In a luxurious and majestic airship easily 200 meters in length, floating in the skies of Island Ascension Online…

A rather calculating and sharp looking middle aged man, dressed in flowing golden robes, was lounging in a room full of platters of meat and fruit. In this room, rows of servants neatly lined up on the sides, ready to obey the orders of the man at the center.

Even the servants in this room were selected from countless potential candidates, and their positions were greatly desired by many. After all, they directly served the leader of the Flamelight Organization, a man who was called Hell’s Descent.

Without question, the amount of resources and manpower under his command was astonishing. Astonishing to the point where he was quite influential, even within the vast lowest zone! Naturally, to be directly serving under him was an honor.

Suddenly, a wizened old man with an unfathomable aura walked into the room, with a serious and solemn expression. He didn’t say a word but with just one look, anyone could tell that he had something important to say.

Seeing the mage this serious, Hell’s Descent immediately ordered the servants out.

“Servants, leave the room! I’ll be discussing important matters with Azure Thunder.” he ordered.

The servants quickly filed out, before the last one closed the door behind them. Only then, did the wizened man speak up.

“Sir, Seventeen has died while participating in a raid!” he said bluntly with a scowl, not bothering to hide his frustration.

The wizened man’s bitterness was not unfounded. After all, basic mages were certainly not easily found in the lowest zone... Naturally, each and every one of them was an incomparably valuable asset; the loss of even a single one stung!

“Is that so?” The man in golden robes clenched his fists, but remained composed. “Then how many forces were sent? How powerful is the island that he raided?”

Azure Thunder frowned and sighed. “Sir, he was sent out on a 30 meter destroyer class airship, along with 30 regular warriors and a lieutenant. We have gathered that a basic mage resides on the island - though, the basic mage was confirmed to be out adventuring.”

His frown deepened as he continued, “Other than that, they had one notable fighter but... He was only a warrior that is at most, as strong as a mid tier novice mage! Not to mention, they had only established themselves a few short days ago... I really can’t comprehend how such a situation occurred.”

Hearing this, Hell’s Descent quietly contemplated for a moment, before gently chuckling.

“Good! Very good! They dare resist us? Send a new batch of spies to relay the situation. Worst comes to worst, when the prototype of the new weapon is ready, we can use them as test subjects!"

Azure Thunder suddenly also began chuckling sinisterly when he heard the man’s decision. “Very well! It seems like that island shall be wiped from the face of these endless skies! I shall relay the order.” He then pushed the door open and promptly departed from the room.

After Azure Thunder left, Hell’s Descent’s brows furrowed.

“If the new weapon doesn’t work then… No, forget it. There’s no way they survive… it was given to me by the master himself!” he muttered to himself quietly.

-----

The sun was currently at its highest and the sky its bluest. At this time of day, hot attributed mana was the most abundant in the air.

At this moment, Simon was currently sitting on the deck of the 50 meter airship, tranquilly absorbing mana whilst soaring through the boundless skies.

Simon was incomparably excited. After all, he was only a few hours away from encountering his first ever ruin. How could he not be excited?

Meanwhile, he felt rather unburdened as he was also not afraid of the Flamelight Organization’s wrath in the slightest.

In the first place, Simon knew that it would take quite a while for the organization to gauge the strength of him and his island. It would take at least a day or two to organize new spies to pose as refugees, after all.

Not to mention, the strongest and most renowned fighter of the organization, a mage who went by the name of Azure Thunder... was only a peak Advanced mage.

Though such figures were revered in the lowest zone, Simon himself had the combat power of a master mage, which was one tier above advanced mages. In that case, why would he be afraid?

However, that was not to say that he could singlehandedly crush the organization. After all, their power stemmed from the fact that they had dozens of mages, hundreds of airships, and thousands of subjects; not merely one advanced mage. Plus, there were bound to be hidden forces in such a well established organization.

In fact, if he were to go against their combined forces all at once... He may as well have just committed suicide instead!

Luckily, it was highly unlikely that the organization would go all in and attack him with a sufficiently large force. After all, by attacking a dangerous foe like Simon, there was not much to be gained, but much to be lost.

He had nothing to worry about for the time being.

Perhaps, only when they saw him as a true threat to their foundations would they go all out, banding together with other organizations to take him out. By then, he would truly be in a precarious situation and could only hope that he had gathered enough power to withstand the suppression of several organizations at once.

But that was a problem for later. He didn’t need to worry about such events just yet!

-----

In a certain room within a high end and extravagant facility.

This particular room had sets of cutting edge machinery hanging from the ceilings, hidden in the walls, sprawled around the room - anywhere one could imagine them. There were also several displays in this room, which contained complex graphs, tables, and other pieces of information of that nature.

Meanwhile, a breathtakingly beautiful, yet sophisticated looking researcher was dutifully analyzing results of a certain test, with the utmost level of concentration.

“Interesting… The results that this yields are truly fascinating!” she muttered to herself, staring at a particular tube that was currently giving off an eerie blue glow.

She was a woman known by many to be the greatest genius of the Veracity Research team, and even the greatest in the world, Twila.

