Eternal Battlefield?
As the white light retreated a dark space appeared before Noah. He imagined this is what it would feel like to stand in empty space. He couldn't move rather he felt like he didn't have a body to move either.
'Where's Alice? She's not with me.'
As Noah worried a light blue holographic screen appeared again.
[Loading...]
[Analyzing Race...]
[Race Determined: Human (Eternal Tower Ranking- 97)
[Hello, Human I'm System]
[I am an S.A.I (Supreme Artificial Intelligence) and have the duty of assisting all Highly intelligent Races in the Eternal Battlefield]
[First, we must enhance your body]
[Mana Refinement Starting...]
[1%... 3%... 5%... 8%...]
Soon another screen popped up over the loading bar.
[List of Traits:]
[Insomnia]
[Emotionless]
[Charming]
[Ambidextrous]
[Murderer]
[Hero]
[Daredevil]
[Explorer]
[Choosing 3 Randomly...]
[ 'Ambidextrous', 'Insomnia', 'Explorer' have been chosen]
[You shall be given a skill]
[Given skill 'Flash Step']
Noah simply watched as the screens continued to process his information. He didn't understand much as they appeared.
[Mana Refinement... 78%]
[Allocated Mana pool at 0% capacity]
[Incomplete Awakening of Talents...]
[Awakened Talents:]
[Guardian of Love (C++ Class): You are the protector of your love. You and her are connected by the red string of destiny. Your heart and mind only has room for her and blocks all illusions. When your lover is in mortal danger all your attributes increase by 100%.]
[Blessed Mind (A+ Class): Born with high intelligence and genius thinking you are able to understand all things quickly. You are able to break free from the restrictions of skills.]
[Truth Seeker (E Class): You have honed your inborn instincts to an outstanding degree allowing you to easily differentiate between true and false.]
[Spatial Sense (A Class): You have a high understanding of space, and extraordinary spatial awareness.]
[Genius Martial Combat Body (D+-Class): A special talent forged by the combination of mastering many combat styles and unique body structure. Allowing you to easily practice physical skills. You have enhanced regenerative properties and only need to sleep for one hour a day to fully recover.]
As Noah was reading another screen emerged.
[Initiating Teleportation...]
With it large chunks of information
[You are entering the Eternal Battlefield. An infinitely large spatial zone, home to countless races. You will appear in Protected Zone #6083781]
[Task given to all inhabitants of the Eternal Battlefield: Climb the Eternal Tower]
[As you are entering through an Access Point, you will only be able to return after seven days.]
[You are being teleported]
With another flash of white light, Noah appeared in a room. It was a bedroom with wooden walls. It was cosy and seemed like a classic hotel room.
He was used to spending time in VR so he adapted to the situation quickly. He didn't bother thinking about all the information he had gotten in that dark space rather he wanted to find Alice as quickly as possible.
Noah looked around and then ran out. He saw four other rooms he quickly entered the door opposite.
He saw Alice fallen onto the floor. He swiftly picked her up and set her on the bed. He then finally noticed that they weren't wearing clothes. He was wearing his underwear while Alice was just wearing his jacket. He looked around the room and then moved the wardrobe to see if it had clothes inside.
The wardrobe was filled with clothes he quickly picked out the clothes and set them next to Alice. He then walked to a door that looked like it was for a bathroom, and it was. He checked if the taps worked.
"Do you want to take a bath? It looks like they have everything in the bathroom already."
Noah helped Alice to the bathroom and set up the bath. He then went for a shower himself in the bathroom of the room he had appeared in. He then wore a white T-shirt and black pants.
After checking that Alice was still fine. He went around to check the house. On the floor he was on, he saw that it only had five rooms and stairs leading down. He checked if any of the other doors opened but they were locked.
He then went down the stairs to the ground floor. Here he found a central living room, a dining room and a kitchen.
Noah looked around and saw that everything was furnished. He entered the kitchen and saw that it was fully stocked with all types of ingredients and utensils.
