Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

A collapsing building.

As if struck by a magnitude seven earthquake, the building shook severely. Soon, it became unstable. The ground itself was shaking as small rubbles fell off the ceiling. The magnitude of the shaking was enough to wake up an unconscious man.

Unfortunately, nothing mattered to him now except his current situation.

'It hurts..!'

Pain was a universal sensation that any living being could feel. It is an extremely unpleasant sensation due to things that they might not like.

In this case, the boy felt as if his entire body was teeming with ants. His extremely blurry… and reddened vision did not serve to help with this fever-ish sensation.

His head felt as if it was split into two with the massive headache he was experiencing.

At once, he was starting to lose it all.

[Achievement Hunter is now active.]

[Detecting accomplishments…]

[Achievement Unlocked: Solitary Miracle (See more)]

[Achievement Unlocked: Pioneering Turnover (See more)]

Several motes of lights arranged themselves into words in front of his eyes. Though, it did not serve to help the suffering he was experiencing, leading to him not being able to properly think or even read these words.

[...ward: Embryonic…]

[...rd: Ran…]

As the pain progressed, his situation turned for the worse. His life was slipping away from him; that is, until a small red sphere appeared in his right hand. Upon being given something to push the pain towards, the boy crushed the sphere in his hands.

[...tracted. Begin…]

The boy welcomed the new period of changes. Unfortunately, it was not done in an instant.

Only the ticking sounds changed his overall situation.

Tick.

His memories soon became blurry as the massive headache progressed.

Tick.

His fragile body started to turn into something else.

Tick.

His perception began to get warped by the excruciating pain.

Tick.

Everything ceased to move… at least for the boy. 

There was a saying of becoming closer to the truth as one nears death. This might have been an example of that.

Tick.

The boy was without any thoughts. Only the sound of 'something' ticking continued ringing on his ears.

"Life… only amounts to this."

A realm within a dream.

These words simply came up in the boy's mind. His consciousness was no longer within the scope of reality. 

It is more appropriate to call it his subconscious.

'I… no pain..?'

Becoming freed from those overwhelming pain was proof of that.

"No matter how hard we try… we can't go against the waves."

The boy tried to lift his head up. His blurry sight caught the glimpse of a man's figure. He was the one who spoke the words just now.

The man was wearing some form of white suit as he solemnly sat on his desk.

Just like his current situation, his surroundings were shaking.

Boom-!

Before the explosions had the chance to bury the man, his final words reached the boy's ears.

"Fate… Is there truly a chance to defy it?"

The voice became faint until the boy could no longer hear anything.

Tick.

"Huff..!"

After nth time, the 'something' that kept ticking showed up on top of his head. It was an eight pointed wheel. Each pointed edge has a white orb embedded into it.

Its appearance was extremely brief, giving no time for the boy who just woke up to notice it. By the time he was fully conscious, it had already disappeared.

"What… Where…"

Perhaps due to the 'thing' that caused intense head-splitting headaches, the boy felt that everything was surreal. He found himself in the middle of nowhere, without any clue on who he was.

Fortunately, his mind hadn't completely forgotten about his memories.

"School… Education… Chiba Academy…"

At this instance, the boy remembered bits of his memories. He was currently a second year 'student' in the Chiba Academy, a place to further one's studies and hone their 'knowledge'.

"Huff.. Huff…"

The boy scrambled through his body. He found that he was wearing a black fitted long sleeves. A white 'plate' was found clipped on his chest pocket.

He immediately took it off, revealing some details about him.

[Aleph Ainsworth]

[2-A]

[Student No.: 20…]

The boy, no, Aleph found his wallet in his back pocket. He found several one thousand bills on it. He started to recall that the writing on it came from the 'Far East'. 

Rumble-!

Aleph wasn't given enough time to recover his memories properly. Seeing that the building was about to collapse, he ran to where there was light. 

Fortunately, things started to 'come back' to his mind, including the path where the college's exit was found.

