Chapter 7: Training Hall

"How did you know I was going here?" I asked Olivia, who is now with me, to the training hall.

"Duh, I've been in our guild for a few years, of course, you're a rookie, I know where to take you after you passed." She answered while inserting the passcode at the door to enter the hall.

"Okay." I only asked a simple thing, and she said so much already.

"What am I going to do here?"

"Just enter, and you'll soon find out," She said before signalling that she is already leaving.

*****

~ Training Hall ~

A tall, dark-skin toned man wearing some battle suit appeared in front, "You are perhaps, Vander, right?"

After Olivia left, I went straight to the training hall. This training hall looks really vast

and surrounded by lots of equipment that I do not understand. From the entrance, many people are wandering from here and there doing something. As I continue to walk further, I saw a large portal in the center. However, they ordered me not to step around or come near it at the moment. So I decided to sit somewhere when I saw a chair nearby.

"Yes sir, that's me." I smiled in response.

"You look quite younger than I thought, and you just reborn yesterday, right?"

"Yes sir, that's right,"

"Hmm, you're quite lucky, basing on how you present yourself here right now, I'm assuming you're VIP right? Or is it just that you're good at pretending?" He seems to flash a grin. What he said is a double meaning. I wonder what his actual motive is?

"Yes, I'm in a VIP room, and yes, I am indeed lucky to be in this place, and to have you as my senior." I stretched my lips wide in my smile to make it look like I'm delighted.

It's been proven and tested that whenever you face 'bullies', complement them to flatter them and make them stop.

He just bowed as if embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess you're right?" He laughed at the same time. He might have felt the awkwardness that I meant for him to handle.

'Oh well.'

"Oh, by the way, I will not introduce myself." He reached out his hand and smiled. The atmosphere somehow changed. "I'm Leon, and you are?"

"Rik Van Der Werf" I also reached out my hand. "You can call me Vander" I smiled back at him.

"Okay, we should wait a little more, I guess? You arrived too early, one of the instructors has not arrived yet".

"What am I going to do? And I was expecting a lot of recruits, but why am I alone?"

"Good question!" He raised his pointing finger upwards and smiled. "But the answer is difficult to explain, but to cut it short, the application here in the research guild is a bit instant or fast. But once you pass, no more formalities, they will let you stay here. Of course, the standard is too high, the exams you have to answer will analyze your entire personality, and your purpose to join us. Therefore, just merely passing the exams means you're someone that means no harm and doesn't have any bad or malicious intention to the guild, so there is no introduction or more unnecessary delays. Here in the research guild, we value time a lot. With that being said, very few are qualified or able to enter here." He suddenly stopped speaking and, at the same time, pointed around. "If you look around, there are only almost 500 members here, and all of them are geniuses, if not genius maybe they're smarter than your average 'nerd'. Though we all lack necro powers, we have compensated for that since we are the brains of the entire country."

Oh wait, I think someone's coming? Wait? How did I know that? I feel it? My spot right now is a bit far from the opening of the training hall, there is a chair on the side, and I am sitting here now while the instructor, Leon, seems to be doing something on the computer while explaining things.

Well, no matter, I just nodded at what Leon said in agreement. There was a momentary silence between the two of us as the training hall door suddenly opened and a tall white woman with yellow and slightly curly hair entered.

"You're very early, eh?" She scoffed while going straight in and sitting at the computer next to Leon. She paused for a moment and looked at me, and smiled. "You must be Vander?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You must be aware that you do not have a necro, right?" She speaks as she sets something up on the computer.

"Yes."

"How do you think you're gonna survive with that." She raised her eyebrows, and I'll take it as an insulting question.

"The same way you guys survive until now".

"But do you have what we have?" She grinned as she once again stared at me. "Do you?" She repeated but this time, with emphasis.

"I don't, but at least I have this." I pointed out my brain as I speak.

"What I have is what makes humans survive for hundreds of years, right?

"Hmm, let us see how far your convictions will bring you, Mr. Vander".

