"Should I go in or not?" mumbled a teenage boy with sickly pale skin and unkept black hair, standing in front of a giant gate with an expression of contemplation and uncertainty etched on his face.
His face abruptly contorted into a fierce frown as he began kicking the pillar.
He growled under his breath, 'I curse the world! Why would you give me a V+ body type? The worst part is my body is weak, sick, and naturally unhealthy.'
He began gasping from the little action he performed.
He became lost in his thoughts when he caught his breath.
In this world, the body type of the human appears at age 15 and there are three types — V+, V-, and V neutral.
Any human who has a V+ body type at the age of 15 has no choice but to enter the Void Plane I to activate the Infinity Page I in their body system, or else face slow death starting from the loss of blood. The good thing is that it's painless.
V- is the opposite; they can't enter the Void Plane I and remain mortal for their life, but they also don't face any slow death. They were just like humans before the appearance of the Infinity Page I.
As for V Neutral, they are the favored ones; they can either choose to enter the Void Plane and become strong or remain a mortal. They are like V+ body humans without any flaw — slow death that begins at age 15.
A honk from behind jolted Aise from his thoughts.
Aise turned around and saw a gorgeous lady, dressed in an office suit, alighting from a car behind him.
"Why are you standing in the way?" the lady asked calmly but the indelible frown couldn't hide her annoyance.
Aise arranged his hood over his head before replying, "Sorry, I will move out of the way."
He was just about to move away when the lady lunged at him with an inhuman speed and pushed his hood away, revealing his pale-white face.
Then she grabbed his jaw and stared into his eyes.
Aise tried to struggle but realized it was a fruitless effort.
So he had no choice but to growl at the lady restraining him by his jaws with her eyes fixated on him, "It isn't a big deal I blocked your way. I will just leave, and you can go."
Aise gritted his teeth because his jaw was hurting from her solid grip.
"You're a V+ body type human who is nearing the end of your lifespan; your disintegration time is close," she whispered in his face.
Aise began struggling again, trying to shake her hand off but she wasn't bulging.
"Look, this is my business. You just go your way and I go mine," Aise spoke weakly through his gritted teeth.
The lady finally released his jaw and moved two steps backward.
Aise began massaging his red jaw which almost looked bruised.
"Why is your body weak?" she abruptly asked and Aise halted his action.
Aise raised his head and stared at her calmly before turning to leave, but her next words made him stop.
"With this body of yours, if you enter the Void Plane I, the chances of you dying is 99%, but if you tell me everything, I can think of a way to increase your chances by making your body normal."
Aise halted in his tracks, turned to her, and pondered for a moment.
After a bout of silent contemplation, he nodded in agreement.
"Follow me." She turned and walked towards her parked car.
Aise joined her in the passenger's seat and she drove into the giant gate that promptly opened a small part for vehicles.
Aise's eyes couldn't help but roam around the white tunnel they drove into but there was nothing to see, so he began arranging his thoughts on his story to the lady beside him.
When the car halted in a large underground garage, the lady came down from the car and Aise quickly followed her.
She led him to an elevator after locking the door and both of them entered in silence. The door closed with a ding and the elevator began ascending.
"So, what is your name?" She questioned Aise, who had his gaze fixed on the shut doors of the elevator.
"Aise Varez," he answered calmly.
She nodded and the elevator happened to stop, and it began to slowly open.
"Follow me."
She led him out of the elevator and Aise was stunned when he saw the place crowded with young teenagers, most having their faces showing unrestrained enthusiasm.
He also spotted a few having resolute and calm expressions that didn't match their age.
"Watch your way, sick mate."
A voice jolted him from his trance and he abruptly halted.
He turned and saw that he almost bumped into a tall girl.
Aise merely nodded and quickly chased after the lady who brought him in.
He heard the girl mutter as he passed her, "Strange! He didn't get angry after calling him sick."
But Aise didn't pick the bait. He wouldn't waste the sparse energy in his body to argue with a stranger just because of her bad mouth.
When he caught up with the lady, she led him through various quiet and busy turns and lobbies before they arrived at the door of an office. She swiped her card and the door slid open.
Both of them entered and Aise saw it was neatly arranged — a table and office chair in front, a patient bed by the side, and a shelf full of colorful stuff in corked tubes that had labels.
'She must be those crazy scientists that convert their office into a laboratory, but…' Aise took his eyes off the structures and looked at the lady with a wary gaze. '...her appearance doesn't look like that type of person. No, "don't judge the book by the cover" must apply in her case.'
"What is with your gaze?" Her question snapped Aise, who just realized that she was locking gaze with him, from his thoughts.
Aise rubbed the back of his head and blurted, "I was arranging my story to make it concise."
She nodded and picked up a lab coat, but that just raised Aise's heartbeat.
'I said it. Hope she won't cut me up?'
He took subtle steps towards the door.
"So, can you tell me why you didn't come to the Void Academy when you discovered you had V+ body type, or your body began showing symptoms of deteriorating?" She questioned calmly and sat on the bed.
Aise already prepared his story in a comprehensive but concise manner.
"I was born with this weak body, so during my early days in school, I never participated in any physical training or pre-void planar training. Well, all my teachers, including me, believed that it was useless because V+ body owners always have a healthy body during their childhood and growth phase before 15; people with weak bodies always have a V- body. But fate played a cruel joke on me."
Aise took a deep breath as he recalled his unbelievable experience.
"It was not noticeable at first because of my already weak body and a mindset of never awakening the V+ body type, but I felt my body slowly weakening about six months after my fifteenth birthday. It was not when I turned seventeen and I couldn't endure it any longer that I saved up and met up with a doctor."
"To cut the story short, I was in disbelief that I awakened the V+ body and I nearly laughed in ecstasy because I was going to be powerful. Unfortunately, the doctor poured cold water on my head. She informed me that I was only going to be a walking snack for the beast in the Void Plane I. Going there with my state of health is like going to feed myself to the beasts.
So, I ended my fantasy and went home, planning to slowly die because no human with a V+ body type survived past age 20 without entering the Void Plane I for the first time to activate the Infinity Page I. But thank goodness it would be a slow and painless death, rather than entering the Void Plane I and dying in the maw of a beast."
"What made you change your mind?" she asked and squinted her eyes as the story piqued her curiosity.
Aise looked straight at her and said, "The doctor called me yesterday and told me that the Void Academy has a way of making me survive."
She narrowed her eyes at his statement before smirking mischievously, destroying her image of seriousness in front of Aise.
Then she dropped the bomb.
"Unfortunately, that is another fantasy you need to wake up from because the Void Academy can't do that."