Bradford slammed into the ground with a grunt, groaning at the impact. He felt what seemed like grass against his cheek, lifting his head to confirm his suspicions and blinking as he took in his surroundings. He’d come out of the portal on a rolling plain, lit by the sun at an unknown time of day. His eyes blinked at the sudden brightness and he forced himself to his feet to get his bearings.
The moment he did, his vision was filled with a flurry of notifications.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Achievement Earned: My First Steps
Congratulations, Traveler, and welcome to the world of Eternus!
Your adventure awaits you within a dynamic, player-influenced world of infinite possibility. Your actions alone dictate your destiny from this moment on.
Will you be the conquering hero? An enterprising merchant? A storied archmage? There are no set or standard classes in Eternus Online!
We look forward to seeing where your adventure leads, and wish you the very best of luck!
The Eternus Team
“Okay, that’s weird. Should’ve gotten that way sooner.” He grumbled as he swiped away the notification to view the next one in line.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
You have yet to select your name in Eternus, and your name has been defaulted to ‘Bradford’.
Would you like to change this name now?
WARNING: You only have 1 name change per character!
YES NO
Brad stared at the alert in thought and then lifted a hand to select ‘YES’. Almost instantly a new window appeared, showing a blank box and a keyboard for his use. Several moments of consideration followed as he pondered what to name himself. He usually went for names like ‘Lightseeker’, ‘Sunblade’, and other such fanciful and righteous monikers. A glance down at his new runeblade told him that such a name would be ironic at best, and woefully inappropriate at worst.
Moments later, he entered something that came to him on a whim.
Once he was done, he hit ‘confirm’ and waited.
A new window popped up immediately.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Achievement Earned: What’s in a name?
Your name has been successfully changed to ‘Romulus’.
Welcome to Eternus, Romulus.
Your legend awaits.
Romulus, as he was now known, smiled to himself. He’d always liked the old ‘legend’ of the founding of Rome, and while perhaps somewhat unoriginal, it was at least a name he was happy with. He dismissed the alert with a swipe of his hand, and raised his eyebrows as a new one replaced it.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Quest Complete: Fate of the Dark Lady
After meeting the Dark Lady in her celestial prison, you were presented with the choice to free her and become her Avatar, or ignore her plight and doom her to fading from existence.
Whether wise or not, you chose to throw your lot in with She of the End, and are now on the path to becoming her Avatar on Eternus.
In the process, you have managed to make enemies of almost every other Deity in Eternus. The Dark Lady has also sent out a summons to her most loyal, and they will begin to find their way to your location.
While now considered a Heretic in most parts of Eternus, you have also earned rewards for your actions on the Dark Lady’s behalf.
Difficulty: S+
Success: Variable
Failure: N/A
Rewards: For freeing the Dark Lady, you have been awarded the following:
* Experience: 22,000
* Item: [Unnamed Runeblade] (Mythic Weapon)
* Effect: [Mark of the Dark Lady] (Passive Effect)
* Skill: [Dark Mana Channelling] (Active Skill)
* Skill: [Sword Combat] (Active Skill)
Romulus arched his back the moment he finished reading the rewards, enveloped by a sudden surge of energy that froze his limbs and left him spasming on his feet in the middle of the grassy plain. Black flames saturated his body, roaring around him as pain and pleasure beyond his ability to put into words set his mouth into a silent scream.
Within seconds that felt like an eternity it was over, and he staggered backwards with a heaving breath, eyes noting another screen that popped up the second the energy surrounding his body dissipated.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Achievement Earned: You’re gonna go far, kid!
Congratulations, Romulus! You have achieved what no one else has managed in the world of Eternus!
Through providence or persecution, or perhaps both, you have achieved a new record in the pursuit of level 10!
While this alone may seem unimpressive, you have done so with less than 5 minutes of playtime in Eternus Online!
You now hold the record for time played to level 10 at 00.01 Hours Played!
Congratulations, and keep up the great work!
