Chapter 1: Tower beyond the walls

Proofread by Artek

“Random”

“Do you wish to try the tutorial? The tutorial will teach you the basics of your new world!

“Skip please.”

“Very well traveller”.

The cute little girl made a slight bow and snapped her fingers. With her fingers as centre, an oscillating wave oozed out from nowhere, spreading out infinitely. As those oscillating waves fell upon Ryu, he involuntarily closed his eyes. It took him a few seconds to re-open his eyes and immediately he was attacked by a myriad of colourful light, with the ever so warm light of the sun.

As his eyes adjusted themselves to the surroundings, what stood before Ryu, no before Shiv was a wonderful stretch of forest. The sunlight was piercing through large gaps in the canopy, and one such escaped packet of sun light was now incident on Shiv’s face.

The face resembled Ryu, except for the much longer hair that now had its ends reddened slightly. And due to his height being increased little, he looked a bit older than his real age.

Shiv inhaled deeply, mesmerized by the originality of the world, the freshness of the air to the dew drops on the leaves fascinated, these the newbie to an extent, but what excited him more was the fact he was free to do anything in this virtual world.

While our protagonist was so immersed with the world, a strange noise rang in his ears, startling him for a second.

‘Trrrng’

Greetings Traveller!!! You have been reborn!!! A journey full of adventure awaits you!!! Will you succeed in your path or fall prey to other’s will??? May the dragon god’s light fall upon you.

‘Dragon god?? That’s the first time I am hearing about a Dragon god. Well, there were hardly any information that I could get from the internet. So this world is under the dragon god’s power huh. That’s explains the name to an extent!’

“Trrrng”

You are in the plains of Draklake.

Draklake, the symbol of the Dragon god. Plains with essence of the great dragon god, Oberon

You are the first to discover the plains of Draklake. You have been blessed by the great dragon god

Double exp for one week.

You have been gifted the tattoo of the dragon.

All stats +25 for 12 hours.

+50 fame for discovering a legendary place.

+50 fame for being the first to gain fame.

Receives compulsory quest: The Draklake Hero 1(1/3)

‘Sweet! That is some blessing. What is this turn of events? Am I a blessed creature?’ Shiv started laughing, more like roaring. He knew the importance of stats in this world. The online forums had stressed on the advantage of high stats and high levels. He was still laughing menacingly when he felt an acute pain on his right hand.

He lifted his hands to check the cause of the pain and was flabbergasted by what he saw. His right hand was glowing dimly; something was accumulating on the upper side of his hand stretching till his elbow.

“Trrrng”

You have obtained a skill: Oberon’s Bless (Passive) Beginner (level 1): You have been bestowed the dragon god’s blessing. Being blessed by the true god, Oberon, you have been granted power beyond normal. Your body is now tougher, faster and stronger.

+5 to STR, AGI, VIT and STA.

+50 to HP and Mana.

Unlock new skills at higher level.

Receives compulsory quest: The Draklake Hero 2(2/3)

New status created: Fighting spirit: the blessing of the true god allows becoming more fierce in battle.

Monsters below your level will now fear you.

You may not distribute bonus stat points.

New skill unlocked: Dragon’s Roar (Passive) Beginner (level 1): A thunderous roar!

A roar similar to Oberon’s imperial roar! Monsters in the vicinity will fear you. Allies will feel the dragon’s power.

60 second paralysis. Defense decreases by 10%.

5min increase in morale of allies.

Mana consumption: 100

‘What the heck! Am I dreaming? Is this some kind of prank?’ Shiv was now sceptical. He had just started and already received so many bonuses. ‘It’s not like I don’t want them, well whatever. But that compulsory quests thing kind of bothers me. Usually a game never has such an event in the beginning itself. And I don’t think this is some kind of bug. It seems to have three parts, but chain quests don’t reveal itself before the previous quest was completed. Suspicious indeed. Does that mean I have to now unlock the third part somehow?’

Irritated a little at the thought, Shiv tried opening the two new quests he obtained. But every time he tried he was refused access by a notification which asked him to unlock the final part of the quest. Giving up on the thought, Shiv sighed involuntarily.

‘Maybe I should check out my status once. Now how did it go?’, “err, open status bar”

“Trrrng”

STATS WINDOWCharacter NameShivAlignmentNeutralLevel1ProfessionNoneTitleNoneHealth: 100(+350)Mana: 100(+350)Strength: 10(+30)Agility: 10(+30)Stamina: 10(+30)Vitality: 10(+30)Wisdom: 10(+25)Intelligence: 10(+25)Luck: 0(+25)Fame: 100Magic Resistance: None

Shiv stared at his status table for a while, something about the status bugged him. Closing the status bar, he then looked around for a path or some clue as to get out of the forest.

