In the province known as Ogmore, the restrictions set from exiting the city at the center, and entering the highlands had been lifted. And because of that, some either daring or ignorant people who had no idea how serious the island's situation was at the moment, came to have fun under the beautiful night's light.
But I guess these things were common with teenagers. After hearing that there had once been a beast lurking around the hills, in a cave, it was just making fun now to go out to that particular area to camp. And the fact that Ansel had recently been through a weird space rifting phenomenon, the stakes and excitement were even higher.
"I bet Imran's gonna scamper off before it hits midnight." A boy said as he and a group of teenagers sat in a dark cave. The only lighting came from the moon's gentle gleam seeping through the entrance.
"That's not true! He's already made it this far." A cute pigtail haired girl placed her hand on Imran's shoulder and gave a thumbs up. "You can do it."
Imran smiled gently back at her.
This boy, Imran was a classic nerd type. He was tall, had alluring facial features, shiny blonde hair and fairly built muscles. He was a classic nerd type... If you live in the 41st century with super powers that is.
What made this boy who had the most impressive looks among the group, a nerd, was just his crazy obsession with computers and virtual reality technology. He was even already fidgeting, knowing that the only gadgets within a meaningful range were stick torches.
"Yeah. Keep going." Another pretty girl cheered him up, this time, holding one of his hands.
The three other boys in the group clenched their teeth in envy and malice. They had dragged poor, pitiful Imran out in the wild to prove to the three hottest girls in their school that he was a weakling with no manly trait to gawk over. One of the boys had even said that he would give the blonde haired boy a limited edition, VR game pod if he would agree to come. But their plan had greatly backfired.
The three girls they had invited just saw this night as an opportunity to get close to boy, ignoring whatever meaningless flaws they could. This rendered the boys' plan meaningless. On top of that, if Imran did manage to make it through the night with the encouragement from the girls, he'd be getting expensive tech for free.
"Guys! Bad news!" Saving the other boys' eyeballs from falling out because of the scene the girls around Imran were putting on, the last member of their group ran in.
"What's wrong, Case?" One of the boys asked.
"There's a fight going on nearby. And I think they're those S-rank students from Ansel Academy.
"What? Then let's get out of here!" Imran yelled in panic.
The other boys looked at each other, and an idea bulb suddenly lit up above their heads.
"Are there other people there?" One of the boys asked.
"Yeah, but we should—"
"Then let's check it out." Another one of the boys, Diego said, making the girls, the new boy and Imran look in his direction with raised brows.
"Come on guys, how often do we get to watch a show down between the island's best students? " Diego urged.
"Yeah, we would be able to grasp just how far apart we are from the top."
"Besides, the bet isn't until sunrise, right Imran?"
The other two backed Diego up.
It pained the conniving boys when they realized that the girls were looking at Imran for suggestions to what to do, alas, they had to keep their dismay to themselves.
"If we're doing that then... I get to choose where we watch from. And if I sense even a single sign of danger, we get out of here." Imran's panicked expression suddenly changed into a fierce one as he spoke with an imposing voice.
The eyes of the girls glimmered as the bore witness to his cool and commanding side.
But Imran wasn't acting cool to impress the ladies. In fact, he also had his own reasons for going.
———
"I said, where did you put the sword?!" A girl yelled down from the top of a cliff, at a white haired woman who was wearing a plain white crop top shirt.
"I believe I've answered, I don't know the heck you're talking about, Miss 'nag me to death'." The white haired woman, turned around and started walking away with her hands in her pants.
The girl on the cliff snarled, clearly already pissed off.
Aisha had been sitting on this same cliff practically since the restriction put in the outskirts of the province was removed. She was waiting in patience, wondering if the white and gold coloured sword she had seen stuck in the ground was for someone who would come to get it soon.
She quite liked the weapon's design and had felt its density, so she was already keeping an eye on it, in hopes that she could buy it off its owner. However, a white ball of light suddenly descended from the sky, and the sword was gone, replaced by a bratty teenage girl.
