Starting from tomorrow morning, at exactly 6:43 AM, a gentle breeze stirred the curtains of Noah's open window, and with it entered an uninvited guest. A mosquito flew toward the still-sleeping Noah, whose bare arm lay stretched out. The mosquito landed on his arm and sank its needle into his skin to suck his blood. At that moment, Noah opened his eyes and slapped the mosquito quickly, leaving a bloodstained mark on his arm.
"Ughhh… what time is it now?" Noah grumbled, resisting the urge to close his tired eyes again as he reached for his phone to check the time.
"It's still early... I don't want to get up," Noah thought to himself, slightly content with the fact that he didn't have classes today. He pulled his blanket over himself, preparing to fall back asleep—only to be interrupted by another annoyance.
[Push-ups: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Squats: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Curl-ups: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Running: 0 km/10 km (Incomplete)]
"Damn you," the cursed words slipped from Noah's mouth, and as soon as he said them, he fell out of bed and crashed to the floor.
"Fuck!"
After a few minutes, Noah got himself ready. He washed his face, changed into more suitable clothes for going out, opened his room door, and left. As he walked through the hallway, he glanced briefly at Sirius, Enel, and Neriah's room, then continued on to take the elevator to the lobby. There, he noticed Jarod reading some kind of newspaper. They both ignored each other without so much as a greeting. Noah exited the dorm and jogged toward the train station with steady, swift steps.
He arrived at the train station and, luckily, the train was already there, as if waiting just for him. Noah boarded the train and took a seat. After a few minutes, the train began moving toward Sector 2.
"I think getting more information about the Nocthyrs will help me. I've pretty much learned what I need about "Mana sensitivity"… It was unusual and a bit shocking," Noah thought, recalling what had happened when he was inside Rael's memories.
—————
A few hours before Noah woke up, inside Rael's consciousness and memories—after Rael had defeated the ocoloth—the signs of battle vanished, including the sand thorns and Rael's massive spears. Rael stood there, blood flowing over his body. He looked up at the sky before collapsing on his back from exhaustion.
"Is he dead?" Noah wondered, worried about Rael's condition.
[Mastering "Mana Sensitivity" at 10%]
"Is this… is this how I'm going to master Mana Sensitivity?" Noah asked the system curiously, looking at the screen in confusion.
[Mana Sensitivity mastery increased to 37%]
[Due to the host's unique nature and extreme difficulty in adaptation, mastering Mana Sensitivity will take a long time.]
"I see… how long exactly will it take?" Noah asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
[2 years]
"T-Two years?! You're telling me I won't master this technique unless I become a heap of ash and bones like Neriah? Two years is seriously too long," Noah thought anxiously, beginning to nibble on his fingertips from the stress.
[Mastery will increase each time the host uses Mana Sensitivity, shortening the required time as much as possible.]
"Oh!... That's… reassuring, then. I don't think I have two years to wait. There's a killer on the loose at the university, and there are two bastards I want to deal with. Plus, there's the arranged marriage to the Davenport family that still has no set date… not to mention the complicated situation with Yana…" Noah thought, burdened by all that was happening and all that was to come, before sighing.
"There's no use overthinking all this. All I want to do is complete the mission by killing those Nocthyrs."
—————
Back to the present, Noah arrived at the library in Sector 2, where he was greeted by the receptionist, September, who stood upright with a friendly, welcoming smile that could melt anyone.
"Hello, October," Noah said, greeting September as he passed her on the way to the book shelves.
"I-It's September… damn you!" September snapped, glaring at Noah from behind, clearly annoyed.
Noah went to one of the shelves where he had previously found books about the Nocthyrs, grabbed a book, sat down, and began to read.
"Noctyrs don't necessarily have specific weaknesses. All you need to do is learn Mana Sensitivity, and you'll be able to track them. Pure strength can destroy them, but they'll definitely have a counterattack if that happens, right? They must've evolved after every battle they fought with humans. So I need to prepare for every possible scenario. After all, I don't want giant claws tearing through my ass," Noah thought silently as he flipped through the pages quickly.
After a few minutes, Noah finished reading, having found nothing useful—just information he already knew or had read yesterday. He returned the book to the shelf and began wandering among the shelves looking for a more interesting read. That's when his eyes fell on a weird looking book.
He pulled the book from the shelf. It was black, almost silver, with a title written in a mix of lead and gold tones. The book was titled "A Boring Book" by Frederick Penrose.
"Frederick Penrose?… Never heard of him. Maybe he's a small-time writer who didn't get much attention. But his title is definitely unique. A Boring Book… I hope it's not something like 'Worship the gods'—that'd be disappointing," Noah thought, curious. He blew the dust off the book, sat down, and opened to the introduction.
—————
"What you are about to see, I am not responsible for. What you may read could awaken something within you or drive you mad. I am merely a pitiful writer, unable to control my own hands, using ink that is not ink on paper that is not paper.
I was forced to write the following for the sake of potential futures I hope will help, not destroy, the generations to come. This book is not 'boring'—it holds secrets that lead to madness.
