When my eyes snapped open again, the gate room had long disappeared and had been replaced by an unfamiliar environment. My body was still tingling from the damn reconstruction the teleportation had put me through. Terrible experience, by the way.
The foreign atmosphere was intoxicating. It went down my nostrils and caused a sharp, stabbing pain in my alveoli. It lasted for a few seconds. My hand was already against my chest as I whizzed and gasped for air.
I expected this. Pain was something I was used to as an experimental clone. But adjusting to alien worlds? That was new—for both me and my body.
More minutes of pain and suffering later, I stabilized and was breathing again. My vision cleared instantly as soon as the hypoxia ended. The oxygen here felt hot and toxic. It was bad, but Breathable enough for a genetically modified human raised on a Conquered Planet.
I picked myself up from the soft ground and tried to get a better look at the place I had been sent to die.
You could think this was Hell. But no. The Nether Realm looked more like a section of the dark realm than most of it.
Everything appeared grey and lifeless. The sky was covered in dark, fluffy clouds that produced black ash that slowly fell from the sky like snow.
I was currently surrounded by groups of trees, all sharing the similarity of looking like burned, twisted trees that grew out of the ground like weeds.
Anyway, first things first. I needed to check for my current status and assess my chances against the situation.
No one could survive a Nexus Event without the System. I would call it a guide of some sort, but that's not the case from what I know.
The system was simply something that made it easier for one to use their powers. It announced Nexus Events and rewarded challengers with abilities, items, and rank.
To me, none of that screamed Guide. It just screamed assistant.
At the facility, we are told that humanity's advancement to the stars was greatly influenced by the emergence of the first Nexus Event, which gave way to the first calamity that scarred the Mother Planet many centuries ago.
To humanity, the system was a gift from the rulers beyond the great veil of the universe. Some even say it was given to humanity to protect. I mean, who could argue against the fact that Nexus Beings were holding back Nexus Events?
'Nexus, come forth.'
With that thought, the air around me danced with blue energy sparks as runes weaved themselves into reality. I was startled and quickly stepped back.
I had never experienced actual magic until now. It was…interesting. I felt like being shocked by electricity. Every nerve in your system jolting awake, but not causing any pain.
As soon as the runes formed, the energy bleeding from my body stopped, and the sensation ended.
The runes had transformed into a holographic system window. Surprisingly, I understood what they translated to.
Star Year: 6045, YEAR OF THE WHITE SOUL
Name: Astrid
Species: Human
Abilities: Dormant
Nexus Blessing: [The Fire], [Silver Child]
Blessing: [The Fire]
Blessing Description: [You have the blood of a dragon flowing in you. And because of that, the Emperor of Noon recognizes you. Flames will never harm you. And you will shine brightest when the sun is at its highest.]
Blessing: [Silver Child]
Blessing Description: [ The Empress of Twilight watches you from the moon. Your hair reminds her of her people. You are her child, and she's your mother. As your mother, she will protect you and help you if you call out her name while looking at the moon.]
Job Aspect:—
Inventory:—
My eyes lingered on the [Silver Child] description.
'So this is why they were interested in a silver blood.' I had no idea who the silver bloods were. All I know is that they were a special species of human.
I was the only silver blood clone that had lived for fifteen years. The rest didn't make it. For some reason, when they all turned three years old, they started coughing up blood and dropping like flies.
I remember coughing up blood and Doctor Wall waking me up hours later and telling me that I was the only survivor of the silver-haired bunch.
I wasn't hurt by their deaths. I was only three at the time, trying to make sense of what had just happened to the other kids with silver hair. It was only later that I found out that they were all defective clones. And I was the perfect one.
That's what Doctor Wall saw me as--a perfect clone.
And he was right. I was perfect enough to get recognized by a constellation.
"…It seems the great emperors have seen my misfortune and pitied me." I laughed after seeing my two blessings displayed on the system window.
If I remember correctly, four Emperors rule at the edge of the Universe: Dawn the Creator, Noon the Protector, Dusk the Punisher, and Twilight the Judge.
These are the mighty Constellations who oversaw the universe and are the alleged creators of the Nexus System.
Being the alleged creators behind the Nexus, the constellations are capable of interfering with the system. If they're impressed by a person, whether through their fortune or misfortune, they can interfere with the Nexus and grant blessings or curses to those people.
However, such incidents are insanely rare. Nexus Beings who gain blessings from one of those four constellations are known for being extremely powerful.
Some even have entire colonies resting on asteroids like a mini empire where you don't have to be under the Bureau of the Galactic Order, which oversees all human stations and colonies in space.
Now, If someone can do all that with just one blessing. What about two? Could I start a whole colony too?
I might've, if I were a people person. Or, y'know, not bonded to the facility back on Beta 3# by a magic item that could kill me if I took it off.
I shifted my focus back to my abilities. [Dormant] meant that I hadn't acquired a soul yet to awaken my true abilities or completed the event yet.
