Ch 17: Social behaviour in the face of catastrophe

Nova and Cyre chatted a bit more with the owner of the pathfinder stall after that. From their conversation, they learned a few more things.

Social behavior and public order after the catastrophe were horrendous at the beginning. People stole from one another. Nova had an idea about this. People even killed others in desperation. Suicides, of course, were common.

Self-proclaimed heroes appeared, and some vigilantes were created.

Some new jobs had also emerged—guards, potion makers, blacksmiths, pathfinders, and more.

Basically, even though new jobs had appeared, the bad still outweighed the good.

But two months later, severers began to appear. According to the alien broadcasts, three severers had emerged around the same time. Three silhouettes were shown.

One of them was a little girl with long hair and two knives strapped to her waist.

The second was a devil-like silhouette with wings, horns, and a long tail. He sat on a tall, grand throne, his tail coiling around both the throne and his body, swaying gently up and down. He sat with his legs crossed, one hand supporting his cheek, while the other rested on a long sword positioned upright before him.

The third Severer was a man in glasses with neatly cut hair, holding a staff as tall as himself. He exuded the aura of a sharp and prestigious intellectual.

After hearing each description, Nova realized something was off. He asked the owner of the pathfinder stall why the aliens only showed silhouettes. The stall owner explained that the aliens were concerned because the Severers had already become celebrity-like figures. With their charisma and proven success, people might try to imitate their behavior, personality, or way of thinking in hopes of becoming severers themselves.

And since some of them were already real celebrities, and much of their personal info and methods of doing things were already known to the public, the aliens worried the imitation would really happen. Many unnecessary deaths could occur if people with different personalities and abilities tried to mimic someone else's path. The aliens believed the best kind of severer was one who succeeded by embracing their own individuality and uniqueness.

…

The emergence of these Severers helped restore social behavior and public order to some extent. Many things began to change—people even found a way to return to Earth.

However, around twenty to thirty percent of people in the world continued venturing into the alien stages. The reasons varied—from the large amounts of money they earned to a sense of kindness or a desire to help save the world. Even though their lives were at risk, many believed it was still worth doing for those reasons.

Because of that, a massive relocation focused on essential field jobs had to take place. Many sectors like the economy, food supply, healthcare, and medicine were slow to recover. As for areas seen as semi-important by society, like schools and colleges, they received special treatment. Schools remained closed, as all children were now under the care of the aliens. However, colleges had resumed operations, with an added compulsory class in military or combat training.

Things kept improving as four months passed. Social behavior and public order had returned to normal, and daily life on Earth had stabilized.

This progress was supported by advancements across many fields in human life. It began when someone, by chance, regrew their lost limbs. That lucky event sparked intense research in health and medicine. As a result, scientists successfully managed to regrow the limbs of small animals. Further research was still ongoing.

Other fields soon followed this trend—energy, science and technology, biology, and even paleoanthropology. Among them, astronomy seemed to be the most impacted, especially after the existence of aliens was confirmed.

There were still many other fields affected, but before the stall owner could list them all, Nova stopped him. Obeying Nova’s request, the stall owner instead began explaining another reason why social behavior and public order had returned to normal.

According to the stall owner's explanation, after four months had passed, it wasn't just the enhancement of many fields that brought change. Other severers and some severer candidates had also appeared. Two more silhouettes were revealed by the aliens. However, this time, actual footage of each of the two new Severers battling a final boss had been successfully captured. As for the candidates, even though only one had appeared in the four months, it brought a sense of calm to people's minds.

It was a shame, though, as the stall owner mentioned that it wasn’t possible to watch the videos. Electricity was difficult to produce, hard to maintain, and inefficient when brought to the alien stages, so no one had brought phones or electric devices. If Nova and Cyre wanted to see the footage, they would have to wait until they returned to Earth.

…

One week after leaving the market, they found a ticket to Earth.

Upon arriving, they found that the sky — once covered by a dark, rectangular grid — had turned transparent, revealing the usual bright daylight. They were greeted by food stalls, lodging options, a currency exchange booth, a supermarket, and more. Each stand had a donation box to support those in need. It was a warm welcome for both heart and body, the moment their eyes opened after passing through the portal.

"Free for first buy only! One item per stand, for first-time returners!" was written on a banner beside the portal.

Cyre immediately dashed off when she saw it, leaving Nova behind to look around.