‘Wow! What is that?’ a little away to Shiv was, a disturbingly tall building. The building appeared black, in fact too black as it gave a chilly feel to the boy.

‘Is that a tomb or something? Is that the reason why there are no monsters nearby? Well I don’t see any other buildings around, guess I might as well pay it a visit’.

And so Shiv idly began walking on the paved road, towards the mysterious building in front.

---***---

“Gehambel, a human has come” spoke an old woman.

“A human, you say! Hahaha! It has been decades since I saw one. Will this be the one?” spoke an old man with a large stature.

“We can’t say. He must know true evil and despair and then pass the test. If he could not, then that is all he was worth. Our search will continue”, a much younger person spoke, but the voice was that of a lady.

“Very well. We shall wait”, replied Briskol.

The mysterious figures were all gathered around a small pond with water that sparkled like diamonds. And in that pond, a young boy’s face was floating in the water.

---***---

Shiv walked for small time, and as if remembering something he suddenly checked the time. He had been in the game for just half an hour in real time but already two hours had passed in his new world. Shiv decided to log out for now. Since he was sure that things would get interesting and hectic later, he knew that now was the only time he could rest. Moreover, he understood that this place would be perfect as no monsters would attack his sleeping body due to the tall black tower’s effect.

‘I should get back as soon as I can in the morning. No time to waste’

“Log out”.

In the blink of an eye, Ryu was back in his capsule. He felt oddly tired. Getting out of the capsule he once again looked at the clock.

‘Half past 12 huh. Let’s see! 4 hours? No, too short. 5, yes 5 hours will do. Setting alarm at 5:30am, now off to sleep’.

---***---

Ryu woke up to the sound of the alarm. He wanted to bulldoze the alarm and continue sleeping, but his gaming instincts did not let him to. He then switched on his computer to browse the official site of the game, wanting to check the leader’s board to know the current level of the players.

‘Let’s see, mmmm ah there, leaderboard. First rank Adrian. Let’s check his level. What the???? Level 16???’ Ryu was dumbfounded, it had just been 5 hours since the game’s release and there was already a level 16 player. But what shocked him more was that this rank 1 player had already got a class. ‘Apostle of Light? What kind of shitty class is that?’

Even if Ryu called it shitty, he knew that the class was something major. From the name itself he could understand that it had something to do with the God of Light. Ryu was dejected. ‘And here I was sleeping like a log while the rest climbed up. Pathetic!’

With his anger fuelling his mind and body, Ryu jumped into the capsule. “Dive in”, he roared in his mind.

---***---

Shiv opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the bright light. Confirming that he was back at the place where he had left yesterday, Ryu gently got up and stretched his body. He then looked at the tower which was rather closer than on the previous day, and started walking towards it. Not too long after he started walking a huge wall came to Shiv’s vision,

‘That’s some huge wall! Why do they need such a huge wall?’ Shiv questioned in his mind.

He kept walking, he could now see some more buildings and also a gate. On both sides of the gate he saw the silhouette of humans. ‘A village!’ thought an overjoyed Shiv and so started walking faster. He was truly happy. ‘Finally the newbie village.’

Newbie villages were designations where the players first appear. And as per the rules, only players above level 10 are permitted to leave the village boundaries. And so Shiv was excited that he could get to see people and all kinds of other things.

Shiv’s lips stretched, a truly sinister smile appeared. ‘just you wait Adrian, I’m gonna whoop yo ass big time’. If a third person were to see the snickering Shiv, god knows what they would think.

---***---

Barin was yawning. He was tired of keeping watch on the gate. He had been doing this for almost 10 years. No one had ever come to their home town, not even monsters to attack, let alone guests to visit. He had no idea why he was even guarding the gate. ‘An order is an order, I guess. Ah I want to go back to Serin, yesterday night was hot’ Barin was in his wet dreams about the passionate night he had with his lover.

“Hey Barin, something is coming this way” said the fellow guard.

“Don’t joke around brat, I have been here for 10 years and not even an insect has dared to come to the sacred village of the Dragon!”

“But look at that thing in front” said the brat named Lupon.

Barin was now pissed. “there is nothing th…..”, before he could finish, Barin’s eyes caught up to what Lupon had mentioned. He could see something approaching, really fast too. “By the dragon god, is that a human?”

---***---

Shiv was now in front of the gate. He looked at the guards. ‘Why do they seem different?’

The guards were indeed different. Even though they had the appearance of a human, something seemed amiss. ‘Why do they have a bluish tint to their skin? Is it some kind of body art? And what the hell are those tattoos on their hands.’ Both of the guards’ left hands had a tattoo. Shiv looked at the tattoos on the left hand of both the guards, he soon realized that the tattoos differed from each other.

