Driiing~ Driiing~
The loud blare of the alarm resounded through the room. Inside the dark bedroom, tightly drawn curtains blocked the light. Everything remained in its proper place; on the bed, wrapped up like a burrito, Noor slept on. Despite the noise, he continued to sleep like a rock. The alarm stopped ringing, and the room fell back into silence.
Knock~ knock~
— Brother! Get up! Brother!
Muttering, Noor opened his eyes slowly. His black eyes stared at the alarm.
— Brother! Brother!
The youthful voice called out, knocking firmly at the apartment door; the sound echoed throughout the building's hallway. Noor stood up, feeling a slight shiver as his feet touched the cold floor. He yawned and began to get ready. With his casual clothes already set aside, he took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and lightly fixed his hair.
He grabbed his phone and left the bedroom. The apartment wasn't large; there was a kitchen separated from the living room only by a counter—a typical open-concept kitchen. There was also an extra guest room.
— Brother! Twenty minutes! Let's go!
He opened the front door, which he had forgotten to lock the night before. At the door, a fifteen-year-old boy smiled brightly.
— Let's go, brother!
Leon turned and ran toward the elevator at the end of the hallway. Noor closed the door behind him and looked to the side; in the neighboring apartment, an older woman was smiling kindly.
— Thank you again for taking little Leon.
Noor gave the lady a half-smile; it was a habit of his.
— No problem.
— Brother! Hurry up!
The boy's hurried voice made him say his goodbyes and leave. Noor lived in a mid-range apartment complex where the neighbors knew each other well. He lived next door to a divorced mother and her three children; the eldest was Leon, a very restless boy.
A habit Noor never left behind since childhood was sleeping a lot. He knew the alarm would never wake him at the right time, so he had arranged a "human alarm clock." After taking Leon to school every morning, he would head to work.
The kid ran the whole way, skipping along until they reached the street. Noor looked up at the serene blue sky, where white clouds looked like tufts of cotton. The air was pure and refreshing. There was the sound of laughter from several children of different ages leaving their homes and heading to school. People were chatting; there were so many sounds—some he had already memorized, others new and unknown.
He followed the boy through the streets. A variety of colorful birds with beautiful songs perched on trees, lampposts, and balconies. The residential buildings were well-structured and aligned, nothing that drew excessive attention. They walked through the streets, passing alleys with stalls and vendors. As they got closer to the center, the buildings appeared flashier, some with strange glowing neon symbols and massive screens playing commercials.
— Brother! Look!
Noor looked in that direction and saw some cute little runic golems helping carry boxes to a shop. A crowd had gathered around them, taking pictures and laughing.
— Brother! My teacher said that scientists are finally bringing arcane technology to Golden Island! Isn't that cool?
The boy laughed as he spoke. Noor did not share the same excitement. Arcane technology...
As he noted, there were no vehicles on the streets; there were only trains for longer travels. Humans, descendants of mages from the ancient era, possessed much stronger resistance, health, and vitality. Millions of years ago, in the Magic Era, there was infinite land and mana.
The Dark Era unleashed wars, and the world underwent unbelievable destruction. Something happened, the world's mana was exhausted, and saltwater covered everything. Fortunately, there were the floating islands of the "Archangels." Over the years, everything changed significantly. Magic was lost; only runes remained because they didn't use mana, but vitality instead. That was another matter that Noor didn't think much about.
The point was that arcane technology made places more lively and bustling—though not necessarily in a way Noor liked. A minority of people, like him, preferred quiet places without runes. Golden Island was the only major island that hadn't fully implemented runes in the city yet, serving as a sanctuary for that minority.
In the worst-case scenario, Noor could move to a smaller, more rural island. Lacking any strength or excitement in his dragging voice, he said to the kid:
— Yeah, super cool.
A few minutes later, he dropped Leon off at school, and the boy ran toward his group of friends. Noor stretched and yawned, feeling drained of energy.
— Time to go to work... sigh...
He checked the time before walking to the train platforms. When he first arrived at Golden Island, being an orphan, he had no connections. But jobs were easy to find these days—as easy to find as saltwater.
Those who didn't like the corporate environment or formality took the trains to the factories on the outskirts of the island.
