1 Chapter 1

Life isn't easy now as the world has turned upside down. End times are here, and I am part of a generation that is probably the only one to experience peace. Peace or whatever was it before; I miss it now. I want to go back to the old days. I want to attend my school, have fun with every one of my friends. Ohh, beautiful days.

Now, everything has gone wrong as the gate appeared in Antarctica. Scientists were surprised at the entrance and worked hard for two years to open it without thinking of what might be behind it. Curiosity kills the cat. In this case, curiosity killed our race.

"How much further?" Dana Reids asked me as she was walking behind me.

"Keep walking; I don't have any GPS to know exactly," I replied to her. She and her little sister were such an annoying bunch, who was walking behind her. Just because I cannot say no to them, why the hell do they stick with me. I am no hero who can save them. I can't even walk properly with all the fat accumulated throughout my life.

We kept walking in the barren world. There was still daylight left before we would have to find a shelter. And food. Food was running out, and we didn't find anything edible in the last two days.

"Shouldn't we get inside one of the buildings now?" Aria Reids said from behind Dana Reids. Such a naive girl.

"We cannot choose any of these tall buildings. Let's just follow him." Dana Reids replied to her sister. Both of them were carrying large bags on their back. I also had one, but mine was lighter than theirs. If we needed to fight, I needed to be lighter to move faster. Fight! What that meant was bashing the metal pipe in my hand into whatever came alone. If those things come in groups, we would have to run. I have seen what they did to other groups.

I looked at the horizon. The sun was about to go down. We didn't have enough time to move about. Have to make a choice now, or we risk too much. I can run, leaving these two behind, but then I would have to carry all the food and other necessary things all by myself. Also, as days pass now, maybe I can trade them for food or weapon in the future. I have read in the novels that beautiful girls become hot commodities during the end times. At least ones that cannot defend themselves.

We had walked a little more before the blue building at the left looked a bit promising. It only had five floors, less of an area to search. Those things hide in the buildings during the day and run wild at night. From what I have seen so far, those things avoid smaller buildings. Ohh, I wanted to avoid downtown areas. I hate these tall buildings.

I looked at the tall buildings that surrounded us; there could be a thousand of those things waiting inside these. Might even be watching us. A cold shiver ran through my spine. I walked faster toward the building that I had just chosen.

"Let's go; we will stay there tonight," I said to the girls.

"But..." Dana Reids was trying to say something.

"But what?" I looked at her annoyingly. "No buts, that's the smallest one. We can finish the search before the sun goes down. Can't we?"

"Yes."

"Then follow me." I walked ahead toward the building.

In the novels that I have read before, there would always be humans who would harm humans. So far, I haven't seen anyone like that. I would also not expect someone like that to stay in the building we are heading to. I hope I am right.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, which made me sigh in relief. It would seem to have seven floors, including the top one. So we need to make sure that we are the only residents here. If we are not then, we can still stay here, but we will have to remain very quiet the whole night. This might sound hard, but you get used to the silence when your life is in danger otherwise. You get used to pissing in the corner of the same room you are sleeping.

We soon entered the building, the gates were open. We kept it that way. There were scratching signs on the wall from time to time. There were no purple marks inside the building, which seemed odd to me compared to the outside. The mist never went inside the buildings. Or even tents. I have seen mists in the fields, thick enough to hide anything a few meters apart but would never enter the tents set up.

Odd, but good. The purple mist that came out at night was terrible news. Not only that you can't see far, but the fog itself was dangerous. I have been exposed to it, nothing has happened to me yet, but I have seen people dying from mist poisoning. I don't know why some people survive, and some die, but I don't want to gamble my life by thinking myself immune to it. The girls have also been exposed to the mist. They were fine the entire time. I do not want to risk their lives either. Then I would have to carry all these things by myself.

We have stepped foot very carefully after entering the building, and so far, I cannot see any signs of Ghoul nesting. If the ground floor is like this, there is a very high chance that this building is safe. But there are more of those things other than the ghouls. Better safe than sorry. Those things sleep during the day to identify any nearby from smell alone. They sting like hell.

I chose one of the rooms, which seemed like a guardhouse, and entered. There are no windows, there's one toilet and a bed and a kitchen. Not bad. These kinds of rooms are the best to pass the night. Anything too fancy will just attract ghouls and other nasty things.

This one seems to be an office building. Which meant it would be easier to finish inspecting. Office spaces are open, and ghoul activity is straightforward to detect.

"Dana, take Aria with you and check the upper floors." I dropped my bag on the floor and said to the girls they were a bit surprised, "Leave the bags, take a small bag in case you find something that we can eat."

"Ok, we will get on to it," Dana's expression said that she was worried about something. Maybe it has to do something with what she was trying to say earlier. But I can't mind too much into that. First of all, I do not like these girls. Even if they are pretty, they are useless. Second, there is not much time now to keep talking. How we will pass our night will depend on the conditions of the building.

They left, and I started to bring out the food we still had. Although I have sent the girls to search for food, they might not find any as this is an office building.

I suddenly remember what day was today. In the regular times, I would be home with my parents. I sighed. Christmas, Aria is a small girl. She must like some gift. But I have nothing to wrap a gift for her. Although they are useless, they certainly have never let me down yet. I sighed and looked around the bags on the floor.

Suddenly there was a very distant screeching noise. It surprised me. I went to the door, and there wasn't any other sound. There should still be half an hour before the ghouls start to wake up. I returned to the room and sat down on the bed to remove my shoes.

"System Requirements has met, starting program E192!" A female voice with an excellent tuned accent came into my ear. It made me jump from the bed. I looked at my surroundings, but there wasn't anything. Seemed like the voice was coming directly to my mind.

"Program E192 initiated.

Name: Jurian Forst,

Age: 17.

Level: 5 (20/100)

Rank: Beginner.

Class: Undefined.

Mana: Undefined.

Kills 22.

Ability to receive quests: Yes."

A transparent screen suddenly raises in front of me. The details are written, and the female voice from before recited all of them to me.

"First quest: Use < Touch of Gaia > skill to kill the purple demon and rescue the two companion girls.

Quest Reward: 100 Experience points."

What the hell! Rescue the girls! I looked at the transparent screen in front of me. What the hell is a purple demon? And what the hell is < Touch of Gaia >?