Chapter 1: The Regression
Noverra, a world that once represented new beginnings, exploration, and a powerful burst of power in technological advancement, just like a supernova.
It was a new planet that everyone from Earth transmigrated onto in the year 2700 after their original planet, Earth, ran out of its natural resources and became uninhabitable in the year 2500 due to greed and the endless pursuit of greater advancement, thus prompting everyone to abandon the planet in search of a new home.
However, just like Earth, over the years, Noverra's resources quickly dwindle under the regime of the great and powerful organization Nexus.
In the past, Noverra was a prosperous planet, thriving with boundless resources that seemed inexhaustible. Fertile land, clear skies, clean water, advanced and rapidly developing industries and economies, which pushed its boundaries of technology, science, and innovation to the fullest.
However, everyone seemed to fail to notice that every great achievement must pay its corresponding consequences.
After centuries of constant abuse, in the year 3100, Noverra started showing obvious signs similar to Earth.
The planet was dying.
Fortunately, earlier in the year 3101, Nexus announced to the entire world that they've found a solution to this seemingly unfixable problem that's been hanging over everyone's head, which they will be announcing this midnight today of July 10th.
"Solution? More like another planet to exploit!" Kael couldn't help but comment with a snicker on his face. He already knew what Nexus' so-called solution was. It was an advanced technology they called the Golden Apple.
The Golden Apple was discovered by their predecessor when they were travelling on their way to Noverra, specifically in between the 200 years of space travel. And its ability, at least one of its abilities, was just discovered not so long ago. To be exact, last year.
This ability of the Golden Apple allows a connection to form from Noverra to an entirely new planet called Avalon.
How did he know this?
Just yesterday, he woke up and realized that he had regressed ten years into the past, July 10th of the year 3101. To be exact, back to a time when the world of Avalon had yet to be revealed to the public, and he was still only twenty years old.
He doesn't know how and why exactly he regressed to this exact timeline. All he could remember was that before he regressed, he died at the hands of a high-ranking general of Nexus after being hunted down by their organization for a long time.
However, one thing was certain in his mind after the momentary confusion. " I can't waste this God given opportunity!"
Needless to say, he wasn't going to waste this opportunity just for the sake of revenge. He wasn't that shallow-minded. Albeit that's indeed on his list, but it wasn't his topmost priority. Only when a chance appeared would he take that. Right now, he wanted to focus on his original goal ever since coming to Avalon—to become the Merchant King.
At this moment, after quickly adapting back to his life ten years ago and accepting the reality of his current situation in between yesterday and just moments ago, he decided to start preparing for the opening of Avalon this coming midnight.
"No time to waste!" Kael abruptly stood up from the slightly rusted metal chair with dozens of holes and tear marks on the foam cushion where he was seated.
With just five hours remaining until midnight, he understood that he only had a short window to prepare for Nexus' announcement.
Not wanting to waste any time, he swiftly left his apartment in search of items to use.
It wouldn't be easy, especially since he lived in Rustfall—the poorest of Noverra's five continents.
Noverra has a total of five continents, namely Mechronis, Volthera, Bioforge, Synapse, and Rustfall. Each is named after its continent's own specialty.
Mechronis, to the north, is the land of machines and automations.
Volthera, to the south, is the land of energy and power.
Bioforge, to the east, is the land of biotechnology and cybernetics.
Synapse, to the west, is the land of data and virtual reality.
Lastly, Rustfall, located right at the center of the other four continents, is the land of Decay.
In the past, Rustfall was once a land of thriving industry and abundant resources. However, due to its vast size and being the biggest continent among all the continents of Noverra, all Nexus leaders unanimously decided to designate it as the primary resource hub for development. In the end, the continent began to die, thus later on being called the Land of Decay.
The area he lives in was a huge apartment complex, at least it used to be. Right now, it could barely serve as one with the countless cracks and destroyed portions that could evidently be seen from the building. Nevertheless, it could still be considered a good living condition, in Rustfall, that is.
Looking in front of him, countless piles of debris and scattered trash littered the entire area. Calling it untidy would be an understatement—it looked more like this place had just survived a war, quite literally, in a sense, since living in this place is like being in a battlefield where one has to constantly fight against other survivors of Rustfall to keep on living.
"If I remember correctly, there's a public junk shop not far from this place," Kael muttered while shaking his head in disbelief. He had already left this kind of life for a decade, but now, he's shoved right back at this kind of life again.
Why exactly was he looking for a junk shop instead of a store or a shop?
In Rustfall, one could rarely see still-operational stores or shops that sell general commodities or products to the public. That's simply because in this kind of environment, such an establishment would face countless troubles trying to survive.
The only way for such a business to continue existing is if it's being protected by the so-called Local Landlord of the area, a part of a powerful gang, or if it has a powerful backer in the Nexus organization, government, or a business enterprise, which provides a strong enough deterrent to the citizens of Rustfall.
