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2024-10-29 19:42:56After three years of failing at the interviews, Gary Lennon finally got a job. It was a backend web developer job that he had always dreamed about.
The first person he phoned was his parents. His father was extremely happy about it, but his mother stretched her voice thin when she heard that his annual salary was only 55,000 dollars.
Gary didn’t mind too much about it and then thought about Leah, his girlfriend of seven years, the one he had met in the second year of college. She was his junior, and he fell for her on the 43rd day after meeting her.
She was a programmer as well, and she was earning over 140,000 dollars yearly now. These past four years, every time they went out on a date, she paid the bill. Other than that, he didn’t let her spend another penny for him.
Today, he wanted to pay for dinner.
He waited at the restaurant not far from his house.
A brown cat with a golden bell around its neck was roaming around in the restaurant. “It’s cute,” he thought and stroked its back a little. The cat loved the massage, but it took Gary’s efforts as granted, and so it walked away without thanking him. But its waving tail showed that it loved what he did and was in a good mood.
Soon, Leah came straight from her job, looking tired, but she still managed to put on a smile for him.
Leah was almost as tall as Gary who was 179 cm tall. She was an average-looking girl as per her own standards, but Gary didn’t think so. He liked her from top to bottom. Nothing was wrong about her, whether it be her thick and long hair that was out of this world, or her soft voice that could soothe his soul and ease his mind.
Gary got up and gave her a hug even though she was sweaty.
“Happy Birthday, Gary,” she tightened the hug. She purposely didn't wish him until now, and so this made it a little bit sweeter for both of them. “And sorry. I was a bit late,” she put the bag down and plopped in the seat. “A lot happened at work today. By the way, you ordered, right?”
“No. I was waiting for you,” Gary smiled and pushed the menu card toward her. “You choose.”
“Are you sure?” she asked with an eyebrow slightly raised because it was his birthday.
“Yep.” Gary exposed his empty palms.
“Alright, let me take care of it,” she chose a few items for both of them, some of which were Gary’s favorite. This was what they did most of the time. One would choose for both of them. After she ordered, the waiter left. Her focus shifted onto Gary. “So, how did the interview go? I couldn’t call you last night because I was tired and I ended up sleeping before twelve.”
“It’s okay, Leah. I’m not a child anymore. Birthdays just come and go like the wind to me.”
“Mm, so what about the job?” she tapped her finger on the table.
“You look more tense than I did when I attended the interview,” he chuckled.
“Well, that’s because I just want to quit my job and become a housewife. I’m tired of the professional work, you know. It’s not for me. Besides, I’m 25 now. I want kids, so I can play with them at home.”
Gary blushed and shook his head.
“You didn’t get the job, huh,” Leah’s shoulders slumped. “I feel like you’re not trying. You used to be pretty smart in college, so what happened? Why are you wasting your time playing games at home? My dad gave me the freedom to marry whoever I want, so if you start earning, I’ll become free. I saved up 250,000 dollars these past two years, which I will use only for my future husband and kids if you get what I mean.”
“I got the job, Leah,” Gary said with a smile.
Leah’s big eyes slowly but surely filled with shock. “R-Really?”
“Yeah, it’s only 55,000 dollars now, but it will increase.”
“That’s okay. What matters is that you will stop playing games at home and start working outside,” Leah looked like a lot of burden had been lifted off her shoulders. “Now I can tell my friends proudly that my boyfriend is not jobless!”
“Haha,” Gary laughed out loud.
Just then, the waiter brought a medium-sized seven-layered cake and put it on the table, pleasantly surprising Gary. The lights in the restaurant were switched off, making everybody look toward the only table that was lit with candlelights. The people didn’t complain because they were priorly informed by the waiters.
Gary stood in shock and looked at Leah and understood that all of this was her plan. As she began to sing the happy birthday song, and everybody clapped, his eyes teared up a little. He hugged her. “Thank you.”
“C’mon, Gary. This is the least I can do for you since you won’t let me buy anything else for you, not even the damn gaming discs.”
He laughed emotionally in response.
She laughed, too.
They laughed together.
