2 Watching a movie

In a realm of darkness a source of light emerges from nowhere. Looking closer, the light source looked more and more similar to a human figure. More precisely, similar to the Noir Rivera who was hung till death.

"Am I in hell? Is this my soul?" He talks to himself while looking around only to see the never ending sea of darkness upon which he is floating.

"Doesn't seem that bad of a place for a person like me. "

"No one to love, nothing to hate, a world devoid of life and light. A whole world of nothingness just for me."

He floats there endlessly in peace as if waiting for his light to dim to nothingness. Time passes away from seconds to minutes, then to hours. He doesn't know whether days or months have passed. The sense of time was lost upon him. He didn't mind the time passing as his mind had become already half dead to care for it. He doesn't even seem to care even if his soul got eroded in this darkness.

After an unknown amount of time passes, the darkness around him clears away to show something else. A vision of a whole new view world like never seen before.

People segregated to commoners and nobility, technologies utilising new sources of energy, men and women alike calling forth some sort of power from their bodies, emergence of beast having appearances similar to that heard from myths, monsters spawning from another dimensions etc... Even though he is still trapped in this dimension of nothingness, he could see it as if he himself is living among them.

'What is going on? What sort of world am I seeing here?' He thinks to himself while seeing it all enfold like he is watching a movie.

He tries to memorise everything he sees as he has got nothing else to do. He tries to recollect the information from what he have seen so far.

<Dominus Continent, the only mainland continent of Gaya houses two large empires and a group of small nations separating the two empires. The empire occupying the almost right half of the continent is called the Warguard Empire and the one occupying the almost left half is called the Bloodstar Empire. The conglomeration of small nations situated in between the two large empires is collectively termed the Warring Nations.>

<About 5000 years ago, the deities who considered themselves to be gods and goddesses of this world disappeared suddenly. The true reason for their disappearance is still a mystery even though many feasible speculations float around. Dungeons and Towers emerged from the grounds to everyone's dismay. The dungeons releases the monsters at a peak season which attacks all structures and massacres the populace. The towers however only opens their doors for specific persons and does nothing else other than being a symbol of mystery.>

<Just when everyone thought humanity would be on the verge of extermination, one by one people starts to awaken a strand of their Soul Gifts. Some say the gods gave up their power to protect humanity and the world. Some say, killing the monsters provided them with powers. But the true reason remains unclear.>

<Humanity strives to improve their soul gifts by pairing it with the monster cores leading to a new profession now known as 'Advancer'. The Advancers are able to upgrade their gifts and empower it through monster cores to unlock new abilities and hidden powers. But it has its own dangers both hidden and open. If a person tries to absorb a core that isn't compatible with their soul gifts, the best case scenario would be not being able to develop their soul gift forever and the worst case scenario to be death by explosion.>

<At first, Soul Gifts used to appear randomly all over the continent, then as time passed similar gifts continued to awaken at certain geographical places only. Even though exceptions occur rarely, most people inherit a gift that is specific to their place.>

<The person whose memories I am experiencing is that of some kid named Zeno from Reedling Village, situated at the southeastern end of Kingdom of Regalia, which is a part of Warguard Empire.>

<Zeno is the son of Larry, a hunter who used to make a living hunting the beasts of the forest and the monsters from the dungeon. Zeno himself doesn't know much about his father. According to the villagers, both Larry and Zeno settled in the village about 6 years ago with no one knowing anything about them. Zeno only remembers his time in the village and doesn't know anything and was told nothing about his mother. He only remembers his father as a hunter who is also a strong Advancer the extent of which he has no idea of.>

"Pretty ignorant kid, if you ask me."

Noir utters some of his thoughts to satisfy his own curiosity and entertainment.

<Zeno was also not allowed to advance his gift as he was told he was suffering from a malignant disease. Even though children of his age had awakened their gifts and allowed them to develop, he could only helplessly watch and be ridiculed by them. But most of them feel pity for him too, so life was not too bad for him.>

"What kind of shitty excuse of a disease is that? He is living in a world full of superhero like people and he have to live like a normal person among them. Isn't that same as being a vegetable in that world. Sucks to be that kid." Once again Zenoire comments on the ill fate that has befallen upon the protagonist.

<However Zeno has a step brother called Adam who was adopted by Larry when he was found lost from the forest near their village, The Black Forest. Apparently he doesn't know where he comes from or is not willing to share with them. Two years ago, when Zeno returned from school was when he first met Adam. Even though they weren't particularly fond of each other at first, they both came to terms pretty soon. Both of them are considered Larry's sons by the villagers.>

"They have schools here also? What do they teach there then? Magic and Martial Arts, maybe? Do they exist in this world? Who knows? It would have been better to have some popcorn watching all this." Curiosity is awakened in Noir to know more at this point.

<Adam, however is an Advancer developed much more than his peers and could be compared to adults. This added to the mystery of Adam's background. Advancer techniques are considered rare and those in possession of it are hunted by other advancers, or protected by nobles and royalties. Adam however claims to have no idea how he advanced. According to him he just developed his soul gift similar to how everyone did. Larry considered it to be a talent which is very rare to see.>

<Everything was going alright until a week ago. Their father who had gone to the dungeon for hunting didn't come back even after the sunset. For the eight year old kids, they were not worried about their father's well being as they were pretty proud of his strength. He was considered  the strongest in the village as he was able to defeat the boss monsters from the 'Dungeon Break' effortlessly compared to others. When the next morning came, their father's party returned having suffered high casualties but he was not among those who returned.>

"That's not good, is it?"

<Zeno and Adam both were confused at first, but it didn't last long enough until they came to know about his father's demise. While they were hunting, their father had fallen into a pit straight to the third layer of the dungeon. Nobody ever thought of rescuing him as the 3rd layer was considered the forbidden zone and no one was able to return after entering it.>

"As I thought. You really had to add tragedy into the middle of this."

<Zeno couldn't handle the news and ran for the dungeon before anyone could stop them and Adam follows him to stop him. According to the rest of the party members, while their party was returning from a hunt from the 2nd layer, an energy blast broke through the ground swallowing many of their members with Larry ending up in the centre of it. Even though others were injured by the blast only Larry fell through the hole. The exhausted party could not risk themselves to save him and was afraid of the monster that was able to blast a hole through a layer of earth.>

"That kid's life is going to be screwed at this point."

<The dungeon was considered unique as it houses all varieties of slimes within it thus earning its name, 'Slime Dungeon'. Even though slimes belong to the lower category among the monsters, they make up for it with their numbers. They are considered the monster with highest reproducing ability as they are able to fission itself asexually. Moreover strong slimes which can rival elephants and whales reside in the bottom layers.>

"You are telling me that small slimy jelly like things broke a hole in the concrete like layer of a dungeon? Are you guys high or what?"

Noir has watched upto this point and is concentrating on what is going to happen next.