Noor liked that the runes made long-distance travel easier. The trains were clean and smelled like freshly picked flowers; in today's world, people were much more polite and happy. He looked out the train window. The larger islands had mountains, while others had massive freshwater lakes. Arcane Island was completely flat but possessed the greatest runic technological power, where scientists gathered. Noor had never visited it and didn't plan to; rumors said it was beautiful.
The natural landscape made him think about what the Divers believed:
"Peace, happiness, and prosperity are omens of disaster and death."
Deep down he knew—I think everyone knew—that peace comes with a price. Happiness is born from sadness and pain; prosperity costs resources, and resources run out. In the end, the better things are, the greater the possibility of future instability.
The train stopped at the platform, and several people stepped off. The environment was more rural: trees, forests, and the sounds of animals and insects. Following the group of people who were laughing and joking along a road, he noticed that near the edges, the scent of the sea was stronger, even at such a great height. The factories weren't just piles of iron and black smoke. They were buildings of pure white, with glowing runes etched into their structures.
The architecture blended with the quiet forest, with surveillance towers visible in the distance. Noor entered Factory 06. At the entrance, guards chatted while searching people; everyone dressed casually, without any formalities. After passing through the detection rune, he walked to the second floor, where the cafeterias and restaurants were located.
He decided to eat something basic before going down to start work. He wasn't the type to make friends at work or strike up conversations. The floor below had complex, more open platforms. People wore black uniforms that looked like butcher's aprons.
Sunlight streamed through the glass opening overlooking the sea. Platforms brought creatures of strange shapes—some were just fragments—which were properly sorted by workers and sent to the right places. With a brief glance, he jotted something down on the tablet he had picked up earlier.
He descended further and found himself in another open area. Here, many of the workers, mostly women, wore uniforms etched with protection runes. They inspected the meat of the sorted creatures as it headed toward a massive furnace-like structure, burning with a smokeless golden flame. After being consumed, fine golden dust drifted up through tubes to another location.
Making notes, he descended once more. He nodded to a guard and swiped his supervisor ID to enter. In a vast, wide corridor, a few people in casual clothes were also taking notes, staring at strange screens on the walls filled with data and countless runes that glowed intensely in the room. Noor recorded the Vitality extracted from the dead creatures, checking if it was being routed to the right place in the correct amounts.
He yawned and left that floor. A few people in strange uniforms passed by; what they all had in common were the projection runes on their goggles—various models—and their weapons: some swords, others sharpened knives. They were all heading to the lower floors.
Divers.
Noor headed back to the restaurant. That profession had emerged years ago; people trained in specialized academies came into contact with "Awakening Pearls," rare items found in the depths of the sea. Depending on the rarity of these pearls, the acquired skill would be stronger. Divers risked their lives killing aquatic monsters that, for reasons still unknown, came to the sea's surface waters. The silver lining: the corpses of these monsters, even in death, possessed vitality.
There were many other issues involving the Divers, so complicated that Noor didn't care. The goggles they wore were one of the best inventions in existence, assisting with communication via translucent holographic screens, making records, and things of that nature.
The interesting part was that Awakened people could breathe underwater. He found a corner of the restaurant that was empty and quiet. He grabbed a sweet cake and ate calmly; the second floor was bright and airy. His messy black hair matched his pale skin tone. Neighbors used to tell him to get more sunlight, but besides work, everything else was just too tiring and boring for him.
Sighing, he started browsing on his phone to pass the time. He saw a cool video from a channel he'd been following since last night: a group of two young men and a young woman—obviously wealthy—who enjoyed adventuring and traveling through the islands to experience their cultures. Noor liked it because of the reports they made about this tourism; if he ever needed to move, he would already know where to go and what would be required.
— Seems fun... — he murmured.
Of course, he wouldn't actually want to do something like that; it was just a passing thought. Turning off his phone, he caught his reflection on the screen. He considered his appearance average. For unknown reasons, his mind would get muddled, and sometimes he forgot he was only nineteen, having graduated just two years ago.
— Sigh...
[It is a common symptom of confusion among the Reborn.]
Noor had to agree; that confusion didn't seem like something complex. Rebirth made s... sense...
Noor: — ???
[Hello, Master! System Nine at your service~]