"Sir, you have a visitor. He says that it is important that he has to talk with you." As soon as the head scientist heard what the assistant reported to him, he was about to get angry.

"What is more important than finding test subject Hunt, huh? I don't have time. I am managing the data in case he returns."

The door suddenly opened before he could even dismiss the assistant. And as the head scientist realized who the visitor was, he dropped the papers he was holding on the table and approached him with a stiff body.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

A young man, who was just in his 20s, walked without any worries and approached the head scientist. He opened his arms and embraced him as soon as he was within arm's reach.

"Yoo! How are you, older brother Jim! It is nice seeing you again."

"Kim? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the middle of the expedition?" he asked, with a stuttered tone that seemed different from his attitude earlier.

The assistant just left the room with a confused expression on his face. He didn't want to be bothered anymore or think about why the head scientist's personality changed. Seeing that scene was enough for him to realize that the head scientist had a different attitude depending on the people around him.

After a couple of seconds passed, he disconnected from the embrace and looked at Kim, who was wearing an average traveler's garment.

"Yes, I was. But, I returned because I have good news! I just discovered something important."

Kim was offered a seat, and Jim went to his seat, which was at the end of the table in the room. He sat, then relaxed as Kim started talking about what he had just discovered.

As one of the archeologist's jobs, Kim had been studying the ruins from ages ago before the monsters "apparently" appeared on Earth. It was the biggest question for everyone: how could humanity survive that long and seem to have the capability of fighting monsters when, in current days, they seem weak?

Although they had already discovered about the [System] and the levels that each human was embedded in, they wanted to know what happened before everything.

Their land aged almost thousands of years, or even millions. This is why archeologists like Kim are so interested in determining when it all began. How could humans survive these monsters?

"So, what is the answer? Since you are confident that you got the answer, what did you discover?"

"Ruins," Kim said with a wide smile. "I found the ruins of ancient humans below the mountains of the previous part of Rotting Land. As one of our speculations, more ruins could be found in the Rotting Land. As there were newly purified lands, we went there to look for ruins."

It became interesting. Jim was piqued about the ruins that Kim was talking about. As fellow researchers, they only sought knowledge and answers to their questions, thus, Jim was lending his ears to Kim.

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"Right... That claim is already proven. But now, stop the cliffhanger and tell me already what about the ruins."

"You won't believe it. Earth had already faced an apocalypse. This current state of the Earth we are living in is just part of the apocalypse that I am saying. We found recordings of ancient humans' past research. And all of them make sense. There was even a recording of the head scientist of the ruins that we discovered."

"Wait, what were the ruins you discovered?"

"It was an experimental facility. They had recorded everything about important details that happened when monsters appeared. Apparently, monsters didn't exist in the past and awaken humans as well. Some unexplainable phenomena brought the monsters, which they assumed ruptures in the dimension. Rifts appeared and brought monsters that caused havoc around the world. However, at the same time, awakens started appearing in a countable manner just the same as monsters. Probably the unique type of element or energy that had appeared along with the monsters, which was mana, gave humans powers."

"Some monsters made Earth their new habitat. Some were still inside the rifts. So, in order to stop the monsters from filling up Earth, awakens that have the powers to fight monsters entered these rifts and destroyed them from within. It stopped the rifts from appearing, but half of the world was already contaminated by these monsters. Cities and countries had already been destroyed by these monsters as a result of the ancient humans' lack of power. So, as the population of awakens started increasing, they took over the responsibility of managing the lands, purified some places, and eventually halved the world into two. Now, the Rotting Land and pure lands exist."

"After this happened, the Rotting Land didn't stop corrupting the newly purified lands. Hence, each awakens did their best to give every human the chance to awaken. And there, another phenomenon happened. Without knowing where it came from, [Systems] appeared in every awakens. They became more powerful until they finally took control of the speed of the corruption that Rotting Land dealt to the pure lands. And years passed, to the descendants of the ancient awaken humans, everyone has the chance to awaken, and everyone knew about the existence of the [System]."

"Everything changed after that, and now it seems that Earth years ago wasn't similar to our current one. But breakthroughs in technology still continued. The only downside was that everyone doesn't know the history of these things. It was as if it was already there and no one bothered searching for an answer. Another factor is the Rotting Land, which hinders us from continuing our expedition and discoveries."

After talking, Kim took out a gadget that has the recording of what they discovered and all the data the ancient humans had gathered. He knew that Jim was doubting, so, he gave him some time to digest what he had just told him.

After some time, Jim calmed down from the shock and sighed. He faced Kim and asked him what would happen next.

"So, what are you going to do with the things you discovered? Will you report this to the kingdom?"

Kim's eyebrows met, and he seriously shook his head.

"Of course not. Instead, I am going to continue my studies. But there was just one problem. I don't have enough researchers to conduct the study, and I think you have the right people that could help me, older brother."

Jim sighed in frustration and denied it.

"I am in need of people, Kim. One of our test subjects just escaped, so we need every person that could continue the research despite the absence of our test subject."

Kim smiled widely as he already knew the predicament that Jim was facing. Hence, he had prepared a proposal with him.

"How about I help you find that test subject? And if I am able to bring him back to your facility, you will lend me some of your researchers."

Blinded by the deal, without having second thoughts, Jim agreed. He knew as well that the field Kim was working in was dangerous, so he was surrounded by plenty of competent awakens from different fields, such as fighting and searching.

"Okay. I will agree to your proposal. Just promise me that test subject Hunt will be back in my facility."

"Of course, don't worry. I will do everything as long as he is still alive."