The guard who looked much older had two tattoos on his hand, while the much younger one had just one.

‘A hierarchy system?’

Shiv then talked to the older guard, thinking he was the superior and he was right on that.

“Greetings Sir” Shiv spoke, in a dignified manner.

Barin kept quiet and stared at the guy before him. For the first time in ten years someone has come to the village. Barin found it hard to process the thought, but the boy in front of him without a doubt existed. Giving a deep sigh, he slowly replied.

“Greeting human. What business do you have in this village?”

“I wish to stay at the village for a few days. As part of my training, I am on a journey”. Shiv nonchalantly mixed in a small lie in his words.

Barin and Lupon once again went silent. Lupon could feel the tension in the air. Shrugging his shoulders, Barin once again started talking.

“We cannot let you in Sir, unless we have orders from above. Since no such orders were given, we have no obligation to let you in.

“I see. But is there no other way. I am running low on food and water. And I need to rest too. Just for a day at least?” Shiv asked politely with a smile, hoping to find some way in.

Barin sighed once again and spoke. “If you are going to offer me money or some valuables, then I will have to ask you to leave”.

“Not at all, I have only enough money to support me. As you can see that I am in a pitiful state, please help me somehow.”

Getting irritated slightly, Barin glared at Shiv, and said.

“Fine! Fine! In the plains of Draklake, north of this village, lies a small pond. A pond which is home to the water spirits, called Naiad. These Naiads, you see, are completely harmless and have no fighting prowess”

Barin continued, “This pond has been under the protection of our village for a long time. But a week from today marks the start of a special ritual in our village, so the guards appointed to protect the village were all called back to prepare for this ritual. The ritual takes place only once every 10 years and lasts for 2 days. During the time of preparations and the ritual, the pond is left unguarded.”

From the gist of things, Shiv understood why Barin stressed on the word unguarded.

“Ever since the guards have stopped their guard duty, the pond has been subjected to attacks by black rabbits. These rabbits have been trying to snatch the pond for themselves for a while. For now, the pond is safe, but the naiads have requested our help. From what we understood, the rabbits plan to attack the pond on the day of the festival to ensure that the naiads would not receive any help. So what will you do, human?”

“Trrrng”

Received quest(Optional): The Draklake Hero 3)YesNo

Shiv was surprised at the sudden notification. He did not expect to find the final part of the quest at that moment. Shiv was pretty sure that the guard would give him some kind of subjugation quest. Nevertheless, the boy accepted without care.

QUEST: The Draklake Hero(Compulsory)Welcome, hero candidate. You have successfully found all three pieces of the quest. You have officially been recognized as a hero candidate. Pass the quest to finish the trial of the hero.Quest: Defend the naiads during the black rabbit attack. Kill all enemies.

Days left till attack: 7days

Difficulty : F+

Requirements: All three pieces of the quest

Rewards

Oberon’s Bless

Fighting Spirit

Dragon’s Roar

500xp

+10 intimacy with Naiads

+10 intimacy with guards

Failure

The quest will fail if:

1. If you die

2. All naiads die. (60 alive)

Failure will result in being banned from entering the village.

‘+F difficulty? Woa, that’s one high level. I don’t even have a weapon. What kind of stupid quest is this?’ Shiv face palmed in distress..

“This here is the internal wall. There is an outer wall a little further. That is the village boundary. The pond is within the outer wall and thus is a part of the village. The outer wall was built to protect powerless creatures as Naiads. The black rabbits too have their home within the outer walls.” Barin spoke as if to himself.

‘So that explains why I had spawned outside the village. And the monsters not attacking me was not due to the tower but me being inside the village. Now everything makes sense’.

Barin continued, “You have got 7 days to prepare for the attack. I suggest you get stronger. The way you are, a single bite from the rabbits can kill you. Here take this parchment and give it to the battle guide inside the village. Tell him that I sent you. Look for the second tallest building, it is red in color.”

“I can go in?” Shiv was sceptical about what he heard and so questioned the guard in front of him.

“Yes, but you are to go straight to the building I spoke off. No wandering around. If you cause any trouble inside then I will throw you out myself, Understood?”

The sudden pressure from Barin caught Shiv off-guard, yet he withstood the pressure. Bidding farewell to the guard, he walked into the village.

*---*---*

“Barin, why did you let the human enter?”

But Barin did not reply, he clearly remembered what he saw a few minutes ago. The human who had nonchalantly approached them. Even though the boy appeared polite, Barin had intentionally used a strong language. He felt irritated for some odd reason. But something on the human’s hand caught his eyes. On the boy’s right hand was a tattoo. And Barin clearly recognised the tattoo, he knew what it meant.

“Lupon, Report to the elders, the hero candidate has come”

---***---