Fifty years ago, reality became twisted when gates to various dimensions randomly appeared worldwide. From those gates came an invasion of monsters and demons; thus descended a long hellish nightmare on humankind.

 Around the globe, the death toll number climbed at an astronomical rate. Catastrophic changes were happening to our ecosystem, and humanity was on the verge of being wiped out.

Humanity had lost all hope. During the fifth year of the invasion, however, a select number of humans began going through an evolution called 'metamorphosis' which altered their physique and gifted them special abilities.

These people became widely known as 'Players.'

Gathering their forces, Players fought against the monsters and prevailed through battles as this was the turning point for humanity to begin to reclaim pieces of their lost country.

Faced with the new changes these creatures have caused to the land, society began rebuilding and created barriers to fend off the monsters' invasion.

Thus humanity, once again, started to flourish.

* * *

In a small apartment where the paint was chipping off the wall, a mouse scurried across the floor, running back into the small hole in the wall. Seu-Rong, who laid on the couch asleep, awoke from his slumber. Only to be momentarily blinded by the small burst of light creeping through the curtains.

Poking his arm out of the blanket, his hand rummaged across the coffee table, knocking down an empty cup of eaten noodles, before finally picking up his phone and groaned. "Crap! I gotta get up or risk being late."

Despite how much he wanted to sleep a couple more hours, Seu-Rong knew he had to get up, scratching a hand through his wild nest of wavy black hair. The scrawny young man placed his feet on the floor and cursed at the coldness before leaving the living room, which was small when shared with the kitchen, and made his way to the bathroom where he took a shower.

Once finished, he brushed his teeth and changed into a long-sleeved black shirt that, when placed on him, looked twice as big, the sleeves engulfing his frail arms. Paired with the shirt was a pair of faded old jeans, and he tied a pair of old tennis shoes on his feet.

Once dressed, Seu-Rong started breakfast, fixing enough for only one person as there wasn't much food in the refrigerator and cabinet. Once breakfast was finished and placed on a plate, he wrapped it in plastic before setting it on the table.

"Mom should be up in an hour," Seu-Rong muttered to himself, placing a cap over his head, and walked out the door.

Ignoring the small crowd of people lingering on the city streets during this time in the morning, Seu-Rong stopped at a local food truck, known for their low prices of food even though the taste was horrible. He brought himself a small bowl of hot soup that did the job of filling up his stomach.

After dumping the plastic bowl in a trash can, Seu-Rong made his way inside a small office building that barely took up a square piece of land that was squeezed in between two larger buildings.

Entering the locker-room to change, he nearly fell over when he felt a large hand slap his shoulder. "Seu-Rong, my boy! It's good seeing you up bright and early. Ready for another gruesome day at work?"

Seu-Rong sheepishly scratched at his cheek. Wondering to himself, 'Bob, where does your boundless energy come from?'

"Yes, sir! I promise to give it my all today!"

To make a living, Seu-Rong worked for a small mining company that was gracious enough to take him—seeing as there weren't many jobs who would accept him with an unfinished education. Only people who could obtain a high-school diploma by finishing school and graduated from college could work in big businesses, unlike Seu-Rong, who had to drop out after junior high so he could provide for both himself and his mother.

Soon the locker room became noisy when some of the other miners walked in and spotted the two.

"Oh, looks, guys, it's Bambi!" This loud insult came from Ralph, a burly blonde miner who had it out for Seu-Rong ever since he started working here—calling him Bambi due to his stick-like arms and legs, which didn't help much when it came to mining—dragging behind the others, which would cause them to be frustrated with him.

"Hey, Ralph, stop speaking down on the kid! At least he doesn't slack off like some people," Bob proudly defended Seu-Rong's honor, narrowing his eyes at Ralph. Bob was aware of Ralph and his gang, who would sometimes slack off on the job when no one paid attention.

A smirk of contempt marred Ralph's face. "Bob, what job? What work can those scrawny legs and arms do? Ha, don't make me laugh!" mocked Ralph, causing the other miners that walked in with him to laugh.

Bob grumbled something under his breath when Seu-Rong touched his arms. "Thanks for defending my honor, Bob. You didn't have to. I know I bring the team down." Nobody knew Seu-Rong's strengths and weaknesses better than himself, which was why Ralph's words did not hurt him. The only thing Seu-Rong could do to make sure others wouldn't look down on him was to try and do a better job.

"Listen here, kid, you got spark in ya! I sense great things lie in store for you. Plus, I know how much of a hard worker you are. It would be best if you didn't let people like Ralph walk all over you. There is a time to stay quiet, and there is time to stand up for yourself."

Bob's words of wisdom were etched deep in Seu-Rong's heart, knowing what the man said was true, but at the same time, questioning himself.

'There's nothing special about me. Yet why does Bob tend to think otherwise? Maybe if I was stronger, I can do as he said, but the current me is weak. In this world, only the strong are feared and respected while the weak stay in their lane with their head down.'

Putting on his mining uniform, Seu-Rong grabbed his tools and prepared himself for another day of hard, laborious work.

Today the mining team Seu-Rong worked on with Bob was hired to assist a group of low-level D rank Players on an extraction outside the wall. It seemed the party of Players had accepted a mission to eliminate a group of goblins. Miners were brought along to help extract mana crystals that resided in places where monsters roam. Meaning after the Players eliminated the goblins, Seu-Rong and his mining team would begin the extraction. Stationed at the entrance of D City gate stood Seu-Rong’s mining team, who saw a party of four Players heading their way.