Romulus stared at the alert, and then snorted out a shaky laugh as he dismissed it. It seemed as if his time spent in the Dark Lady’s prison didn’t even count toward his playtime, which was weird but not something he was about to complain about. He’d always liked hunting achievements in many of the games he’d played, and while Eternus Online seemed like an altogether different experience; he wasn’t about to complain about new milestones.
When the next screen popped up, he sighed in resignation. It seemed as if the powers-that-be had decided to flood him with an extensive list of things to handle before he could actually begin his supposedly legendary adventure. He turned before he focused on the new screen, figuring he’d might as well find a destination and start walking while he dealt with the minutiae.
Romulus had no idea what direction he was facing, but as turned he noticed what looked like some sort of rising structure and walls in the near distance. Conversely, the rest of the area had only open plains heading toward a massive forest that dominated the area several hundred metres away.
“Hell, walls mean civilization. Maybe I can get some guidance.”
He set off at a walk as he turned back to his notifications, reading the aforementioned screen quietly as he moved.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Quest Issued: Avatar of the Dark Lady
You have successfully freed the Dark Lady from her prison, and been gifted for your efforts. Now, however, you must take the next steps on your path.
She of the End has tasked you with finding the [Liber Nox], her holy book and the tome of scripture for the true faith of the Dark Lady.
You must enter the Necropolis of the last Revenant-King and retrieve the tome in order to fully embrace your role as the Dark Lady’s Avatar.
WARNING: This quest cannot be refused. Failure of this quest will result in permanent character death.
Difficulty: C+
Success: Claim the [Liber Nox].
Failure: Die.
Rewards: Should you succeed, you will receive:
* Item: [Liber Nox]
* Title: Avatar of the Dark Lady
* [Hidden Reward]
* [Hidden Reward]
“Can’t refuse and permanent character death?” He groaned as he walked, swiping away the screen in annoyance. “Jeeze, no pressure right? This game is nuts. It feels more like a goddamn isekai novel.” Romulus ignored the new screen that popped up, instead looking back toward the distant walls and towering structure behind them as he considered his next steps.
Lilith had told him that he’d be deposited in the last Revenant-King’s seat of power, and given the only other option nearby was endless forest, he had to assume that the distant walls and what appeared to be a vaguely castle-like structure behind them was the Necropolis in question.
With that in mind, all he had to do to proceed was gain access to the town or city or whatever was behind the walls and make his way to the Necropolis. The fact that the quest text had even capitalized ‘Necropolis’ as if it were a title as much as a place made him curious as well. The Revenant-King must have been truly terrifying, revered, or both if his castle or home were constantly referred to as a pronoun.
“And I’m supposed to replace him…” Romulus muttered with a grunt. “Great.”
Shaking his head at the absurdity of his situation, he turned back to the new screen in his vision.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Level Up x 14
You have reached Level 15!
You have 75 Attribute Points to Allocate!
Would you like to Allocate your Points now?
YES NO
Romulus selected ‘YES’ immediately, a smile lighting up his features. He’d always enjoyed building his character in video games, and he was excited to see what his character sheet would show him. His eyes scanned the space in front of him as he waited, watching the air eagerly for… nothing. He frowned at the lack of follow-up screen, confusion welling up within him at the lack of readily available character sheet.
Concern replaced confusion as he wondered momentarily if something was broken, until he realised that almost every game had an initial set-up stage, where someone’s HUD was calibrated. Even the most rudimentary of VRMMOs, especially, had contained that kind of feature. Clamping down on his worry, Romulus lifted his right hand and muttered “Menu” as he did.
Instantly a menu appeared in front of him, and he nodded as he slowed down his walk to focus. He was on the right track, it seemed. His fingers found the ‘Settings’ tab and opened it, navigating the new branch to ‘Player Preferences’ and opening a third branch before him. There, he browsed the options until ‘HUD Settings’ caught his eye. A sigh of relief escaped him and he selected the option.
A box appeared asking him if he’d like to calibrate his HUD and Romulus selected ‘YES’ immediately.