Seeing this he was quite shocked, but after checking that the ingredients were safe to eat he quickly whipped some sandwiches, a salad and poured two glasses of juice. While doing this he also set up a soup on the stove to cook.
He went back up into Alice's room and saw her drying her hair. Noah sat down next to her took the towel and handed her a sandwich. They hadn't eaten properly for the last two days.
"Luckily they had ingredients, so I made something to eat."
Alice silently munched on the sandwich. Her cheeks filled up like a hamster as she chewed. He smiled as he dried her hair. She then picked up the glass of juice with both hands and chugged it down.
Although she tried not to show it, Noah could tell she quite liked it.
"So it seems that we have been teleported and trapped in this world for seven days. What do you think we should do?"
There was a door that let them outside the house and from what Noah saw through the windows walking around the house. It looked like they were in an empty town or city since he saw other houses and buildings outside, but no people.
"I will sleep," Alice answered while looking on the big comfortable bed.
Noah was relieved that she finally responded. He was making progress. "I saw a bookshelf downstairs, should I bring some books up for you to read?"
"Okay." Alice laid back on the bed, it was so much more comfortable than the hard ground she had been sleeping on. She wrapped herself in a ball and fell asleep.
Noah picked up the tray, with the glass and plate and went down. After keeping it in the kitchen he scans the books on the bookshelf. He quickly found a common theme. They all were related to introducing you to the world. There were even multiple books on the same topic by different authors.
Flipping through them Noah picked out two books for Alice. He went back up and kept the books on a side table for her to read later.
He then picked up one of the books and started reading while sitting on a chair in Alice's room. While reading he went back and forth from the kitchen to finish the soup and even decided to bake muffins.
When it got dark and Alice woke up. Still drowsy, she looked around Noah got her a cool glass of water. She simply drank the water, saw the book and picked it up. She then started reading it under the light of a lamp.
Noah went and brought dinner for and left the tray with her.
The two spent their time reading.
Noah finished the book and started to digest what he had read. It was a lot to take in. The book raised more questions than it had answers, leaving him more confused.
'This world is similar to VR MMORPGs, in how it has skills, magic and dungeons. And the place where we 'teleported' is like a beginner zone, a subspace, and it isn't the actual eternal battlefield only after clearing it can we enter the actual eternal battlefield. '
Noah closed his eyes as he put his head against the chair.
'Apparently, this place is like some black hole that devours universes. It's currently in the process of devouring the universe we live in. Earth, which was the only place intelligent life was found is what's delaying the process.
'This 'devouring' process, consists of first sending waves of this special energy called mana to earth. With each wave, some people will be brought to the eternal battlefield in their sleep, eventually bringing the whole race.'
'This is where Alice and I differentiate from the rest of the population. We entered through an Access point which is not only extremely rare has a different process of entering the eternal battlefield. Unlike the normal method of coming here, during a mana wave, where the system already prepares in advance by forming a duplicate body for people to transfer into here, allowing them to awaken here whenever they go to sleep. Entering from an access point allows you to enter whenever you want, it just has a buffer period where you have to stay in the eternal battlefield until your duplicate body is completed.'
'That's why we will only be able to leave after seven days.'
'From what I understand the waves of mana shouldn't cause any major changes, it's just that when the earth is saturated with mana it will be teleported here where it will combine with the subspace that we are in.'
'Overall, everything will be brought here. Life will be changing dramatically. This 'mana' is which allows the use of magic and what we consider supernatural will soon become normal.'
Noah looked at Alice and saw that she fell asleep again while reading. He understood she simply wasn't interested or motivated.
Noah got up and sat on the bed, he gently brushed off the hair covering Alice's face and gave her a peck on the forehead and whispered, "I'm sorry, I said I would be by your side, make you happy and protect you. I haven't been able to keep any of those promises. I know I'm being selfish by still wanting to be by your side, but please give me a chance."
Noah got up and left the room, he had long since decided he would never leave her and go over and beyond to keep this promise. The past couldn't be changed but the future was his to build. His path had long since been decided.