Terra-Jannah

"Terra-Jannah? A new world..?" I ask with a bewildered face.

"Let's take a walk." Said Enggar.

I follow his lead to get out of the room out to the corridor. The "Vault" is so enormous, it felt like a city down here. We walk down the corridors. There are plenty of other rooms along the way. From the window, I saw several other "patients" that lay in bed. The corridor seems straightforward since there are no turns or branches.

"You thought we are all dead due to 'the blast' huh..? Turns out it's not what really happens here. Most of us survive, but apparently, some others don't. The scientists said that it was the very virus of the outbreak before 'the blast' that made us survived. So those people that had not infected withered away. We've buried their remains."

"Withered away..?"

"We've been sleeping for apparently one thousand years buddy." He replied while looking at me.

"What the fuck?!!" I cannot believe what I hear. One thousand-fucking year? How could we even survive that long being in a slumber?

"The virus mutates our body. The very appearance of the virus was meant to be a natural selection. Which is why we got that super immunity the moment we recovered from the illness." Said Enggar. "The mutation causes our body to not only have better resistance, but it also made us capable of growing beyond the limit."

"What do you mean?"

"The very reason we got that implant within our heads, and the HUD. It's meant to monitor our growth and obtain data for the research team." Enggar explains. "Since then, this 'vault' becomes our home, or more likely, our operating base. We called it Terra-Jannah. By the way, we're here."

We've arrived in a big hall full of equipment. The hall seems compact. A workshop area with its machines and tools, a chemical lab full of chemical equipment, a cooking station along with the meat processing machines, and what looks like a research chamber fill the corners of the hall. Each area is isolated within a glass wall to prevent interference with each other. There are quite a lot of people here.

"This is our main gathering hub," Enggar said.

"So, what actually are we gonna do that we have this 'excessive' facility down here?" I replied as we go down the stairs. "Besides, I don't know that there will be so many people here. The corridor was nearly empty."

"Yeah, of course, the corridor was the reviving chamber. Not many people go there. I mean, people who are already revived just don't go there, there's not much to do, besides, going up just feels the same as going to the cemetery. The atmosphere is gloomy."

"So, why did you go up there"

"The one who'd like to go up there is the people from the research department who tasked with observing and taking care of the survivor. Some people from the guild tasked with guiding the new-borns as I do, go up there occasionally."

"Guild? New-born?"

"Yeah, the one governing Terra-Jannah is a foundation called the guild. Our method of survival is mainly by hunting, but we need to understand this new world as well, that's why we have the research department. That's why we have this 'excessive' facility down here. This facility is important for our survival. If you think that we're the only creatures survived, you're wrong. The remaining animals and plants up there that didn't get to the underground somehow survived. Not only that, but they also mutated, in a different way from us."

"Monsters.." I grin. My lips curved on one edge.

"Yes," Enggar replied.

"So lemme guess, the rest of people who has no role in this place are tasked by the guild to go out and kill monsters, then bring out their meat and materials down here for processing? Ahahah.." I let out my laugh, this conversation seems like a joke to me. It's hard to swallow all this fact.

"Correct, but not only that, but we're also conducting research on this new world. The materials brought down here is not meant only for processing equipment, but also for researchers in the research chamber. If you're wondering where do we get our electricity after one thousand years of absent and destroyed generator, you go see those transparent tubes on the wall of the hall, and inside is what we used as the power core. The heart of one of the monsters above, the Zorgora Baros, one of the thunder monsters."

For others, this fact may sound grim, but for me this is interesting. I cannot hide my excitement despite all the crazy thing that just happened. I never thought such a fantasy would become real. Living in a game-like world with stats and progression. Not only that, hunting monsters and bring down materials for new equipment, and meats for consumption? My God, I'm so into it.

All these thoughts managed to distract me from the fact that I'm all alone in this world now. I lost my family, my parents don't get infected, so clearly they don't survive the blast. My brother and sister? I'm not sure, since I haven't contacted them since I got infected. We lived in different cities. Last time I contact them, they didn't get infected. I don't know what happens after that. I really hope they got infected and survived.

"Hey, what does monster meat tastes like?" I ask.