Nova remembered the pathfinder stall owner when looking around at the stalls. Nova remembered what the pathfinder stall owner had said about the severers’ fight that had been successfully recorded. Because of it, he now felt a stronger urge than ever to watch the video.

Spotting a computer shop, he first went to the currency exchange booth, then headed straight to the computer shop afterward. He had received plenty of money from the previous market, so buying some electronic devices wouldn’t be a problem.

He bought a laptop for himself and a tablet for Cyre at the computer shop. After that, he looked around and found a bench beside the row of booths.

Since free internet was provided in the area, he immediately opened a video-sharing platform and searched the keywords he had heard from the pathfinder stall owner. As he did that, Cyre returned—her hands full of food, toys, and candies.

“Hey, Cyre, look!” said Nova, turning the screen toward her just as she sat beside him, her arms still full of goodies. She shared some of her goodies with Nova as she leaned closer to the screen.

On the laptop’s screen, under the title “Boxing Champion, Kenneth. The Burst Brawler vs. The Speedster of the Alien Sea,” a battle was unfolding.

"Isn’t that the pitiful guy who exploded himself multiple times after you injected him with the dangerous liquid, big bro?" said Cyre, looking straight to Nova’s eyes.

“That time was an emergency… Whatever, I’ll watch this first. I really want to know how the pitiful guy transformed into a dragon.” said Nova. His gaze fixed on the screen.

“Dragon?...” said Cyre. Her mouth opened wide. She was dumbfounded.

She then tapped the play button faster than Nova's finger could reach it.

The video played. Kenneth stood on a small islet, about two meters in diameter. All around him, segmented, rhombus-shaped creatures—each about the size of a basketball and as long as two—fish-like, they leapt and darted through the air, attacking from every direction.

Kenneth moved constantly—short steps, sharp turns, leaning, ducking, and jumping—to dodge their relentless assault. While evading, he struck back using every part of his body.

He punched, then used his elbow to strike an enemy behind him. Spinning forward, he landed a hit with the back of his legs. He did everything he possibly could while dodging—attacking in the gaps between each movement.

When too many enemies attacked at once, he did something unbelievable to save time. Normally, after throwing a punch, there’s a short lag before pulling the arm back to punch again. But by releasing his skill forward—exploding his already extended fist—the force of the blast instantly propelled his arm backward, allowing him to strike the enemy behind him with his elbow. The explosion also sent the creature in front of his fist flying, slamming into the creatures behind it and knocking them down. His fist, which had splattered blood everywhere and been shredded down to raw muscle and flesh, regenerated quickly, the skin reforming and covering the exposed red tissue. He used and chose a regenerative skills as one of his sets.

When some of the enemies launched a surprise attack and Kenneth almost received a hit after kicking forward, he used an explosion to cancel his kick and swiftly pulled his leg back. He even spun himself using his shoulder as an explosion propeller to evade the incoming attacks, as there were simply too many attacks. He kept detonating different parts of his body, splashing blood, tearing his flesh, exposing raw red muscle, then regenerating again and again—attacking and dodging—until all the creatures finally collapsed, floating lifelessly on the sea.

“He’s copying you, big bro. It’s exactly like what you do with your explosion and armor, but he must injure himself to do it,” said Cyre, looking up at Nova.

“Well, that's true. But honestly, the idea is something anyone could think of... Still, why injure himself like that? Choosing another skill would be better,” replied Nova.

“Mmm, I wanted to know that too, so while you were focused on the video, I scrolled through the comments — but no one knows,” Cyre said, returning to the screen and scrolling through the comments under the video.

A sudden footstep sounded from behind.

“Excuse me, are you perhaps the Saints? I’m from the government. May I have a moment with the both of you?” said a man dressed in black.

“Nope, can’t do. Let us finish watching this first,” Cyre said, glancing briefly at the man before turning right back to the screen.

Nova, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the video, simply nodded.

“I understand,” the man said, stepping back to avoid bothering them.

The two watched the video again.

On the screen, Kenneth launched a barrage of compressed energy into the sea, about one kilometer away. A scream echoed in response, rising from beneath the surface — an inhuman, bone-chilling sound.

At first, only a ripple appeared in the distance. The ripple grew into a bow wave as a massive black silhouette, as large as a boat, surfaced beneath the water.

