‘That’s right, I haven’t opened my gift bag yet. I got overwhelmed by the idea of using magic.’ Ignoring the floating orb, Felix grabbed the string that tied the mouth shut and pulled. The cloth fell to the side and an iridescent light blinded him as it drilled into his eyes. Suddenly a burning pain pierced his head, like someone took a burning knife to his head as a words appeared in his mind, [Innate Skill (Growth) Treasure Compass has been obtained.]
Soon after the words vanished from his mind, but a new feeling swelled up with in his body, like something appeared within, but instead of feeling uncomfortable, it felt like something that had always been there. Once he regained his sight, Felix saw the cloth bag was empty, but its iridescent color dimmed into a dark grey. “What just happened? I don’t know, but I think I should hold onto this, it could be important.” Felix muttered as he gently folded the cloth and string before shoving them into his pants surprisingly deep right pocket.
Returning his attention to the floating orb, Felix tried to walk around it, but it followed him always remaining just within reach. Giving up on that idea, Felix could only place his hand on the orb and hope for the best. Once he made contact with the grey orb, it slowly faded away like it never existed. Felix looked at his empty hand in a daze, “Was that it? I didn’t feel anything.” When he lifted his head, his perspective completely changed. It was hard to put into words; it was like the world had a dusty filter removed from it. Soon the translucent white status board reappeared, {Mana has been registered… an unexpected error has occurred. Now revealing hosts current status.}
[Name: Ingram
Race: Human
Mana Type: {Unknown} Mana (All class magic is unusable due to its inert nature)
Experience: 0
Life Level: 1 (Experience required until next Life level: 9)
Main Class: Novice Magic [Level: 0/5] (Experience required until next class level: 9)
Sub-Class: (Locked until Life Level 10)
Sub-Class: (Locked until Life Level 20)
Sub-Class: (Locked until Life Level 30)
Sub-Class: (Locked until Life Level 40)
Hp: 100/100 | MP: 1,500/1,500
Stamina: 60 | Satiety: 98/100 | Thirst: 94/100
Physical Attack: 1 | Physical Defense: 2 | Movement: 2
Magic Attack: 40 | Magic Defense: 30
Stats: [5 is an average adult]
Vitality: 5 |Strength: 2
Endurance: 4 |Agility: 2
Intelligence: 20 |Wisdom: 15
Free Stat Points: 10 (Stat points are earned with each Life Level)
Free Class Points: 0 (Class points are earned every class level.
They are used to learn skills or used to speed up learning skills or Spells. A Class point can be used on Proficiency, and for every one Class point a skill gains 10 proficiency points, but this conversion decreases the higher the skills Proficiency Rank until it now longer has an effect.)
Skills:
Passive;
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 0/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner]
(Unusable) Neutral Mana Control- You have obtained the ability to feel mana in the air, but you don’t know how to utilize your innate mana. Magic attack grows by 0.01%. The more you use and recover MP the more Proficiency you gain. [Conflicts with Innate Mana]
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 1/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner]
Memory Reinforcement- Reinforces your memory to better remember everything, the more you learn the more Proficiency you gain. [Can forcibly record information using mana as a catalyst to forcibly imprint it into your mind for up to 10 days before it has to be re-imprinted. When remembered, forcibly imprinted information will be removed freeing up space. Only 6 things can be imprinted at a time.] (Imprinted Knowledge: 0/6)
Active;
(Innate) [Trash] Treasure Compass: Summon a crystal omni-directional compass that points to the location of an unowned treasure of the same grade within 10 Kilometers. (Uses: 10 [Gain two charges every hour]) {Can only find treasures of the same rank.} [Click to see Growth conditions]
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 0/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner] (Unusable) Neutral Meditation- Calm your mind and feel the neutral mana that exists all around you. Gently guide it into your body to nourish your body and refresh your mind. Each meditation recovers 10 to 100 MP, with a 1% chance to increase your MP by 10. [Conflicts with Innate Mana]
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 1/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner]
Magic Circle Creation- Create a magic circle using mana. The components of the magic circle are completely relent in the caster's knowledge. 9.9 seconds after the magic circle has been mentally completed, a magic circle will appear using the caster’s mana, faulty or not. As for when to activate the Magic Circle, as long as the distance is within 10 meters, it is up to the will of the caster, if outside of that range, it falls apart.
