April 30, 2026
Alliance of South East Asian Nations(ASEAN)
P-Base Sanctuary
Xīng Family Villa, Sector 2
•••••
"Where am I?"
Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, he recalled that he and his family are defending the city from the Superbeasts when an arrow suddenly hits his head.
There was a slightly confused and excited expression on Larry's face, because at this moment, he knew——
He is Alive!!!
He is so thankful that he didn't die from that arrow.
After getting out of his stupor, he finally noticed his family crying beside him. Looking at their faces, he can't help but tear up as well, he knew in his heart, he missed a lot of years....
And after catching up with his family, he was told that he was deliberately hit by an arrow and he was in comatose for 10 years, and until to this day, the perpetrator has not been found...
But what really shocked him was his face...
10 years in coma and he still has the same look of a young and handsome teenager. As if time had stopped when he was hit by an arrow.
After being tested at the hospital, they discovered that his bone age is still of a 16 years old, so he stopped aging when he was in a coma.
Well, so be it then. Since he had no choice in this phenomenon, life still goes on. The problem was...
The world now is extremely dangerous!
His memory reminds him of his situation that this world is no longer ruled by humans. First, it was a peaceful planet earth, not until an apocalyptic catastrophe that will be known as "The Rise Anim(e)al Kingdom" set the planet on a path of no return...
A large number of dimensional rifts had appeared on earth.
Different kinds of energy had gushed out of the rifts and spread across the world, eventually leading to the evolution of the animals, plants, and all kinds of life on earth. Even some inorganic resources are showing some changes.
Cats had become ferocious beasts with sharp fangs and claws, while the loyal dogs had become a bloodthirsty beast with huge canine teeth and claws. Even the plants in peoples' homes evolved into terrifying man-eating trees.
As for the birds and other animals in the wild that strictly followed the law of the jungle, all of them had evolved into a wilder, stronger, faster, and intelligent Superbeast.
Disaster was Inevitable!
Countless Superbeasts had begun to attack human habitats, so humans rose up in resistance, only to find that the modern firearms could only kill some low-level superbeast.
Even our strongest weapon, a nuclear that served as a strategic detterent before were unable to deliver the desired effect. The result were devastating, the humans despaired, and fell from the top of the food chain.
A lot of countries COLLAPSED!
Countless cities were DESTROYED!
Countless families were RIPPED APART!
Countless human lives were LOST!
In just a few years, the world's human population had plummeted from eight billion to more than 1 billion, at least eighty percent were annihilated.
97% of South America, 80% of North America, 50% of Asia, and 70% of Europe are now the occupied lands of Superbeasts.
Africa, Australia, and all of the island countries became a complete dead zone.
«How did the world become so dangerous?» Larry T. Xīng felt suffocated.
It was an absolutely perilous world, and even though he was living in a base sanctuary, it was still dangerous.
One needed to know that the P-Base sanctuary he lived in was just a medium-sized base sanctuary with a population of more than five million. If they ran into a slightly stronger superbeast, the sanctuary's defenses would be at risk of being broken.
«It looks like our family is having problems, I was born into the house of Xīng(stars), and my family is having some financial difficulties. We are now in debt...»
Larry was in despair, he doesn't know if it was a Goodluck that he woke up. It had not been easy for him after waking up. For him to wake up in such a dangerous world on top of going broke, Larry had no idea if it was appropriate or not to verbalize the words in his heart!
«Forget it, let's just deal with it now that I'm here!»
Larry soon focused his attention on another thing: the "Champions"!
The animals and plants had evolved under the stimulation of the energy called Runic Energy, and humans, as part of the earth, were no exception.
A very few lucky ones had also evolved and unlocked their Runic seed with the nourishment of the Runic Energy and attained all kinds of incredible abilities!
Flames Control, metal control, gravity control, teleportation, super strength, super speed, and superintelligence
People called these abilities...Rune and those who had Runes are called, Runic Champions!
