The colors were slowly fading, slowly turning into multiple shades of darkness.

As he was sinking in a serene night, without any sign of the guiding light of the stars, he felt something pull him toward the unknown.

In the dark, everything was silent and felt sluggish. Minutes felt like hours, or maybe it was the hours that felt like minutes...

His thought wandered further in some sort of deep abyss, turning and sinking as if stuck in a quagmire. He didn't resist and let himself drift slowly when he felt a stinging pain on his face.

'...Face?'

As if the pain activated an interrupter that was turned off, information flooded into his mind like a storm, making him grab his head in pain.

The scenes that he saw in his head only made the headache worse. He screamed madly and scratched his face as if he was trying to dig the headache out of his skull.

His nails dug into the skin, making the dark red blood flow profusely.

All of his movement suddenly stopped when the ringing of a bell sounded in his ears, making both his body and mind freeze.

The shock slowly subsided, as he calmly witnessed everything and slowly understood his situation, his death, and the bloody massacre that the previous owner of this body survived.

The bell stopped ringing and he finally felt like he could move his body again.

He opened his lips slightly before closing them again with a conflicted expression. The memories of Noah, the human from Earth, and those that belonged to Ioan, the human from the Infinite Land, clashed and made him question his existence.

Was he Noah that transmigrated into the dead body of Ioan, or was he Ioan that inherited the memories of Noah? He had no clue because the memories of both lives flooded his brain at once.

The bell ringed again, but this time he didn't lose the ability to move.

He raised his head and looked at his savior with a thankful expression.

The person before him resembled a human in appearance, except for the two elongated green horns that were sticking out of their forehead and their slitted pupils. They wore a large robe that was covering everything below their head. Their face was thin and their features defined, making them look quite feminine, while still making it hard for him to detect their gender.

The hand that was holding the bell was thin and the skin was pale, looking quite unhealthy.

The person in front of him didn't open their mouth but when they moved the bell another time, an ethereal voice sounded in his ears.

"What is your name?"

All of the chaos in his brain disappeared without a trace and a word rolled off his tongue as if it was an evidence.

"Noah."

The person in front of him smiled and rang the bell another time, making Noah feel relaxed and at peace.

He unconsciously closed his eyes and returned once again to the embrace of darkness.

---------------

Noah opened his eyes and sat up weakly on his bed. He grabbed his head that was still ringing while muttering weakly.

"...It wasn't a dream, huh?"

It was still difficult for him to accept reality. Especially the one he found himself in currently.

He did his best to understand all of the memories that flooded his brain, but he felt weirded out with the fact that he had two distinct lives in his head.

'Ioan the Keeper... That's my identity now, huh?'

He quickly threw that thought away, however.

'All the people that knew Ioan died, why should I impersonate a dead man? Just let the poor soul rest in peace...'

He was currently in the body of a man called Ioan whose profession consisted of protecting the interest of his organization until he breathed his last.

He belonged to the Shining Aurora, a group of people that handled and protected a multitude of artifacts, and his role was to stay guard in front of the "treasury".

Noah didn't know if it was a curse or a blessing that Ioan's life was so dull that he could understand everything in less than 5 minutes.

Orphan, raised by the Shining Aurora, used as a slave.

Noah that shared the body of this miserable man grimaced in disgust.

"Humanity is the same, no matter where..."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Noah said to himself with a self-deprecating smile, when someone unexpectedly answered him.

"Is that right? It's fortunate that you're the last human alive then."

Noah, startled, turned toward the voice with a wary expression.

"W-who are you? And last... what?" Noah tried to show a confident front, but his shaky voice couldn't fool anyone?

"Sorry for surprising you, that's a bad habit of mine. I apologize. Anyhow, my name is Kana. I welcome newcomers and show them around, so I'll need you to follow me and listen to me attentively. Leave your question for later." The person bowed slightly while introducing himself.

Noah studied the man in front of him curiously. If it wasn't for Kana saying that he was the last human, Noah would've thought that they were the same.

As he was also covered in the same robes as the person that helped him previously, Noah couldn't discern the shape of Kana's body, and could only search for what differentiated him from a human on his face.

Noticing his confusion, Kana smiled and said calmly

"A lot of races' true form is massive, so most of us learn how to shapeshift into a humanoid form so we can walk around with more ease. It's just for convenience."

Noah nodded in understanding and stood up with difficulty, fighting back the dizziness. He then tried using the only ability Ioan was taught to make himself feel better.

As a Keeper, Ioan didn't need to fight in the frontline and only needed to resist the mental corruption of the artifacts, so he was taught a technique called "Mentel Sedative". It restored the user's mental state when used on himself, and when used on a target it would calm it down, making its thought process slow down.

After using it to alleviate his headache successfully, Noah marveled at the efficiency of what he decided to call the Paracetamol Technique from now on, then followed behind Kana hurriedly.