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 0/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner] (Unusable) Magic Missile- Deal 20 neutral magic damage to a target. MP Cost: 9.84 [Conflicts with Innate Mana] {Unable to Deconstruct}
[Proficiency Points: 0/10 | Proficiency Level: 0/10 | Proficiency Rank: Beginner] (Unusable) Sharpness- Sharpen a blade up to a 30 inches, increasing P.Atk by 5. MP Cost: 9.84 [Conflicts with Innate Mana] {Unable to Deconstruct}]
Staring at his long awaited status board, Felix scrolled to the bottom out of excitement and almost cursed as he seethed, “What do you mean, Unusable? What does that even mean and why does this Unknown Mana keep me from using Neutral Mana. You’d think it was Neutral because everyone could use it.” Felix took a deep breath as he tried not to do something he’d regret later.
“While I dreamt of being special, I didn’t want it to be like this.” As Felix reached his mental breaking point, he saw another strange feature on his status board that made him want to laugh helplessly, “What is Unknown Mana used for? If you could tell me, I’d be eternally grateful.” The status window remained silent.
Felix squatted on the ground as he held his head in his hands when he didn’t get a response. He began to darkly murmur as he stared at the cracks on the ancient stone path, “How am I going to level up without even a single skill to use? Maybe I can become a Physical Mage, like in those stories I read. Let’s see…” Felix’s eyes shot back up to his Status Board, only to be met with the cruel reality, “My Physical attack is only One? That’s horrible, I don’t think I could even damage the weakest monster with that. My Magic Attack is… Forty!? Why is it so high? Physical Defense is a measly Two, but my Magic Defense is Thirty. Going based off these stats, Magic was indeed my destined job…” Felix’s expression when from certainty to uncertainty in an instant, “Wait a second, doesn’t that mean I’m currently useless?”
Felix grabbed the edges of his Status Board, ignoring the fact that he could touch a translucent piece of floating data, he shook it violently, “Why me?! What did I do to deserve this? Sure, while I don’t go out of my way to help people, I’m not a bad person, right? At least not bad enough to be given such a harsh punishment, right!? I didn’t use up all my luck getting the first gaming capsule, right!!?” Felix began frantically asking the silent status board. His desperate cries echoed throughout the empty courtyard, and if there were any monsters nearby, they would definitely know where he was by now.
After calming down, Felix continued to read his stats with a blank expression as if his emotional outburst drained him completely, “My strength is two, does that mean my Strength to Physical Attack is zero point five to one? Is it because I chose magic as my main focus? At least I’m healthy with a vitality of Five. My endurance is slightly below average at Four and my Agility matches my strength, a measly Two.” As his eyes trailed a bit further down Felix felt like the world was going to collapse, “Why are my Intelligence and Wisdom so high? If five is average, then my Twenty Intelligence is four times higher than average and my Fifteen Wisdom is three times higher than average. I have the perfect start for becoming a mage. Is this why my one detriment is an inability to use magic, outside of whatever magic my inert Unknown Mana can do.”
At this point Felix was laying in the middle of the stone path with a vacant look in his eyes as he read through his stats again and again, until he saw something he neglected earlier, “What a second, there are only two skills that aren’t greyed out. The Innate skill that I gained Treasure Compass and Magic Circle Creation are still usable, so it’s not like I can’t use magic, just not Neutral Magic.” Felix read the skills name aloud and sat up with a tired expression.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. I don’t have any knowledge about how magic works in this world, I assume if I could use those greyed skills I might have learned something, maybe. Anyway, I doubt using either is going to be worthwhile, I mean my innate skill said it’s incomplete and dark grey was the lowest treasure rank. While the other skill requires knowledge I don’t have. I suppose it’s worth a shot.” His expression was one of serene acceptance as he instinctually activated his innate skill with a just a thought.
A palm sized dark grey compass with half of a transparent crystal orb covering the top. The compass needle was pointing north, like a normal compass would, but Felix had an odd feeling that something special would happen if he wanted to find something specific. “How do I use this thing?” Felix wondered aloud as he rotated the compass, only to realize it was seemingly all one piece, with no seam or place to open it. Felix carefully held it in his right palm until the compass needle began to rapidly spin as the use counter next to the skill decreased by one.