"Nice to meet you all; I'm Fredrick!" Fredrick seemed like a friendly and nice guy, similar to Seu-Rong’s age, who reassured the mining team that the area they were heading to did not hold many monsters. They brought equipment for the mining team to keep them safe from danger while they waited for the Players to kill off the goblins. Once the area was cleared, then it would be time for the mining team to step in.

Venturing into the forest wasn't Seu-Rong's first trip outside the gate, seeing as mining companies' primary purposes were traveling outside the gate, with the assistance of the Players who hired them to extract mana crystals. But extraction only occurred once the Players finished their mission of clearing the monsters in that area.

"I'll tell ya, kid. Venturing outside the gate never gets easier. Never know when a monster might come out." Seu-Rong fully agreed with Bob as he couldn't shake off the ominous feel that made his stomach ache. Living in such a poor city filled with only small groups of low-level Players did not boost morality.

This was especially true when it came to ordinary people like Seu-Rong, who had no way to defend themselves if attacked by monsters. Thankfully Seu-Rong had never run into such a dire situation, and he was not looking forward to it if the day ever came.

After traveling half-way into the forest, the group counted their luck that they hadn't run into any monsters. Deciding to take a break, Fredrick discussed with the mining team how he would not mistreat them and promised to divide the payment equally with them. Something which brought a lot of talk from the other miners, after Fredrick stated that he and his team were going to scout the area for any monsters lurking in the area.

"Something about that kid and his team doesn't feel right," said Bob, who was standing beside Seu-Rong. Recalling Fredrick’s friendly and nice impression from earlier, Seu-Rong didn’t sense anything off from him.

"Why do you say that? They seem like a nice group of people to me."

"Listen to me, kid. I've been alive long enough to know one should never trust a book based on the cover and to always trust my gut. Right now, my gut is telling me not to trust that kid." Looking at Bob's serious face, Seu-Rong thought that the other was being over vigilant and decided not to say anything.

After a while, the group still had not returned, not that any of the other miners except Bob noticed, too busy chatting with each other. Seu-Rong soon excused himself, feeling the need to pee. Seu-Rong didn't walk that far from the group. Once he finished, a scream rang out loud. Zipping up his pants, an ominous feeling gripped Seu-Rong’s chest as he ran to the others, only for his blood to run cold at the sight which greeted him.

'G-Goblins?!' Seu-Rong mentally screamed, feeling bile rush to his throat when he saw a goblin ramming his spear through a miner's chest. If that wasn't enough—many other goblins descended on the poor fella and continually stabbed at his body, dying the ground red. Never had Seu-Rong witnessed such a gruesome scene that was happening throughout the whole area when he felt something grip the back of his shirt and was about to scream when a large callused hand covered his mouth.

"Shush, kid! We gotta run!" The voice that whispered urgently in his ear was Bob. Dragging him, Seu-Rong managed to steal a look and saw that Bob's right arm was bleeding heavily, blood running down from the cut he managed to get on his face.

"Damn! Those shitty bastards!" cursed Bob, who at some point threw Seu-Rong over his shoulder.

"Bob, what’s going on? Where did those goblins come from? Didn’t Fredrick say he and his team were going to scout the area? Shouldn't they have stopped the attack or at least warned us-"

"Kid, sorry to break it to you, but I believe we have been bamboozled!" The wound on Bob's arm hurt like hell, but he was determined to get both him and Seu-Rong out of this forest alive.

"What do you mean-"

"They're just rumors, but word is that there is a group of Players that go around using miners as bait, so they can go in, defeat the big boss, and keep the haul of crystals to themselves. Those shitty bastards hold no care for human lives and only care about their own greed!"

"W-What! But why  assume Fredrick and his team are those cold-blooded people?"

"Noticed how long they have been absent? I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt, but in reality, no one would leave behind a group of regular unarmed humans just to go scout. Common sense, one or two should've stayed behind to watch over the miners while the rest scouted. Now stop talking, kid. I gotta con-"

Seu-Rong found himself falling off Bob's shoulder and almost crushed his arm when he fell to the ground. When he looked back, Seu-Rong felt the blood drain from his body. Eyes wide as a saucer and going blurry due to tears that welled up in them.

"Bob!!!"

Pierced straight through Bob's chest was a long spear. Dropping down to his knees, Bob mentally cursed his luck. Sensing Seu-Rong running over to his side with tears running down his eyes, Bob knew this was his end and couldn't bear the fate happening to the kid.

"G-Get out of here, kid. The goblin that threw this spear is heading in this direction, and there is no telling if he's bringing backup."

"B-But, Bob!" Large tears continued to run down Seu-Rong’s cheeks. Remembering how on his first day at the company, Bob was the first to strike up a friendly conversation with him, when everyone else ignored or ridiculed him, later taking him under his wing. He was a close friend that Seu-Rong valued deeply and seeing him bleeding profusely and on his last dying breath, ripped a knife through Seu-Rong's chest.

"No! Now you listen here, kid. You are going to go far. I can just feel it. But you gotta trust in yourself and have more confidence." The light in Bob's eyes was starting to dim. Both Seu-Rong and Bob knew this was the end, but before he parted this world, Bob wanted to leave Seu-Rong with these parting words.

Hoping the young man would take what he said and live his life in the way Bob could not. "This world is not pure and favors only the strong. So get out of here and grow strong, kid. Live a long and fulfilling life."

Seeing the light vanish from Bob's eyes, Seu-Rong wanted to scream and demand the life of his friend to be brought back to him. But the sounds of goblins rushing through the forest caused him to think straight and remember Bob’s brave sacrifice. Setting his feelings aside, Seu-Rong knew he must live and began to run like his life depended on it. Which in this case was correct, knowing if he slowed down for just a second, the goblins would catch up to him.

'I can't stop now!'