As the acclaimed greatest genius, her past was of course, quite illustrious; at the young age of 22, she managed to get into the famed research team Veracity, which countless researchers failed to get into even after pursuing the position for their entire lives!

It has to be known that even if one did get accepted into the famed research team, it was usually by the age of 40. Anyone who managed to do so in their early thirties were already considered to be true geniuses, while those who could do so in their twenties were once in a decade legends.

Naturally, to manage to get in as a 22 year old was extremely impressive and contributed to her earning the title of the most promising genius internationally!

In the 300 years of history of the Veracity Research team, she was the second youngest to join. This was undoubtedly an achievement that said a lot about her capabilities…

Before long, the glow in the tube became so bright that it was blinding to look at, prompting her to slip on a pair of special glasses.

But after a while, the glow stopped brightening and instead, dimmed.

She seemed to ponder for a moment, staring at the dimming light, before shutting the experiment down.

“Close, but a failure nonetheless. I’ll need to get more.” she muttered to herself, before sighing and leaving the room in a hurry.

-----

Back on SImon’s airship, in the endless skies of Island Ascension online.

From the airship, a small speck in the sky was now visible along the horizon, which was expanding with every passing moment.

‘Good! It should take thirty minutes or so until I reach the ruin.’ Simon thought with an excited grin.

While waiting, he quickly went over what he knew about ruins.

From what he was told, ruins were split into three states and nine tiers.

Their states were dormant, active, and dead respectively.

When the world of Island Ascension Online was created, these ruins were all in a natural state of dormancy. Only when one unlocks a ruin with a key, would that eventually change.

After the original raider runs out of time in a ruin raid, the ruins themselves would then enter their active state where they could be interacted with by anyone.

It has to be known that these ruins were exceedingly rich in resources, but were also unable to be fully exploited by the original raider, as they would be bound by a time limit.

But when the ruins were in an active state... It was a completely different story!

In such a state, the resources on these ruins could actually be exploited by anyone who came across them, so long as they had the power to do so. Therefore, they were hotspots for violence and struggles!

Eventually, when ruins run dry of resources, they would enter a “dead” state, in which they would eventually sink back into the endless void. Such was the cycle of a ruin.

As for tiers of ruins, there were F tier, E tier, D tier, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS tiers.

F tier ruins could be anywhere from the difficulty suitable for an ordinary warrior, to the difficulty suitable for a weak Basic mage.

E Tier ruins could be anywhere from the difficulty suitable for weak Basic mage, to the difficulty suitable for a weak Advanced mage.

The pattern continues until the SSS tier, where even Ascendant mages might struggle!

One could not choose which ruin they were assigned to; all lifeforms would start with an F tier ruin for their first run, and based on their performance, the next ruin would be decided for them.

For instance, if one was already a Master mage and initiated their first ruin raid, they would start with an F tier ruin, but most likely achieve a very high completion grade. As a result, their next ruin could directly jump to the D tier in difficulty!

Likewise, as difficulty increases, the time limit also extends.

F tier ruins have a one day time limit, and with every subsequent tier, the time limit gets extended by one day, until the SSS tier where the time limit becomes 9 days!

In these ruin raids, there were 3 primary objectives.

One: To gain a high completion rate!

If one gains a high enough completion rate in a difficult enough ruin, they could obtain rewards that even the richest of tycoons would salivate over. This was the cumulative grade that the system gave upon the time limit ending. Naturally, this grade was a key aspect of ruin raids.

Two: To obtain treasures!

These ruins are all rife with various forms of treasure. Be it ancient artifacts, monster cores, ancient shards, or even new breeds of mysterious crops, many forms of treasures were up for grabs in these ruins. Naturally, the more treasures one managed to obtain, the better.

Three: To survive!

Though there were many benefits to be had in these ruins, there were an equal amount of risks as well. If one were not cautious, they could be killed by traps or ambushed by monsters. No matter how many treasures one gains, one’s life is still the most important! Hence, survival was a key priority as well.

With this knowledge, coupled with his strength, Simon felt confident in dealing with whatever an F tier ruin could throw at him.

…

By now, the ship was finally docking at the ruin.

The island was covered with mist, making it impossible to see what lay within. But upon taking out his map, he was prompted with a system notification.

[Do you wish to consume this map to unlock the ruin?]

‘Yes!’ he thought without hesitation.

Woosh!

The wall of mist was mysteriously blown away, and gradually, he found himself able to see into the ruin.

This particular ruin was situated in a humid jungle, in which ancient temples and ruined villages buildings resided. These trees were wide enough for three men to wrap their arms around them, and still not manage to touch hands, and high enough for the sky to be easily blotted out.

Directly in front of him, there was a dilapidated and overgrown path of stones as well as a series of ruined buildings on the edge of his vision. Not to mention, he could actually sense a variety of creatures residing on the island that were eyeing him in the dark.

Moreover, the island itself had to be at least a few kilometers in diameter and exuded an aura of mystery and danger!

“Hahaha, this seems exciting!” Simon laughed with an excited glow in his eyes, before departing the airship with a backpack full of supplies.