2nd Day, 1st Month, 715th Year of Doomsday Century.
In this place they called earth, is no longer what it used to be. Record says that before the 1st Day, 1st Month, 1st Year of the Doomsday Century, humanity thrives all over this so-called planet, with billions of people staying across the globe.
But everything changed when the Crack of Elon came into this world. Monsters poured into the world ferociously to start slaughtering the humans. Came in different sizes, shape, and intelligence, they overcome humanity with explosive, tanks, jet fighters, and even Nuclear Missiles.
This is when humanity begins to collapse. Millions of people slaughtered by the first batch of monsters came from the Crack of Elon. Bearing a feature of a Rock Dragon with a hammer shape tail, the monsters exhaust themselves like a living demolisher, destroying houses, high rises building, and even army camps.
Already difficult to handle the threat from the first batch of monsters from the Crack of Elon, the second group came. Werewolves. That's what we call them. Infectious Claws, Sharp Jaws, and agile. They assume at least a hundred thousands of these werewolves invade the earth. With a thorough swipe across every continent, they slaughter 99% of the human population.
After the first two batches came, humanity is gone. The earth belonged to the Crack of Elon from that day. Things happened. Different monsters came to do different things. After many hundred years of struggling and escaping from the pursuit, the earth changed to something different.
She returned to how the wilderness looks like. and if the satellite still able to capture the image from the space, the Earth transformed. Volcanic Activity, Earthquakes, and Platelets Movement. Everything happened at the same time to remodel the earth until how it was now.
Now, we no longer call this place "Earth" but instead, we call them "Planet Elon" from the first day of the Doomsday Century.
"Remember the thing I taught you, and return to your tent! On the 30th morning, we will go outside of the fortress to learn how to hunt monsters!" a middle-aged man finishes his sentence before he allowed the students in his class to leave.
"Class is over! Quickly! Let us go to the Monster Cage and see how Thunder fights!" one of the students said as he rushes to the rope leading down from where their classroom is located. Following his footsteps, the group of twenty students quickly left, with one exception.
He took his time to pack some little tools on the table and gave his teacher a bow before leaving. While the others are sliding down the rope with both hands, he only needs one. Furthermore, the way he looks carries a hint of killing intent.
"Technos." one student called his name.
"What?" he replied in an outspoken manner.
"Are you going out to hunt the monster again?" the student questioned him out of worry.
"Yes. My family is different like yours. If I don't hunt, my parents will stay hungry for the night." Technos did not bother to stand there and talk. He replied as he left, and gone next moment he finishes his reply.
"You're always like this!!!" the student stomp her feet on the ground to express her dissatisfaction. Swallowing the mouthful of anger, she left the spot and returned to her home.
Above them, their teacher is looking at the two as they went on their own way. He clicked his tongue for a few times in disappointment but bother not to mediates the situation.
"Kid, it is unfortunate that you belong to the Outer Fortress Society. As the weakest society in our Dominus Fortress, your future is at most becoming a Hunting Leader when you graduate." the teacher sigh... Looking at the mature and decisive youth, he felt a hint of a waste of talent because of the Society differences.
Dominus Fortress.
This is also known as the final stronghold of humanity, where it already stands strong against monsters came from the Crack of Elon from the first day of Doomsday Century.
Inside here, five different Social Hierarchy exists to differentiate them from one another. Starting from the lowest social status, the Outer Fortress Society. Those belonged to this social hierarchy are likely the sentenced prisoner, Slave, Prostitute, and even Waste Cleaner.
They're bound to the rule to serve those above them and does their bidding without asking for the reason. This is also why Technos's parents are no longer behave like normal parents, but more like a mentally ill patient.
His father is thrown into the wild with nineteen other people from the Outer Fortress Society to provide amusement to those one Social Hierarchy higher than them. Fighting the monsters from Crack of Elon with bare hands, never mention twenty lives, even two hundred may not be enough.
In the end, his father survived, but losing three of his four limbs as the results for him to carry on with his pitiful life. His mother is even worst. She was ordered to be a servant of an established family belonged to the Inner Fortress Society. At the end up that day, she was raped, tortured, parade all over the Inner Dominus Fortress before she was thrown into prison.
Inside there, she was treated as a plaything for the prisoner for three months. Now, what's left inside her is only the empty body, void of soul. If Technos forget to chain his mother on her bed, she'll run naked across the Outer Dominus Fortress.
As for the remaining three Upper Social Hierarchy, they're much more difficult to be seen due to the vast differences in their status. They're respectively known as;
Upper Fortress Society
Elite Fortress Society
Imperial Fortress Society
Living in the Outer Dominus Fortress, his distance between the safe zone and danger zone is just a 1-meter thick Fortress Wall. Plus, in between the erected walls, a small opening gap is left on purpose to ease the resident of the Fortress to come in and out.
Armed with a dagger where's the blade is similar to a claw of a monster, Technos crawl through the gap and went outside of the fortress. The way he did all these actions is extremely proficient, and that's especially so because of his family situation.
He left quickly. Arming himself with the dagger in hand, Technos entered the forest grown with plenty of wild plants. Seven hundred years after the beginning of the Doomsday Century, the vegetation changed. Most of the plants are now different from how they look previously.
