The two guards continued their tangent, but Hughton seemed to have his mind elsewhere. He held out his hand and muttered something before a tiny lesser bridge spat out a new Journal, and he began reading. Vin figured he could do the same, calling for his previously destroyed book. It contained all the same information as before, either identical to the last, or it'd somehow used magic to recover itself.
He uttered his wishes to the Journal, which heeded, flipping to the [Quest Tab]. He'd wanted to explore the tabs sooner, but he had the time only then. The first page had already been filled out, and a task was issued for him to complete.
----------------------------------------
[Quest:]
[World Quest:]
1) Learn the updated laws of the Archival Dimension
2) (New!) Learn to be kind
[Human Quest:]
1) Build up the human civilization
2) Select an occupation
3) Learn magic
[Personal Quest:]
1) Find a way to Earthia
2) Locate missing loved ones
3) Enter the Archival Dimension
----------------------------------------
'Is the Journal updating through my conversations?' he wondered. Whatever the case, he hadn't forgotten the person who claimed to have gotten stronger from quests. It'd been almost a day since the assimilation; Vin had his reasons for desiring strength, but pride also wouldn't allow him to return to the human settlement and be the weakest among them.
He picked himself up, exhaled, and then roamed to the Warden, Hughton, who concentrated on their Journal. Vin communicated to the man with the sixth sense that Phoenix had utilized with him, asking for assistance.
After a monotonous glance at the young human, Hughton rubbed his greying beard and nodded. Vin held his Journal so they could both see, conveying what the Earthian text displayed. The older Ravenour man described three ways the Journal updated the quest: one, understanding the owner's will; two, verbally accepting tasks from others; and last, higher beings could directly affect and issue quest.
Vin had eight quests listed. However, there were only a few he could actually do. First, the laws of the Archival Dimension.
----------------------------------------
[Archive Expeditions:] The Archive is dangerous and unfit for mortal presence; however, Adventurers still choose to explore this dimension in search of knowledge and relics. This place exists above the mortal realm and thus rejects anything outside of its nature. Rare exceptions have been forced to give adventures that do not heed warnings a chance of survival.
[Updates:]
The rules that govern the Archival Diemonson beg all mortal belongings to be disintegrated upon entry. New [Equipment] has been added to the exception list.
[Equipment:]
Shadowvine Rope, Warbeast Saber, Siren's Call, Tail Blade, (New!)Skateboards
----------------------------------------
Vin exhaled heavily, 'Anything aside from what's on this list is forbidden inside the Dimension. Five species, five unique items.’
Vin closed his eyes and rested his brow, "Is this whole Archive thing why everyone wants us gone."
Hughton pardoned that idea; it couldn't have been further from the reason. The Archival wasn't a place people aspired to visit. Near every Ravenour lived their life with zero contact with that dimension, mainly because a tiny percentage of mortals become strong enough to ascend beyond their plane. This fact irritated Vin more because Ravenours had been wasting everyone's time trying to learn skateboarding when, in theory, none of them would ever actually become strong enough to enter the Archival.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The truth was that Auroraan had been cursed to continuously die. When this happens, every species fights for the few available resources in the years that water and food rot. Humans hadn't done anything wrong yet, but once faced with starvation, their massive numbers could overwhelm Ravenours, who number less than a billion. The dragon man assumed the Churus, who attacked humans from the south, had a similar mindset; however, he couldn't say definitively why the Elves marched on the humans. After all, as the world's original and most powerful inhabitants, Elves could easily defend themselves against most threats.
The man paused his explanation, briefly studied Vin, and continued, "Then again, they may know something we do not."
Vin glared at the Warden; he'd already known that Ravenours, as a race, were barbaric, though logical. Their rulers were the most powerful people among them, and they acted purely for instinctual benefit. Just as the one-winged woman saved him so her subjects could learn a tool to traverse the Archival Dimension, the General wanted to kill Vin to preserve the integrity of his town. The same logic allowed Ravenours to slaughter so many humans without regret to prevail in the future.
Thinking about it only made Vin's blood boil, so he returned to the quest page to see the first [World Quest] had been crossed out. Ostensibly, just reading the changes to the Archival Dimension was enough. He felt no stronger after completing the quest but continued, "Next, tell me about Occupations."
----------------------------------------
[Occupations:]
1) Adventurers: Explorers with means to improve their physical prowess to traverse the Mortal Realm.
2) Artisans: Practitioners with imbued talent for a specified job.
Once you select an occupation, a questline specific to that occupation will begin.
Occupations have dedicated questlines to guide their user as efficiently as possible. You can select a different occupation anytime, but your questline will reset.
The further one advances into their questline, the more challenging each new quest will become, granting promising growth and rewards.
----------------------------------------
More details were presented, but Vin didn't need the rest. Becoming an adventurer was his only option if he wanted to survive the dangerous trip home and, later, embark on the Archival Dimesnion. His answer prompted the ink on the page to rearrange, and he was presented with new text.
----------------------------------------
[Do you wish to become an Adventurer?]
[Yes / No]
----------------------------------------
[Status:]
[Name:] Vin Dance
[Race:] Human
[Age:] 17
[Occupation:] Adventurer
[Rank:] Novice
[Survivability Rating:] 11/100
----------------------------------------
There were two new fields on his Status: Occupation, Rank, and Survivability Rating, and from what he gathered from Hughton, Survivability Rating was a number assigned by the Magic Journal itself. That book was consistently linked with its owner, observing their actions and updating that score according to how its host developed. That lowly 11 Survivability Rating was probably why he couldn't harm the shaved head General.
After his score reached 100, he would advance from Novice to Expert. The Journal also listed each rank and its Survivability Rating requirements.
----------------------------------------
Mortal Realm: Adventuerer
1) Novice: 0 - 100
2) Expert: 101 - 300
3) Master: 301 - 700
4) Legend: 701+
Archival Dimension: Seeker
5) Ascendant: 1000 - 1500
6) Seer: 1501 - 2500
7) Sage: 2501 - 4000
8) Curator: 4001+
Astral Plane: Eternal
9) Apex: 10000 - 15000
10) Avatar: 15001 - 25000
11) ArcAngel: 25001 - 50000
12) God: 50001+
----------------------------------------
'They’ve kept it simple,' he believed. The titles of each rank were placed within the realm of a person's ability. So, a score of 701 meant he could easily survive the mortal realm. Since he was far from being the fifth rank, he could delay abiding Phoenix's wish and entering the Archival Dimension. But, by description, it also meant there were people on that planet who transcended mortal bounds and hunted inside the second dimension.
[Quest Update:] Learning to fight. Seek tutilage on weapon arts.
'Hm. Instead of issuing a whole new quest, it just updates the description of the current one.' Vin asked Hughton what their Survivability Rating (SR) was, and he disclosed it was 150, meaning he was halfway through the second rank, Expert. Vin was surprised at how low it was because that man was already powerful enough to simultaneously hold his own against multiple enemies. Anyone who was two times stronger than Hughton and could survive the Archival had to be a monster.