Desperate World

Before reading on, make sure to check things such as the tags and synopsis for the story, this way we can avoid any unnecessary questions that may be possibly answered by seeing those. I know there are some people out there that go into the story without seeing what the synopsis says and such, only to then complain.

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The Blood Harvest.

An event that caused the world to go into chaos over fifty years ago, but in turn had caused humanity to go through a rapid state of evolution. The event was named due to the number of lives lost on that day, and while the specific number was unknown, it was estimated that over sixty percent of the world's population met their ends.

The Blood Harvest started when anomalous alien-like creatures began appearing around the planet, killing anything in their way. Countless cities, countries, and even continents had met their end. Not even the smallest countries were spared from the appearance of these creatures.

In today's time, they were called Ravagers.

To fight back, humanity was forced to go through a rapid pace of advancement, more specifically, advancement in both technology and military power. Not only that, specific individuals had gained supernatural abilities during and after the event, people believe it's due to the unique environment the event had brought forth.

Many great things had sprung forth from the event, but at an incredible cost.

Enough of the history lesson though, it's time to move forward into the present day. At the current time, a young man no older than fifteen could be seen walking into what looked to be a large futuristic skyscraper of sorts.

He had smooth straight black hair with red highlights, along with fair skin and a pair of sharp crimson-red eyes. His current attire consisted of a pair of black sleek long pants, a pair of black combat boots, and a white t-shirt that stuck well to his frame.

This young man was Kasuga Kaito, a young man that was currently on his way to his entrance examination to get into one of the few military schools here in the country. The school he was going to try and attend was called Freedom Academy, said to be one of the best out there.

A brief history lesson, these special military academies were established over forty years ago to train young individuals and nurture them to help become one of the future protectors of the planet. According to the newly established laws at the time, it was deemed necessary that all children with supernatural capabilities to attend one of the schools once they came of age.

That was the case for Kaito, he had recently turned fifteen and was now deemed necessary for him to try and attend one of the academies. If he happened to fail his upcoming exam, they wouldn't just throw him away, he'd apparently be sent somewhere to train before being forced to try the exam once again.

That was how desperate humanity was for fighters, they wouldn't let anyone with potential go to waste.

Anyway, the building he had just entered was Freedom Academy. The building itself was mainly white with blue glass, the building's structure consisting of three separate skyscrapers that were connected through various walkways from different levels.

"Kasuga Kaito, I'm here for my examination."

"Very well, give me a moment." Kaito had quickly spoken to the receptionist after having entered the building. He waited patiently as the receptionist was clicking through the holographic computer they had set up. "Kasuga Kaito, D-Class. Your examination is taking place in Block J, you should head over quickly. You should be called up soon."

"Thank you."

Despite being called a D-Class, it wasn't at all a bad thing, if anything, it was pretty good. For individuals who were his age, D-Class was considered above average. The lowest ranking was F-Class, which was used for those who have only just recently unlocked their supernatural powers.

E-Class was used for those who were capable of utilising their powers safely but were still in the middle of the early training with them. D-Class, which was what he was, was for those that were capable of safely using their powers to a relatively high degree, though nothing spectacular.

The higher the ranking, the larger the gap between each rank was.

"This thing again..." As Kaito was making his way towards his exam block, which was located at the end of the hallway he was walking through, a strange holographic screen popped up in front of his face. 'Dimensional Chat Group? Sounds ridiculous...'

.

『Dimensional Chat Group - Level 1』『Daily Sign In Available』

● Chat Room

● Current Quest

● Point Store

.

Unlike what he had seen a few hours ago when this screen first appeared to him, it was no longer just displaying a loading symbol but a few options, as can be seen. Seeing this, Kaito continued walking while his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

If he were a person from over fifty years ago, he'd probably think he was going absolutely crazy. But with consideration of the type of world he lived in, seeing something like this wasn't entirely out of the question. The dimensional part though, he was kinda sceptical.

With a bit of hesitation, he tapped his finger on the blinking message next to the screen's title.

『Daily Login - You received 94 Points』

'Points?' With a small frown, Kaito thought with confusion as he saw the small notification appear. With a shake of his head, he ignored it for now before tapping his finger on the first option in the menu, although with a bit of hesitation. 'I better not regret this...'

『You are the first to join the chat room!』

『Chat Room Member Rank has increased to 2』

『Daily Login Points Cap has increased to 150』

『You have received 100 Points』

『You have received 'Body Awakening Pill'』

'What the hell?' Kaito blinked with confusion upon seeing the unexpected string of notifications. From what they sounded like, they were all pretty good things, at least from how they sounded. 'What's this pill?'