The moment he did, his view of the world changed. A digital clock with both Eternus and Real Life time appeared on the centre top of his vision, while a compass appeared above a heavily fog-of-war obscured map window on the bottom right. The bottom left manifested a chat box, in which he saw absolutely zero activity in the ‘General’ and ‘Local Area’ tabs. A red bar, blue bar, and green bar appeared in the bottom centre of his vision, tagged as ‘HP’, ‘MP’, and ‘SP’ respectively.
When he saw that his status bars had percentage values and numerical ones, he grinned. He’d read that Eternus had done their system differently, since they emulated more realistic forms of combat. It was a relief to see that he wouldn’t need to meticulously track the numbers each time he took a hit, ran a distance, or cast a spell. Having them there was certainly useful, but it was nice to know he could just use the percentages in a pinch.
“Alright. Now we’re in business.” He said as he took in his HUD. “Should probably track my quests in the blank space on the right…” As he said it, it happened: The space between the top right of his vision and the compass filled in with a simple transparent box that said ‘Quest Log’ with ‘Avatar of the Dark Lady’ as a bullet point within it.
“Can I minimize the quest log?” He asked to the air, watching as it happened immediately.
“Cool. Vocal commands work, I guess. Okay…” Romulus rubbed his hands together. “Open Character Sheet.”
The requested window appeared instantly, and he began to read excitedly.
PLAYER INFORMATION
DETAILS
Name
Romulus
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Level
15
Experience
900 / 1,700
VALUES
Health
1,000
HPM
300 (5/s)
Mana
1,500
MPM
210 (3.5/s)
Stamina
1,000
SPM
300 (5/s)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength
10
Agility
10
Dexterity
10
Intellect
10
Willpower
10
Charisma
10
Vitality
10
Endurance
10
Romulus nodded to himself as he looked over his character sheet, reading each of the sections carefully. His alignment was unsurprising, given his freeing of the Goddess of Death from her bindings. That probably wasn’t going to win him any good boy points with the more traditionally benevolent deities or forces, and given that Lilith had all but stated that her followers and faith believed in might makes right, the evil alignment made more sense than he’d have liked.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
He glanced over his Health, Mana, and Stamina and noted the per second values in the regen fields. He didn’t immediately query the mana value, since he had a feeling that would be explained when he did a proper deep dive into the attributes. The unfortunate part of any game, really, was learning to understand the attributes and how they affected a character. Given Lilith’s advice, Romulus was determined to approach things with a cautious and balanced mindset.
“Open Attribute details.” He murmured as he walked, focusing on understanding what it was he’d be putting points into, and how exactly it was going to affect him.
Strength
Bonus Physical Damage, Carrying Capacity, and Damage Resistance.
Bonus Physical Damage 0.5% per 1 Points. (5% BPD)
Physical Damage Resistance 0.5% per 1 Points. (5% PDR)
Carrying Capacity 0.75 Kilograms per 1 Points. (7.5KG CC)
Agility
Bonus Speed of Movement, and Unconscious Dodge Chance.
Bonus Speed of Movement 0.5% per 1 Points. (5% BSM)
Unconscious Dodge Chance 0.2% per 1 Points. (2% UDC)
Dexterity
Accuracy of Ranged Weapons, Weapon Fire Speed, and Reload Time.
Accuracy of Range Weapons 0.5% per 1 Points (5% ARW)
Weapon Fire Speed 0.5% per 1 Points (5% FS)
Reload Time -0.5% per 1 Points. (-5% RT)
Intellect
Spell Potency, Mana Pool, Limited Mana Regen, and Learning Speed.
Spell Potency 0.5% per 1 Points. (5% SP)
Mana Pool 100 per 1 Points. (1000 MP)
Mana Regen 0.1 per 1 Points. (60 MPM/1.5 MPS)
Learning Speed 0.25% per 1 Points. (2.5% LS)
Willpower
Mana Pool, Mana Regen, and Spell Resistance.