As if celebrating his successful departure from the college, the building collapsed the moment he got out. He was several meters away from it, yet the dust fog as well as small rubbles struck him.

Instinctively, he shielded himself with his arms.

Pssk-!

Pssk-!

Several small rubbles hit his arms. Aleph already expected a certain level of pain to come, yet it felt like he was only hit with a deep scratch.

"...Huh..?"

Opening his eyes, he discovered purple lights crawling up from his arm. It was neat and organized, akin to a circuit in a board. Along with it, he found out that his body felt warm, but it was not as intense as the one he had experienced before.

It filled his body with 'strength', though he could not find the words to describe it properly.

In shock, he could only stare blankly at these purple lines as he repeatedly gripped his hand. It didn't take long before they disappeared from his skin.

'Power… strength… It was different…'

[Achievement Unlocked: Near Death (See more)]

[Reward: Deathly Intuition]

He was suddenly greeted by the familiar words.

"Huh..?"

Bewildered by the 'panel' filled with words, Aleph tried touching it with his fingers but to no avail. He looked at it in a daze until something appeared further down it.

[Near Death: Survive a scenario that almost took your life once.]

"This is…"

The moment he focused into the "see more" part, an explanation followed.

One thing immediately flashed to his mind: a game.

Even now, bits of memories continued to gradually enter his mind. 

This information was more objective than subjective, thus Aleph could not truly recall who he was yet still have a general idea as to what the world was.

"It's not normal, isn't it..?"

Aleph continued examining the panel, including the ones he missed out when he was dying.

[Solitary Miracle: Create a miracle none had ever witnessed.]

[Pioneering Turnover: Become one of the greatest pioneers of a civilization, creating a mark that shall never be forgotten throughout all eras.]

"I… I did these amazing things? Aren't I supposed to be… a student?"

Aleph continued to explore its functions, but apart from the prior 'records', there isn't anything left.

[Reward: Embryonic Power System]

[Embryonic Power System: The power of an entire world is contained within. Its shackles were removed, yet the chances remain limited to four. These powers may awaken at the right time.]

Aleph's mind was brought back to the time of his near-death. He recalled the ticking sounds as well as the purple lines on his arms.

'Are they connected…?'

The panel responded to his thoughts. An entire set of panels appeared in his sight.

[Embryonic Power System: Sorcerers]

[Innate Cursed Technique: ???]

[Innate Cursed Technique: ???]

 [???]

[Innate Cursed Technique: ???]

[Innate Cursed Technique: Adaptation (Locked)]

A total of three sentences presented themselves in front of him. Though, they weren't very helpful in explaining this so-called reward. Even the [Adaptation (Locked)] did not respond to Aleph's thoughts and touches.

Without any leads, he moved onto the other reward he received.

[Reward: Random Box]

[Random Box: A box filled with randomness. Nobody knows what you will get.]

Seeing the description triggered a sense of vigilance in him.

"Random… If I get something dangerous, wouldn't this implicate me?"

Aleph decided to keep this [Random Box] first.

Just like that, he finished processing everything—his loss of memories and the game-like panels. 

He started to walk away from the collapsed building.

Coincidentally, he took the route to the streets he had gone before—or so his memories tell him. What was different, however, was that the entire's street was ruined. It was as if it went into a total war.

This prompted him to snap out of it.

Exploded cars could be seen from the distance, and so were the broken tiles and roads. 

Aleph tried to wipe his bloodied head using his long sleeves, though it only gave him a more sticky and disgusting sensation.

Nevertheless, his sight wasn't covered with blood compared to before.

"Ugh… That headache… I still feel lost." He muttered. "And this occurrence… Am I in a game? No, I shouldn't be. I have to keep in mind that it's not normal."

Unknowingly, he took the same path as that certain protagonist from a zombie series. The amount of 'displacement' and the feeling of being lost attempted to overwhelm him. Add to that this mysterious game panel, Aleph thought that he needed a break.

Growl…

It didn't take long for him to find someone.

"Hey..?"

