Noid awakened and found himself lying on a bed. Around him was a cramped room. Judging by the shaking and swaying, this wasn't a room, but the inside of a vehicle.
Hearing the movement, a nurse and a doctor entered. The nurse rushed to help him, but Noid waved her off, indicating he felt perfectly fine.
"Mr. Noid, please don't make it difficult for us. Ms. Sasha gave specific instructions."
"It's okay, I'm doing fine now. Where's Sasha? Are we on our way back to Rorgh City?"
His memory stopped at the moment when all the followers of the Doom Cult turned to ashes, so he didn't know he had been brought back a long time ago. The doctor's face was grim.
"This is Rorgh City, Mr. Noid. The city is currently under attack, and the military is fighting on the front lines to hold back the doom."
Noid grew serious and hurriedly asked for the reason. But the doctor could only shake his head; besides the people on the front lines, no one knew exactly what was happening.
"Clearly... everything was fine this morning."
The nurse collapsed to the ground in despair. Before the doctor could comfort her, a large tremor hit the vehicle, making it lurch and tip over. Luckily, the vehicle only flipped slightly, so no one was seriously injured.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
He kicked open the car door and helped the driver, nurse, and doctor get out. Even without one arm and one eye, he was still a person with a 0.9 physique.
The once-glorious Rorgh City was no more; ruins and fire were everywhere. The most terrifying sight was near the city walls, where smoke and dust had covered half the sky, and dense swarms of flying doom surrounded the area like a thick, dark cloud.
And it wasn't just Noid's vehicle that was blocked; the same went for the other fleeing vehicles around them. The culprit was a person encased in strange crustacean armor. In their hand, they held a long, sharp bone spike.
A zealot of the Doom Cult.
Since when could such people walk freely outside of Rorgh City?
The zealot began to preach their twisted, devilish doctrine. Around them, the people were angry but powerless to do anything. The more the zealot spoke, the more joyful they felt; this sense of superiority and satisfaction was addictive. But suddenly, a voice interrupted the zealot.
"Is that all you've got?"
Noid stepped forward, ignoring the protests of the doctor and the nurse. He was still wearing patient clothes, his left arm empty, and half of his face wrapped in bandages, clearly a person who was heavily injured. But Noid still advanced to the astonishment of those around him, looking straight into the zealot's eyes and saying loudly.
"Relying on your god? That's it? Your crazy doctrines should be burned in hell; maybe the devils would be interested."
"Judging the fate of humanity? You traitors have never, and will never, be able to do that."
"Get lost!"
"Shut up! You vile insect!"
The zealot screamed, their face filled with madness. But the anger of the people had been unleashed, and they threw whatever they could get their hands on at the zealot.
"Get out of here!"
"Give us back our homes!"
"Die, you monsters!"
Rubble and sticks hit the zealot's body. But they didn't care; their eyes were fixed on Noid, they only wanted to tear the vile insect in front of them to shreds.
The zealot's body shot forward like a bullet, the bone spike tearing through the air and heading straight for Noid, but his face remained calm. Noid raised his hand, and an empty cube appeared from thin air. It erupted with an energy source that sent the zealot flying.
In the zealot's terrified eyes, the formless energy turned into a blinding white light. Noid's missing left arm and eye were recreated. The bandages on his head fell away, revealing his face. Noid's hair fluttered, and the cube in his hand began to transform, kneading like clay.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive energy waves were released, turning the area around Noid into the eye of a storm. He suddenly grabbed the floating mass of material. The final energy wave surged, revealing an object in his hand that looked like an ethereal cube, an object that looked the same from any angle, a testament to its unique nature.
Something enduring, forever unchanging.
"Only by understanding the deepest despair and suffering can one shoulder the brightest hope."
"This is... my hero's path."
Task: The Hero's Will (Completed)
Having a heart is not enough. To bear ideals and aspirations, every hero must awaken their will, which can be called their own path. Congratulations on becoming a qualified hero. But don't celebrate too soon, because this is just the beginning of your journey. Hold firm to this will, temper it, to be able to go further. Good luck.
Reward: 5000 accumulated points.
The system's notification rang out, but Noid paid it no mind. He put the belt on his waist and locked it.
"Transform."
The area around Noid began to glow as the armor form started to assemble on his body. It began with the basic black armor mixed with crimson, then the white armor pieces were added, separating into individual plates to form various edges. The helmet did not have clear eye sockets, but was primarily made of two symmetrical, angular pieces. Golden lines stood out on the white armor, running all over his body. Finally, the four lines converged in the middle of his forehead. There was a pointed diamond shape there, emitting a brilliant golden light.
No one said a word; everyone was stunned by Noid. It was only when he lifted the zealot by the neck off the ground that the people reacted. He punched the crustacean armor, causing the zealot's chest to cave in.
The zealot fell to the ground, crippled and near death.
A little boy came forward, his eyes shining as he looked up at Noid. The boy had never seen anyone so cool in his life, and he stammered, "Mister... are you... a hero?"
That shining look in the boy's eyes reminded him of Jack. Noid knelt on one knee and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Yeah, now I'm going to go help the other heroes."
He looked towards the front lines and began to walk. Behind him were many words of thanks from the people. Noid didn't look back; in his hand, a cube appeared. It wasn't the initial cube; this one looked more transparent, with a sophisticated projection of galaxies and stars inside, containing the profound, cosmic power of the universe. From inside that cube, Noid felt a surging, powerful cosmic energy.
This was the only item that existed inside the initial cube. Even though it was Noid's first time in contact with it, he already knew how to use it.
"Cosmic, that sounds fitting. So you are the Cosmic Cube. And this..."
The cube disappeared from Noid's hand, and the lines on the armor were no longer golden, but changed to the brilliant colors of a nebula in the void. The colors of the nebula also clung to his body.
"... is the Cosmic Form."
Noid looked up at the sky. A pair of wings appeared on his back. The wings opened, and from within them, Cosmic Energy shot out like individual stars. Noid flew like a shooting star straight towards the fierce battlefield.