"Alright, before we begin the tour, you'll have to make a choice. Your first choice is to become a grade 1 protected specie of the Knowledge Seekers. You'll be given everything you need by us, but you'll have to donate your blood regularly and have to partake in a lot of random experiments that can be dangerous for you. Your second choice is becoming a member of the Knowledge Seekers yourself and receive intensive training before being sent on missions depending on what corner you belong to. You won't be able to stop training until your level reaches a certain standard, which means that if you're not talented enough you'll spend your whole life training for nothing, really. You can take your time to choo-"

"Second option." Noah's voice wasn't shaky this time, devoid of any hesitation.

Kana stopped and looked at Noah's confident face before breaking out in laughter. He patted Noah's shoulder and told him in a kind voice.

"Welcome in our ranks, young man."

Noah nodded emotionally. With everything that was happening in such a short span of time, with him literally dying then transmigrating, Noah experienced a lot of stress, making him feel as if it was a weight that threatened to make his mind break under the pressure.

He was lost and afraid of what the future held for him when the words of the man dispelled every single worry in his heart. Since he was still weak, he could do nothing to thank the man except silently promising to himself that he would one day repay the favor.

They walked for a while, with Kana introducing the facilities and Noah listening intently, gasping in amazement in front of the magical facilities from time to time, before the two of them stopped in front of a big door.

"Anyway, now is the most important part of the tour. Behind this door is the Outer Library, the second most important facility of our organization. As you can tell by the name "knowledge seeker", all of us here are people that wish to discover new things, witness new sceneries, and that includes you. This is the reason you were saved by us in the first place, aside from the fact that you're technically the last specimen of your specie. Anyhow, the Outer Library is open to every member after they verify their identity. You can read about whatever you want, but only after you finish your training. The outer library is shaped like a circle and in the middle of it, there is what we call the Forbidden House, our most important facility. That's not its actual name, but since its the Father of Greed's personal library, we just went with that. Anyway, you can't enter right now since you're not a member yet, but I just wanted you to know more about your new home."

Noah nodded multiple times during Kana's explication, and his understanding of the organization slowly grew.

When Kana finished talking, Noah took the chance to ask some questions.

"Who is the Father of Greed?"

"He's our leader, somewhat. We don't know his true name, and since he's the contractor of Greed we just called him the Father of Greed. Well, you probably don't know much, with humanity being a lesser species an all... I'll put it simply: Greed is one of the seven great demons of sin, and our leader is its master, which is something quite awe-inspiring."

Noah nodded with an amazed expression.

'Our leader is one hell of a guy, huh? Man, I wish I was that cool...' He thought enviously.

"Anyway, now that you know how it is you'll have to make yet another choice, sorry for that. Which corner will you join?" Kana smiled wryly and asked Noah with a sorry expression.

Noah wasn't someone that liked being thrown at a crossroad, but he went with the flow and asked with a forced smile.

"What are corners, and which ones can I join?"

"Well, corners are just a group of people under a boss. For example, I'm the boss of the Corner of Guides. We show new blood around here and work mainly on the main island. Your training will consist of academics if you join us. Beside my corner, there is the Corner of Greed that protects the main island from any danger, the Corner of Recorders that records the various events happening around the world and any sort of knowledge, the Corner of Serenity that is responsible for maintaining hygiene and healing injuries and diseases, then finally the Corner of Spectators that travel around the various races' territory and witness everything that's happening firsthand before telling the Recorders to write it down. Which one sparks your interest?"

Noah listened attentively, trying his best to hide the shock he felt upon discovering Kana's position. He then scratched his cheeks and asked with an embarrassed expression.

"Isn't there a corner where people just travel around, discover new things, and... have fun?"

At Noah's selfish words, Kana laughed heartily and slapped him on the back with a big grin on his face.

"The more I talk to you, the more I appreciate your personality, young man. Indeed, there is such a group in the Knowledge Seekers, but they're not an official corner. Following the lead of the Father of Greed, they're people that travel the undiscovered territories and hone themselves while admiring the gigantic world. They're called the Mystical Travellers, but are you sure you want to join them? The training you'll undergo is by far the most inhumane, consisting of combat, tracking, anti-tracking, spying, cooking, hunting, appraisal, and all sort of other abilities that you'll have to completely master before being thrown in the wild... are you ready for that sort of training?" Kana's words were menacing but his smile didn't change one bit, as if Noah's choice was a very interesting matter for him.

Noah hesitated for a while and his past as a cashier flashed in his mind, making him doubt his own abilities, but when he looked at that smile on Kana's face, he gritted his teeth and answered firmly.

"Yes."

Kana's grin grew wider and he said in a grand voice.

"Welcome to your new home, Noah, the last human of the Infinite Lands."