Perhaps out of instinct, Aleph hid from the man with black coat. He went into the alley right beside him. He scanned the man and saw through the crux of the matter.

"He doesn't look good… and he reeks of danger."

This was the first time his [Deathly Intuition] revealed its presence. It was as if something was 'pricking' him, yet it was only within the metaphysical realm—a sixth sense of sorts.

In the midst of his returning memories, he found the term suitable to describe him.

"An undead…" He muttered. "They were only in movies…"

Aleph did not disregard the man's messy clothes as well as dark-red fluids stuck onto him. Coupled with his growling, he arrived at the conclusion above.

Due to already feeling surreal, Aleph did not have troubles accepting this reality.

"If he's really an undead…"

While he was busy musing, a pair of eyes examined him from an establishment within the alley.

The observer seemed surprised as his eyes widened for a moment.

"Ainsworth!"

"Huh..?"

The shout was more like a loud whisper, thus it hadn't alerted any unwanted beings.

A white-haired man called his name out. He was holding a slightly dented baseball bat in his hands.

Despite not knowing who he was, Aleph instinctively felt that this man knew him before.

Before he could come to his direction, a growling sound came from behind him.

It was a businessman with white eyes. His mouth dripped with saliva as he stared blankly at Aleph.

Then…

Growl-!

'What the..!'

He was about to block him with his arms when he thought of a better way to resolve things.

Without hesitation—

Thud-!

—he kicked the undead straight to his chest. Some of its clothes were disheveled in the process, revealing a faint purple gleam on its body.

Aleph was prepared to kick it again when he saw murky blood coming from its head. The impact of falling from his kick directly killed the undead.

[Achievement Unlocked: Easy Kill (See More)]

He disregarded the series of words that appeared in front of his eyes. He was too tense to care about it now.

Thump-!

Thump-!

Aleph could feel the pulse behind his ears beat strongly. He had to take several deep breaths to get out of this stressful state.

"I didn't know you had it in you. I thought you only read books?"

"...Who are you?"

The white-haired man was left with a dumbfounding question.

*****

Chiba Academy.

It was the name of the institution where Aleph studied. It was only a matter of time before he met his fellow students.

One of them was this white-haired man, Kevin, who knew him prior to all the earthquakes and undeads.

"How was it, Mei?"

"His situation looks dire. I found a trace of an opening on his head. With his amnesia, we could be certain that he has a certain degree of internal bleeding."

After having a pocket flashlight pointed to his blue pupils as well as the ruffling of his black hair, Aleph was successfully diagnosed by the woman with Kevin. Her silver-framed glasses and ponytail hairstyle gave the feels of an intellectual, and Aleph wasn't wrong with that.

It's just that she looked even more concerned upon discovering Aleph's state.

"If he doesn't receive proper treatment immediately…"

"..."

Seeing the depressive mood in the air, Aleph tried to break it down.

"It's not like I'm going to die right away." He said. "Even if I do, I'm glad to know that I had people who cared for me."

"...I swear you haven't said anything like this before."

Much to Kevin's shock, the Aleph right now was far less serious than the one he knew in the past.

The latter stood up from his seat and did some stretching. As he did so, he asked:

"So, the entire Nagazora City was in ruins, there are zombies everywhere, and there are flying beasts who could cut people to pieces. Am I right?"

It was completely chaotic. Everyone proceeded as normal a few hours ago. There were no drastic changes.

That is, until an extremely strong earthquake struck the city. For some reason, some people that fell unconscious during it woke up as a completely different person, akin to a zombie who attacked people indiscriminately.

Aside from them, there were also the huge silicon beasts made of white shells. The double threat of the zombies and the huge monsters made Nagazora City a living hell.

"...Is this caused by amnesia? Thinking about it, there are symptoms of DID in amnesiac people…"

Even Mei who has nerves of steel expressed her disbelief at his current carefree state.

"Why are you two like this?!"

Aleph's question was met by Kevin's sigh.

"You were unsociable, quiet, serious, and didn't talk to others. Even if you do, you will become unhinged with every opinion that we asked you."

