FEW DAYS LATER...

"You kidding me right?" A man wearing some sort of uniform asked another person who too was wearing the same uniform as him. Both the men were inside medical facility on guard duty.

"No! This guy actually fell from the sky... naked!" Said the other person.

"And his fall made the crater outside alpha gate?"

"That's what I'm trying to say!"

"What you're trying to saying makes no sense, Niel! You're telling me this guy's a freaking terminator!?"

"Something like that..." Niel mumbled.

"You should seriously stop drinking." The first man spoke, "Or visit a doctor or something. Good for you were already in the medical labs, I'll get a doctor for you."

"Look I know what I saw okay? And if you don't believe me then how would you explain this guy's sudden appearance?" Niel got irritated by the comments of his ally, "You do know that it's a wasteland filled with monsters out there, don't you Jack?!"

"Well..."

"See? Mr. Sherlock Holmes, even you're speechless." Niel mocked Jack before looking at the man who was laying unconscious on the nursing bed.

"At least it's good that he's been handcuffed... Just look at his body... he's nothing less than a monster..." Jack said when he saw Niel looking at the man.

Niel just nodded and continued to stare at the person, "Maybe we should get another handcuff."

"You're right, here." Jack handed him another set of handcuffs and continued, "You go and do it."

"W-Why m-me?" Niel backed away, there was no way in hell he was going anywhere near someone who was found outside the 'safe zone', let alone a naked man... well it would've been a different case if it would've been a woman instead.

"Because you're the one who found him, aren't you?" Jack spoke as he shoved the handcuffs into Niel's hands, "Go and cuff him, that's an order."

"Our ranks are one and the same!" Niel exclaimed, "You cannot order me around!"

"I'm ordering you as your big brother. Now fucking do it!"

Niel gulped down his saliva and slowly made his way towards the unconscious man, but he had barely touched his arm when something happened.

The man was up in a flash. He effortlessly snapped the handcuff that was holding him down before grabbing Niel's arm and jumping over him. The man held Niel as a hostage and a human shield. The agility and strength of the man were off the charts. Jack who saw it all happening was speechless and clueless about what was happening in front of his eyes.

After a momentary lapse due to the shock, Jack quickly pulled out his sword, "Let him g-"

"You think that sword of yours could hurt me?" The man said with a smile and pulled out the sword that Niel had.

Jack thought that the man would put up a fight and try to injure Niel and try to run away, but to his surprise as soon as the man touched the sword made of steel and imbued with magic, it immediately disintegrated into dust.

"Still gonna fight me?" The man smirked.

"Just who... who are you..." Jake barely managed to mumble due to the shock.

"The name's Arnold Ling. Now lose the sword will you?"

***

'Can't believe I'm actually back...' Arnold thought.

Arnold was surprised because the last thing he could remember was the face of Satina who was about to kill him... maybe? His memories were hazy so he wasn't even sure if the things he saw were real or not...

'I should've got lot of rewards for the trials and if what happened was real then the rewards should be in my inventory... the only problem is...' Arnold looked around the room he was currently residing in.

It was an interrogation room, fully equipped with turrets, cameras and of course, the classic one way mirror. There were 2 'soldier' inside the room as well, he had already used [Probe] on both of them, and both of them were ranked at B rank.

Since he was in an interrogation room, he was most probably being monitored, thus he was a bit hesitant to use his inventory or any other skill in that matter. He was told to wait while since came to 'interrogate' him. He only agreed to it because he too wanted to get some information about them, because last time he remembered the was no military in any country of the world. He was curious as to what happened while he was gone/missing.

Bored to death... he finally opened his status and realised something was wrong...

___

Unable to access the requested information.

Please complete the process of [ASCENSION] to restore the system.

[All restrictions that were placed during your trial have been revoked]

[You can freely use your skills and access the inventory]

[Shop will remain inaccessible to user until [ASCENSION] is completed]

[Tasks to complete the [ASCENSION] process would still be displayed after the system goes into reboot.]

[System will go into rebooting process once the user closes the interface]

[Would you like to view the requirements of the [ASCENSION] quest?]

___

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" Arnold exclaimed when he read the contents of the message that was in front of his eyes.

"Sir please wait patiently! One of the higher-ups would soon meet you in person. Till then please try to calm yourself down." One of the two soldiers said while the other soldier was pointed his staff towards Arnold, ready to attack any second.

"It's not- you know what? Nevermind, it's nothing." Arnold calmed himself down and sat down once again in his seat. He was about to open and check the requirements for this 'Ascension' process, but before he could do that the door was opened and a woman walked in. Arnold gave her a glance.

Standing 6' 2" tall, this tan skinned woman had a authoritative aura around her, maybe that's why the two soldiers were saluting her. A particularly notable feature of her was her winning smile, just her smile made Arnold feel comfortable as if he had no worries in his life... which was obviously, the effect of her charisma. Arnold was well versed in the effects of that attribute as well, so no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to fool him.

She had a beautiful face, which was again an effect of her charisma, a small nose, and filled pinkish lips. Her brown eyes were heavy-lidded and had angular eyebrows. Her short, straight, black hair was well groomed. She was wearing a similar uniform as the other soldiers, the only difference being, her white uniform complemented her complexion.

"Sorry for the delay Mr..." The women quickly ruffled through a folder which she had brought with her, "Ling."

"It's alright." Arnold replied looking straight into her eyes and used [Probe] on her as well.

As Arnold expected, Amanda White, the woman in front of him, was a mind reader as well but Arnold didn't flinched, as he was used to mind readers who were superior than Amanda who was just at rank C. He was confident that he would be able to block her from invading his mind.

"It might seem weird but I'm gonna ask you something. Could you guess what's today's date?" Amanda asked and placed her chin on her hand.

Arnold thought that the question was weird but still went along with it. The day he entered the dungeon in Brazil so maybe a little over a month would've been passed since then?

"It should be September 2021, right?" Arnold replied.

"Hmm... and where do you think you are right now?" Amanda continued to ask weird questions.

"An interrogation room?"

"I meant which country do you think you're in?"

"Last I remember... I was in Brazil... why are you asking such idiotic questions?" Arnold gave her a confused look.

"It's because neither this is Brazil, nor it's the year 2021." Amanda replied, "It's the year 2025, and you're in East America."