The Gate Opens

Venn, a first-year high school student who had grown tired of his mundane classes, was lazing around and skipping class. It was just the usual day: the same blue sky, white clouds, and warm sun.

Lying on his back, he was napping on the rooftop of building C of his school.

Dozing off, he let his mind wander. Just when his focus was about to stop at some nasty thoughts, a disturbing sound rang from his left wrist.

It was from his bracelet-shaped communication device.

Although he was already in his most comfortable position, the continuous static sound started to disturb him.

When Venn opened his eyes to take a look at his bracelet, he was greeted with the sight of an enormous dark hole covering the sky.

"What the hell just happened?" he exclaimed, sitting up abruptly.

The hole was so dark as if the abyss itself manifested straight out of the underworld.

At the fringes of this celestial abyss, jagged edges radiated outward like fractured shards of a broken window, casting an eerie red glow.

The sky around the hole twisted and turned, its once bright blue hue transforming into a sickly blackish-red color. The inky darkness crept outward from the center of the hole, mixing with the red glow and swallowing everything in its path.

The black and red sky covered the sun's once warm, golden rays, morphing it into an unsettling crimson glow.

Looking at the phenomenon that happened in front of his eyes, he instantly knew what it was.

The giant hole in the sky was a 'Gate', although it was quite different from the gate he saw in his classes, he instinctively knew that there was no doubt it was a gate.

It was his first time watching the process of a gate opening from a VIP seat like this.

Not only was the gate giving off a dark and foreboding feeling, but it also exerted so much pressure that he could feel his stomach churn.

Even as he was watching it now, the cracks in the hole were still expanding.

Venn was frozen at the otherworldly sight of the opening gate when he suddenly remembered that most conventional electronic devices would explode when turned on near a gate.

Although it took a bit of time before exploding, so much time had already passed that he could feel his link start to heat up.

Venn sprang into action the moment he remembered it. Swiftly tapping a few buttons to loosen his bracelet, he hurled the device upward.

A thunderous boom echoed across the rooftop, followed by a chorus of explosions from the student body below.

Most of the explosion sounds were muffled, indicating that they managed to put it in the emergency place to throw electronics. There were some loud ones as well.

"It must be those unfortunate ones who didn't manage to throw away their links. I bet they spent too much time backing up their data," He muttered, his voice filled with feigned pity.

Even as the echoes of explosions filled the air, Venn couldn't help but complain when he saw pieces of his destroyed Uni-Link.

"It was a real pain in the ass, considering that most conventional electronics would explode when activated near a gate.

"To make matters worse, most electronics in this backwater planet were all still conventional.

"Shit! My precious collection is gone!"

It was at this moment that he regretted not paying for a cloud service in the galactic net.

Sure, someone might know his secret 'collection' and he would have less money to buy his snacks but with that, he wouldn't lose his precious 'collection'.

"Ahhh!!! I want rune devices!!!"

Venn was still grumbling when the chain of explosions in the school area died down, and an enormous explosion occurred at the main power substation of the Laveran district.

*Kaboom

Looking at the billowing smoke, Venn wondered.

'Damn, did the system protection fail?'

He still couldn't believe what had happened. He never expected a gate as enormous as this- which made even the system protection of the power substation fail- would manifest in a backwater planet like the Kran planet.

Not to mention in a district as low-level as Laveran.

After all, the size and category of the gates that appear are usually in line with the population and technological advancements of a planet or location.

Considering the small population of this planet, even a category three gate is unlikely to appear.

This was also one of the reasons why there were so few rune-based devices on this planet.

As for the gate above, Venn could guess that it was at least a category five, based on the record in his classes.

Turning his head upwards, he saw that the crack in the sky had completely covered the entire district. The sky was blackish red as far as his eyes could see; to make matters worse, it was still expanding.

*Wooo wooo wooo.

The sound of the emergency alarm echoed throughout the district.

Venn started to feel hurried when he heard the blaring sound produced by the exclusive warning siren.

He wanted to just jump down, but being on the rooftop, he knew that the height would probably just straight-up kill him even if his body were augmented.

So instead, he quickly made his way toward the emergency stairs.

