Kain had grey hair and green eyes, meanwhile Eren had blue hair, yellow eyes, and wore glasses.
They were both quite handsome, but neither of them had any girlfriends. The reason? They were poorly talented, had no strong background to rely on, and were also financially weak. They both barely managed to eat their fill, have a roof over their heads, and do other activities. They barely had any savings.
Terraeth, or anciently known as Earth, was a beautiful planet. Historical data says that about 10,000 years ago, this planet experienced a cataclysm. It was called the Great Cataclysm. During that time, various asteroids crashed into the planet. All the other planets in the solar system drifted away, and only Mercury, Venus, and Terraeth were left.
The moon crashed into Terraeth, and a beautiful ring now encircles the planet.
Terraeth's size increased by two times. There were more tectonic plates, and since the water on Terraeth did not increase much, the planet's surface now had only 20% covered in water. As for the rest? It was all land.
A new continent was formed. The continent was divided into two parts: one was the Northern Terraeth Continent and the other was the Southern Terraeth Continent. They were divided by a 50km line of water, which separated both continents, the water running deep.
There were beaches, but there were no high tides, only low tides all the time.
The world also had towers all around the globe. Each of these towers had up to 100 floors. There were six such towers.
What is truly astonishing is that they were larger inside than they appeared outside. From the outside, their radius was only 5 kilometers, and their height reached the top of the atmosphere.
But from the inside, the floors became massive, with the largest floor found so far being the size of half of Asia.
The northern continent was uninhabitable for humans, as various beasts lived on that supercontinent. Satellites did not work on Terraeth, as they only showed white fog there.
As for going outside the solar system? Heh, it was found that beyond the solar system, there was... nothing.
It was impossible, yes, but all of the stars that Terraeth saw today were just illusions.
The planets, stars, and black holes that we all saw—there was nothing. Absolutely nothing, just endless darkness.
...
Currently, Kain and Eren were walking on their path home.
"Kain...," came a whisper in Kain's ear in a female voice. It felt like the devil's whisper.
As soon as Kain heard the voice, he abruptly stopped and looked around. His eyes stopped on a library.
"Kain?" asked Eren.
"..." No response.
"Kain!" said Eren as he waved his hand in front of Kain's face.
"Y-Yes? What is it?" asked Kain.
"In what world are you living, bro? Come, let's go."
"Yes..." he said, and then started walking again.
After a few more steps, he stopped again.
His eyes were still focused on the library across the street.
"Hey Eren, you mind if we hang out in the library for a bit?" asked Kain.
"Oh! So you wanted to go to the library? What about preparing for the Coming of Age?" asked Eren as he turned around again.
"Eren, you go home. I'll follow you back soon," said Kain as he crossed the street.
"Kain! Kain! Where are you even going? Argh, just make sure to come back home fast or we'll miss our game," said Eren as he left.
After the appearance of the towers, geniuses were not so uncommon anymore. If someone chose a path they were proficient at, they would be called a minor genius as long as they had good talent.
Hence, the development of humanity skyrocketed.
Humanity had been trapped inside the towers for 5,000 years, during which Earth—or Terraeth—was reformed.
It looked as if humanity had arrived on a completely new planet. Mana existed, and the system was present, both inside and outside the towers. Every single function of the system worked.
Humanity started its development as soon as it got out of the. Various guilds had already planned everything. The WGC was already formed, and everything was in order inside the towers.
The towers had become humanity's treasures. In all of the towers around the world, only 15 floors out of 100 were cleared in 5,000 years.
This was the speed of humanity! A complete failure. Why? Because there was no need to!
Humanity had its base on the 5 floor. All these floors were practically owned by top-level guilds who cleared them.
So humanity chose development instead, instead of wasting it's resources on climbing the tower.
Technology reached levels that could be considered that of a type 1.7 civilization on Terraeth, while not even using 1% of the energy from fuels. So where did this energy come from? Mana! Mana had been made to be wielded by humanity as its strength. Whenever mana levels on Terraeth decreased, the towers would refill them. Even Terraeth's core emitted mana from the ground, so even if the towers didn't help, the mana would still be sufficient, as Terraeth's combined mana usage was not even 0.1% of what the core was capable of.
It also only released mana when needed.
Due to the release of mana, Terraeth's development received countless changes.
Mythical beasts that were once seen as fantasies—like dragons and phoenixes—were seen on the northern continent. But what truly happened there? No one knows.
The highest level that humans had ever reached was 100.
The lifespan of humans also increased to 200 for level 1 or below.
For levels 1 to 50, it was about 500 years.
At level 51, players received a new awakening, and their lifespan reached 1500 years. No one has yet reached level 101, so no one knows what happens after that.
As for why humanity was not able to reach level 101? It is said that there is a special hidden quest in this world that humanity will need to clear, after which they will be able to enter floor 101 and reach up to level 200.