Mana Pool 50 per 1 Points. (500 MP)
Mana Regen 0.25 per 1 Points. (150 MPM/2.5 MPS)
Spell Resistance 0.5% per 1 Points. (5% SR)
Charisma
Capability to Charm, Intimidate, Inspire, Seduce, Deceive, or Convince.
Chance to Alter Decisions 0.2% per 1 Points. (2% CAD)
Chance to Resist Decision Alteration 0.2% per 1 Points. (2% CRDA)
Vitality
Health Pool and Health Regen.
Health Pool 100 per 1 Points. (1000 HP)
Health Regen 0.5 per 1 Points. (300 HPM/5 HPS)
Endurance
Stamina Pool and Stamina Regen.
Stamina Pool 100 per 1 Points. (1000 SP)
Stamina Regen 0.5 per 1 Points. (300 SPM/5 SPS)
Romulus let out a low whistle as he read over the attribute breakdowns, murmuring unintelligibly as he did. There were a lot of options he could see, and already he understood why the developers had chosen the path they had: Balance. It was almost impossible to be good at everything, or even multiple forms of one thing. Dexterity was absolutely integral for any kind of ranged fighter, but that also meant that they would have to sacrifice massively either in agility or strength, depending on what sort of ranged combat they were doing.
A spellbow, for example, could easily use intellect to make up for a lack of strength.
It also meant that becoming a spellsword or paladin would require a sacrifice of dexterity and perhaps even agility, to focus on strength, intellect, and wisdom. Charisma, vitality, and endurance added even more dissemination to the pile, with each attribute controlling important facets of a character’s capabilities. Unless there was some way to combine attributes, he was quickly realizing that there was no easy path to dominance.
Lilith had told him to strengthen his mind, body, and spirit equally.
Looking at his options, Romulus was beginning to wonder if it was even possible.
Sighing to himself, he dismissed the attribute descriptions and went back to his character sheet, wondering what to do. He had the runeblade from Lilith, which meant he definitely needed strength. He’d also acquired some form of magic, though whether or not that was going to be immediately helpful was still frustratingly unclear.
With intellect also controlling bonuses to learning speed, not taking it seemed crazy even if he didn’t have practical applications for his magic yet. The Dark Lady had implied he’d gain some control over Death, and it didn’t take a genius to connect that anyone named the ‘Revenant-King’ likely had some immense Necromancy at their disposal.
“So I’ll basically be a spellsword, if my suspicions are correct.” He muttered.
On the off chance that he wasn’t right, he would likely be screwed.
“Fuck it.” He said with a grunt. “Nothing ventured…”
Romulus sent a prayer to Lilith, as absurd as the act was in a video game, and slammed home his points distributions. He put 25 points into strength, 15 points into intellect, 10 into endurance, 10 into agility, and dumped the remaining 15 into vitality. Muttering to himself about sadistic game developers, Romulus confirmed his distributions when queried.
The moment he did, he staggered sideways.
The points allocations took effect far more viscerally than he’d imagined.
He could feel his muscles thicken, his steps quicken, and his body grow somehow denser and more durable. He felt his mind growing subtly sharpened, and he almost seemed able to think more clearly. That was absurd, given he was in a video game, but it still felt… different. Refreshing.
Romulus squeezed his hands and stared at them as he did, eyes wide at the feeling coursing through him. He felt… powerful. Good. Really good.
“I’m only level 15, and I feel amazing. This game doesn’t even have a level cap…”
As he spoke, another set of alerts flashed into his HUD’s chat log, drawing his attention.
Congratulations, you have learned a new skill!
Skill Name: Dark Mana Channelling
Skill Type: Active
Skill Function: By calling upon your magical talents, you are able to channel Dark Mana, and use it to fuel all Dark Mana Schools. Dark Mana is the most flexible and diverse of Mana Types, though it is not without cost. Channelling Dark Mana will gradually reduce your ability to use Light, Fire, Air, Earth, and Water Mana.
