2 Chapter 2 - Humanity's Deeds

Zero was slowly waking up. Zero's eyes fluttered gently, and when his vision cleared, he saw he was lying in a medical bed in the medical facility. The medical bed he was in was hidden behind a plain white curtain.

Zero would sit up and look around. Shortly after, the curtain was moved aside. A groggily grumpy-looking man with bags under his eyes looked at Zero. The man had a stubble as if he had not shaven in a while. This was the school doctor named Micheal. In front of Micheal was a Cybernetic screen with a profile on it. In hand was a ceramic cup, probably filled with coffee. The mug read, "World's greatest nurse."

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Name: Zefer Zillian

Mana Pool: 0

Level: 1

Rank: F

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Coins: 0

Class: None

Status: Good

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Micheal sighed heavily and scratched the back of his head viciously. "If you are awake and fine, then get the hell out already," Micheal said. He would turn away from the Zero, or in this case Zefer, and make his way towards another medical bed. Every so often, he would take a sip from his mug, but he still looked annoyed and exhausted as if he had been slaving away for hours.

Zefer did as he was told and left the medical room. On his way out, he noticed the halls were empty. Classes had probably started. "If I want to get my allowance, I need to go..." Zefer thought to himself. Truthfully, he didn't want to go to class. He didn't even want to come to school anymore.

He saw no reason. Ever since the incident, he stopped caring. Regardless, he needed the Coins to survive. He went to class, and the door opened automatically once it detected a person trying to enter. Everyone looked to see who it was. When they all saw it was Zefer, they looked away.

"Good to see you have finally joined us, Zefer. Take your seat." The same curvaceous woman that had been watching Zefer being taken away on a stretcher had instructed him to take a seat. Zefer did as he was told, although he could hear whispers of rude comments coming in his direction.

" Now then, back to where we left off, in the year 2025, identity theft and credit fraud were high. Thanks to the microchips implanted on credit cards and the internet being a vast space, hackers were quickly able to scam or even steal people's identities. Researchers and various people came up with an invention that allowed an All-in-one, highly secure device to hold everything. Can anyone tell me what this is?" The teacher asked.

"Our bracelets: LCB." A student answered.

"Good job." The teacher commended the student, which made him smile happily before she continued, "The lightweight carbon fiber bracelet, or LCB for short, is a bracelet that implements VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmentative Reality). This allowed people to bring up cybernetic screens in real life and touch upon them as if they were typing upon a keyboard or cellphone. The device even allowed people to send messages and make phone calls. Thus, cellphones ended up becoming nothing more than old-aged technology. No longer would people get called about an extended warranty." The teacher joked at the last end, which caused the class to chuckle.

Zefer, on the other hand, had just put his head down. He already knew about this, so he didn't care for any of this recapped material. The teacher saw this but continued on with her lesson.

"Of course, hackers and scam artist did their best to break the new device system; however, they found it impossible. Thanks to notorious super genius and game creator Rina Valentine, she made a system that created complex coding in the form of protection to prevent people from hacking into the System. Only someone who could live for millions of years could be able to break into the System, and that was if they tried nonstop day in and day out without breaking to eat or go to the bathroom."

"Due to this, AI (Artificial Intelligence) became a thing. People tried to create AIs to break into the System; however, even self-learning AIs found it challenging. In the end, the AIs became nothing more than sub-servents for the human race. Hired to do basic things like clean up the streets, take orders at fast food joints, and other essential customer service ordeals."

"Of course, these AI robots were expensive, and only the rich could afford them. Humanity used AI Robots for more than just company purposes, and many people purchased them for personal usage. Still, they can even be deployed into combat, but they can not harass Mana, so they can't use magic."

"With that said, the school needed to ban the usage of AI robots on campus grounds. It is due to how distracting such can be. After all, you are all here to prepare in case another war breaks out. The Demons and Vampires won't just sit back forever." The teacher said.

"Can any of you tell me when we discovered the other races?" The teacher asked, and a student raised their hand. "It was during the year 2030. The Demons invaded our lands, killed our people, or took us in as slaves." The student answered, and the teacher nodded. "Correct."

"When Humanity discovered the other races, it was due to a war between the Angels and the Demons. The Angels were fighting for peace and prosperity on Earth; however, the Demons were fighting to rule over the humans and make them sub-servents."

"Other races were drawn into the crossfire due to treaties and pacts. Elves and Dwarfs were aligned with the Angels. Whereas, Vampires and Orcs were aligned with the Demons. Each had their way of thinking. For example, the Orcs only liked strong and vicious fighters. People who could prove themselves; meanwhile, Vampires only viewed humans as a source of food. The Dwarfs only cared for technological advancement and improved their everyday lives, whereas the Elves would maintain a balance. The Elves and Dwarfs didn't necessarily hate the humans as much as the Vampires and Demons. As for the Orcs, if the human was strong, they respected them."

"The Angels were the only ones who tried to help Humanity, and since ancient times they had been offering them blessings. These blessings came from the Seven Goddesses. The Angels serviced under the Goddesses to communicate and watch over the humans in their stead. To maintain a balance, there were Seven Diabolicals as well. The Demons served under them to try and take over the humans and force them into slavery."

"Nevertheless, after much war and much death, the races made a treaty. None of the races wanted to be wiped out after all, but even with the non-aggression-pact or NPA for short, tensions were still high. So, Humanity decided to do one thing. Harvest the Mana in the air to become stronger. All of the races except for Humanity could harvest the natural Mana in the air. Humans saw magic as a myth. That myth became a reality thanks to Rina Valentine, who researched endlessly for humans to use Mana. Then she found one; through injecting concentrated Mana into the human System, they could unlock what was known as a Mana Pool."

"The Mana Pool was what allowed humans to use magic. Studies determined that one's Mana Pool was determined at birth and could never be increased no matter what they did. If the parents had a Poor Mana Pool, their child would have a Poor Mana Pool, whereas if the parents had a Rich Mana Pool, then their child would have a Rich Mana Pool. No amount of training, meditation, or hard work could increase the Mana Pool. Even injecting Mana into the body a second or third time did nothing. The effects of doing so lead to death."

The teacher was beginning to finish her lesson about Mana Pool, but she had left out something important. The nature of Humanity. It became more apparent thanks to the Mana Pools.

The problem with this was that Humanity saw those with Poor Mana Pools as useless because they couldn't use high-tier spells, and their magic, in general, was weak. They would shun the weak because of it. Typically, it was impossible to tell if one did not use their Mana Pool. However, thanks to the System developed by Rina Valentine, one's Mana Pool was tracked. It was displayed upon their profile right under their name. It was the second most important part of identification.

People with Poor or No Mana pools were considered useless since they provided nothing. An AI Robot could easily take over the jobs an everyday human could. Therefore, people who could not fight to protect their family or Humanity were worthless.

One of these people with Poor Mana Pools was Zefer, or as other people called him Zero. This was because he had no Mana Pool and No Martial Talent. He had nothing that could contribute to protecting Humanity. So they nicknamed him Zero.

"You are all the same... you only bring to the light of Humanity's deeds, but you never speak of the darkness. This place disgusts me..." Zefer thought to himself. He wasn't asleep. He was just sitting there with his head down the entire time. He just wished for the day to be over so he could head home.