Originally, the system would base your abilities on how you challenged the Nexus Event, no matter how difficult it was. This time, though, because this was a 'loophole', my abilities would be based on what type of soul I merge with.
Where was I supposed to acquire a soul in this wasteland? I also had no idea.
I knew almost little to nothing about Nether apart from some key points that it was located in another dimension. And the fact that it was also once a battlefield for the great beings who perished here.
The name Nether is what the system called it, because their souls were bound here by some odd forces.
If I found the soul of one of those great beings, I could do more than just become a Nexus Being. I could become a godlike being!
But that's impossible because I was going to die.
"Sigh."
With a flick of my hand, the glowing runes vanished. I turned, squinting into the grey forest, hoping for anything that wasn't more of the same ash and trees. If I walked in a straight line, then I might be lucky enough to land on someone from Bloodhaul like me. That's if I stayed alive long enough.
But all in all, thirteen teenagers should not be hard to find. They're scattered around the Nether, though we were told that we should form teams and work together to survive.
They had put us through a lot of team-building activities to make sure that no one f**ks this up. However, if you're the weakest of the bunch, you might die before finding anyone.
Thinking of this, I console myself that I just need to survive long enough to find the others.
That's right, I took survival classes while in the facility. The others, of course, were strong. This class was irrelevant. I was weak, so I paid attention to this survival class.
I knew how to swim, use a sword, hunt, kill, and hide. Most importantly, I knew how to use others.
I might just live long enough to die later.
Heck, if my luck is good and I find Devon( the strongest one amongst us), then I might even survive Nether entirely and get to become a Nexus Being even.
Now with my plan set, I began walking through the dead forest in a straight line.
The Nether carried no wind to give it a calm environment. It was very hot, and the disgusting stench of death and smoke hung in the air to remind me that this is the realm that holds ancient souls from all across the universe. It was a very bad first impression.
They say the Creator, Dawn, made many realities, and Nether was one of them. Although the scriptures describe him as the embodiment of good, this realm was the complete opposite. It was a world masked in a powerful and dark aura that forced one to remain vigilant the entire time. I felt like anything could pounce at me, and I needed to be ready.
When I started adapting to the new environment, my vigilant gaze started to catch on a few unsettling details about this place, specifically.
I noticed that where the ash was more, the black trees looked to be in a worse state. They were dry and weak when I touched them. When I added a little effort--I barely had any superhuman strength--the entire tree crumbled down to dust like a dry husk.
What could've done this?
Well, I directed eyes immediately traveled to the grey sky. There was nothing else here. No creature. No enemy. I was alone for a reason, and that reason was the thing I would least expect to be a threat.
'It's the sky.'
The effects were slow. But each time the ash touched the exposed parts of my pale skin, I felt a little bit of my strength fall. It's safe to say that they're probably enzymes for the creature disguised as the sky. I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take for the black ash to consume me completely. It could be in a few days, hours, or weeks.
But I wasn't going to wait. I may be genetically modified, but I am still human, and I am not willing to die in a place like this. Slowly losing my strength isn't the way I would imagine someone like me dying.
That's right. I needed something that could go well with my spiteful personality. A worthy death that would make those uncaring constellations clap.
Yes, a death like that would stay in their minds. Leave an impression. I will make them regret the day they let me exist, especially that Empress who thinks that she can have sympathy for me now that I carry their stupid nexus system.
Even that Noon bastard who blessed me. Does he know that the dragon potion didn't make me any stronger? I endured all that pain just to come out weak. Couldn't he just give me the power to control flames at least?
Maybe…it wasn't dragon blood to begin with. Sure, demons, aliens, and gods were real. But no one I know has seen a dragon for millions of years. Some say the dragons on Earth were all killed by some dude called Pendragon.
Pretty funny for a guy called Pendragon to be a dragon hunter. Anyway, it was a stupid story that the scientists like to share with us.
The dragon blood fed to me was probably alien blood modified to resemble dragon blood. What other reason could there be for me not to have any true fire abilities? Being fireproof is pointless.
The land remained flat with no change of topography for a while. The twisted trees continued to be an awful sight, and the toxic air made my lungs hurt every time I breathed in.
I kept myself busy by singing stupid songs and ranting to the silent constellations about how unfair they were.
Eventually, I caught sight of something that wasn't just trees and gray clouds. Black mountains that I swear weren't there a moment ago. They grew out of the ground like statues of a fallen god. At the same time, the peaks were hidden behind a curtain of white fog.
They looked terrifying if I am to be honest. But, unfortunately for me, the mountains seemed to be my only option since the sky above them was not covered in grey clouds (mainly because the fog hid everything)
Also, the mountains were the only geographical feature I could see or find. We were trained to use landmarks as a method to navigate through unknown places.
Apparently, that is how humans navigate planets before conquering them.
I mutter to myself, "If I am to find anyone from Bloodhaul, they must be there."
I continue moving in a straight line as before.
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