There were times when Kevin and Su, another supposed friend of Aleph, asked for advice. All Aleph gave were the most straightforward ones… which happened to be the most difficult things to do.

"Hey, I'm about to fail the exams. Do you have something you could recommend?"

"Study."

"I'm tired of being confessed too often. What should I do?"

"Broadcast your rejection throughout the entire school."

"Why do I keep losing against you?"

"...Skill issue."

Above were some of Kevin's conversations with him.

"Am I really like that?"

"...I hope you will retain this personality after you deal with amnesia."

Aleph could only sigh to his supposed 'snarky' self prior to his memory loss.

"About the things before…"

Aleph received their side of the story, allowing him to learn more about them.

Mei is, in simple terms, a prodigy. She was already studying theories regarding quantum mechanics as a high-schooler. In fact, she has her own laboratory within Nagazora.

Meanwhile, Kevin is the so-called 'school idol'. He has terrifying physical prowess that puts many guys to shame. Coupled with his handsome looks, it wasn't surprising that he became an idol.

"As for you… You are originally the sole idol of our school."

"Me?"

"Oh, right, you lost your memories."

Kevin fiddled with his pockets before pulling out his phone. A few moments later, he showed Aleph a picture of a black-haired boy reading a book in the library. His matching blue pupils remained focused on the thing he was reading. It was no wonder that he didn't notice that someone took his picture.

Receiving Aleph's look, Kevin tried to reason out.

"I was trying to take a funny picture. That's why I have this one."

"Alright, alright."

Aleph nodded as he agreed to their evaluation of him. His looks are up to par. Though, he also noticed that the Aleph from the picture has a completely different vibe compared to him.

"Anyways, where are we…"

Their discussions became on track once again. Kevin did all the talking while Mei remained silent.

It turns out that the two met coincidentally when Kevin was cutting classes. Aleph adhered to the rules, which is why he was left in the classroom, thus leading to his near-death situation. Mei was lucky to have requested a leave up to this day.

After several twists and turns, the three reunited once more.

"So you two were planning to go to the school?"

"Mn." 

This time, it was Mei who answered his inquiry.

"We thought about you. We're lucky we met here."

"After that?" Aleph asked.

"We're headed to the shelter."

Mei replied with her usual intellectual looks.

"There is no coverage within the city. The most optimal choice is to find out what happened to the outside world."

Did the entire world suffer the same calamity as them?

Did the world governments collapse?

These two crucial questions are the key to their survival. Depending on the answers they will receive, their decisions would be different.

Before they could arrive at that conclusion, they had to know what was happening through the shelters.

At least, these shelters were still functional a few hours ago—when it was broadcasted city-wide.

"I see. This situation does feel like the typical apocalyptic event."

At this point, Aleph had already regained enough objective knowledge to not feel lost. Most of his memories are still covered in a misty fog, but Aleph was sure that he will regain them one way or another.

Nevertheless, he has a strange feeling towards their adversity.

'This is something to be defeated.'

His heart was seemingly set ablaze at the thought of 'breaking' this apocalypse.

"Just to double check… I didn't learn martial arts and the like before, right?"

"Yeah. You were obsessed with reading in the library all the time."

Hearing Kevin's response, Aleph became more confused.

'Why did I have memories of it, though..?'

*****

"Uhm, Mei."

"...Yes?"

"Is there a reason why Kevin left us alone?"

After a lengthy discussion, Kevin surprised Aleph by leaving him alone with Mei. The former has a 'knowing' look that Aleph failed to understand.

Fortunately, he was not that dense to not feel something.

His blank stare was met with Mei's deep sigh.

"You forgot it…"

"Is there something between us?"

Aleph's words immediately spurned a reaction from her. As if recalling some things, she smiled.

"I want to talk with you." She affirmed.

"I see…"

Despite understanding the meaning behind her words, Aleph could only nod. While it was true that he felt 'something' from her, it was vague. It was as if something was preventing him from recalling his personal memories.

