With that thought, Noah dived into the water and opened his eyes to look around. A few meters below the surface, he saw the class mentor's body struggling to swim. Letting go of the wooden board, he dived right after and hurried to her aid.
Luckily, his father taught him how to swim before he left them. After a few moments, Noah resurfaced and headed toward the boat where everyone has already boarded.
Alfred extended his hand to grab Jay onboard while Ella extended her hand toward Noah and shouted. "Grab on!"
"Help Jay to regain consciousness! I can climb by myself!" Anxious, Noah ignored Ella's hand and grabbed into the metal railway of the boat.
Seeing this, Ella's expression grew darker and she turned around to talk to check on her friend Olivia.
As he was trying to get onboard, another explosion sent a shockwave pushing the boat. In the process, Noah was hit in the head by the railway and fainted. He was thrown in the water once again.
"Noah!" Alfred was barely able to hang on as he was already on the ground trying to save Jay with the staff. Seeing Noah fall into the water, he ran and dived straight into the water. The rest of the group were disoriented and didn't move as they hid fearing another explosion.
…
Slowly, Noah began to feel the light shining on his face. Furthermore, his nose twitched at the smell of sterilizers signifying his whereabouts. With difficulty, he opened his eyes to a white colored ceiling. He was in a hospital bed.
"Ugh…" Noah tried to lift his upper body but a headache assaulted him. With pain coursing through him, he looked around. He was in a large room with six beds including his. Furthermore, doctors and nurses were running back and forth resulting in a chaotic situation.
Noah could see patients all around and some had light injuries and some even lost a limb. The whole situation threw him into a whirl of confusion as he couldn't remember what happened. Taking a deep breath, he started to recall the last thing he remembered.
As he started to remember his trip and the explosions, the door opened and a pair of doctor and nurse came in. Smiling, the female doctor came forward.
"Noah Ezra?"
"Yes? Ah, yes, that's my name…"
"Hello, I'm Doctor Liza, can you remember what happened?"
Noah began to retell his memories to the young doctor as she jolted down notes now and then. She also asked several questions about his health and body before informing him of what happened.
"You see… Two days ago, the whole world went throw a phenomenon where everything shut down. Thus…"
Listening to the doctor, Noah felt he was in a comedy show and was being pranked. However, the grim face the doctor made and the state the other patients were in proving otherwise.
Before leaving him, the doctor said that he can contact any relatives to pick him on his discharge. Luckily, he wasn't seriously injured and can leave in a couple of days.
…
Sitting on a bench in the hospital's garden, Noah let out a sigh he didn't know he held. He was an orphan, so he didn't need to worry about any family members. He only had to call his neighbor asking her to feed his kitten.
For the past couple of days, Noah's life was rough. He was having nightmares and seizures every time he slept and hallucinating while he was awake. Telling the doctors only made things as they sent him to the mental ward. It was a place where people didn't want to be in for it is a social stigma and uncomfortable place.
But even with the medication, they gave him, nothing worked. They didn't even know what he was suffering from. They thought it was some sort of PTSD, but it didn't seem like it. That's because the hallucination he had weren't of the incident, but a weird voice in his head talking every hour.
Opening his smartphone, he saw it was 6:11 PM. The sky had a hazy orange color chasing away the daylight as night slowly descended. But that wasn't it. The voice in his head talked every hour at minute 13. It has been going on for 4 days and now was something different was going to happen.
Waiting two minutes, Noah heard the voice again.
[Synchronization is now 100%]
'Is it finally going to disappear?' Noah couldn't help but be nervous. He thought he had to wait another hour before he can check if it disappeared or not.
[Synchronization is now complete. The system will now be installed. Until then, the host will lose consciousness.]
"Wait, wha–"
Noah's expectations were stepped on and the voice continued. Moreover, it didn't sound good. If he fainted now, the doctors were going to freak out again. Before he can continue his sentence, the world blacked out.
…
Jay was walking down the street when her phone rang. It was none other than Alfred, who told her the good news.
Alfred: We can visit him tomorrow.
Jay: Really? Did he get better?
Alfred: Idk, the doctors said he was now stable.
Jay: Okay, let's meet at 10:30 AM. Anyone else is coming?
Alfred: They said they were busy. But I doubt that ಠ_ಠ
Jay: Maybe they're just busy, let's go and see him for now. (｡>﹏<｡)
Alfred: Btw I heard he was admitted to the mental ward… Maybe that's why the rest… (¯―¯٥)
Jay paused at this message. Mental ward? She was now worried about Noah. Furthermore, she hoped this wouldn't affect his friendship with others. After finishing the conversation with Alfred, she went back home before heading to her room.