The needle stopped at a 45-degree angle, facing the second floor of the dilapidated house the courtyard was connected to. Felix looked up at the building before taking a few steps to the right, and the needle moved slightly to the left. “Is this what it meant by treasure seeking? Is there some kind of treasure inside this… house? I don’t actually know what such a reinforced building would house.” Suddenly Felix got excited at the prospects of treasures hidden in the building, “Treasure, here I come. Maybe if I have something shiny, I can distract myself from this cruel reality.”
Without a hint of fear, Felix charged directly into the cracked covered building. The doors weren’t much of an obstacle, mostly because they were no longer on their hinges. Inside the building, dust seemed to create mountains to house dust bunnies, undisturbed for countless years, until now. Taking a second to observe the inside of such a large house, Felix saw a long hallway with seemingly countless rooms and in the middle of the hallway rested a large, what seemed to be carpeted, staircase. While Felix was curious about what this “Treasure” could be, he was cautious and extremely weary of where he stepped. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew secure buildings like this could have basements to hide important things, and weak wooden floors combined with possible basements would result in a bad time if fell through the floor due to the combination of his weight and the decayed floorboards.
‘Caution is the mother of safety, and I don’t want to figure out how respawning works yet. I don’t want to personally experience death.’ Felix’s slightly paranoid and cautious thoughts were reflected in his gently movements. He gently stepped forward before slowly adding weight, if the floor cracked, he decisively moved his foot away. It was this way he slowly made his way to the dust and hole covered staircase. One look at the staircase would make even the most seasoned treasure hunters walk away. It couldn’t even be called staircase anymore, more like a large pile of wood and rubble that led to the next floor.
Felix looked down at the treasure compass and decided to climb to the next floor. “It’s just a game, if I die then I’ll respawn.” Although Felix told himself that, his shaking legs revealed his fear, but his curiosity made him continue forward. Perhaps due to the long period of time the rubble has been sitting there, stepping on it didn’t feel like he was standing over air. He swiftly climbed up the rubble to the second floor, only to realize it was roughly the same as the first, countless doors that led to rooms in both directions.
However, Felix wasn’t an architect or a real estate worker, so he had no idea what the insides of such a large building should look like. “This place is huge. I wonder what happened to the original owner, and why they built such large walls.” Felix’s curiosity was burning in his chest, but he suppressed it in favor of looked back down at the treasure compass.
The needle was no longer at an angle, instead it was pointed towards what looked like the main bedroom. The double doors were still intact and has a faded design Felix couldn’t make out, but there were countless indents in the door, like something was there at one point. ‘Ah, looters or would robbers be better? Either way, I’m not the first to enter this place. That makes me feel slightly better, that means if anything did live here from ancient times then those looters had to deal with it… If there’s anything still living here, I swear I’ll lose it. I can’t stand horror, especially psychological horror. I can deal with zombies and other tangible monsters, they can be killed, but ghosts and spirits, you can’t kill those. Why did I have to think about that now?’ Felix’s excitement was doused with a wave of cold fear, and he began to look at the dark, dust filled hallway with suspicion and a hint of fear.
Carefully making his way towards the largest doors, Felix heard a loud crash and nearly had a heart attack. His eyes quickly darted to the origin of the sound but only saw a large hole the size of his torso that extended from the ceiling all the way through the second floor. ‘I really hope that wasn’t some kind of large animal, like a giant spider. I’m not afraid of spiders, but a spider the size of my torso, definite nightmare fuel. I really regret letting my curiosity get the better of me. I mean, just looking at this creepy place from the outside should deter normal people from entering. Wait, did I just call myself abnormal? That’s not important, finding whatever this compass is pointing towards is, I’ve gotten this far so might as well.’ Felix’s steps were even shakier, each creak or crack made him slightly jump. Soon he reached the large doors and reached out his empty left hand to pull them open only for two small, faded, cyan magic circles to appear on the door handles, blocking Felix’s outstretched hand with a solidified wall of air.
