Chapter 2: Afterlife

[Time: Unknown]

[Place: Unknown]

An 11-year-old child woke up to find himself standing in a strange place. Above him floated a massive black ship(?).

[--???--: What's going on? Where am I?]

The child's name was Vorst. An orphan from a distant planet with a complex name that he couldn’t remember—not that it seriously mattered to him...

*- Occupation: Cadet in the Heran Combat School (a place that trained future soldiers for the Kollos Alliance)

*- Focus: Soldier

*- Status: KIA (Killed in Action)

That's right. Dead. At least, that’s how it was supposed to be.

[--Vorst--: Am I in the afterlife?]

According to the latest research from the Kollos Alliance, there is no afterlife; a body after death goes through scientific decomposition, and with the law of mass conservation, it clearly negates any notion of an afterlife. Confusion suddenly dissipated as clear images came back to him.

[--Vorst--: This has to be the afterlife, after all... that happened...]

[Time: Sometime in the past]

[Place: Planet Cerra Z1429:2, Surface]

The mission was proceeding smoothly, the team advancing without a hitch. Composition: Standard 10-person team—5 soldiers (S), 2 scouts (C), 2 engineers (E), 1 medic (M).

At that moment, Vorst was leisurely walking next to another soldier, chatting. The current region was classified as Low Strafe, and within a maximum danger level, it could be compared to 3rd Low Step Tier (LST). Every single person in this team was 5th-6th LST, so for them, it was comparable to running an errand.

[<???>: Vor-chan, you should hurry up and pass the exam for 6th LST already, otherwise I’ll really leave you behind.]

A soft laugh could be heard in the communication system.

[Vorst: Please stop teasing me, Mer-chan. I’m trying my hardest here!]

The young boy’s shoulders visibly slumped. The person walking beside him was his childhood friend, Mersa—10 years old, orphan, cadet, soldier, 6th LST. His pride as a man was completely shattered. A younger girl was already stronger than him... Well, actually, it wasn’t strange at all because he was from a ‘powerless’ sub-race.

Ten thousand years ago on Earth, a scientist made a discovery. A new particle, later named nano-photon, was found. It was several thousand times smaller than electrons; in fact, it was the smallest and most elementary particle. But no one was seriously hyped because it seemed useless. After hundreds of years of compounding ridiculously large but useless atoms, they found a ridiculously small particle. So what?

It happened two hundred years later, after the 5th World War, while Earth was slowly recovering. A scientist named Edward Serfera invented a new weapon. It was so strong that it was capable of reducing atoms to nano-photons and completely disintegrating its target. With it, the Serfera Corporation was founded, and the 6th World War began. With the next-gen weapon, Serfera completely dominated the world.

Ten years later, the side effects of that war showed themselves. An incident known as the Photon Apocalypse nearly wiped out humanity. It was caused by the enormous density of nano-photons in the atmosphere, which made constant but unnoticeable changes inside the bodies of Aris (humans).

Death descended upon the world, sweeping through humanity for five continuous years. In the end, less than 0.00001% survived. Only 9 million remained, most of them young adults. Medical examinations found a new organ inside every single one—a Photon Core, a special organ where [New Aris] collected nano-photons in small quantities. It was fist-sized and located on the right side of the chest. This marked the beginning of the next stage of evolution.

The Photon Core enabled Photon Defense, which completely nullified all weapons known to that date—from melee weapons to tactical missiles. Even the Disintegrating Railgun couldn’t put a scratch on them. But of course, there is no perfect defense, though that’s a story for another time.

Thanks to the Photon Core, new technologies emerged. One of them made space travel possible. After building the spaceships, they quickly left the ruined Earth to venture into the vast universe. Over the centuries, the Photon Core—following the principle of evolution, “survival of the fittest”—continued to change the bodies of [New Aris]. The culmination point was reached several generations later as sub-races came into existence. There were many of them; for example, the Bear sub-race was stronger, the Cheetah sub-race faster, and so on.

Vorst belonged to the ‘powerless’ sub-race... That’s right, he was a Neo-Aris sub-race. [AN: Sorry, humans, lol.]

They were incredibly rare, and what’s more, other sub-races clearly looked down on them. Well... they were indeed weaker in every aspect...

In contrast to Vorst, Mersa was extremely gifted. She was also an extremely rare case—a hybrid Wolf-Elf sub-race. The Wolf sub-race was considered a Medium power level, but the Elf was a true High power race. Combining the two made her one of the most talented beings in the academy.

It was thanks to her that Vorst was accepted into the Heran Combat School, exempted from any fees, and even given personal lodging.

That day, they were on their way to the shuttle. The mission was complete; the only thing left was to return to the Academy and get their reward. As mentioned before, the danger was almost non-existent, especially with Mersa, who had refused the rank-up test several times while waiting for Vorst to reach 6th LST. This was due to Academy regulations that allowed teams to form only with a maximum of 1 level difference. In fact, Mersa’s true level was 8th LST.

Hell began in an instant.

A scream.

Twenty meters away, a black scorpion pinned down one of the scouts. Its sharp claws had already ripped apart the poor boy’s chest, and it was chomping on his Photon Core. Vorst froze, and a bunch of information popped up on the holo monitor inside his helmet.

[Vorst: “2-2-2nd HST...”]

There are 10 ranks of LST; after that, there’s a major advancement that leads to High Step Tier (HST), which also has 10 ranks. The difference between them and that beast was enormous. What was it doing in the safe area?!

In the next instant, three others died—the black scorpion was way too strong; there was nothing they could do. Then it advanced towards Mersa... Her body was completely petrified with fear. The black beast was incredibly fast, but somehow Vorst could see it clearly, and at that moment, summoning all his courage, he burned all the nano-photons inside his body and pushed her out of the way.

[Mersa: Ow-ow-ww...]

As Mersa opened her eyes, the only thing she could see was a needle heading toward her face, but at that moment, a black shadow appeared in front of her... It was Vorst. After his body was stung, various red messages popped up inside his helmet...

[Alert! Photon Poison detected. Threat level: High.]

[Alert! Photon Poison detected. Threat level: High.]

[Alert! Photon Poison detected. Threat level: High.]

[Alert! Poison rank: 8. Threat level: High.]

[Alert! Injecting Sedative.]

[Alert! Injecting Detox.]

[Alert! Injecting HNP (Healing Nano-Photons).]

Vorst completely ignored the warning messages. Right now, he was worried about Mersa—how could she escape from this predicament?! Fortunately, at that moment, an explosion occurred, and the scorpion was blown away. Raising his head, he saw the reinforcements—the Academy’s Disciplinary Squad, every single one at least 7th HST. A relieved smile floated inside his helmet; now that he knew she would be safe, he allowed his consciousness to fade away...

[Alert! Probability of death: 100%]

That was the last message he saw...

That brings him to the current situation... The giant black ship floating above him was incredibly strange. Vorst had never seen anything like it before.

As if noticing his presence, semi-transparent blocks appeared, creating a staircase that led to the entrance.

[--Vorst--: “The afterlife sure is strange...”]

He had nothing to lose now. The young boy nonchalantly climbed up and walked through the doors of the strange ship. Immediately, a semi-transparent arrow appeared in front of him, as if leading the way.

[--Vorst--: Hmm, this looks similar to that VRG (virtual reality game) I played several weeks ago. Mersa was furious about me spending money on stupid things, but it sure was fun...]

Suddenly, a sense of sadness came over him. He realized that he’d never see her again...

[--Vorst--: “Maybe she’ll get into the same afterlife as me? But there’s no one here...”]