The New World That I Know Very Well [1]

After I calmed down, I spent the next 20 minutes thinking about what to do next. There were many things I had to check.

I had to confirm my identity and whether I was actually inside the novel. I looked through the window to see how it was outside. What I saw was a white wall completely blocking the view.

'What a great design,' I thought to myself.

I then decided to go out. The keys to the apartment were inside a keyhole. I picked them up and went outside. My apartment number was 43. As I was closing the doors to the apartment, I heard a female voice from my left side saying:

"Hello"

Surprised, I quickly turned my head and saw an attractive woman in her late twenties standing next to the door to another apartment. She was a bit shorter than me, around 168 centimeters.

She had brown hair tied into a ponytail, and there was light makeup on her face. She wore a business suit and high heels. What piqued my interest was the futuristic-looking watch on her wrist, which confirmed that I was inside a novel.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds until I realized that I haven't answered her yet.

"Ah right, Hello," I said awkwardly.

"Umm, did you move in today?" she asked, with a weird look on her face.

Seeing her face, I realized I still had my hospital gown on. Not sure how to respond, I decided to just go with the flow and said:

"Yes, I just moved in," I answered a little bit embarrassed.

"Ahh, so we're neighbors then. I'm Sarah. I hope we will get along well as neighbors," Sarah said in a friendly tone.

"I'm Michael, umm, may I ask what's today's date?" I decided to ask. Knowing that I was inside a novel, now the only question was, at which point in the plot I was.

"Sure, It's..." as she was saying that, she turned on her watch and a holographic screen appeared showing the time - 19:06 and today's date - 1st July 2071.

"The 1st of July," Sarah finished.

"Oh ok, thank you, I will be going then, it was nice meeting you Sarah," I said so, as I didn't want to take her time anymore and end the conversation as fast as possible.

"What a weird boy..." I heard her murmur as I was leaving.

Well, I wasn't too good at talking with people, or rather I wasn't used to. Having spent most of my life in bed I didn't have too many chances to socialize.

I went in the direction of what I assumed was an elevator. After clicking the button to go down, I heard a *ding* sound, and the doors opened. I went inside and chose to go to floor 0.

As the elevator was descending, I thought to myself:

If today's 1st July 2071, that means I have two months before the Academy starts. That's when the real plot begins.

'Haa, now what should I do.'

Right now, I have one big problem - money. I don't have anything. I couldn't find anything in the apartment, except for the bed there was absolutely nothing.

'I guess I have no choice...'

I clicked on the floor 4 button, and the elevator started ascending. After a while, I was back on the floor from which I had just come. I quickly walked up to the doors of apartment number 42 and knocked.

After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing an attractive woman in her late twenties, yep, that was Sarah. This time wearing a light blue blouse and short gray pants. Without her makeup put on and with her hair down.

"Hello again," I said awkwardly.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

"Umm, you see, right now, I don't have any money, so by any chance, could you lend me 20N?" I asked.

20N - NEARs was around the same as 20 Euro (~22,5 USD).

NEAR was a currency created after the apocalypse started.

In the novel, 45 years before the real story began, in 2026. "Gates" started to appear all around the world. "Gates" were portals connecting the world to the monster dungeons. The energy coming from them made normal animals evolve into bloodthirsty monsters.

The modern weapons were useless against them. There were also monsters coming out from the "Overloaded Gates."

That's when the whole apocalypse and the first wave begins. That's also when the humans were granted a「 System 」.

With the help of it, humans were able to gain incredible abilities. Soon "Heroes" appeared, the people that fought off the monsters with the powers granted by「 System 」.

Thanks to them, humanity survived the first wave that lasted 5 years but at the cost of a fifth of the population dying.

With the help of the materials gathered from monsters and the gates, the technology quickly advanced. The materials were way better than those known on the earth. The weapons made from them were more durable, sharp, and could amplify your skills.

You could also infuse them with mana to increase their power. Depending on the element, you could make your weapon freeze whatever it touches, burn anything in its way, etc.

20 years later, in 2051, the second wave of the apocalypse begins. Catastrophes are happening all around the world, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. This time with the normal ones, "Red Gates" start to appear, from which even more powerful monsters are coming out. That's also when the tectonic plates began to move.

The second wave lasted 5 years. The results were devasting. Almost 800 million people died and all the continents connected into a single big one.

After that, some of the strongest "Heroes" in the world decided to create the "Hero Union." It was an organization, that gathered "Heroes" and "Guilds" together. It quickly replaced the governments of all the countries. Using the new materials, engineers created portals.

This allowed humans to easily travel from one side of the continent to another in a few seconds. There also existed flying trains and flying cars to travel shorter distances. Because using different languages and currencies was getting inconvenient.

"Hero Union" decided to use English as the official language in all the countries and created a new currency called NEAR, which replaced all the existing ones.

Soon you could become a "Hero" only by registering at one of the "Hero Union's" buildings. They created the "Rank System" and a "Hero Ranking."

"Hero" ranks in "Rank System," just like skills, ranged from [G] to [S]. For example, if you were a [D] rank Hero, you could go inside a [D] rank "Gate" and lower.

In the year 2061, the first "Academy" was created, replacing a high school. Its purpose was to raise the future "Heroes." Following that, more and more high schools were being replaced by "Academies" all around the continent.

That's how the background story went.

...

Now, back to the present.

Hearing what I said, Sarah gave me a suspicious look and asked:

"Why? How do you even not have any money?"

I quickly thought of an excuse and said:

"Well, you see, it's a long story, so I'm not sure if you have the time to hear it."

"I'm not busy at the moment, so why not," she answered, still giving me the same suspicious look.

Ah, dang it, it didn't work. Think Michael, thiiiink. Oh, I know. I'll just tell her a half-truth.

"So, as you can see, I'm still wearing the hospital gown"

"Yeah," Sarah answered.

"It's because a few hours ago, I was discharged from the hospital." Kind of, by dying.

"You see, I was in a coma for 4 years and recently woke up. That's also why my body is in such a weak state. The moment I woke up, except for my name, I couldn't remember anything at all. I was diagnosed with memory loss, and the only information I found about me was the address of the apartment next to yours. I have no idea who my parents are. I also don't have anything."

As I was telling her the story, I felt her pulling me into her embrace.

"When I entered the apartment there was absolutely nothing inside. I don't know. I honestly don't know what to do. That's why, please. I will give you back the money, I swear. Just help me this once."

I was being hugged. By a stranger I met a few minutes ago.

Then I heard Sarah saying in a reassuring voice:

"Here, here, it's alright. If you need to, we can stay like that for as long as you want."

Not sure what to do, I just let myself be hugged and stayed like that for a while.

That was until

*Grooowll*

Yep, my belly just growled. I didn't realize up until now, but I was really hungry.

"~Ara, ara. Someone here must be hungry." Sarah said with a weird voice.

What? Did I hear that right?

Did she just ara'd, ara'd me?

And what was that voice?

"M-maybe a little," I answered her, still shocked about her sudden change.

"That's perfect~. I was about to prepare dinner."

Well I guess, it ended well. I'm even gonna get food for free.

But, why is her voice still like that?

"Come inside~," Sarah said as she invited me inside.

'This, however, sounded a little bit creepy.' I thought as I entered through the door.