use on first set. "Debate and rate With added weight While patterns picked Associate A crime of rhyme Debating time The pros and cons In sad sublime The base of space With time will race Futureing It''s pacing grace Fulfilled from where In Space or air Separate lives Two fabrics fare?" "Wight, pattern, space, future." Jia figured out them in an instant. Thanks to all her hard work from before she was getting proficient at it. "There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to The Myth Of The Given the error of assuming A modern Newtonian machine clock universe out there in which spacetime is absolute, linear, singr, and primary Which is wrong, of course - Rtivity established the Subjectivity of Time''s Passage while Quantum Mechanics challenges Time as a Prime Concept recing it with Causal Consciousness Modern sciences have been transformed into postmodern sciences with a viable Theory Of Consciousness The Outer Ego co-creates within its own Perspective, Space-Time Continuum, Subconscious and Inner Ego A unique Version of Objects and Spacetime called the MULTIVERSE, therefore our bodies and minds are a kind of Space-Time Machine. Space-time matter Objects, cause and Effects all are mine And I belong to all" Now this was a very big riddle that she had never felt before. Many words at a time were creating chaos and turmoil in her heart. It was bing hard for her to figure out the energy levels and difference between them. Then suddenly, she remembered something that he adoptive hunter parents had taught her in the past. ording to them not only animals even hunters have a sixth sense with them. It''s more like hunter develops this sense in the course of their hunting. Only few hunters in the world are capable enough to sense out this power and activate it for them. Jia was thinking was this sixth sense an intuition power or deduction power? After giving it some thought she decided that she shouldn''t give it any thought in the first ce. Sixth sense was a type of sensing ability and to activate it she must learn more about it in practical instead of thinking and analysing about it. The second riddle of the second set was too big for her to process her at once. So to ease down her work she divided it into two. "There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to The Myth Of The Given the error of assuming" She gently closed her mind and tried to feel all the turbulent feeling inside her. For some reason when she did it she could visualize them as a round ball of threads tangled with each other. Only two or three threads were useful and the rest of them were there to confuse her. ''Now that''s weird. I couldn''t activate this visualisation before but now I can do it properly!!'' She went near the ball and looked at it from different sides. In her mind she had visualised that the green threads were the right threads, and the rest of them were distractions. After looking here and there for some seconds she couldn''t find the trace of any green threads. It was as if the green threads have vanished from there. Suddenly a thought shed through her mind that a riddle is an energy stabilised text on its own. And dissembling it will make it unstable. And to make it stable she has to join them again. Jia, " " She face-palmed hard on her face and tried to assemble the entire text again. "There is no single, objective reality, but infinite realities without beginning or end. When ten people view a ss, ten sses are seen, everyone creating their own universe Within their own perspective in a different space continuum - determined by the number of observers in a Multiverse Without a singr or absolute flow of linear time in rtion to space - as indicated by Einstein''s Rtivity Theory Applied in quantum science - postmodern philosophers refer to The Myth Of The Given the error of assuming A modern Newtonian machine clock universe out there in which spacetime is absolute, linear, singr, and primary Which is wrong, of course - Rtivity established the Subjectivity of Time''s Passage while Quantum Mechanics challenges Time as a Prime Concept recing it with Causal Consciousness Modern sciences have been transformed into postmodern sciences with a viable Theory Of Consciousness The Outer Ego co-creates within its own Perspective, Space-Time Continuum, Subconscious and Inner Ego A unique Version of Objects and Spacetime called the MULTIVERSE, therefore our bodies and minds are a kind of Space-Time Machine. Space-time matter Objects, cause and Effects all are mine And I belong to all. Chapter 84: Forced Awakening Chapter 84: Forced Awakening "Gosh!! It takes up a lot of energy just to assemble these riddles." Jia decided no matter what she won''t disperse the riddles again. The entire riddle from second set consumes upto 25% of her mental energy to get assembled. She was just about to start when Xin returned from his phone call and formed another connection with Jia. "Huh?! What''s this? Why have you assembled this entire riddle?" Xin asked in confusion. As much as he remembered ha hadn''t asked her to do anything like that. Then why in the world Jia showed a proud smile on her face and said, "Weren''t you gonna make use of the second set for solving the first set of riddles? I guessed it correct right?!" Jia was full of confidence that she was right on track she was even getting ready to show her newly discovered power to that voice when suddenly turbulence was formed in the space. Jia was shocked and getting worried by this event. On the other hand Xin was keeping his silence again. "Yo, yo!! Mysterious voice, what''s going on here? Why this entire dimension is shaking?!" "Cause I am creating energy waves to make this happen in your inner dimension." Xin didn''t give any further exnation and continued to shake her inner dimension. Some minutester this shaking stopped and Jia noticed something weird around her. All the marbles around her were glowing like a small sun. They weren''t producing any heat just their glowing intensity was increasing slowly. Jia was mesmerized by this view in her inner world. It was her first time to witness a phenomenon like that. She was getting engrossed in the scenery before her when Xin''s voice echoed again in her mind. "Miss Xeng, listen to me carefully. I will exin you the types of awakening and the mistake that you were doing earlier." Jia nodded and concentrated her attention towards Xin. "So, as I was telling before awakening are divided into three types. The first type is called normal awakening. The second type is called DOMINANCE awakening, and the third type is called FORCED awakening." Xin continued further by giving a detailed exnation of each type. ording to him normal awakening was the simplest one out of all. As the name suggests the awakening process in this is normal and the person undergoing through it will not suffer any kind of problem. Moving onto the next one Xin told her about the second type, DOMINANCE awakening. This type of awakening happens only with those people who are way much stronger than normal people. During this process the user may dive into his/her inner world multiple times to solve the riddle in their soul and release the dormant energy within them. After hearing out all this from Xin Jia was getting a clear idea about what''s going on there. Xin continued and told her about thest type of awakening which was FORCED awakening. Usually this type of awakening involves using an external stimuli or taking help from a different party to unleash the dormant energy in the body. Xin didn''t give her time to think about it and continued, that he will be doing a FORCED awakening on her. Cause she had lost the best time of DOMINANCE awakening. Jia was pretty much new to everything and was taking time to understand everything from the root. After hearing all this a simple question popped up in her mind. Since the beginning that Mysterious voice was using the term awakening, awakening, and awakening. But awakening of what? She wasn''t sure about it. Xin already had an idea what would be her next question. He didn''t give her a chance to ask and directly proceeded towards the answer. "I know, you must be thinking awakening of what, right?" "Uhh Yes!!" "Mhm As expected" "Gosh!! It takes up a lot of energy just to assemble these riddles." Jia decided no matter what she won''t disperse the riddles again. The entire riddle from second set consumes upto 25% of her mental energy to get assembled. She was just about to start when Xin returned from his phone call and formed another connection with Jia. "Huh?! What''s this? Why have you assembled this entire riddle?" Xin asked in confusion. As much as he remembered ha hadn''t asked her to do anything like that. Then why in the world Jia showed a proud smile on her face and said, "Weren''t you gonna make use of the second set for solving the first set of riddles? I guessed it correct right?!" Jia was full of confidence that she was right on track she was even getting ready to show her newly discovered power to that voice when suddenly turbulence was formed in the space. Jia was shocked and getting worried by this event. On the other hand Xin was keeping his silence again. "Yo, yo!! Mysterious voice, what''s going on here? Why this entire dimension is shaking?!" "Cause I am creating energy waves to make this happen in your inner dimension." Xin didn''t give any further exnation and continued to shake her inner dimension. Some minutester this shaking stopped and Jia noticed something weird around her. All the marbles around her were glowing like a small sun. They weren''t producing any heat just their glowing intensity was increasing slowly. Jia was mesmerized by this view in her inner world. It was her first time to witness a phenomenon like that. She was getting engrossed in the scenery before her when Xin''s voice echoed again in her mind. "Miss Xeng, listen to me carefully. I will exin you the types of awakening and the mistake that you were doing earlier." Jia nodded and concentrated her attention towards Xin. "So, as I was telling before awakening are divided into three types. The first type is called normal awakening. The second type is called DOMINANCE awakening, and the third type is called FORCED awakening." Xin continued further by giving a detailed exnation of each type. ording to him normal awakening was the simplest one out of all. As the name suggests the awakening process in this is normal and the person undergoing through it will not suffer any kind of problem. Moving onto the next one Xin told her about the second type, DOMINANCE awakening. This type of awakening happens only with those people who are way much stronger than normal people. During this process the user may dive into his/her inner world multiple times to solve the riddle in their soul and release the dormant energy within them. After hearing out all this from Xin Jia was getting a clear idea about what''s going on there. Xin continued and told her about thest type of awakening which was FORCED awakening. Usually this type of awakening involves using an external stimuli or taking help from a different party to unleash the dormant energy in the body. Xin didn''t give her time to think about it and continued, that he will be doing a FORCED awakening on her. Cause she had lost the best time of DOMINANCE awakening. Jia was pretty much new to everything and was taking time to understand everything from the root. After hearing all this a simple question popped up in her mind. Since the beginning that Mysterious voice was using the term awakening, awakening, and awakening. But awakening of what? She wasn''t sure about it. Xin already had an idea what would be her next question. He didn''t give her a chance to ask and directly proceeded towards the answer. "I know, you must be thinking awakening of what, right?" "Uhh Yes!!" "Mhm As expected. So, let me tell you about the current condition of earth. Currently the earth is being engulfed by a mysterious energy called Magiculus energy. This energy has different effects on different species of the. Some species are evolving into higher beings while some species are getting stronger and stronger." "Oh~~!!" "Yes, and humans are the species which will undergo both at the same time. I think you are the first one to undergo awakening around this area. Once yourtent energy is unleashed you can evolve into the next stage of humanity." Xin wanted to share more information with her so that she can share the same with rest of the world. But the time and situation wasn''t good enough to allow him so. "Now about the next topic about solving your riddles. As I was saying before you have chosen all the divine words which are creating turbulence in your heart, right?" "Yes" "And that''s the mistake you have done there. All those turbulence creating words are stable words. You can''t put them together in a sentence and make them more stable." Jia, "." Deep inside she was thinking, ''Just what type of logic is that?'' Xin continued and revealed that she should have chosen a word without turbulence. That would have made things easier for her. Well it was Jia''s first time too, so Xin didn''t shout at her or give her any lectures on her mistake. "Then should I just assemble the first" Jia was asking hesitantly when Xin stopped her and said he will help her this time. She already had a hunch tha.t she Xin will do a force awakening with her. But how and when She wasn''t aware about them. As expected few secondster Xin told her the thing that she was expecting from some time, "Miss Xeng, we will be using external stimulus now to force awaken you. Get ready, for it." "Okay Please be gentle," Jia was getting ready to feel some kind of pain in her body. She had mustered her courage to undergo through the process of force awakening. But destiny had something else nned for her this time. Reality waspletely different from her expectation. Xin had nned to do unleash her dormant energy using the chant of 3ws of nature. The firstw was Karma. The secondw was Destiny. And the thirdw was Time. Jia was already prepared for any sort of pain. And in reality too she also got pain. But it wasn''t a physical pain. But rather a mental one. Xin on the outside took a deep breath and got ready for the threews of the nature. A chant that can help unawaken species to unleash their energy. "Karma is the naturalws of the mind, just as gravity is aw of matter. Just as God created gravity to bring order to the physical world, He created karma as a divine system of justice that is self-governing and infinitely fair. It automatically creates the appropriate future experience in response to the current action. Karma is aw of cause and effect yet the Divine can mitigate karma for his devotees. Karma that is done with a sense of doership and with attachment to the karma could cause good or bad reactions. Karma that is done with an attitude of duty and without attachment to the results will not create any effect and will move one closer to God. Your actions determine the shape of your destiny. We were destined to meet here. You have shaped your destiny. Each person''s destiny is his own to make. Be the master of your own destiny. Remember the fivews of Destiny. Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that ur in an apparently irreversible session from the past, through the present, into the future. It is aponent quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, topare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience. The fourth dimension of time. The physical nature of time is addressed by general rtivity with respect to events in space-time. Clearly time is not an object or substance we can touch or see. But neither is it merely a dimension, quantity or a concept. Indeed, time has many aspects and appears to represent different things to different people in different circumstances. The past may be defined as those events which urred before a given point in time, events which are usually considered to be fixed and immutable. It can be essed through memory or, since the advent of writtennguage, recorded history. The study of the past, in particr as it rtes to humans, is called history. The present may be defined as the time associated with the events perceived directly and for the first time, i.e. not as a recollection of the past or as a spection of the future. It is equivalent to the word "now", and is the period of time located between the past and the future. Just how long a period of time the present incorporates, however, depends on the context, and can vary from an infinitesimal or durationless moment to a day to a whole era, depending on how it is being used. The future is the indefinite time period after the present moment. It is the portion of the projected time line that is anticipated to ur, and may be considered as potentially infinite in its extent, or as circumscribed and finite, depending on the context. While some people may see the future as fixed and predetermined, most see it as essentially unknown (and perhaps unknowable), and open to many different possibilities and permutations. The study of postting possible, probable and preferable futures and worldviews is called futurology." Chapter 85: Lets derive the Law!! Chapter 85: Let''s derive the Law!! In the beginning, Jia was unable to understand the meaning of thosews. But when he was about to end his incantation something mysterious happened. Jia''s body began to levitate in air. Her mind was getting filled with the threews of nature. Earlier she wasn''t aware of their profoundness but now she was able to understand the hidden meaning behind them. As per her understanding, everyone who lives in nature follows thews of nature. When someone breakthrough for the first time he/she can get rid of the threews of nature for a small amount of time. And this can be done by understanding the profoundness of the text that Xin was reading to her. Bit by bit she was understanding everything about the nature. Not only nature she was also understanding the properties of the magiculus particles residing inside her. She was just taking her time to process all those information when she felt something warm from her pelvic region. It was the vessel process of vessel construction. Jia was undergoing through the natural process, unlike Xin who was using a scientific approach to tamper and expand his vessel. The construction didn''t take long and an ''A Grade'' vessel was created inside her. The vessel was just consolidating inside her when Jia got a weird idea and a fierce impulse to try it out on her. Till now she had already read many riddles and the threews of the nature. For some reason she wanted to be practical and use them for something useful. How? She had no idea about it. While she was contemting about it an idea shed through her mind. ''What if I integrate the power of time with my vessel? Won''t it recover energy as much time as I want? I just need to reverse the flow of time inside me.'' Now that Jia had grasped the concept of time, she had a strong feeling that she can do it perfectly. Xin was observing the energy around flow around her and observed some changes in her surroundings time line. "Whoa!! First dominance awakening and now Awakening Enlightenment!! That''s some hardcore luck you have gotten there." Jia clearly heard the term Awakening Enlightenment, and fixed it inside her head. The spell that Xin was chanting was the standardized version of FORCE Awakening. Anyone can learn it and recite back. Jia had also learned it by heart. If wanted, she could recite it in the exact same way as Xin. But she didn''t chose that path and took a different approach towards it. She made her own version of the Law and incantation by integrating it with the concept of ck holes. To be precise, she derived her own version of Law after analyzing and understanding everything in brief. "The idea of a ck hole, an object so massive that nothing could escape the grasp of its gravity, dates back to the time of creation. In principle, any object, even a rock, can be made into a ck hole, by squeezing it into a tiny enough volume. Under these conditions, the object continues to copse under its own weight, crushing itself down to zero size. However, ording to the profound knowledge of the first human evolver Einstein''s theory, the object''s mass and gravity remain behind, in the form of an extreme distortion of the space and time around it. This distortion of space and time is the ck hole." Xin was listening to everything carefully but didn''t show any interest in it. Why? What was the reason? The reason was very simple. He already knew about it. Not only knew he already had his own version ofws. He didn''t tell Jia about it''s something that everyone must grasp on their own. Jia continued her derivation. "In nature, the only objects that can form a ck hole on their own arerge stars - stars several times more massive than our own Sun. At the end of their lives, these stars copse under their own weight, forming a ck hole. While the original star might be millions of miles wide, the resulting ck hole is just a few miles across. The hole itself is shaped like a spherical beach ball. The resulting ck hole is the darkest ck in the universe: No matter how powerful a light you shine on it, no light ever bounces back, because the light is swallowed by the hole. A ck hole is a true "hole" in space: Anything that crosses the edge of the hole - called the "horizon" of the hole - is swallowed forever. For this reason, ck holes are considered an edge of space, a one-way exit door from our universe; nothing inside a ck hole can evermunicate with our universe again, even in principle." At this point, Xin was getting a lil interested in it. She wanted to help Jia and tell her some more points about time and ck holes. "However, ck holes are even stranger than that. As you get closer to a ck hole, the flow of time slows down,pared to flow of time far from the hole. (ording to Einstein''s theory, any massive body, including the Earth, produces this effect. Earth''s gravity is so weak that the slowing of time is not noticeable, but the effect has been confirmed using sensitive instruments. For example, at sea level you age one-billionth of a second less every year than you would if you lived on top of Mt. Everest.) Near a ck hole, the slowing of time is extreme. From the viewpoint of an observer outside the ck hole, time stops. For example, an object falling into the hole would appear frozen in time at the edge of the hole. Inside a ck hole is where the real mystery lies. ording to Einstein''s theory, time and space, in a way, trade ces inside the hole. Inside the ck hole, the flow of time itself draws falling objects into the center of the ck hole. No force in the universe can stop this fall, any more than we can stop the flow of time." Xin was impressed by her derivation. Though not powerful as his own version it was somewhat profound inparison to thews of an average magician. "At the very center of the ck hole is where our understanding breaks down. Einstein''s theory of gravity seems to predict that time itself is destroyed at the center of the hole: timees to an abrupt end there. For this reason, a ck hole is sometimes described as the "reverse of creation." But no one knows how or why time coulde to an abrupt end, any more than we know how time was created in the first ce. Einstein''s theory of gravity no longer applies at these tiniest scales of distance, and newws of nature must be found that describe what happens at the center of a ck hole. Does the inside of a ck hole lead to another universe, as some scientists have imed? The truth is, no one really knows. We cannot do a direct experiment to find out, even in principle, since no information or evidence can ever get back out of a ck hole. That''s what makes it so important to find and study ck holes from the outside, while at the same time developing theories that can more confidently predict what might happen on the inside of the ck hole." With this Jiapleted the first stage derivation of ck hole and time. The first step involved finding a rtion between them. And she got it to. I.e. Flow of time bes slower inside a ck hole. After taking a deep breath, Jia moved onto the second stage of herw derivation. Now that Xin rememberedws are not only powerful chants they are something that shows someone''s understanding of nature. The power ofws can be used in many ways. And in the world of magic it was mostly used in two ces. One was on battlefields, another was in research centers. Even though every other person had its own version ofws, they weren''t aware about its practical applications. Jia resumed, "At the edge of a ck hole, time should appear to slow to a halt, and if the ck hole is spinning, the very fabric of space should be twisted, carrying any nearby objects around with it. Scientists can probe this hostile environment by observing nearby matter that spirals in towards the hole. The atoms in the matter emit X-ray light, whose vibrations serve as clocks that can help us precisely measure the flow of time and the distortion of space. ck holes are the most efficient and powerful engine in the universe: Somehow, much of the matter falling towards a ck hole is instead propelled outward at close to the speed of light an effect that came as aplete surprise to astronomers. These jets of matter seem to start near the edge of a ck hole, and are probably set in motion by the tremendous maic fields produced by the spinning ck hole. NASA''s Constetion-X will probe the interaction between in-falling matter, maic fields, and ck holes, allowing scientists to understand how such powerful rays of matter could be created. Every gxy has a giant ck hole at its center. These ck holes were probably present when the gxy itself was formed and may have aided in the gxy''s formation. If this is true, then ck holes may y a pivotal role in the formation of conditions in the universe that are necessary for life. The very earliest gxies in the universe cannot be observed with existing telescopes." Even Xin was aware of it. Not only stars ands even humans have a small ck hole in their bodies! Chapter 86: Derive the law Part 2 Chapter 86: Derive thew Part 2 Since ancient times magiculus particles exits in the world of magic. It was way muchter when they discovered it and stated using it. Every human develops a magiculus vessel with time which stores magiculus particles in the body. At the center of this vessel exists a core which control the flow of magiculus particles in the vessel. It''s pretty much impossible to see the core with normal means. But Xin had a way for it. In his past life, when he was working in the Research division he had devised a way to split open this core. Add programming into it and make it do different things inside the body. Out of these many things, one was programing the core to release the ck hole inside the core and make a living creature suck from the inside. It may soundplicated but Xin had researched and mastered this method for this use. While reminiscing about the past Xin was dragged to reality after hearing Jia''s derivation. "In this world gravity predicts that ck holes can send ripples of gravity through the fabric of space itself. Once a day, there is a dazzling sh in the sky. It is not a sh of visible light, but a sh of gamma rays, a high-energy form of light even more powerful than X-rays. These shes, called gamma-ray bursts,e from the tremendous explosion of a star going "supernova." The event is thest gasp of a star''s core before it copses into a ck hole with the release of Dark Energy. " Xin was surprised that she even know about this. Her knowledge in this field was way much higher than anymon people. Now he was reconsidering his previous guesses. "For a century now it''s been known to human kind that the universe is expanding. What could be the reason behind it? What''s the energy or the driving force to make it happen? The answer is unknown. But ording to the assumptions made by human kind this energy is called Dark Energy. The expansion of the universe does not change fast enough for us to detect over our lifetime. We can only tell if the universe is speeding up byparing its expansion today with how fast it was expanding in the distant past. Some might think it might be impossible to tell what the universe was doing in the past; no one was there to observe it. But amazingly, wonderfully, nature gives us a way to see the past directly. The universe is sorge, that it takes a very long time for light to reach Earth from distant gxies. Therefore, the image that we capture today shows us what the object looked like in the past, when light left it - not what it looks like now, when we are receiving that light. By observing the motions of gxies at different distances, astronomers can tell how fast the universe was expanding at different times in the past." Xin understood what she was doing now. She was deriving a rtion of dark energy and ck holes. "A key breakthrough was finding a technique to determine the distance to a gxy, and therefore to tell how far back in the past we are looking. The technique rests on the happy ident that when a certain type of star dies, it explodes with a spectacr sh whose inherent brightness is known. These exploding stars, called supernovae, enable astronomers to determine the distance to the star and the gxy in which it lives and dies: The dimmer the sh appears, the further away the star must be. In its death, a star is a beacon to all observers throughout our universe, marking out distance in the dark reaches of space. From all this information, humankind have been able to piece together how fast the universe was expanding at different times in its history. The result is clear: Sometime around 5 billion years ago, the universe began elerating - its expansion getting faster and faster, rather than gradually slowing down. The conclusion: Something, which scientists now call dark energy, must be driving the eleration of the universe. The dark energy was presumably there since the beginning of the universe, but its effect bes more important as the universe expands. Humankind is able to determine how much dark energy there is as well, based on the measured rate of expansion of the universe. (They are able to do this because Einstein''s theory of gravity rtes the expansion rate of the universe to the total amount of all forms of mass or energy in the universe.) The result is that about 70% of the content of the observable universe must be dark energy. In other words, most of the universe is made of some mysterious form of energy whose nature ispletely unknown." In the world of magic at one moment people discovered that emptiness is not nothingness. And in this world Jia was first one to reach near the truth of it. Xin was an exceptional cause these things were not much of significance to him. But for normal people like Jia it was way much valuable for them. "Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property of space that Jia discovered is that more space can actuallye into existence. Her prediction: "empty space" can have its own energy. This energy would not be diluted as space expands, because it is a property of space itself; as more space came into existence, more of this energy-of-space woulde into existence as well. As a result, this form of energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster as time passes. Unfortunately, no one understands why space should contain the observed amount of energy and not, say, much more or much less. "A new form of energy, called "quintessence," that might be the dark energy. Quintessence is rted to the idea of the energy of space itself, but unlike the energy of space envisioned by Einstein, quintessence would have the property that it could vary from ce to ce and moment to moment. Existing evidence tends to disfavor quintessence, but does not rule it out." In the magicless world Einstein was the first one who tried to reach near this truth. But s, he was unable to do so. Jia was taking help of Einstein''s past knowledge and research to reach near herw. How did she get to know about all these? Wasn''t she a hunter by profession? She was a hunter by profession. But thanks to the power ofws read by Xin and her dormant power she got to know all these theories. "It is possible that the elerating universe is not a sign of dark energy at all, but instead signals a new aspect of thew of gravity that Einstein overlooked. Scientists are hesitant to modify the known ws" of physics especially something like Einstein''s theory of gravity, which has been very well tested over the past century. But with something as perplexing as dark energy, it is important to leave no stone unturned. Several leading scientists are now investigating the possibility that the most cherishedws of physics may need to be modified. Humankind thinks that the universe has extra dimensions of space beyond the three dimensions which we see and in which we move. It is possible that one of these extra dimensions of space can mimic the effect of a dark energy by causing the expansion of our three-dimensional space to elerate. The theory that predicts these extra dimensions, called "string theory," has not been tested experimentally. Dark energy has captured the imagination of scientists because it must be very different from anything we know. In order to understand it, we would have to have a much better understanding of how space, time, and matter are rted. This is the kind of challenge that drives revolutions in science. There are subtle questions as well. What is the purpose of dark energy? What role does it y in the unfolding universe? Such questions may seem unscientific, yet scientists continue to be astonished at the connections and rtedness within the physical world a kind of "ecology of the universe." It would be surprising indeed if dark energy were an afterthought on nature''s part. One of the most perplexing questions is why the universe we observe today should contain an amount of dark energyparable to the amount of normal matter. Why not much more or much less? What is special about this near-bnce between dark energy and normal matter? No one knows yet." At this point Jia was emitting enormous amount of energy from her body. It would have been a problem if it had hit someone near it. But Xin had predicted it before hand and formed a barrier around Jia. A barrier that will redirect the energy into Xin''s Dimensional Vessel. The magiculus vessel that he had developed afterbing his Dimensional Pocket and Magiculus Vessel. A two in one solution in short. "It seems curious that dark energy should be discovered at just that time in history when we thought we had finally answered the ancient Greek question, "what is the world made of?" It took two thousand years to answer that question. First, we had to invent science along the way. Finally, we have studied and understood all of the chemical elements and many of the fundamental particles of which they are made. We have periodic tables and textbooks crammed with lists fundamental particles. Yet now we find that most of the universe is made of somethingpletely unknown." Chapter 87: Law of Dimensions Chapter 87: Law of Dimensions Jia was about to advance when she got an enlightenment within her own derivation. She was excited to re-derive thew again, but at the same time was worried about her decreasing energy. Xin observed this and sent another wave of energy inside her. Jia thanked the mysterious voice within her heart and advanced towards her derivation. Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious force that''s causing the rate of expansion of our universe to elerate over time, rather than to slow down. That''s contrary to what one might expect from a universe that began in a Big Bang. Astronomers in the 20th century learned the universe is expanding. They thought the expansion might continue forever, or eventually if the universe had enough mass and therefore enough self-gravity reverse and cause a Big Crunch. Now, in early 21st century cosmology, that idea has evolved. The universe is seen as expanding faster today than billions of years ago. What could be causing the rate of expansion to increase? Astronomers now sometimes speak of a repulsive force as a possible way to understand it. Up until thete 1990s, most cosmologists believed the universe did not have enough mass to cause a Big Crunch. In particr, data acquired by the 2dF Gxy Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey seemed to confirm the universe would expand forever, albeit at an ever-slowing rate as the universe''s own mass and own gravity tried to pull it back. The first indication of something revolutionary about to be discovered came in 1998 during a survey of Type 1A supernovae. These massive explosions of dying giant stars are extremely useful to astronomers because they always output the same amount of light, and can therefore be used as so-called "standard candles" to calcte distances in the cosmos. This is a very simple idea. Think of fireflies at night: they all shine with the same instrinsic brightness. By measuring how bright they are from where you are, you can calcte their distance. The 1998 survey was being carried out by two international group of astronomers including Americans Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter, and Brian Schmidt in Australia. Using eight telescopes worldwide, their aim was to use the distance of Type 1A supernovae to calcte the expansion rate of the universe, known as the Hubble Constant (although in reality, as the rate of expansion of the universe varies with time, it is technically not a constant). The results of the survey were astonishing. Distant supernovae which exploded when the universe was only 2/3 of its current age were much fainter than they should have been, and were thus much further away. The implication of this was that the universe had expanded much faster than it should have done, if current ideas were correct. Met with much skepticism in the astronomicalmunity when these results were revealed, the observations were soon replicated by other teams and other methods. By the turn of the millennium, it was bing clear that the expansion of the universe is not, as wasmonly believed, slowing down. It is actually elerating. Even more strangely, the expansion had been deelerating, as one would expect, until seven or eight billion years after the Big Bang. But then, for reasonspletely unknown, a mysterious "anti-gravity force" started to dominate, oveing the brake that gravity was cing on the expansion, which then reversed its slowdown and started to elerate. You can imagine how shocking this revtion was to astronomers and cosmologists. The force responsible for this eleration was dubbed dark energy by scientists. In this case, dark means unknown rather than literally dark, as is the case with dark matter. It should be noted that dark energy and dark matter arepletely unrted phenomena. Read more: What is dark matter? To add to the mystery, the properties of this strange dark energy seem to match Einstein''s cosmological constant, sometimes called his fudge factor andter described by Einstein himself as the greatest professional blunder of his life. Einstein detested the idea of an expanding universe, preferring the static one postted by steady-state cosmology, which was popr in the early 20th century. He invented an anti-gravity force, of undefined origin, to counteract the observed expansion of the universe, which would result in a non-expanding universe. However, Einsteinter retracted this idea, which was not supported by observations. Dark energy is one of the great unsolved mysteries of cosmology. It is now thought to make up 68% of everything in the universe, with normal, so-called "baryonic" matter every bit of matter we can actually see prising a mere 5%, with the rest consisting of dark matter, another huge cosmic mystery. Dark energy does behave like Einstein''s anti-gravity force, but its nature and origin remain unknown. One of its greatest mysteries is why dark energy started to dominate the rate of expansion of the universe at a particr point in time billions of years after the Big Bang. If it exists now, why wasn''t it there all along? The physics of dark energy are highly spective. One idea which has gained ground in recent years is that dark energy resembles a force known as "quintessence," which is a rtive of the Higgs Field. But as yet there is no observational evidence to support or discount this. Cosmologists also have no idea if dark energy will continue to elerate the universe''s expansion forever, leading to a scenario, far in the future, where the eleration will ovee the forces that hold the universe together and literally tear all matter in the cosmos apart, in a nightmare scenario known as the Big Rip. There are several current and future space missions and ground-based surveys which will investigate the nature of dark energy, including NASA''s orbiting WFIRST telescope and the international Dark Energy Survey, based in Chile. It is hoped that soon we will arrive at a greater understanding of this mysterious force, which is having such an influence over the future of the cosmos, but to gain that understanding we need to sketch out a far moreplete history of the universe. However, the archaeology of 13.7 billion years is extremely difficult and time-consuming, with so many ancient strata in that history missing or indistinct, so we cannot expect any sudden revtions. The universe is expanding faster than older theories predicted. Dark energy, one of the great unsolved mysteries of cosmology, may cause its elerating expansion. Dark energy is now thought to make up 68% of everything in the universe." With this she derived her second rtion. I.e. The universe is expanding at a faster rate than before and the reason is Dark Energy. The unknown, mysterious energy. Now she needed only one more thing to construct herw and vessel. And thest thing was none other than Dimension. ording to herst derivation, someone mentions "different dimensions," we tend to think of things like parallel universes alternate realities that exist parallel to our own, but where things work or happened differently. However, the reality of dimensions and how they y a role in the ordering of our Universe is really quite different from this popr characterization. To break it down, dimensions are simply the different facets of what we perceive to be reality. We are immediately aware of the three dimensions that surround us on a daily basis those that define the length, width, and depth of all objects in our universes (the x, y, and z axes, respectively). Beyond these three visible dimensions, scientists believe that there may be many more. In fact, the theoretical framework of Superstring Theory posits that the universe exists in ten different dimensions. These different aspects are what govern the universe, the fundamental forces of nature, and all the elementary particles contained within. The first dimension, as already noted, is that which gives it length (aka. the x-axis). A good description of a one-dimensional object is a straight line, which exists only in terms of length and has no other discernible qualities. Add to it a second dimension, the y-axis (or height), and you get an object that bes a 2-dimensional shape (like a square). The third dimension involves depth (the z-axis), and gives all objects a sense of area and a cross-section. The perfect example of this is a cube, which exists in three dimensions and has a length, width, depth, and hence volume. Beyond these three lie the seven dimensions which are not immediately apparent to us, but which can be still be perceived as having a direct effect on the universe and reality as we know it. Scientists believe that the fourth dimension is time, which governs the properties of all known matter at any given point. Along with the three other dimensions, knowing an objects position in time is essential to plotting its position in the universe. The other dimensions are where the deeper possibilitiese into y, and exining their interaction with the others is where things get particrly tricky for physicists. With ordance to the Superstring Theory, the fifth and sixth dimensions are where the notion of possible worlds arises. If we could see on through to the fifth dimension, we would see a world slightly different from our own that would give us a means of measuring the simrity and differences between our world and other possible ones. Chapter 88: The last missing piece Chapter 88: Thest missing piece As per her understanding, In the seventh dimension, you have ess to the possible worlds that start with different initial conditions. Whereas in the fifth and sixth, the initial conditions were the same and subsequent actions were different, here, everything is different from the very beginning of time. The eighth dimension again gives us a ne of such possible universe histories, each of which begins with different initial conditions and branches out infinitely (hence why they are called infinities). In the ninth dimension, we canpare all the possible universe histories, starting with all the different possiblews of physics and initial conditions. In the tenth and final dimension, we arrive at the point in which everything possible and imaginable is covered. Beyond this, nothing can be imagined by us lowly mortals, which makes it the natural limitation of what we can conceive in terms of dimensions. The existence of these additional six dimensions which we cannot perceive is necessary for String Theory in order for there to be consistency in nature. The fact that we can perceive only four dimensions of space can be exined by one of two mechanisms: either the extra dimensions arepactified on a very small scale, or else our world may live on a 3-dimensional submanifold corresponding to a brane, on which all known particles besides gravity would be restricted (aka. brane theory). If the extra dimensions arepactified, then the extra six dimensions must be in the form of a CbiYau manifold (shown above). While imperceptible as far as our senses are concerned, they would have governed the formation of the universe from the very beginning. Hence why scientists believe that peering back through time, using telescopes to spot light from the early universe (i.e. billions of years ago), they might be able to see how the existence of these additional dimensions could have influenced the evolution of the cosmos. Much like other candidates for a grand unifying theory aka the Theory of Everything (TOE) the belief that the universe is made up of ten dimensions (or more, depending on which model of string theory you use) is an attempt to reconcile the standard model of particle physics with the existence of gravity. In short, it is an attempt to exin how all known forces within our universe interact, and how other possible universes themselves might work. With this she derived thest missing piece. The Dimensions, of a space. Jia was moving onto the final step of integrating them into one and make her ownw when Xin stopped her from doing so. Xin was observing and listening everything. He already knew what she was nning and what were the requirements of doing so. "You are missing onest piece," Xin said in a solemn voice. "And what could be thatst piece be?" "Wormhole." "Wormhoe?!" "Yes, wormhole. They will be the bridge inside yourw making it stabilize and hyper ording to your need." "Oh~~!!" "Yes, and let me derive it for you." With that Xin started his derivation for Jia. Obviously, it didn''t contain all the knowledge he had umted. Instead it had bits and pieces in them to make Jia understand the pretty basics for her use. ording to Xin, Wormholes were first theorized in 1916, though that wasn''t what they were called at the time. While reviewing another physicist''s solution to the equations in Albert Einstein''s theory of general rtivity, Austrian physicist Ludwig mm realized another solution was possible. He described a "white hole," a theoretical time reversal of a ck hole. Entrances to both ck and white holes could be connected by a space-time conduit. In 1935, Einstein and physicist Nathan Rosen used the theory of general rtivity to borate on the idea, proposing the existence of "bridges" through space-time. These bridges connect two different points in space-time, theoretically creating a shortcut that could reduce travel time and distance. The shortcuts came to be called Einstein-Rosen bridges, or wormholes. Wormholes contain two mouths, with a throat connecting the two. The mouths would most likely be spheroidal. The throat might be a straight stretch, but it could also wind around, taking a longer path than a more conventional route might require. Einstein''s theory of general rtivity mathematically predicts the existence of wormholes, but none have been discovered to date. A negative mass wormhole might be spotted by the way its gravity affects light that passes by. Certain solutions of general rtivity allow for the existence of wormholes where the mouth of each is a ck hole. However, a naturally urring ck hole, formed by the copse of a dying star, does not by itself create a wormhole. The first problem is size. Primordial wormholes are predicted to exist on microscopic levels, about 1033 centimeters. However, as the universe expands, it is possible that some may have been stretched torger sizes. Another problemes from stability. The predicted Einstein-Rosen wormholes would be useless for travel because they copse quickly. "You would need some very exotic type of matter in order to stabilize a wormhole," said Hsu, "and it''s not clear whether such matter exists in the universe." But more recent research found that a wormhole containing "exotic" matter could stay open and unchanging for longer periods of time. Exotic matter, which should not be confused with dark matter or antimatter, contains negative energy density and arge negative pressure. Such matter has only been seen in the behavior of certain vacuum states as part of quantum field theory. If a wormhole contained sufficient exotic matter, whether naturally urring or artificially added, it could theoretically be used as a method of sending information or travelers through space. Unfortunately, human journeys through the space tunnels may be challenging. Wormholes may not only connect two separate regions within the universe, they could also connect two different universes. Simrly, some scientists have conjectured that if one mouth of a wormhole is moved in a specific manner, it could allow for time travel. Xin was indirectly referring that wormhole and time travel are connected and possible. But he didn''t pose it before Jia. Instead jumbled it many times and represented it before her. Although adding exotic matter to a wormhole might stabilize it to the point that human passengers could travel safely through it, there is still the possibility that the addition of "regr" matter would be sufficient to destabilize the portal. Today''s technology is insufficient to erge or stabilize wormholes, even if they could be found. However, scientists continue to explore the concept as a method of space travel with the hope that technology will eventually be able to utilize them. "But you can do so with the help of magiculus particles," Xin added. Wormholes hold a strong grip on our collective imagination. In a way, they are a delightful form of escapism. Unlike ck holes which are a bit frightening as they trap everything that ventures in, wormholes may allow us to travel to faraway ces faster than the speed of light. They may in fact even be time machines, providing a way to travel backwards as suggested by thete Stephen Hawking in his final book. Wormholes also crop up in quantum physics, which rules the world of atoms and particles. ording to quantum mechanics, particles can pop out of empty space, only to disappear a momentter. This has been seen in countless experiments. And if particles can be created, why not wormholes? Physicists believe wormholes may have formed in the early universe from a foam of quantum particles popping in and out of existence. Some of these "primordial wormholes" may still be around today. Experiments on "quantum teleportation" a "disembodied" transfer of quantum information from one location to another can turned out to work in an eerily simr way to two ck holes connected through a wormhole. "But these experiments will need the use of magiculus," Xin added again. These experiments appear to solve the "quantum information paradox", which suggests physical information could permanently disappear in a ck hole. But they also reveal a deep connection between the notoriously ipatible theories of quantum physics and gravity with wormholes being relevant to both which may be instrumental in the construction of a "theory of everything". The fact that wormholes y a role in these fascinating developments is unlikely to go unnoticed. We may not have seen them, but they could certainly be out there. They may even help us understand some of the deepest cosmic mysteries, such as whether our universe is the only one. Now hearing all this, many doubts between ck holes and Wormholes were rising in Jia''s mind. She was about to ask them out when Xin took the initiative from his own side and started exining. "Mhm Let me clear the doubts you are having in simplenguage. If you have ever seen a science fiction movie, you might know the following scenario: a scientist needs to exin to her friends how wormholes work. She takes a piece of paper and draws a point on the top and bottom of the page. The page represents space, she says. Typically, traveling from point A to point B would take millions of years. She folds the paper so the points are ovepping and stabs her pencil through the page. This, she says, is a wormhole it folds space and punches a hole through it, creating a shortcut. The scenario is a fairly urate representation of wormholes. Wormholes fold space and time and create a bridge between two distant points. If a person traveled through a wormhole, they could end up anywhere, at any time. At the moment, wormholes are only theoretical. No person has observed a wormhole in real life. And the reason is till now they don''t know the use of magiculus particles. However, scientists have observed ck holes. ck holes and wormholes are simr, except for one thing: where a wormhole creates a bridge between two points, a ck hole leads to a dead end. This dead end is called a singrity. This singrity is a tiny point in space that is so dense, nothing, not even light, can escape its gravitational pull if it passes by a ck hole too closely. If a person entered a ck hole, their body would be pulled inward and stretched like a piece of spaghetti until the singrity absorbed thempletely." Chapter 89: Myth of Creation Chapter 89: Myth of Creation "Mhm Understood. My understanding is still vague and somewhat unclear but I understood most of it." "Good." Afterplementing Jia for her hard work Xin was about to wrap up and let Jia create her vessel when he got interrupted in the middle. "Master then can you please tell me something about the creation of the universe. If I can apply the same in the creation of my vessel then." She stopped at that and started to observe the mysterious voice reaction on it. Xin frowned on her request, but didn''t refuse it. He knew that Jia had inherited the power of Space & Dimension, and getting confused and asking such questions was usual for her types. Xin didn''t respond for sometimes, then after a brief pause her resumed. "If I describe the creation of everything then I have to tell you from the very beginning. But before that do you know or have you heard about the Book of Genesis?" "Yes, I have." Jia replied immediately. Her parents belonged to the Christianmunity and they had taught her about everything rted to their religion. Being a devote believer of Christianity Jia had learned them all by heart. "Then tell me what you have heard in the book of Genesis?" Jia started her exnation from Genesis 1 by saying, ording to Christian belief, God created the universe. There are two stories of how God created it which are found at the beginning of the book of Genesis in the Bible. Some Christians regard Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 as two totally separate stories that have a simr meaning. Others see the two chapters as part of one continuous story. in the beginning - God started creation the first day - light was created the second day - the sky was created the third day - drynd, seas, nts and trees were created the fourth day - the Sun, Moon and stars were created the fifth day - creatures that live in the sea and creatures that fly were created the sixth day - animals that live on thend and finally humans, made in the image of God were created by day seven, God finished his work of creation and rested, making the seventh day a special holy day. In Genesis 2, some people think that the story goes on to give more detail about the creation of humans, seen as two individuals, Adam and Eve. Adam was made from ''the dust of the ground'' when God breathed life into him. Eve was created out of one of Adam''s ribs to providepany and help for Adam. They lived in a special ce called the Garden of Eden. Both of them were given the task and responsibility to look after the ce that God had created for them. Many Christians do not believe this story to be true in every detail. They believe that God was responsible for the beginning of the universe that he set things in motion and oversaw the process. They can also learn lessons from the story about the importance of humankind and the responsibility humankind has over the rest of creation. Most Christians would ept that the central message of both Genesis 1 and 2, whether seen as one or two stories, is: God made everything God made everything good God made humanity as the highpoint of creation There are many interpretations of the biblical ounts of creation among Christians today. Most believe that God brought the universe into being from nothing. This is sometimes referred to as ex nihilo. Some believe that it was created from matter that already existed. This is sometimes referred to as ex materia. Some Christians take the biblical ounts of creation literally, believing that they describe exactly how the universe and human beings were created. Other Christians regard these ounts as more like parables or symbolic ounts that tell, in story form, the profound truth that God brought the universe and all that is in it into being, and sustains his creation." "Good," Xinplemented again then asked, "Do you know about the Big Bang theory then?" "Yes, I know!" Jia replied in an instant and without Xin''s asking started posing her opinion and knowledge on the same. ording to her, One of the theories put forward by cosmologists is the Big Bang theory. This suggests that about 15 billion years ago there was a massive explosion. This was the point at which all matter in the universe began. Space and time began then too. Over time, the universe that we know, and human and animal life, emerged. This theory is generally epted by scientists as being the best theory they have to exin the origins of the universe. If the Big Bang theory is true, then it could mean that the universe ''just happened'' and that it did not emerge as a result of the activity of a creator God. Many Christians have no problem in epting the Big Bang theory. They see the cosmologists helping them to understand how God brought the world into being - the Big Bang could have been the mechanism God used. And there is nothing in the theory itself which proves that there is no such being as God. Evolutionary biology The idea that life might have evolved was first mentioned as early as the 4th century CE by St Augustine, who wrote that God probably only created very simple life forms and that these developed over time. Today we associate evolutionary science with scientists such as Charles Darwin who wrote On the Origin of Species in 1859. He argued that life began with very simple cells andter developed into what we see today. He said that natural selection was one of the major mechanisms driving evolution. Darwin upset many people with his views and even some respected scientists, such as Philip Gosse, argued that the fossils, which were discovered in the ground, had been ced there by God deliberately to fool people. "Nice, looks like you have read your part research and learning." Xin paused and continued afterwards saying that hundreds of religions on earth have different mythologies exining the creation of the world and the Earth. "Then which one do you think is the correct one?" Jia was stunned by this question. She was ready to reply in an instant but on a second thought she wasn''t able to find a suitable answer. To diversify her knowledge Xin told her some more about different mythologies. Like the Chinese mythology, ording to which, a giant called Pangu used his own body to create the world. Before creation, Pangu was like an egg yolk inside an egg. After eighteen thousand years, the world began to open. The light air called "Yangqi" flew up and became sky, and the heavy and wet air called "Yinqi" sank down and became earth. When Pangu breathed, his breath became wind. When he cried, his tears became oceans and rivers. After many years, Pangu died, and his head, body, and limbs turned into five famous mountains in China. Somewhat simr to Chines mythology was Greek mythology which says that After Zeus assigned the titan (giant) brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus the task of creating man, Prometheus shaped man from mud, and the goddess Athena (Minerva to the Romans) breathed life into the y figure. As per Xin''s understanding these all are termed as ''Myth of Creation.'' The myth of creation is the symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as understood by a particrmunity. Theter doctrines of creation are interpretations of this myth in light of the subsequent history and needs of themunity. Thus, for example, all theology and spection concerning creation in the Christianmunity are based on the myth of creation in the biblical book of Genesis and of the new creation in Jesus Christ. Doctrines of creation are based on the myth of creation, which expresses and embodies all of the fertile possibilities for thinking about this subject within a particr religiousmunity. Myths are narratives that express the basic valuations of a religiousmunity. Myths of creation refer to the process through which the world is centred and given a definite form within the whole of reality. They also serve as a basis for the orientation of human beings within the world. This centring and orientation specify humanity''s ce in the universe and the regard that humans must have for other humans, nature, and the entire nonhuman world; they set the stylistic tone that tends to determine all other gestures, actions, and structures in the culture. The cosmogonic (origin of the world) myth is the myth par excellence. In this sense, the myth is akin to philosophy, but, unlike philosophy, it is constituted by a system of symbols; and because it is the basis for any subsequent cultural thought, it contains rational and nonrational forms. There is an order and structure to the myth, but this order and structure is not to be confused with rational, philosophical order and structure. The myth possesses its own distinctive kind of order. Chapter 90: Whats the purpose? Chapter 90: What''s the purpose? Xin didn''t stop at that and told her about the Indian version of Mythology. ording to which In Hinduism the universe is millions of years old. In line