She told him to blow the candles and cut the cake, but he made her blow the candles together. Then he made her hold his hand, and they together cut the cake. It wouldn’t be understatement to say that many people in the restaurant envied the sweet and pure relationship of these two youngsters who were deeply in love with each other. Probably that’s why, when the cake was distributed to everyone in the restaurant, it tasted much sweeter and better, surpassing their expectations.
Gary then took out two necklaces from his pocket. He put one on her neck. It was a silver necklace with a tiny shungite pendant that had the name Gary carved on it.
Gary also put on a similar necklace around his neck, and it had the name Leah carved on it.
“What stone is this?”
“It’s real shungite,” Gary said. “It helps block the electromagnetic frequencies that can be harmful to us, you know, the ones that come from mobiles and wifi-routers.”
“Oh…” Leah was pleasantly surprised. (He must have bought it because I work in an apartment that’s full of wifi-routers. How sweet of him.) “I’m going to keep this with me forever.”
GUDUM~!
The sound of a thousand thunderbolts erupted high in the sky, reaching hundreds of miles across from where it started.
Everybody’s heart sank into their stomachs for a second.
Gary and Leah held each other’s hands and rushed out of the restaurant along with others, only to see a surreal sight above them. Lightning bolts were streaking the entire night sky, with thunder blasting everywhere in the distance. But not a single drop of rain fell from the sky that was fully lit now, making it seem like it was morning. All of it was terrifyingly beautiful. Leah tightened the grip on Gary’s hand.
A rumbling in the sky followed right above their heads, as if a billion pound boulder was rolling on top of the clouds, making everyone look up in deep trepidation, with their hearts in their throats.
Behold, the sky itself twisted like a spiral, and a bright blue pillar of energy instantly crashed down to the ground and sent a shockwave that traveled thousands of miles and made every person it touched pass out.
Gary and Leah also collapsed right where they stood.
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HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 02
A few minutes later.Gary opened his eyes and found himself lying on the street. Next to him was his girlfriend.“Leah!” He quickly got up and tried to wake her up. After patting her cheeks a few times, she opened her eyes.“Gary…” she was saying, and she noticed the giant portal-like thing high in the sky and immediately sat up at once. “W-What’s that?”“That’s not important,” Gary was looking around, but there weren’t any. There were only trees around them with blood-red leaves. Trees in the middle of the road. Trees growing out of the vehicles and buildings. A nasty revelation crossed his mind. “I think that the people… turned into trees.”Leah covered her mouth in shock. “How can that be?” Even though she said that, she felt the same because some of these trees were almost the size of the human, though a little taller on average. Why would these trees be in the exact positions where humans were supposed to be? “What sort of magic is this? I’m not dreaming, right?”Just then, they
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 03
Gary coughed blood. His sight turned bloody. His head felt utterly dizzy. The ringing noise in his ears made it all the more worse. It was more intense than any headache he ever had. But luckily, it didn’t stay for long.Gary was able to get back to his feet and look at the crater with a forty-feet diameter. At the center of it was an old man who looked like he was cosplaying some kind of fantasy cultivator character from one of the games he used to play. His body was leaking lightning every other second.Naturally, Gary didn’t dare to approach.But, soon, the lightning shrunk and eventually dissipated. The old man was making a pain-filled noise. He seemed badly wounded and was not in a position to get up.“Come here, Boy.”A voice rang in Gary’s head. Somehow, he knew that it was the old man calling him.“W-Who are you?” Gary asked in a shaky voice. “Did you crash down from an airplane?” even though he asked that, would people who fell from airplanes create craters like this old man
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 04
Gary was leaving Leah’s house in a hurry, but then something appeared in his path. With a rotten physique and disgusting smell, this humanoid creature with gray skin looked scary, to say the least.“What the hell is this?” Gary found his heart beating faster with every fraction of a second.[It’s a ghoul.] Ai quickly responded. [People who have eaten human flesh when they were alive will become ghouls when they are woken up.]“A-Are you saying the dead are being brought out of their graves right now?” Gary was stunned to hear that. His heart pounded against his chest as the ghoul screamed and jumped at him.Knowing and believing that he was now strong, Gary instinctively threw his fist at it.His fist and the ghoul’s claws clashed. A shockwave of translucent energy leaked out of Gary’s fist and destroyed the ghoul’s claws and hand, but the ghoul didn’t care much. It greedily bit on his shoulder and dug its sharp teeth into his flesh.“Ah! Let go of me!” Gary pulled the ghoul’s head by