As she entered her room, she opened her laptop. However, when she touched it, a holographic panel appeared in front of her.
[Item name: Laptop.]
'Hah. Maybe I'm the one who's mentally ill…'
...
The next day, the two visited Noah but found out that he lost consciousness the day before and has yet to wake up. With that, they were bound to be disappointed. The doctors also told them that Noah was rather unstable and it would be best to leave him alone for now.
…
A week later.
'Hah, I'm finally free!' Noah almost burst out with tears of joy. He was finally able to convince the doctors that he was fine after a whole week. After he fainted that day, his symptoms and hallucinations stopped. Now, he was finally able to go back home to his lovely Cookie!
After taking a cab to the apartment complex he lived at, Noah hurried to skip the stairs to his apartment.
"Cookie, I'm home!"
Hearing slight movements, Noah was then able to see the black kitten he loved so much running toward him. It seemed his neighbor took good care of it as looked quite lively.
"Meow~"
Cookie walked around his legs as it rubbed her body against them. Noah felt warmth in his heart and he picked it up and hugged it.
After spending some time playing with Cookie, Noah left it sleeping on the couch before he opened his laptop. Although he just got out of the hospital, he needed to work since his savings were dwindling by the minute. He logged into his Stars account and browsed his Laborers Opportunities group chat. After finding a suitable job in a construction site, he signed himself up. As he was about to close the laptop and get some rest, Noah got a new message from the class mentor.
J.SleepyBook: Hey, you logged in from the hospital?
BlackCookie: No, I was discharged today. I'm at home now.
J.SleepyBook: You should've told me! Anyway, did you hear? School starts next week.
BlackCookie: It hasn't started yet? -.- And here I was thinking I got some time off~
J.SleepyBook: They postponed it because of the Blackout.
J.SleepyBook: Btw… I heard you were admitted to a mental ward?
J.SleepyBook: You might hear some ridicule from the others about it. Don't mind them.
BlackCookie: Idc tbh.
J.SleepyBook: Great. And are you seeing weird things?
Black Cookie: What? Wdym?
J.SleepyBook: Nvm, I'm sleeping. Night.
Noah was confused but wished her goodnight nonetheless. He was also kind of worried about school after he heard Jay's words. However, he also knew he'll deal with it when it comes. For now, he needed to get some sleep before work tomorrow. Since it was Friday, he can work for two days before Monday.
…
The next day, Noah took a shower after he came back from his work. He was exhausted but it was worth it since he got paid 100$ per day.
Picking up the remote control, Noah turned on the TV to watch some interesting shows. However, something else appeared before him. It was a red holographic panel.
[Trace System Installed. Welcome to the Beta User: Noah Ezra.]
[Notification: A Strength increase has been detected due to prolonged physical activity. Confirm?]
[Notification: A Stamina increase has been detected due to prolonged physical activity. Confirm?]
[Notification: A Willpower increase has been detected due to prolonged physical activity. Confirm?]
Noah stared blankly at the red holographic panels that appeared in front of him one after the other. Lifting the remote control, he pressed the Power Off button. As expected, the TV was turned off. However…
"What the…" Noah opened his eyes wide until they had an elliptic shape. He lifted his hand and tried to touch the holographic panel but his hand went through.
"Uh… Confirm." After a short though, Noah tried voice control. Proving his theory, it worked this time as a new panel appeared in front of him.
[Changes has been allowed.]
Noah then felt a warm stream travel through his flesh, bones, and brain before it disappeared. Then, Noah felt himself become sturdier.
"Was my body strengthened?" Noah stretched his arms but couldn't feel a distinct difference. "Wait… Why am I believing this? But… I did feel the warm stream strengthening my body…" With these thoughts, Noah shot his eyes to think about everything.
After fifteen minutes of thinking, Noah opened his eyes. Assimilating his knowledge from all the light novels of world transmigration and reincarnation, as well as what he experienced until now, he had a clearer idea of what's going on.
"System?" Nothing answered him. It seemed this wasn't the way to boot up the system. With this, Noah started a series of commands.
"Start. Status. System Boot Up. Initiate. Activate. Change."
"Hah… Was I imagining things? Why is nothing working?" Noah sighed and threw himself on his bed. He then tried to remember what the last thing the system said. He can remember clearly that it called itself Trace System.
"Trace System. Activate Trace. Trace… On?" After his last words, a red holographic panel appeared at last. When Noah saw it, his heart beat faster and his face flushed with excitement. He jumped off his bed and the holographic panel followed suit.
[Welcome, Beta User, to the Trace System. As this is the first time the system activated, you are rewarded with a bonus of one Skill Lottery Ticket. Please Confirm.]