with the Hindu belief in reincarnation, the universe we live in is not the first or indeed thest universe. Indian religion and mythology are closely interwoven and cannot really be separated. Moreover, both are so vast and confused that any generalization is likely to oversimplify. The earliest Indian texts are the Vedas, a series of sacred hymns in honor of the Aryan gods, who personified natural forces such as the sun, storm, fire, soma, and the like. The Vedic religion was materialistic, devoted to obtaining power, prosperity, health, and other blessings by means of ritual and sacrifice. By the time of Buddha around 500 B.C., the old Vedic religion had been transformed by Brahmin priests into a fantastical hodgepodge, with the priests iming godlike powers for themselves. Buddha addressed himself to the problem of human suffering and discovered a way to eliminate it through disciplined living and giving up one''s desires. He gained so many followers that the Brahmins were forced to incorporate his ideas into their teachings. The result was Hinduism, a modified polytheism with three major gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. For Hindus the universe was created by Brahma, the creator who made the universe out of himself. After Brahma created the world, it is the power of Vishnu which preserves the world and human beings. As part of the cycle of birth, life and death it is Shiva who will ultimately destroy the universe. This is not necessarily as bad as it might sound because it allows Brahma to start the process of creation all over again. Examples of how the origins of the universe are exined in Hinduism include: A lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu''s navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts - the heavens, the Earth and the sky. Out of loneliness, Brahma split himself into two to create a male and a female. From this male and female all beings were created. Another story makes reference to lifeing from the cracking of an enormous egg, which is the life from which the universe is born. The Hymn of Creation from the Rig Veda concludes that nobody knows how the universe came into being and even questions whether Brahman knows. Some Hindu texts offer a more scientific exnation based on the evolution of primary elements from a single source. These ounts, and others, were written many centuries ago in or around what we now know as India. They were not necessarily intended to be taken as literal scientific truth, but are indicators of theplexity and infinite nature of the universe. Many Hindus understand religious teachings about the universe. After hearing all these Jia was getting excited to know more about it. Never in her life had she felt such irresistible urge to know about a topic as she was getting now. Xin observed the expression of her face and dived deeper into his analogy. From the Vedic ''splitting of the golden egg'' to create heaven and earth to Arunachal Pradesh''s Donyi-Polo (Sun-Moon) and Sedi, which talks about how the world was made, such ''creation myths'' are universal and diverse across states, countries, indigenousmunities, and even religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Im. In the Rig Veda, there is a passage, ''If in the beginning there was neither Being nor Non-Being, neither air nor sky, what was there? Who or what oversaw it? What was it when there was no darkness, light, life or death? We can only say that there was the One, that which breathed of itself deep in the void, that which was heat and became desire and the germ of spirit.'' Such spective reflections on the beginning of the universe, life, and consciousness are essences the creation myths around the world are made up of. Creation myths are as universal as our need to know where we came from, how things originated and they cater to our need to locate ourselves in cultural identity and significance. The historian of religion Mircea Eliade calls creation myth, ''the narration of sacred history'', the storytelling process by which chaos bes cosmos. The Hiranyagarbha (literal trantion, ''golden egg'') Sukta of the Rig Veda deres that Brahman, the Soul of the Universe, manifested as a golden egg epassing everything and floating around in emptiness and darkness before splitting into two halves, Svarga (paradise) and Prithvi (earth). The exciting aspect of the Hiranyagarbha Sukta and the Upanishad is that the creation myth is carried on to other mythologies such as Bhagavata Purana and the Ithihasas (epics) such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Hiranyagarbha is also a sacrificial ritual (yagna) in Vedic religion. We see continuities of the creation myth of Hiranyagarbha in the conceptions of Brahman, developed by Vedanta, and Samkhyatwo important schools of Indian philosophy. An imaginary presented in the ''creation myth''-impelling religious rituals and theological thinking is not unique to Hinduism. The notion that creation myths have an overarching effect on many strands of thought ismon to Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Im. Likewise, creation myths are also central to the histories of indigenousmunities around the world. Understood as the symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world in a particr tradition or amunity, creation myths are of great significance for the orientation of humans in the universe and the basic patterns of life and culture. Fascinated by the seminal importance that creation myths y in the religious life ofmunities, historians of religion and anthropologists have identified severalmon motifs that structure the narratives of the myths. ude Levi-Strauss famously wrote, ''I, therefore, im to show not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men''s minds without their being aware of the fact.'' Likenguage and music, myth is a form of human reason that has an internal cultural logic. Deciphering that logic, Mircea Eliade observed that by knowing the myth one knows the origin of things and, hence, can control and manipte them at will; this is not an external or abstract knowledge but an experiential knowledge acquired by ceremonially recounting the myth. As per Xin''s understanding creation myths can help revive traditions and identities, and one of the great examples of such revival is the Donyi-Poloism of Arunachal Pradesh. The name ''Donyi-Polo'' means ''Sun-Moon'', a name chosen by the people in the 1970s when its restoration started. Practiced prominently among Tani, Adi, Karbi, and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Donyi-Poloism is categorised as an animistic and shamanistic religion. In one of the versions of the Donyi-Polo creation myth, all things and beings are parts of the body of Sedithe hair of Sedi bes the nts of the earth, his tears be rain and water, his bones be rocks, and his eyes be Donyi (Mother Sun) and Polo (Father Moon). After physical manifestation, Sedi continues to watch and guard over the universe, revealing and hiding himself to the truth seekers. Donyi and Polo are the female and male divine principles and energies providing harmony, shifts of light and darkness, the unity of sky and earth, and multiplicity of stars. In the religious contexts, the Donyi-Polo is referred to as the truth with capital T. The practitioners believe that the Donyi-Poloism is an embodiment of truthfulness, selflessness, and wisdom. As a highly evolved ethical system, the Donyi-Poloism values purity, beauty, simplicity and honesty. One more thing that Xin added was about the lost fame of Brahma. "By the middle of the 1st millennium CE, an attempt to synthesize the diverging sectarian traditions is evident in the doctrine of the Trimurti, which considers Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma as three forms of the supreme unmanifested deity. By the 7th century, Brahma hadrgely lost his im to being a supreme deity, although the Trimurti continued to figure importantly in both text and sculpture. Today there is no sect that exclusively worships Brahma, and few temples are dedicated to him. Nevertheless, most temples dedicated to Shiva or Vishnu contain an image of Brahma." After listening to all these mythologies one question rose in Jia''s mind. ''Why the hell am I listening to all these mythologies? I mean yes, they are interesting but what''s the purpose of telling me all these?'' Xin was able to read through her mind and replied "I know what you are thinking but before that do you know about the Great Flood?" "Yes, I know." Jia replied. And before Xin could take the chance to tell more about it, she started posing her knowledge about it. The biblical ount of the Deluge (Genesis 6:119:19) features Noah as the hero of the Flood story. In his ount, Noah is represented as the patriarch who, because of his meless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. A righteous man, Noah "found favour in the eyes of the Lord" Chapter 91: The last mythology!! Chapter 91: Thest mythology!! Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in ordance with God''s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world''s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, ording to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah''s three sons and their wives. The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah''s heroic survival, having safelynded on Mount Ararat. He then built an altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices to God, who then bound himself to a pact never again to curse the earth on humanity''s ount. God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant. God also renewed hismands given at Creation but with two changes: humankind could now kill animals and eat meat, and murder would be punished by humans. Despite the tangible simrities of the Mesopotamian mythologies and the biblical Flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic perspective. In the Babylonian stories the destruction of the flood was the result of a disagreement among the gods, while in Genesis it resulted from the moral corruption of human history. The primitive polytheism of the Mesopotamian versions is transformed in the biblical story into an affirmation of the omnipotence and benevolence of the one righteous God. Xin smiled at Jia and told her about the other versions of Great flood mythologies. He started it from the Indian Mythologies where the Hindu version of Noah is named Manu. He is warned by an incarnation of Vishnu of the impending Great Flood, enabling him to build a boat and survive to repopte the earth. ording to the texts Matsya Purana and Shatapatha Brahmana Manu was a minister to the king of pre-ancient Dravida. He was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and begged him to save its life. He put the fish in a jar, which it soon outgrew. He sessively moved it to a tank, a river and then the ocean. The fish then warned him that a deluge would ur in a week that would destroy all life. It turned out that fish was none other than Matsya (Fish in Sanskrit) the first Avatara of Vishnu. Manu therefore built a boat which Matsya towed to a mountaintop when the flood came, and thus he survived along with some "seeds of life" to re-establish life on earth. Jumping onto the next one it was time for Greek Mythology. Zeus, the king of the Gods, was displeased with the human poption, or the Psgians, (which is a catch-all term for the indigenous people of the Agean region). Zeus told Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, to construct an ark for himself and his wife, Pyrrha, who also happened to be Deucalion''s cousin. After nine days of flooding, the world was destroyed, and the ark rested on top of Mount Parnassus. When the waters receded, Deucalion and his cousin-wife offered a sacrifice to Zeus to learn how to repopte the earth. Zeus told them to throw stones over their shoulders. The stones thrown by Deucalion became men, and those thrown behind Pyrrha became women. Which was a rtively tidy (and magical) way to exin the repoption of the earth while skirting the whole incest issue. Jia hadn''t taken a breath of relief when Xin told her about the The Aztec flood. This story shares simrities with the story of Noah with some radical plot twists. In this story, Ticauan warned the man named Note and his wife Nena, of aing flood. Nata and Nena hollowed out a cypress tree, and Tichahuan sealed them inside, telling them that they may only eat one ear of maize each. Here is where the story is wildly different from others. The earth is flooded, but the people weren''t killed, instead, they were turned into fish. After the flood Nata and Nena disobeyed Ticauan and ate fish. So Ticauan turned them into dogs. The story ends with the world essentially starting all over again only this time with a hearty fish poption and a couple of dogs. Xin didn''t stop at that and continued to extend his lecture about the Ancient Mesopotamia. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Recorded on 12 stone tablets this was among the first pieces of literature in history. ording to the poem, Gilgamesh was a Sumerian king who reigned for 126 years. This might seem a bit hard to swallow, but Methush lived to be 969 years old, making Gilgamesh look like a toddler in the grand scheme of things. After the death of a friend, Gilgamesh began to search for immortality and met an immortal man named Utnapishtim, whose story is very much like the story of Noah. Apparently, Utnapishtim had been granted immortality after building a ship called Preserver of Life and surviving the "great flood." Like Noah, Utnapishtim brought all of his rtives and all species of creatures aboard his ark to save mankind. Sounds kind of familiar. Some cultures'' flood stories bear only a slight resemnce to the story of Noah. They maintain the themes of the ark and an angry God, but their repoption stories are wildly different. Jumping onto the next one it was turn of the Norse mythologies. The Norse flood story is starkly different from the others in that the world was flooded, but not with water. When Odin and his brothers Villi and Ve killed the giant Ymir, the blood that poured from his body flooded the earth. That''s right, the world was drowned in blood. In this literal bloodbath, a single frost giant named Bergelmir and his wife made an ark, were saved, and repopted the earth. Thest two on queue were the Buddhist and the Chinese mythologies. Same essence but different storyline. Buddhists have an borate flood story called Samudda-vija Jtaka. In an Indian vige, there lived 1000 families of dishonest carpenters. These carpenters would tell people that they could build anything from houses to chairs and would take the money and never deliver any goods or do any work. Because of this they were, not surprisingly despised in the vige and quickly needed to find a new ce to live. They built a ship and sailed until they found a beautiful ind. The ind was popted by a man who had been shipwrecked. The man told them that food was plentiful, life on the ind wasfortable, and the carpenters were wee to stay. The only catch was that the ind was haunted by spirits. The spirit''s only rule was that every time a human needed to defecate or urinate, they needed to dig a hole and cover it up when they were finished. The spirits wanted to keep their ind clean and who can me them. The carpenters loved the ind and decided to have a big party to celebrate their new home. However, they became drunk on fermented sugar cane and quickly ignored the rules and pretty much defecated and urinated all over the ind. The spirits were furious and decided to flood the ind with a giant wave, on the full moon. While the spirits were angry they didn''t want to kill the carpenters, they just wanted them gone. One spirit became a ball of light in the sky and told the people that because of their carelessness, the ind would be flooded and that they should flee for their lives. Another spirit was angrier at the carpenters and wanted to trick them. So he appeared in the sky announcing that the previous warning about a flood had been a lie. He said there was nothing to worry about, everything''s fine, keep on partying and there isn''t going to be a flood. Just kidding! These 1000 carpenter families were ruled by two men, one wise and one very foolish. The foolish carpenter believed the other spirit and told the people to stay, rx, and enjoy the party. The smart carpenter told his people to build a ship, just in case they weren''t kidding. While the wise man built a ship, the foolish man stayed and proceeded to drink more. On the day of the full moon, as the spirits promised, a giant wave came up and flooded the whole ind. The wise man set sail with his people while the foolish man and his people died. Thest and the most interesting one was the Chinese one. A mix of all the mythologies present on Earth. The Chinese have many stories and myths about floods, gods, dragons, and spirits. Just as in other flood stories there are few survivors. But the Chinese flood story has a veryplicated repoption tale. One day a farmer managed to capture and imprison a thunder God. The farmer went into town but warned his children to stay far away from the caged deity. The children took pity on the thunder god and released him. In gratitude the God warned them there was going to be a great flood. He gave the children a (presumably veryrge) gourd and told them that they would be safe from the waters as long as they are inside the gourd. The rains came, the brother and sister got inside the gourd. They were the only people to survive the flood and having a brother and sister as the only survivors made the repoption part of the story a little tricky since the incest taboo in almost every culture is very strong. There were a few different endings to this story. In one version, the brother and sister were given a special "pass" from the heavens, like "It''s okay just this one time." In another version, the sister put her brother through many seemingly impossible physical challenges before agreeing to marry him. Hepleted the tasks, they married, and she had a child. The child was born damaged, without arms and legs. The brother killed the baby by cutting it up and throwing the pieces over the hill. The next day the brother and sister found that the pieces had turned into men and women. In another form of the story, there is no incest at all: The brother wasn''t able to meet the sister''s challenges, and they didn''t marry or procreate. Instead, they repopted the human race by creating humans from y. Chapter 92: Connecting the three Chapter 92: Connecting the three After telling Jia thest of the mythology Xin asked, "Can you find any corrtion between them? Or any simrity?" Jia had already this corrtion and simrity. And was just waiting for the mysterious voice to ask her. She replied with a victory winning smile on her face, "Yes, I have found the corrtion between them." ording to Jia there were many simrities between these mythologies. The firstmon thing between them was the presence of a Saviour. In the Christian mythology it was Noah, in the Indian mythology it was King Manu and in the other mythologies it was someone else. Not only that she even pointed out something from the Creation mythology. In every mythology one way or other some god or some giant creates the humans from mud or y. And this was the second simrity across all the mythologies. Xin smirked in the real world and transmitted his dignified voice, "Then which one do you think is the true mythology? The Christian one, the Indian one, the Chinese one or the Norse one?" "Hmm." This question put her in some confusion. Finding simrity was a different thing. But to figure out and deduce which one is the real one was a taskpletely above her level. After remaining silent for sometimes she finally replied, "I- don''t know!" "Hahaha," Xinughed at her reply and added, "Well I was expecting this. Let me narrow down the options for you." Xin was about to start when he felt the inner dimension was slowly closing down. He realized that it was his fault for taking so much time in mythologies and stuff. Though it was partly his fault he didn''t give it much thought and transferred some of his magiculus energy into her inner dimension. The intention was to use this energy to stop the closing of her dimension for the time being and give her more time for her vessel construction. Now if it were any normal people he/she would have faced some problem in doing so. But the person in talk here was Xin. The MC of the novel who somehow joined his Dimensional Pocket with his Magiculus Vessel making it a Dimensional Vessel with infinite storing capacity. Jia was unaware of all these and was waiting for the mysterious voice to eliminate some mythologies from the options. After stopping the closing of her inner dimension Xin spoke again and said, "So, I am narrowing it down to three mythologies. First is Indian, second is Christian and the third is Chinese." "Mhm" Jia nodded and started to remember the points that they have discussed earlier. First on line was the India one. ording to which universe is millions of years old. In line with the Hindu belief in reincarnation, the universe we live in is not the first or indeed thest universe. Indian religion and mythology are closely interwoven and cannot really be separated. Moreover, both are so vast and confused that any generalization is likely to oversimplify. The earliest Indian texts are the Vedas, a series of sacred hymns in honor of the Aryan gods, who personified natural forces such as the sun, storm, fire, soma, and the like. The Vedic religion was materialistic, devoted to obtaining power, prosperity, health, and other blessings by means of ritual and sacrifice. By the time of Buddha around 500 B.C., the old Vedic religion had been transformed by Brahmin priests into a fantastical hodgepodge, with the priests iming godlike powers for themselves. Buddha addressed himself to the problem of human suffering and discovered a way to eliminate it through disciplined living and giving up one''s desires. He gained so many followers that the Brahmins were forced to incorporate his ideas into their teachings. The result was Hinduism, a modified polytheism with three major gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. For Hindus the universe was created by Brahma, the creator who made the universe out of himself. After Brahma created the world, it is the power of Vishnu which preserves the world and human beings. As part of the cycle of birth, life and death it is Shiva who will ultimately destroy the universe. This is not necessarily as bad as it might sound because it allows Brahma to start the process of creation all over again. Examples of how the origins of the universe are exined in Hinduism include: A lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu''s navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts - the heavens, the Earth and the sky. Out of loneliness, Brahma split himself into two to create a male and a female. From this male and female all beings were created. Another story makes reference to lifeing from the cracking of an enormous egg, which is the life from which the universe is born. The Hymn of Creation from the Rig Veda concludes that nobody knows how the universe came into being and even questions whether Brahman knows. Some Hindu texts offer a more scientific exnation based on the evolution of primary elements from a single source. These ounts, and others, were written many centuries ago in or around what we now know as India. They were not necessarily intended to be taken as literal scientific truth, but are indicators of theplexity and infinite nature of the universe. Many Hindus understand religious teachings about the universe. After hearing all these Jia was getting excited to know more about it. Never in her life had she felt such irresistible urge to know about a topic as she was getting now. Xin observed the expression of her face and dived deeper into his analogy. From the Vedic ''splitting of the golden egg'' to create heaven and earth to Arunachal Pradesh''s Donyi-Polo (Sun-Moon) and Sedi, which talks about how the world was made, such ''creation myths'' are universal and diverse across states, countries, indigenousmunities, and even religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Im. In the Rig Veda, there is a passage, ''If in the beginning there was neither Being nor Non-Being, neither air nor sky, what was there? Who or what oversaw it? What was it when there was no darkness, light, life or death? We can only say that there was the One, that which breathed of itself deep in the void, that which was heat and became desire and the germ of spirit.'' Such spective reflections on the beginning of the universe, life, and consciousness are essences the creation myths around the world are made up of. Creation myths are as universal as our need to know where we came from, how things originated and they cater to our need to locate ourselves in cultural identity and significance. The historian of religion Mircea Eliade calls creation myth, ''the narration of sacred history'', the storytelling process by which chaos bes cosmos. The Hiranyagarbha (literal trantion, ''golden egg'') Sukta of the Rig Veda deres that Brahman, the Soul of the Universe, manifested as a golden egg epassing everything and floating around in emptiness and darkness before splitting into two halves, Svarga (paradise) and Prithvi (earth). The exciting aspect of the Hiranyagarbha Sukta and the Upanishad is that the creation myth is carried on to other mythologies such as Bhagavata Purana and the Ithihasas (epics) such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Hiranyagarbha is also a sacrificial ritual (yagna) in Vedic religion. She also remembered the point taught to her by Xin. The texts Matsya Purana and Shatapatha Brahmana Manu was a minister to the king of pre-ancient Dravida. He was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and begged him to save its life. He put the fish in a jar, which it soon outgrew. He sessively moved it to a tank, a river and then the ocean. The fish then warned him that a deluge would ur in a week that would destroy all life. It turned out that fish was none other than Matsya (Fish in Sanskrit) the first Avatara of Vishnu. Manu therefore built a boat which Matsya towed to a mountaintop when the flood came, and thus he survived along with some "seeds of life" to re-establish life on earth. Now she joined thisst part of Hindu mythology with that of Christian where God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in ordance with God''s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world''s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, ording to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah''s three sons and their wives. God also renewed hismands given at Creation but with two changes: humankind could now kill animals and eat meat, and murder would be punished by humans. Despite the tangible simrities of the Mesopotamian mythologies and the biblical Flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic perspective. In the Babylonian stories the destruction of the flood was the result of a disagreement among the gods, while in Genesis it resulted from the moral corruption of human history. The primitive polytheism of the Mesopotamian versions is transformed in the biblical story into an affirmation of the omnipotence and benevolence of the one righteous God. And atst she connected this part to the Chinese Mythology where the two siblings entered inside a gourd and saved their life from the great flood. Xinmended, "good!" Chapter 93: Geographical Timelines Chapter 93: Geographical Timelines "You have correctly joined the chains of these novels. They all are interconnected to each othe-" Jia didn''t wait for the mysterious sound toplete his sentence and asked, "But how could be that possible? Like these all happened or emerged at different time lines! And I don''t think the same thing happened again and again at different time lines. Or els-" This time Xin didn''t let herplete her sentence and intervened by saying, "Or else Earth would have been devoided of flora and fauna by now!" "Yes, I was telling the same." "Then let me give you some more clues about it~" Hearing this Jia was getting annoyed at one point. In the begging she was feeling excited to solve different pieces of the puzzles with the Mysterious Voice. But now it was getting on her nerves. They started from somewhere and were heading towards somewhere. Unknown to Jia that with passing moments her vessel construction was getting upgrades. And had evolved from an A Grade vessel to A+ vessel till then. Xin on the other hand was aware about this phenomenon and was trying her best to prolong the conversation as much as possible. It wasn''t any normal chit-chat conversation but a conversation containing the true essence of life and the divinity of the world. By now Xin was sure that Jia had power rted to Space-Time Creation and he no more wanted to waver from his hunch. All this time he was noticing the changes in energies around her. And discovered that only the power of Space, Time and Creation were fluctuating and changing waves around her. So to prolong his talk Xin asked Jia, "Then do you know about the different time lines of Earth?" "Ugh." After giving it some thought Jia decided it''s useless to answer his questions. Cause one way of other he will her a detailed exnation about them. So instead of spending her energy to pose her knowledge andter to be lectured again Jia decided to be modest and let the mysterious voice take the lecture. "I know, but not much about it." This was the answer that Xin was expecting from Jia. And upon hearing this Xin directly jumped onto the topic and started giving her knowledge about it. ording to Xin Hadean Eon, informal division of Precambrian time urring between about 4.6 billion and about 4.0 billion years ago. The Hadean Eon is characterized by Earth''s initial formationfrom the retion of dust and gases and the frequent collisions ofrgeresimalsand by the stabilization of its core and crust and the development of its atmosphere and oceans. Throughout part of the eon, impacts from extraterrestrial bodies released enormous amounts of heat that likely prevented much of the rock from solidifying at the surface. As such, the name of the interval is a reference to Hades, a Greek trantion of the Hebrew word for hell. Earth''s surface was incredibly unstable during the early part of the Hadean Eon. Convection currents in the mantle brought molten rock to the surface and caused cooling rock to descend into magmatic seas. Heavier elements, such as iron, descended to be the core, whereas lighter elements, such as silicon, rose and became incorporated into the growing crust. Although no one knows when the first outer crust of the formed, some scientists believe that the existence of a few grains of zircon dated to about 4.4 billion years ago confirm the presence of stable continents, liquid water, and surface temperatures that were probably less than 100 C (212 F). Since Hadean times, nearly all of this original crust has subducted from the movements of tectonic tes, and thus few rocks and minerals remain from the interval. The oldest rocks known are the faux amphibolite volcanic deposits of the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in Quebec, Canada; they are estimated to be 4.28 billion years old. The oldest minerals are the aforementioned grains of zircon, which were found in the Jack Hills of Australia. Although many scientists contend that the atmosphere and the oceans formed during thetter part of the eon, the discovery of the zircon grains in Australia providepelling evidence that the atmosphere and ocean formed before 4.4 billion years ago. The early atmosphere likely began as a region