March 9022

"...are you ready to begin with your tests, Master?"

"Yes, Jerry. I am. Let's begin."

"Okay, the timer starts the moment you pick-up papers."

Ashton nodded and didn't hesitate to pick-up the pen and the paper to start the test.

It's been roughly two weeks since Ashton began his new life and all things considered, he's living pretty well. He's not lacking in anything except for education, which he's trying his best to remedy as time goes on.

Ashton had been to places. He went out as many times as he could these past few days to familiarize himself to the neighborhood and learn about the similarities and differences of human lifestyle here.

Surprisingly, for the most part at least, it isn't much different to Earth. Although this world is more technologically advanced compared to his old world and there's magic involved, the common trends of life are still being followed here.

Just like earth, one day here is equivalent to 24 hours, each hour is composed of 60 minutes and bla bla bla...7 days is a week, the names of each months are the same, there's a sun, moon and stars, electricity is a thing and all that jazz.

People going to work to provide for their needs, seeking entertainment here and there, entering relationships, getting married, having kids and etc. These are all similar to what he's used to but just in a different setting so it wasn't that hard to adjust.

Now, this of course on the 'normal' side of things. As for the 'magical' side well...he has no idea just yet.

See, he asked around, probing for information (he would've liked to know more by himself but the materials aren't just available to him) but as it turns out, the society of the 'Cultivators' - as they were referred to by the common folk, are extremely secretive.

Now as for why that is, nobody really gave him their opinions so he didn't ask, but he did have some guesses of his own.

The information available on the news channels and online are also filtered as well. For the most part, it's all just mundane things. They didn't really hide the existence of the 'super-powered' or 'magical' society, he caught them explicitly saying that they are real and they are around but for the detailed explanation of things, he guessed that those information are either classified or being filtered to another channel that he can't access just yet.

This was all well for now since there are other things that he wanted to pay attention to anyways. Mainly, catching up to the intelligence level of kids his age.

For the past two weeks, Ashton already borrowed the books that Agent Theta recommended to him and began ready. At weekends, he asked for Jerry's help to test himself.

Each week, he will set-up a small goal for himself. He'll read and study several chapters or topics from the books he borrowed. Then, he will tell Jerry about the parts of the books he learned and ask him to make a questionaire to test his knowledge.

Ashton figured that this works the best for him, chipping the contents of each book until he's done with them. Yes this might be slow but it he's learning steadily.

Plus, it was effective. Ashton had learned so much from this book that he had to thank Agent Theta again for recommending these books to him.

The things that he learned are considered as the basics of things since these books are for beginners. Still, they are incredibly helpful.

It's the first week of March, more specifically, March 03 9022.

Yes, 9022. Ashton also thought that he read that wrong but apparently he didn't.

Just like any other people like him would do - aka Transmigrated ones, he started reading the history to see if they are really on a different world or were just in an alternate version of the future.

Well, there's no surprises there. He is indeed in a different world. Which is silly on his part since he witnessed the Earth being destroyed but oh, well...

What's funny is that, World Wars also happened here except that it's humans versus aliens. Yes, aliens.

According to the history book he had, 'They' came from the north and the south without warnings. 'They' started wrecking havoc to everything humans held near and dear and 'They' even nearly pushed humanity to brink of extinction.

In fact, Humanity suffered so much from 'Their' onslaught that they were pushed to a very small part of the world and could do nothing but to rebuild there and hide for as long as they could.

This small part of the world is aptly named: 'Last Bastion' as it is the last habitable place for humanity to settle down and live. Right now, it is said that the Federation is doing everything that it can to produce more Heroes capable of defending their homes to keep them safe and the book even encourages young people to grow-up well and do the same.

That military propaganda isn't even trying to be subtle.

But see, here's something that Ashton couldn't wrap his head around.

This thing on the book implying that the Last Bastion is only a 'small' part of the world and the 'last' habitable place for humanity to live in.

Ashton had been watching TV almost religiously. He had seen the scales of cities Last Bastion has. (He even finds it slightly hilarious that the names of the cities are incredibly uninspired. City A, City B, City C and so on, he's living in City M by the way and apparently, the 'M' stands for 'Mystic'. Why? He has no idea.) And each city is big! Like really big.

Also, he had seen the map of the Last Bastion and to his surprise, it looks similar to that of Earth. The continents are a bit closer to each other and there aren't countries. All is united under the same banner and is governed by the Morning Sun Federation.

Getting back to the point though, judging by the similarities in the map and the scale of each land...Last Bastion is huge!

Last Bastion is literally Earth squeezed together, still surrounded with water but also protected by a large invisible dome above (but that's a topic for later).

If Last Bastion is considered as a 'small' part of the entire world? How freaking big is the Blue Planet then!?

More importantly, how freaking strong are those aliens? To be able to push humanity this far despite their technological level? What kind of horrors are out there?

Ashton calls them 'Aliens' for now since he really has no idea what else to call them. The book he read didn't specify these antagonists, it just referred to using 'They' 'They' or 'Their'.

There's a vocabulary here and the 'Monster' is included in it. But since they didn't use 'Monsters' to describe them, then it's obvious that 'They' are something else.

The history books also told about the tale of the 'First Hero'. They're not named in this book but they are significant to the History of Humanity.

The First Hero isn't actually someone who ended the war and invasion of the aliens like what happens to the stories he had read back in his home world. Instead, the First Hero should be called the First Guardian instead.

The First Hero was alone, when the aliens started wrecking havoc, they did so in armies and the hero couldn't possibly take on that by himself. The First Hero is the first Awakened amongst humans but he didn't reach his full potential due to the crisis.

Instead of eradicating the aliens, the Hero instead found opportunities for Humanity to continue. They were the one who found the location of today's Last Bastion and brought humans here.

The First Hero was the one who taught humanity how to survive their new lives and brought the news of the change. He protected Humanity and helped out on raising the next generation of Awakened Humans before sacrificing himself for the sake of protecting his race which in turn formed the 'Dome' over the Last Bastion.

At this point, many other Heroes followed the First Hero's footsteps and sacrificed themselves to strengthen the Dome, as such humanity remained safe and was able to rebuild and recoup their losses.

That's basically the summarized version of Humanity's History so far, but make no mistake, the battle for survival is far from over.

Why else would the Federation keep convincing people to join the army? More importantly, if it's truly over, is there a reason for the Federation to exist?

Just from this, it's easy to guess that the battle is far from over.

Indeed, Ashton was right on the dot when he guessed that this world a lot more dangerous that he initially thought.

One hour passed swiftly since Ashton began answering the questionnaires and when he heard the beep from Jerry, it's 'pens down' signal.

He submitted the test papers to Jerry and the bot rated it on the spot. A few moments later, Jerry let out whirring sounds and said:

"90/100 points. Excellent results, Master."

"Yes!!" Ashton cheered, "Alright! Let's have a little celebration! Jerry, prepare a feast for me!"

"As you wish, Master."