If a business doesn't at least have one of those prerequisites, then one could already expect that it would get raided by everyone as soon as it opens its store to the public.
As a matter of fact, there were even multiple cases of shops or stores that got forcefully closed down by the crazy survivors of Rustfall even before their owners could open their doors to the public.
That's exactly how dangerous and difficult operating a business in Rustfall is.
On the other hand, junk shops are essentially just landfills. Hence, anybody could get in after paying an entrance fee, find what they want or need, and get out right away without having to pay for the items they found.
After dozens of minutes traversing the pile of debris and trash while in deep cover of the night with so much difficulty, Kael soon arrived at the entrance of Johnny's Junk Shop.
This was the closest junk shop to his place that operated 24/7.
"10 Caps to enter!"
A woman, unmistakably the clerk, with a large mole on her face, spoke with a tone of annoyance in her voice.
That's right!
A simple bottle cap.
The kind found on glass soda bottles serves as the primary currency in Rustfall.
It's essentially the continent's local form of money.
While traditional cash still exists, it's rarely seen, as jobs that actually pay in real currency are almost nonexistent in Rustfall. And even if it exists, barely anyone could qualify to get the job.
Naturally, with almost no businesses able to safely operate in Rustfall, jobs are nearly nonexistent. And without jobs, people have no money. That's why an alternative form of currency became necessary. Just so that basic transactions could continue at all.
Anyone who possesses cold and hard cash could already be considered rich at this point in Rustfall.
Removing his boots, Kael took out exactly 10 caps from inside. He didn't dare to show more, as that would only attract unnecessary attention to him. "Here."
Since junk shops had become a regular stop for many Rustfall citizens, they naturally turned into lucrative businesses controlled by local gangs.
The lady swiftly took out the caps from Kael's hand, and instead of putting them on a cash register, she simply gave them to a man who suddenly came out from under her skirt.
The man took off right away, disappearing to who knows where, clearly to secure the payment and keep it from being stolen by enemy gangs or other desperate survivors.
Kael hardly showed any reaction to what had just transpired in front of him, as he could still clearly remember that this was natural in any junk shop throughout Rustfall. Albeit not the part where a man came out from the clerk's skirt. As for what that man was doing underneath, he doesn't want to know. So, he quickly entered the junk shop after paying.
After gaining some distance away from the entrance, Kael took out a list he had already prepared yesterday. This was a list of items he would be needing before entering Avalon later this midnight.
"My flashlight should be somewhere around here," Kael started searching around him with a sense of familiarity with the place.
The last time he visited this junk shop, which was before his reincarnation, he had hidden a flashlight around one of the hidden corners among all the junk, somewhere he could only slightly remember, in preparation for the next time he came here again.
"Found it!" Kael smiled. Luckily, no one had found his flashlight. Otherwise, he would have had a hard time looking for the items he needed at this time of night.
Having someone else steal another survivor's stashed flashlight was a natural occurrence in any junk shop. As for why they don't just carry it with them, at least for him, his reason is that he visits a lot of junk shops, and he doesn't want to burden his already small apartment with storing so many flashlights.
And besides, after the flashlight's battery runs out, they actually just throw it away immediately instead of finding a replacement for the battery, since it's very troublesome to look for those tiny objects amongst the scattered pile of debris.
Good luck finding a battery in a pile of debris, which would take countless days with no certainty of success, but the guarantee that one's trouble will not be worth their effort, as looking for other valuable items in those days would actually be a lot more worth it. And also, they could just pick the option of buying the batteries later on, once they have enough caps to exchange, or just find another working flashlight, which is a lot easier.
Honestly, he also has the option to obviously just come to this place much earlier, while the sun was still out, which would have made finding the items easier. But there was a reason he chose to come at night instead.
As of this moment, other than members of the Nexus organization with a certain high clearance level, nobody else knows about Avalon.
Even if there's only a low chance that Nexus could find out he knows about Avalon before the day when it's supposed to be known to the public, he still couldn't risk showing any sign or evidence that they can use against him in the future.
But more importantly, there's someone he has to save from this place from the local gang of the junk shop. And doing such an operation, he couldn't afford to have his identity found out. Otherwise, he'd be hunted this early on, which is quite troublesome.
Shining a light on the list, Kael muttered, "Let's see… I need a luggage for storage, a blanket, a tent, a flask, a pan or pot and some other cooking tools, a compass and paper, a fire starter kit, a rope, and lastly a few military grade knives and items that can be used for protection."
The piece of paper basically lists all the basic survival equipment that one should bring when they go out to the wilderness, which is what the setting of Avalon is going to be about.
"Time to start," Kael muttered to himself before finally beginning his search.