According to Jake, islands are merely small shards of a fractured world - which according to the legends, was a twisted competition of sorts...

Islands that the players resided on were the smallest of world shards, while the players’ purposes were to expand their island and become the winners of the competition.

Ironically, they would do so by fighting among themselves; upon dominating the other, the victor’s island would absorb the loser’s island, and having one’s island absorbed means death.

This process would repeat until the world was eventually complete once again, once all islands assimilated into one. By then, the being that managed to complete the world would have officially beaten the game!

However, players were not the only beings in this fierce and brutal competition. There were pirate organizations, trading organizations, individual NPCs, and other forces who possessed their own islands as well.

Indeed, this quiet and lonely world is in actuality, not so quiet and lonely! The skies were filled with conflict, and with every passing day, many islands would be burnt to the ground, while others would rise from their ashes...

Within this world, the various large organizations generally had the most influence. After all, they were where talented people gathered in order to gain influence and resources. Organizations facilitated large scale trades, supported their member’s islands, fought for resources on a large scale, and much more.

As a result, they were almost required to be successful in Island Ascension Online. After all, this world was not unlike Simon’s past life - the strong trampled over the weak, and without sufficient backing, it would be extremely difficult to thrive!

Still, though these large organizations were very powerful, it didn’t mean that they could freely bully tiny islands the instant they spawned in. In fact, they could only send small divisions towards the weaker islands and hope that it would be enough to take them over.

These attacks are better known as raids!

The limitation of raids are in fact, due to a rule set by the world: The weaker the island, the less forces that one could send to attack it.

This made sense in the context of the game, as the purpose of it was most likely to determine who was the most skilled or the most worthy, not to crush anybody the instant they spawned in.

If the current top dogs could instantly absorb the newbies, effortlessly gaining strength, how would anyone else’s true capabilities shine?

As a result, even if the world was chaotic and brutal, it was not without any semblance of order.

It also has to be known that not all NPCs would have their own island... After many years, the humans in this world have reproduced, and the newly born people would naturally not be bound to any island.

Thus, in this world, the people who owned islands were essentially the upper class, and people who did not have their own islands were called “Minions”, and typically in the lower class.

It was quite demeaning, but the unfortunate truth: Without an island, it was much harder to become truly affluent, as one would have to subordinate themselves under someone else to get anywhere!

As for island strength, there are general tiers in which they are classified as.

“Trash Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average level 1-9 island.

“Bronze Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average lv 10-19 island.

“Silver Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average lv 20-29 island.

“Gold Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average lv 30-39 island.

“Divine Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average lv 40-49 island.

And finally, “Ascendant Tier Islands” are islands with the strength of an average lv 50+ island.

Ascendant Islands had their own tiers too, however that information... was not accessible to the public.

After all, those islands represented true strength, and any one of the owners of such influential islands were major players in the world of Island Ascension Online! With just a word, any one of these island owners could determine the lives of millions of people, and the sort of power that they wielded was unimaginable to an ordinary person.

They were practically living in another world...

Meanwhile, organizations had the same tier names as islands, except they were considerably more complex.

Strength wise, an organization was roughly on par with a single island that was three tiers above the organization’s tier. (Ex: “Trash Tier Organization” = strength of a single “Gold Tier Island”).

However, it does have to be known that smaller organizations and islands were unable to be attacked by those which were much stronger than them, due to the system’s laws. As a result, the influence of organizations and islands were not based purely on strength, but also on strength relative to their peers.

Thus, due to the nature of the power balance in this world, strong organizations who could station members on every rung of the ladder had considerable influence, and had the greatest chances in contending for domination over the world.

Only, nothing was set in stone...

Island Ascension Online was constantly in a state of change, with new conflicts erupting with every passing moment. After all, there were as many as ten thousand influential organizations, and billions of islands vying for dominance in these vast skies! Naturally, the competition was unfathomable fierce.

One of the most notable variables in these constant conflicts were of course, mages.

They were classified by their system given ‘magic levels’, which were otherwise known as star cores.

From 0 star cores to 10 star cores, mages had official ways of being addressed. In ascending order starting from 0 star cores, the names of mages were as such:

Novice Mage, Basic Mage, Advanced Mage, Master Mage, Grandmaster Mage, Supreme Mage, Divine Mage, Celestial Mage, Skybound Mage, Ascendant Mage, and Mage God.

These titles... represented true status!

After all, even a typical Basic Mage could dominate a Lower Tier island. Someone like Simon in his previous life, who was a strong 6 star core mage (Or Divine Mage)... could even destroy a Higher Tier Island by themselves!

Clearly, the pirate had assumed that Simon was a Basic Mage when he was in fact a Novice Mage. But to be fair, his current magical prowess was actually above a typical Basic Mage, so Jake’s guess wasn’t exactly far off.

Meanwhile, in terms of Geography, the world of Island Ascension Online was comparable to a mountain of air. This mountain shaped world is split up into tiers or zones, similar to the way islands and organizations were split up.

The “Lowest Zone” of the world is classified as areas with altitudes of 0-200,000 meters. The islands here are the smallest, and the resources here are naturally quite lacking. However, as this zone housed many billions of islands, it was the widest by far.