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 05
Gary looked around for Leah in that neighborhood but didn’t find her. He waited for a few hours at his house, hoping Leah would return, but she didn’t. So, he had no other choice but to go looking for her. He roamed the streets which were already getting quite dangerous at this point. He saw a dead dog rise out of the tar road and madly growl like a maddened zombie beast.He couldn’t help but greatly worry for Leah, not knowing what she was doing or where she went, let alone how she’d survive in this doomsday-esque day, where anybody could kill anybody without giving any reason whatsoever.There were trees everywhere, and he was yet to meet a single human even though he had walked many miles.“Everyone seems to have turned into trees, so why didn’t Leah and I turn?” Gary voiced his mind, not at all expecting that the system would answer his question.[You’re wearing an energy crystal, aren’t you? That thing saved you and your girlfriend.] Ai responded.“What?” Gary was pleasantly surp
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 06
Gary DID NOT like the way Ai was threatening him.“Fine. If I’m not able to find Leah within 24 hours, then you can go where you want,” Gary bluntly said. “I’m not going to think about anything else until I know what happened to Leah.”Ai liked his resolve, but she blurted. [You misunderstood me, Gary. If Leah had actually touched the dark witch’s body, then she’s probably already being infected by parasitic energy. If you don’t find her within 24 hours, then she’ll have completely gone crazy or will have become a completely different person. Then, you won’t be able to save her, not with the strength you have now. Maybe, if Chun Fu was alive, he would have done something, but Chun Fu is no more. Do you get what I’m saying?]“You are not lying to me, are you?” Gary inquired. “If you have the ability to do a wide-radius search, then do it right now and find where Leah is.”[For me to be able to do that, you should at least cross level 100 as your senses will sharpen from then on.] Ai an
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 07
The sky was still bright with the thunderbolts criss-crossing crazily with no end in sight. A brother was carrying his wounded sister of 16 and brought her to the hospital, hoping someone would be there to help her.But what awaited him were zombies that jumped onto them and devoured them alive. Soon, the siblings soon turned into zombies as well. And they roamed the neighborhood with half-eaten bodies. Both of them still had energy stone pendants hanging around their necks.Hearing the sound of footsteps, they ran toward the source, and what awaited them was Gary.With his fists, he destroyed their heads. The brother and sister were killed with one punch as their levels were weak, whereas the higher leveled zombies required multiple punches.One of the other zombies managed to bite on Gary’s fist, but having already absorbed the energy of zombies, he had developed the resistance to the parasitic virus flowing through zombie’s saliva as well as their sweat and their very breath.He di
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 08
There were many reasons why Gary ran away after seeing the tiger zombie. Ai had told him that he would be able to level up faster than others, so when he himself was level 18, how could there be a level 25 tiger zombie?Did this mean that the levels of animals were built differently compared to humans? Or was there something else that Gary didn’t know about.There were so many questions running through his mind, and the downright scary appearance of the tiger zombie didn’t help that either.Despite how he felt, he had to attack this monster for the sake of reaching his goal. He jumped and kicked up at the tiger as it came down at him.Before his leg could hit the tiger, its long paw struck his chest and sent him packing down to the ground. The tiger zombie landed on the ground and sprang forth to pounce upon him while he was still on the ground.[Get up!] Ai shouted. [You can’t fight that monster on the ground!]Gary, however, clenched his fist and readily threw his fist at the tiger
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 09
