《>》Chapter 4: City of Ruins
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My vision suddenly became pure white then it slowly return to normal. I look around and survey my surroundings. Right now I'm in a really large place and I'm standing on a circular platform that has some kind of writings on its outer ring.
I can see some round pillars, perfectly aligned towards a huge door. I decided to leave the room and open the huge door.
*creek*(door opens)
"Just like I thought this place is a cathedral or a temple"
After entering the door what I saw is a huge hall, on the right is a huge altar with a huge statue of a woman that is holding a cornucopia.
'Must be a goddess of this world'
And on the left is another huge door that seems to be the exit since it’s a lot bigger than the door I first came. Seeing these I decided to approach the altar. While walking I began to notice some odd things in this place. First the whole place is too quiet; second there were no one else besides me here. The game started for several months now but not a single person can be seen or at least an NPC to greet the players that entered the place. And lastly I can’t help but have this eerie feel about this place.
I arrived at the altar and stared at the statue which is three times bigger than me. Then I examine every corner of the pace but found nothing. With nothing to amuse me I decided to just kneel and pray while facing the statue.
"I do not know anything about this place aside from thinking that this is a church. I do not know neither your name nor the faith you represent. I just got here in this world for not too long but since this is the place I was sent maybe this is also called fate. I wish not for strength nor power and wealth. I have suffered for as far I can remember so what i want to wish is for you to bless me with luck that I will carry throughout my journey and help me to overcome things that the strong and the wealthy cannot pass through. That's all, thank you"
I stand up and made a final bow then turning around and decided to walk away but a blinding light began to glow. I quickly turn around but the light is too bright for me to see.
As the intensity of the light slowly decreases I saw the silhouette of the huge statue that is still wrapped around by the fading light.
*DING*
System Message:
You received the blessings of Fortuna the goddess of Luck thus increasing you’re luck by 200
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“Huh?”
I rub my eyes then look again but the small blue window is still showing me the same message.
Wait how can I check my stats?
“What is the command again”
“Status!”
“....”
“Character”
“...”
“Character Status”
“...”
What! I should have look into it first. No point in regretting it so let’s just make an educated guess. After thinking hard for a while I added some gestures while shouting the words.
I raised my right hand at shoulder level palms open wide facing upwards, tilt my head to the right for a little bit the Shout “Status” and a wink added at the end.
“...”
A----nd nothing happens. “Pu- puha ha ha ha” I laugh so hard while holding my stomach. Good thing no one can see me now or else it will be a huge embarrassing moment for me.
When I recovered from my laughter while having some tears in my eyes I look around just to make sure no one saw me.
When I make sure the surrounding were clear I think of another method.
*DING*
System Message:
The goddess of luck saw you’re performance thus became quite fond of you and increasing your luck by 300
“...”
Right now I feel like I want to dig a really deep hole and bury myself in.
-=+||+=-
After spending quite some time encouraging myself and deciding that this matter did not really happen, I resumed my guessing game, without the gestures of course.
“Show Status”
-Status -
Name: Fang
Level: 1
Race: Human
Fame:0
Health: 100/100
????: 0/0
Stamina: 100/100
Wealth: 0g 0s 20c
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Luck: 310
Skills:
Active:
None
Passive:
None
Others:
Fortuna’s Blessings (Medium)
I felt really glad that I was able to finally open my status window after so many attempts.
Looking at my status there are some things displayed that I’m quite confused. Well there is also that blessing but it’s been already explained. Let’s look at the stats description first.
I tap on the stats one by one.
Strength:
Greatly increase player’s physical damage, and physical capabilities. It also increase Ki (for Ki based classes) limit by a small amount
Dexterity:
Increase hit rate(for ranged weapons), Crafting success, and a small amount of physical damage it also increases the possibility of dealing special status to the enemy (Ex. Stun, Bleed, etc.) Note: only possible if the player have the skill.
Vitality:
Increase player’s stamina, health points and physical defense. Also affects Ki for Ki based classes
Intelligence:
Increase the damage of magic based attacks and greatly affects the amount of mana for mana based classes
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Wisdom:
Increase mana/Ki for mana/Ki based classes it also increase magical defense. It is also a requirement for some skills to be learned for both types of classes.
Luck:
Increase both luck, and drop rate of the player. It also increases the probability of success in crafting items.
Cannot allocate points on this stat
Fortuna’s Blessings (Medium):
You are blessed by the goddess of luck.
Increase luck by a total of 300.
After viewing my status I look at the statue of Fortuna and made a slight bow while saying “Thank you”
I walk towards the exit and opened the door. *creek*(door opens)
“..”
I stop for a moment before I regain my senses. What lay in front of me is a city, a big city that is completely in ruins. I can see buildings that are completely destroyed, houses which some are lucky to have half of it still standing, pavements with lots of small craters that destroyed it, the city walls which more than half of it is destroyed.
“Such luck my a**, did I got sent here after an invasion?”
I look the ruins in front of me again and I find out that it’s quite old. Mosses are already moving their way on the walls and stones of the ruined buildings. Grass is already dominant on the area and there are some trees growing in some parts.
“Why am I sent here? It can actually pass as a ghost town”
I walk further from the cathedral’s gate and I noticed that I hit something invisible but did not do anything to me as I walk pass it. I walk back and stretch my hand.
“Is this a barrier? So that’s why this place is not destroyed”
Looking at the cathedral I saw some parts of it are already starting to crumble. Large cracks on the walls can be seen and two are already destroyed. There are also skeletons that seem to be from humanoid creatures that are already half buried on the ground.
“What should I do?”
I look up and saw that it is still far before it gets dark so I decided to look around to see what I can salvage from this ruins.
“The dead can’t use it anyway, so let this poor man take what he might need”
Five hours passed and it’s almost dawn after looking at different buildings which has a bigger area. I took what seems usable and head towards the cathedral.
There are a lot of rusty items like knives, swords, shields, and armours. There are also books that seem too old but can still be read. Some places have locked boxes from hidden passages that I tore open and found some gold coins, jewelleries and weapons that are still in good condition. Of course I gave a simple prayer to those skeletons that I see, they might be part of the game but it feels bad if I don’t do it since I’m taking their stuff.
There is a place that is too hard to find and I think because of my luck I manage to find a storage room hidden under the basement of the building.
The storage room is not that big but you can tell at a glance that it is a very important room. The door is tightly shut and cannot be opened. There are three slots deeply engraved on the door forming a triangular pattern and a key hole at the center.
I take note of the size and shape of the slots and since two of it is already filled I only have to find the third and the key. Then I search the building, even though the door is quite old given my current strength I don’t think I can forcefully open it.
It took some time before I noticed a skeleton not far away from the house which is under a pillar and only half of its skeleton remains. On its neck is a rusty key while holding some kind of gem that is almost completely buried.
Obtaining both items I decided to make a proper burial. It took some time but since all I do is cover the remains with soil and the pillar serves as its grave marker the I say a small prayer then leave the place. After inserting the last gem and hoping that the key will hold on I manage to open the door.
The room is well lit by using some glowing stones on the wall. It has a lot of cobwebs and papers littering the floor. At the end of the room there are three items floating on three circular platforms, a book and a sword
I approach the items and carefully prepared my heart for traps. Since it looks like precious items then obviously there are trap mechanisms prepared on an occasion that someone steals it.
“There’s nothing”
Yeah there are no traps that activated which make me more curious. The items go directly to my item bag and nothing really happened.
I look around to make sure I did not miss anything but I only find a letter that is sealed and a name is written on one corner it says ‘Marcus Faith’.
I took the letter then leave the place and head towards the cathedral.
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