It was strange enough for him to only recall objective things. If he meets an expert, he might have an answer to this question.

Unfortunately, it could only remain the same for now.

"Don't worry."

Shockingly, her hand grasped his.

"I will make you remember."

*****

The trio's journey involved several stops due to the abundance of monsters and zombies within the city.

The most concerning thing was the lack of government's response to the entire thing.

It was as if they were preoccupied with handling something far more drastic than these monsters.

Clang-!

Bam-!

Kevin used his baseball bat to strike at the descending birds—flying white monsters with purple lines on its body.

Their wings produce wind blades that are sharp enough to make a deep cut, hence he had to strike them at an exact timing.

"Huff… We need to find a cover."

"Wait. I'll take care of the front."

"Ainsworth?"

Since they were three people, Kevin dealt with the monsters in front while Aleph dealt with some sneaky monsters from behind. This lifted some burden on Kevin.

"It might be more dangerous. You didn't do much sports…"

"No worries. I don't know what happened to me, but I feel stronger."

"Stronger?"

Kevin didn't have the luxury to pay attention as to how Aleph fared against the attacks, but the latter showing him several 'strikes' made him more convinced. The sound of air being cut was quite intimidating.

"Be careful. Even if you hit them, they're heavier than normal people." He said as he passed the baseball bat onto him. Aleph then passed the crowbar to Kevin.

"Hm…"

Just like before, he swung the baseball bat several times before finding its center of gravity. It ensured that he could strike to the best that he could.

As to how he knew about it?

'It's strange… I was supposed to be clueless about this, but I could remember swinging… a sword, was it?'

These odd memories felt unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. He knows that he shouldn't have them, yet he could feel that it was something that he truly did.

'Did I live a double identity or something?'

With that arrangement, they proceeded through the way to the shelter. It is important to note that it hasn't even been a day since everything turned into a mess, thus they could still forsake some supplies. But when they came across it, they ate some of the food to recharge. That, and several wound solutions to soak Aleph's head with.

"I have some bad feelings with the large ones. They might hit like a truck."

Up until now, they didn't face much trouble except the flying bird monsters. The zombies were easily taken care of in one hit. Only the bird monsters posed some trouble to Aleph's hands due to how tough they were.

Rumble.

"...Ainsworth."

"Speak of the devil."

…and he shall come.

These words were proven true when a large white monster strolled across the road. It doesn't have legs, but it has two thick arms that could easily crush a car with ease. Its height could easily reach two storeys.

It was a biological mecha in the most literal sense.

Aleph observed it for a while and came to several conclusions.

"It's strong but quite clumsy. I don't know how the thing moves, but I have a feeling it'll just slide up in your face."

"...Your instincts are becoming sharper this time."

"Did I predict some things back then?"

"Yeah. How did you do that?"

Aleph couldn't answer Kevin's question well. It was a 'feeling' and he decided to act on it. If that was how he thought now, that should be how he acted in the past.

"Analysis. Just like how I could learn some information regarding my previous self…"

Thinking about the unusual expressions shown to him by Mei, he silently looked at her.

"What is it?"

"...It's nothing…"

Aleph vaguely knew that he might have been a part of something in the past.

Fzzt-!

Just then, a blazing red monster blitzed straight at them from the air. It was enough to see the 'flames' that surrounded its body for the two guys to know about its danger.

"Kevin!"

Within one second, Aleph pushed Mei to the opposite side. Only he and Kevin were struck by it quite closely.

Boom-!

[Achievement Unlocked: Suicidal Dive (See More)]

A prompt appeared in Aleph's sight. The concrete that the flaming bird monster struck was shattered into pieces. Debris flew out of it, but that was not their main concern.

At this moment…

"Well…"

…Aleph looked eye-to-eye with the large monster.

*****

A/N: Here is the first chapter. It has 4k words in total. Though, the update schedule will sit at a consistent rate of 1 chapter a day, with 1k words per chapter. There's also 30 advanced chapters in the patreon. Do check it out if you are interested.

Happy Reading~!