"Kruk..." a raptor-like monster walked freely with its two legs and taking a bite on those fruits grown on a plant similar to how a pineapple grow. They call it the Ruby Fruit Tree, which harmful for a human to eat. Accidently consume the Ruby Fruit will cause the stomach and inner organs of a human to bleed, before they're dead with bleeding in all seven orifices.
"My luck is satisfying!" Technos sneak closer to a Ruby Fruit Tree which the monster is coming to eat it soon. Happily, he pointed the dagger outwards just below the Ruby Fruit because this position allows him to reach the monster's neck without a problem.
Red Ruby Lizard. They name it as such due to the red shining scales that can be used as wound mending concoction when grounded and mixed with their blood, and also because it's nature of looking for Ruby Fruit to eat.
"Kruk!" the Red Ruby Lizard took a bite on the fruit where Technos hides his blade. In that instance, he attacked. The blade penetrates the skin into the flesh of the monster.
Screaming and roaring with a youth hugging its body, the Red Ruby Lizard fell on the ground and struggles for a minute more before its completely dead.
He took out a bottle made from a mixture of something called plastic to fill the blood of the Red Ruby Lizard. Following next, he took a different blade with the shape of a garden rake to remove the scales from the monster before filleting the monster's edible flesh.
Packing all the usable materials in his back, Technos left after he throws the carcass into an ugly but useful plant. They call that the recycling plant because of its diet. Be it trash, waste, or even rotten meat, the plant happily eats them.
Calling that as a day, Technos stopped hunting for monsters. He searched for the some Green Crystal Herb along his way back home and collected three stalks of the herb before he crawled through the gap and entered the Dominus Fortress.
Using the available tool inside his home, he grounded the Green Crystal herbs into three sachets of Green Crystal Powder for consumption. The Green Crystal Powder's ability is well known to recover exhausted stamina and removes fatigue when taken, with a limit of three portions each day.
As for the Ruby Lizard Paste, they're capable of recovering any serious wound due to external attack. A regular sized Red Ruby Lizard is capable of providing between 5 to 6 units of the paste, but the number still depends on the maker's skill.
"Mother..." Technos attend his mother's need first. He first feeds her with a bowl of soup full of the nutrition from the meat belonged to the Red Ruby Lizard before giving her a bite on the softened piece of meat. Although they're the lowest grade of meat one can get surrounding the Domnus Fortress, it's still a piece of meat at the end of the day.
With his mother stomach is filled, Technos went to his father. Similarly, he fed the same thing to his father before he lit a roll of crushed leaves wrapped in a piece of soft inner bark. This is also a commodity that only can be obtained from the hand of the hunters.
They're worthless because the quality is a tenth compared to the high-quality tobacco leaves. But still, these kinds of a Lower-Grade replacement for some day to day commodities are in high demand, because of the addictiveness when one started to smoke them.
As both of his parents won't be living too long because of their health condition, all he can do is only repaying them for bringing him into this world. Although they weren't perfect parents to begin, they're responsible. This fact alone made him willing to sacrifice those few years of his life to return everything to them.
29th Day, 1st Month, 715 Doomsday Century.
A youth is busy digging a grave that is wide and deep enough to fit his deceased parents. Just 27 days later, his parents passed away. Their reason for death? Natural course. His mother's mental condition finally took her away from her child in one morning, With his father giving no reaction at the other end.
Like they planned it together for long, the day the two of them left the world is precisely one day before their child followed his class to went outside of the Dominus Fortress to learn about hunting! Since they're gone from his life, Technos is now no longer needed to felt responsible for his parents.
He's now a free man himself, allowed and capable of deciding what kind of path he will take for his own future. Sleeping until the next morning, Technos left his home along with a hundred sachets of Green Crystal Powders and fifty wrappers with Ruby Lizard Paste.
Armed on his both side of the waist, Technos brings two daggers into battle, along with a ball of fired clay filled with some devastating material hidden within. He reached the entrance where everyone gathered before they step outside of the Dominus Fortress.
As most of them in the class belonged to the Outer and Inner Fortress Society, their group of thirty students is split into a team of 20 and a team of 10. Of course, the latter team is the one with better social status and also better numbers of prepared tool and material.
"We will leave now. Every student will have to bring back at least five Red Ruby Lizard to graduates from this lesson. Remember that if you fail to meet your objective, you will be expelled!" the teacher explained the test and its condition to pass before leading his students and teach them how to hunt.
Facing a lonely Red Ruby Lizard idling on a patch of grasses, their teacher throws a dagger straight on the underarm of the beast to leave it struggles on the ground. With a swift attack, he cut open the Red Ruby Lizard with a strike and begin to teach them how to remove and collect their parts.
With a demonstration is completed, the teacher waved his hand and ordered the students to proceed with their own hunt! This will be their first mission before graduation!
"The hunting of Red Ruby Lizard!"
-
-
-
-
-
[Author's Note]
First of all, I feel thankful for your considerate time to read this new novel of mine. It was shorter compared to my [Transmigration Upgrade Specialist] work, but here I am, putting all my effort to create another new piece of work.
So, sit back, enjoy, comment, and do let me know how does it go! I will try my best to update over 7 chapters at least until the end of the week, and anything more than that will be the first and foremost bonus for your time to read my work!
In case you're asking about where did the idea come from, let's say, too much Zelda, Monster Hunter World, and Dark Souls made me come out with this!