What Has Become of This World?

[Retrieving memories from the last six months. Processing…]

The last few words of the system left me stunned. Did something really happen while I was asleep?

[Replaying Memory…]

Toni froze again and the scene around me began to change. I was now "floating" in the system space where we would cultivate. In front of me was another version of me who was floating. I approached the other me and began to observe him.

His eyes were wide open while it was shining brightly while it displayed somewhat a code like system. It was as if his eyes had turned into a screen. He was floating while laying down as if someone was pulling his chest causing him to float. Above him was a set of lights glowing. There were a total of 32 lights that were floating now, and they were connecting to each other in rather an abnormal pace for someone who is cultivating.

[This is a memory of the host while the host was in stasis. The host was able to connect all the lights and was able to progress up to the Silver Layer. The host stopped cultivating up to the 5th light of the Silver Layer due to an error.]

Error? What error? Could it be when I woke up, it caused an error?

[Affirmative]

That would explain why I was able to rapidly progress even if I was still in a coma. But what made me do an automatic cultivation? I've never heard of someone in the previous jumps who was able to cultivate while they were asleep. How is this possible?

[The system was able to make a concluded analysis that the host would not be able to cultivate after the meltdown. Therefore, the system made adjustments and made the necessary procedures without the host's consent.]

Even if you say that. As far as I know, the system would come online once the host has reached the Gold layer. Am I right?

[The host is correct.]

But earlier you said that I was currently at the Gold layer. But based on the memory, I only achieved up to Silver layer because I woke up. Did you happen to make a mistake?

There was no response. The scene slowly returned back to normal. I could now see Toni again as the system world slowly disappeared. Suddenly a voice rang in my head.

[The host is currently in the Silver layer, but due to the multiple jumps that were previously made, the host has maintained a Gold layer mind.]

A Gold layer mind?! How is that possible?

[Information cannot be retrieved. Restricted Data access]

Information can't be retrieved? Restricted Data access? What does that mean?

[Information cannot be retrieved. Restricted Data access. The system suggests that the host would earn blood points or eliminate decay and beasts to retrieve data.]

Fine! There's no other way anyway. By the way, is there a way to see my status information?

[The host can access the information by saying "Status Window"]

Really? It was that Simple? Geez…

"Status Window!" I exclaimed.

Right in front of me was a window with my information on it. It was colored blue and was somewhat hollow that the other side could be seen. The information states…

Name: Paradox

Gender: Male

Shard Color: Blue

Main Weapon: Long Katana

Special Skill: Lightning Manipulation

Attained Skills: Enhanced Speed

Mega Skill: Time Stasis

Strength: 1/10

Speed: 1/10

Accuracy: 1/10

Durability: 0/10

Blood Points: -50

So in this jump, my main weapon is still a katana. This has been my weapon in the past few jumps so I was able to master it. It might seem like a cliché weapon to have or it may be somewhat useless against guns, but its versatility makes its moves impossible to predict. I just have to increase my Speed and Accuracy. That would make me dodge and parry bullets that were aimed towards me.

Because I've achieved lightning manipulation, I can control my speed and make myself move faster. That explains why I could move fast enough to stop the beasts from months ago. But since I have 0/10 durability, it backfired and made me lose control. That was the cause of the meltdown. I'd better kill some zombies soon and earn some blood points.

By the way? What the heck?

-50 Blood points? The system must have used some of the blood points to keep me alive.

50 huh? That much?

Well I've learned my lesson. I need to increase my durability first before other attributes.

Mega skill… Time Stasis. This must be what happened earlier. It makes things around me move at a slower rate making it seemed like I'm stopping time.

Well I guess that's it for now.

First things first…

I need to know the situation outside. To earn blood points, I need to kill some zombies or animals that have mutated, but I need to know as to what they look like now. Six months? A lot could happen within that time span. We might not feel it down here since were safe in the bunker and we have everything we need, but it might be different for the rest of the world.

"Paradox!"

"Hmmm?"

I completely forgot. Toni was still under me. And she was now blushing.

"Are you going to stay there forever or what?" She said as she averted her gaze.

I could feel my ears heat up as I blushed as well. I quickly jumped off of her and looked away.

"So you're not going to tell me anything?" She tried to ask again but this time, she was much calmer.

I thought about it and decided what I should say.

"I'm already at the Silver Layer. I don't know how. But I believe it was because of what happened six months ago." I lied.

I can't tell her everything for now. Lying is something that I really don't want to do. But for now, this is necessary.

"I see. Well, that's good to know."

There was a few seconds of silence before she asked me to go back with her to the dining room. I was happy to oblige and was relieved that she didn't pursue the matter any longer. But knowing Toni, this wasn't the end of this conversation. She was definitely much smarter than this. Why do I think so? I definitely know so! She commanded her own team in one of our previous jumps and she was known as the "Prophetic Strategist". Why? Because she can predict the enemy's movements before they could even think of doing it. She was always a hundred steps ahead of anyone. It even scared people from our side of the team.

But I'm glad that she won't be asking me about it for now. Which was definitely fine with me.

We soon arrived at the dining hall and was greeted by Grimm, Kaizer and Fairy.

"Hey guys! We were just talking about you." Grimm said

"Yeah, Grimm and Ash just recently broke through the Gold Layer. While the rest are in the Silver Layer." Kaizer explained.

"We were just curious as to what you guys might be planning." Fairy explained.

