Yikes, sorry for the absence. I found that I had hit a rather weak-ish writer's block over the past week, which was only strengthened by the exhaustion brought forth by difficult swim practices. It's unfortunate that the practices (which will be over in this week, then school swim practice) were placed from 5-7:30, and it took about 30 min. to drive to the dang place. Wrecked my schedule.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I hope I'll be able to write out another one by the end of the week or weekend.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The incredibly loud explosion resounded throughout the entire continent. It immediately broke Kyte’s concentration, fortunately not damaging him in the process. He quickly stood up, looking toward the center of the continent. He could feel the disturbance in the atmosphere as a pulse of invisible energy spread out directly after the explosion. The energy enveloped everything, even several miles into the endless ocean beyond the mass of land.

Kyte felt the entire air change, as if the invisible energy was now present within every single atom. He slowly moved his arms around, feeling the interrupted space. After a few seconds, Kyte concluded that the space within the energy was changed. The changes were very slight, however, they weren’t able to be hidden from Kyte. What these changes would bring, Kyte doesn’t know. What he does know is that these changes may most likely prove fatal to normal humans.

Kyte’s phone vibrated, so he checked his messages. A mass mail was sent to all Gifted within Sector 31. This mass mail instructed everyone within the underground district to immediately report to the dining hall, while Gifted that were not participating in the rank-up tests were to enter a code within their tablets to open a live feed to the stage within the dining hall.

I wonder what happened…

Kyte quickly messaged Rose, telling her to wait in-front of Branch 4’s housing. Dismissing the bad feeling within him, Kyte made his way to the housing. Along the way, he saw many Gifted walking down different paths toward the dining hall. Many of them looked frightened, mostly because the explosion’s noise was incredibly loud. Not only that, but aftershocks were occasionally rumbling throughout the continent. Considering that they were currently underground, these aftershocks scared many of the Gifted. If the ceiling collapsed, wouldn’t that be pretty bad? Though, GG would definitely have countermeasures against earthquakes.

Once he reached the housing, Kyte saw Rose and the others waiting outside. Rose ran up to Kyte, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same. After a few seconds they let go of each other and Kyte looked toward the others.

“You guys alright?” Kye asked.

“Yea, we’re fine-”

“IT WAS SO LOUD!!” Jol cut Shadow off mid-sentence with a wide grin on his face.

“Jol, why are you smiling? This is serious stuff!” Shadow said.

“But, it really was like, ‘KABOOM’, and then everything shook really hard and it woke me up and now I’m tired...can’t we just go back to sleep? The old guys will handle everything.”

“I agree with Jol. Why can’t we just go back to sleep? It’s not like the world is ending, right?”

Light smacked Lucy’s shoulder as he said that.

“What, now I get screen time?” Lucy asked.

“Screen...what?”

“Nothing.”

Kyte continued with a slightly confused expression:

“Enough of that, let’s go to the dining hall. Hopefully we’ll know what’s going on after David tells us.”

They all walked toward the dining hall, merging with the incoming crowds. There were several conversations happening at once that it was hard to listen in on just one. For the most part, everyone was at least a little spooked. Even the few S rankers had serious expressions on their faces. Something like a continental occurrence has never happened within their lifetime. The previous event recorded in history was about a thousand years ago.

History stated that a calamity befell the entire continent of Gaet when mysterious beings appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They slaughtered countless lives, bringing the total population down almost seventy-percent, until they suddenly disappeared. Their objective was never known, but within the millions of lives taken were the most powerful families.

It was known that there were six families that ruled Gaet a thousand years ago. Although their names were apparently lost, history states that five of the families were wiped out and the last family completely disappeared. The bodies of the five families were found while no one from the last family were ever discovered. All official and legit documents pertaining to these six families were either destroyed or lost. The events that happened in the past have never come to light, and those mysterious beings never appeared again.

Of course, some people think that those things never happened. There’s always people on both sides and some that don’t even care. However, another catastrophe may have begun.

After Kyte entered the dining hall, he saw that it was completely filled with Gifted. The dining hall itself was quite large so it was able to fit everyone inside, but it seemed like not everyone had participated in the gatherings before this. As this was an emergency, there wasn’t enough time to set out chairs so everyone had to stand. Conversations spread throughout the room as everyone waited for David to come onto the stage.

After a full ten minutes had passed, and the last person entered the dining hall, the lights slightly dimmed as the stage grew brighter. The conversations died as footsteps were heard coming from the stage. Everyone shifted their eyes to the stage and watched David walk to the front.

“Hello everyone. First of all, I would like to apologize for whatever inconvenience this may have caused. Secondly, I want state that this is now a time of extreme danger. As all of you heard, earlier this morning, a loud explosion resounded throughout the continent. Unfortunately, this was no natural occurrence. This information was only divulged to Core Gifted, however, the situation has changed. AHAD has successfully broken the seal that held the Dread Ruins. Now, none of you know what this means. It is my duty to inform you all of what the Dread Ruins are and what will happen.