I just smiled in response.

"All right! All right, okay Mr. Vander please be prepared, exactly 6:30, we will start," Leon shouted at us from his seat.

"Do you know what you're about to do here?" The woman asked me a good question.

"Not yet, but I think I have an idea?"

She slightly raised her head, "Hmm, what is it?"

"I think I'll be going inside a virtual reality? And you'll test my response in frightening situations, am I right?"

Her eyes widened, "Y-you, how did you know that?"

"It was just a hunch, but the way you reacted, it seems like it's true."

She laughed a bit, "Ha-ha-ha, you got me there Vander, I gotta give that one to you." She paused for a bit. "We weren't planning to tell you what is this about, but since you know it already, then there's no point in hiding it from you."

Leon sighed and butted in. "This is indeed a virtual reality training, but you must never underestimate everything there Vander, we made the kuishinbos realistic that it feels like you meet the real one, although it possesses no harm, it could hurt you as much as you will be in real life." He grabbed my shoulder and smiled. "Of course you won't die." He then started to walk towards the portal and kneeled. I think he pushed a few buttons and inserted a few cables. The portal then began to glow brightly, and a rapid movement started to take place. "This is what happens when you combine the power of necro and technology."

"What do you mean?"

"This portal is an electricity-generated dummy blackhole."

"What? is that even possible?"

"With the efforts of this guild, it's not possible like you said, but maybe probable?" He giggled. "Our research shows that we need a black hole to completely annihilate the kuishinbos. So we tried to make one, though it's a failure, we still found a good way to use it. However, further research shows that it is nearly impossible to create a perfect one, meaning it is not completely possible but we barely have a chance. So we gave up that idea for the time being."

I nodded and wrinkled my eyebrows., "How'd you make one?"

"Iiiiiit's hard to explain," he rubbed his chins, "But to put it simply, it's quite ironic but we need a kuishinbo to create one. When kuishinbos die, they leave remnants we call ash. These ashes are made up of dark matter which is the main component of a black hole, combine it with technology," He gestured his arms towards the portal, "Here it is, a dummy portal."

I am shocked at what I heard. If a black hole is possible, then time travel?

"Yep, it's possible, but it's the least of our concerns for now."

"Here!" The woman threw me a book, "Read that book, you'll find everything you need to know about kuishinbos, you'll need that to at least survive for a day." She smirked.

"Thanks!"

I started to read the book; honestly, rather than fear, I found kuishinbos fascinating. The theory is, the Earth was attacked by strange quarks hundreds of thousands of years ago. When a neutron star dies, it becomes a quark star, but when a quark star died, it will turn into bits of strange quarks. These strange quarks traveled from billions of light-years away, devouring and turning everything they passed into strange quarks. These strange quarks soon reached the Earth, but just a few moments before the Earth is completely consumed, the sun exploded and turned into a black hole. The black hole ingurgitated the Earth along with the quarks and other heavenly bodies near.

These caused the strange quarks as well as the Earth to merge completely. Stranges quarks properties also changed, and instead of devouring anything, they are now only limited to consuming ordinary quarks, which we call as soul. Meaning kuishinbos can only destroy living things. Strange quarks were also able to merge with existing ordinary quarks and became what we have known today as a necro. However, strange quarks weren't able to combine with ordinary quarks, or in simpler terms, soul. They instead merged with dark matter in the black hole and became kuishinbo. Sadly, humans, even with necro, are still vulnerable to these kuishinbos.

I continued to read the book to know more about kuishinbos, and I think it's enough for my survival, I guess?

I heard someone is walking towards me, "Hey, get up, it's about time for you to go." It's Leon.

They asked me to stand up on a stage like a platform near the portal along with them.

"We will accompany you for a few introductions in the virtual world, we will monitor you for three days in time."

I nodded.

We all stepped inside the portal, and the feeling came back once again.

The feeling of being driven inside another dimension, fortunately, I'm used to it already.

But...

Why does it always have to be like this?