‘So this is a magic circle, it looks so beautiful.’ Felix was instantly mesmerized by the magic circle the moment it appeared, his original fear temporarily forgotten. Without his knowledge, due to his abnormally high intelligence his skill Magic Circle Creation automatically activated, and the countless lines and symbols reformed into something readable. ‘I see, so this is how a magic circle is made. It’s like how cells work, without the proper tool it's impossible to see it internals. Each component has to work together perfectly in order to manifest magic. That symbol in the center, it looks like a tornado, I guess that would be the Mana type, so Air. Next to that, that cube made of circles, I think that’s a characteristic, I’ll call it Solidify, then, this deformed circle surrounding those two would have to be its Shape, I think it’s a Sphere, and finally that long, shaky line that stretches across the inside of the shape has to be the Size and those blurry characters seem to say 3 inches.’ The Magic Circle Creation skill replicated the magic circle with his mana and Felix disassembled and understood it’s components with the innate knowledge his Magic Creation Skill gave.
After he understood it, the magic circle in his mind fell apart with only three pieces of the air magic circle remaining, Characteristic, Shape and Size. Those were the only things he could learn from, because while other people can learn how to utilize other types of mana through effort and research, Felix couldn’t. As Felix stared at the replicated magic circle components, a system prompt got his attention,
{Host as created three Magic Circle Components, Characteristic: Solidify is suitable for host’s mana type. Shape: Sphere is suitable for host’s mana type. Size: 3 Inches is suitable for host’s mana type. Judgment: Mana Type: None, Characteristic: Solidify is 80% Accurate, Shape: Sphere is 20% Accurate, Size: 3 Inches is 60% Accurate.
Magic Circle cannot be completed.
New information detected: Do you wish to spend 32 MP to temporarily imprint; Characteristic: Solidify (80%) Shape: Sphere (20%), Size: 3 Inches (60%) into your memory?}
Felix got excited as he instantly agreed, “Yes, yes. I wonder what accuracy means. I thought I perfectly replicated the piece of the magic circle, I guess I have a lot to learn going forward. Is it because my mana type is {Unknown} that it doesn’t have a symbol to represent the core magic circle component, is that the reason I can’t use magic?” Felix’s excitement died down as he thought about his fatal flaw. After experiencing many ups and downs within such a short time, Felix felt numb as he stared at the glowing magic circle in front of him. ‘How am I going to get into this room?’ Felix’s eyes scanned the door before suddenly stopping. He was so distracted by the sudden appearance of the magic circle he missed the moderate sized hole in the bottom of the door. “I see. I mean this magic is only large enough to cover the door handles, so breaking the wooden door itself would be easier by comparison. I mean I guess that was obvious, there are several indents and scratches on the door, like someone stripped the adornments off.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“If I were stronger, I’d just kick the door in, but...” He thought back to his pitiful one Physical Attack power and sighed, “That’s out of the question, so crawling through the hole it is.” First, Felix crouched down and peeked through the hole to make sure nothing was blocking his way. Then, he slowly crawled through the hole, using his left arm to test the stability of the floor as he held the treasure compass in his right.
Inside the room, that turned out to be an office, the most eye-catching part was a large desk that was cleanly broken in two. Looking back down at the compass’ needle he realized it was focused on the side of the broken desk. With an anxious heart, Felix slowly made his way over, until he saw it. Sitting against the broken desk, was a slightly open dust covered journal that glowed a dark grey and seemed to be carelessly dropped to the side.
“I wonder what's written in it. This is my first treasure, I hope it's something interesting.” Felix muttered as he gently picked it up, but his caution was unnecessary. instinctually, he felt some kind of magic was cast on it. After he picked the journal up, the needle on the compass returned to pointing north, like a normal compass before sinking into Felix’s palm. Putting aside his curiosity, Felix held the journal and re-summoned the compass, in hopes for more treasure, but after it spun around a few times it vanished. ‘I guess there’s nothing else nearby.’ Putting aside his feeling of pity, Felix turned his attention back to the journal he found just as a system prompt sounded,
{You have obtained [Trash]
‘A trash tier treasure? Does that mean my treasure compass can only find trash tier treasures? No this must have been a result of my bad luck.’ Felix continued to run away from reality, so he turned his attention to the journal in his hands. ‘Bloodstained? That doesn’t sound good. Ignoring the foreboding name, how can a journal be a treasure? I can feel it has some kind of magic cast on it, does that mean it’s valuable?’ Fueled by his curiosity, he opened the front page of the journal, only to see all the words were faded.