The Dread Ruin Entrance is located at the heart of the Core. No one knows its purpose, where it came from, or how it got there. What we do know so far is that the Dread Ruins hold terrifying abominations called Creepers, as well as a type of energy that naturally creates unique and powerful items. Sometimes, this energy escapes the Dread Ruins and creates veins of Dread Stones within the ground and sometimes on the surface. Over the years, these Dread Stones have become numerous. Therefore, the currency used within the Core are these Dread Stones. They may also be used to permanently increase your power, however, it is not a good thing to absorb too many.

AHAD and GG have fought for control over the Dread Seal for many, many years. Unfortunately, AHAD finally prevailed and opened the Dread Ruins. The Dread Ruins, according to the ancient records found around the Dread Entrance, suggest that there exists several floors within the Ruins. The first floor is connected with our dimension, thus allowing the Creepers to freely exit and roam our world. We have yet to confirm, however apparently there is a type of monster that guards the gates that lead to lower floors. They’re called Wardens, and hopefully they’re not as powerful as we think they are.

You all will have a more in-depth briefing about the intricacies of the Core, once you arrive. Thomas White issued out an order demanding all Gifted to retreat to the Core. Any Gifted that disobey this order shall be executed on sight. Considering the differentiating distances between each Sector, a time limit of two weeks has been given before any Gifted may be convicted of treason.

Unfortunately, there is only one underground bullet train that leads to the Core here in Sector 31. It’s quite small and it was built solely for Sector Leaders to travel. Therefore, there is not enough time to use it. The normal trains that depart for the Core will be used. We have Gifted within the highest ranks in different companies pertaining to travel, so it won’t be difficult to make sure everyone makes it to the Core. The safety of these trains, however, is not guaranteed.

To make sure everyone makes it to the Core safely, there shall be one or two S rankers assigned to each group. Departures will begin in several hours to give all of you time to gather your things. Those who are ready to board the first trains need to arrive at three P.M., no later than this. The locations of these trains will be available on your tablets, so don’t miss them. This is an extreme emergency, so I expect every one of you to respect this order. Dismissed.”

David walked off the stage, disappearing behind it. The entire crowd was silent for a few seconds before it erupted with conversations. Fortunately, only a very few people were freaking out. Everyone else was afraid, yes. However, they weren’t panicking. Maybe it was their arrogance as a united group of Gifted, or maybe it was the reassurance of the S rankers that surrounded them.

As for Kyte, he was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, actually. Contrary to to the fear and panic, Kyte felt excited. Fighting against a bunch of robots for the rest of his life would be boring. These Dread Ruins seemed absolutely perfect for him. Plus, the allure of the blood from monsters seemed...fascinating to say the least. At least now Kyte doesn’t have to kill innocent people or other Gifted in a grave situation. Although there wouldn’t actually be innocent, normal humans within the Core. Besides, the blood from these Creepers are most likely much more powerful than blood from humans. That alone made Kyte feel excited.

Not only that, but the Creepers' souls. Well, Kyte assumes they have souls. If they do, Kyte could just create massacre his way through the levels of the soul. Of course, that’s what Kyte thinks will happen. He doesn’t actually know if they have souls or how powerful they would be. He’ll just have to find that out for himself.

“Alright guys, let’s go. We need to first get Akina and then go back and get Dan.”

Kyte took out his phone and messaged Akina. He doesn’t know why but she didn’t go to their housing area after they met, so he actually doesn’t even know where she is. He assumes that she was staying in David’s mansion, but he could be wrong.

Fortunately there are multiple entrances to the underground district so the entrance that Kyte uses won’t be packed. That can’t be said for the trains that depart for the Core, though. It will most likely be packed in those since not every Gifted within Sector 31 traveled to the underground district. That also includes Dan, wherever he is.

I wish I could have had more time to train. Whatever. It seems like I keep getting interrupted…

After Kyte and everyone else had packed their things, which actually wasn’t that much, they headed off the bullet train to head up to the surface.

Although Kyte felt a bit bad about not having his S ranked robes anymore, it wasn’t necessarily bad. Since he himself grew quite significantly in power, he doesn’t really need it anymore. His bones are low Heaven rock, which should only be obtained by cultivators at the tenth stage and higher. His skin and muscles were also reformed by the black light and then nourished by his greatly increased Internal energy. Although the black light helped reform his body, it was only the driving force that started the reformation. So, his flesh wasn’t actually created from black light, only helped by it.

That might be the reason why Kyte’s body can even absorb black light in the first place. Since his affinity with black light significantly increased, he’s able to manipulate the black light to a higher degree. Though he’s definitely no where near the level of mastery, he can still be considered quite powerful while wielding it.