The stairway wasn't too crowded for the eighth floor to the fifth floor.

But when he reached the fourth floor, the hallway was packed with students and teachers trying to go down as quickly as possible.

Which in turn flooded the stairway to the third floor.

'Now, this might be quite a problem,'

The air crackled with a mix of fear, panic, and urgency, engulfing the space in a suffocating atmosphere.

Venn swept his gaze all around the corridor.

As he surveyed the corridor, his eyes fell upon the stairway again.

It was practically impossible to go through there. It was packed with students and teachers trying to go down quickly.

Some, with a more suitable ability, opted to just jump out of the window.

"Please calm down, be orderly!"

"Don't push each other!"

"Hey, be careful!"

"Move out of the way!"

…

"Shit, that gate was so big! We're all gonna die!"

"Even if we manage to get out of the building, the monsters that spawn will devour all of us!"

The hallway became a battleground of panicked voices, a symphony of distress and despair.

Even in this chaos, some still attempted to calm the students and teachers, their voices strained and desperate.

Others blurted out fragmented thoughts, their minds overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation.

At this time, all of the education about the gate practically backfired because the student panicked after realizing that the gate appeared may as well be a category 5.

"Shut up!!! I'm your teacher, okay?! I have spent half of my life teaching all of you! I deserve to go down first!"

Turning his head, Venn saw one of the teachers shouting at one of the students who talked to him.

'Well, teachers included, I guess.'

He pondered the situation, considering that even though many of the students and teachers at the school could harness the power of the various energy, they could still not simply jump from the fourth floor due to the strain it would impose on their bodies.

After all, the average rank of both the teachers and students was just 9. Despite having undergone one evolution already, their bodies remained those of mere mortals.

'Heh, incompetent or not, we are all the same in this regard.'

Incompetent, that's right. Venn was branded as incompetent because of the fact that every time he used augmentation, he would feel pain in his energy conduit.

That pain indicated that his conduit was extremely strained.

The fact that his conduit was already strained with just the most basic augmentation shows how weak his energy conduit was.

And now, this incompetent was one of the calmest people inside this building.

Despite Venn's earlier musings filled with cynicism, he understood the gravity of the situation.

He understands that he has to get out of this building fast.

It was when he entertained the idea of jumping out of the window himself something happened.

*Rumble Rumble

A rumbling sound came from the sky. It was so loud that the blaring sound of the evacuation alarm turned into just one of the background noises.

An ominous premonition gripped Venn as he sensed the impending danger.

He felt that something was happening, something far worse than the effect of the gate on electrical devices.

He ran towards the closest window, not caring whether he stepped on other students or teachers. And without thinking, he jumped out.

The wind rushed past him, the ground coming up fast.

For a moment, Venn wondered if this was a good idea.

But then he heard the screams of the people who were still inside the building.

No, it was just his mind playing tricks on him. In fact, there were no such things as screams. There was only a gentle wind that brushed past his back.

From the corner of his right eye, he could see that the building he was in before, along with the students and teachers inside, disappeared.

The moment he was about to fall, he fully relaxed his body, curled into a ball, augmented it, and rolled a few meters away.

He couldn't care less about the aftermath of forcefully using instant augmentation.

When he turned around to see what happened to the building, all he could see was a circular depression the size of the building area.

Without a moment to spare, Venn scrambled to his feet and sprinted away, holding back the pain from his conduit.

The adrenaline coursed through his veins, pushing him forward despite the pain in his feet. His mind was a whirlwind of confusion and disbelief.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered to himself, his voice lost amidst the chaos surrounding him. "How could an entire building vanish like that?"

Amidst his confusion and disarray, Venn fixated on a singular objective: reaching the designated evacuation point or, in other words, the shelter.

It wasn't just a matter of seeking safety in numbers; the evacuation point was a fortified shelter, offering a haven of protection against the unknown horrors unfolding around him.

The shelter also provided electricity with one of the most expensive rune generators provided by the government for such shelters.

He was just out of the school gate when he saw some of his friends- well, not exactly friends, but they sure were his acquaintances.

Turning away, Venn strode along the narrow alleyway, deliberately avoiding them.

'They were lucky to get out unscathed because of skipping school.' he thought to himself.