After defeating the tiger zombie, Gary received 20 free stat points. He didn’t use them but kept them as available so he could use them all when needed.[Name: Gary Lennon.Title(s): Zombie Killer.Age: 27.Level: 20XP: 110/200HP: 1204/2100STR(Strength): 759STA(Stamina): 380DEF(Defense): 330SPD (Speed): 352AGL(Agility): 301Available stat points: 20Energy Pot: Ghoul, Spider beast, lizard, zombie]Though he killed more types of beasts, he didn’t absorb their energy as per Ai’s advise.“I lost more than sixty percent of my health in the fight,” Gary thought. “After I leveled up, some of my health recovered, but it’s not much. Still, I can’t believe that even with my abnormally high strength stat, I was still overpowered by the tiger. If I hadn’t striked the spots that you told me to, I probably would have lost. The zombie’s defense was also stronger than me, how did I exactly win?”[Simple. The thigh has joint points, and I made you strike there from the side, and the tiger zomb
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“I asked for grape juice!” Sesi barked. “But what the hell is this?”“It is grape juice,” the innkeeper looked offended. “It’s fresh. If you drink it, you’ll know.”“You want me to DRINK THIS?” Sesi’s eyes turned red. Rowan grabbed her hand because he felt like she might slap the innkeeper out of anger. “Can a human even drink this? No, even monkeys won’t go near this shit!”Sesi’s words offended not just the innkeeper but also the other customers who loved the grape juice. After all, those grapes were harvested from the grape trees growing in the same village, the Newmere village. So, their pride was hurt when Sesi mocked the grape juice.“Sesi,” Leah intervened. “There’s no need to cause a scene if you didn’t like the drink.”“Leah, just look at this!” she pointed at the mug. “The grape skin and seeds are floating in the drink! How am I supposed to drink it? Uwwgh, I feel like vomiting just thinking about it!”“Maybe, they don’t add grapeskin and seeds in the drink, but we leave the
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The adult customers were in awe and disbelief, whereas the children were giggling and smirking from seeing Prince Liu personally serving drinks to a foreign group of four.From Liu, they came to know that the trees in the village weren’t giant a few decades back, but ever since cultivators began to bury the bodies of some beasts around the village, the trees absorbed the nutrients and grew in size and produced food all year, which improved the livelihood of the villagers very much.“You’re only twenty two years old?” Rowan’s eyes bulged in shock. “What the heck, man? You look like you’re forty years old!”Liu angrily smiled. “Yeah, some people say that to me, but all the girls in this village would die to marry me. It’s just that I haven’t found the right woman for me yet.” His eyes fell on Sesi.“Don’t even think about it,” Sesi retorted coldly. “You’re not at all my type. Too macho for me to even feel anything.”Liu then looked at Leah, but she was just fully immersed in talking wit
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If reality blended seamlessly with dreams, then it would look like what Gary and everyone else was staring at right now.The towering mountains and crystalline rivers aside, there were young children riding on big foxes and were plucking fruits off the trees. There were beautiful young ladies riding butterflies that flitted from flower to flower and helped the ladies collect honey in leather sacs.The small village that Gary and his friends had first been to was full of giant trees and animals, but the humans were of normal size.The village guards escorted them to the inn and said, “Don’t cause any trouble, or you’ll regret it.”Goya found their words offensive. “Should I just beat him up and show him his place?”“Don’t cause unnecessary trouble,” Wendevorr told her. “Did you already forget what Lord Gary told us? We’re not supposed to fight anyone unless it gets life-threatening.”Goya seemed disappointed. “But that’s boring.”After killing so many monsters, Goya was still in the sl
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By the time Gary and his team left the woods, having absorbed the crystal cores and boosting their stats and abilities, they felt more confident than ever.Goya was sitting cross-legged on top of Wendevorr’s head. She was at level 698, and he was at level 699.Rowan increased by ten levels and reached 612.Sesi increased to level 630.Leah went from level 700 to 703.Gary’s level was exactly 800 after defeating the mighty wolf Wynn. He felt much stronger than your average level 800 being would, but he still felt like his current strength was nowhere near enough to deal with all the seven keys, much less their boss, the Immortal King.Leah and Sesi were discussing a lot ever since Leah regained her memories. Sesi wanted to know their love story, so Leah kept telling her everything. Some of the details were a bit too embarrassing, so Gary kept his distance from the ladies.Rowan was leading the group in the front. “I’m still the lowest-leveled in the group, dammit. I know I should be ha
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CHAPTER 141