There was a possibility that the sword was hers and she had already taken it during her flashy landing, but as a level 69, Aisha couldn't let that kind of disrespect go unpunished.
She blasted off the cliff, breaking some of it in the process and flying towards the white haired girl.
However as she threw her punch at the girl's back, she suddenly realized that her blow had no effect.
'Oh, shit.'
———
Previously...
In a forest full of white trees, golden leaves and golden sand, a pond of the same colours as everything else, stirred its two vibrant colours. The golden swirls gathered to one point at the middle of the white liquid, soon forming a glowing, golden circle while the water surrounding it started to spin.
The white spun, while the golden, floated still and glowed. This process went on for a while before the water suddenly started to increase in volume and pour out of the pond. As this happened, the two different colours of water started forming their own shapes, a giant white woman figure and a golden one on her belly. Soon though, clothes started to materialize around their bare bodies as they started to regain normal human skin tones and well formed body parts.
Nova blinked her eyes open as she rested on her friend's stomach. She stood up, stretching out her body till she realized that she felt a little different than before.
Although both of Nova's parents were tall, she however was little in comparison, being 170 centimeters tall, however right now, she felt like she should be a lot more than that.
"Hey there pretty." The giant woman interrupted her thoughts.
"Are you okay?" Nova asked.
"Yeah... Thank you." The woman couldn't look her in the eyes.
"... What did you call me? I'm flattered." Nova tried to lighten the mood.
"Pretty?" The white haired woman looked at her, tilting her head. "I'm pretty sure you've heard a lot of that, you liar."
Nova chuckled.
The ground suddenly shook as the giant woman stood up, letting Nova fall in her hand. "So, wanna get out of here?" She asked as she smiled at the little woman in her palm.
Nova retuned the smiling gesture, so the woman continued increasing her size with each step she took off the island.
"So... What name should I call you?" Nova asked, now sitting on the woman's head.
"I don't really bother about the name thing 'cause my body just takes whatever form it wants. But if you've got an idea, I don't mind listening."
"How about Nebula?" Nova had been thinking of that name for a while.
"Hmm... It sounds powerful, I like it!"
"Haha."
Nova and Nebula soon got to an impossibly large gate, one that seemed endlessly tall and wide, no end was in sight. The gate was a massive white gate with straight golden patterns on it. It also had a wide circular center that glowed with vigorous golden light.
Without stopping to open the gate, Nebula walked right through it along with Nova on her head. Soon they both felt like they were being pulled forward through a dark space, by an invisible force, making them fly at great speeds.
[You have regained connection with Earth's Core.]
[Your status is being updated...]
[A summary of the changes in your status has been created. Would you like to view?]
"... Nebula, are you seeing this?" Nova asked as they both continued to fly through the dark place that was filled with little zipping lights.
"...Yeah. I guess Innerverses are out of the Core's reach. Crazy huh?"
Nova nodded as they both chose to view their status summaries.
[Name: Nova Tuttel. (S-rank)
Level: 59 » 70
Stats Average: 64, 900
Ability: Light Manipulation » Golden Cloud (1st Lock)
Celestial Points: 0]
[Name: Nebula Tuttel.
Level: 69» 70
Stats Average: 65, 000
Ability: XXX » Golden Cloud (2nd Lock)
Celestial Points: 0]
[Note: Celestial Points have been automatically converted EXP, hence increasing your level and evolving your body.]
"..."
"..."
Both Nova and Nebula were too dumbstruck to realize that their inner consciousness were already flying in different directions.
Soon, Nova woke up in her own body, while Nebula's soul flew into Nova's greatsword to materialize her physical form.
As Nebula realized she was in Ogmore, where Nova's sword was left, she suddenly started hearing shouting from above her, on top of a cliff.
"Who is that boom box?" Nebula turned her head in the direction of the noise.