1 Prologue

[Year: 2213]

About 200 years ago, Earth was losing a kind of 'energy' in its World Tree, Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil, or more commonly referred to as the World Tree, was a giant tree that was in the middle of the forest that was most popularly known as Amazon, in South America. It was away from humanity's eyes using mysterious techniques unknown to humanity. It was the source of all the energy that was needed for the Earth to perform its functions.

The efficient system installed in Yggdrasil to harness sunlight to provide energy to all the plant and animal needs was collapsing. It was previously due to just pollution. But various factors contributed to this phenomenon.

As we know, Energy is the source of the existence of matter. Energy and Matter usually form an equilibrium. 'Usually' is the keyword.

But the nuclear tests that were performed by various governments led to the collapse of that equilibrium. Nuclear Fusion was their ultimate goal. Such destructive power was surely not necessary for the 'welfare' for humanity.

During the War for Resources, or alternatively known as World War III, which started in 2045, Country AM had finally figured out the way to start the Nuclear Fusion Reaction. They had kept it a secret, though. The Resources included basic things like food, clean water, unpolluted compressed air packets to complicated things like digital electronics, smart devices, wood products, plant and animal products.

Yes, that's right!

Plants and Animals were the most affected before and during the war. Over half a million species of plants and animals were on the verge of extinction. Tens of Thousands already extinct.

This was the main reason, as scholars theorised, for the World War III - War of Resources.

It had become compulsory for an adult of ages 18 to 38 to draft in the War. There were two sides: the Federal Republic(FR) headed by Country AM and the Royal Consortium(RC) headed by Country BR. It was divided based on ideologies. Democracy was over- the common people had no power. The countries that truly believed in democracy were few and far in between. And if these few countries banded together to form a third alliance, they would face the wrath of both FR and RC. Hence all countries chose sides.

The choice had to involve a lot of factors. Political, Geographical, Foreign Relations, Neighbouring countries, and a lot more. But some countries chose sides hastily just because their archenemy chose the other. Country IS chose FR so Country EG chose RC. Country SK chose FR so Country NK chose RC. Such events became common in the early ears of the war. By 2048, all countries had sided with either FR or RC. This had become a true World War, a war that dictated the fate of the world.

All countries were involved in the war. Millions died in Battles of Air Forces, Clashes of Navies, and of course, Annihilation of Armies.

They used bombs, landmines, missiles, biological weapons, chemical weapons, etc. There was truly no bottom line.

Heck! Some countries even developed a swarm of automated AI-controlled mosquitoes to spread diseases.

Both sides notoriously used the data collected in the earlier half of the century. Based on the data collected about a location, they decided to bomb the opponent's area in which they can 'Get rid off' most of the opposing citizens.

Ordinary people were the most affected. While leaders could comfortably live in their high-security advanced bunkers, ordinary people could not afford to do the same. Their loved ones died meaningless deaths. But they could not do anything because their people oppressed them.

If one opposed the War, their leaders branded them as a War Criminal.

Few realised the motive behind World War III was to decrease the number of humans on Earth so that resources don't have to be compromised. But they didn't have the power to do anything. They couldn't oppose their leaders. If they did, they would have 'mysteriously disappeared' with their loved ones.

The war went on for over 15 years till one event ended it all.

In the year 2060, it seemed like the Royal Consortium was winning. The Federal Republic decided to use the Nuclear Fusion Missile, enhanced over the years.

But the moment they did, it seemed like the whole world had stopped.

Everyone could feel the anger of someone, someone they were very close to, Mother Earth.

At the same time, everyone in the world got a message on a holographic screen in front of them. Almost everyone panicked all around the world.

It read:

『 System Activated... 』

『 << Curse of the Mother Earth >> attained 』

『 Debuff: << Curse of the Mother Earth >> 』

『 [Permanent Effect] : You lose 1 point of each of the attributes every hour. When you are idle for more than 10 hours. When any one of a stat reaches 0, you will perish and be absorbed by the mother earth. 』

The world changed since then.

Dungeons and Labyrinths opened throughout the world. You did not need food and water to survive, you just need mana. Mana could be obtained from mana stones. One could collect Mana Stones by defeating monsters in dungeons or mining them in parts of Labyrinths.

According to scientists, mana stones were high concentration of photon-like particle. They had such a high density that these particles were almost superimposing on each other. Theoretically, it shouldn't be possible. But they realised that these particles were able to be in contact with each other without any forces between them. The scientists were pulling each other's hair apart not being able to comprehend this particle. This particle alone broke over 9000 laws of physics. Using humans as test-subjects, they observed that cell regeneration, strength, will power, intelligence and agility increased dramatically when they are exposed to mana stones. They also found that the human body is able to absorb this particle when exposed to them and the rate of absorption increases drastically when they touch the mana stone. This particle could be imagined as the purest form of the concept of Energy. Scientists named it 'Anti-Photon' and people called them 'Mana'. 'Mana' was actually coined way before scientists could get their hands on these elusive magical stones.

Scientists confirmed that all humans gained the ability to use mana. They could gain skills by understanding and performing them periodically. As one philosopher famously exclaimed, "If you know how to do it, you can do it with mana."

This came to the delight of people in-charge. Until they realised they couldn't be idle anymore. They had to work. Just sitting or sleeping for long periods of time will decrease their health. After various surveys and experiments, the word idle was defined in this context. They defined 'idle' as "resting, enjoyment or entertainment". This infuriated the leaders. When they realised that to absorb mana for a healthy human with no injuries, one actually need to increase one's cell usage i.e., work. Without work, one won't be able to absorb mana.

According to Sean Fleming, a famous researcher of mana in 2070's and a pioneer, "To utilise mana, you need to increase your cell usage over 50% of it's total potential. For context, when an average person is sleeping, your cell usage can become as low as 8%. When an average person is all out hustling, working their ass off, sprinting at full speed for more than a minute, their cell usage can become as high as 60%. As you may realise, it is not easy to increase your cell usage over 50%. When you absorb mana, your cell usage keeps decreasing until it becomes 30%. If you are interrupted in the absorbing process, it may become fatal. Hence, be cautious while absorbing mana."

For over 150 years, humans have been struggling. On the plus side everyone became more healthy. The two main sectors are mining and hunting. Miners of Labyrinths Organization (MLO) and Hunters of Dungeons Organization (HDO) in the Federal Republic were the affiliated bodies for mining and hunting respectively. Similarly, in the Royal Consortium, the Royal Miners Alliance (RMA) and Royal Hunters Alliance (RHA) were in-charge.

Everything was peaceful and spontaneous. Humans were thriving. While all this was happening, a creative human figured out how to become invisible and no one knew about it.