CHAPTER 3

It was nighttime, there was abruptly a flash of light, and then there was a thud sound.

Rose lives with her mother; she looked like a Human but wasn't. Her ears gave her away. She had pointy ears like Elf seen or read in fantasy novels on Earth. She had silver hair and silver eyes.

Her father left her and her mother when her mother was pregnant. She doesn't have a well-off family; hence she couldn't afford a house in a city. Her residence was close to a forest. There wasn't any threat, but there was a problem with connectivity. So, the land rates were cheaper there.

Rose was meditating in her room as Academies admission season was about to start. If she got into a good academy, then she could help her mother.

After completing her meditation, Rose was preparing for her sleep. She suddenly heard the loud sound of something falling. She hurried toward the source of the sound. When she arrived there, she found a boy of her age lying unconscious on the ground. She had never seen anyone like the boy. The boy had pure white hair and brown skin. He was approximately 1.7 m tall. Her mouth went wide open due to a person falling into the jungle out of nowhere. Rose was afraid of the stranger, but she was also concerned about him. Rose couldn't decide what she should do. So she rushed back to her house and woke her mother. Her mother was confused and looked at Rose having a questioning expression on her face. Rose didn't care about the expression on her mother's face and told her about what she saw on the outskirts of the jungle.

Serena was sleeping when her daughter suddenly woke her up and told her that she had seen a boy of her age unconscious on the ground. It took a while for Serena to understand what Rose was implying.

Serena was a middle-aged woman, but she looked the same as Rose. Ordinary Elves had a lifespan of 300 years.

Serena and Rose, both rushed back to the place where Rose had seen Dev. She was also stunned to see Dev, as she has never seen any being who looks like Dev, Dev had the same type of body as Elves, but his ears weren't pointy.

They both carried Dev back to their house, and tried everything they knew, to wake up the boy, but Dev didn't wake up. If there was no heartbeat or breathing, they would have considered Dev dead. So, they left him lying down on the sofa. They both looked concerned about the well-being of the boy.

Dev finally recovered his consciousness, after three days of staying in Rose's house. He was stunned to see himself in a different environment, he accessed his pocket space, to see his family photo first thing after waking up. Tears started pouring out of his eyes. No one has any idea how much he hoped for the things he discovered to be a dream.

Dev started checking his surroundings, it looked the same as the houses on Earth in the 2020s. Materials used in the houses were different from Earth. Different kinds of trees were painted on the walls, all over the house. Dev wasn't in the mood to enjoy the paint or that the environment is different. Dev stood up from the couch to find out about the surroundings.

When Dev stood up, he mistakenly knocked out the medicine bowl on the ground from the table. The broken bowl made a huge crunching sound.

Rose was meditating in her room when she was suddenly disturbed by the crunching sound. Rose got irritated by the disturbance, she dashed out of the room having a look of anger on her face.

When she came out of the room, she stopped in her tracks. She saw the stranger she had saved, staring at her expressionlessly.

Dev noticed the disturbance he caused, he started picking up the pieces of the broken bowl. While he was picking up the broken pieces, the door opened. Dev turned around to see a beautiful stranger coming out of the room. Dev could sense irritation from the Girl's face. The Girl noticed Dev staring at her, and noticed her Stopping; while her eyes went wide open.

Rose could sense the gloom around Dev. The gloomy atmosphere was suffocating Rose. Rose tried to smile at Dev, but his face didn't change. Rose felt awkward, after not getting any response from Dev. Rose waved at Dev, he still didn't give any response. Dev just kept staring at her.

Rose couldn't find any expression on Dev's face, She stopped trying to have a conversation with Dev anymore. She noticed the pieces of the bowl, so she went into the kitchen and brought a new bowl, and put it on the table. Rose got back to her room with even more irritation.

Dev didn't mind Rose leaving.

Dev remembered Earth giving him one skill and a Pocket space. He hasn't checked the skill yet, he thought of his status in his mind, when suddenly a black screen with white fonts appeared in front of him:

PERSONAL STATUS :

NAME: DEV

RACE: HUMAN

AGE: 17(BODY AGE), 70(REAL AGE)

GENDER: MALE

HEIGHT: 1.71 M

BODY STATUS: SLIGHT INJURY

LEVEL 0 (INITIAL)

ATTRIBUTES:

STRENGTH: 2

AGILITY: 1.7

INTELLIGENCE: 1

PRANA*: 0

PHYSIQUE: WORLD PHYSIQUE(DUE TO ABSORBING WORLD ENERGY)

POCKET SPACE: 1 Cu. M

SKILLS: NONE.

Dev was stunned to see his status, he didn't know that he was so strong.