Toni looked at me and I gave her a nod. She then starts explaining what happened. She also told them that I was already in the Silver layer and the possibility that there was more that we don't know about. This woman really is a detective. She could smell the trail easily. The rest of them were just agreeing and were not that surprised either.

"Well that makes sense. It would be impossible for one to jump directly to another layer without cultivation. That's totally unheard of in the previous jumps. Unless you're right about this Toni. There might be something that we are missing here." Fairy said.

We continued to debate and formulate our own theories about what really happened. Only I knew the truth. But that's probably not important for now. I'll slowly get to the bottom of this soon. For now, there were other things that were much more important than this.

"Hey… so, I wanted to ask about something…" I tried changing the subject. They were now focused on me. Kai gave me a deep nod. Everyone is now looking at me as if they were asking "Why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Even Fairy and Toni giggled.

"In the last six months, did you guys try to go outside? Or even go to the mainland and check on how things were?" I inquired.

Everybody went silent and are now serious. They all looked at Toni as if they were trying to push her to speak for them. She sighed before she started explaining.

Apparently, during the first month of their stay, they were focused on taking care of me and familiarizing themselves with the bunker. First, they were starting to worry since I wasn't awake yet. And second, the bunker was too wide to explore in just a week or two. The supplies were unlimited so they had no problems with food, water, clothing and other necessities. After assuring everyone that it was safe, they started to focus on cultivating while they also took turns in taking care of me.

It took them three months to cultivate up to the Bronze layer. While the rest were still at the Iron layer. They decided to check the perimeter since it's been months since they saw the world and was somehow in need of fresh air. They formed a group of only Bronze layer cultivators since they didn't know what the dangers were. The group consisted of Kaizer, Fairy, Jaden, Nine, and Grimm while the rest stayed behind just in case.

They already scouted a kilometer of the perimeter in just a week. Everything was peaceful… or so they thought. It was their second week of patrol over the area to check if there were animals that could easily be hunted. Grimm and Fairy spotted a group of low-tiered deer in the forest northeast of the bunker. They decided to call over Ash and Toni to help them hunt them down for meat. They were already longing for meat since the bunker only had artificial food.

So they attacked…

After finishing the herd of deer. They started chopping down the deer and gathered their meet not knowing what trouble they had caused.

A growl was heard from the hills beside them. There were three silhouettes of giant beasts. It stood tall and it was observing them. Soon these beasts rushed to where they were with such amazing speed. Terrified, everyone fled to the nearest forest and tried to hide. They climbed on to one of the large trees and stayed quiet. Soon these beasts could be heard as they drew near. When they tried to look and see what kind of beasts they were, they were shocked to see that they were all Stags. Three giant stags the size of a school bus. They were high-tiered beasts. Two of these animals had something on its jaws. It was a giant bear. These creatures were out hunting for their herd.

They waited for the stags to leave before heading back to the bunker. But on the way, they were spotted by the stags and were chased. The good news was, they were able to escape but in the process, these animals found our hideout and destroyed our jet. We now had no means to escape this place.

"So that's what happened…" I pondered for a while.

"What has become of this world? It won't be long before a king-tiered beast would appear. Did you guys encounter any zombies along the way?" I asked

"So far, we only encountered 1st grade zombies and nothing else. Most of them were probably killed by the cold or were eaten by the beasts." Grimm tried to rationalize.

"We should see what's going on in the mainland. Besides, we need to know what's going on. We need to find my parents." I said before facing Grimm. "Our parents Grimm."

Grimm gave me a smile before nodding.

"We need to find the rest of the team as well. Who knows what happened to them." Kaizer said.

We now had a goal.

Fairy then retorted, "Haven't you guys been paying attention? The plane was destroyed by those beasts, how do we get to the mainland?"

I thought for a while and then asked, "Was the damage that bad?"

"Not really, only the back of the plane was blown apart. The crack on the right wing can still be fixed." Toni reported.

"Kai? Can you and Nine fix the damages?" I asked

"Of course! But with those things out there, it would be a miracle to be able to fix it without being eaten alive or to be stomped to death." Kaizer reasoned out.

I tried to formulate a plan. We have to get out of here for the mean time and search for data regarding the death of the moon.

Then I remembered something my father once told me. "In order to see what's not there. You have to see things in a different angle. There will always be something that the human eye will miss."

Always something that the human eye will miss, right dad?

"Are you sure you guys checked every place in the bunker?" I inquired.

"There were rooms that were locked so we couldn't totally check everything. We probably only explored 70% of the bunker." Kai explained.

70%? So there was still 30% more to check out?

I broke into a smile.

Toni and Fairy must have noticed me grinning and was curious as to what was going on.

"Paradox? What are you… planning to do?" Fairy asked in a curious tone.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed out loud.

High-tiered beasts? A plane that was destroyed? Would this stop me from achieving my goal? Definitely not! Even if the sky was falling, I'd still fight it! If I remember correctly, Father left something important in this bunker and that would help us turn the tide. Let's see who's high-tiered when I open one of these rooms!

"Paradox? What's going on? What are you planning?" Toni asked worriedly

I smiled towards the ceiling and chuckled. I then breathed in a large amount of air before releasing it all out in one go before saying…

"Planning? HAH! There's so much to do! Everyone! Prepare your gears!"

I went to the door and opened it and said,

"We're going hunting!"

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