Noah looked up at the ceiling of his room, the alarm from his phone had been ringing loudly for the past thirty minutes. Today he is not in the mood to see Kai, ever since last night. Why should he blush just because that guy said weird things?
He sighed as he ruffled his hair, Noah sat up in bed, pushed the covers aside and got out of there. Walking into the bathroom, his day would now begin again. Just like before he would go to the Dungeon and gather a lot of information, or just kill some monsters before back to his home and watching some soap opera he loves.
He had been doing this since he was in his teens, it had become his routine and strangely enough he didn't get bored. Being an Esper has a sizable payout from the government, apart from getting money from people's taxes they also get paid by the government.
Like any other civil servant, an Esper gets a lot of benefits and gets a 'official house'. This is the house that the government gave to Noah, no longer an official house but this house is already his property because he is a hero in this country.
He chuckled to himself while putting shampoo on his head.
"What kind of hero am I?" He muttered.
He had everything and yet he felt empty at the same time.
Noah finished his bath, dried his hair and now put on his uniform. Unlike the guides, Esper had their own uniform. The all-black uniform had been designed to withstand heat, cold and monster attacks including bulletproof.
"Still burned by my body heat..." Noah muttered again while putting on his uniform. He took one of his hair ties and put it in the pocket of his uniform pants. He looked at himself in the mirror.
"No, it looks really pretty. You look like a fairy."
Noah could see his face turning red again in the mirror. Damn it, why did he have to be so embarrassed and blush just because a boy four years younger than him said that?
It had been so long since anyone had seen his up close, back when he had just become an active Esper that even the public thought he was one of the monsters.
"They were all scared when they first saw me, my appearance was definitely not that of a normal human. At first, it wasn't this bad, my eyes could be back to their normal state as I wished, but since that incident they have remained like this. Discolored hair, everything has changed." He mumbled.
But, Kai didn't seem to be lying. He said it just because he thought so, Noah chuckled softly. The boy was unpredictable. Noah came out of the room and the tasty smell of freshly cooked food wafted from the direction of the dining room, Kai stood in a light brown apron and was putting away the plates on the table. The man turned his head and smiled broadly.
"Let's have some breakfast!"
He acted as if nothing had happened. Well, nothing happened, right? Noah was really just making a big deal out of it, perhaps kids these days are much more expressive in their opinions. Yes, Noah could have interacted better with those youngsters.
"I'll drop by the office first, you're handling four dungeons today right?" Asked Kai, he sat in front of Noah. His hand easily reached Noah's hand, holding it like a normal routine. He used the fork in his right hand to pick up the bacon.
"Yes, if no dungeons suddenly appear I'll finish at four in the afternoon as usual." Noah replied while eating his breakfast.
Kai nodded, he twisted Noah's ring on the man ring finger. On that ring was engraved the name Kai Wood on the back, after getting it Noah had taken it off to get a better look at the ring. It seemed like all his accessories had his name engraved on them.
"Looks like it's still have quite a lot of energy stored here." Kai said again before he finished his breakfast.
Kai left first, using his car that he had brought here a few days ago. Noah had offered the man to use his car alone because he rarely used it, but Kai refused.
As usual Noah immediately teleported to the laboratory, Luka was there. He was drying his hair with the new hairdryer that Noah had bought him a few days ago. Even Luka was no longer surprised to see his best friend appear anytime in the laboratory.
"You're sleeping here again?" Noah grinned, he sat on the bed and took out his cell phone.
"I live here, we grew up here." Luka replied with a stern tone, Noah shrugged his shoulders while playing with his phone. Luka had only closed his eyes two hours ago but had to be forced awake to make a report on his research that he would submit for tomorrow's seminar. He has a awful mood in the morning.
Luka finished drying his hair, he walked towards his desk and did something on his computer while Noah was still busy with his phone on the bed, the man didn't move from there at all.
"Hey, don't you have to work?" Asked Luka, the man looked up from behind the computer screen.
"Yeah." He answered half-heartedly, making Luka frowned. "Hey Luka, are you scared looking into my eyes?"
Again the man frowned at Noah's question, "What do you mean?" He asked confused. Their friendship was no longer a matter of months, what kind of stupid question had Noah Miles just asked?
"Come on! Tell me!"
