9 November 2037, a colossal tower appeared from all over the world and a great tremor shook the world.
In the region called Contina, monsters and demons emerged from behind the tower and areas affected by the quake, and soon after...
The world has been destroyed. Monsters and demons have carried out a genocide against the world of humans...
And 1 weeks after the genocide beginning...
In the darkness of the sky and the world on the brink of destruction, a loud cry of a baby was heard around the screams of fear from humans.
In the mother's arms, the baby continued to cry loudly—while the mother could only hold and hug the baby tightly while running towards the refuge.
The world has changed, the genocide has spread mana to all living beings on earth, causing them to mutate and use magic.
As the mother continued to run towards the refuge, which was a bunker, the guards kept shooting at the monsters and demons that came with rifles.
Good fortune had attended the mother and her baby, and they managed to reach the large bunker refuge safely—inside, there were thousands of other refugees, as if the bunker was designed to save humanity from the apocalypse.
The disgusting monster kept attacking the bunker, but was managed to be handled, the monster was called The Eater, while the soldiers equipped with heavy equipment continued to defend the bunker.
Intense shaking and explosion sounds occurred everywhere, causing the baby to keep crying, and the mother immediately stroked his head and kissed his forehead to calm him down.
"It's okay, baby, mom is here for you... May God save us both."
Outside, many people tried to enter the bunker and save themselves—some survived, some didn't, and some were even eaten alive, organs scattered everywhere, and it was like a nightmare for humanity.
Because of the release of mana, those monsters and demons could even use magic, they kept attacking mercilessly at humanity, who only relied on technology and rifles to fight back.
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
The elite soldiers' rifles kept raining down on the monsters and demons that kept coming nonstop, they managed to kill them, but many of the soldiers were also tragically killed.
The area that was initially filled with destroyed buildings and flames everywhere, was now littered with human corpses lying on the ground—and some areas were even flooded with mixed blood.
Humanity might be doomed, many of them have lost hope, the monsters and demons came from a colossal tower that seemed to appear out of nowhere—and also from specific locations that were the emergence of others like them, called Dungeons.
Behind the desperation, the struggle for human survival couldn't be underestimated, although many of them fell... The soldiers and other armed forces managed to push back the terrifying creatures and weaken them.
At the moment of desperation that hit them at the beginning, now hope is growing back. The monsters in the city were successfully pushed back and finally, they could survive, beneath the destroyed and collapsed city, there were shouts of hope from the human struggle.
They shouted with joy, cheered, and hope continued to grow. Meanwhile, the mother and baby were still waiting in the bunker, and the mother was breastfeeding her baby with love as the baby fell fast asleep.
***
The refugees who managed to survive were gathered in an underground room that was almost 4 times the size of a village. The mother continued to hold her sleeping baby.
In the middle of the room, there was a stage towering above the people, and an old man appeared on the stage, then stepped forward to gaze at the surviving humans in the city.
"My people who still survive! As the president of Contina, I chose this place as our last refuge in case of an apocalypse!"
"As we know, the world is going through an apocalyptic phase! We must survive! We must live! We must save humanity!"
"But the apocalypse doesn't mean we can't survive! Research from scientists says that this apocalypse spreads mana essence! An essence that can form magic! An essence that we can use as a weapon to fight back!"
The president then opened his palm, concentrated for a moment, and a ball of fire formed in his hand—making all the refugees who saw it immediately cheer.
"Look! This is the weapon! This is one of our hopes to survive! Magic that we used to see in fiction stories is now real!"
"I, Fontana Smith, as the president of Contina! Together with all my people, we will save humanity! Let's create a new history of humanity with our struggle!"
'Fontana! Fontana! Fontana!'
All the refugees who heard it became even more enthusiastic and cheered, even the mother could only cry with joy as there was hope—the baby woke up again and cried as the loud cheers woke him up.
***
Not long after the refugees rested and were given tents to stay in temporarily, the hundreds of soldiers inside finally finished preparing food—making thousands of refugees line up to get their first food ration.
Even the mother who kept holding her baby was named Emma Arcelius, while the baby's name was Ray Arcelius. Emma waited in line calmly and impatiently, while Ray could only stare at his mother because he was still a baby.
Although thousands of refugees were starving, among the crowd, not a single person caused trouble or pushed to the front, as if they didn't want to be greedy and risk being kicked out of this place.