“So, the first page was the part that was left to fend off the elements. I was looking forward to seeing whose journal this was.” Felix muttered with a hint of pity as he turned the page and was mildly surprised to see the words hadn’t faded. Carefully looking at the characters, Felix was worried he would have to learn how to read a new language, but it was in English. ‘That’s a relief, but also kind of a pity. No learning fantasy language to mess with people for me I guess.’
Felix absentmindedly thought before he began to read only for his expression to change, “Chaos 25th, I bought a preservation journal to leave behind my legacy for the next generation. This stronghold, my stronghold has stood tall for years against all invaders. It is said the grand war is going to end within the year, something about a treaty between us and those outsiders after a rebellion in the capital. Well, that’s none of my business I just guard the border. According to the notice the Harp Empire has released, these outsiders are called the Celestial race. A race born from the essence of the stars, can you believe it? Due to their unique nature, they are highly sought after for alchemy and magical experiments. This is the reason we went to war, the youngest princess of the Celestial Race was kidnapped and by the time they found her she was turned into a chimera, by an unknown rouge mage.
“Unfortunately, this rogue mage’s identity was never released, if I knew whose actions caused so many of my soldier’s deaths I would ensure they would never be able to live a normal life. According to a rumor that has been going around, the mysterious rogue mage was the abandoned brother of the previous emperor. I don’t know how much of that I believe, but I do think the Harp Empire was involved in some way. Otherwise, why were we attacked the most, even at the cost of countless lives on the outsider’s side. Sometimes I feel disgusted by the actions we took to win…” The rest of the page was covered in blood, but the information given was enough for Felix think about for a while, but he turned the page with a heavy expression when he saw the dried blood that stuck the pages together and obscured some of the words.
“Chaos 30th, Today I have gained a special piece of intel, historians have named the great war the Starlit Ten Years War. Very imaginative on their part, a war with the Celestial Race that lasted ten years. Oh, before I forget, I also saw the true appearance of the Celestial Race today, it was mesmerizing. They looked like clouds of different colored stars and rainbow dust. It was fascinating experience, maybe they have multiple forms depending on what they want to do or maybe they’re formless. This whole time I thought they were humanoid, but instead they were just mimicking our forms.” The writing skipped a line like the author accidentally started writing on the line below after stopping for a bit, the first character was scratched out before the continued anyway.
“I think the reason for their transformation is, for them we’re the monsters they tell stories about. If I’m right, then they became monsters to fight monsters. At times I wonder, did they have a concept of war before they met us, humans I mean. I remember my first day on the battlefield, one of the Platinum Knights, that’s the name our stronghold gave the Celestial Race before we learned of what (who?) they were. I’m getting sidetracked, my first true taste of war made me… anyway, it was like they were copying us as we… no matter what they were thinking I still have nightmares of that initial massacre. It was like they just stood there when we stabbed them, they touched their own blood with confusion before falling over, never to stand again. Some days I wonder what would have happened if we never met each other.” Felix’s expression was unreadable as he stared at the words on the ancient blood-soaked journal.
Most of the middle pages were completely illegible due to the dried blood, but one of the final pages stood out, “… given a strange book through one of my subordinates. They said it was from one of the celestial race that I saved when I was younger. I don’t know what they were talking about or how they learned of my real name and current location…” The rest of the writing is covered in blood, so Felix skipped to the next legible section.
“I cannot recall the books contents even while I look at it as I write this, but all I can remember is there are three chapters, but only a bit of the First Chapter remains in my head. From what I can remember of the First Chapter, it holds basic magic knowledge for… for something I’ve never heard of. It’s hard to describe, but I shall try…” The rest of this section was thoroughly crossed out with wild pen strokes, like they were trying to erase all signs of the knowledge. Felix tightened his grip on the dusty journal as he quickly skipped forward again.
