[Second World Of Aerith]

There wasn't much change in the Keith in front of him, but there certainly was a most noticeable change in Keith, and that was his,

Hair.

His dark brown hair had turned white.

A weird Keith, a weird phenomenon where his hair turned white, and an unfamiliarly weird way of speaking, as if he looked down on those weaker than him, though emotions are being voiced, not much of it were shown on his face, strange ignorant way of speaking, everything indicated in one direction,

The person in front of him wasn't the Keith he knew, yet he was the same person at the same time.

"Wha....t the.... fuck?" Were the words that came out of his mouth, involuntarily. At which, a smirk flashed in Keith's face.

"Who, no, what happened to you?" He wanted to know who he was, but understanding that his question and his thoughts didn't align, he changed his question.

"A-anyway, my name is Caesar. Caesar Wolfe." Caesar introduced himself with a weird look on his face.

"I remember now!" Keith gazed up at the skies and backed up as he exclaimed.

"Explain." Caesar demanded.

"I regressed." Keith said truthfully. Why he revealed instead of keeping it a secret? He didn't know, but he truthfully said because he knew he could trust Caesar, at least enough to stomach a secret. Well, the other reason was because Keith didn't really gain anything nor did he lose by keeping the fact he regressed a secret, since he had a [Returnee] title, which every awakened could see, he would be given the most importance because that title was only given to the Gods.

"Wha...."

"I regressed. 21 years. I'm someone from 21 years into the future." Keith muttered in hushed tones.

"....." Caesar didn't know what to do. He believed Keith, he certainly did, since only that would explain Keith's behaviour and because Keith didn't really have any reason to lie to him. Though Caesar believed him, it didn't mean he was able to accept it, so he just stood, dumbfounded.

But,

Caesar's first instinct upon a minor acceptance of Keith's state(?),

Was to hug him.

"Huuu...." Caesar exhaled sharply and tapped Keith's back. Keith responded and hugged Caesar back, though it was strange and unrecognizable feeling, Keith didn't dislike it.

"Um.... I'm not into dudes." Keth commented,

THUMP-!

"Bastar..... Wait! You! Do you have a girlfriend? Like in the future? Is there someone you love in the future?" Caesar asked with a deep frown on his face.

"Huh? No?" Keith responded with a confused tilt.

"Good for you, if you have forgotten, you are dating my sister. Had you agreed just now, you would have gotten beaten up!" Caesar threatened, glaring at Keith.

"Well, tell her to forget about me....." Keith muttered,

"There is nothing but pain in the path I'm about to walk." He muttered under his breath.

"Huh?" Caesar asked in confusion, while not being able to entirely comprehend Keith's continued mumble.

"Just ask her to forget about m-" Just as Keith was about to complete his words,

BOOOOOOIINNNNMMMMmmm.....!

Reality flickered.

RUMBLE-!

Earth shuddered violently, and Keith who recognised the phenomenon looked around in horror. The sky, together with the land, trembled violently, as if heaven and hell were shaking.

"Why!!?? Why now!!??" Keith yelled in top of lungs, at the clouds which rumbled more violently.

Just as it happened in the past,

Lightning bolts began to strike at the ground, as the Earth continued to tremble and reality began to ripple in and out of existence, of course, this phenomenon was only visible and was exclusive to Keith, who felt the fear of reality collapsing.

DING-!

An extremely familiar chime, chimed in Keith's consciousness.

And

[Due to a highly condensed magic power existing on the planet [Earth], [Extricate] shall bring earlier than scheduled!]

"Wait, are you saying this is happening because of me!!!?" Keith yelled in outrage. Caesar gazed around perplexed at the abrupt plight, his confusion turned into horror when a lightning bolt struck near them.

Trembling, he grabbed Keith as ran to cover, but Keith didn't budge, not even an inch.

"Come on! Let's get out of here, fucker!!" He cursed at Keith, and unexpectedly,

SLAP-!

"Let go, and get out of here. Go to your family, and if possible, rescue them." Keith slapped off Caesar's hand and muttered, not even concerned in the least about the situation, and at that moment, 'I regressed,' Keith's words flashed in Caesar's mind. Hesitantly, he let go of Keith's hand and rushed towards his home to, if possible, protect his family.

Gazing at Caesar's retreating back, "If possible, that is...." Keith muttered.

Because,

"Rot" had begun!

According to what Keith had experienced in the past, "rot" or "chaos" had befell upon their world, and everything had begun to rot, a phenomenon from which its name was derived from. The atmospheric structure and pressure would become harsher, thicker and denser, all of humanity would feel the change. Many would die to it before they even figured out what was happening, as those who survived will become stronger, their bodies would become stronger and the aura surrounding them would become fiercer.

While Keith was remembering the useful information he had heard about in his last life,

With one last rippling reality flashing through, everything about what was once Earth changed!

Now, Earth wasn't even Earth anymore!

Instead, it was

DING-!

[Welcome to [Second World Of Aerith]!]

[[Extrication] had been concluded!]

[Magic power and aura has been introduced to the [Second World Of Aerith]!]

[[Tutorial] shall commence!]

DOOOOOOM-!

With an ear deafening 'doom' sound, the lightning strikes halted, leaving behind a dense atmosphere, reason for which, currently, except of Keith none knew.

