Chapter 21

It was sad to stay all alone in a room. However, it felt pretty good too. After running around all this time, a bit of rest is not that bad. I stayed in bed for about an hour, thinking about life and the experience in the void of darkness. I could remember all that happened inside that dream. My body shivered. For so long, I have been in there. If my mind didn't fuse with the darkness, I would have become crazy by now. Perception of time got slower at the end of the dream. I wanted to know why that happened to me.

I remember listening to a song. But the crux of the problem lay in me.

"System, why did I fall unconscious that time?" I hope the system has an answer.

"For a classified reason, Program E192 became more inclined to dark magic. The mental attack this time triggered the darkness inside program E192. Program E192 will be able to use dark attribute system and non-system abilities in the future."

Dark magic! Such things, evil things probably. Maybe there's nothing evil. No abilities can or should be considered evil unless the method of gaining that ability is evil. Except that, most of the time, it should be the user who is evil, not the ability itself.

I wonder what dark magic will bring to me. Even with strong enough physical prowess, I will have to level up soon. With the current upgraded system, I should be able to become much stronger now. The thing about upgrading the system, it would have been great to upgrade it a few times now before I get more levels. Although the system's upgrade sounds so attractive, I am not a fan of losing my levels again.

I sighed. Got up from the bed. I needed to look around the place where I was in. The room I was in was neat and clean. Not even a speck of dust. Either this place was as clean as it was before we came in, or the girls cleaned it. The first one is more likely, and I doubt those useless girls would be able to do anything useful.

I stretched my body a few times. The bones felt like they gave up for good. Come on! I was resting, not dead. The joints felt odd, but they were working. Ignoring the stiffness, I walked to the door and opened it. It was a corridor that I walked into. What hit me first was how clean the place was. This was nothing of awe in the days of the past, but now? It was a sight to see. You could see small paintings or photographs of landscapes on white walls without any stains after some calculated intervals. This all seemed nice and tidy I felt good. But at the same time, it also felt odd. How the hell the mist didn't ruin this place?

I wondered as I walked into a living room. It felt like a dream, to be honest. How in the world has this place stayed the same as before? The TV was running. I could see the back of a head peeking from the sofa. Looked like Dana.

"Dana?" I called.

She looked back, surprised. Worried. Happy. Crying. All these emotions came one after another to her face. "You are awake!" She nodded her head as she whispered, "Good! Good!"

"Where are we?" I asked the most obvious question.

"This is the place Martha asked us to find." She pointed her hands around. She looked at my surprised face and smiled, "We were as surprised as you are now. Lucy said, this area is claimed by someone very powerful, which is why the mist doesn't invade here."

"Claimed?" I didn't understand the meaning of what she just said.

"Yes, have you ever seen the mist entering a room even with the doors opened?"

I shook my head.

"Lucy said that's because the mist cannot go to a claimed space. Or a space that belongs to someone else. It can ruin the place, though, with time. But this place is different. She said a very powerful person built this place and claimed it from the earth. Which is why the mist cannot enter."

"Ohh." I understood some of what she just said. I could guess the parts which I think even she doesn't understand. "Where are others?"

"Everyone is on the outside!" Dana waved her hand at me to follow her.

I did, and soon she had me walk out of the house, which looked like a palace when I looked back at it. I wonder what Lucy meant, "Powerful Person." I can guess it wouldn't be someone with a lot of power in the sense of the old world. But in the sense of the current world. But for there to be someone who can be considered "Powerful" by Lucy in the old world made me feel empty all of a sudden. What I know about this world is not enough to scratch the surface.

We walked a few more minutes through a field of slopes and highs, just like what you used to see on a golf course. The uninfected area seemed huge. I could see the wall of this territory, and it was tall and seemed thick as well. There were barbed wires on top of it, and in the inside portion of the wall, there was a platform that looked like it was for guards to keep a lookout from the top of the wall. I could see a few faraway buildings; whatever I could manage to see from behind this tall wall was ruined. I guess the contrast would be even sharper from the top of the wall.

Being able to claim a space even from the planet itself! It is a neat skill. I wonder when I will be able to claim space myself.

Soon after walking a few more moments, I could see another small building in the front. I could see parts of a swimming pool from where I was. My heart skipped a beat. But I couldn't help but smile after watching Dana getting slightly excited as we got closer to the compound.