“…hile I hold the strange book in my hands, I feel different. Like I’m completely isolated from the world, no, perhaps isolated from the universe would be more accurate. The reason I feel this way is entirely due to the fact I cannot even feel the divine light of Sol on my body while holding it outside. Thankfully, the feeling of isolation quickly fades when I put the book down. According to my subordinates, they don’t feel anything like that when they hold it, but they have their own unique feelings. I don’t know anymore, perhaps I need to sleep more. I’m glad this war is over.”
This short entry confused Felix, but he was more curious about this mysterious book he was given by the Celestial Race, so he flipped through the book, only to see crossed out passages and bloodstained pages until he found a very small, hastily written note not even within the lines near the end of the book, “I don’t have much time to write. Anyway, I split the mysterious book into three parts and gave them to three of my most trusted lieutenants to find someone who can remember and understand its contents. I gave the orders to give the First Chapter to a mage I trust. This was mainly because of the mysterious knowledge of magic hidden within it and they owe me a blood debt that I shall write off after they decipher it. Perhaps they can understand it better than I…”
Under that hastily written note a much more urgent one was written, the sudden tone shift took Felix off guard, “I was wrong to split the book apart, I should have burned it. That book was not a gift, but a curse. A curse for all my evil deeds towards the Celestial Race during the past ten years and now I have spread it across the Harp Empire in my confused haste to understand it. I need to recall my” The words suddenly stop before the writings took a much more somber tone, even the handwriting was shaky.
“I hear a muttering voice in my head, constantly muttering something in a language I cannot comprehend. It sounds like common speak, but when the words are spoken it's just sounds like the ramblings of a madman. I can’t remember who I am anymore… I will try to transcribe the words as they are spoken, perhaps in the future someone smarter than I can understand it, “The beginning of everything starts with O-”” The text ends there, not because it was covered in blood. Rather the pen stroke just trails off the page, like whoever was writing it suddenly fainted and collapsed while tightly holding their pen. The page to the right of the note seems to bear the deepest stain, meaning whoever wrote this began to bleed soon after they fainted.
“What did I just read?” Felix looked down at the
Felix suddenly had an epiphany, “Is this a hint for the underlying lore for this game? Find the pieces of the mysterious book while learning about the true reason for an ancient war between races. I’m down for being an archaeologist, but above all I want to gain enough knowledge to figure out how to use magic. Maybe these two goals might not be so different. I doubt my mana type has never appeared, all I have to do is find the proper knowledge or perhaps a teacher. All this starts with finding civilization. Though I wonder why this journal is considered a Trash Tier treasure. I gave quite a lot of information.” Felix gently stroked the cover of the blood-soaked journal before turning around and leaving the way he came.
Unsurprisingly, leaving was easier than entering. Back on the first floor, Felix was curious what fell through the floor. Looking at the hole in the second floor, he followed the trajectory and found a rusty suit of armor. ‘I don’t know what I thought it was, but an old suit of armor wasn’t it. I ‘m getting a bad vibe from that armor, so I’m just going to leave.’ As Felix turned to leave, the empty armor’s helmet began to glow purple that spread to the rest of the armor before an ethereal voice that made his hair stand on end, “You can’t leave now. The knowledge of that book deserves to be buried in history. Splitting that book in three was my greatest mistake, I won’t let anyone find it. Even if I’m dragged into hell, I’ll take that cursed book with me!” The rust on the armor rapidly fell off revealing a set of crimson armor with blazing purple flames for eyes that were focused on Felix.
Felix swallowed the lump in his throat as he Crimson suit of armor got closer, until a crimson system prompt shook him out of his shock,
{[Emergency Quest (EX): Survive]
A Life Level 600 Ancient Spirit contaminated by an unknown power has awakened and has attached itself to their old suit of armor. Escape their territory before they completely merge with their blood-soaked armor and regain their full power in five minutes.
Reward: Knowledge of the location of the First Chapter of Mysterious Book
Failure: Character Deletion and a Lifetime Ban from [Realms of Realism]}
Felix felt like cursing the developers, but he knew this outcome was completely due to his curiosity and innate ability, but the facts didn’t stop him as he slowly ran away, “This blackhearted company strikes again. How can I escape with an agility of Two and no way of using magic? He’s Life Level 600, this is an impossible game. A lifetime ban? I just started, isn’t this usually reserved for middle to late game content, like in those novels where the protagonist overcomes impossible odds to survive and gain divine might that allows them to face slap their enemies and run off into the sunset to fight God or whatever. I can’t die like this, I just started.” Felix quickly retraced his footsteps and ran out into the courtyard, with the crimson armor right trailing behind him.