"Ahahahhah you seem to be excited about it. It's rare to see a new-born like you. Easy Bro, you can try it yourself, but before you begin hunting you need to train first, you don't want to become a monster's snack on your first day of hunting right? All new-born got the two-weeks free training in here. You will also get supply rations, and when you finished training, we will give you the starting equipment with the respective weapon that you've been trained in. Despite it's enough to guarantee your survival early on the surface, I recommend that you get some other training in other weapons and techniques. Each monster has its own characteristics and behavior, so each weapon type was made with they're own pros and cons. You gotta master each of them to give you a better chance of survival."

"Yeah sure, I love fighting, brawling to be precise. Can I get that training as well?"

"Sure, we all started with unarmed combat anyway."

"So where do I train Enggar?"

"The training hall is next to the gathering hub. We're going to pass through the gate between the research chamber and the workshop area. Do you see that gate on the right, near the cooking station? That's where the market is. The one near the chemical lab leads to barracks, AKA your chamber."

"Ok, so each of us got our own room?" I ask.

"Fortunately, yes, at least for now. The vault is so big, it used to contain more people than now, remember? So yeah, we got our own rooms. You can personalize your equipment down there."

We walk towards the training area. We passed through the crowd of people. Some of them bring their equipment. The equipment they wear looks heavy and they walk around just easily. The weapons and armors are unique. They have so many ornamental features like the serrations on the armors, the striped, the claws, horns, fins, fangs, etc. The weapons don't look bland as well.

One of them wears a very cool looking armor. The helm looks like a cyclops head with one eyehole in the middle for vision, yet two wide downward horns attached on both sides. The shoulder armor was made from two plates, one plate attached on top of the other, with a strap coiling around the chest and the other shoulder for fixation. On the back, attached a shell-like attachment. The shell is attached to the strap. The top shoulder plate has a triangle-like shape, except the bottom is indented to the top, while the top of the triangle is cut and indented by a square-like shape.

"Cool equipment huh?" said Enggar.

"Yeah, sure, but I wonder how could they move easily with heavy equipment like that..?"

"Hmph, It's due to their high point in strength. I should tell you how to open your status screen earlier. Ok, now focus your mind to open the status screen, just do it in your mind, no need to shout out or speak anything at all. Just do it."

I try to do as He told, then as soon as I did what he said, a blue screen pops out in front of me.

Name: Ramadhan Fathurizki

Lv 1

Attributes:

Strength 6

Vitality 8

Agility 5

Endurance 4

Intelligence 7

Willpower 3

Core Skills:

Combat 13

Athletic 10

Communication 15

Thinking & Observation 20

"6 points in strength, what can I wear for now?" I said.

"For that, hmm.. I guess just light chainmail, with a little addition of steel plate in front of it. As for weapons, I guess just standard 'old world' weapons. Ha hah hahaha"

"Ghhh… Then how should I hunt big monsters then?!" I grin.

"You're not gonna face big monsters yet. After the rigorous training, you are enlisted as an E-rank hunter. Then, you can take your first quest on the quest board. There are several quests you could take such as slaying some Moonewks. They're basically monkeys, but with a heightened body and increased muscle. They began to walk with two feet, resembling a human due to their increased muscularity. They are very aggressive. With their home being in the nearest region surrounding our base they become a threat for the non-hunters to go out gathering supplies and do research. Their poo is also corrosive, be careful when you're near their nest. However, their very poo contains active compounds that fertilize the soil, so we can't just get rid of them. If you're wondering why we called this place Terra-Jannah, that's because It's a combination of the word Terra which means earth and Jannah which means heaven. Simply saying, Terra-Jannah means our earth is our haven. We people here don't wanna make the same mistake we did in the past, which is hunting down animals 'till they go extinct. We just try to control the population and balance out the ecosystem while living side by side with them."

"Good point. I also hate how people just destroy nature like they own the earth." I replied.

We keep walking until we almost reach the training hall.

"One more thing, Enggar, where do I sign up for quests once I finished training?"

"You go to the guildhall, It's located right next to the market area. Meet me there after your training is over. I'll explain more about quest afterward"

"I see. Can't wait to go on my first quest."

"Good. I like that enthusiasm. But now the two weeks of hell, are you ready?"

"Bring it on!"