3 Stone of Soma

Alex kicked down an abandoned street food shop, stealing a cooking knife as he headed towards the Bryxton Tower in the Central Area of the city. By now, a lime-colored dome had surrounded the city and seemed to be unbreakable. The meteors had halted due to the dome that encompassed the city, yet the deranged smirk of the Giant instilled fear into the hearts of all that dared to peer at it.

Alex ran through the streets of Vancouver, Canada while focusing on the tower a few kilometers away. A dungeon had been hidden at that spot. It was a dungeon that had remained uncleared throughout the tutorial, as no one was powerful enough to defeat the boss, the Chimera Cat.

Now, as Alex possessed intel not even the Giants or the caretakers did, he could easily attempt and retrieve the unknown reward without any difficulties.

Speaking of caretakers, a jolly and carefree voice entered the ears of everyone in the city. A voice that seemed to be that of a child whose hobby was to commit murders, that is.

[Hello, everyone! I am Kyl Bravestone, the caretaker of the city of Vancouver as well as a Djinn created by a lesser demon. Now, I'm sure you do not know what that is but fret not, as you will soon find out. Ah, should I hurry up and get to the point? All right, you have 24 hours to prepare, as 20% of the city shall be obliterated in that time frame. The dome will be reduced in size, so make sure you are near the central part of the city if you do not wish to experience the true danger of zones not protected by caretakers.]

Quite a lengthy explanation, yet absolutely necessary to the survival of mankind. Alex clicked his tongue as he scoffed at the concerned tone Kyl revealed during the latter part of the explanation, as the caretaker could not care less about the lives of mere humans. Djinns were a superior race, and while they were subservient to the races above them, humans were not included on that list.

As Alex ran, two dogs encompassed in darkness blocked his path, growling at the boy with amethyst eyes. Alex scoffed as he locked eyes with the dogs, staring into their golden pupils as if they were a light snack.

Without realizing the killing intent that Alex radiated, the dogs pounced towards the boy who barely had any facial hair in hopes that they could rip his flesh apart and absorb his vitality.

'Manifestations of the negative emotions that humans radiate,' Alex raised an eyebrow as he analyzed the dogs. They were in fact the product of curses and the negative emotions of humans. The dogs ate the vitality of other living beings and could become extremely powerful if given enough vitality.

However, since not even an hour had passed since the apocalypse began, they were nothing but livestock.

The dogs did reveal something important to Alex, however. They revealed that there was a cemetery nearby since most of the manifestations emerged from cemeteries. Surprisingly, there hadn't been any in the cemetery where Alex buried his father, which was strange.

"You want a piece of my vitality? I want yours, too, fuckers!" Alex let out a demented laugh as he pounced at the dogs, slashing away at their skin that was covered in mana consisting of the element of darkness. "The feeling of hunger is mutual, idiots! Greed, is that the only emotion you have?"

Alex was aware that his words made no sense to the dogs who mindlessly attempted to bite him, yet he continued his monologue despite that. "You think you're special if you have a tiny amount of mana covering your bodies? So what? I have more than a decade of experience hacking away at your kind! I want the stones of Soma that you possess more than you want my vitality, and that's a fact!"

The boy with amethyst eyes swung his knife horizontally, slashing the resilient skin of the first dog who fell on its back rather gracefully. Alex then kicked the snout of the second dog, creating a combination of attacks by unleashing a flurry of swings.

Black goo in the form of miasma emerged from the wounds of the second dog as Alex finally pierced its eyes to finish it off. Paying no attention to the shiny stone that emerged from the corpse, Alex struck the first dog in the belly using the knife, ending its life instantly.

He quickly wiped away the sweat caused due to the unusually prolonged battle that his body was not adjusted to while eyeing the stones greedily. The stones that lay on the ground near the corpses of the dogs were called Stones of Soma.

Stones of Soma were artifacts infused with an unknown energy that helped strengthen one's body. There were two other kinds of stones, the Stones of Psychi and the Stones of Magikos. The two helped boost the strength of one's soul and the capacity of mana they could store respectively.

However, since the apocalypse had just begun, the others were unlikely to be found so early. Alex quickly gazed at the Stones of Soma before wolfing them down immediately. The only way to absorb the stones was to swallow them, which is what Alex did.

An excruciating pain spread from his belly to all parts of his body as blood emerged from several openings on his face. He quickly wiped it down using the sleeves of his school uniform, rendering it bloody in the process. Sitting down, he concentrated on the parts of his body that he wanted to strengthen.

Some people preferred to strengthen a specific part of their body such as their arms or legs, while some preferred to divide the energy equally throughout their entire body. Alex was a part of the latter group.

As the stones were absorbed, Alex felt his body become denser. He punched a piece of wood that lay beside him, immediately cracking it as the debris fell to the ground. Moreover, it didn't even hurt.

Content with his drastic improvement, Alex clutched his knife tightly before continuing his journey towards the Tower of Bryxton, defeating the manifestations of negative emotions in the process.

Several hours passed, but Alex still hadn't arrived at his destination. All of his clothing was lathered in blood, yet his body seemed better than ever. He had switched knifes several times due to the manifestations of curses becoming stronger by the minute, causing the weapons to shatter.

At this point, Alex had the strength to lift as much as one of the strongest humans in the world before the apocalypse occurred, and his body had been strengthened to the point where being slashed by an ordinary knife would only cause a shallow wound and would not affect his nerves or muscles, only his skin.

Alex walked over to a stall and stole leftover pieces of sauteed chicken, wolfing them down instantly. Since only his body had been strengthened and he hadn't obtained the capability of absorbing mana, Alex's gluttony had increased several-fold.

'Food will be an issue until I obtain Stones of Magikos,' Alex clicked his tongue before licking his lips to not even leave behind a gram of food. 'About 95% of humans residing in Vancouver should have died by now, either due to the meteors or the manifestations of the negative emotions of humans, otherwise known as monsters. The other 5% should be fighting their way through or hiding. Well, I'll see them in 24 hours when we get teleported to a specific location.'

Despite the endless tragedies occurring in the city, Alex still had a slight smile on his face as if he were indifferent to all the deaths. 'Death was inevitable', he believed. 'Death should not be postponed, as it will only bring consequences. There is no point in being the hero and rescuing people who will be dead-weight in the future.'

Alex dug in his pocket and retrieved a pendant. The pendant had an amethyst gem in the middle and was hooked by a chain long enough to fit on his neck. It was the last gift his mother had given him before her passing when he was only three years old.

'Come to think of it, I lost this in my previous life when the meteor struck our school,' Alex thought, a gentle smile blossoming on his face. He caressed the gem using his thumb as he ate the rest of the food on the stall.

After finishing his meal, Alex stood up to continue his journey. However, that was when he heard the noise of more monsters and the heavy breathing of a… child?

'That's unfortunate,' Alex sighed at the voice of the child struggling to contend against the monster, who seemed to be a wolf this time. As he turned to look, however, his eyes instantly widened.

"What the f–"