Dev understood strength, agility, and Intelligence in physical attributes, He didn't understand Prana or his world physique.

Dev didn't mind the unknown as he had just started his journey.

Dev didn't know anything about the world he was in, he already was living with an inhabitant of this world. He can get basic information about this world from her.

Dev also needed to thank her for saving him.

Dev went toward Rose's room and knocked on the door. Rose wasn't doing anything so Dev didn't have to wait, and the door was opened.

Rose opened the door and saw Dev standing at the door. She was just going to speak something when she saw Dev bowing at her, and speaking some gibberish.

Rose didn't know what this gesture meant, so she hastily asked, "What are you doing?"

Dev was bowing to show how grateful he was, towards her for saving him, and also said Thank you. Then suddenly he heard Rose speak something, which he didn't understand. The language sounded like the chirping of birds.

Dev stood up and hit his head and thought, "How can I be so stupid, even on earth people spoke different languages and here I am trying to communicate with an inhabitant of a different world with the language I speak."

Dev made the gesture of not understanding what Rose was trying to say.

When Rose saw the gestures Dev was making, she was first stunned, and then looked suspiciously at Dev. Rose moved two feet away from Him. Dev could only smile wryly.

Rose started feeling tense and made the gesture, "Who are you?"

Dev made the gesture of not remembering anything about himself, he couldn't tell a stranger that he was an alien.

While Dev was trying to converse with Rose, the house door was knocked on. Rose opened the door with slight tension on her face and saw Serena standing at the door. The tension relaxed on Rose's face.

Serena noticed slight tension on Rose's face when she opened the door, so she asked, "What happened Rose, why are you so tense?"

Rose could only sigh and answered, "Mother, that stranger has woken up."

Serena confusingly asked, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Rose shook her head and answered, "Mother, he doesn't know our language and he speaks some gibberish. We should call the guards, he doesn't look like a good person, I felt suffocated when I was trying to converse with him."

Serena was also stunned, but she didn't lose her composure and tried to calm her daughter, "Don't worry, I am here, I'll protect you." A gentle smile appeared on Serena's face while calming her. That smile also soothed Rose.

The mother and daughter conversation was cut short by a fake cough. Dev saw a woman who looked the same as Rose standing at the door. From both the girl's body language he could understand that they were mother and daughter. Grey finally was shocked, because Mother looked even younger than her daughter who already was young.

Dev knew he must have raised their suspicions because he's different from them. Dev tried to make a gesture that, 'they can trust him, he'll never try to harm them.'

Serena believed Dev, but Rose glared at him and scoffed, "You told me to trust you, so I will trust you."

Serena believed Dev because she could feel that Dev was truly very weak. She didn't let her guard down against Dev but she stopped looking suspiciously at Dev.

Dev didn't have any other way to converse with them, so he just sat on the couch without saying anything.

Rose woke up Dev and gestured for him to eat. Rose and Serena had dinners with an extra person eating with them.

Serena understood what Dev was implying and entered her room to freshen herself as she had been standing at the door for the last 10 minutes.

Rose didn't enter her room instead she sat on a chair while glaring at Dev. Dev didn't know whether to smile or cry, he sighed and didn't look at Rose.

Serena started preparing dinner. After freshening herself, she needed to prepare extra dinner today. Elves were pure vegetarians, so they always ate fruit or vegetable salads.

Rose still hasn't taken her eyes off Dev. Serena suddenly called her and told her to prepare the table.

Serena also called Dev to join the dinner together with them. They were having papaya salad for dinner. Dev hasn't eaten for so many days, so he was hungry and started eating his food. Dev thanked them in his language, Serena just smiled after hearing Dev's gibberish language. She understood the context.

After eating dinner Serena went back to her room to sleep, Rose still didn't get back to her room. Rose couldn't waste her time due to a stranger, so she sat on the ground and made a meditative pose, and started meditating.

Dev's physique was transformed with world Energy, so he started having a little bit of understanding of energy in the atmosphere. Dev noticed the sudden change in energy when Rose started meditating.

Dev also tried to mediate by sitting in the same pose. The posture was called Padmasana. In this posture: the upper body should be completely straight, the knees should touch the floor, the right foot should be on the left thigh, and the left foot should be on the right thigh. Dev sat on this posture and tried to sense the energy in the atmosphere.

Dev sensed different kinds of elemental energy in the atmosphere, yet no element rejected him. Rose and Serena suddenly sensed an upheaval in the energy in the atmosphere, Rose opened her eyes and was stunned to see Dev being the cause of the upheaval. Serena rushed back to the hall and her eyes went wide open. She was more knowledgeable than Rose, so she noticed Dev's strong talent.

