CHAPTER 1 : BABYLON [[[Not the same chapter]]]
CREAK!
Alex was running with all his might through the forest, he was wondering why half the forest was burning up, he thought if a monster was the cause of it, killing it would help him score some points in the 13-floor test.
He was right, the cause of the fire was a monster, one that he couldn't handle, so all that was left for him is to run for his life.
"Come on fuck**, play with me, entertain me more." Said the man while throwing what it seems like fireballs at Alex, he was seven feet tall, with long black hair reaching his shoulders, red skin covered in scales,and two horns that grow back.
'What the hell is wrong with this lunatic!!!, I just went to check the fire, and then he just pops up from nowhere and started chasing me .'
"Hey, why don't we stop this." replied Alex while dodging the fireballs."You already knocked several people down, so you should have met the requirements to pass the test, so why are you still doing chasing me? "
"HAHAHAHA, this is so much fun." The man kept throwing the fireballs without paying attention to what Alex was saying.
'This guy is not even listening to me, and the observer won't leave my side so I can't use my power properly either. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really miss school.'
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SIX MONTHS AGO,
"Good morning everyone, my name is MR.SMITH and I will be your history teacher for this year. In the previous years, you were taught about the great war:how it started, how it ended, and also some basic facts about Nexus and its structure." said the man while looking at his students who looked confused by the current situation, they were supposed to have a lecture on artificial intelligence today,but instead ended up with a middle-aged man claiming to be a teacher for a subject they haven't studied in years; some were humans, while others had more unique characteristics like wings on their backs,scales covering different parts of their bodies, tails , colored thick skin;the man noticing the tension in the class continued to speak. "From the look on your faces I can tell you're thinking something along the line of " what's up with this guy", or "what kinda nonsense this old man spotting ".I'm already aware that we are in the middle of the semester, but this was the decision of the ministry of education, since this year is special there has been a change in the curriculum ."
A boy sitting at the front table raised his hand, after the teacher gave him permission he started to speak " Sir, by saying a special year are you referring to the fact that Babylon is opening its door for the 3rd time in history ?"
"Yes that right, but before we start talking about Babylon and Nexus in general, if you have any questions, I hope you will ask them now."
"I'm sorry sir, "said a girl with black hair and red wings while feeling embarrassed " Are we going to be evaluated on this subject "
"Thank you for reminding me, this will be treated as an extra class,there will be no exams, but attendance is mandatory."Mr. Smith looked at the students faces filled with disappointment and said "I see that there aren't any other questions, so let's get started ."
Mr. Smith took an orb from his bag and put it on the floor , then a universe hologram appeared "As you already know ,each universe is estimated to contain billions of galaxies , so interactions between galaxies are quite common if one of the colliding galaxies is much larger the other ,it will remain largely intact and retain its shape,while the smaller galaxy will be stripped apart and become part of the large galaxy " Mr smith then proceed to touch the hologram , then he started zooming until 3 galaxies appeared " It all started when those three galaxies collided , under normal circumstances they should just have merged into a new brand galaxy , and that what actually happened , but a variable formed along the way , and it was we all live now: Nexus . At first , Nexus was considered an infinite space liking all the planets in the new galaxy , it was first discovered by the Sapientianns ,a race of scholars who dedicated their lives to uncovering the secrets of the universe and possessed high intelligence , long life spans, and most importantly a space attribute which allowed them to navigate through Nexus and confirm the existence of others life forms ."Mr smith started scanning the room when he noticed some of the students weren't paying attention to what he was saying , then pointed towards one of them.
" So then, you the kid with the glasses in the back, can you tell me what did the Sapientianns decided to do after that ? "
The boy's name was Luck : he had grey skin , black hair, and blue eyes .Luck's grandfather was a beastman , a killer whale to be precise,they possessed strong built ,dark grey hard skin and blue hair . After failing to reach Paradise ,he decided to settle down in area A where he met Luck's grandmother , and unlike luck who didn't manage to inherit any of his parents powers , his mother possessed incredible physical strength .Since Luck wasn't paying attention he was surprised by the teacher's question and started panicking before finally answering.
