And so the next weeks passed, the months, to be exact... 3 years.
"GET UP, YOU ABSOLUTE ZERO!" A heavy boot slammed into his ribs, pressing his face deep into the dry floor.
[END: -24.5 / 0]
"PULL THE DAMN SLED OR I'LL SHOOT YOUR KNEECAPS OFF!" Noen screamed, his bleeding hands gripping the coarse rope as his muscles tore.
[STR: -17.0 / 0]
"FASTER! YOU MOVE LIKE A CORPSE!" Live bullets whizzed past his ears, forcing his trembling legs to sprint through the burning sandstorm.
[AGI: -9.5 / 0]
"DID I SAY YOU COULD BREATHE?" Noen puked stomach acid onto the hot gravel, wiped his mouth with a shaking hand, and forced himself right back up.
[VIT: -4.0 / 0]
[FOC: -2.5 / 0]
Three years of unyielding, relentless hell. Three years of clawing his way out of the dark abyss, one decimal point at a time.
⸻
The morning sun beat down on the silent rows of recruits, casting long shadows across the red line. The heavy, oppressive silence hung in the air as the instructor's booming voice echoed across the training grounds for what felt like the thousandth time.
"DID ANYONE REACH THEIR STAT CAP?"
Everybody in the rows was dead silent, staring numbly ahead at the dirt. Everyone, except one... Noen.
A slow, tired grin spread across his calloused face. He stepped forward out of the perfect formation, throwing his hand high into the air.
"I did."
The medic woman, standing near the front with her stalk of wheat and her rifle, slowly raised an eyebrow. She looked him up and down, taking in the hardened, scarred frame of the boy who had once collapsed on his first day.
"Well then..." she said, crossing her arms.
Noen didn't hesitate. He swiped his hand through the air, and his system overlay flickered to life, projecting the bright text for all to see:
[Title: The Absolute Zero]
[Role: 0]
[STR: 0 / 0]
[AGI: 0 / 0]
[END: 0 / 0]
[VIT: 0 / 0]
[FOC: 0 / 0]
[AFF: 0 / 0]
The woman stared at the screen, her eyes tracing the solid zeros that had replaced the crushing negative numbers. A moment of genuine silence passed before she finally nodded.
"Well done....Absolute Zero."
Noen's grin widened. "Thank-"
"Now you are on the level of a 16-year-old who got his system just 2 seconds ago," she interrupted, bursting into loud, harsh laughter that echoed across the field.
Noen just rolled his eyes, letting out a long, exhausted sigh as her mocking laughter washed over him.
–I wonder what became of that pretty woman... Nura I think. Hopefully shes well...–
Still chuckling, the woman walked up to him and firmly patted him on the shoulder, her demeanor shifting just a fraction to something almost resembling respect.
"Still, awesome achievement. Didn't think you'd make it boy. I think from the last years you know.."
Noen nodded slowly, acknowledging the brutal reality of what he had just survived. Right on cue, two heavily armed guards stepped up from behind him. They grabbed him firmly by the shoulders, steering him away from the red line and escorting him out toward the massive metal gates of the facility.
As they walked, Noen looked up at the sky, his mind racing.
–3 damn years... bet Ignaz, and especially Joris Gantz are furios! That son of a bitch. he deserves it though...–
But as the heavy gates clanged shut behind him, reality suddenly hit him like a freight train. He muttered quietly to himself:
–I must... now surely go to prison or something.. I didn't keep any contracts. If Gantz doesn't kill me before that. That the guy with the negative stats disapearred surely have made headlines.–
He stared down at the floor, the anxiety creeping up his throat. Then, he forced out a breath and shook his head, pushing the panic down.
"It'll be fine."
Noen and the two armed men followed a long, long way through the never-ending desert. The rhythmic sound of their heavy boots against the floor was the only noise in the dead silence.
As they gpt further and further away from the facility, without a single sound of warning... a hand from one of the soldiers lashed out, moving incredibly fast. It struck the side of Noen's neck with absolute precision—the exact same technique as the hands from back then in the Sand City.
His vision instantly shattered into static, his legs giving out completely, and Noen fell unconscious before his body even hit the ground.
When he finally came to, the deafening roar of heavy rotor blades violently filled his ears. A massive, heavily muscled man was leaning over him, roughly shaking his shoulder to wake him up.
"Get up already, we're almost there."
Noen opened his eyes slowly, his vision blurry and his neck throbbing with a dull ache from where he had been struck. As his eyes adjusted, he realized he was sitting in the back of a transport helicopter, the metal frame of the aircraft vibrating intensely as it flew at an incredibly fast speed.
He looked down at himself in utter confusion. His torn, dirt-caked clothes from the wasteland were gone. Instead, he was dressed in a crisp, green uniform, identical to standard military issue.
He groaned, struggling to right his heavy body, until the muscular man grabbed his arm and effortlessly hauled him up into a sitting position on the metal bench.
Noen scratched his aching head, completely disoriented as he looked around the cabin. "W-What?"
The muscular man leaned back slightly, his voice easily cutting through the loud hum of the chopper.
"We had to wash, dress you quickly and take you with us, even though you hadn't woken up yet. Sorry about that! But unfortunately, the meeting is already today."
As Noen rubbed his eyes and looked around more closely, he noticed several other men and women sitting securely strapped along the metal benches of the cabin. Every single one of them was wearing the exact same crisp, green military uniform.
Noen let out a frustrated sigh, massaging the sore spot on his neck. "Why do you always have to get knocked out when you need to go from A to B?"
The large man chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound that was surprisingly warm. "Good question."
A few of the other men and women in the cabin laughed along, the sound easing the tense atmosphere inside the chopper just a fraction. Noen cracked a faint, tired smile, though his mind was still racing with questions.
Before he could ask, the helicopter's pitch suddenly changed. The intense forward momentum drastically slowed, and Noen felt the familiar, stomach-dropping sensation of the aircraft beginning its rapid descent toward the ground.
The muscular man immediately stood up, grabbing an overhead handle for balance. His demeanor shifted instantly back to strict military discipline as his voice boomed over the deafening roar of the rotor blades:
"EVERYONE GET READY TO DISEMBARK!"