Skill Level: Novice 3
Skill Description: Bend the power of the Dark to your will!
Congratulations, you have learned a new skill!
Skill Name: Sword Combat
Skill Type: Active
Skill Function: You have taken your first steps on the path to mastering the Sword! The greater your proficiency, the more effective you will be in combat. New katas will come to you instinctively, and you will passively grow more and more lethal the more you hone this skill.
Skill Level: Novice 2
Skill Description: Wield swords of all types in combat against your foes!
Romulus sighed as he read over the new alerts in his log, reaching up to brush his fingers through his hair. Dark Mana seemed powerful, given the description, but the fact that using it would lock out all other mana schools was… Well, it meant he could kiss his dreams of being a Gandalf-esque Archwizard goodbye.
“I wish Lilith had warned me about that before I agreed to be her Avatar…” He muttered as he walked, reading the final notification to enter his log.
You are under the influence of a new effect!
Effect Name: Mark of the Dark Lady
Effect Function: You have been marked by the Dark Lady, and are now identifiable to all true believers of the Goddess as her Chosen. Furthermore, those of great piety among the faithful of the other Gods — especially followers of the Light — will be able to sense your presence, with increasing range based on the level of their faith. These individuals will mark you as a foe to be slain immediately.
Effect Level: Divine
Effect Description: Glory, Champion, in the Dark Lady’s favour!
Romulus let out a long, slow groan at what he read, his palms rising to rub at his eyes in frustration. Not only had Lilith marked him, bound him to using a mana type that would erode others, and thrown him to the ass-end of nowhere: She’d also managed to put a gigantic ‘come kill me, please!’ beacon on him that any frothing-at-the-mouth priest, paladin, cleric, or other stereotype would be able to see and set a beeline for. Even worse, her crazy followers — who Lilith had not done a great job of painting in a positive light — were going to be flocking to him.
“I need to get stronger.” He muttered as he raised his eyes to focus on the approaching walls of the town, momentarily surprised by his good progress.
Romulus glanced to his left and turned to the beginnings of a faded dirt road, stepping onto the overgrown path heading toward what he could now tell was a large gate perhaps five hundred metres away. The fact he hadn’t seen the path until that moment told him how little use it likely received.
“I wonder if this place even has people?” He questioned as he moved, flexing his hands idly and then resting his right hand on the hilt of his blade.
The moment he did, he froze in place, again.
A sensation akin to need echoed into his mind from the blade like a bolt of lightning along his arm. Stunned, Romulus instinctively pulled the sword from its scabbard and stared at the dark steel of the weapon. Immediately, that sense of need pulsed again and Romulus frowned at the weapon in perplexion. It seemed to want something from him, though he couldn’t tell what it was.
“Are you just wanting something to stab?” He asked, going for the obvious first.
A small pulse of agreement came from the weapon, but somehow he knew that was a general agreement more than a specific answer to its need. It still wanted something else. How he knew that, Romulus couldn’t even explain to himself, but know it he did.
“Okay well if you aren’t looking to stab people, what else could you want? You aren’t dirty, you’re definitely not lacking in the sharpness department…” He frowned as a thought slithered into his mind unbidden. All good blades have names.
“Do you want a name?” He asked a moment later.
This time, the pulse of agreement was powerful. A clear yes.
“Hm… I’m not great with names. I normally choose heroic paladin ones…” He snorted. “That seems really inappropriate for something with skulls all over it, though.”
The sword pulsed in agreement.
“How about Darktooth?”
The sword pulsed heavily in discontentment.
“Okay, uh, what about Blightcaller?”
Another pulse of discontent, though this was lighter.
“Hm. Well, we’re getting somewhere at least. Uh. Dawnkiller?”
A more neutral pulse followed the suggestion.
“Definitely things to do with killing the Light then, eh?”
The blade pulsed enthusiastic agreement.
“Mm…” Romulus frowned at the sword. “Does it need to be one word?”
A negative pulse made his eyes brighten. He could work with that.
“So it could even be a word and an extended title?”