of escaping hydrogen and helium. It is generally thought that ammonia, methane, and neon were present sometime after the crust cooled, and volcanic outgassing added water vapour, nitrogen, and additional hydrogen. Some scientists state that ice delivered byet impacts could have supplied the with additional water vapour. Later, it is thought, much of the water vapour in the atmosphere condensed to form clouds and rain that leftrge deposits of liquid water on Earth''s surface. After the Hadean Eon it was the starting of the Archean Eon. Archean Eon, also spelled Archaean Eon, the earlier of the two formal divisions of Precambrian time (about 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago) and the period when life first formed on Earth. The Archean Eon began about 4 billion years ago with the formation of Earth''s crust and extended to the start of the Proterozoic Eon 2.5 billion years ago. The start of the Archean Eon is only defined by the isotopic age of the earliest rocks. Prior to the Archean Eon, Earth was in the astronomical (Hadean) stage ofary retion that began about 4.6 billion years ago; no rocks are preserved from this stage. The earliest terrestrial materials are not rocks but minerals. During this time Earth began cooling. And because it was cool enough, water could finally condense to form its first oceans. This was in arge part because the moon stabilized Earth''s climate giving it seasons. It is thought that the oxygen content in today''s atmosphere must have slowly umted through time starting with an atmosphere that was anoxic during Archean times. Although volcanoes exhale much water vapour (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2), the amount of free oxygen (O2) emitted is very small. The inorganic breakdown (photodissociation) of volcanic-derived water vapour and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would have produced only a small amount of free oxygen. The bulk of the free oxygen in the Archean atmosphere was derived from organic photosynthesis of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) by anaerobic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), a process that releases oxygen as a by-product. These organisms were prokaryotes, a group of unicellr organisms with rudimentary internal organization that began to appear near the end of the Archean Eon. Although oxygen did not umte in any appreciable amount in the atmosphere until early Proterozoic time, processes urring in Earth''s oceans toward the end of Archean helped set the stage for the increase in atmospheric oxygen. After Archean it was the dawn of the Protezoric Eon. The Proterozoic Eon, meaning "earlier life," is the eon of time after the Archean eon and ranges from 2.5 billion years old to 541 million years old. During this time, most of the central parts of the continents had formed and the te tectonic process had started. Photosynthesis (in organisms like stromatolites) had already been adding oxygen slowly to the atmosphere, but it was quickly absorbed in minerals. Evolutionary advancements in multicellr cyanobacteriapletely transformed the atmosphere by adding free oxygen gas (O2) and causing the decimation of the anaerobic (non-oxygen) bacteria that existed at the time. This is known as the Great Oxygenation Event. In an oxygenated world, organisms could thrive in ways they could not earlier. Oxygen also changed the chemistry of the in significant ways. For example, iron can be carried in solution in a non-oxygenated environment. However, when ironbines with free oxygen, it creates a solid precipitate to make minerals like hematite (iron oxide). This is the reasonrge deposits of iron known as banded iron formations aremon during this time, ending around 2 billion years ago. The formation of the banded ironsted a long time and prevented the oxygen level from increasing significantly in the oceans since the rocks literally took the oxygen out of the water and formed alternatingyers of iron-oxide minerals and red chert. Eventually, as oxygen continued to be made, absorption of oxygen in mineral precipitation leveled off, and dissolved oxygen gas started filling the oceans and eventually bubbling out into the atmosphere. Oxygenation of the atmosphere is the single biggest event that distinguishes the Archean Earth and the Proterozoic Earth. In addition to changing mineral and ocean chemistry, this event is also tabbed as the likely cause of Earth''s first ciation, the Huron ciation that urred around 2.1 billion years ago. Free oxygen reacted with methane in the atmosphere, turning it into carbon dioxide. Methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and as CO2 increased in the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect actually decreased, thus cooling the. Early life in the Archean and earlier is poorly documented in the fossil record, but chemical evidence and evolutionary theory state that this life would have been single-celled photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria in stromatolites. Fossil cyanobacteria in these stromatolites produced free oxygen in the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes, i.e. single-celled organisms (archaea and bacteria) with simple cells thatck a cell nucleus and other organelles. Chapter 94: LUCY, Really?! Chapter 94: LUCY, Really?! However, during the Proterozoic, arge evolutionary step urred with the appearance of eukaryotes. Evolving around 2.1-1.6 billion years ago, eukaryotic cells are moreplex with cell organelles and a nucleus with moreplex DNA replication and regtion, mitochondria for additional energy, and chlorosts to perform photosynthesis and produce energy. Certain organelles even have their own DNA, like mitochondria. Eukaryotes are the branch of the tree of life that gave rise to fungi, nts, and animals. About 1.2 billion years ago, another important event in Earth''s biological history urred when some eukaryotes invented reproducion. By sharing gic material between reproducing individuals (male and female), evolutionary change was enhanced by increasing gic variability. This allowed moreplexity among individual organisms, and eventually, ecosystems. It is important to realize that the Proterozod surfaces were barren, at least of nts like grasses, trees, and animals. Geologic processes were active just like today, but the application of the Uniformity Principle requires the realization of differences in the environments in which the processes operate. For example, rain and rivers were present but erosion on barrennd surfaces would have operated at different rates than on modernnd surfaces protected by nts. The Ediacaran fauna (635.5-541 million years ago) offers the first glimpse at these evolving ecosystems toward the end of the Proterozoic. These organisms were among the first multicellr life forms and may have been simr to soft jellyfish or worm-like organisms. Since the Ediacaran fauna did not have hard parts like shells, they are not well preserved in Proterozoic rocks. However, studies suggest that they were widespread around the earth. Scientists still debate how many of these are extinct evolutionary dead-ends or the ancestors to modern biological groups. The transition of life from the soft-bodied Ediacaran forms to the explosion of forms with hard parts at the end of the Proterozoic and beginning of the Phanerozoic made a dramatic difference in our ability to understand earth history and the history of life. After hearing upto the Proterozoic Eon Jia felt as if she was listening the narration of the movie named LUCY which she had watched some years back. After the Protreozoic it was time for thest Eon, The Phanerozoic Eon. The span of geologic time extending about 541 million years from the end of the Proterozoic Eon (which began about 2.5 billion years ago) to the present. The Phanerozoic, the eon of visible life, is divided into three major spans of timergely on the basis of characteristic assemges of life-forms: the Paleozoic (541 million to 252 million years ago), Mesozoic (252 million to 66 million years ago), and Cenozoic (66 million years ago to the present) eras. Although life clearly originated at some time, probably quite early, in the Archean Eon (whichsted from 4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago), not until the Phanerozoic did a rapid expansion and evolution of forms ur and fill the various ecological niches avable. The key to that great Phanerozoic expansion appears to lie in the development of nts able to carry out the photosynthetic process and thus release free oxygen into the atmosphere. Before that time, Earth''s atmosphere contained negligible amounts of free oxygen, and animals, in which energy transfers involving the process of respiration are critical, were unable to develop. During the Phanerozoic, Earth gradually assumed its present configuration and physical features through such processes as continental drift, mountain building, and continental ciation. Thus, although the Phanerozoic Eon represents only about thest one-eighth of time since Earth''s crust formed, its importance far exceeds its rtively short duration. The Cambrian Period begins the Phanerozoic Eon, thest 542 million years during which fossils with hard parts have existed. It is the first division of the Paleozoic Era (542Ma -251Ma). Marine animals with mineralized skeletons make their first appearance in the shallow seas of the Cambrian, though only "small shelly fossils" (tiny shells, spines and scales from early metazoans) and trace fossils are preserved for the first ten million years or so. In the "Cambrian explosion" of metazoan diversity most animal groups appear over the short span of the following ten million years. All of the invertebrate ph as well as the chordates are apparently established by the end of the Period. A major early Cambrian event was the transformation of the seabed. Early Cambrian sea floors, likete Proterozoic (Ediacaran) seafloors, were covered in microbial mats with an oxygen-free, sulfide-rich, hardyer of mud just below the surface. The animals (metazoans) of the Cambrian Explosion were organized into a unique marine Cambrian fauna, one of three recognized marine fauna of the Phanerozoic. This faunal ecosystem was mostly deposit feeders with nearly all animals living near the surface of the sea bottom. Most of these metazoans are living on, attached to, or making shallow borrows in the sea bottom. Even suspension feeders, which were umon, such as brachiopods, echinoderms and the reef-building archeocyathids, make their livings near the seafloor. Trilobites dominate from the Cambrian explosion to the endof the Cambrian,prising 80-90% of the skeletonized remains. Most benthic1 trilobites were apparently epifaunal2 deposit feeders. The Cambrian is unique in the fossil record in the number of Lagersttten, deposits where soft-body parts and soft-bodied organisms are preserved. These deposits provide a unique view of the extraordinary diversity of the Cambrian fauna, as only 5-10% of the organisms preserved in them would have been fossilized under normal conditions. Cambriangersttten are preserved in part due to the unique chemical conditions resulting from the minimal levels of burrowing during ths Period. Fossil deposits including soft-bodied organisms, such as the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang deposits in China and the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in Canada, are still dominated by trilobites. Most of the other Chengjiang and Burgess Shale organisms were also deposit feeders, though a few soft-bodied predators were preserved. Overall, Cambrian animals are skewed towards epifauna or infauna with even suspension feeders clustered close to the sea bottom. The Cambrian Period may be divided into three divisions: Lower (Early), Middle, and Furongian (Late). As noted above, trilobites are the mostmon fossil types, and these dominant animals of the Cambrian seas characterize this Period. Each division of the Cambrian is identified with particr trilobite genera. Nearly 75% of trilobites and other animals, including the reef-building Archeocyathids, vanished in a great mid-period extinction event when shallow seas withdrew. When the shallow seas returned an even greater diversity of Cambrian animal life resulted, again filling the oceans with a wide variety of exotic organisms. After nearly 54 million years, The Cambrian ends with another major extinction event. Nearly 75% of trilobite families and 50% of sponge families disappeared at this time. The unique Cambrian evolutionary fauna continues through the Paleozoic, but the Paleozoic fauna quicklye to dominate. The few remaining organisms of the Cambrian fauna are finally lost in the great Permian extinction events. Globally, the Cambrian was a time of warm climate, while exhibiting strong provincialism among its fauna. Tectonically the Cambrian saw the opening of the Iapetus Ocean and the separation of the Launtentia, Baltica and Siberia tes. The Ordoviciansted about 45 million years and saw the transition from very primitive to rtively modern life-forms in the seas. The "Ordovician radiation" which followed thete Cambrian extinctions, lead to a tripling of marine diversity, the greatest increase in the history of life, and giving the highest levels of diversity seen during the Paleozoic Era. As a result, all of themon invertebrate fossil groups and a few vertebrates were present by the end of this period. Starfish, brittle stars, crinoids, and echinoids, all of which have living representatives, first appeared in the Ordovician. In the evolutionary history of animal life this radiation was second only to the "Cambrian explosion" in importance. The new Paleozoic fauna created by the "Ordovician radiation" dominated the seas for the next 230 million years. Pandemic species of nktonic graptolites and conodontes appear in the fossil record during this Period. Their world-wide distribution and evolution during the Ordovician make them key species for corrting fossil deposits. Unlike in the Cambrian, most animal evolution in the Ordovician involved refining existing body ns rather than developing new ones. Bryozoans, thest animal ph to appear in the fossil record, have the only new body n, and they may have evolved in the Cambrian, but only became mineralized, and thus left fossils, in the Ordovician. The Ordovician saw the recement of the Cambrian marine faunaposedrgely of deposit feeders, such as trilobites, with the Paleozoic fauna dominated by filter feeders arranged in tiers. Tiered suspension feedermunities attached to the sea floor dominate the new Paleozoic ecosystems: brachiopods filter bottom waters, corals and branched bryozoans filter water just above, and crinoids filter water at the highest level. The Paleozoic fauna was also characterized by a move away from the interface of the ocean and ocean flooranimals both learned to bore deeper into the substrate and to invade the pgic (in the water column ,not on shore or the bottom) regions of the oceans. Grazing gastropods increased in importance while efficient predators like sea stars and cephalopods evolved. Remnant Cambrian fauna, such as deposit feeding worms and trilobites, continued with diminishing importance throughout the Paleozoic. Tectonically, the Ordovician saw a rapid reorganization of tes around the Iapetus Ocean. Today''s southern continents were fused into the supercontinent of Gondwana, while others remained independent. te movement resulted in a migration of Gondwana from an equatorial position toward the South pole, as a result the South Pole moved from North Africa to central Africa. The movement of Gondwana to the South Pole resulted in global cooling and the most severe ice age of the Phanerozoic Eon. Sea levels rose through much of the Ordovician to the highest sea levels of the Paleozoic before receding. The period ended with a strong lowering of sea levels (a strong negative eustatic event) as hightitude ciation urred. There were significant fluctuations in climate with prolonged periods of warm "hothouse" conditions with periodic cold, "icehouse" intervals and turnovers of the oceans. High levels of CO2 early in the Period lead to very high temperaturesoceans may have reached 113F (45C). These high temperatures may have dyed animal diversification in the early Ordovician. Later, ocean temperatures decreased gradually to those seen in modern equatorial waters. The Ordovician ended with the second greatest extinction event of the Phanerozoic Eon. Two massive reductions, a million years apart, created this eventresulting in the extinction of more than 60% of invertebrates. This event is associated with sea level changes and cier formation. Only the great Permian extinction event was more devastating to Earth''s biosphere. Chapter 95: Despair in the heart Chapter 95: Despair in the heart At this point Xin didn''t stop and continued to tell Jia about the different periods. Next on queue was the Silurian Period. Silurian Period, in geologic time, the third period of the Paleozoic Era. It began 443.8 million years ago and ended 419.2 million years ago, extending from the close of the Ordovician Period to the beginning of the Devonian Period. The Siluriansted about 28 million years. There was a rapid recovery of biodiversity after the great extinction event at the end of the Ordovician. A warm climate and high sea level gave rise trge reefs in shallow equatorial seas. Tabte corals and stromatoporid sponges were the main builders of these first coral based reefs, but rugose corals and recepticulite algae also contributed. Invertebrates remained dominant because vertebrates were rtively rare. Sea scorpions (euryptids) reached their maximum diversity. These predators weremonly 59 inches long. During the Silurian, continental elevations were generally much lower than in the present day, and global sea level was much higher. Sea level rose dramatically as the extensive ciers from the Late Ordovician ice age melted. This rising prompted changes in climatic conditions that allowed many faunal groups to recover from the extinctions of Late Ordovician times. Large expanses of several continents became flooded with shallow seas, and mound-type coral reefs were verymon. Fishes were widespread. Vascr nts began to colonize coastal londs during the Silurian Period, whereas continental interiors remained essentially barren of life. During most of the Silurian Period, the vast Panthssic Ocean covered the northern pr regions, the supercontinent of Gondwana stretched over the southern pr region, and a ring of at least six continents spanned the Equator and middletitudes. The approximate orientations and locations of Silurian continents can be reconstructed using abination of paleomaic, paleoclimatic, and biogeographic data. The Earth''s maic field leaves its signature on volcanic rocks and certain sedimentary rocks rich in such iron-bearing minerals as maite. As rocks capable of being maized are cooled or otherwise lithified, theirponent crystals (grains) are lined up with the Earth''s maic field. Unless the rocks are remelted by the heat from the''s interior or reworked by erosion, they retain this signature regardless of whether they change position or not. The Earth''s zonal climate also has an effect on global patterns of sedimentation. The most unusual features of the Silurian that distinguish it from the present-day physical environment rte to conditions of low continental elevationsbined with a much higher global stand in sea level. Extensive continental regions were flooded by shallow seas ranging in water depth from a few to little more than 100 metres (330 feet). Where these seas upied a tropical to subtropical climatic zone, coral mound reefs with associated carbonate sediments were verymon. Strata forming in arid regions differ from those formed in inundated areas or other regions with high annual rainfall. The deposition of evaporites (salts) was periodically set in motion as a result of reduced ocean cirction urring in geographically restricted ces such as shallow embayments. The strong faunal endemism (the restriction or limiting of species to specific continents or isted regions) present during the Ordovician Period was reced during the Silurian Period by a situation where some species were distributed globally. Seafloor topography was muted overrge areas of flooded continental tforms, and faunas of shelly invertebrates in different regions were remarkably consistent with one another. This has allowed geologists and stratigraphers to corrteyers of Silurian rock found on different present-day continents. The geographic summary that follows is based on a global reconstruction specific to the Wenlock Epoch which spans the middle of the Silurian Period. After telling her a brief introduction Xin dived even deeper into the topic by telling her about the climate of the period. Broad-scale Silurian climatic conditions can be inferred by determining the positions and orientations of the paleocontinents and assuming that atmospheric cirction functioned ording to the same basic principles during Silurian times as it does today. The global paleoclimate was effectively driven by major contrast in the proportions ofnd and water between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. A zonally uniform climate would be expected in the Northern Hemisphere during the Silurian, because it was dominated by a North Pr ocean. Wind patterns must have included strong pr easterlies at high northerntitudes, prevailing westerlies at mititudes, and northeast trade winds in the tropics. In contrast, with Gondwana centred over the South Pole, climate in the Southern Hemisphere must have been dominated by the interaction of cellr air masses overnd and water. Therge continent would have experienced wide temperature variations due to summer heating and winter cooling. Atmospheric cirction patterns interpreted for an early Silurian summer in the Northern Hemisphere indicate high pressure over the pr ocean with a zone of low pressure around 60 Ntitude. Distinct high-pressure cells formed above subtropical oceans, much like the persistent Bermuda high-pressure centre over the present subtropical North Antic. Another zone of low pressure formed above the thermal equator, or the region of most intense sr warming. This somewhat migratory zone was the Silurian intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), where the convergence of Northern and Southern Hemispheric trade winds caused the warm tropical air to rise, which in turn produced regr cloud cover and precipitation. Mostly, the ITCZ remained near the Equator, but it may have migrated slightly to the north in response to strong summer heating on Laurentia, Baltica, and possibly Kazakhstania. This tendency would have been strongest along the eastern margins of tropical continents, where anticyclonic cirction around subtropical highs pulled warm, moistureden air northwestward from equatorial oceans. At this point Jia was feeling a dizzy and nauseous she was excited about all these in the beginning but as time passed by she kept on getting pressurized by these knowledges. Such thing was bound to happen too. Normal human brain can digest only 5000-6000 words of new information per day. But this limit had been already exceed when Xin started exining about the different Eons. Observing this Xin didn''t drag it any longer and summarized everything in a few sentence. "So all in all what you have to remember is that during the Silurian period Earth''s continents joined together, closing the Iapetus Ocean and forming two supercontinents: Laurasia in the north, and Gondwannd to the south. The South American and southern African Gondwana tes moved slowly toward and then over the South Pole. At the same time the northern continents moved together and began forming Laurasia. ciers retreated and nearly disappeared as continental warming began. Much of the equatorialnd mass was covered by warm shallow seas. There were dramatic worldwide sea-level changes and oceanic turnovers (exchanges of bottom waters and surface waters) resulting in a moderate level of extinctions during the Period. The Silurian ended with a series of rtively minor extinction events linked to climate change." Jia heard this small exnation and was taking a breath of relief when Xin said, "Moving onto the next one which is the Devonian Period." Hearing this Jia froze at her ce. She endure it anymore and started to cry inside her heart. Not even in school she had learnt that much as much she was learning that day. ording to Xin, Devonian Period was spanning between about 419.2 million and 358.9 million years ago. The Devonian period was the peak of marine faunal diversity during the Paleozoic Era. New predators such as sharks, bony fishes and ammonoids ruled the oceans. Trilobites continued their decline, while brachiopods became the most abundant marine organism. A wonderful assemge in the collection has fragments of trilobite (Phacops rana milleri), brachiopod (Sulcoretepora deissi) and bryozoan fossils, all reced with pyrite. Oceanic conditions and biological richness resulted in the greatest production of carbonate during the Paleozoic Era. The Devonian saw major evolutionary advancements by fishes with diversification and dominance in both marine and fresh water environmentsthe Devonian is also known as the "Age of Fishes." Jawless fish and coderms (such as the giant 33 ft Duncleosteus) reach peak diversity and sharks, lobe-finned, and ray-finned fishes first appear in the fossil records. Finally, the changingnd and freshwater environments fostered the evolution of some fish into the first tetrapodsthe family that evolved into allnd vertebrates. These tetrapods first evolved intond animals before the end of this Period. Invertebratend animals such as scorpions, spiders, and wingless insects also began to thrive in the new environments created by the vascr nt explosion. While the diversification of fishes is exciting, the Devonian vascr nt "explosion" is even more spectacr. Primitive Silurian-type nts (represented by Sawdonia in this disy case) gave rise to the major vascr nt groups: lycophytes (clubmosses, spikemosses and quillworts) and euphylophytes (horsetails and ferns, and seed nts). These nts transformed Earth''s environments, creating extensive marsnds. The new forests, dominated by the first trees, created a new biosphere and altered global carbon cycling. Complex soils were formed,nd and water linkages were expanded, habitats became moreplex and stable, and organic matter increased both onnd and in the oceans though runoff. The supercontinent of Gondwana dominated the southern hemisphere, while the smaller supercontinent of Euramerica was formed near the equator and the continent of Siberiay to the north. Chapter 96: No escape Chapter 96: No escape As Xin continued to tell her more about the different timelines her vessel core continued to be stronger and stronger. Stronger in the sense of profoundness not in the sense of rigidity. Unaware of this Jia was devastated at this point. She couldn''t ask the mysterious voice to stop cause god knows what if he gets angry and do something to her! On the other hand all her ways of escaping were closed. It was more like she didn''t know how to escape. She could have escaped that ce if her inner dimension had copsed, but to her dismay something like that didn''t happen. And for some reason it got stopped in the middle. Xin in the real world was smirking to his heart''s content and was taking his time to have some fun with Jia and her inner world. He was providing her with every possible help through which she can build a good core and be a good magician in the future. Using the word ''good'' is like using a word that''s underestimating the efforts being done by Xin. Nevertheless Xin was trying his best to not to go overboard and gave her a give boost in her awakening and vessel construction. Without his intervention Jia would have awaken her power but not that advance as she was gonna do now. At most she would have be a Wizard with the power of material creation and space maniption. Back to the current plot Xin continued his lecture about the different timelines and a brief description on them. The Carboniferous Periodsted from about 359.2 to 299 million years ago during thete Paleozoic Era. The term "Carboniferous"es from Ennd, in reference to the rich deposits of coal that ur there. These deposits of coal ur throughout northern Europe, Asia, and midwestern and eastern North America. The term "Carboniferous" is used throughout the world to describe this period, although in the United States it has been separated into the Mississippian (early Carboniferous) and the Pennsylvanian te Carboniferous) Subsystems. This division was established to distinguish the coal-bearingyers of the Pennsylvanian from the mostly limestone Mississippian, and is a result of differing stratigraphy on the different continents. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian, in turn, are subdivided into a number of internationally recognized stages based on evolutionary sessions of fossil groups. These stages are (from early tote) Tournaisian, Visean, and Serpukhovian for the Mississippian and Bashkirian, Moscovian, Kasimovian, and Gzhelian for the Pennsylvanian. In addition to having the ideal conditions for the formation of coal, several major biological, geological, and climatic events urred during this time. Biologically, we see one of the greatest evolutionary innovations of the Carboniferous: the amniote egg, which allowed for the further exploitation of thend by certain tetrapods. It gave the ancestors of birds, mammals, and reptiles the ability toy their eggs onnd without fear of desation. Geologically, the Late Carboniferous collision of Laurasia (present-day Europe, Asia, and North America) into Gondwana (present-day Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, and India) produced the Appchian Mountain belt of eastern North America and the Hercynian Mountains in the United Kingdom. A further collision of Siberia and eastern Europe created the Ural Mountains of Russia. And climatically, there was a trend towards mild temperatures during the Carboniferous, as evidenced by the decrease in lycopods andrge insects, and an increase in the number of tree ferns. The stratigraphy of the Mississippian can be easily distinguished from that of the Pennsylvanian. The Mississippian environment of North America was heavily marine, with seas covering parts of the continent. As a result, most Mississippian rocks are limestone, which areposed of the remains of crinoids, lime-encrusted green algae, or calcium carbonate shaped by waves. The North American Pennsylvanian environment was alternately terrestrial and marine, with the transgression and regression of the seas caused by ciation. These environmental conditions, with the vast amount of nt material provided by the extensive coal forests, allowed for the formation of coal. nt material did not decay when the seas covered them, and pressure and heat eventually built up over millions of years to transform the nt material to coal. The beginning of the Carboniferous generally had a more uniform, tropical, and humid climate than exists today. Seasons if any were indistinct. These observations are based onparisons between fossil and modern-day nt morphology. The Carboniferous nts resemble those that live in tropical and mildly temperate areas today. Many of themck growth rings, which suggests a uniform climate. This uniformity in climate may have been the result of therge expanse of ocean that covered the entire surface of the globe, except for a localized section where Pangea, the massive supercontinent that existed during thete Paleozoic and early Triassic, wasing together. Shallow, warm, marine waters often flooded the continents. Attached filter feeders such as bryozoans, particrly fenestellids, were abundant in this environment, and the sea floor was dominated by brachiopods. Trilobites were increasingly scarce while foraminifers were abundant. The heavily armored fish from the Devonian became extinct, being reced with more modern-looking fish fauna. Uplifting near the end of the Mississippian resulted in increased erosion, with an increase in the number of floodins and deltas. The deltaic environment supported fewer corals, crinoids, stoids, cryozoans, and bryzoans, which were abundant earlier in the Carboniferous. Freshwater ms made their first appearance, and there was an increase in gastropod, bony fish, and shark diversity. As the continents moved closer to forming Pangea, there was a decrease in coastline, which in turn affected the diversity of marine life in those shallow continental waters. Tworge ice sheets at the southern pole locked uprge amounts of water as ice. With so much water taken out of the water cycle, sea levels dropped, leading to an increase in terrestrial habitat. Increases and decreases in ciation during the Pennsylvanian resulted in sea level fluctuations that can be seen in the rocks as striped patterns of alternating shale and coalyers. The uplift of the continents caused a transition to a more terrestrial environment during the Pennsylvanian Subsystem, although swamp forests were widespread. In the swamp forests, seedless nts such as lycopsids flourished and were the primary source of carbon for the coal that is characteristic of the period. The lycopods underwent a major extinction event after a drying trend, most likely caused by increased ciation, during the Pennsylvanian. Ferns and sphenopsids became more importantter during the Carboniferous, and the earliest rtives of the conifers appeared. The firstnd snails appeared and insects with wings that can''t fold back, such as dragonflies and mayflies, flourished and radiated. These insects, as well as millipedes, scorpions, and spiders became important in the ecosystem. A trend towards aridity and an increase in terrestrial habitat led to the increasing importance of the amniotic egg for reproduction. The earliest amniote fossil was the lizard-like Hylonomus, which was lightly built with deep, strong jaws and slender limbs. The basal tetrapods became more diverse during the Carboniferous. Predators with long snouts, short sprawling limbs and ttened heads such as temnospondyls, like Amphibiamus (above) appeared. Anthracosaurs basal tetrapods and amniotes with deep skulls and a less sprawling body n that afforded greater agility appeared during the Carboniferous and were quickly followed by diapsids which divided into two groups: (1) the marine reptiles, lizards, and snakes, and (2) the archosaurs crocodiles, dinosaurs, and birds. The synapsids also made their first appearance, and presumably the anapsids did as well, although the oldest fossils for that group are from the Lower Permian. The appearance or disappearance of fauna usually marks the boundaries between time periods. The Carboniferous is separated from the earlier Devonian by the appearance of the conodont Siphonode sulcata or Siphonde duplicata. Conodonts are fossils that resemble the teeth or jaws of primitive eel- or hagfish-like fish. The Carboniferous-Permian boundary is distinguished by the appearance of the fusulinid foram Sphaeroschwagerina fusiformis in Europe and Pseudoschwagerina beedei in North America. Fusulinids are giants among protists and could reach a centimeter in length. They were abundant enough to form sizable deposits known as "rice rock" because of the resemnce between fusulinids and rice grains. The Mississippian Subsystem is differentiated from the Pennsylvanian by the appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus, the ammonoid genus Homoceras, and the foraminifers Millere pressa and Millere marblensis, though these markers apply only to marine deposits. The distinction between the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subsystems may also be illustrated by a break in the flora due to transitional changes from a marine to a more terrestrial environment. The stratigraphy of the Mississippian is distinguished by shallow-water limestones. Some of these limestones areposed of parts of organisms, primarily the remains of crinoids that thrived in the shallow seas. Other limestones include lime mudstones,posed of the carbonate mud produced by green algae, and oolithic limestones,posed of calcium carbonate in concentric spheres produced by high wave energy. Also found in Mississippian strata, though not asmon, are sandstones (sedimentary rockposed of quartz sand and cemented by silica or calcium carbonate) and siltstones (rockposed of hardened silt). Chapter 97: Dinosaur period?! Chapter 97: Dinosaur period?! Coal beds, which can be up to 11 to 12 meters thick, characterize thete Carboniferous. The forests of seedless vascr nts that existed in the tropical swamp forests of Europe and North America provided the organic material that became coal. Dead nts did notpletely decay and were turned to peat in these swamp forests. When the sea covered the swamps, marine sediments covered the peat. Eventually, heat and pressure transformed these organic remains into coal. Coal balls, pockets of nt debris that were preserved as fossils and not converted to coal, are sometimes found within the coalyers. Multiple transgressions and regressions of the Pennsylvanian seas across the continent can be seen in the rocks, and even counted, because they leave a telltale sequence ofyers. As sea levels rise, theyers may go from sandstone (beach), to silty shale or siltstone (tidal), to freshwater limestone goon), to undery (terrestrial), to coal (terrestrial swampy forest). Then as sea levels fall, one may see a shale (nearshore tidal) grade to limestone (shallow marine) and finally to ck shale (deep marine). Index fossils are the remains of nts and animals that characterize a well-defined time span and ur over a wide range of geography. Fossils of marine life characterize the Mississippian, as shallow epicontinental seas covered the United States at that time. These fossils include solitary corals and Syringopora, tubr colonial corals. Other fossil colonial corals include Stelechophyllum and Siphonodendron. Because conodont fossils are distributed all over the world, they are utilized internationally to date Mississippian rocks. Index fossils used for the Pennsylvanian Subsystem are fusulinid foraminifers and the pollen and spores from the coal forests prevalent during that time. The Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary is marked by the appearance of the fusulinid Pseudostaffe antiqua. Other fossils used to identify the early Pennsylvanian are the three ammonoid cephalopod genera Gastrioceras, Daiboloceras, and Paralegoceras, all found in marine deposits. Afterpleting this one next on line was Permian Period. Which was a major evolutionary period in the geographical timeline of earth. The Permian Period was the final period of the Paleozoic Era. Lasting from 299 million to 251 million years ago, it followed the Carboniferous Period and preceded the Triassic Period. By the early Permian, the two great continents of the Paleozoic, Gondwana and Euramerica, had collided to form the supercontinent Pangaea. Pangaea was shaped like a thickened letter "C." The top curve of the "C" consisted ofndmasses that wouldter be modern Europe and Asia. North and South America formed the curved back of the "C" with Africa inside the curve. India, Australia and Antarctica made up the low curve. Inside the "C" was the Tethys Ocean, and most of the rest of Earth was the Panthssic Ocean. Because Pangaea was so immense, the interior portions of the continent had a much cooler, drier climate than had existed in the Carboniferous. Little is known about the huge Panthssic Ocean, as there is little exposed fossil evidence avable. Fossils of the shallower coastal waters around the Pangaea continental shelf indicate that reefs wererge and diverse ecosystems with numerous sponge and coral species. Ammonites, simr to the modern nautilus, weremon, as were brachiopods. The lobe-finned and spiny fishes that gave rise to the amphibians of the Carboniferous were being reced by true bony fish. Sharks and rays continued in abundance. Onnd, the giant swamp forests of the Carboniferous began to dry out. The mossy nts that depended on spores for reproduction were being reced by the first seed-bearing nts, the gymnosperms. Gymnosperms are vascr nts, able to transport water internally. Gymnosperms have exposed seeds that develop on the scales of cones and are fertilized when pollen sifts down andnds directly on the seed. Today''s conifers are gymnosperms, as are the short palm like cycads and the gingko. During this time arthropods continued to diversify during the Permian Period to fill the niches opened up by the more variable climate. True bugs, with mouthparts modified for piercing and sucking nt materials, evolved during the Permian. Other new groups included the cicadas and beetles. Two important groups of animals dominated the Permianndscape: Synapsids and Sauropsids. Synapsids had skulls with a single temporal opening and are thought to be the lineage that eventually led to mammals. Sauropsids had two skull openings and were the ancestors of the reptiles, including dinosaurs and birds. In the early Permian, it appeared that the Synapsids were to be the dominant group ofnd animals. The group was highly diversified. The earliest, most primitive Synapsids were the Pelycosaurs, which included an apex predator, a genus known as Dimetrodon. This animal had a lizard-like body and arge bony "sail" fin on its back that was probably used for thermoregtion. Despite its lizard-like appearance, recent discoveries have concluded that Dimetrodon skulls, jaws and teeth are closer to mammal skulls than to reptiles. Another genus of Synapsids, Lystrosaurus, was a small herbivore about 3 feet long (almost 1 meter) that looked something like a cross between a lizard and a hippopotamus. It had a t face with two tusks and the typical reptilian stance with legs angled away from the body. In thete Permian, Pelycosaurs were seeded by a new lineage known as Therapsids. These animals were much closer to mammals. Their legs were under their bodies, giving them the more upright stance typical of quadruped mammals. They had more powerful jaws and more tooth differentiation. Fossil skulls show evidence of whiskers, which indicates that some species had fur and were endothermic. The Cynodont ("dog-toothed") group included species that hunted in organized packs. Cynodonts are considered to be the ancestors of all modern mammals. At the end of the Permian, thergest Synapsids became extinct, leaving many ecological niches open. The second group ofnd animals, the Sauropsid group, weathered the Permian Extinction more sessfully and rapidly diversified to fill them. The Sauropsid lineage gave rise to the dinosaurs that would dominate the Mesozoic Era. The Permian Period ended with the greatest mass extinction event in Earth''s history. In a blink of Geologic Time in as little as 100,000 years the majority of living species on the were wiped out of existence. Scientists estimate that more than 95 percent of marine species became extinct and more than 70 percent ofnd animals. Fossil beds in the Italian Alps show that nts were hit just as hard as animal species. Fossils from thete Permian show that huge conifer forests nketed the region. These strata are followed by early Triassic fossils that show few signs of nts being present but instead are filled with fossil remnants of fungi that probably proliferated on a glut of decaying trees. Scientists are unclear about what caused the mass extinction. Some point to evidence of catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and China (areas in the northern part of the "C" shaped Pangaea). This series of massive eruptions would have initially caused a rapid cooling of global temperatures leading to increased ciations. This "nuclear winter" would have led to the demise of photosynthetic organisms, the basis of most food chains. Lowered sea levels and volcanic fallout would ount for the evidence of much higher levels of carbon dioxide in the oceans, which may have led to the copse of marine ecosystems. Other scientists point to indications of a massive asteroid impacting the southernmost tip of the "C" in what is now Australia. Whatever the cause, the Great Dying closed the Paleozoic Era. After the great extinction it was the time of a new beginning, the Mesozoic era. During the Mesozoic, or "Middle Life" era, life diversified rapidly and giant reptiles, dinosaurs and other monstrous beasts roamed the Earth. The period, which spans from about 252 million years ago to about 66 million years ago, was also known as the age of reptiles or the age of dinosaurs. The Mesozoic era began roughly around the time of the end-Permian extinction, which wiped out 96 percent of marine life and 70 percent of all terrestrial species on the. Life slowly rebounded, eventually giving way to a flourishing diversity of animals, from massive lizards to monstrous dinosaurs. The Triassic period, from 252 million to 200 million years ago, saw the rise of reptiles and the first dinosaurs. The Jurassic period, from about 200 million to 145 million years ago, ushered in birds and mammals. And the Cretaceous period, from 145 million to 66 million years ago is known for its iconic dinosaurs, such as Triceratops, and pterosaurs such as Pteranodon. Coniferous nts, or those that have cone-bearing seeds, already existed at the beginning of the era, but they became much more abundant during the Mesozoic. Flowering nts emerged during thete Cretaceous period. The lush nt life during the Mesozoic era provided plenty of food, allowing the biggest of the dinosaurs, such as the Argentinosaurus, to grow up to 80 tons, ording to a 2005 study in the journal Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. Earth during the Mesozoic era was much warmer than today, and the had no pr ice caps. During the Triassic period, Pangaea still formed one massive supercontinent. Without much coastline to moderate the continent''s interior temperature, Pangaea experienced major temperature swings and was covered inrge swaths of desert. Yet the region still had a belt of tropical rainforest in regions around the equator, said Brendan Murphy, an earth scientist at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Canada. Chapter 98: Dinosaur period continued!! Chapter 98: Dinosaur period continued!! The Mesozoic era was bookended by two great extinctions, with another smaller extinction urring at the end of the Triassic period, Olsen said. Around 252 million years ago, the end-Permian extinction wiped out most life on Earth over about 60,000 years, ording to a February 2014 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). At the end of the Triassic period, roughly 201 million years ago, most amphibious creatures and crocodile-like creatures that lived in the tropics were wiped out. About 65 million years ago, a giant asteroid sted into Earth and formed a giant crater at Chicxulub in the Yucatan Penins. Because the fossil record is iplete, it''s difficult to say exactly what caused the extinctions, or even how rapidly they urred. After all, certain species or traces of catastrophic events could be missing in the fossil record simply because the sediments may have disappeared over tens of millions of years, Olsen said. "Nature is very efficient at getting rid of its corpses," Olsen told Live Science. However, there are a few prime suspects in each of the extinctions. At the end of the Permian, the Siberian Traps underwent massive volcanic eruptions, which most geologists believe caused the world''s biggest extinction. Exactly how, however, is up for debate. The volcanic eruptions caused a spike in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, though the 2014 PNAS study suggests that the spike was brief. The eruptions may have increased sea surface temperatures and led to ocean acidification that choked out sea life. And another study published in March 2014 in PNAS proposed that the eruptions released huge troves of the element nickel, which fueled a feeding frenzy by nickel-munching microbes known as Methanosarcina. Those microbes may have belched out huge amounts of methane, superheating the. Most scientists agree that an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. The impact would have kicked up so much dust that it blocked the sun, halted photosynthesis, and led to such a huge disruption in the food chain that everything that wasn''t a scavenger or very small died. But the Dan Traps, in what is now India, were spewing massive amounts ofva both before and after the asteroid impact, and a few scientists believe these flows either directly caused or elerated the dinosaurs'' demise. Volcanism may also be to me for the end-Triassic extinction. Though volcanism in general leads to global warming, after an initial volcanic eruption, huge amounts of sulfur spew into the air and cause a brief period of global cooling. Such cooling-heating cycles may have urred hundreds of times over 500,000 years. Simr cold snaps have been tied to huge crop failures in historical times, such as in d in the 1700s, Olsen said. As a result, animals used to constant, balmy temperatures in the tropics were wiped out, while animals that were insted with proto-feathers, such as pterosaurs, or that lived at highertitudes and were already adapted to big temperature variations. The Cretaceous Period was thest and longest segment of the Mesozoic Era. Itsted approximately 79 million years, from the minor extinction event that closed the Jurassic Period about 145.5 million years ago to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event dated at 65.5 million years ago. In the early Cretaceous, the continents were in very different positions than they are today. Sections of the supercontinent Pangaea were drifting apart. The Tethys Ocean still separated the northern Laurasia continent from southern Gondwana. The North and South Antic were still closed, although the Central Antic had begun to open up in thete Jurassic Period. By the middle of the period, ocean levels were much higher; most of thendmass we are familiar with was underwater. By the end of the period, the continents were much closer to modern configuration. Africa and South America had assumed their distinctive shapes; but India had not yet collided with Asia and Australia was still part of Antarctica. One of the hallmarks of the Cretaceous Period was the development and radiation of the flowering nts. The oldest angiosperm fossil that has been found to date is Archaefructus liaoningensis, found by Ge Sun and David Dilcher in China. It seems to have been most simr to the modern ck pepper nt and is thought to be at least 122 million years old. It used to be thought that the pollinating insects, such as bees and wasps, evolved at about the same time as the angiosperms. It was frequently cited as an example of co-evolution. New research, however, indicates that insect pollination was probably well established before the first flowers. While the oldest bee fossil was trapped in its amber prison only about 80 million years ago, evidence has been found that bee- or wasp-like insects built hive-like nests in what is now called the Petrified Forest in Arizona. It is now thought thatpetition for insect attention probably facilitated the rtively rapid sess and diversification of the flowering nts. As diverse flower forms lured insects to pollinate them, insects adapted to differing ways of gathering nectar and moving pollen thus setting up the intricate co-evolutionary systems we are familiar with today. There is limited evidence that dinosaurs ate angiosperms. Two dinosaur coprolites (fossilized excrements) discovered in Utah contain fragments of angiosperm wood, ording to an unpublished study presented at the 2015 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting. This finding, as well as others, including an Early Cretaceous ankylosaur that had fossilized angiosperm fruit in its gut, suggests that some paleo-beasts ate flowering nts. Moreover, the shape of some teeth from Cretaceous animals suggests that the herbivores grazed on leaves and twigs, said Betsy Kruk, a volunteer researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. During the Cretaceous Period, more ancient birds took flight, joining the pterosaurs in the air. The origin of flight is debated by many experts. In the "trees down" theory, it is thought that small reptiles may have evolved flight from gliding behaviors. In the "ground up" hypothesis flight may have evolved from the ability of small theropods to leap high to grasp prey. Feathers probably evolved from early body coverings whose primary function, at least at first, was thermoregtion. At any rate it is clear that avians were highly sessful and became widely diversified during the Cretaceous. Confuciusornis (125 million to 140 million years ago) was a crow-size bird with a modern beak, but enormous ws at the tips of the wings. Iberomesornis, a contemporary, only the size of a sparrow, was capable of flight and was probably an insectivore. By the end of the Jurassic, some of therge sauropods, such as Apatosaurus and Diplodocus, went extinct. But other giant sauropods, including the titanosaurs, flourished, especially toward the end of the Cretaceous, Kruk said. Large herds of herbivorous ornithischians also thrived during the Cretaceous, such as Iguanodon (a genus that includes duck-billed dinosaurs, also known as hadrosaurs), Ankylosaurus and the ceratopsians. Theropods, including Tyrannosaurus rex, continued as apex predators until the end of the Cretaceous. About 65.5 million years ago, nearly allrge vertebrates and many tropical invertebrates became extinct in what was clearly a geological, climatic and biological event with worldwide consequences. Geologists call it the K-Pg extinction event because it marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. The event was formally known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) event, but the International Commission on Stratigraphy, which sets standards and boundaries for the geologic time scale, now discourages the use of the term Tertiary. The "K" is from the German word for Cretaceous, Kreide. In 1979, a geologist who was studying rockyers between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods spotted a thinyer of grey y separating the two eras. Other scientists found this greyyer all over the world, and tests showed that it contained high concentrations of iridium, an element that is rare on Earth, butmon in most meteorites, Kruk said in a ss she co-taught on Coursera.org. Also within thisyer are indications of "shocked quartz" and tiny ss-like globes called tektites that form when rock is suddenly vaporized then immediately cooled, as happens when an extraterrestrial object strikes the Earth with great force. The Chicxulub (CHEEK-sheh-loob) crater in the Yucatan dates precisely to this time. The crater site is more than 110 miles (180 kilometers) in diameter and chemical analysis shows that the sedimentary rock of the area was melted and mixed together by temperatures consistent with the st impact of an asteroid about 6 miles (10 km) across striking the Earth at this point. When the asteroid collided with Earth, its impact triggered shockwaves, massive tsunamis and sent arge cloud of hot rock and dust into the atmosphere, Kruk said. As the super-heated debris fell back to Earth, they started forest fires and increased temperatures. "This rain of hot dust raised global temperatures for hours after the impact, and cooked alive animals that were toorge to seek shelter," Kruk said in the ss. "Small animals that could shelter underground, underwater, or perhaps in caves orrge tree trunks, may have been able to survive this initial heat st." Chapter 99: Cenozoic Period Chapter 99: Cenozoic Period Tiny fragments likely stayed in the atmosphere, possibly blocking part of the sun''s ray for months or years. With less sunlight, nts and the animals dependent on them would have died, Kruk said. Furthermore, the reduced sunlight would have lowered global temperatures, impairingrge active animals with high-energy needs, she said. "Smaller, omnivorous terrestrial animals, like mammals, lizards, turtles, or birds, may have been able to survive as scavengers feeding on the carcasses of dead dinosaurs, fungi, roots and decaying nt matter, while smaller animals with lower metabolisms were best able to wait the disaster out," Kruk said. There is also evidence that a series of huge volcanic eruptions at the Dan traps, located along the tectonic border between India and Asia, began just before the K-Pg event boundary. It is likely that these regional catastrophesbined to precipitate a mass extinction. The world was a warmer ce during the Cretaceous period. The poles were cooler than the lowertitudes, but "overall things were warmer," Kruk told Live Science. Fossils of tropical nts and ferns support this idea, she said. Animals lived all over, even in colder areas. For instance, Hadrosaurus fossils dating to the Late Cretaceous were uncovered in ska. When the asteroid hit, the world likely experienced so-called "nuclear winter," when particles blocked many of the sun''s rays from hitting Earth. After the nuclear winter it was the time of third major era of earth''s history, the Cenozoic era. The Cenozoic era, which began about 65 million years ago and continues into the present, is the third documented era in the history of Earth. The current locations of the continents and their modern-day inhabitants, including humans, can be traced to this period. The era began on a big down note, catching the tail end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event at the close of the Cretaceous period that wiped out the remaining non-avian dinosaurs. As per Xin''s understanding, The Cenozoic era is divided into three periods: Paleogene period (65-23 million years ago), which consists of the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene epochs); Neogene period (23-2.6 million years ago), which includes the Miocene and Pliocene epochs); Quaternary period (2.6 million years ago to the present), consisting of the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs). While it is widely epted that we are still in the Holocene epoch, some scientists argue that we have entered the Anthropocene epoch. In a 2010 article in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists made the case for a new epoch, ming humans for causing a drastic shift in conditions. Nowing to the climate the global climate of the early portion of the Cenozoic period was much warmer than it is today, and the overall climate of the Earth was much more consistent regardless of proximity to the equator. The most significant period of global warming, known as the PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum, took ce of 55.8 million years ago. It was followed by a long cool, dry period. The current global warming event has been set off primarily by human activity. Each segment of the Cenozoic experienced different climates. During the Paleogene period, most of the Earth''s climate was tropical. The Neogene period saw a drastic cooling, which continued into the Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary period. As for the changingndscape, the continents drifted apart during the Paleogene period, creating vast stretches of oceans. This had a significant impact on the climate and marine life surrounding each continent. During the Pleistocene epoch, ciers covered central North America, extending as far east as New York, south to Kansas and Nebraska and west to the northern West Coast. The Great Lakes were formed as the ciers receded. Several of the world''s foremost mountain ranges, including the Alps, Himyas and the Rocky Mountains, were formed during the Cenozoic era. The Cenozoic era is also known as the Age of Mammals because the extinction of many groups of giant mammals, allowing smaller species to thrive and diversify because their predators no longer existed. Due to therge span of time covered by the period, it is beneficial to discuss the animal poption by the milestone of the era rather than in generalities. The beginning of the Paleogene period was a time for the mammals that survived from the Cretaceous period. Later in this period, rodents and small horses, such as Hyracotherium, aremon and rhinoceroses and elephants appear. As the period ends, dogs, cats and pigs bemonce. Other than a few birds that were ssified as dinosaurs, most notable the Titanis, the dinosaurs were gone. Large flightless birds, such as the Diatryma, thrived. The Neogene period gives rise to early primates, including early humans. Bovids, including cattle, sheep, goats, antelope and gazelle, flourish during this period. Cave lions, sabre-toothed cats, cave bears, giant deer, woolly rhinoceroses, and woolly mammoths were prevailing species of the Quaternary period. Without the dinosaurs, nt life had an opportunity to flourish during the Cenozoic era. Nearly every nt living today had its roots in the Cenozoic era. During the early part of the era, forests overran most of North America. However, as the climate cooled forests died off, creating opennd. Due to the widening of the oceans, sharks, whales and other marine life proliferated. The Great Lakes that formed in the western United States during the Eocene epoch were the perfect home for bass, trout and other fresh-water species. As the forests thinned, grasses began to spread out over the ins of North America and savannas covered thend in the middle of the continent. Among themon nt life were pines, mosses, oaks and grasses. Flowering nts and edible crops dominate thendscape in theter part of this era as humans cultivate thend. After Cenozoic it was time for the Paleogene period. The Paleogene Period was the first of three periodsprising the Cenozoic Era. The Cenozoic, sometimes known as the "Age of Mammals", as the Mesozoic was the "Age of Reptiles", is known by its Epochs. The Paleogene isposed of the first three of these Epochs, (Paleocene, Eocene, and Oligocene Epochs). Four additional Epochsprise the Neogene and Quaternary Periods that are to follow. The Paleogene sees the rapid filling of the environment following the K/T extinction, though it took more than two million years for the Earth''s ecosystems to recover from this event. Onnd primitive mammals and birds began to spread rapidly. In the seas nktonic foraminifera and nanofossils begin new evolutionary paths. Most marine life resembles modern forms: the wonder of Cenozoic fossils is seeing recognizable organisms cast in stone, rather than the exotic, ''alien'' life forms, such as sea lilies, ammonoids, and trilobites, of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras. The three Epochs are discussed in more detail below. Additional information about the mammals of these epochs can be found in our Prehistoric Mammals of the Cenozoic exhibits. Small mammals and birds diversify in dense forests as Earth recovers from the (K-T) extinction. The loss of the giant reptiles that dominated the Mesozoic Era left the world open for evolutionary experiments by mammals and birds as they filled Earth''s environments in turn. The diverse mammalian fauna remained small, thergest only the size of a small pony. Ferns were initially abundant following the K-T extinction, but flowering nts and conifers soon took over as they returned to abundance. Deciduous trees dominated swamp forests in North America from middletitudes to the Arctic ocean. Grasses, an immensely important group inter epoch ecologies, originated early in the Paleogene. Insect