Felix’s eyes scanned the massive wall and almost let out a curse. The huge walls now had deep purple flames coating its surface. “You can’t escape. My stronghold has never been broken through. My subordinates are still asleep? They need more training. Get up!” The spirit’s cold voice boomed across the empty courtyard, creating a shockwave that pierced through Felix’s soul, making him feel slightly cold along with a slight ache in his head. He missed the system prompt in his haste,
{Ancient Spirit uses (Greatly Severely Weakened) Spirit Awakening. Spirit Awakening has collided with the host’s soul, {Unknown} Mana surges and resists 70 of 100 spiritual damage, 30 point of spiritual damage was taken.}
Felix felt like something slammed into his head, but his eyes were filled with despair as he saw 500 spirits float up from the empty cracked courtyard. Taking advantage of their dazed state, Felix sprinted down the cracked paved path, in hopes it led to an exit. The dark purple flames within the armor seemed to surge before splitting off and flying onto the dazed spirits, leaving the ancient commander’s flames extremely weakened. As deep purple flames filled their eyes, they regained consciousness and locked onto Felix’s fleeing figure next to the broken gate. Felix felt his insides burn as he pushed himself to his upmost limit, ‘I’m almost there, just one more push.’
“You won’t get away. Close the gate! All units, Kill the intruder!” When the ancient commander weakly gave his orders, the spirits of his soldiers all charged forward at an unnatural speed, becoming a purple tide, while the purple flames on the walls surged towards the broken gateway, sealing Felix’s only way out with a wall of dark purple flames. Undeterred, Felix kept, running, mostly because he didn’t know what else to do. ‘If I die, then I want to die after I do all I can to survive.’ Felix’s steps didn’t falter, even when he was overtaken by the purple tide and lost his way. His only company was a disheartening system prompt,
{You have entered the Ancient Grudge Filled Battlefield. All stats have decreased by 50%.}.
‘Truly an impossible game. What am I supposed to do with an agility of Two?’ Before Felix fell into despair, a blinding white light pierced though the ancient battlefield followed by a roar, “How dare a mere spirit open a spectral domain on my territory.” In the, now, white sky, a translucent image of an old man wearing a suit of pure white armor stood on a ray of light before pointing down at the battlefield. A drop of light fell from his fingertip and the entire ancient battlefield scattered like dust in the wind as the ancient commander roared in pain. Just as Felix thought he was safe, a sudden system prompt appeared,
{Quest: Survive has been updated.}
Before he had time to check what changed the scattered battlefield rapidly reformed, with a much darker purple, so deep it was almost black. “No. NO! I won’t let that book leave this place. Even if I die here, I will fulfill my duty to the Harp Empire and protect its citizens from all harm.” The ancient spirit’s calm voice was now tinged with madness as all the purple energy surged into its body, forcing Felix to crouch down and hold on to the cracked path for dear life as everything was rapidly pulled towards the spirit.
‘What is he going on about now? Is he talking about that mysterious book he wrote about or his journal? Both aren’t with me. The suction earlier forced it out of my grip. Did he lose his mind?’ Felix saw the exit was right in front of him, so tantalizingly close, but he felt if he loosened his grip to lift his hand, he would get dragged into the spirit vortex.
Peeking over his shoulder, he saw the original six-foot-tall spirit was now the size of a small mountain and his now black eyes were focused on Felix’s struggling form. To make matters worse the armored old man had vanished. At some point the deep purple energy had become black as countless faces appeared in the wisps of energy that slipped past Felix’s prone. Thankfully, it seemed the spirit was stuck in place as he absorbed countless grudges.
With a quivering heart Felix realized if he doesn’t leave before the spirit is done absorbing the grudges of the dead, he will die. Enduring the cold wind that felt like knifes on his exposed skin and the very few system prompts say he lost 1 hp when a loose rock slammed into his body before being whisked up into the sky. Felix tightened his grip on he slowly crawled his way forward.