This was a rumor once spread on social media abruptly, so no one knows whether it is true or not.
...
Currently, Kain was standing in front of a library.
'What was that voice?' thought Kain.
"Kain..." came the voice again.
"It seems to be calling me..." said Kain as he entered the library.
He nodded at the librarian, who was sitting at a futuristic desk, and began walking in the direction the voice might be coming from.
He walked and then stopped as he read a sign.
"Fantasy?" he said aloud.
He didn't mull over it too much as he slowly started walking, glancing at the names of every book he came across.
After about 10 minutes of reading, Kain was about to give up when he heard the voice again.
"Kain..." it whispered, as if coming from just behind.
"Aargh! This voice will drive me mad! WHERE are you?" he shouted, his expression turning angry as he turned around.
But what he saw next shocked him so much that he fell to the ground.
...
He slowly crawled toward the bookshelf as he extended his hand to grab a book. The book automatically began to move, slowly coming out of the shelf toward his hand.
Kain grabbed the book with his left hand and sat in a corner.
He looked at the book. It had no title or author name written on it. It was made of leather, with dark metal corners. The book also had a painting on its front cover—an eye, an eye that was dripping seven different drops of blood. Each drop fell on a symbol. The symbols were unknown and ancient. Kain didn't know the meaning of these symbols, but he decided not to think too much about them.
He then opened the book, curious about what might be inside.
As soon as he opened the book, there was another eye inside the hardcover.
The eye immediately opened, looked around, and then focused on Kain.
The muscle around the eye shifted into a sinister angle, as if forming an evil smile.
"Aaaahhhh!" The sight creeped Kain out so much that he dropped the book on the ground.
But the book didn't fall—it floated in the air as an ancient-looking magic circle formed around it.
The circle then released a flesh-like pipe, as if a vein, which attached itself to Kain's neck.
In the next instant, Kain fainted.
...
"Mister..." a little girl's voice came.
"Mister!" the voice repeated, louder than before.
The girl had shouted in Kain's ear.
"Huh? Where am—" he began, but abruptly stopped and looked around. His eyes locked on the clock hanging on the wall. It showed 8:00 PM. The game would start at 8:30. When Kain came to the library, it was 2 PM. Six and a half hours had passed since he fainted! The whole day was practically wasted!
Kain stood up, about to leave, but then stopped.
"Thanks, little girl," he said as he waved and left.
"Bye-bye, sleepy uncle," the little girl said as she waved back.
...
Currently, Kain was running along the footpaths beside the roads. The new cities in Terraeth were well-planned by those who took the path of production.
This led to a great infrastructural revolution, making the cities green and full of better buildings.
Even the current house that Kain was living in would be considered a luxury house in 2025.
Kain was living in a spacious apartment that Eren's parents used to live in.
Both Eren and Kain lived in this apartment while earning money as online gamers.
The era of games had not ended due to the apocalypse.
Although software companies like Google, which owned Android, or Microsoft, which owned the Windows operating system, no longer existed, newer and better technology companies had been founded after the Great Calamity.
As soon as Kain arrived at his apartment, he knocked on the door.
"Dude! Where were you? I called your TerraPhone so many times! Did you even bother to check your missed calls?" Eren scolded.
"Okay, okay, Mr. Eren, the mommy. Please stop worrying about me. I will soon become a full adult," replied Kain sarcastically.
"Che! Who's even worried about a brat like you? I was worried that our game livestream would be missed. Now stop yapping, go to your GamePod and send me the livestream request."
That night, until the next morning, Eren and Kain played games in the VR pod. The game was called Terraeth GTA. It was made after an ancient game called Grand Theft Auto. It was a really popular game that allowed the character to do whatever they wanted in the city of Las Vegas, an ancient city on the land of Terraeth.
That night, Kain and Eren played games nonstop. They even received many donations.
Soon, the Day of the Coming of Age ceremony arrived.
*tring**tring*
Kain instantly woke up as he made his way out of bed immediately.
He then started to clean and arrange everything in the house. Today was the coming-of-age ceremony, so Kain had to make this occasion special.
The House had an Automatic Cleaning Robot, which used Low Level Mana Stones to operate, which were very cheap, costing only 10 Credits.
After doing the cleaning, Eren brought over the breakfast as they both started munching on it.
"So, what path will you take?, Eren abruptly asked.
"Me? Of course, I will choose the combat path. Aren't you choosing that one as well?"
"Yes, I will be choosing that path as well," Eren replied.
They both had plans to join an Average guild and make a better living.
They both got up, took all the items they might require, and left.
While Kain was locking the door to the apartment, a thought suddenly came to his mind.
'What was that book? Where did it vanish? Why is there no mark after that bite? I felt some teeth biting on my neck. Will everything be truly alright?'