herbivory finally recovered from the K-T extinction event in thete Paleogene, nine million years after the event. In the oceans, most reptiles vanished, turtles and crocodilians being exceptions. Sharks and teleost fish be moremon, and bony fishes dominate the seas as they will continue to do to the present day. Among invertebrates more modern forms of gastropods and bivalves, foraminiferans and echinoids appear. As a result of various geological events like the ind continent of India colliding with Asia, there was a rapid worldwide rise in temperature at the end of the epoch. The Eocene begins with extreme Global warming, the warmest five million years of the Cenozoic. This warming was probably due to arge methane release from the ocean floor. As a result of global warming trees grew even in Pr Regions, while subtropical or tropical angiosperm forests cover most of what is now the United States. Palm trees grew in ska and Spitzbergen ind and crocodilians lived above the Arctic circle. Many new grasses evolve. However, grasnds had yet to develop and herbivorous mammals were browsers, feeding on leaves and herbs rather than grass. The first odd-toed mammals (perissodactyls, such as rhinos and horses) and even-toed mammals (artiodactyls such as camels) were present at the beginning of the epoch. The first marine mammals, including the first whales, appear in the seas, and the first primates appear onnd. Large mammals make their first appearance onnd, then die off by the end of the epoch. Carnivores include the first members of the dog, weasel, bear and cat families. Most modern orders of bird had appeared by the Eocene. Africa is now an ind continent. The climate began the long cooling trend that would continue through the Cenozoic in the middle of the Eocene. Chapter 100: Eocene Period Chapter 100: Eocene Period In the middle Eocene, grasnds had not yet spread North America was dominated by forest and forest mammals as seen above. The odd-toed perissodactyls, such as the Peosyops in the rear center had already appeared. In the trees next to them are the primitive rodent Ischyrotomys and the primate Smilodectes. A group of primitive tapirs (Htetes) are in the center of the frame. Just in front of them, looking at a group of Orohippus (a perrisodactyl), is a predatory Patreofelis. Just below a saber-toothed Machaeroides defends its kill (a lizard, Echmatemys) from the fox-size carnivore, Sinopa. A couple of artiodactyls, the tiny Homacodon and Helohyus, are seen just above an edentate Metacheiromys leaving the frame above the saber-tooth and its kill. The global cooling that eventually leads toter ice ages begins during this epoch. Forests begin to shrink and grasnds expand at the expense of forests. Anthropoid apes make their first appearance. The newly openedndscapes favor the evolution of fast running prey and predators. Oreodonts were verymon in North America along with three toed horses and a variety of rhinoceros species. The giant Indricothere, a type of rhinoceros the size of a medium sauropod and thergestnd mammal ever, lived in central Asia. The anthropoid apes appeared during this epoch. South America, isted for a few million years, evolves a distinct fauna including giant carnivorous birds and predatory marsupials. Both cats and dogs were represented among carnivores, including saber tooth cats. In the ocean both seals and sea lions appearte in this epoch. The two suborders of whales alive today, the toothed and baleen whales evolved. Invertebrates continued to look more modern, while coral reefs spread in the southern hemisphere as far as New Zend. South America breaks away from Antarctic, allowing an isting circum-antarctic current and a permanent ice cap to form, lowering world temperatures. Dominating this scene in the distance are giant Brontotherium, thergestnd animals to ever live in North America. Just in front of them is one the the first true rhinoceros, Subhyracodon, and in front of it is a group of Merycoidodon herbivorous oreodonts. Next to them, in the center of the frame, is a Protapirus, the first true tapir, that in turn is above a group of Pobrotherium, small ancestral camels. Two Hyaenodon fight over a Glyptosaurus lizard, while a saber-tooth cat, Hoplophoneus lies in the bushes in the center foreground. Moving across the front from left to right a series of small animals are seen: the primitive rabbit Palegus, the insectivore Ictops, three kinds of ruminants, Hypisodus, a couple of Leptomeryx, and on the far right lower corner, a group of Hypertragulus. Lasting nearly 22 million years, the Eocene is the longest epoch of the Cenozoic. During this time, the first ancestors and close rtives of modern mammal species appeared. Many of these modern mammal groups appear at the beginning of the Eocene, a period of dramatic global warming called the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Among the mammal groups that first appear in the fossil record during this period are the perissodactyls, artiodactyls, proboscideans, rodents, and primates. It is thought that the intense global warming allowed warm-adapted mammals to migrate between continents viand connections at very hightitudes. Improved global dispersal allowed mammals to spread into areas in which fossils were being preserved. One such ce was what is now the Rocky Mountain basins of North America. Uplift of the Rockies, which began in the Mesozoic, continued in the Eocene. It was these conditions that led to abundant preservation of fossils in this area, including the earliest perissodactyls. Early perissodactyls, such as the horse rtive Hyracotherium, appear right at the very beginning of the Eocene. Hyracotherium and other perissodactyls probably originated in Europe or Asia and migrated from Asia to North America via a hightitudend bridge. The Eocene is the heyday of the perissodactyls, with more kinds of this ungte group present than in any other epoch. As the Eocene progressed, the Earth''s temperature gradually cooled. The rainforest-like habitats that covered much of the continents gave way to more open woond. By the end of the epoch, the was much cooler, seasons were more extreme, and Antarctic ice caps had begun to form. Many of the more primitive mammalian groups that dominated the Paleocene went extinct and were reced by more modern mammal groups of mammal such as the perissodactyls. One of the best sites forte Eocene mammal fossils is an extensive area of arid, heavily-eroded terrain covering parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, which is known as the White River Bands. After Eocene it was time for Oligocene Epoch. ording to Xin the Oligocene Epoch, right smack in the middle of the Tertiary Period (and end of the Paleogene),sted from about 33.9 to 23 million years ago.* Although itsted a "short" 11 million years, a number of major changes urred during this time. These changes include the appearance of the first elephants with trunks, early horses, and the appearance of many grasses nts that would produce extensive grasnds in the following epoch, the Miocene. As a result of the cooling trend prevalent throughout the Oligocene Epoch, the lives and habitats of many organisms were directly affected. In the oceans, marine biotic provinces became more fragmented as sea dwellers capable of withstanding cooler temperatures congregated to ces further from the warmer equator, where other species could better survive. The cooling trend was also responsible for the reduced diversity in marine nkton, the foundation of the food chain. Onnd, mammals such as horses, deer, camel, elephants, cats, dogs, and primates began to dominate, except in Australia. The continuation ofnd mammal faunal migration between Asia and North America was responsible for the dispersion of several lineages to new continents. Early forms of amphicyonids, canids, camels, tayassuids, protoceratids, and anthracotheres appeared, as did caprimulgiformes, birds that possess gaping mouths for catching insects. Diurnal raptors, such as falcons, eagles, and hawks, along with seven to ten families of rodents also first appeared during the Oligocene. The "bulk feeding" in the open grasnds and savannas that urred in this period resulted in the increase of general herbivore size. As an example, ungtes continued to getrger throughout the Oligocene. The early Oligocene was marked by a multitude of different events ranging from the appearance of new groups such as elephants to the decline in taxonomic diversity in middle- and hightitude forests. "Micro-mammals" experienced a period of diversification, as did the marsupials in Australia. This period was also marked by a rtive free change of animals among northern continents, as evidenced by the simrity in vertebrate faunas. In North America, the cricetids (voles and hamsters) first appeared while the mesothermal dicotyledons (a group of flowering nts) went extinct. South America became dominated by forests, and the first primates appeared in Africa. Primates found in Southeast Asia during this period represent primitive members of the New World and Old World higher primates. In western Europe, an extraordinary, sudden change in the fauna, known as the Grand Coupure, urred. This event involved the immigration of many new taxa, artiodactyls and perissodactyls in particr (e.g., rhinocerotoids, chalicotheriids, anthracotheres, and tayassuids), from areas to the east and the extinction of many Eocene genera and species. At least 17 generic extinctions, 20 first appearances, and 25 unaffected genera of mammals are represented across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in western Europe. On a global scale, broad-leaved evergreen vegetation became restricted to 35titude around the equator, and megathermal, multistratal vegetation was confined to 15titude around the equator. Broad-leaved evergreen nts became increasingly confined to lowertitudes in Eurasia, and microthermal, broad-leaved forest becamemon overrge regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The mid-Oligocene was marked by a worldwide marine regression; this included a decline in the total number of marine species. Onnd, the first of the open grasnd faunas appeared in Mongolia while in North America, microthermal broad-leaved deciduous forests extended further into southern regions typified before by evergreen species and for the first time in history covered vast regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Thete Oligocene was marked by the expansion of grasnds and prairies that were intimately linked to the expansion of grazing animals. Grasses andposites increased in abundance on the global scale, and humid forests became increasinglymon in the southern parts of South America. Horses experienced a period of diversification; anatomical modifications in horses indicate an increase in cursorialitypared to more primitive ancestors. Primitive beavers appeared and the earliest of the New World monkeys inhabited in South America. Thete Oligocene Deseadan record includes two major groups that are thought to represent early waif dispersals from other continents. One of these, the caviomorph rodents (e.g., porcupines, capybaras, chinchis, and a wide assortment of smaller forms), was the only group of rodents in South America until the Plio-Pleistocene. They diversified into 16 families, only two of which are now extinct. The second group of early immigrants was the primates. Chapter 101: Age of mammoth Chapter 101: Age of mammoth After this follows the Neogene Period. The Neogene epasses two epochs, beginning with the Miocene (23.03-5.33 Mya) and followed by the Pliocene (5.33-1.806 Mya). The Pleistocene (the "Ice age", 1.806-0.0115 Mya) and the current epoch, the Holocene, beginning eleven thousand five hundred years ago are now (2009) included in the Quaternary Period. Though traditionally the Holocene is treated separately, it may in fact just be thetest intercial of the Pleistocene. This disy includes the Miocene through the Pleistocene Epochs of the Neogene and Quaternary Periods. The Neogene Period started with the recement of vast areas of forest by grasnds and savannahs. New food sources and niches on the grasnds and savannahs fostered further evolution of mammals and birds. Whales diversified in the seas, and sharks reached theirrgest size during the Miocene. Complex patterns of mammalian evolution resulted from changing climates and continental separations. More modern mammals evolved as grasnds became widespread and the climate cooled and dried. Additional information about the mammals of these epochs can be found in our Prehistoric Mammals of the Cenozoic exhibits. The Neogene saw a gradual closing of the Tethys Sea as the continents moved into their modern positions. The dramatic cooling phases of the Neogene lead to more distinctivetitudinal biotic zones. The Mioceneprised most of the Neogene Period making it the second longest Epoch of the Cenozoic Era. Wide expanses of grasnds formed across the Northern Hemisphere and supported a variety of new types of mammals. Horses moved from browsing in forests and meadows to grazing (eating grass) in grasnds. In the oceans the first known kelp forests appeared. Ocean circtions changed to formrge gyres (circr patterns) in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The new cirction patterns in turn lead to the evolution and spread of diverse marine mammals including a variety of toothed and baleen whales, sea lions, seals, walruses and sea cows. Non-mammalian predators included marine crocodiles and thergest known shark, Carcharodon megalodon. Marine invertebrates were simr to today, in fact half of the species are unchanged.The Miocene began with a short warming, followed by a return to the general Cenozoic cooling trend. The once great Tethys ocean was reduced to the Mediterranean Sea and closed at both ends, bringing the circumglobal cirction of warm waters to an end. The mural above emphasizes the variety of mammals that evolved to upy the grasnds and savannahs of North America in the Miocene epoch. On the far left are the giant (8'' at the shoulder) perrisodactyl Moropus, a wed herbivore rted to horses, confronting Daphoenodon dogs. In front of them are a group of ruminant oreodonts (Merychyus). Next to them in the foreground is a herd of extinct horses, Parahippus, that was evolving from a browsing habit to a grazing (eating grass) one. A group of semiaquatic Promerycochoerus are in the background and behind them a Daeodon, arge (12 ft long) pig-like scavenger or predator. Finally, on the right of this panel is a group of the small camelid Stenomylus. A dramatic event at the beginning of the Pliocene was the catastrophic filling of the Mediterranian sea. The collisions of the African and Eurasian continents during the Miocene had closed the Mediterannian basin both in the east and at the Straits of Gibraltar resulting in the basin drying up and converting to grasnds. When the barrier on the western end was breached it refilled catastrophically from the Antic ocean. Also during the Pliocene the Panamanian bridge was formed between North and South America allowing for the migration of animals both north and south in what is known as the "Great American Faunal Interchange." Giant ground sloths, armadillos and marsupials among others came north, while cats, dogs, bears, camels and others went south. Many of the South American species were reced by northern species and eventually went extinct. Bringing the two continents together also stopped the exchange between the Caribbean and the Pacific allowing these faunal provinces to evolve apart. In Africa early hominids appear for the first time in the fossil record. Famous hominid fossils such as "Lucy" a female Australopithecus aferensis and footprints from a pair of hominids alive 3Ma have been found in Pliocene deposits in Africa. Marine and freshwater aquatic Pliocene fossils are now numerous around the globe. Grasnds and savannahs continued to bemonce as shown in the mural above emphasizingmon Pliocene American mammals. In the background a herd of gomphotheres, Amebelodon (a primitive proboscidian with ttened shovel-like lower tusks) amble across the in next to extinct grazing rhinoceros, teloceres. In the foreground three extinct deer-like artiodactyls with multiple horns, (Cranioceras) are seen next to a pair of Synthetoceras, artiodactyls withrge forked horns on the snout. On the ground in front of them are a group of horned gophers (Ceratogaulus) the smallest known horned mammal and the only known horned rodent. A prehistoric horse can also be seen at the upper right. Modern humans including Homo erectus, H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens evolved during the Pleistocene. The first recorded migrations of humans out of Africa urred during this epoch. At least 20 cycles of ciations urred during the Pleistocene, with some ciations covering up to 30% of Earth''s surface. North American ice sheets in the Wisconsin ciation of 18,000 year ago were over 3900 meters (2.4 miles) thick. These and other massive ice sheets tied up so much water that sea levels dropped 140 meters. Manyrge mammals went extinct near the end of the Pleistocene (~11,000 years ago), leaving our modern flora and fauna. Though controversial, a widely held theory exins these extinctions as a result of human hunters in both Europe and the Americas. Now it was time for the beginning of the Pilocence Epoch or the age of Mamoths. The Pliocene is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. As with other older geologic periods, the geological strata that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The boundaries defining the Pliocene are not set at an easily identified worldwide event but rather at regional boundaries between the warmer Miocene and the rtively cooler Pleistocene. The upper boundary was set at the start of the Pleistocene ciations. In the official timescale of the ICS, the Pliocene is subdivided into two stages. From youngest to oldest they are: Piacenzian (3.6002.588 Ma) Zanclean (5.3323.600 Ma) The Piacenzian is sometimes referred to as the Late Pliocene, whereas the Zanclean is referred to as the Early Pliocene.In the system of North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMA) include Hemphillian (94.75 Ma), and ncan (4.751.806 Ma). The ncan extends forward into the Pleistocene. South American Land Mammal Ages (SALMA) include Montehermosan (6.84.0 Ma), Chapadmlan (4.03.0 Ma) and Uquian (3.01.2 Ma). In the Paratethys area (central Europe and parts of western Asia) the Pliocene contains the Dacian (roughly equal to the Zanclean) and Romanian (roughly equal to the Piacenzian and Gsian together) stages. As usual in stratigraphy, there are many other regional and local subdivisions in use.In Britain the Pliocene is divided into the following stages (old to young): Gedgravian, Waltonian, Pre-Ludhamian, Ludhamian, Thurnian, Bramertonian or Antian, Pre-Pastonian or Baventian, Pastonian and Beestonian. In the Nethends the Pliocene is divided into these stages (old to young): Brunssumian C, Reuverian A, Reuverian B, Reuverian C, Praetiglian, Tiglian A, Tiglian B, Tiglian C1-4b, Tiglian C4c, Tiglian C5, Tiglian C6 and Eburonian. The exact corrtions between these local stages and the ICS stages is still a matter of detail. The global average temperature in the mid-Pliocene (3.33 mya) was 23 C higher than today,global sea level 25 m higher and the Northern hemisphere ice sheet was ephemeral before the onset of extensive ciation over Greend that urred in thete Pliocene around 3 Ma. The formation of an Arctic ice cap is signaled by an abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Antic and North Pacific ocean beds. Midtitude ciation was probably underway before the end of the epoch. The global cooling that urred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasnds and savannas. Continents continued to drift, moving from positions possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current locations. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene, making possible the Great American Interchange and bringing a nearlyplete end to South America''s distinctiverge marsupial predator and native ungte faunas. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, since warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off and an Antic cooling cycle began, with cold Arctic and Antarctic waters dropping temperatures in the now-isted Antic Ocean. Africa''s collision with Europe formed the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. The border between the Miocene and the Pliocene is also the time of the Messinian salinity crisis. Sea level changes exposed thend-bridge between ska and Asia. Pliocene marine rocks are well exposed in the Mediterranean, India, and China. Elsewhere, they are exposedrgely near shores. Chapter 102: Atmosphere change Chapter 102: Atmosphere change The change to a cooler, dry, seasonal climate had considerable impacts on Pliocene vegetation, reducing tropical species worldwide. Deciduous forests proliferated, coniferous forests and tundra covered much of the north, and grasnds spread on all continents (except Antarctica). Tropical forests were limited to a tight band around the equator, and in addition to dry savannahs, deserts appeared in Asia and Africa. Both marine and continental faunas were essentially modern, although continental faunas were a bit more primitive than today. The first recognizable hominins, the australopithecines, appeared in the Pliocene. Thend mass collisions meant great migration and mixing of previously isted species, such as in the Great American Interchange. Herbivores got bigger, as did specialized predators. After this follows the quaternary period. The Quaternary is a subdivision of geological time (the Quaternary Period) which covers thest 2.6 million years up to the present day. The Quaternary and the Tertiary Periods together form the Cenozoic Era. The Quaternary is subdivided into two epochs; the Pleistocene (up to about 11,700 years ago) and the Holocene (about 11,700 years ago to the present day). The Quaternary Period has been one of extraordinary changes in global environment as well as the period during which much of human evolution took ce. Since the middle of the 19th century geologists realised that during the most recent period of geological time (widely known as ''The Ice-Age'') there had beenrge changes in thendscape and the environment. Indeed it was widely epted by the 1860s that the action of ciers had profoundly altered the surface of the earth over wide areas, including most of northern Europe and North America. Modern scientific techniques have given us great insight into the scale and timing of the climatic changes that led to the expansion of the global ice caps to three times their present extent, causing ciation in formerly unciated regions. Evidence from deep sea sediment cores has shown that from about 50 million years ago onwards the earth''s climate has experienced a long-term cooling trend with ice sheet formation in Antarctica starting about 38 million years ago and development of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets between 3 and 2.5 million years ago. The cause of this slow, inexorable, change in global environment is not fully understood; but adjustment of atmospheric cirction and chemistry, possibly due to tectonic forces and volcanic activity may have been the trigger. The uplift of mountains and changes in the configurations ofnd and sea had profound effects on wind systems, ocean currents, levels of precipitation and atmospheric cirction. Fluctuations in globally averaged rates of chemical weathering and volcanic activity have altered theposition of the atmosphere in a variety of ways: for example, through reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases and increasing the abundance of reflective particles in the atmosphere such as dust and sulphur aerosols. Whatever the precisebination of factors, the Cenozoic cooling trend brought the earth''s climate close to a threshold of change where it would be more susceptible to external forcing by variables that were previously less important (notably subtle variations in the seasonal distribution of sunlight across the earth caused by cycles in earth''s orbit). With the global climate systems bing less stable, the stage was set for the onset of colder, as well as much more variable, climate conditions. Changes in the Earth''s orbit drives sudden, osciting climate change This global cooling culminated in a series of step-like, sudden, climatic changes over thest two and a half million years as the climate began to ''seesaw'' from cool to warm and the massive pr ice caps expanded and contracted. This period includes the Quaternary Period and thetter is therefore characterised by very variable climatic conditions. At thetitude of northwestern Europe the warmer periods are known as temperate stages (or intercials periods between ciations) and the colder periods as cold stages (or cials). The overriding controls on such vast variation in climate that has urred during the Quaternary are three predominant characteristics of the earth''s astronomical position rtive to the sun, which vary cyclically over time on different wavelengths (e.g. see the readable ount in Imbrie, J. and Imbrie, K.P. 1979. Ice Ages: solving the mystery. Macmin, London). This theory, first adequately proposed by a Serbian mathematician, Milutin Mnkovitch, who spent over 30 years perfecting it publishing detailed ounts in the 1930s and 40s, was not confirmed (or widely epted) until the 1970s. It is these astronomical variables that have been forcing our climate during the Quaternary and the sudden reversals in trend and the step like pattern is the product of vast positive and negative feedback systems operating in the climate system. The effect of these climatic changes is spatially dissimr (i.e. in different parts of the world the climate has reacted differently perhaps bing wetter or drier rather than colder and warmer) and also their periodicity has altered over time during the Quaternary; but in northwestern Europe thest 750,000 years have been characterised by long periods (c.100,000 years) of cold climates interspersed with shorter periods (c.10-15,000 years) of warmer conditions. Viewed against current fears of global warming (currently believed to have been less than 1C in thest 100 years) then it gives us a chilling insight into the actual geological evidence which suggests that over 90% of thest 750,000 years has been very cold at ourtitude (with mean annual air temperatures dropping well below zero). It is thought by some that any trend in global warming will be easily outweighed by much more important overlying trends and climatic feedback systems. However, the problem is one of timescale and it is difficult to predict how human-caused changes will interact over the short and long-term with the sorts of natural variations that have been discovered through study of the Quaternary record. Of course we cannot tell exactly how our climate will respond to gross human disturbance of atmospheric chemistry: climate modelling gives us a predicted range of global warming for the near term; but from study of past climates we know that the climate system can shift drastically when certain thresholds are crossed and ''run-away'' feedback processes take hold, taking the climate quickly to a warmer or colder state. Whether human effects could eventually trigger a threshold-style change leading to a very different global climate is an important question and one that study of the Quaternary climate record can help to address. the impact of human activities on global systems is currently the subject of increased scrutiny. A proposal to establish a new series/epoch, following the Holocene, to be termed the ''Anthropocene'' was suggested by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stroermer in 2000. The term is being increasingly used to identify the current interval of anthropogenic global environmental change when human activity became so intense that it influenced almost all the environments on Earth. It is being considered as a formal stratigraphical division of equivalent status to Pleistocene or Holocene. There is on-going discussion concerning when this period might have begun, the original suggestion being the start of the Industrial Revolution in Europe or possibly earlier. However, it is now proposed to adopt ater date in the mid-twentieth century when the so-called ''great eleration'' in human activity began. Each of these boundaries are proposed to indicate when changes sufficient to leave a global stratigraphic signature distinct from that of the Holocene or of previous Pleistocene intercial events, urred. A formal boundary definition depends on its practicality, particrly to earth scientists working on younger parts of Holocene sessions. Climate change during the Quaternary has produced a geological record dominated by sediments deposited under cial, pericial and temperate environmental conditions and this is, by its very nature, a fragmentary one. So we do not find neatly ordered deposits of alternating cial (cold stage) and intercial (temperate stage) sediments but a partial record that is very hard to piece together and which is the subject of much debate. The repeated and extensive cold stages have included some intense ciations and these have wiped much of the preceding record leaving us with a heavily ciatedndscape with many features of indeterminate age. Climate change during the Quaternary has produced a geological record dominated by sediments deposited under cial, pericial and temperate environmental conditions and this is, by its very nature, a fragmentary one. So we do not find neatly ordered deposits of alternating cial (cold stage) and intercial (temperate stage) sediments but a partial record that is very hard to piece together and which is the subject of much debate. The repeated and extensive cold stages have included some intense ciations and these have wiped much of the preceding record leaving us with a heavily ciatedndscape with many features of indeterminate age. The Pleistocene Epoch is best known as a time during which extensive ice sheets and other ciers formed repeatedly on thendmasses and has been informally referred to as the "Great Ice Age." The timing of the onset of this cold interval, and thus the formal beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch, was a matter of substantial debate among geologists during thete 20th and early 21st centuries. By 1985, a number geological societies agreed to set the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch about 1,800,000 years ago, a figure coincident with the onset of ciation in Europe and North America. Modern research, however, has shown thatrge ciers had formed in other parts of the world earlier than 1,800,000 years ago. Chapter 103: Pleistocene Chapter 103: Pleistocene Definition of the base of the Pleistocene has had a long and controversial history. Because the epoch is best recognized for ciation and climatic change, many have suggested that its lower boundary should be based on climatic criteriafor example, the oldest cial deposits or the first urrence of a fossil of a cold-climate life-form in the sediment record. Other criteria that have been used to define the PliocenePleistocene include the appearance of humans, the appearance of certain vertebrate fossils in Europe, and the appearance or extinction of certain microfossils in deep-sea sediments. These criteria continue to be considered locally, and some workers advocate a climatic boundary at about 2.4 million years. Pre-Pleistocene intervals of time are defined on the basis of chronostratigraphic and geochronologic principles rted to a marine sequence of strata. Following studies by a series of international working