The “Low Zone” of the world is classified as areas with altitudes of 200,001-400,000 meters. The islands here are stronger, and similarly, the resources here are considerably more abundant. This zone housed at least a billion islands.

The pattern continues, from Middle Zone, to Higher Zone, and Highest zone, until it reaches the “Ascendant Zone”, which is classified at altitudes of 1,000,000+ meters...

The types of resources and the fierceness of competition in this zone are unknown to the general populace, but both aspects are bound to be bountiful and earth-shattering!

Not to mention, as one ascends within Island Ascension Online through the zones, system set limitations gradually loosen and the environment likewise becomes more harsh. Unlike in the Lowest Zone, the environment in higher zones actually includes natural disasters, scorching heat, immobilizing coldness, and even varying levels of atmospheric mana.

Not only that, but the competition with every subsequent zone was even fiercer than the former zones… After all, those who had the capabilities to rise in the world of Island Ascension Online often did so through standing atop a mountain of bones.

With an abundance of these figures who stood upon the corpses of their enemies, gathering in the higher zones, how could the competition up there possibly be lacking?

The most notable areas in this mountain shaped world are the areas in the center of the mountain shaped world, which are also known as “Core Zones”.

These areas were essentially the most important areas in each zone. After all, their central locations make them key centers of commerce and they house the headquarters of the most important organizations.

The amount of resources that flow through these central zones are mind boggling and breathtaking. It is even said that there was nothing that one couldn’t buy in the core zones… After all, the core zones were essentially the focal point of the entirety of Island Ascension Online - which housed billions of islands!

However, it does have to be known that the core zones were not easy to reach. The closer one got to the core zones, the fiercer the competition was, and subsequently, the riskier it becomes to reside in.

Comparing the area around the core zone with everywhere else was akin to comparing a city center and the outskirts of the city; those who resided along the ‘outskirts’ were bumpkins who knew not of the immensity of heaven and earth, while those who were within the city center were subject to no lack of fierce competition.

Luckily, players spawned far from the action; new players such as Simon were currently residing on the edge of civilization, or on the bottom edge of the mountain shaped world. As a result, players would not face many dangers early in the game.

However, NPCs definitely had it worse than players.

The opportunity to restart their islands if they failed were unique to players. Normal residents of this world couldn’t; this was the main difference between players and NPCs of this world, as NPCs also had access to the system.

Nevertheless, dying would still be devastating for players as they would have to restart and waste a precious profile slot… Combined with the fact that one was only allowed to have a single account, every loss of a profile slot would be crippling for a player.

Lastly, Simon found that the golden ticket that he received from the pirate was a rather important item. It was both what allowed the pirate to raid his island, as well as his prize for defeating the pirate.

These tickets were known as, well… Golden Tickets.

They were provided by the System, and possessed miraculous teleportation abilities. In fact, these tickets were the primary resource used in trade, right next essence crystals in importance!

For the most part, they had two main uses.

One, is to enable one to raid islands.

Upon using a sufficient quantity of golden tickets, a teleportation gate would form that leads to an island, based on the amount of tickets used and the strength of the attacker. However, it does have to be noted that if one physically travelled to an island, they would be able to raid it directly using the tickets, foregoing the teleportation process altogether.

At the same time, islands were only eligible to be raided under 2 conditions.

One, is when the strength of the two parties are not deemed to be too different by the system.

The evaluation of strengths between forces and island are based on the level/altitude of the island and the system calculated strength of the attacking force. If the odds are simply too skewed, like if an island in the Ascendant Zone wished to attack an island in the Lowest Zone with all of their forces, such a situation would naturally be disallowed by the system.

Another, is that the island on the receiving end of the attack cannot be frozen.

It has to be known that to NPCs, this was the real world. As such, there were no take backs; their islands could be raided at any time, and their deaths were eternal.

Players on the other hand, had real lives too - they couldn’t always tend to their island, and thus were more susceptible to raids, as they would oftentimes be away.

That was why player islands could only be raided if the owner was online; the players’ island would indeed freeze in time when they disconnected...

Meanwhile, the second use of the ticket is to allow one to explore ruins.

Upon gathering enough golden tickets, one could instantly summon a map and key, which leads one to ruins of the past world. These ruins were filled with countless hidden treasures and mysteries, and came with time limits as well.

These journeys were no jokes, even though the artifact only chose suitable ruins based on one’s personal strength.

In fact, the mortality rate of ruins was said to be 10% per run!

It isn’t that scary of a number at first sight, but when one considers that first timers are many times more likely to die... That 10% becomes much scarier.

Moreover, clearing the ruins was not the only risk... One also had to consider other humans. After all, it was not uncommon for one to get backstabbed while in a ruin, or killed over a treasure.

The amount of tickets that one needed to use for each ruin run would also increase after every use. Only by leveling one’s island up would the cost be lowered.

As a result, the importance of these tickets could be easily seen!

...

After reflecting, Simon almost could not hide his smile.

From what he could tell, one could not avoid action if they wanted to succeed in this world. If one wants to truly become successful, they must ascend through the zones, compete for influence, and crush one’s enemies - it was indeed as exciting and competitive as he had hoped!