"Haaa....." With a sharp exhale, Keith breathed in the currently pure magic power, no, aura, since Keith wasn't able to use magic power.

'First: sense the aura iotas in the atmosphere.....' Reminiscence of what he had learnt and improved, flashed in his mind, but still, except for a speck of what was supposed to be his consciousness nothing was seen, nor felt, in his mind.

Unbeknownst to him, the pores on his skin began to breath air vigorously. This was a time of harvest for him, so of course, he wouldn't let, an opportunity that presented itself to him, go that easily.

'!!!' Keith was surprised inwardly when he felt both, magic power and aura, iotas being gathered in him, but since he now had a class which was magic power related, his surprise slightly lessened.

[[System] manifestation conditions have been fulfilled!]

DING-!

An ear deafening, pleasant ding resounded throughout the [Second World Of Aerith], sending everybody to a split second of daze, before

DING-!

[User fated yet fate-less chronicle has begun!]

[[Dome] has been initiated!]

[Current inhabitants of the initiated [Dome]: 16,827]

[Survive the zombie hoard!]

[Zombies spawned will disappear after 30 minutes!]

[[Gate-1] shall open after 30 minutes!]

[00H: 29M: 59S]

"Huuu....." With a profound exhale, Keith opened his eyes which were closed, a reverent golden-coloured clock glimmered in his dark brown eyes, but the glimmer died down by the next instance, before his natural artic blue coloured aura settled in his eyes, as his hair glimmered silver.

[Magic power sensitivity increased by 1]

Cough-!

He abruptly coughed out black dyed blood which he involuntarily caught in his hands, as his expression twisted in disgust as the stench of his blood in his hands trickled his nose.

"Shit...."

SPLASH-!

He wiped the remains of his black blood on his clothes as he began to move out of the alleyway. He slightly extended out his right and flexed his fingers,

[Rusted Machete]

A rusted machete materialized in his hand out of a purplish black window pop up, which was the [System] inventory, yet his expression remained indifferent.

"Huuu...." He exhaled sharply, and smiled lightly upon realizing that he had been sighing too much.

"Since it started early, let's go do some stretches...." Keith muttered under his breath and zoomed out of the alleyway, as soon as the crossroad was at sight, Keith sped up by a notch,

And

He flexed his shoulders and held back the machete he received, and

Slashed upon exit!

THUNK-!

SHATTER-!

The rusted machete in his hand shattered upon contact with a zombie's neck, because the weapons granted by the system at the initial stages could hardly be called weapons, it wouldn't have been a surprise if its durability had reached its limit upon a strong grip around it, still, the smile on his face didn't fade, as he grinned and grabbed the zombie's head.

BAM-!

And slammed it on the ground, the dust settled on the ground scattered upon contact, but the zombie hadn't been dealt with just yet, as Keith raised his right leg and stomped on its face as hard as he could.

BAM-!

SPLATTER-!

"..... Still as disgusting as ever...." Keith muttered with a smile and lunged forward, towards another zombie rushing towards a group of people on the other side of the crossroad.

[You have obtained 53 experience points!]

[You are now eligible to check your status by saying the activation phrase "Status Window!"]

Zombies had rotting skin, decomposed eyeballs, missing or twisted noses, melted off ears, dangling or torn lower jaws, and bones protruding out of a few parts of their bodies, they were just corpses waking around, living off on the undead iotas in the atmosphere filled with magic power and aura.

In a corner of his eyes, he noticed humans struggling to fight off the zombies, which was to be expected because though they, the zombies, were slow and weak, they were tough and they don't feel pain, and when they are clustered into groups, it is much harder to fight against them and is recommended to retreat and hunt them one by one.

Of course, there was another option.

Tap into the power cores that are automatically formed inside ones body.

Though it is much easier to fend them off one by one instead of choosing the latter option, but

That only applied to the normal ones.

And Keith was definitely not one of them.

'Let it flow....do not control or try to contain it....' Words of the Saintess sounded in his consciousness as he felt a hint of warmth envelope him, and

His body was soon enveloped by a thin, slightly visible, layer of artic blue hue, which was his aura.....

"!??!!" His insides twisted upon on the strain on using an unfamiliar energy within the body.

Cough-!!

He coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood due to the internal injuries, but smiled.

'I forgot for a moment that it's only my mind that has regressed, not my body.....'

"Status...." He called out.

====

<[Stats]> [Profile]

==

[Keith Frazier]

[Experience points – 53]

[Level – 0] [Allocate]

[Class – Timekeeper] [Allocate]

[Title – Returnee: You are one of the protectors chosen by the [System], the training you have been through in the span of time is the reward and an head start for you, who are a protector. Effects: Experience points accumulation increased by 1%]

[Fate – 94] [Fluctuating]

[HP – 97/100]

[MP – 3/3] [Allocate]

==

[Strength – 3] [Allocate]

[Dexterity – 1] [Allocate]

[Stamina – 2] [Allocate]

[Tenacity – 2] [Allocate]

[Intelligence – 4] [Allocate]

==

[Exclusive skill] [1/1]

[Rewind: Time can be rewinded by 0.9 seconds. Time rewinded can be increased according to the user's proficiency] [Proficiency – 0%] [Allocate]

[Passive skills] [0/4]

[Active skills] [0/6]

====

Whistle~

"Looking good for a starter...."