For the rest of the area outside of the ancient stronghold ruins, the appearance of their city lord’s avatar and the sudden appearance of a massive dark purple spirit sent shivers down one’s spine. When the wind picked up, countless individuals were already huddled inside, with only the brave and foolish left outside. “I won’t let anything happen. I’ve never tasted defeat, rise my subordinates. We shall protect our Harp Empire once more. Rise my allies, we shall protect our empire from all those that may cause harm and punish those who would dare cause harm. This land is ours; all others are usurpers. [The beginning of everything starts with O-]” The spirit’s words echoed across the entire world, before it could finish its sentence a loud god-like voice boomed across the heaven as lightning filled the skies, “Ancient Evil Spirit, you dare step out of your casket and swallow the souls of the dead to cause such unrest within my Empyrean Empire?! Swallow your forbidden words and die for your insolence!”
Suddenly the heavens split revealing a black-haired middle-aged man wearing a radiant crown that seemed to hold all the light in the world and a line that seemed to separate heaven from earth appeared when he slashed his sword. Before the spirit could even realize what happened, it was already split in two along with the entire ancient stronghold, the empty plains behind it and even a distant mountain was split in two. Everyone held their breath when they saw the second sun appear in the sky, until a voice boomed across the horizon, “All hail our Empyrean Emperor!”
Soon the crack in the sky mended, but what was split was permanently split. In an instant the second sun vanished from the sky, but all those that witness the event were still awestruck. Except for Felix, who managed to climb out of the stronghold and crawled into a nearby forest while the spirit was spouting his nonsense and was distracted by the Empyrean Emperor. Felix was panting for breath as he looked at the clean line that extended far into the distance with a shaken heart. “That could have been me if I hadn’t run away when I did. This game has such a high upper limit. I thought that level 600 ancient spirit was among the strongest, but he died with just one attack. Though he was “severely weakened” according to the system, I wonder how weak he was. I mean I did survive a shockwave, so his Life Level must have been extremely low, like Life Level One or something. I’ll take this as a lesson, let’s not attack any NPC unless absolutely necessary.’ Felix patted his chest as he tried to calm down. The sudden system prompt made him fall over in panic,
{Emergency Quest; Survive has been completed.
Due to extreme circumstances the reward has been slightly increased, and a portion of the reward has been revoked due to external interference.
[Unclaimed Rewards: Knowledge of the location of the First Chapter of Mysterious Book and 10% Innate Talent upgrade chance]
Claim Rewards?
Yes/No}
Felix sat against a tree while grasping his chest with a heavy expression. After taking a few deep breaths and returning to his usual calm. Felix pressed, {Yes} and suddenly a flash of white light shot out of the screen and burrowed into his eyes. Two new memories appeared in Felix head, First, an image of a woman wearing a bellowing black cloak that obscured her form, but a pair of smooth hands were holding a stack of pages sitting in a shop named, Magic Emporium. Second was a city name, Yonder. A system prompt appeared,
{New information has been learned. Do you wish to use 10 MP to forcible imprint this knowledge?}
Felix absentmindedly nodded and felt something within him lessen slightly. “Yonder.” Felix rolled the name around in his mouth with a confused expression. ‘What an odd name. Well, it’s just a game so I guess it doesn’t matter what a city’s name is. Now, where is Yonder?’ Felix pondered as he stared up at the, slightly cloudy, orange sky. ‘I guess I should find a town. I hope there aren’t any monsters nearby.’ Unlike what Felix thought, there usually were monsters around Yonder. The appearance and pressure of a higher life form, the Ancient Spirit and the Empyrean Emperor, made them all run away, creating a problem for the future.
Felix looked at the tall trees and decided the best course of action to find something after being lost in a forest is, climb the tallest tree. Felix looked up at the trees and swallowed before shaking his head, “Nope, can’t do it. My hands are completely numb, I think I’d fall if I even tried. Now that I think about it, I don’t know how to climb a tree. I’d have better luck looking for a man-made path near the ruins.” He muttered as he looked at his dirty bleeding hands before walking back towards the split stronghold. Looking at the devastation with a more stable mind still made him feel extremely small. On the other side of the stronghold, Felix finally found signs of humans, so he followed them to a small city named, Yonder.