Serena suddenly also noticed Rose in the hall and glared at her with a questioning look. Rose didn't look at her mother's eyes and went back to her room.

As Dev was trying to sense and absorb energy from the atmosphere, the process looked easy for him. He noticed a slight sensation in his body when he absorbed the energy. He checked the source of sensation, but couldn't find anything.

If Dev would've checked his status he would've noticed an increase in the Prana section. It was a very minuscule increase, but if anyone knew about this they would be shocked because Dev was absorbing energy directly from the atmosphere without having any Meditation Art.

After 1 hour of continuous Meditation, Dev's body couldn't handle any more meditation, so he stopped Meditating, and opened his pocket space to look at his family picture, and slept.

The next morning, when he woke up, Serena had already left for her work. Rose was in her room.

Dev hadn't taken a bath for very long, so he took a bath to freshen himself.

There weren't any male clothes in Serena's house so he wore the same clothes after washing them.

After Freshening himself, Dev knocked on Rose's room. When she opened the door, Dev gestured about asking Rose to teach her the language.

Rose wanted to refuse because she didn't have time for it and didn't trust him. Academy entrances are coming and she has to join Takshila Academy because it's one of the best academies in the world. Dev tried to use some pity, so he thought of his daughter and tears started coming out of his eyes automatically. Dev apologized to his dead daughter in his mind.

Rose was stunned to see Dev crying, she tried to stop him, but Dev continued crying. After thinking about this for some time, she lamented on her good nature and agreed to teach him.

Dev started his daily schedule from that day. He will meditate for 1 hour, He will learn elvish from Rose for 1 hour, exercise for 4 hours, and rest for the rest of the hours.

This schedule went on for 50 days without stopping. But on the 51st day, Dev found out that his Meditation time has increased from 1 hour. Now he could meditate for 75 minutes before his body starts aching.

After two months Dev could somewhat understand the Elvish language. After having a basic understanding Dev started reading Children's books to increase his understanding of the language.

He started having common conversations with Rose and Serena. Rose's mistrust in Dev also disappeared. Rose tried to ask Dev many times, why does gloom surround him? But she never got an answer.

After leaving with Rose and Serena, Dev also started opening up, but he still hasn't smiled even once.

He also got to know about this world from Serena.

This world was named Nehan. He was astonished after learning the name of the world because in his world 'Nehan' meant 'Nirvana' in Japanese.

It was like Nirvana for him too. Dev was rising from the ashes too, weak Dev was already dead, the current him has risen from that.

Dev was shocked to find out that Nehan was even bigger than the Sun. The continent where Elf's lived was even bigger than the Earth.

Serena herself was an initial Level 2. She also told Dev about different Races in Nehan. There were Elves, Dwarves, and different kinds of Beastman on Nehan.

Dev didn't have any interest in any kind of race living in Nehan, he was here for a purpose, not enjoyment. Dev couldn't even think of enjoying his journey until he has successfully taken his first step.

Dev also learned about the levels and their classifications.

Levels are also classified:

Level 1-2 belongs to Mortal level,

Level 3-4 belongs to the Transcendence level.

Only Rulers of Kingdom and Level 3 peak beings know about beings above level 4.

Level 3 beings had a double lifespan in comparison to ordinary beings of their race. In simple words, a Human will have 200 years of lifespan whereas an Elf will have 600 years of lifespan.

The highest level on Nehan is Peak Level 3, and the known strongest being on Nehan is the Dean of Takshila Academy.

Dev found out many things after talking with Serena. He also found out that only after entering an academy or joining an organization can you get a Meditation Art. Rose had one because Serena bought it from the training center she works in. She can't buy another because it's only allowed to buy once.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. It has been 7 months since Dev was brought into this world. His attributes increased after training for 6 months, his Prana wasn't zero anymore. Now, he could meditate for 90 minutes.

When Serena found out that Dev can absorb energy directly from the atmosphere, she was stunned and then encouraged him to take Academy entrances together with Rose.

In these 7 months, Dev started smiling, he still gave off an aura of gloom, but he was getting over his family's death slowly day by day.

Only 4 days are left for the examination. As the examination center was far away, they'll have to leave 3 days before.

The next day in the Afternoon, Dev and Rose left with Serena for a journey towards the examination center.

After 3 days, they reached their destination in the morning. Tests were going to start in the afternoon. Dev was nervous as it will be his first step towards his goal.

Finally, the tests commenced in the afternoon.

Will Dev and Rose be selected?

What types of tests are they going to face?

We'll find out next time…

*Prana - Prana is Indian counterpart of QI.