"Ehh, the Sapientianns decided to abandon their planet , and split up into delegations visiting different planets to share their knowledge and learn about other cultures in the process , but most the delegations end was tragic since they were either killed or enslaved by the inhabitants of each planet , while the lucky few were welcomed and considered guests on the remaining planets ."
Some of the students exclaimed with shock while others expressing didn't change only one of them was smirking ,his name was Alex ,he had sky blue hair ,pale skin , purple eyes and was Luck best friend 'You just wanted to make an example out of someone since many weren't paying attention , but why did you have to go and chose the smartest guy in class I wonder.
Mr. Smith started coughing to hide his embarrassment, the orb start showing different images each time Mr. Smith touched them ."Moving along,Sapientianns fate was tragic, but the issue was that after enslaving them , many species started invading other planets , while others started forming alliances or harvesting the minerals that formed inside Nexus ,minerals that we still depend on until today like Schwerelosigkeit , or Athrafstos and used them to develop airships and weapons.Even so, all of that was just the calm before the storm."The teacher posed before he kept talking ."Can someone tell me why it's called the great war? "
"Was it because the inhabitants of all the planets in the new galaxy took part without exception and that it lasted for 300 years ? " said the girl with red wings .
"That exactly right,we still don't have any recorded of what caused that war or how all the galaxy ended up fighting each other , but what we do know that is hundred of species went extinct and multiple planets were destroyed ,chaos , murder, betrayal, and genocide continued for hundreds of years until three mysterious beings appeared and stopped the war, they go by different names but most people call them the guardians of the galaxy ,so the guardians_____"
"Sorry for interrupting you sir , but could you please explain how did Nexus work and what was it exactly," said a boy with green skin
"I would appreciate it if you just raised your hand next time , but it good to ask questions."Replied the teacher then proceed to explain."How Nexus come to exist is still a mystery, but with the help of a Sapientian diary ,scientists managed to conclude that Nexus is a five-dimensional space , but what you need to know it's to move to another planet through Nexus you have to follow a certain path which will lead you to a fracture in space called a gate connected to the other planet ,it like using a portal without coordinates ,well according to the diary, one of the main reasons Sapientianns split to different groups was because millions of paths existed at that time ."
A screen appeared before Mr. Smith allowing him to change the hologram showed from the orb,then two holograms appeared next to each other, the one to the right of a man standing in front of a closed-door while on the left was the same man but this time around he was standing before a maze with multiple exits,the teacher pointed toward the one on the right , the door had a sign saying 'leading to area B'.
"Let's consider this door a portal , for this person to move from area A to area B , all he needs to do is to walk through the door,now the same person wants to go to area B but this time he needs to walk into this maze, without the maze layout , he could end up anywhere.In this case the maze in Nexus,so unless you possess a space or time attribute ,you will end up stuck in space until you die,or if you're extremely lucky you'll stumble across a gate "
BEEP;BEEP;BEEP;BEEP
Mr. Smith stopped the alarm , it signified the end of the first period."Alright then , let's take a 15-minute break and resume after that ."
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Fifteen minutes later , all of the students went back to their seats , during the break some stayed in the class playing games or exchanging small talks , while others left the room to get some fresh air or to buy a drink from the vending machines.
"Alright , seems everyone is here. "Mr. Smith finished checking the number of the students then resumed "As I was saying earlier , the guardians did manage to stop the war , but this isn't some kinda fairy tale , most species had already developed deep grudges against one another, while others simply enjoyed battles and war , of course, the weakest species welcomed the peace. So can anyone tell me how did the guardians stop the war ?"
Many students raised their hands and voiced their opinions , the teacher just kept listening to their answers.
"Maybe they were so powerful , the other species couldn't defy them"
"I believe they had some kind of charm or presence that made the others follow them, I mean they just appeared,stopped the war, and they vanished ."
Then Luck started speaking "It's possible that the guardians, presented them with something they couldn't refuse, a reward of a sort to stop the war, something that everyone no matter which planet they're from wanted ."
