Stupefied

Amidst all the chaos and war occurring all over the world, there was a small piece of land in a dense forest not too far from the Empire and the United Federation. In this piece of land existed a small village of less than one hundred people

The village seemed full of life as plots of lands were glowing a vibrant green and a few animals could be seen being herded into a farm. A clear spring was flowing through the village providing clean water for the happily playing children

A game of tag was currently happening, and the giggles in the area came to a stop when one of the children fell down and scraped their knee. The boy had small tears forming in his eyes as he bit his lips and tried keeping his mouth closed

A sweet laughter rang out as a young woman walked from the distance and bent down towards the boy, her hands releasing a white light as they neared the scraped knee.

In a few seconds, the scrape disappeared and the boy rose up full of energy once more, completely forgetting what just happened as he went running again

"Thank you, Sister Sophia!"

The boy left his thanks as he went back to his groups of friends, leaving the young woman to pick up her bucket of water and continue heading to the clear stream.

The woman was in her late teen years, showing a head full of white hair that flowed down to her back. She had white and tender skin with crystal blue eyes that seemed to smile to anyone who looked at them

She had reached the stream and was putting in some water when there was a change in the air. Her blue eyes underwent a transformation and became blank white as a bland voice different from her own escaped her lips

[...A pivotal moment is approaching…preparations are nearly complete...]

The change didn't last too long, and the girl's eyes turned blue again as she continued with her task.

A bewildered look had appeared on her face before it quickly changed to understanding as she placed the bucket above her head, dirtying her clear white hair as she moved towards one of the plots of farms.

The small isolated village had a transparent blue screen covering the area all around it. It was common knowledge that nothing could come into the village, and the villagers themselves could not venture out. It seemed like a small self sustainable paradise that would not be tainted by the horrors of the world

---

One man above, a colossal turtle below.

The turtle was roaring in fury to the skies as it looked at the small human that had a calm expression on his face. Destruction of this scale was only possible when a being used the entirety of their energy and potential. This fight was over. The human would stand no chance after this

It had observed the extravagant amount of energy and attacks the human had thrown out. Even if he were of the same rank as he was, he should be running out of energy. Especially after that horrendous attack that nearly tore through his hard shell

The Mephitic Turtle would not let the human recover as it decided to use its full primessence to release the deadliest attack and obliterate the figure above it.

It had already used up more than half of its essence trying to snipe this enemy away all this time, but most of his attacks missed, or even if they hit they weren't too effective as the human quickly healed himself.

This human was the only threat in this battlefield. The rest of the ants struggling in front of it were nothing in his eyes, and just his body would be enough to crush them.

After he was finished with them, he would meet with that fearsome guy that he could already sense the aura of and finish their assignment here. Maybe after all of this was over they would be given some freedom. It shook itself out of its reverie and focused on finishing the task at hand

It's limbs sunk into the earth as it absorbed any energy around it, its head facing up and unnaturally opening its jaws so wide that it seemed his head was split in half.

At the center of his opened jaws, a dark green ball of light began to condense and grew bigger by the second

Its power was unnerving as the Mephitic Turtle tried to balance the destructive energies while accumulating even more. It looked at this fearsome human that had put up such a strenuous fight and took down the Insect Queen. It would remember that calm fac-

CRACK!...CRACK!...CRACK!

Its eyes drained of all color as sounds as if the sky was breaking rang out again. In the air, three rumbling mountains similar to the one from before had appeared.

The temperature rose to extreme degrees at the appearance of these transparent mountains, as people who thought they couldn't be any more shocked became astounded at the incredulous sight in the sky

The Mephitic Turtle trembled as it saw the three rumbling mountains cover its eyesight. H-how was this possible? How was this possible?! Nobody should have this level of energy! Unless...unless…! It looked at the figure in the sky in fear

The blast it was preparing in its wide opened jaws dissipated as a croaking voice left its jaws

"...Wait..!"

BOOOOOM!!!

The skies cried and the earth rumbled. Molten rocks and gaseous winds ravaged the field as any living thing remotely close was turned to ash. The hunters that were very far from the center of the beast horde were pushed back by the hot winds as the beasts they were engaging ran around disorderly

The destruction continued for the next few seconds as volcanic ash covered the sight of everything around it

---

Noah looked at the devastation below him and saw the glistening piles of [Core]s and a golden [Skill Book] in the field of flowing molten earth besides the mangled body of the turtle.

The cores and skill book floated atop the lava unharmed. He laughed at the sight of destruction he had caused and used [Instant Transfer] to go down and grab the loot.

He was thinking about just how far he had grown after he took down these beasts. He could feel his mindset changing ever since he witnessed the destruction they caused at a large scale, and the confidence he felt now after taking down two of the most powerful beasts he had come across.

He reminded himself that confidence was good, but to be careful not to get in over his head. He neared the loot on the ground when a piercing pain suddenly struck his head similarly to some time before

It wasn't as bad this time as he stabilized himself and placed the cores and book in his storage ring as he rose into the air again. The headache subsided and he opened his eyes, only to see it wasn't the scene of destruction he was in a moment before.

He was in a blank white room, where a single blue hexagonal prism was slowly spinning in the center. His eyes moved around him as he realized he could see, but couldn't find any part of his body in this place.

There were three distinct smaller white rooms attached to the main one he was in where blurry figures of light could be made out.

One of the rooms held a figure of a burly man weakly shining with a golden light, another held a thin figure who only had a wild smile visible, and the last room had a small figure with long white hair that seemed to emanate extreme warmth

A voice rang out as he looked around confused

[Hello]