Luka looked at Noah, those silvery-white eyes didn't look like that when they met at five years old. He looked like any other normal child, with jet-black hair and brownish eyes, the two little childs with similar faces held hands with tears in their eyes. Luka still remembered it.
"No, I've seen it for so long." Luka replied as he turned his gaze towards the computer screen.
"When you first saw it, what did you think?"
Just as Luka opened his mouth, a floating screen appeared in front of Noah.
NOTICE FOR NOAH MILES.
HEAD TO THE LOCATION IMMEDIATELY, A NEW DUNGEON HAS OPENED
SENDING TELEPORTATION ROUTES ● ● ● ●
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
Noah looked at Luka and scratched his head, "A new dungeon appeared." He said with a big smile.
Luka was silent, he clenched his hands into fists. Again, Noah had to be sent to observe the new dungeon. As long as he was an Esper this was the main thing he had to do.
"Huh?" Noah tilted his head to the side.
"Why? What's happening?"
NEW DUNGEON IDENTIFIED ⟳
ESPER WITH RANK A AND A+ CALLED TO ASSIST NOAH MILES
SENDS DUNGEON NAME AND CHARACTERISTICS ↴
NEW DUNGEON OPENS: THE ECHOING DEPTHS
"Luka, do you know The Echoing Depths Dungeon?" Noah asked as he packed some supplies from the lab drawer, he checked the ring on his ring finger, and set the time to enter the dungeon. The time he set would be sent directly to Kai automatically.
"The Echoing Depths? Isn't that the dungeon that just appeared overseas? That dungeon is only appears in Thailand and Singapore." Luka said, his fingers typing the name of the dungeon in the search bar of the only for laboratory workers' website.
"Oh? Really? Lucky! Then there must be some information on that already, I'll be back."
"Hey Noah-" Luka turned around after his search results came up and found that Noah had already pressed the teleportation button. Luka's eyes widened, he trembled, he searched for his phone, dialing Noah's number in a hurry.
NEW DUNGEON: THE ECHOING DEPTHS
WHERE IT FIRST APPEARED: THAILAND
SECOND PLACE APPEARED : SINGAPORE
RESULTS : NONE. NO DATA.
TIME OF APPEARANCE: ONE HOUR AND DISAPPEARED BY ITSELF.
TOTAL DEAD ESPER AND GUIDE ON DUTY: 30 people.
Luka immediately grabbed his car keys, he called one of the officers handling the Dungeon location immediately, his hands still shaking.
The computer screen showed additional information,
!!ATTENTION TO ALL GUILDS!!! PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY ESPER WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND TRAUMA.
Noah looked around, the location of this Dungeon was on the outskirts of the city. The locals were gathered around, some were frightened, some were curious and some didn't seem to care and just walked past. The government officers were set up cover boards not far from the Dungeon.
"Oh, senior!" Noah turned his head after hearing the call, he frowned when he saw a familiar face approaching him while smiling widely and waving his hand.
"Abigail, stop calling me senior..." Noah babbled while ruffling his waist, he put his hands in his pants pockets, looking for a hair tie. He put it on immediately, it looked like it was going to be a long day. "Oh, why are you here?" Asked after realizing Abigail was not from his area.
Abigail stood beside him with a wide smile, the twenty-two year old young woman wearing her light brown regional uniform. Noah had seen her since the girl was fifteen, now she looked much different.
"No idea, we were asked to come to complete this new dungeon. There are five other people there." Abigail pointed to the five Esper and Guides from different regions as well. Noah frowned, why were they sending help from different regions?
"You haven't gotten a guide yet?" Noah asked the young woman, saw that the girl was still alone while several Esper were there with their guides. Abigail had trouble getting a guide because her compatible rate was always low with other guides. Ever since she became an active Esper at the age of eighteen until today she had yet to find a compatible guide.
"I'm wearing accessories developed by researchers from the FERN guild." Abigail raised her hand, revealing a silvery bracelet coiled around her arm.
The accessories that Kai was developing, then Abigail was also receiving Kai's power. They were indirectly sharing the same guide. Noah scratched the back of his neck.
"The preparations are complete, the Esper and Guide who will enter are allowed." Said one of the officers half shouting.
"Senior..." Called Abigail as they both walked closer towards the black sphere. Noah turned to her, the girl's wide smile growing, "Please help me in there, I hope I won't be too much trouble!"
Noah chuckled, the two entered the black sphere together.