groups, corrtion programs, and stratigraphicmissions, agreement was reached in 1985 to ce the lower boundary of the Pleistocene series at the base of marine ystones that conformably overlie a specific marker bed in the Vrica section in Cbria. The boundary urs near the level of several important marine biostratigraphic events and, more significantly, is just above the position of the maic reversal that marks the top of the Olduvai Normal Prity Subzone, thus allowing worldwide corrtion. Since evidence of Cenozoic ciation was discovered in rocksid down earlier than those of the Vrica section, some geologists proposed that the base of the Pleistocene be moved to an earlier time. To many geologists, the most reasonable time coincided with the type section for the Gsian Stage, the rockyerid down during the Gsian Age, found at Monte San Nic near G, Sicily. The base marker for the Gsianthat is, the global stratotype section and point (GSSP)was ced in rock dated to 2,588,000 years ago (a notable point because it is within 20,000 years of the Gauss-Matuyama geomaic reversal). In addition, the date of the rock is closely corrted with the timing of a substantial change in the size of granules found in Chinese loess deposits. (Changes in loess grain size suggest regional climate changes.) After years of discussion, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) designated the Gsian as the lowermost stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The Pleistocene is subdivided into four ages and their corresponding rock units: the Gsian (2.6 million to 1.8 million years ago), the Cbrian (1.8 million to 780,000 years ago), the Ionian (780,000 to 126,000 years ago), and the Tarantian (126,000 to 11,700 years ago). Of these, only the Gsian and Cbrian are formal intervals, whereas others await ratification by the ICS. The Cbrian, which was previously known as the early Pleistocene, extends to the BrunhesMatuyama paleomaic boundary at 780,000 years ago. The Ionian, also known as the middle Pleistocene, extends to the end of the next to thest ciation at about 130,000 years ago. The Tarantian, also known as thete Pleistocene, includes thest intercialcial cycle ending at the Holocene boundary about 11,700 years ago. The chronology of the Pleistocene originally developed through observation and study of the cial session, which in both Europe and the United States was found to contain either soils that developed under warm climatic conditions or marine deposits enclosed between cial deposits. From these studies, as well as studies of river terraces in the Alps, a chronology was developed that suggested the Pleistocene consisted of four or five major cial stages which were separated by intercial stages with climates generally simr to those of today. Beginning with studies in the 1950s, a much better chronology and record of Pleistocene climatic events have evolved through analyses of deep-sea sediments, particrly from the oxygen isotope record of the shells of microorganisms that lived in the oceans. The isotopic record is based on the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, oxygen-16 (16O) and oxygen-18 (18O), which is determined on calcium carbonate from shells of microfossils that umted year by year on the seafloor. The ratio depends on two factors, the temperature and the isotopicposition of the seawater from which the organism secreted its shell. Shells secreted from colder water contain more oxygen-18 rtive to oxygen-16 than do shells secreted from warmer water. The isotopicposition of the oceans has proved to be rted to the storage of water inrge ice sheets onnd. Because molecules of oxygen-18 evaporate less readily and condense more readily, an air mass with oceanic water vapour bes depleted in the heavier isotope (oxygen-18) as the air mass is cooled and loses water by precipitation. When moisture condenses and falls as snow, its isotopicposition is also dependent on the temperature of the air. Snow falling on arge ice sheet bes isotopically lighter (i.e., has less oxygen-18) as one goes higher on the cier surface where it is both colder and farther from the moisture source. As a result,rge ice sheets store water that is rtively light (has more oxygen-16), and so during a major ciation the ocean waters be rtively heavier (contain more oxygen-18) than during intercial times when there is less global ice. ordingly, the shells of marine organisms that formed during a ciation contain more oxygen-18 than those that formed during an interciation. Although the exact rtionship is not known, about 70 percent of the isotopic change in shell carbonate is the result of changes in the isotopicposition of seawater. Because thetter is directly rted to the volume of ice onnd, the marine oxygen isotope record is primarily a record of past ciations on the continents. Long core samples taken in portions of the ocean where sedimentation rates were high and generally continuous and where water temperature changes were rtively small have revealed a long record of oxygen isotope changes that indicate repeated ciations and interciations going back to the Pliocene. The record is rtively consistent from one core sample to the next and can be corrted throughout the oceans. Warmer periods (intercials) are assigned odd numbers with the current warm interval, the Holocene, being 1, while the colder cial periods are assigned even numbers. Subdivisions within isotopic stages are delineated by letters. The ages of the stage boundaries cannot be measured directly, but they can be estimated from avable radiometric ages of the cores and from position with respect to both paleomaic boundaries and biostratigraphic markers, and also by using sedimentation rates rtive to these data. The record for thest 730,000 years indicates that eight major cial and intercial events or climatic cycles of about 100,000 years'' duration urred during this interval. An isotopic record from the North Antic suggests the first major ciation in that region urred about 2,400,000 years ago. It also suggests that the first ciation likely to have covered extensive areas of North America and Eurasia urred about 850,000 years ago during oxygen isotope stage 22. Thergest ciations appear to have taken ce during stages 2, 6, 12, and 16; the intercials with the least global ice, and thus possibly the warmest, appear to be stages 1, 5, 9, and 11. Thest interciation urred during all of stage 5 or just substage 5e, depending on location; thest ciation took ce during stages 4, 3, and 2; and the current interciation falls during stage 1. The marine isotopic record is a continuous record, unlike most terrestrial records, which contain gaps because of erosion orck of sedimentation and soil formation or abination of these factors. Because of its continuity and its excellent record of climatic events onnd (ciations), the marine oxygen isotope record is the standard to which the terrestrial and other stratigraphic records are corrted. Corrtions to it are based on avable chronometric ages, on paleomaic data where avable, and on attempts to match the terrestrial record and its interpretation with specific characteristics of the isotopic curve. Unfortunately, most terrestrial records contain few radiometric ages and are iplete, and specific corrtions, except for the most recent part of the record, are difficult and uncertain. A few terrestrial records, however, are exceptional and can be corrted with confidence. Central China is covered by deposits of windblown dust and silt, called loess. Locally the loess is more than 100 metres thick, mantling hillsides and forming loess teaus and tablnds. The loess umted primarily during times that were colder and drier than present, and most of it was derived from desert areas to the west. The loess session contains many colourful buried soils or paleosols that formed during periods which were both warmer and wetter than today. Thus, on stable tablnds with minimal erosion, the session provides an exceptional climatic and chronological record that extends back 2.4 million years to thete Pliocene. In total, up to 44 climatic cycles have been delineated, with more frequent cycles urring during the early Pleistocene. Although not directly rted to ciation, corrtion with the marine oxygen isotope record is excellent, and many of the specific loess and soil units have simr climatic inferences, as do their corrtive oxygen-18 stages. Chapter 104: Pleistocene Part 2 Chapter 104: Pleistocene Part 2 Another loess-paleosol session urs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria, where loess nkets terraces of the major rivers that drained eastward and southward from the principal ciated areas in the Alps and northern Europe. As in China, buried soils aremon in the loess session and, along with gastropod shells, provide paleoclimatic data and evidence for climatic change. The climatic cycles varied from cold and dry conditions when loess umted to warm and wet conditions with hardwood forests and well-developed soils. In thest 730,000 years, eight climatic cycles have been delineated; these corrte with the eight oxygen-18 cycles that urred in the marine record during the same time interval. During the entire Pleistocene, about 17 cial episodes alternated with 17 intercials. cial till, which was directly deposited by ciers, covers extensive areas of northern Eurasia and northern North America and urs as well in many mountain regions and other areas that currently are not covered by cial ice. Soils of warm climate origin buried between tills were recognized long ago and provided the basis for the development of the idea of multiple ciation during the Pleistocene. However, because direct dating of the deposits generally is not possible and the cial sequence is notplete as a result of erosion or nondeposition or abination of the two, the development of long chronological records and corrtion to the oxygen-18 record are difficult. Corrtions generally are possible for thest two climatic cycles. They also are feasible in areas where the cial session contains interbedded volcanic rocks from which radiometric ages can be obtained. In the mid-continental region of the United States, early work recognized tills that were interpreted to represent four major ciations and three major buried soils that were viewed as representing interciations. Subsequent work showed that the ciated record was moreplex and that parts of the older record were miscorrted. Consequently, the older portion of the record is informally referred to as the pre-Illinoian, and the older cial and intercial terms are no longer used except locally. Volcanic ash urs within the session in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska and is useful for corrtion and dating. In one core, till urs below ash that has been dated at about 2.2 million years old, suggestingte Pliocene ciation. Other tills of the pre-Illinoian sequence probably are corrtive with oxygen-18 stages 22, 16, and 12, and possibly others. The Illinoian corrtes with oxygen-18 stage 6 and possibly stage 8, and the Sangamonian corrtes with stage 5. Thest cial interval, the Wisconsinan, is subdivided into three parts, an early stade (substage) of ciation, a middle interstadial, or time of restricted ciation, and ate stade of ciation. These intervals generally corrte with oxygen-18 stages 4, 3, and 2, respectively. Deposits of the early and middle Wisconsinan are poorly known in the mid-continental region of the United States; the area probably was not ciated. Tills of the early Wisconsinan and even some that are corrtive with oxygen-18 substages 5d or 5b, however, aremon in the Canadian Arctic and on Baffin Ind, where the ice sheet developed much earlier. It was not until thete Wisconsinan, about 18,000 years ago, that the southern ice sheet margin reached its maximum extent in the United States and eastern and western Canada. The ice sheet margin began to retreat and downwaste (i.e., thin out) soon after reaching its maximum position, and the United States was deciated by about 10,000 years ago. Hudson Bay, near the centre of the ice sheet, was open to the ocean by 8,000 years ago, and, except for the Barnes and Penny ice caps on Baffin Ind, the ice sheet had dissipated from the und areas of central Canada by 6,000 years ago, well into the Holocene and oxygen-18 stage 1. A somewhat simr chronology has been developed for the ciated areas of Eurasia and the British Isles based on a variety of criteria. In addition to tills and buried soils, marine deposits, permafrost features, and fossil pollen and beetles have been used to subdivide the session on a climatic basis. As elsewhere, the earlier portion of the record is not well established, and corrtions among different geographic areas, as well as to the marine oxygen-18 record, are uncertain. The first cold period, known as the Pretiglian and based on pollen data from the Nethends, began about 2.3 million years ago, soon after extensive ice-rafted material first appears in North Antic deep-sea cores. The Pretiglian was followed by a session of warm and cold intervals, which also are based on pollen and on other flora and fauna evidence and which have been given different names in different areas. Although several old gravels with cial erratics are known, the oldest major cial episodes with extensive till deposits are the Elsterian in northern Germany and the Anglian in Ennd. These ciations probably are corrtive with oxygen-18 stage 12, and local evidence suggests the possibility of earlier cial events. Along coastal areas, these tills are ovein by the marine Holstein deposits, which also may represent more than one high sea-level stand. The next major cial sequence is the Saalian of Germany, which is subdivided into the Drenthe and the Warthe; these probably corrte with oxygen-18 stages 8 and 6, respectively. Deposits and soils of thest interciation, the Eemian and Ipswichian, are corrtive with oxygen-18 stage 5e, and those of thest ciation, the Weichselian and Devensian, corrte with oxygen-18 stages 5da, 4, 3, and 2. As in central North America, tills and other deposits are well known only from thest part of this interval. The decial history generally is simr, except for a widespread but short interval of renewed cial activity and cold climatic conditions that is known as the Younger Dryas in Scandinavia and Loch Lomond in the British Isles. This event urred about 11,000 years ago, some 2,000 years before the dissipation of the ice sheet. A rtively short but importantte Pleistocene and Holocene climatic record is derived from ice cores that have been taken from the ice sheets of Antarctica, Greend, and Arctic Canada. The ice record in several cores extends back to thest interciation (oxygen-18 stage 5) and, in one case, to the next-to-thest ciation (stage 6). Although dating of the lower portions of the ice cores is difficult, annualyers of snow and ice can be counted in the upper parts and an urate time scale reconstructed. Because the air temperature at the time when moisture condenses to fall as snow controls the oxygen and hydrogen isotopicposition of the snow, investigators are able to reconstruct temperature variations through isotopic studies of the ice cores. Data from the Vostok core taken from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet indicate that the climatic record of the Southern Hemisphere is simr to that interpreted from Northern Hemisphere records with respect to times of ciation and interciation. It also is possible to measure the amount of microparticles (very fine dust) in the ice, and studies of this kind show that there are many more particles in the portions of the core that umted during periods of extensive ciation, apparently reflecting greater atmospheric cirction and dust in the atmosphere at those times. Trapped air preserved in small bubbles in the ice gives an indication of theposition of the atmosphere at the time the ice (snow) umted. An important result from this work indicates that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during thest cial (stages 2, 3, and 4) was substantially less than during the Holocene (stage 1) and thest interciation (stage 5e). This observation has significant implications with respect to climate and climatic change during cial and intercial transitions. Environments during the Pleistocene were dynamic and underwent dramatic change in response to cycles of climatic change and the development ofrge ice sheets. Essentially all regions of the Earth were influenced by these climatic events, but the magnitude and direction of environmental change varied from ce to ce. The best-known are those that urred from the time of thest interciation, about 125,000 years ago, to the present. The growth ofrge ice sheets, ice caps, and long valley ciers was among the most significant events of the Pleistocene. During times of extensive ciation, more than 45 million square kilometres (or about 30 percent) of the Earth''snd area were covered by ciers, and portions of the northern oceans were either frozen over or had extensive ice shelves. In addition to the Antarctic and Greend ice sheets, most of the cial ice was located in the Northern Hemisphere, whererge ice sheets extended to midtitude regions. Thergest was the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America, which at times stretched from the Canadian Rocky Mountains on the west to Nova Scotia and Newfounnd on the east and from southern Illinois on the south to the Canadian Arctic on the north. The other major ice sheet in North America was the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which formed in the mountainous region from western ska to northern Washington. ciers and ice caps were more widespread in other mountainous areas of the western United States, Mexico, Central America, and ska, as well as on the inds of Arctic Canada where an ice sheet has been postted. Chapter 105: Holocene Chapter 105: Holocene Although smaller in size, the Scandinavian Ice Sheet was simr to the Laurentide in character. At times, it covered most of Great Britain, where it incorporated several small British ice caps, and extended south across central Germany and Pnd and then northeast across the northern Russian in to the Arctic Ocean. To the east in northern Siberia and on the Arctic Shelf of Eurasia, a number of small ice caps and domes developed in hignd areas, and some of them may have coalesced to form ice sheets on the shallow shelf areas of the Arctic Ocean. ciers and small ice caps formed in the Alps and in the other high mountains of Europe and Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Patagonia Ice Cap developed in the southern Andes, and ice caps andrger valley ciers formed in the central and northern Andes. ciers also developed in New Zend and on the higher mountains of Africa and Tasmania, including some located on the equator. The results of ciation varied greatly, depending on regional and local conditions. cial processes were concentrated near the base of the cier and in the marginal zone. Material eroded at the base was transported toward the margin, where it was deposited both at the cier bed and in the marginal area. These processes resulted in the stripping ofrge quantities of material from the central zones of the ice sheet and the deposition of this material in the marginal zone and beyond the ice sheet. The Laurentide and Scandinavian ice sheets scoured and eroded bedrock terrain in their central areas, leaving behind manykes and rtively thin cial drift. On the other hand, the Central Lond and the northern Great ins of the United States and the western ins of Canada, as well as northern Germany and Pnd, southern Sweden, and portions of eastern and northern Russia, contain rtively thick deposits of till and other cial sediment. Thendscape of such areas is t to gently rolling. Today, these areas are among the great agricultural regions of the world, which is inrge part attributable to ciation. The effects in mountainous terrain were even more dramatic. cial processes were concentrated in the upper regions where snow umted and in the valleys through which the ciers moved to lower elevations. These valley ciers carved towering peaks (such as the Matterhorn in the Alps),rge rock basins, and sweeping U-shaped valleys and left some of the most spectacr scenery on the Earth, with many high-levelkes and waterfalls. The lower portions of the valleysmonly contain ridges of cial drift. Ridges of this sort that form along valley slopes are calledteral moraines, while those that loop across a valley at the lower end of a cier are termed end moraines. The earliest observations and interpretations of more extensive Pleistocene ciation were made on such deposits andndforms in the Alps during the early part of the 19th century. The environment around the ice sheets was markedly different from that of today in these formerly ciated areas. Temperatures were much lower, and a zone of permafrost (perennially frozen ground) developed around the southern margin of the ice sheets in both North America and Eurasia. This zone was rtively narrow in central North America, on the order of 200 kilometres, but in Europe and Russia it extended many hundreds of kilometres south of the ice margin. Mean annual temperatures near the ice margin were about 6 C or colder and increased away from the ice margin to about 0 C near the southern extent of the permafrost. Compared with present-day conditions, the mean air temperature was on the order of 12 to 20 C colder near the ice margin. These conditions are indicated by ice-wedge casts andrge-scale patterned ground, which are relict forms of ice wedges and tundra polygons that form today only in areas with continuous permafrost. Frost activity through freezing and thawing was intensified, and in areas of more relief talus umtions andrge block fields formed along escarpments and valley sides. Mass-wasting processes also were intensified and much material was eroded from slopes in pericial areas. Deposits andndforms from such activity are known from the British Isles, northern Europe, and what was formerly the Soviet Union. Largekes, usually many times bigger than their modern counterparts, weremon during the Pleistocene. They fluctuated in level in response to the major climatic cycles or the opening and closing of outlets due to ciation and vertical movements ofnd areas. Somekes were closely tied to ciation. In North America a series ofrge procialkes formed around the margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during backwasting (recession) of the ice margin into Hudson Bay. Thekes were confined in part by the ice margin and in part by highernd to the south, east, and west. One of thergest was Lake Agassiz, which covered sizable areas of Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan and extended into North Dakota and Minnesota. The Great Lakes also formed as a result of ciation as lobes of ice moved down preexisting londs and scoured out the weak rocks in the basins. Otherkes formed in the Chamin and Hudson valleys in eastern North America during deciation. Simr cialkes developed around the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and in other ciated regions. Of equal interest was the development ofrgekes in areas that today have arid to semiarid climatic regimes and generallyckkes or have modernkes that are much reduced in size and are saline in character. Suchkes are referred to as pluvialkes, and the climate under which they existed is termed a pluvial climate. Most of thesekes existed in closed basins thatcked outlets, and thus their levels were rted to rtive amounts of precipitation and evaporation. A record of fluctuatingke levels is provided by ancient shorelines and beach deposits that are present along the slopes of the enclosing mountains as well as by the sediment and soil record preserved in the subsurface deposits of theke basins. The history ofke fluctuations varies somewhat locally within a region but may be much different from one region of the world to another, depending on the local and regional climate. In the Great Basin of Utah, Nevada, California, and Oregon and in other areas of the western and southwestern United States and Mexico, about 100 basins containedkes during the Pleistocene. Thergest of these was Lake Bonneville, the predecessor of the modern Great Salt Lake in Utah. At its highest stage Lake Bonneville covered an area of about 52,000 square kilometres, and its maximum depth was approximately 370 metres. These conditions existed about 15,000 years ago during the interval of thest major Pleistocene ciation. Lake Bonneville shrank rapidly in size and, by 12,000 years ago, had permanently shrunk to a point where it had be smaller than the Great Salt Lake. A long record of fluctuatingke levels is evident from a 930-metre core taken in the Searles Lake basin in California. Parts of the sediment record from the core sample indicate a deepke withcustrine silts and ys and freshwater fossils. Other parts contain unusual evaporite minerals which indicate that theke was shallow and highly saline or even evidence of sediment exposure indicative of theplete desation of theke. The inferred climatic record from the core is simr to the marine oxygen isotope record but differs in that it shows more variation in the amplitude of the climatic cycles. Pluvialkes in these areas were most extensive during times of widespread ciation in the Northern Hemisphere and were low or dry during times of reduced cial cover. Paleoclimatic modeling suggests that the Laurentide Ice Sheet forced the pr jet stream south of its present-day position during ciation. This brought more moisture from the Pacific into the desert areas of the southwestern United States, causing greater precipitation as well as producing more cloud cover, which, together with lower temperatures, resulted in less evaporation. Pluvialkes also weremon in other dry regions of the world, particrly in the subtropical zones, including eastern and northern Africa and portions of Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. Examples of these pluvial bodies are the Dead Sea in Jordan and Israel and Lake Chad in the southern Sahara. Thetter, now a shallow salineke, covered some 300,000 square kilometres and was about six times the size of Lake Bonneville. A number ofkes in the rift valleys of East Africa wererger and deeper than they are today. Among the better-known and better-understood are Lakes Rudolf, Victoria, Nakuru, Naivasha, Magadi, and Rukwa. Most of thesekes in the tropical and subtropical regions were not in phase with those in the Great Basin of North America. They were rtively high for some 20,000 or more years immediately before thest ciation and again just after thest ciation in the early Holocene. A long climatic record inferred from sediments in Lake George in southeastern Australia has characteristics simr to those of the marine oxygen isotope record. Alternating humid and arid climatic cycles were more rhythmic and of greater magnitude in the middle andte Pleistocene than earlier, and a major change in basin hydrology urred approximately 2.5 million years ago. Chapter 106: Lithospheric plate movement Chapter 106: Lithospheric te movement Rivers and the valleys that they upy were affected strongly by the changing climates of the Pleistocene. River channels and their sediment record are controlled inrge part by the amount and type of load that is supplied by their drainage basins and the discharge or quantity of water avable for flow. Both are closely rted to climate, which not only includes precipitation, evaporation, and seasonality but also controls the extent of the vegetative cover of thend and the type and intensity of weathering processes. In addition, because of sea-level changes rted to ciation, the base level of rivers in coastal regions also fluctuated by significant amounts. As a result, river environments were dynamic and variable. This was true for most rivers, but particrly so for those rivers that drainedrge quantities of meltwater and sediment from the cier margins. During ciation, rivers of thetter kind developed braided-channel patterns in response to the input ofrge quantities of sediment derived from the melting ciers and subcial waters and to therge fluctuations in the quantity of water flowing at any one time, which varied because of seasonal and diurnal controls on the generation of meltwater. During times of ciation many of these rivers deposited thick sequences of sand and gravel in their valleys; examples include those of the Hudson, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers in the United States and of the Thames, Elbe, Rhine, and Seine rivers in Europe. Simr valleys have been buried by younger cial deposits and are no longer evident at the surface. They exist today as bedrock valleys with thick fills of fluvial sand and gravel orcustrine silt in localities wherekes existed in the valleys as a result of cial damming. The sand and gravel fill in the surface valleys provide aggregate material for construction, and much groundwater is derived from the fills of both surface and buried valleys. Some cial valleys, as well asrge und areas, were sites of major catastrophic floods that resulted from the sudden drainage of procial and subcialkes. Such floods are known as jkulups, an dic term for subcialke outbursts. Thergest and best-known floods of this type urred in the Channeled Scand of the Columbia teau region in eastern Washington state. Ice tongues flowing south from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet periodically dammed the rk Fork River, forming cial Lake Misso. At times, Lake Misso stretched more than 200 kilometres upvalley and was about 600 metres deep near the ice dam. Sudden failure of the ice dam released over 2,000 cubic kilometres of water, which flooded westward and southward across the Columbia teau and down the Columbia River valley. The floods cut through a loess cover into basalt and left a system ofrge dry channels with waterfalls, potholes, and longitudinal grooves in the basalt. Associated with the dry channels are huge, coarse gravel bars and giant current ripples. Otherrge catastrophic floods resulted from the sudden drainage of cial Lake Agassiz and from the ancestral Great Lakes, as well as from some noncialkes such as Lake Bonneville in the Great Basin (see above). During the AnglianElsterian ciation in Europe arge ice-dammedke formed in the North Sea, andrge overflows from it initiated cutting of the Dover Straits. During the transition from cial to intercial conditions, river channel patterns evolved from braided to meandering as a result of decreased load and possibly discharge. Near ciated areas, rivers eroded into cial outwash and left a system of stream terraces along the sides of most valleys. These modern intercial rivers are much smaller than their cial counterparts and are underfit (i.e., appear too small) with respect to therge valleys in which they flow. In contrast, near coastal areas rivers actively built up their channels during the transition to intercial conditions in response to rising sea level. Eolian deposits are important in the Pleistocene record and indicate widespread wind action at certain times and in certain areas of the world. Mention has already been made of the importance of loesspaleosol records in working out regional chronologies and paleoclimatic history. Loess nketsrge portions of the central and northwestern United States, ska, the east European in of Russia, and southern Europe, where it is closely rted to episodes of ciation or to the cold pericial climate beyond the ice sheet margins or to both. The loess was derived primarily from the broad floodins of the braided rivers draining meltwater and sediment away from the ciers as well as from newly exposed cial drift. Locally, sand dunes and sheets of sand ur near the valley sources and in some cases coverrge und