Chapter 30: (an unknown era) 1,999,999 Years Before Zero : "I’m really happy... isn’t this basically a date?"

The creaking sound of wood echoed among the rumbling gray clouds as the clouds were slowly split apart by the hull of a wooden ship descending from the sky.

The giant sails flapped violently with every descent of the wooden ship. The noisy voices of the beastmen and dwarves steering the ship kept overlapping as it floated through the air.

After some time, the wooden ship finally found its target—a mountain-sized Artium parked on the outskirts of a ruined city, the same Artium that Van and the other races had fought over, leaving the already ruined city even more devastated.

The wooden ship hovered not far above the Artium.

A human figure jumped from the deck without any fear. It was Van, the only human among the many races.

He whistled casually despite the wind blowing against his slightly damp blue shirt. As soon as he reached halfway down the height of the Artium, he floated in the air while facing it.

Van placed his right palm, the one bearing the sunset tattoo, against the Artium.

Orange light burst out and enveloped the hill-sized Artium. Sounds of amazement echoed from the other races as they admired the orange glow beneath the gray clouds.

A few moments later, the Artium vanished without leaving a trace, as though it had never existed.

Van floated back onto the ship and landed on the wooden deck, immediately greeted by the admiration of the other races, especially the dwarves and beastmen.

"Damn... it really hurts to watch Van take a hill-sized Artium in just a few seconds."

"So what have we been mining all this time..."

"Finally, finally we can go home without surviving here for ten years!!"

Cheers continued to ring out while Van laughed loudly. He looked at Dorn, the head of the Artium mining operation.

"Is it really that difficult? Then where’s all the Artium you’ve already mined? Is it inside the ship’s hull?"

Dorn narrowed his eyes at Van, feeling that all his hard work could never compare to how easily Van stored Artium.

Dorn took out a sheet of paper and showed its contents. On it was the drawing of a circle covered with a complex special symbol.

Van’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Dorn.

"What’s this? Is this magical paper? This is my first time seeing something like this..."

Dorn stroked his beard and sighed.

"This is a storage scroll... it can hold at least one ton of Artium. Press the symbol and—"

Dorn’s words were interrupted by a shout from above, from the top of the ship’s mast. Everyone looked toward the platform near the top of the mast.

Ryu was pointing at the storage scroll.

"Hey, bastard!! Don’t take the Artium out!! The Wind Spirit will scold me!!"

Everyone laughed after hearing Ryu’s shout, while Van nodded repeatedly with shining eyes and his mouth hanging open. Right now, he truly felt like he was standing in the middle of the fantasy wonders he had only ever read about in novels or watched in movies.

After the brief collection of the Artium, the wooden ship resumed sailing among the rumbling gray clouds.

Everyone returned to their respective posts with smiles on their faces since they no longer had to work extra hard mining Artium.

Van, having nothing to do, simply wandered around while taking photographs. He even floated among the clouds just to photograph the flying ship from above, from the side, and from the front.

Eventually, Van decided to enter the control room where Kalula, Bartaz, and Elena were.

Van let out a sound of admiration as he looked at the interior, which felt ancient to him. He even noticed the ship’s wheel standing in the middle of the room directly before a square opening without a window, allowing the captain to look outside.

Van crouched for quite a while, taking pictures and staring at the ship’s wheel, which was larger than Bartaz’s entire body.

Elena, who was sitting on a wooden chair at the side of the room, chuckled as she watched Van’s amazement.

"So? Does the future have something like that?"

Van shook his head while pointing at the giant wooden wheel.

"No. Nothing this old exists in the future."

Elena frowned. Resting her hand against her soft white cheek, she looked at Van with her white eyes.

"I’m curious... what’s this world like in the future? I mean... you always say we’re old-fashioned."

Van stood up with a broad smile.

"Do you want to see it?"

Elena looked confused. Even Bartaz and Kalula, who had been chatting at the table inside the room, turned toward him.

"Huh? How? Do you have some power that lets people see memories or something?"

Van raised his right hand and pointed at the sunset tattoo on the back of his hand.

"At least part of the future is in here. Do you think all the food I keep bringing out came from a forest?" Van chuckled. "It came from a place called a supermarket..."

Van looked at Kalula and Bartaz with sparkling eyes.

"Want to go for a little trip? You know, it’s been a long time since I last went there."

Kalula raised her hand to refuse, but Elena shouted first as she jumped up in her pink jacket.

"They’re busy!! They’re busy adults!! So it’ll just be the two of us!!"

Van smiled broadly and waved at Kalula and Bartaz.

"Elena and I are leaving for a while... you two can come next time. We’ll still be together for another month."

Van held Elena’s shoulder. The two of them laughed while waving goodbye.

Orange light finally swallowed them until nothing remained.

───

The orange light dazzled Elena’s eyes. She didn’t even realize that her feet were no longer standing on the ship’s deck. Her white shoes were now stepping across beach sand.

A cool breeze brushed against her white hair, no longer as cold as before. Her pink winter jacket now looked excessive as she stood on the shore beneath a sea of stars.

Elena opened her eyes.

Her eyes widened instantly.

She wasn’t looking at Van standing before her.

Instead, she looked around excitedly.

She saw the star-filled night sky. Looking to the right, she saw two hill-sized Artiums resting within the embrace of the nighttime sea.

Elena pointed toward the Artiums.

"Those are Artiums!! So this is how you store them."

Van chuckled before patting Elena’s shoulder and pointing toward the cliff behind her.

Elena followed his gesture.

