Apocalypse

Several notifications rang, but Ashen paid them no mind. His sole focus remained fixed on the essential task at hand: eating and ensuring his survival. All distractions faded into oblivion, replaced by an overpowering, primal urge to consume.

________

Meanwhile in a whole different realm.

A man floated in the vast nothingness, his body a vision of perfection that would put even Greek gods to shame.

It seemed as if he had been in this state for an eternity, creating an enchanting painting with his existence. Any thought of disturbing him will disappear upon gazing at this artwork.

He had a mysterious aura around him; just by looking at him, one would feel as if their soul could become lost and they would follow him even to the depths of hell.

Then, as if something had stirred the man from his slumber, he opened his eyes. The moment he did, it was as if the entire existence revolved around him. His eyes, full of mixed colors, held the universe within them, a cosmos of hues and mysteries.

"Hmm? What's this feeling? It's as if I was about to do something, but I forgot. Yet, I can already recall everything I've seen since the day I was born."

After thinking for a while, the man gave up on trying to figure out why he woke up. Just as he was about to go back to sleep, the tingling sensation got stronger. It was like he remembered something very important. He shifted his original position to a sitting position, and then he raised his hands and cut a rectangle in the void, then moved them as if he was zooming in, bringing things closer in the rectangle at an incredible speed, All that could be seen were flashes of light.

Just with the simple actions of moving his hands and body, the man seemed to shake the very fiber of reality, evidence of his tremendous power

After a few seconds, the picture within the rectangle finally became clear. Surprisingly, it depicted Ashen consuming the deceased dog's body.

The man's eyes grew brighter, and the image before him transformed. Now, he started seeing the scene as various energies floating around, some of them departing from the previous form of the dog's body and merging seamlessly with Ashen. As these energies entered his body, they fused flawlessly, as if they had always been a part of him.

A look of confusion and shock appeared on the man's face as he muttered

" This can't be true! The only thing that can transfer energies like that is Extraction. But I thought it was destroyed a long time ago with his death. How can it appear now? And why did it appear in that place? "

Many questions swirled the man's head but before he could find an answer, golden thunderbolts pierced the void and attacked the man.

Reacting swiftly, he manipulated his hands as if he were zooming out, creating a space prison and imprisoning the thunderbolts within it.

The thunderbolts effortlessly penetrated the newly created space, but before reaching the man, hundreds of new spaces sprang into existence. As they passed through two-thirds of these spaces, the thunderbolts visibly weakened, and upon reaching three-quarters of them, they ultimately dissipated into nothingness.

The exchange sent shockwaves through the fabric of existence, causing it to tremble dangerously close to breaking.

Cold sweat appeared on the man's forehead as he complained

" Sigh, I forgot that area is under that fellow guard and he doesn't like people interfering in his territory. But that was quite harsh. Did he forget I was there once? If that strike had hit me, it would have taken ages to recover "

" But the return of something like Extraction is a game changer now. Those ancient corpses will definitely wake up and investigate this matter.

I'm sure the ones who dared to ruin his legacy will be trembling in fear after seeing this and they will surely do anything to take the new extraction holder's life.

Bad for them, My boy cosmos will beat the shit out of anyone who dares to interfere in that little human matters. I guess there is no need for me to go out and protect him. I think I can go back to sleep If anything important happens they will wake me up" the man concluded as he returned to sleep.

In various corners of the vast existence, the same scene played out, with each person reacting differently. Some were excited, others wore ugly expressions, and some simply remained indifferent, continuing with their own business.

__________

Back on Earth, Ashen continued to eat, completely unaware of the chaos his actions had caused.

Surprisingly, he managed to eat the entire body, including bones, fangs, and claws, without any harm caused to his stomach.

After Ashen finished his meal, he leaned on the ground and sighed in relief. All the hunger he felt before disappeared like the snow under the sun's rays. and even after eating a one meter tall creature his body was still the same, only a bit full.

After resting with his eyes closed for a few seconds he opened his eyes and looked at the sky above his head in astonishment.

Many changes had occurred, the biggest one was the disappearance of the dome and the cracks that filled the sky. Instead, the sky transformed into a breathtaking reflection of the cosmos itself. Countless stars, each radiating its own unique hue, adorned the inky canvas above, casting a celestial glow upon the world below.

Occasionally, shooting meteors streaked across the expanse, leaving fleeting trails of brilliance in their wake. And as Ashen gazed further and further, he beheld entire galaxies, immense islands of stardust and light, joining this magnificent celestial symphony, offering a glimpse into the vast expanse of the universe, an awe-inspiring masterpiece of nature's artistry.

After enjoying the breathtaking scene in front of his eyes for a few minutes. Ashen looked around and saw a small red line reaching the sky.

"Is that the tower that the system spoke about ?" wondered Ashen

"Well there is only one way to know "

He got up and was about to open his status window when a notification appeared in his head

[ You have some notifications that were muted due to being in a dangerous situation. Would you like to see them ? ]

" Hmm ? You can stop notifications automatically? nice. Of course, show me "

[ The veil disappeared and the towers ascended. ]

[ The first disaster will start after one month. Head to the closest tower to get more information]

[ All the features of the cosmic system are now on ! ]

[ You can now start levelling up !]

[You killed a mutant chihuahua level 0 ! You gained 50 exp ! +1 Strength ,+1 Vitality ]

" So I can level up now. Let's see how much exp I need to level up . Status window "

________

Ashen Evilian

level : 0

exp : 50/100

Race : Human

title : none

class : none

subclass : none

__________

Stats :

Strength : 7 [19]

Agility : 9 [22]]

Dexterity : 13 [30]

Health : 18 [36]

Mana : 36

Stamina : 8 [20]

Free points : 0

_________

Active skills : none

Passive skills : none

Unique talent :

Extraction [ rank : X ]

Unique talents stored : 0/5

_____________

System note :

- Some of your stats have been reduced due to your bad physical condition

- You awakened an X rank unique talent and one of the strongest talents in existence, please head to the closet tower to get more information about it

- 29 days 23 hours and 43 minutes are left for the next disaster.

_________

" .... "

Ashen stood there for a few seconds trying to process the information he received. After a minute he finally accepted that he was blessed with one of the strongest talents in the world and jumped with excitement

"Yessss , finally. I was unlucky my entire life only for this exact moment. One of the strongest talents in the existence baby . I'm unstoppable. I'm untouchable. " Ashen cheered out loud.

It took 10 minutes for his excitement to calm down. After that, he put on his backpack. Cleaned his stained with blood daggers but he didn't return them instead he kept them in his hands.

After that, he took off his shirt to clean his wounds at least as he didn't have alcohol to sterilize them. But surprisingly the wounds were already half healed.

" Is this the effect of my unique talent or is it something from the system ? " wondered Ashen " Well it is what it is as long as it heals my wounds I'm happy "

After that he returned his shirt on, put his bag on his back and headed to the closest exit. He was in a park and it was very hard to find a shelter, a food resource, some medicines etc...

Ten minutes later, Ashen reached the exit, but what he saw left him in a state of utter shock.

Most of the buildings lay in ruins, fires raging within many of them. On the streets, a chaotic scene unfolded with cars piled up from numerous collisions. The wailing of sirens and blaring car horns filled the air. However, the most shocking sight was the people—or what used to be people. They resembled zombies, not with a green hue, but as literal walking corpses. Some were missing limbs, limbs, and they wandered aimlessly through the streets.

Ashen didn't dare to make a sound, concealing himself behind a tree as he observed the harrowing scene. It was at this very moment that he fully grasped the grim reality: the world was engulfed in an apocalypse.