The silhouette rose higher and revealed itself when one of Kenneth’s attacks struck it. It shared features with the smaller creatures from before, but this one had a longer body and a sharply pointed front — sleeker and more dangerous. The bow wave swelled into a towering ten-meter wall of water as the boss-like creature surged forward, closing in on Kenneth.

Kenneth stopped his barrage and shifted into a fighting stance, preparing for the boss to arrive. He planted himself in a horse stance, one fist extended forward and the other drawn back at his waist.

The energy around him was pulled in at an ultra-fast pace, forming an unseen maelstrom with Kenneth at its center. It compressed as it passed through every part of his body, gathering into a single point—his legs. Blood burst from his entire body as he continued the absorption.

Ten seconds had passed, skipped over through video editing.

The boss, once a kilometer away, was now right in front of Kenneth. Its terrifying speed was one of the reasons it earned the role of a boss that had to be defeated to become one of the Severers.

However, Kenneth had already leapt into the air, spinning forward as he prepared to tear the boss apart with a kick.

The boss’s head and Kenneth’s leg collided. Flesh from both sides—the boss’s head and Kenneth’s leg—began to tear slightly.

In the end, the boss’s head was split vertically down the middle, while Kenneth’s leg tore apart at the waist.

“What? Why would a boxer use a kick to finish off the boss?” said both Nova and Cyre at the same time.

“But that was amazing, actually. How can he do such an absorption, big brother?” asked Cyre.

“I think it's because of his regenerative skill. If we tried that, our bodies would probably explode,” answered Nova.

“Eeeeh, I see.” Cyre pressed the search button. “Let’s watch the next one, big bro,” she said excitedly.

“Wait, I actually liked the food you gave me. Let’s buy some more first.” Nova stood and extended his hand for Cyre to hold.

“Okay,” said Cyre, smiling and grabbing Nova’s hand.

Both of them then went to look for a food stall.

They left the government official standing behind them, completely forgetting about his existence.

…

After buying their food, they returned to their previous bench. There, they found the government official — the one they had forgotten about — still standing patiently behind the bench. Since Nova and Cyre had only gone to the nearby noodle stall, the official hadn't needed to move, as he could still keep an eye on them.

Feeling a little guilty, Nova decided to postpone their plan of eating while watching the final Severer video. Instead, they followed the official toward a stage set up at the center of the stalls. Somehow, cameras were already positioned around the stage, ready to snap pictures, and the crowd broke into cheers as soon as they realized who Nova and Cyre were.

"Please accept this first," said the man in black attire, offering them a bracelet.

"It's an energy detector. It will display a colorful holographic letter showing your energy rank based on how much energy you can channel into it at once. Severers have an orange-colored, S-rank. From bottom to top, the colors are white, black, yellow, green, blue, red, and orange. The letters, from F to A and then S as the highest, will be shown in the hologram." explaining it, the man in black attire returned the box he had taken the bracelet from to the table on the stage.

After the explanation from the man in the black suit, they held the ceremony. The crowd's cheers grew even louder. Cyre activated her energy detector and inserted different amounts of energy several times into the bracelet. Multiple colors flashed brightly, and Cyre spun her bracelet around, creating a disco-like light show on top of the stage. Once again, the cheers erupted even louder.

Meanwhile, Nova smiled widely, extending his hands to receive the reward money.

After the ceremony ended, Nova pulled aside one of the government officials and hid from Cyre, who was still having fun with the cheering crowd around her. He spoke with the official for a while, requesting him to do something.

After that, Nova and Cyre went together to look for a place to stay.

With nothing else to do, they went to the city museum in the afternoon. There were no guards or staff managing the place, so Cyre was free to touch any dinosaur she liked, trying to gain some skill from it.

When Nova later asked whether she succeeded or not, she simply said it was a secret. Nova didn’t press further, thinking that she was already strong enough. Besides, he already had a plan in mind for her.

Afterward, they went out to search for food as evening came.

At the restaurant, they saw a news report on TV, mainly about the state of social behavior, the Severers, and their candidates.

It was at that moment they remembered the Severers video they had forgotten to watch.

“Craft yourself and create a unique you!” — it was also at that moment that this advertisement ran on TV.

The screen suddenly flickered, and a video appeared showing an alien sitting in front of a table, one hand propping up his cheek in an arrogant pose.