NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Sanctuary
Zyrus opened his eyes to take in the new environment. He stood below a clear blue sky and looked at the forest that stretched far ahead, painting the horizon in a vivid green. A fresh scent of grass filled the air, accompanied by the sounds of chirping insects.
It was definitely that place.
The place where it all began.
"Whoa! It looks so realistic. Is this a dream?"
"I knew those doctors were up to something when they installed chips in our bodies! This must be one of their experiments."
"This must be a mass hallucination!"
"Fucking dumbass, how could that happen when we're in the cryogenic chambers?"
"Is this caused by the Arc of Noah's AI?"
Zyrus looked at the people around him who were talking about conspiracy theories and their wild fantasies.
There were people of all ages between twenty and seventy. Some were ranting about the authority while some were scared, but the majority of them shared the same emotion, confusion.
"It's amazing, isn't it? We're in a cryogenic sleep chamber and yet we're all here!"
A man in his forties approached him with his hands behind his back.
Zyrus wanted to yell that "YOU are in a cryogenic sleep chamber, and guess what, you'll never wake up after starting this 'game',"
But he just shrugged instead.
The man, feeling offended, went to the people chatting before and joined them.
Zyrus quietly distanced himself from others and reached the edge of the crowd.
He stood there alone, thinking about the history lessons he received when he was in school.
Humanity left the earth in the year 3500, heading towards their new home on planet Atlas.
They traveled through a wormhole and reached the edge of the new galaxy. They could travel at half the speed of light, but still, a century passed by before they reached their destination.
A lot of energy was required for that. It took them twenty years to gather enough resources, and in the first two years of that, new lives were born.
Cryogenic chambers were harmful for children's development, so people weren't allowed to have kids after that.
They were the first generation of humans born in space. And unfortunately, they would be the last generation of humanity as well.
More and more people were popping up with a flash. And when the number reached a hundred, it stopped.
Despite his regression, Zyrus was very calm at the moment. He had enough time to think things over on earth.
He had a lot of questions and a lot more to do. Despite reaching the max level and even breaking out from the limitations of the 'system', he had failed miserably.
He thought that he had figured out everything and even believed that he was the strongest, for a brief moment before he was killed that is.
A genius who had reached the nexus of immortality within a century. A dazzling star who was extinguished at his brightest moment, the man who died after his final breakthrough.
It was the end of the great dimensional mage, Zyrus Wymar.
'Well, It would've been if not for that red-eyed bastard,' Zyrus stood with mixed feelings as he awaited the arrival of their guide.
The crowd calmed down after hearing the ethereal voice.
‘She looks the same as always,’
Just like everyone else Zyrus looked at the rainbow colored fairy.
She was floating in the sky with her butterfly wings. She looked like a cute child as she was only three feet in height. Yet in her presence, not a single human dared to speak.
She announced with a smile and the heavy pressure lifted away. Naturally, people started chatting once again.
"What was that about?"
"She looks cute and scary at the same time!"
"How many areas are there?"
Zyrus looked at the people around him with a pitiful gaze. They had no idea about what's to come.
He was once the same as them, curious and excited about the new place.
*clap* *clap*
Everyone looked at the fairy after she clapped with her tiny hands.
"Nice to meet you!"
"That's such a good name Aurora."
Some overly excited among the crowd replied to her, thinking that she was an AI.
She smiled without replying and waved her hand. And a gray screen appeared in front of them.
'So weak,' Zyrus was frustrated as he looked at his screen.
Status:
[Name: Zyrus Wymar]
[Race: Human]
[Class: None]
[Level: 1]
Exp: 0/1000
[Title: None]
[Achievement: None]
[Talent: None]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Vitality: 5]
[Intelligence: 5]
[SP: 0]
HP = (Vitality * 10) = 50
It was a very basic status screen. Stats like resistance, Critical rate and damage, Attributes, and so on, weren’t mentioned.
‘Makes sense since a majority of the people wouldn’t know what to do with them in the tutorial,’
Zyrus closed his screen and observed the people around him. There was no point in being frustrated over his weakness.
Aurora couldn't care less about the people who were looking at the screens with confusion.
“What mission?” a lady spoke as she had a bad premonition about this.
As if waiting for someone to ask that question, Aurora smirked at the lady and waved her hand again.
With a brilliant light, a structure appeared in the middle of the crowd. It pushed the nearby people away and everyone looked at the scene in wonder.