areas, as in central and northern Europe. The loess in China, on the other hand, is considered to have been deted mostly from such desert areas as the Gobi. The deserts of the subtropical regions also experienced eolian activity during the Pleistocene. In Australia, the time of peak aridity and maximum dune activity (about 20,000 to 12,000 years ago) corrtes with the time of peak ciation in the Northern Hemisphere. This also was the case in the Sahara and other deserts in Africa, India, and the Middle East. One estimate is that the tropical arid zones were five timesrger during times of peak ciation. Sea level was lower at these times, the water was colder, and tropical cyclones were less extensive, resulting in decreased rainfall. These episodes of intensified eolian activity are recorded in other Pleistocene records. Ocean cores taken downwind of these regions contain windblown sediment in the portions of the core that umted during times of maximum eolian activity. In addition, microparticles ur in ice cores taken from the Greend and Antarctic ice sheets and are concentrated at times of maximum ciation and aridity in the subtropical deserts. At other times, the climate was less arid and the desert areas contracted, and vegetation developed to stabilize the dunes under more humid (pluvial) conditions. The lithospheric tes continued to shift during the Pleistocene, but the continents essentially were in their modern position at the start of the epoch. Of more importance to subsequent Quaternary events were thete Tertiary tectonic movements that affected the evolution of climate toward that of the Quaternary. Among these were the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, which affected oceanic cirction, and the uplift of the Tibetan teau and broad regional areas of the western United States, which affected atmospheric cirction, particrly the position and configuration of the pr jet stream. Vertical movements of the Earth''s crust also were caused by the formation and melting ofrge ice sheets. The area beneath an ice sheet subsides during ciation because the crust is not able to sustain the weight of the cier. These isostatic movements take ce through the flow of material in the Earth''s mantle, and the amount of subsidence amounts to about one-third the thickness of the ice sheetfor example, about one kilometre in the central area of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in Canada. Melting of the ice sheet removes the load and causes the ground to rise, or rebound. Such uplift is rapid at first but decreases with time. More than 300 metres of uplift has urred in the eastern Hudson Bay area since that area was deciated. Substantial uplifting also took ce prior to theplete melting of the ice sheets, and upward crustal movement continues today at a maximum rate of about 1.3 centimetres per year. A simr record of cio-isostatic adjustments is encountered in Fennoscandia, where the greatest depression and subsequent uplift rted to the Scandinavian Ice Sheet is located in the Gulf of Bothnia. The nts and animals of the Pleistocene are, in many respects, simr to those living today, but important differences exist. Moreover, the spatial distribution of various Pleistocene fauna and flora types differed markedly from what it is at present. Changes in climate and environment causedrge-scale migrations of both nts and animals, evolutionary adaptations, and in some cases extinction. Study of the biota provides not only data on the past paleoenvironments but also insights into the response of nts and animals to well-documented environmental change. Of particr importance is the evolution of the genus Homo during the Pleistocene and the extinction ofrge mammals at the end of the epoch. ording to Xin Evolutionary changes during the Pleistocene generally were minor because of the short interval of time involved. They were greatest among the mammals. In fact, the epoch has been subdivided into mammalian ages on the basis of the appearance of certain immigrant or endemic forms. Mammalian evolution included the development ofrge forms, many of which became adapted to Arctic conditions. Among these were the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, musk ox, moose, reindeer, and others that inhabited the cold pericial areas. Large mammals that inhabited the more temperate zones included the elephant, mastodon, bison, hippopotamus, wild hog, deer, giant beaver, horse, and ground sloth. The evolution of these as well as of much smaller forms was affected in part by three factors: (1) a generally cooler, more arid climate subject to periodic fluctuations, (2) new migration routes resultingrgely from the emergence of intercontinental connections during times of lower sea level, and (3) a changing geography due to the uplift of teaus and mountain building. Chapter 107: The last Chapter 107: Thest The most significant biological development was the appearance and evolution of the genus Homo. The oldest species, H. habilis, probably evolved from an australopithecine ancestor in thete Pliocene. The species was present in Africa by 2 million years ago and is known from sites as young as 1.5 million years old. Another extinct species, H. erectus, evolved in Africa, possibly from H. habilis, and is known from sites about 1.6 million years old. H. erectus spread to other parts of the Old World during the early Pleistocene and is known from northern China and Java by roughly 1 million years ago. Representatives of this group are known from many sites, and these beings constituted the dominant human species for more than a million years. The species H. sapiens, to which all modern humans belong, evolved in theter part of the middle Pleistocene, and early forms of the species are known from about 400,000 years ago. The Neanderthals, a group of closely rted hominins that make up the species H. neanderthalensis, appeared approximately 100,000 years ago during thest interciation and are known from many sites in Europe and western Asia. Modern humans arrived in Europe some 45,00043,000 years ago, and both species ovepped on the continent for at least 10,000 years. Neanderthals disappeared about 35,000 to 30,000 years ago; by then poptions with fully modern skeletons had evolved and were widespread throughout the Old World. Exactly when modern H. sapiens entered the New World remains controversial. It appears that fully evolved humans had migrated as far as ska from Siberia via the Beringnd bridge by 30,000 years ago, andrge numbers presumably moved south down the Canadian ins corridor between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets when it opened near the end of thest ciation some 12,000 years ago. Conflicting and not fully epted evidence at a few sites in the United States and in southern South America, however, suggests upation of the continental interior prior to 30,000 years ago. If such findings are valid, the group of earlier immigrants may have arrived by small ocean-going craft from the Pacific Inds. The end of the Pleistocene was marked by the extinction of many genera ofrge mammals, including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, and giant beavers. The extinction event is most distinct in North America, where 32 genera ofrge mammals vanished during an interval of about 2,000 years, centred on 11,000 BP. On other continents, fewer genera disappeared, and the extinctions were spread over a somewhat longer time span. Nheless, they still appear to be moremon near the end of the Pleistocene than at any other time during the epoch. Except on inds, small mammals, along with reptiles and amphibians, generally were not affected by the extinction process. The cause of the extinctions has been vigorously debated, with two main hypotheses being advanced: (1) the extinctions were the result of overpredation by human hunters; and (2) they were the result of abrupt climatic and vegetation changes during thest cialintercial transition. The first theory, the so-called overkill hypothesis, receives support from the coincidence in the timing of the mass extinction and the appearance ofrge numbers of human hunters, as evidenced by the Clovisplex, an ancient culture centred in North America. Clovis archaeological sites (concentrated in Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas), with their distinctive projectile points, date between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. Proponents of the hypothesis point out that these new immigrants from Eurasia were skilled hunters, that the North American fauna would not have been wary of this new group of predators, and that, once the number ofrge herbivores declined,rge carnivores also would have been affected as their prey became extinct. In addition to direct ughter, human disruption of the environment most likely contributed to the extinctions, particrly on other continents. Abrupt climatic change also urred at the time of the megafaunal extinctions, and so timing alone does not clearly differentiate one hypothesis from the other. The climatic-change hypothesis takes a number of forms but essentially focuses on the reorganization of vegetation, on the avability of food (including nutrient value), and on the general environmental disruption and stress that resulted as climates became more seasonal. It appears likely that the causes of extinction varied in different geographic areas under different conditions and that both climatic change and human activities yed roles but of varying importance in different situations. Pleistocene climates and the cause of the climatic cycles that resulted in the development ofrge-scale continental ice sheets have been a topic of study and debate for more than 100 years. Many theories have been proposed to ount for Quaternary ciations, but most are deficient in view of current scientific knowledge about Pleistocene climates. One early theory, the theory of astronomical cycles, seems to exin much of the climatic record and is considered by most to best ount for the fundamental cause or driving force of the climatic cycles. The astronomical theory is based on the geometry of the Earth''s orbit around the Sun, which affects how sr radiation is distributed over the surface of the. Thetter is determined by three orbital parameters that have cyclic frequencies: (1) the entricity of the Earth''s orbit (i.e., its departure from a circr orbit), with a frequency of about 100,000 years, (2) the obliquity, or tilt, of the Earth''s axis away from a vertical drawn to the ne of the''s orbit, with a frequency of 41,000 years, and (3) the precession, or wobble, of the Earth''s axis, with frequencies of 19,000 and 23,000 years. Collectively these parameters determine the amount of radiation received at anytitude during any season; radiation curves have been calcted from them for differenttitudes for the past 600,000 years. These curves vary systematically from the poles to the equator, with those in the highertitudes being dominated by the 41,000-year tilt cycle and those in lowertitudes by the 19,000- and 23,000-year precession cycles. The astronomical theory ces emphasis on summer instion in the hightitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere (about 55 Ntitude). ciations are hypothesized to begin during times of low summer instion when conditions should be most optimal for winter snow tost through the summer season. Dating of the marine terraces in Barbados and New Guinea and, more importantly, determining the chronology of ciations as inferred from the marine oxygen isotope record were milestones in testing the astronomical theory. Early spectral analysis of the oxygen isotope record of cores from the deep ocean showed frequencies of climatic variation at essentially the same frequencies as the orbital cyclesthat is to say, at 100,000 years, 43,000 years, 24,000 years, and 19,000 years. These results (reported in 1976), along with those of more recent analyses, provide firm evidence of a tie between orbital cycles and the Earth''s recent climatic record. The variations in the Earth''s orbit are generally considered the "pacemaker" of the ice ages. Although theary orbital cycles are the likely cause of the Pleistocene climatic cycles, the mechanisms and connections to the global climate are not fully understood, and important questions remain unanswered. The rtively small seasonal andtitudinal radiation variations alone cannot ount for the magnitude of climatic change as experienced by the Earth during the Pleistocene. Clearly, feedback mechanisms must operate to amplify the instion changes caused by the orbital parameters. One of these is albedo, the reflectivity of the Earth''s surface. Increased snow cover in hightitude areas would cause increased cooling. Another feedback mechanism is the decreased carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere during times of ciation, as recorded in the bubbles of long ice cores. Variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide are essentially synchronous with global climatic change and thus in all likelihood yed a significant role through the so-called greenhouse effect. (Thetter phenomenon refers to the trapping of heatthat is to say, infrared radiationin the lower levels of the atmosphere by carbon dioxide, water vapour, and certain other gases.) Another atmospheric effect is the increased amount of dust during cial times, as borne out by ice core and loess records. All of these changes operate in the same direction, causing increased cooling during cial times and warming during intercial times. Other problems remain with respect to the astronomical theory. One is the dominance of the 100,000-year cycle in the Pleistocene climatic record, whereas the entricity cycle is the weakest among the orbital parameters. Another is the cause of the asymmetrical pattern of the climatic record. Ice ages appear to start slowly and take a long time to build up to maximum ciation, only to terminate abruptly and go from maximum cial to full intercial conditions in less than 10,000 years (see figure). A third problem is the synchronous nature of the climatic record between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, which one would not expect from the orbital parameters because they operate in different directions in the two hemispheres. Different approaches have been taken to exin these questions. Most of these suggest that the Northern Hemisphere with its enormous continental ice sheets was the controlling area and that the ice sheets themselves with theirplex dynamics may exin the 100,000-year climatic cycle. Others propose that major reorganizations of the oceanatmosphere system must be called upon to exin the climatic record. These reorganizations are concerned with the transport of salt through the oceans and water vapour through the atmosphere and revolve around the existence and strength of deep oceanic currents in the Antic Ocean. Ongoing interdisciplinary research on Pleistocene paleoclimatology is focused on understanding theplex dynamics and interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, and ice sheets. Such research is expected to provide further insight into the cause of the climatic cycles, which is essential as scientists attempt to predict future climates in view of recent human-induced modifications of the climatic system. Chapter 108: fggg Chapter 108: fggg It was hard. Hard enough that even Grand Elder was having a hard time to digest her decreepletely. After spending some time in a nk zone, Grand Elder was the first one who snapped out of the daze and asked what she meant by that. As long as he knew Sen was never, ever allowed to go out of the mansion without permission. And the same was applicable for the empress, too. Though she was neen and like a queen of the sage world, she was living under strict rules and restrictions. No matter how he thought he was unable to understand how and when did they be lovers and jumped onto the cruise of rtionships. Forget about the rtionship he was wandering when did they even marry each other? While such questions were creating chaos in Grand Elder''s minds, questions like this and questions like ''How can an eleven year marry a neen year?'' was going on in the rest of the family member''s mind. Though Aryan''s physical characteristics were somewhat simr to that of a neen to twenty-year-old kid after going through the transformations, legally he was an eleven-year-old by heart and mind. For his family members, at least. Some words from the empress and this was the result that emerged out of it. Apart from Grand Elder and the rest of the family members, there were some other people who were still in a daze and were showing no sign to snap out of it. The one who was most shocked out of them was Nagarin, followed by Aria, Nex, and atst, Lisa. For Lisa rather than shocked, she was in fear. She was counting her every breath that she was breathing at that time. First of all, she was the one who was monitoring Sen''s trial. Second, she was also the one who attacked Sen recklessly and was about to kill him, but thanks to Sen''s power, he survived. These all won''t be much of a problem if Sen belonged to any normal family or any ordinary lower level rankings. But after listening to his introduction and listening to the empress''s decree, she was sure that they would sue her for sure. Well, to sue her would be one of the lightest punishments for her. Eternal prisoner, or spending a day in the poisonke might be one of the punishments that she might get after offending one of the knights of the Yang empress, who also belonged to the Zenzeng family and who was decreed to be the empress''s husband. Among all the members present there, Lisa was the only one who was getting drenched in sweat and was more afraid of her actions rather than being shocked there. After Lisa, it was the research department head Nex''s turn. Like Lisa, Nex too was afraid of his actions. Because he had also contributed some points into Sen''s trial. First, even after getting told it''s a vition of rule he sent his magic crystal ball there, which was still fine to get him forgiveness. But when the crystal ball exploded itself in the giant''s ying set and Sen fainted from the cry of the giant, he lost all his hope to get forgiveness and from the empress and save his life from the Zenzengs. After Nex, it was Aria, who was most shocked about the sudden turns of events and from the royal decree of the empress. Some days ago she was the one who filled the form for Sen for attending the trial to visit the Sage Pce. She was expecting some chaos all around the ind after finding out they have already found thest knight of the Yang Emperor and he is on his way to the pce to meet the empress. Like Grand Elder and the other Zenzeng had spent their entire life living around Sen, she had spent her entire life spending around Yui, her empress. Never in her life, she had seen the empress and her best friend Yui talking with a male for long hours, except for work-rted talk. She always distances herself from males and talks with them whenever needed, in time of urgency mostly, when her female retainers were busy in other works. And when a girl like that, who was also her best friend, announced that she had a husband she waspletely taken aback by that. Andstly Nagarin, her day was already going bad, and listening to this news made her day the worst day ever in her life. Firstly, she offended some random person and his family,ter to find out it was a family head of the Zenzeng family, whose family members consisted of Knights of the Yang emperor. Secondly, not only offend, but she also tried to unt her position and power before such a person, and as a result, got taught a lesson by the Zenzeng family. This was not enough for her, so when she barged into the empress''s chamber as she used to do, she found out the random boy he fought with and offended some hours ago is the empress''s husband!! Not only the empress''s husband, but he was also a knight, and to add up more frustration he also belonged to the Zenzeng family. In that chamber, some were shocked and taken aback by the news. Some were afraid and getting worried about their lives, and Nagisa was the one and only sole person who was shocked, taken aback, and getting worried about her life. She had contributed to each and every event whose rewards were even worse than death. She was swiping up her sweat and touching her neck again and again. God knows when it may roll on the floor. Till then Grand Elder was pondering over something when she noticed the door of the chamber was open and Nagarin was listening to everything carefully she greeted her back and asked her to close the door from inside. "Ah, Miss number one retainer of the Sage Empress. Here you are, pleasee inside and close the door." Nagarin touched and checked her neck again and entered the chamber after closing the doors. Before the Grand Elder opened his mouth to say something else, Nagarin bowed down like she used to bow to the empress and paid her respect to the Zenzeng''s present there. "I pay my respect to all the knights of the Yang Emperor and the members of the Zenzeng family." This time Grand Elder replied anything to her and instead let Anisa and Granny Kotori reply to her. "Ara Ara~~ I think you have already learned your lesson miss number one retainer. What was your name again?" asked Granny Kotori. Nagarin again checked her neck, whether it was in one piece or not then answered Granny Kotori''s question, "Yes, my name is Nagarin. Nagarin Xenxu." "Oh~~!!" intervened Anisa and asked her if she waspletely healed or not. Nagarin nodded and told her she was somehowpletely healed and was just feeling some weakness in her body. The awkward talk between them would have continued if the empress hadn''t intervened and asked them all to leave the chamber. Some hours ago Yui and Aryan were having some important talk when the Zenzengs, followed by Aria, Nex, and Lisa barged into the room asking why did she call Sen her husband. The empress didn''t give them a straight answer and told "It was destined to be as it is." Now that they had had enough talk, she asked them all to leave her and Sen alone and let them have some time in privacy. Grand Elder and the rest of the people present there still wanted to dig into the matter and ask her some more questions, but seeing she was asking them to leave they didn''t persuade her anymore and left the chamber as soon as possible. Now the chamber had only two people. One was Sen, and the second was the empress. Both of them were quiet and looking at each other to start. Seeing Aryan was mostly clueless on what''s happening and what''s going to happen, the empress broke the ice and started telling him about the facts about which he was still unaware. "Sen, I mean Aryan. Can you recognize me? Who am I?" Aryan was somewhat in confusion even then he mustered courage and answered something over which he had a hunch from the beginning, "You, are the Yui, my guardian from my old world~~" replied Aryan. "Yes, absolutely right. And I am also the empress of two different worlds." Aryan, "" Now, this was something that went above his head. Being an empress in one world was more than enough. "Now what does it mean to be the empress of two different worlds?" pondered Aryan. "Hehehe, I know you have countless questions in your mind, and you want to find their answer as soon as possible, but before I tell them about you, let me do this first." Chapter 109: dhhgi Chapter 109: dhhgi One more thing Sen remembered if time travel was possible, then the knights of the Yang emperor would have travelled back to time and saved the Yang emperor from losing his life. Sen was in a crisis at that time. Not only Sen but the entire universe at that time. If he let the multiple universes collide, then god knows what he will see after entering that universe. In time of his despair, a sound reverberated in his mind. "Sen Zenzeng, open your eyes, and stop crying." It was Sen''s first time to hear that voice. He opened his eyes and raised his head towards the source of that sound. A figure covered in white virtuous, holy light was floating above his head. Sen tried to have a clear look at the figure hovering in the air, but he was unable to do so, due to the white virtuous, holy light obstructing his vision. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?!" Sen asked in a loud voice. It was neither rude nor respectful. His tone was neutral at that time. "Before I tell who I am , I try to guess my identity?" After hearing the voice for the second time, Sen felt like he had heard this voice earlier somewhere. But when and where, he couldn''t remember. "Sigh looks like your memories are sealed till now. Tch, what an idiot you are!!" Sen "" He was totally clueless about the identity of that person. Though he was getting the feeling, he knew that person he was unable to remember when and where. And on top of all these, the person was mocking him as an idiot. One more thing Sen realized no matter how the person mocks him, he wasn''t feeling angry about it. Instead, he was getting a sense of familiarity from him. The more the levitating person called him an idiot, the more he felt like he was someone closer to him and belonged to his own family. "Tch, tch, idiot!! Still can''t remember me." Comined about the voice. Sen got enraged at one point and shouted in anger, "Broom, stop it already." Hearing Sen called him his brother and recovered some of his old memories, the figure descended and embraced Sen with his shoulders tightly. Once again tears started to gush down from his eyes and this time these were tears of joy, not of despair. Slowly new memories began to pop up in his mind when part of the seal on his memory was broken apart by this event. The memories contained something about which was not even known to the current sage empress. Back in the past, the Yang emperor used to have a younger brother and his name was Sen. Since there used to be always one son in the family who inherits the power of the Yang and get to use the title of the Yang emperor, the other sons were given different surnames and were asked to support the person having the title Yang emperor. And Sen was one of them. He was given the name Zenzeng and was asked by his parents to support his one and only elder brother. Although he was helping his brother as asked to him, it was not under the pressure of his parents but out of pure brotherhood feelings. Both of them were recognised as an unbeatable duo from their childhood. On the day of their awakening when the elder brother inherited the Yang side''s power, everyone thought that was the end of the duo, since there wasn''t any power that can bepared with the Yang energy or Yang power of the universe. But destiny had a hidden gift for the second child, and he was gifted with the power of Imagination Derivative. A power that can make his imagination possible. There were restrictions on it like the Yang power had some on it, but it wasparable to the Yang power itself. When the elder brother inherited the Yang power, he realized it wasn''t an attribute nor an element, like the others have inherited. It was a key. A key that would allow him to use all the energy and resources present in the universe. If he wanted to pulverise his enemy, he just had to order the atoms and molecules in the air to be unstable and start radiating energy, the result may seem like he just waved his hands and the enemy got pulverised, but that was the real reason behind it. Simrly, if he wants to embed life in a nt, he just has to take a small sip of life energy from the other big nts or from nature itself and shove it into a dead nt. The elder son realised all these about his inherited power and was given the title of the second Yang emperor as per the tradition and order follows. For the second and the youngest son of the family, he realized about his powers'' vast potential a littleter than his elder brother. Everybody knew his power had vast potential like his elder brother''s power, but no one told him about it since they wanted him to realize it himself. And as expected, he did realise his power after a year. His power was pretty simple to use, he just had to imagine a scenario clearly in his mind and the same will be created in real life. If he wanted to create an explosion, he neither had to chant a spell nor have to use the science behind it to create one. All he had to do was unleash his imagination and bring it to the real world. The Yang power had some restrictions on it. Like every year, he can bring back only one life from heaven. And if that person died again, he can''t bring back his life like the first time. But the younger one had no such restriction on him. If he wanted to bring someone back to his life, he just used to fiddle with the reality and illusion line and bring that person back using that. Sen also remembered that when his brother died, he hadn''t made ten parts of his powers. Instead it was distributed into nine parts. Sen was also one of the ten knights when his brother''s eleventh knight betrayed him and stabbed him in his hearts. At that time before dying, the Sage emperor had made nine parts of his Yang powers and given it to his knights, and Sen was the tenth one who hadn''t gotten anything from him because he already had a great power inside him. The power of Imagination Derivative. "My younger brother, stop crying you are making my brand new clothes dirty from your tears." Joked the Yang Emperor. Senughed at it and replied he won''t stop crying. While they were embracing each other, many other memories wereing to his mind and one of them was the reason for his brother''s death. At that time when his brother got stabbed in his heart he didn''t die from the damage of the internal organ, instead died on the will of nature. Nature was telling him to leave the world and distribute his power to his loyal and trusted ones. After his death, one of the other nine knights became the Sage emperor and led the side of Yang in ce of the Yang Emperor. For Sen, he didn''t put his nose in such matters and secluded himself away from all these in a different gxy. All this time he was doing research on reincarnation and parallel universes. Since it was the will that his brother had to die, he knew it was impossible to bring him back to life. So instead he was searching for ways in which he and his brother can be reincarnated in a new world or same world. After doing years of research, he understood the logic behind the gate of reincarnation and tried to make one with the help of his power. He sessfully made one, a reincarnation gate that opens in the faraway future, but a future without his brother. Till then, Sen wasn''t aware of it, and he entered the gate without thinking much about it. As a result, he was reincarnated in the future in his own descendants'' family with the name Sen Zenzeng, without any of his past memories. From there, the narration was pretty clear. The dark side tried to attack the Sage world, Sen defeated them all with his Dream Derivative power, which was a downgraded version of Imagination Derivative powers. After all those fires, killing and war, he decided to take some time off and again use a reincarnation gate to take birth in the lower realms like earth. But before he went, he made a divine protection beast which somehow deflected to the dark side and caused trouble in the sage world. The Sage empress and the other Sages threw him out of the sage world to the lower realms, but there too he started causing panic and destruction. Defeating him was impossible, so they sealed him in a temple on earth. But the dark side helped him and the CREATURE escaped from there, creating terror again. This cycle continued again and again till the sage empress decided toe in contact with Sen''s reincarnation, Wang Hunag. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!