Rami woke up the next morning. He sat on the bed, his hand cradling his head, trying to organize his scattered thoughts. Today was different, he knew that. He had to focus intensely before making any move.
After a few moments of thinking, he made up his mind. He had to tell his sister. He walked out of his room slowly, heading towards Layla's room. He found her sitting on the edge of her bed, absorbed in reading a book. Slowly and very calmly, he said, "Layla, we have to leave the city."
Layla looked up at him, surprised, but silent. She knew something was on his mind. He added quietly, "I've decided to sell the house. We're leaving today." He was prepared for a flood of questions and objections and had already come up with a set of excuses to justify his decision. But Layla didn't ask why. She didn't object. She stayed calm as always, only expressing her sadness about leaving the house that had been her childhood home.
He spent some time by her side, trying to comfort her. But she was more accepting than he had expected. After calming the atmosphere, he returned to his room. He shut the door firmly behind him. The moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
He bent down and pulled out a small box from under the bed. Inside were three glass vials containing a liquid that could change his life entirely. This was the serum he had obtained after great effort, and today he had decided to inject it into himself.
Despite his attempts to focus, Rami felt deep tension, with his heart racing unnaturally fast. He wasn't entirely sure what was causing this anxiety, but the fear of potentially failing the "Awakening" process was unsettling him greatly. He lacked sufficient information about the procedure, and the uncertainty of the consequences made him feel insecure.
He realized that his current state of agitation might lead to failure if he injected the serum at this moment. Therefore, he decided to distract himself by reviewing the history of this world, hoping that revisiting the past might calm his nerves and help him regain the focus he needed. Additionally, it was a good opportunity to refresh his knowledge about this world, which could provide him with a deeper understanding and aid him in making a clear and confident decision.
Thousands of years ago, humans lived in peace until mysterious cracks, later called 'Dungeons,' began appearing across the world, transforming those who entered into powerful warriors or mages.
At first, magic was revolutionary, so governments invested in dungeon exploration despite the high death rate. Failing the Awakening process or being attacked by monsters during the process was a common fate for many. Luck played a big role in surviving.
Despite the risks, governments made significant gains by obtaining valuable materials from the dungeons, such as rare metals and strange tools. They also created the profession of "hunter" and established guilds for it. Hunters were sent with ordinary people to protect them during the Awakening process.
However, those golden days didn't last. After a hundred years, dungeons began to appear more frequently, and stronger, more intelligent monsters emerged, making it increasingly difficult for humans to close the dungeons. Eventually, the first dungeon containing an intelligent species—dragons—appeared. These dragons were incredibly strong and smart, killing many humans, which shocked them since they believed they could kill dragons by working together. But the truth was that what they had been fighting were not true dragons but merely "wyverns."
As time passed, other intelligent species appeared, such as demons, angels, nymphs, werewolves, and vampires. Humanity found itself on the brink of extinction. Half of the human race perished, either due to disasters or attacks from these species. The only thing preventing the complete annihilation of humans was the ongoing conflict between demons and angels, two of the three strongest races, which reduced their direct interference in human affairs.
The third race, the dragons, were mostly isolated and indifferent to humans but occasionally destroyed lands and seized treasures. Amid this chaos, Earth gradually expanded as scientists discovered that the dungeons were a precursor to the merging of two worlds. When the merge was complete, the dungeons disappeared, causing humanity to lose their previous method of Awakening.
Humans were forced to rely on other methods of Awakening, discovered in the dungeons, but these were only temporary solutions. Everyone knew that once those resources were exhausted, humanity would be left without the combat power even to compete with some of the weaker or medium races.
Amid this turmoil, the legendary human hero, Alex, emerged. He was strong enough to match the leaders of the three most powerful races. He negotiated with the tribal leaders and succeeded in dividing the world into specific boundaries. Only the demons opposed this division, so humans allied with the angels to fight against the demons, eventually defeating them. As a result of this defeat, the demons were granted only a small barren land as compensation.
The serum that Rami was about to use was the result of human collaboration with the angels. After the angels' victory over the demons, aided by humans, they granted humans a technology that allowed them to create a serum to aid in Awakening. Though the success rate was low, it was sufficient. This powerful serum was categorized into four levels: poor, medium, good, and excellent. The serum Rami had obtained was of medium quality, with a 50% success rate.
After recalling all this information in his mind, he closed his eyes for a moment, clutching the vial. He knew this decision could change his life, but he was ready to take the risk.
He took a deep breath, then pulled out the needle, drew the liquid from the vial, and began injecting it into his arm slowly. A slight sting spread through his body as the serum entered his veins, and conflicting thoughts of fear and hope swirled in his mind. He didn't know what would happen next, but he had a strong feeling that his fate would be decided in the coming hours.