With an unsure look, Kaito tapped on the last notification.

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『Body Awakening Pill』

● A specialised pill that increases the power of the consumer's muscles, granting them a 100% boost based on their current physical capabilities

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Before Kaito could say anything, he widened his eyes when what looked to be a red and blue pill suddenly materialised itself in his hands. He was a bit taken aback by the sudden phenomenon, but calmed himself before examing it carefully.

"This... is a body-strengthening pill?" It was no surprise that he was a bit doubtful, it looked no different from your typical medical pill. 'I really feel like I might regret this, but I am about to take my examination... fuck it. More power the better.'

With a deep breath, Kaito chucked the pill into his mouth before swallowing instantly. Be closed his eyes, but immediately opened them up again when he felt his muscles suddenly twitching. He looked down at his arms to see his arm muscles all contracting, pulsing every few moments before finally stopping.

"Holy crap, it actually worked, I think..." Kaito looked at his muscles to see that they were more defined compared to before. He was pretty athletic before, but his muscles now were definitely better refined and obvious after taking the pill. "Does that mean my physical strength is greater? It's hard to tell, but maybe it will become more obvious during my exam...'

Taking a look back at the chat room interface, he saw that it was mainly empty, with the exceptions being...

『Chat Room Members』

● Member: Humanity's Last Cry (Rank 2)』

● Searching for members...

● Searching for members...

● Searching for members...

"Looks like I'm the only one here..." With a shrug, Kaito closed down the screen with a simple swipe. Since there was nothing else to do on the screen, he saw no point in looking at it anymore. "Humanity's Last Cry... that's what it called me? Strange."

Just as he finished saying this, Kaito soon found himself at the end of the long hallway, which he entered through the automatic doors. When Kaito entered through, he found himself now standing inside what looked to be a large room with multiple seats on different elevated sections.

Looking around, he saw many other applicants of varying ages all staring down through the transparent wall. Turning his head towards it as well, he saw that they were all watching the exams that were currently underway, which were being held in five separate open arenas below them.

Calmly walking himself to the back, Kaito leaned against the wall.

'Let's see here...' Kaito positioned himself away from the other applicants so he could check out the rest of the system. He had just checked the quest section, but it was empty like the chat room. 'Point store? I guess I know what those points are for now.'

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『Point Store - Current Points: 194』

● Body Enhancement Pill - [Cost: 50] [A specialised pill that increases the power of the consumer's muscles, granting them a small boost based on their current physical capabilities]

● Stamina Potion - [Cost: 30] [A drink that replenishes the consumer's stamina]

.

'I guess I could buy another pill, not like I have any other use for these points that I know of. It also looks like this pill is a downgrade of the one I got before.' With a simple tap of his finger, Kaito purchased the pill and it instantly materialised in his hand. 'Don't really need the potion right now, though It could come in handy later on.'

In regards to the pills, he only bought one for now. He wanted to see if the effects stated were true or not before deciding to buy more.

'Down the hatch.'

Just like before, Kaito felt his muscles pulsing before stopping after a few seconds. While keeping his eyes down at the arenas, he crossed his arms before gripping a bit onto his biceps. From what he could tell, they were definitely a bit bigger and sturdier compared to what he was used to.

That didn't matter to him though, what he cared about was whether or not he was truly stronger than before. Physical strength wasn't something easy to obtain, at least not without some financial help. The stronger someone gets, the harder it is to get any stronger.

In other words, he had recently met a bit of a bottleneck in his physical strength department.

"Hm?"

『Member 'Fujou's Punchline King' has joined the chat group』

『Member 'Isekai Bear' has joined the chat group』

『Member 'Yuheng Cat Girl' has joined the chat group』

『Member 'Shikigami Sorcerer' has joined the chat group』

'Oh, looks like the other members have finally joined. Though, those are some weird ass names...' Kaito deadpanned a bit upon reading the given names these new members had, though he wasn't really one to talk with his name. 'If this screen's name is what it sounds, are these people from other dimensions? I honestly sound crazy just thinking about it.'

Before Kaito could ponder on the matter anymore, the loudspeakers suddenly caught his attention.

[Kasuga Kaito please report to Arena 2 for your examination]

'I'll have to check them later then...'

With that, Kaito pushed himself off the wall before making his way over towards the teleporter located at the opposite end of the waiting room. He could feel a few of the other applicants watching him as he did, but he ignored them as he mentally prepared himself.