Please, you from the future… if you are reading this, do not rush through it. This book was written by human hands due to divine will.
Something else may have controlled me while writing it. I would never write something like this otherwise.
So again, reader from the future—please don't rush.
This book, truly titled "We Are Not Human", contains evil that surpasses divinity."
Noah read the introduction, which sounded like a warning from a trembling, terrified man. He closed the book and looked at the title again—but it really was titled A Boring Book, not "We Are Not Human".
"This author must have lost his mind. Is this maybe one of those strange books… or maybe a novel? The introduction was short for a book, and more like a warning than a preface. You can tell Mr. Frederick was afraid—like there was a gun pointed at his head…" Noah thought, then opened the book again and began reading.
—————
"We cry for your mercy, please do not descend and remain in your sky and ivory tower, O axis of the universe and lord of ruin.
Humans are greedy, selfish creatures whose desires surpassed the heavens. But is that really true? Does the sky even exist? Are humans truly greedy? Were we created to conquer the stars and the universe?
Were we really created by a god?
And who created the god that created us?
Is there even a god?
I don't mean the fakes like the king of thunder and skies, or the king of Asgard, or the others—I speak of a god with no equal.
I saw him once in a dream… sinister in appearance. One glance from him killed me thousands of times in that dream.
The dream became reality.
And reality became my dream.
But everyone else was asleep and didn't realize what happened. They were focused only on what their eyes could see, never using their minds.
He's in my head now.
And I can't do anything about it.
I want to escape this world.
But… what if this world is fake?
What if we're just a game?
A chessboard or a deck of cards?
Everyone betting on who wins… while we suffer, fight, and die.
They are monsters… those beyond the edge of this false world."
"What the hell am I reading?... What is all this nonsense? His thoughts are jumbled, and he's saying whatever comes to mind without any order," Noah thought, then closed the book. That's when he noticed the date it was written: 720 AD.
"Oh, now his warning makes more sense. During that time, religious wars were intense. Say anything wrong about your god, and you'd be tortured violently—let alone this guy, who called all gods fake. He must've gone through hell for writing this book. Every place would've rejected and banished him—if they didn't torture him to death. All that just to write a chaotic book…" Noah thought, then stood up and returned the book to its shelf.
"I guess sometimes you really can judge a book by its cov—by its title, or a fake title?...fuck, that sounded horrible" Noah thought, then left the library, passing by September.
"See you later, March," Noah said, waving goodbye, leaving September silently fuming.
—————
In Sector 1, Aria arrived at the institute and headed toward the student council room. Her eyes were black and tired from lack of sleep, and the atmosphere around her seemed sluggish and gloomy.
"Ugh, I didn't sleep last night because of that bastard Kieran. He was supposed to come back to me after finishing his mission, but he returned to his room instead. Damn that bastard—because of him, my skill kept activating all night without pause until I ran out of mana… I stayed up because of this. If I see him, I'll definitely kill that son of a bitch," Aria thought to herself, trying to restrain her fist to appear composed, but her hand felt numb, and she was too lazy to clench it tightly.
Aria reached the student council room and noticed the door was open. She entered and saw Kieran sitting in his seat, surrounded by stacks of papers and files piled high. He was gripping his hair tightly, and his eyes were red from lack of sleep as well.
"Kieran? What the hell are you doing at this hour, you pig?" Aria asked in irritation, shutting the door behind her as she waited for a response.
Kieran ignored Aria and continued flipping through the papers one by one, clutching his white hair so hard it looked painful.
"Did he just ignore me?!" Aria thought, annoyed. She marched toward Kieran, rolled up her sleeves, and clenched her fist tightly—murderous intent radiating from her.
"You dare keep me waiting for hours, and now you ignore me like it's nothing? If you want to die, I'll send you flying to suck your grandmother's tits in the afterlife, you pigspawn," Aria muttered, a terrifying smile of fury curling her lips.
At that moment, a file slipped into Kieran's hands, and he glanced at the title.
"Ha! I finally found it!" Kieran shouted with excitement, suddenly standing up on the chair. His enthusiastic yell startled Aria, causing her to step back.
"Why are you screaming, you son of a whore?!" Aria shouted back, furious.
"I found that bastard's file! Sirius Soren—that's his name. First year… Wait, Soren? What kind of family is that? I've never heard of them before," Kieran thought aloud, flipping through the file. Most of the pages were blank due to the lack of information on Sirius.
"What is this? Is he working with the FBI or what? Why is there so little information about him?" Kieran thought, still flipping through the pages and completely ignoring Aria's presence.
"Hey, I'm talking to you," Aria said, calling out to Kieran, trying to interrupt him, but it was no use—he continued ignoring her, as if he hadn't even noticed she was there.
"You bastard…" Aria fumed, clenching her fist so tightly that red veins bulged across her hand.
"Don't ignore me!" Aria yelled and punched Kieran, sending him flying toward the wall and crashing into it with force. Papers scattered and fell from their piles, and the room shook from the impact.
"Asshole."