Chapter 1: The sleep becomes a reality

Billions of planets and galaxies were surrounding Stroph, the sea of stars spread out before him and the vastness of space was incredibly big and insanely beautiful.

"Where... am... I?" Stroph didn't understand how he found himself in the middle of starry space, but he wasn't worried at all. There was no anxiety, no fear, no joy, he felt only calm and peaceful.

It was unknown how much time had passed when Stroph decided to get to one of the stars and explore its surroundings.

"It's incredible how it`s beautiful and bright, it's just impossible to describe these feelings...". Stroph slowly continued his way under the light from countless stars.

Unwittingly Stroph realized that he had absolutely no idea how he got here and his past was in utter darkness, there was not a single fragment of memory that he could recall.

"Аh? What's that?" After an immeasurable amount of time Stroph reached one of the stars, but to his shock it was not blindingly bright like the others, this star wasn`t glowing at all.

A boundless darkness completely enveloped the star, not allowing a single ray of the light to break through its unbreakable barrier.

"What is this? Are there really any dark stars?" Stroph saw only bright lights all around, but eventually he got to the darkest point of this universe.

He decided to touch this strange star, consumed by darkness, but as soon as his hand reached the star, the darkness immediately passed over Stroph and began to consume his body in lightning speed.

After a few seconds, Stroph took all of the darkness and it began to devour him, just as the star had done before, leaving only a small sphere in the size of a grain of rice.

But no matter how much the darkness tried to chew out Stroph's flesh, it failed and after a while, the darkness slowly began to suck itself into Stroph's body.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA, did you really want to take my body for yourself! You should have found the opponent of your league!"

The situation was turned upside down and eventually Stroph absorbed the darkness without any consequences for himself.

"Hmm? What`s that?" Stroph turned his attention to the little bright star in front of him. He didn't understand why, but he felt a pleasant warmth and a strange closeness from it, Stroph wanted to walk up and take a closer look at it, but as soon as the thought entered his mind, the bright sphere flew straight into his heart with an immeasurable speed.

At that moment a strange message appeared in Stroph's mind, the significance of which he didn`t give at all.

[Received - Bookmark]

After that, Stroph felt incredibly relieved and tender, but unfortunately, for him, at that very moment, the entire universe shook and began shattering into many small fragments.

"Аh? What the fuck is going on? No, no, no!" Stroph didn't want to part with that unearthly feeling for anything, but the next sound completely knocked him out of his reverie.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

The ringing of the phone made Stroph wake up and he pick up the phone with great reluctance. And as soon as he answered, a loud and serious voice was heard: "Stroph, you, lazy face! Wake up, come on, we are having a test of fighting skills in three hours!"

Stroph slowly brought the phone to his ear and said slightly irritably: "Charles, do you have any idea what kind of dream I didn`t get to watch because of you? Aren`t you ashamed waking people up at nine a.m.?" Stroph still remembered most of his dream, especially the beauty of space and the unforgettable sensations he had experienced.

After a while Charles's voice was heard: "Normal people actually get up at eight o'clock and go to school, not skip day to day, that's it, get your stuff and take me something to eat as well. After these words, Charles finished his bell and went back to the class.

"How hard it is to get up in the morning, I don't think anything is harder than this." With these words, Stroph struggled out of bed and staggered into the bathroom, where he washed and showered before heading straight into the kitchen, the most important place in the house, in Stroph's opinion, of course.

He was standing right in front of the fridge, but there was no smile or any joy on his face.

"And what am I supposed to have for breakfast if the fridge is completely empty?" Stroph frowned slightly as he was very hungry and after a while, decided that the best option would be to go to the nearest store and buy food for himself and for Charles.

The next moment, Stroph heard the sounds of battle and the roar of monsters.

"Hmm? Have they discovered the monster`s camp again?" Stroph had a quick look at tv, which showed a close-up of a man chopping up several spiky monsters, resembling honeyeaters, with his sword. A few seconds later the frame switched to a hail of bullets raining down on the giant lizards, tearing them apart. The blood, the explosions, the roars and the cheers had become a familiar sight for every resident of the Flaming Heart Empire over the years.

Stroph didn't watch any further how such a trivial event was unfolding, and headed off to get dressed.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Stroph heard the strange noise again, he thought it was pesky Charles, but...

Boom!

"What the hell!" Unexpectedly for Stroph, a little robot vacuum cleaner crashed into his leg.

"Great, not only did they wake me up so early, but on top of that, there was a machine uprising at my house." Stroph didn't know whether to cry or laugh at being attacked by his own vacuum cleaner.

Quickly dressing and throwing his backpack on his back Stroph headed straight for the exit of the house. The security AI didn't check on him, so before long he was outside and strode straight toward the school and the nearest store.

While he was walking, Stroph kept thinking about what would happen in today's test, because there was a small chance that they would have to fight with monsters, which was quite tedious and long for Stroph compared to an ordinary sparring or written test.

But, his musings ended the moment a large sign with two intersecting red wings appeared before his eyes. Stroph had to put his brainstorming aside and proceed to choose his breakfast and some compatible snack for Charles.

Stroph immediately headed toward a rack of assorted snacks, but the longer he looked, the more he frowned. At that moment, Stroph thought to himself, <Dried Flower Octopus Tentacles, Rainbow Potato Chips, Sunnuts, with the breakfast like that I`m going to die at exit of store.>

The idea of buying a couple of snacks stopped being appealing to Stroph as it was a moment ago, so he continued to look around at everything edible in the store.

He looked at just about everything except vegetables. From the outside it might have looked like he was avoiding this type of food like his worst nightmare.

Some minutes later Stroph stopped his endless tossing and settled on a rather simple but no less delicious meal. At the cash register he paid six sempets for two fine cinnamon buns and two iced tea.

After completing his purchase, Stroph walked safely out of the store and continued on his way to school. He didn`t eat his portion, deciding to eat with Charles at school.

But, before Stroph had walked ten meters, he suddenly got dizzy and he almost fell to the ground. By some miracle, he kept his balance, trying to understand what had just happened to him, but instead of answers, he only got more questions. For at that moment, a mysterious message floated right in front of him.

[Received the history of common level - "Food for friend"]