Everyone except Zyrus, who was looking at Aurora with a reminiscent gaze.
‘How many of them will survive? 10? 20? It would be a miracle if a quarter of them lived past this week’.
Zyrus sighed in his heart and glanced at the center of the crowd.
There was a circular goblet like construct. It was eight feet tall, and below it was a circle that was ten feet wide.
Then, with a flick of her finger, a yellowish-red flame appeared on the top. It was the flame that represented the life of humanity.
People were still confused about what was going on, but before any of them could ask anything, Aurora announced once again.
Then with another wave of her hands, Brown bags popped up in front of everyone.
She looked at each and every one of the hundred humans below. And when it was Zyrus’s turn, her eyes lingered on him for a moment before she looked away.
The heavy pressure once again enveloped everyone and no one was able to speak.
She gave everyone a mischievous smile and vanished from the sky.
‘Well no-one’s going to call her cute again.’
Zyrus chuckled and opened the bag in front of him.
[Basic Armor x 1 acquired]
[Basic weapon selector x 1 acquired]
[Ration x 1 acquired]
He didn’t hesitate and spoke, “Status,”
Ignoring the pathetic stats, he looked at the new tabs.
-
[Basic Armor x 1]
[Basic weapon selector x 1]
[Ration x 1]
He clicked the second option and a different screen appeared in front of him.
[Basic Sword]
ATK: 20
[Basic Bow]
ATK: 35
[Basic Spear]
ATK: 30
[Basic Shield]
DEF: 40
[Basic Knives (2)]
ATK: 15
Zyrus pondered for a moment about which one to choose. Simply put, ATK worked as the percentage of strength applied in the attack.
For example, he would deal 20% damage by using a basic sword, and by using his multiplier 5 for his current strength, his final damage would be 1.
DEF worked in a similar way, with Vitality as a multiplier. The shield, therefore, can block 2 damage. Of course, there are still things like stamina, skills, weapon proficiency, buffs, debuffs, crit, weakness… and much more to this.
Zyrus chose the spear for its range. He also knew about a good location where he could get the “Bloodspine spear” in this area. A weapon like that was pretty decent in early levels.
‘It would be good if I get a skill before I get that though, so I should focus on Achievements for now’
Zyrus made a rough plan as he checked the armor.
[Basic Armor]
DEF: 50
He moved back to the edge of the crowd and spoke, “Equip.”
Gray light flashed on him and in the next second, he was wearing a light brown leather coat with black pants. The so-called “Armor” was nothing more than a pair of clothes made from monster leather.
Combined with a six-foot spear strapped on his back, he stood out like a sore thumb.
Many had seen him speak and they too followed his actions. Some were curious about how he knew what to do, but after looking at his deep black eyes, none dared to ask.
Zyrus wanted to help them, but as things stood now, he was in no position to do so.
This was a place where everyone had to fight for their life.
His eyes pierced the forest in front of him. He saw the goblins that hid behind the shadows, and without wasting a moment, he charged ahead.
Goblins had more agility compared to humans, while the rest of their stats were below 4. The weakest was their vitality which was at 3.
What they lacked in quality, they made up with quantity. They had a very fast reproduction rate. There were supposed to be 200 goblins on the first day, quite a number for newbies to handle.
Not for Zyrus though. He was the man who had reaped millions of lives in his reign.
Unfortunately, the goblins didn't know that.
A squad of goblins jumped at him as he reached the thickets.
[Goblin lv 1]
[Goblin lv 1]
[.]
[.]
"Kikiki,"
Excited at the opportunity of an easy hunt, they laughed at the human in front of them.
The laugh which was cut short as a spear's edge protruded out from of their necks.
Zyrus gave them a cruel smile as he watched a red number appear.
-30
Exp + 100
Critical Hit
[Stats Critical Rate and Critical Damage unlocked!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the Achievement: First Blood in tutorial, (F-)]
[+5 SP]
‘There are nine more left, perfect for a level up.’
He used the basic spear moves, and each slash and thrust took the life of a goblin.
-30
Exp + 100
-30
Exp + 100
.
.
Other goblins also came out from the forest. None of them even glanced at Zyrus and went after the easy prey.
Apparently, comradery wasn't one of the traits that goblins had.
And as time would prove it, neither did the humans.
“Aahhhh”
“Sa-save me..”