The appearance of the Runic Champions allowed mankind the ability to fight the Superbeasts. With the Runic Champions' help, humans quickly established survival bases, and thus, we managed to survive.
In this world of rampaging Superbeasts and all-kinds of danger, the Runic Champions pretty much defended humanity while they fought the Superbeasts. They also had a variety of privileges at the same time, and every Champion is part of the upper class of the social ladder!
«Runic Champions, eh? Forget the Identity and status of one, becoming a normal Champion itself is enough, and becoming a Runic Champion will be the greatest blessing one could receive!» a sudden glint of brilliant stars appeared on Larry's eye.
Before 2016, people with special powers only existed in novels, manga, comics, movies, and anime series. But now, they are super real!
«I envy those who have it. If I had a Rune, it would be my turning point in life!»
The more Larry thought about it, the more excited he got.
«There are generally two ways to become a Runic Champion; one is awakening it at the age of 15 and having the talent for Runes!
«The vast majority of Runic Champions were born with natural talent, and as long as they reach the right age, it will awaken or unlock naturally!
«But there are very few people with innate Runic talent, and there may not be one in a group of ten thousand. So, the number of Natural Runic Champions is very low, and of P-Base's five-million-strong population, the number of natural Runic Champions only comes to a few hundred!
«Second, Via Artificial awakening!
«The Runic Energy appeared ten years ago, and after such a long period of research, scientists have successfully developed an awakening serum!
«I've heard that a single vial of serum could be used to awaken a hundred people, unfortunately, the success rate is only one percent. And if ever a person awakens using the serum, he/she will have a mandatory service in the military for twenty years!»
Larry sighed, a vial of Runic Serum is worth tens of millions of dollars, and getting your hands on one requires significant connections since everyone will want a piece of it as soon as it hits the market. Hence, Larry knew that his family would be unable to purchase it even if they were not experiencing financial difficulties.
«It looks like I can only place my hope on the government, after I turn eighteen I will be qualified to take the Runic Test!»
It is worth mentioning that while there were countless Champions in this world, the vast majority of people are still weak against Superbeast. So some alliances still retained the schooling system, and the Runic test and the Military exam will be the final exam...
If he was found to have Runic abilities during the test, his life trajectory would change dramatically
He would not need to slog through college, he could directly enter the military or be recruited by the guilds, but the guilds need to pay the government for the termination contract if they wanted to recruit the newly awakened Students.
Then he would lead a completely different and exciting life.
"Brother, how are you?"
Just as Larry fell into deep thought, someone suddenly jumped out of nowhere. wearing a practice combat uniform, a very beautiful girl came in with a bag of fruits.
What a cute girl!
She was a literal goddess!
Larry's eyes were wide open!
"Brother, what's the matter with you? Are you unwell?" The pretty girl looked puzzled.
"No-Nothing!"
Larry quickly shook his head, and his feelings were rather complicated. The beautiful girl was supposed to be his younger sister, but now...he is just sixteen years old and his supposedly younger sister is now older than him, Alexa T. Xīng a seventeen-year-old cute sister.
....
Larry's youthful body had developed significant issues as a result of his long sleep; his strength had diminished, his reaction speed got slower, and he is also losing his sense of balance occasionally. And the only good thing is his head injuries had already healed during his long sleep.
After that, Larry was hospitalized for recovery and rehabilitation, and was released after a month of recuperation. Following the month of his treatment, Larry was good as new like a well-oiled machine. He recovered to his peak strength, the strength he gained after fighting for 3 months at the beginning of the apocalypse.
«Now, I'm ready to catch up in this new life!»
Larry is a natural-born fighter and he wanted to start fighting on the frontlines as soon as possible and become stronger, but his parents insisted that he should continue his school life and enjoy his youth.
In the end...
«F*ck this new life! I hate school!»
....
* («» If you see these signs, it means the character is talking inside his mind or just talking to himself.)