Reflected in her eyes were over a dozen brightly illuminated supermarkets with a shopping mall standing proudly in the center like the eldest sibling.

Elena froze.

Her mouth remained open for several moments until Van reminded her.

"So?"

Elena smiled brightly.

"I’ve never seen buildings this bright before..."

Van nodded several times and sighed.

"Of course! Even Andis and Arsy thought they were stars..."

Van looked Elena up and down.

"Take off your jacket. Come on, let’s find something that suits you better and have a little fun... it’s been a long time since I came here."

Elena removed her pink winter jacket, letting it fall onto the sand.

Van then carried her through the air toward the shopping mall, the largest building there.

Elena’s white eyes sparkled continuously. She hesitated when she saw several glass doors joined together into one cube.

Van pushed one of the doors, causing the others to move as well. He gently pulled Elena’s white sleeve, urging her to follow him.

Cool air and the familiar scent of a shopping mall immediately filled Elena’s nose.

Her heart beat rapidly as her eyes wandered everywhere, seeing clothing stores and restaurants lining both sides.

She then raised her head after noticing another floor above, connected by escalators.

"This... this is grander than the Dragon Palace!" Elena sniffed several times, making sure of the mall’s scent that she had already begun to like. "The smell... it smells strange, but somehow pleasant."

She looked at Van, who was still holding her sleeve.

"For some reason, my heart keeps racing."

Van chuckled.

"I was the same when I first visited a mall as a kid..."

He pointed toward the row of clothing stores filled with famous brands from the future that Elena had never heard of.

"Come on!! Let’s look around first."

Elena nodded enthusiastically with sparkling white eyes as Van pulled her into the first clothing store.

Her eyes were immediately greeted by countless modern outfits she could choose from.

Van picked several clothes and handed them to Elena, telling her to try them all while he waited outside the fitting room curtain.

For the first time, Elena pulled the curtain aside.

She was now wearing a yellow dress with a wide skirt.

The skirt twirled together with her as she spun around to show herself to Van.

She quickly disappeared behind the curtain again to change clothes.

This time, she came out wearing a beach hat, a white crop top that revealed her flat stomach, short jeans, orange sunglasses, and walked like a model without realizing she looked exactly like one.

Van clapped his hands in encouragement.

The two of them continued like that for what felt like an immeasurable amount of time.

After trying nearly every outfit, Elena finally chose loose white trousers with a sky-blue blazer matching Van’s blue shirt.

Meanwhile, Van’s ice clones packed every piece of clothing Elena had tried.

The two of them left without paying.

Van then brought Elena to the top floor, where a movie theater awaited them.

They watched a movie playing exclusively for the two of them while eating caramel popcorn.

Elena’s pointed ears trembled as she heard the theater’s sound system for the first time.

Her fair skin felt cold, yet somehow she didn’t notice it.

Eventually, the two of them walked out as Elena’s crying echoed throughout the empty cinema lobby.

She repeatedly slapped Van’s shoulder while he laughed.

"Why didn’t they end up together...? And why did that guy keep saying all those strange things!! In the end he only became a guest at her wedding!!"

"What was it he said? ’Thank you for suddenly coming into my life?’ Then, ’I hope your life will be happy?’..."

Van burst into laughter.

"But you already read the movie title, didn’t you? Why were you expecting a happy ending?"

Van then dragged Elena toward the arcade beside the cinema.

Unfortunately, they only played briefly because Van became frustrated trying to teach Elena.

Still, they didn’t leave empty-handed.

They robbed every prize that was supposed to be exchanged for tickets.

They carried countless stuffed animals, from ones as large as themselves to tiny keychain-sized ones.

"What are you doing? Turns out you’re really bad at this. I thought you could do everything."

Van sighed and shrugged.

"I rarely play, you know? I’ve been busy... very busy..."

Elena puffed out her lips to tease Van.

Carrying many stuffed animals, the two of them headed toward a photo booth as their next destination.

They took many pictures together while surrounded by teddy bears, striking all kinds of different poses.

Eventually, they reached the final destination of their outing.

They were now inside the food court on the lowest floor of the mall.

Many food stalls stood side by side, yet the only living beings there were the two of them.

They took their own food instead of paying for it.

They sat among hundreds of empty tables and chairs, while their own table was completely covered with steaming dishes.

Van chose udon with various fried side dishes, while Elena picked pizza and salad.

Elena looked at Van, who was slurping his udon beside her.

"I’m really happy... isn’t this basically a date?"

Without turning his head, Van glanced at Elena while sipping the light broth.

"A date? You have something like that in your world? You know, I thought people just got married immediately—"

Van’s words were interrupted when Elena grabbed his long golden hair, almost as long as her own.

"Of course we do!! Before the sea was polluted and monsters appeared, we had plenty of time to go on dates..."

Elena sighed.

"Sadly, now Pangaea only has one theme left—survival."

Van leaned back while chewing a piece of katsu before wiping his oily lips.

"Is it really that bad? I mean, are the Sea Gates, the Black Fluid, and the monsters really that chaotic...? You people are obviously strong, yet things still ended up like this."

Elena nodded while biting into her pizza, the tomato sauce dominating the flavor.

"Bad... extremely bad."

Van frowned as he finished the katsu, trying to remember something.

"Right... Kalula still owes me an explanation about the Sea Gate..."

Van looked at Elena with the expression of someone collecting a debt.

"Go ahead and tell me... it’s the same whether it comes from you or Kalula, right?"

"So, tell me everything about the Sea Gate and all of it."