As Zyrus killed one goblin after another, they did the same to humans. They could barely inflict a damage of 5, but they did so in a group.
People had believed that it was easy to kill the goblins when they saw Zyrus. Alas, they had not paid attention to the description of their stats and weapons.
The damages dealt by their weapons were in the range of 1 and 2.
How did Zyrus deal 40 damage then? It was because of weakness and critical hits.
Different species had different damage multipliers based on their weakness. For example, slimes didn't have a physical weakness so each hit would deal the same damage.
However, in the case of goblins, they had a weakness multiplier of 5 on their hearts, and 10 on their necks and brain.
Different regions of the body had their own multipliers, but they also changed depending on the type of attack.
For example, a slash and a stab attack on stomach would deal different amounts of damage, not to mention the degree of the wound.
In short, by using the maximum amount of strength to strike at the enemy’s weakness with precision, it was possible to deal the maximum amount of damage.
A feat that none other than Zyrus managed to achieve.
These instances were counted as critical hits, and by default they dealt 100% more damage.
So, with the weakness multiplier and critical damage bonus, Zyrus dealt 15+15=30 damage per hit.
[Level up!]
[+1 to all stats]
Zyrus wanted to check out his achievement and distribute the SP, but now wasn’t the time for that.
By the time he was done more than a dozen humans were dead already.
Just as he was heading out to the other side, his right leg vibrated all of a sudden.
He took out the cube that red eyed man gave him from his pocket. It was humming with visible strands of energy.
‘Interesting… so what he said was true after all,’
He wanted to help other humans whenever he could. However, this wasn’t something he could put off for later.
‘Besides, they’ll have to get used to this sooner or later. I can’t protect them like the last time’.
Zyrus stopped moving and recalled the conversation he had with that man when they arrived on earth.
The man had given him two pieces of advice before parting.
One of them was about the cube.
He had told him that the cube would give him a mission every time he ascended to a new ring.
And he had to complete them at all costs.
Intrigued at the prospect of finding a hidden piece, Zyrus stroked the cube in his palm.
Nothing happened at first, but after a minute, an intense red glow erupted from the cube.
Zyrus squinted his eyes and looked away. He noticed that no one else saw what was happening with the cube. It made him even more curious about what the mission was and most importantly, what its rewards would be.
The glow slowly faded away and a red screen appeared in front of him.
He instinctively knew that this wasn't a part of the sanctuary's system. It wasn't because of the different color or the weird language written on the page, it was because of his experience of his past life.
He was the only one who had managed to get past the system's limits. Although he died shortly after leaving the sanctuary, he was one of the best when it came to understanding the system.
The words changed as he looked at the screen and read the content.
[Mission: Obtain the “Fang of Nidraxis” at the center of the Carmine Mire]
[Reward: Obtain the talent “Blood fusion (S rank)”]
‘An S-ranked talent in the tutorial area!'
Zyrus stared at the screen with clenched fists. Although it wouldn't increase his combat power by much, it can increase his potential by a ridiculous level.
Even in the second ring, only geniuses among the high-ranking species could awaken their talents. For the average creatures in the sanctuary, they can only awaken their talents from the third ring.
And even in the third ring, an S-ranked talent was very rare. The importance of this opportunity was obvious for someone like him.
Zyrus gripped his spear with determination and decided to complete the mission regardless of the side effects.
It wasn't just because of the rewards; he had felt it when the cube glowed for the first time. There were nine seals placed on the cube, and he had only unlocked the first of them.
With his experience as a dimensional mage, he knew what would happen if he failed the mission.
The cube would disappear, along with his chance to slay the Eternals.
There was nothing such as an overpowered talent or skill in the sanctuary. Even this hidden piece followed that rule. It would make him stronger, yes, but it'll also have its downside.
The mission was much more than just difficult, it was practically impossible. Humans couldn't even survive near the edge of Carmine Mire; much less reach the center of it.
To gain something, you'll also have to give something up. It was the law of equivalent exchange.
He wasn’t one to cower in front of adversities. He was The Void Monarch, the mage who had left behind mountains of corpses and rivers of blood in his quest to slay the Eternals.
‘It will be different this time. I will annihilate everything that stands against me and reach the throne of immortality.’
Zyrus vowed to himself and rushed at the goblins with a ruthless gaze.
He knew what he had to do.
‘If a human couldn't complete the mission, then I'll become a monster instead.’