Little Ray could only mumble softly, his tiny hands could only gently touch his mother's face.
"Be patient, sweetie... Mom will get ration soon and can continue breastfeeding you."
Emma couldn't help but chuckle softly at Ray's adorable face, she just couldn't resist giving him a cute peck while patiently waiting in line—she tried to comfort Ray despite the apocalyptic conditions.
In front of him, there was a man who was teasing the woman in front of him; the man politely touched the woman's sword, making the woman only able to let out a small scream and feel scared.
Not long after, a stun gun hit the man's body, making him instantly paralyzed. It was the work of the security guards in this area, anyone who caused trouble and rebelled—they were immediately detained.
Seeing the man being detained, Emma breathed a sigh of relief, letting a pervert like that live and stay here was the worst choice, and the security guards did the right thing.
Not long after, Emma reached her turn, the female soldier preparing the food gave her the ration, and when she saw Ray who was still a baby, she also gave a little extra portion for him.
"Huh? I-is it okay?"
"Of course, we give extra portions to pregnant mothers or mothers with babies and toddlers, enjoy..."
Emma just smiled softly and repeatedly said thank you, she couldn't be hypocritical—she didn't refuse this extra portion because the world was indeed very threatened right now. She immediately returned to the tent given to each refugee.
She entered the tent, sat down, and ate the food, Ray who was still very small and didn't have teeth to chew could only nurse from his mother.
After eating, Emma decided to sleep and lay down on a pile of pillows that were not soft and uncomfortable at all, but what could she do.
Ray, who was lying down, continued to nurse from his mother, soon the little baby finally fell fast asleep—Emma just smiled happily seeing how soundly Ray was sleeping.
She was actually scared, traumatized, and desperate, but she knew she had to endure this situation, because for her... Ray was her priority right now and the reason why she was fighting to live.
Emma kissed Ray's forehead with tears welling up in her eyes, she hoped that humanity could endure longer in this genocide of monsters and demons—she just hoped for a bright future for her child that was yet to come.
***
The next day, she and Ray had a health check, and now there was a new check, which was mana scaling, after the health check went smoothly, Emma then got a class as The Gourmet.
Since mana essence spread, all humans now have a class that will be useful in their lives, and the role of each class has types of attackers, defenders, supporters, and neutrals.
「Name: Emma Arcelius
「Class The Gourmet
「Ability:
Statistic Reveal
Gourmet Enhance
...
Emma was shocked when she saw the system suddenly appear in front of her, seeing Emma's expression, the mana scaling instructor laughed softly.
"Hehe... Don't worry, others won't see someone else's [Statistic Reveal] skill, it's a skill humans get automatically when they receive mana essence, it's useful, okay."
Hearing that just made Emma laugh awkwardly, she still didn't quite understand the instructor's words, but she immediately turned around to leave while carrying Ray.
As she walked towards the tent, Emma stopped for a moment and looked at a group of soldiers gathering, and... There were many volunteers who signed up to be soldiers to help humanity that was about to go extinct from monster and demon attacks.
As she continued to watch, the volunteers and soldiers were training in three things, weapon training, physical training, and magic training or circulating their mana.
This was the second time Emma saw magic, the volunteers were attacking a dummy made from leftover paper and metal to test their newly awakened magic. Even so, the attacks were extremely weak, even weaker than firearms.
But humans are very intelligent creatures and can easily adapt, it's just a matter of time before they master it and grow stronger—who would have thought that the world they inhabit now would turn into a cruel and dark fantasy world like in fiction novels or animations.
Ray kept watching the volunteers and soldiers develop their magic, his small eyes sparkled and he kept mumbling and his tiny voice kept making Emma laugh softly.
"What's going on, sweetie? Do you like it? They're cool, aren't they? Hehe..."
Watching the troops train, Emma remembered her late husband and Ray's father. Her husband was a soldier who fell in battle against monsters and demons during the first genocide.
Her eyes welled up with tears for a moment, but when she saw Ray keep mumbling, she quickly wiped away her tears and kept laughing—Ray was her source of happiness now and the only precious thing she had.
Emma continued walking and kept chuckling softly as she saw Ray smile at her.
'Cup'
She then kissed Ray's cheek and he smiled widely again.
"Mom love you, Ray."
. . .