Wynn and Gary’s team parted goodbyes, but Gary and others didn’t leave the forest just yet because Wynn had asked them to kill the remaining demonoids as a favor.Because they had all used the fountain of life, they couldn’t reject his request. However, neither Gary nor Leah had to act for this mission.Sesi, Rowan, Goya, and Wendevorr took the task upon themselves and competed to see who’d find and kill the most number of demonoids. Goya and Wendevorr believed that they had an edge over the humans because of their superior sense stats.Goya went back to the Demon Range to sniff out the remaining demonoids and kill them. Wynn had told them a way to get past the curse that they’d obtain after absorbing the crystal cores. It was to wash these cores in the blood of another animal, and so that blood would take the curse away.Knowing this, everyone felt very excited to get the crystal cores and gain various abilities from that, though crystals that had been cleansed by blood would also be
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CHAPTER 140
Gary was talking with Wynn, the great wolf, which seemed to have calmed down now. “I was planning on returning to earth, but after hearing your words, I think we’ll need to stay here a little longer.”“If the opponent is someone who can kill Master Chun Fu, then your current strength is not sufficient,” Wynn said.Though it was a bit rude of Wynn to say that, Gary didn’t disagree with that. “I have to awaken my spiritual energy, too, before I return to earth. So, Leah and I will both be able to use spiritual energy in our group. Together, we can keep hunting those seven keys. And the rest of my group members will take down their minions. I think they’re strong enough to fend for themselves now.”“If you want to awaken the spiritual energy ahead of time,” Wynn said. “Then there’s a place where you can attain that.”“Oh… where is it?” Gary quickly asked.“The Absurd Woods…” Wynn said.“Absurd Woods?” Gary raised an eyebrow. “That’s the name?”“Yeah. It’s full of crazy creatures that har
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As Gary approached the fountain, he saw Leah rising up as though the waters were lifting her up. A radiant glow came out of her body. It was warm and beautiful.“What’s going on?” Gary asked.[She’s been cured of the curse, and on top of that she’s awakened the spiritual energy.] Ai said.“A-Awakened?” Gary was startled. “Didn’t you say it’ll take at least level 900 for one to even think about awakening their spiritual energy?”[Yes, but her spirit has been contained by the negative energy of the Dark Witch.] Ai explained. [In order to forcefully release those restraints, the fountain of life had to awaken her spirit.]“So, it’s a byproduct of removing the curse put on her…” Gary’s eyes slowly widened. “Does that mean she gets her memories back?” He quickly scuttled toward the fountain with his heart swelling from hope.Leah was still floating above the fountain, and her eyes slowly opened. She could see everyone around her. Sesi, Rowan, Goya, Wendevorr, even the great wolf in the dis
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The great wolf coughed up a lot of blood into the air as his gaze turned blurry. He somersaulted through the air and managed to land on his feet.However, the pain in his diaphragm kept escalating, and it made him bleed some more. He was forced to get down on one knee.Gary was walking toward him confidently, and the great wolf wanted to get up, but the pain in his gut didn’t let him get up just yet.“You lost…” Gary uttered.“Not yet,” the great wolf growled, but that shouting made him cringe in pain.[Say these words to him…] Ai told Gary.Gary then said while looking at the great wolf who was still on one of his knees, “Even though I won’t be around you physically, my love will always be with you, Wynn.”The great wolf’s expression froze. Slowly but surely, tears began to swell in the great wolf’s eyes as he remembered Chun Fu saying those words when he was parting with him. And nobody knew his name except for his master, so this made it clear that Gary was indeed Chun Fu’s success
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Many years ago.Chun Fu was teaching the great wolf. “There will come a time when you will need to fight beings that can’t be defeated with punches or slashes. That’s when you need to rely on things like spiritual energy or unique skills. Animals don’t have much spiritual energy, so you should depend on learning unique skills.”“What kind of skills, Master?” the great wolf excitedly asked, waving his tail left and right.“One that will help you fight all kinds of enemies,” Chun Fu said. “The ability to break space itself.”“Breaking space…” the great wolf’s eyes turned wide. “Is something like that even possible?”“Time, space, and matter are three constructs that the worlds are built upon by the Creator,” Chun Fu explained. “All those three constructs can be affected by us. We can break physical matter with our hands because we can interact with it. But space and matter needs different approaches. Skills that will require one to manipulate time are too complex for you to learn. Even