"That's something like that really exists."said a boy who looks like a human at first glance , but after further examination, you can notice his slit-like pupil,most students nodded in agreement with his statement.
"Well I guess that understandable ,being born and raised in ADLIG with all the privileges that this place has to offer it's hard to imagine something you really want or need that you can't access , I mean the average life expectancy here is eight hundred years , then only reason it's this low is that humans lifespan is shorter than other species ."
[[[[[Note : I know that life expectancy should be calculated for each race separately , but it's easiest this way ]]]]] Because the average life expectancy is eight hundred years mean that humans would live for at least six hundred years , while normal humans live up to 200 years, every citizen of Adlig lived a long time.Every area on the 51 floors is surrounded by a concealed barrier ,and an invisible artificial substance that flows through the surroundings like air is pumped regularly in different quantities in each area ,and it's called Hwallyeog or live energy , being exposed to a specific amount of Hwallyeog on daily basis can expand or double any specie lifespan ,and that one of the reasons people in the other area that get less life energy risk their life and enter Babylon .
Mr smith sighed then looked around the room."Please raise your hands if one or both parents were rankers."Seven students went and raised their hands including Alex."Now raise your hands if one or both your grandparents were rankers."This time fourteen raised their hands, the class was composed of 55 students,Mr smith grandfather was also a ranker, so he always heard stories about his grandpa adventures good ones bad and tragic ,people with ranker in their families tend to value life more than others because they know what their family members went to for them to enjoy this luxurious life.
"I understand now, I assume most of you heard stories about ranker and admires them and their powers ,but each story has a dark side and I believe that those who raised their hands are more familiars with those aspects."The teacher started coughing then continued speaking .
"It seems like we drifted from our lesson, so I was saying that the galaxy was at war, all the species had something in common , the fear of death,something that most of you don't seem to feel ,or even think about , so the guardians offered them a chance to obtain eternal life."Mr. Smith looked at some of the students who looked surprised.
"I don't understand why some of you looked surprised ,did you think that Paradise existed out of nowhere?"The teacher who was enjoying the students' reactions continued to speak ."Actually, the fact that their planets were no longer habitable, or that their resources will be depleted in a couple of years played a part in their decision. "
The girl with green skin asked permission to speak and said "Excuse me, sir, how did the guardians decide which races will be granted eternal life?"
"That the neat part ,they didn't."Paused the teacher before further explaining "Each planet had to choose a group of people as representatives , and the inhabitant had to offer their planet as a fee to participate , two of the guardians used the planets and other materials to create what we call Babylon , while the other one is said to create the system used inside Babylon called Pandora .Those representative were called the chosen ones , they had to pass 100 trials, for planet inhabitants to earn eternal life just one chosen person had to pass the 100 trials,so it wasn't strange for chosen ones from different planets to form teams.The 51 floor was originally a place meant for those whose chosen ones failed or gave up on the trails ,as for those who completed the 100 trails they were gifted Paradise , it's occupied a third of the space inside Nexus , and it's rich with Sinlyeog , and guess you know already know the rest, after that administration bureau was formed , and Nexus became what it is today." Mr. Smith then looked at his watch and spoke.
"I guess that is for today , next week we will discuss in detail different eras, I hope you have a good day ." Students started to chatter , and the teacher started heading out before looking back and stopped."Ah, before I forget, someone from the administration bureau will be dropping by this afternoon."
"I was hoping to skip school after this , but I suppose someone from the bureau will have some important staff to say " Said Alex while picking his backpack.
"Lest's head to the cafeteria first , I don't feel like waiting in line again. "Replied Luck.
"Anyway , that was boring even you weren't paying attention during class"Alex scoffed at Luck then started running through the hallway.
"Wait slow down a bit "Said Luck while lagging behind Alex ,after caching up he resumed speaking.
"At least I wasn't spacing out during the whole thing , actually I found the second half really interesting."
"It's not like you didn't know some of the stuff already," Alex said while smirking. "You know what I find interesting? the fact that you can't keep up with me." Then Alex starting laughing and running again all was left was Luck trying to follow him with teary eyes.