It might take him a little longer to reach the evacuation point this way, but it was still better than having to deal with those 'acquaintances' of his.

Venn cautiously navigated the desolate, narrow alleyway, his every step echoing through the silence.

As he walked, doubts began to plague his mind, questioning the wisdom of his choices and attempting to make sense of the unfolding events.

Recounting everything that had happened, he reflected on today's series of unusual occurrences.

First, he had inexplicably felt the urge to skip his afternoon class, leading to him being one of the first to see the gate opening.

Then, an unnatural premonition of danger had unsettled him, prompting him to jump out of the window.

And there was the fact that he, someone who rarely took risks, had actually jumped from the fourth floor.

In addition to that, he had chosen to walk through the desolate alleyway instead of the safe and crowded area. It felt as if something was guiding him.

Well, maybe it was because he saw his 'acquaintance,' but surely that wasn't enough reason for him to choose to walk through this grim and gloomy alleyway.

"It can't be, right?" he pondered, dismissing his uncertainties and continuing to navigate the silent and dark alleyway with light footsteps.

Amidst the eerie stillness, a glimmer of light caught his eye. His heart throbbed as he approached the source. What he saw was an ordinary ring.

Crafted from black steel, it appears to be an unremarkable piece of jewelry, lacking any intricate engravings or embellishments at first glance.

There was nothing special about it. Despite that, the ring managed to catch Venn's attention.

Crouching down, Venn was about to take a closer look at the ring when a series of booming sounds reverberated through the air.

*Boom boom boom

It was the sound of heavy objects falling.

Venn recalled that it had been approximately five minutes since the gate started opening, which meant it was about time for the gate monsters to spawn.

Although he knows the value of gate creatures' energy crystals and remnant crystals, he doesn't even want to contemplate the potential rank of the lowest-ranked monster that could emerge from the possible category 5 gate above.

Venn could hear a few more booming sounds. Some of them even fell right where his school was at.

Venn chose to just pick up the ring.

Running at a moderate pace, he navigated through the alleyway with ease.

As he reached one of the corners, he abruptly turned left and tried to dodge something, his body moving on pure instinct.

But in that split second, his eyes widened in horror as he came face to face with an enormous black mass. Venn's breath caught in his throat. He already tried to change direction, but it was too late.

With a thunderous force, it struck Venn, sending him hurling backward.

The impact was bone-crushing. Venn crashed into the wall of the nearby building. The concrete wall was cracking under the sheer force of the collision.

Dust and debris filled the air as the wall absorbed the impact, shuddering from the intensity of the blow.

Pain seared through Venn's body as he struggled to regain his senses. The world spun around him, and his vision blurred.

Gasping for breath, he managed to push himself up, leaning against the cracked wall for support.

"F*ck! That hurt!"

When he managed to see what hit him, he froze.

A colossal bull-like creature stood just a few meters away, its eyes ablaze with red flames.

The tips of its hooves and tail flickered with the same fiery glow.

Its muscular body emanates an aura of power and menace. Its thick, coarse black fur rippled under the dim light, giving it an almost otherworldly presence.

The creature's narrowed eyes pierced through Venn as a plume of smoke curled from its nostrils, creating an eerie haze around its head.

Its burning hooves pawed the ground, leaving charred marks on the concrete road.

The muscles in its massive neck tensed as it lowered its head, a clear sign of its imminent charge.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Venn almost instantaneously observed every detail, realizing the gravity of the situation.

The remnants of his augmentation protected him from severe injury, but he could feel its waning strength.

Venn understood that another blow would be fatal. The best case was having all his bones broken and slowly dying; the worst would be instant death.

'Or perhaps instant death would be the best case this time.'

Venn smiled as he thought inwardly.

As if mirroring his expression, the bull-like creature flashed a terrifying grin, revealing rows of carnivorous teeth.

When Venn looked at the row of carnivorous teeth inside its mouth, he believed wholeheartedly that instant death was the best result.

'Let's see, based on the power of the impact, this guy should be about rank 9.

Heh, It's doable.'

He thought inwardly as he tried to assess the creature's rank, unaware that what he was about to do was the complete opposite of his usual decision.