A confirmation pulse rippled from the sword and Romulus grinned. “I think I’ve got it.” When he’d first drawn the sword, he’d realised that the sunlight seemed to almost slide away from the blade, as if it refused to be illuminated by it. The subtle aura of darkness, in fact, was palpable as he watched it. The name of the sword would need to exemplify its nature, its purpose, and its origins. Thankfully, a lifetime of Fantasy novels had prepared him well for that.
“I think we’re going to name you ‘Lightsbane, Retribution of the Dark Lady’.”
The sword pulsed once with fierce approval, and a dark flare of black fire erupted.
When the flames cleared, three void-black runes outlined in purple were present near the base of the dark steel of the blade proper, marching up from the crossguard. Even without knowing the language, Romulus could understand what they represented.
Lightsbane, Retribution of the Dark Lady.
“I guess that’s that, then. I’ll call you Lightsbane for short.”
Another hum of approval, and with a surge of curiosity Romulus used [Examine].
Name: Lightsbane, Retribution of the Dark Lady
Type: Revenant Runeblade (Soulbound)
Rarity: Mythic
Slot(s): Main Hand, Off-Hand, Two-Handed
Level: 1
Description: Revenant Runeblades are one of the most feared and powerful creations in the history of Eternus. Once wielded by the Revenant-King and Death Knights of his Court, these storied blades brought fear and hope in equal measure to the peoples of Eternus. This blade may very well be the last of its kind, with all others having been shattered with their Masters’ deaths.
Durability: 100 / 100
* 5 Strength
* 5 Intellect
* 5 Vitality
* 10% Spell Potency with Dark Mana
Special Effect(s): Revenant Runeblades evolve in power as they are fed Essence.
* Level 1 (1/1 Essence): First Evolution — Attunement
* Level 2 (0/10 Essence): Second Evolution — Potency
Romulus nodded to himself as he read over the sword’s stats, and then sheathed it. The moment he did, he also noticed the subtle dark aura vanished from the blade.
“Well, it’s better than walking around with a menacing sword announcing my presence.”
Disagreement came from Lightsbane, and he snorted.
“Agree to disagree, then.”
A pulse of acceptance was returned and Romulus shook his head, setting off back toward the gate in the near distance.
“Let’s see how I look with everything said and done.” He muttered. “Character Sheet, and add a modifiers section so I can see my attribute bonuses.”
The System complied an instant later.
PLAYER INFORMATION
DETAILS
Name
Romulus
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Level
15
Experience
900 / 1,700
VALUES
Health
1,500
HPM
450 (7.5/s)
Mana
3,500
MPM
330 (5.5/s)
Stamina
2,000
SPM
600 (10/s)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength
40 (35)
Agility
20
Dexterity
10
Intellect
30 (25)
Willpower
10
Charisma
10
Vitality
30 (25)
Endurance
20
MODIFIERS
Strength
30% BPD
30% BDR
30KG CC
Agility
10% BSM
4% UDC
Dexterity
5% ARW
5% WFS
-5% RT
Intellect
25% (15%) SP
3,000 MP
3 MPS
7.5% LS
Willpower
500 MP
2.5 MPS
5% SR
Charisma
2% CAD
2% CRDA
Vitality
3,000 HP
15 HPS
Endurance
2,000 SP
10 SPS
It was easy enough to discern that the numbers in parenthesis were his true values, while the first ones were the values after factoring in Lightsbane. Any gear or further equipment he gained would likely also skew the numbers. Looking at his health and mana, Romulus could only shake his head. Very likely the management of those resources would become pointless in time. It would come down to a general sense of fatigue and battle weariness, more than any mathematical calculation.
It was a smart choice on the part of the developers. It meant that player versus player battles would be far more exciting at higher levels, with a more seamless and flashy form of combat almost indistinguishable from a movie or fantasy novel. Players would fight until their health bars bottomed out. Mana, very likely, would play no more than a cursory role in much of the fighting.
It made him excited, and he dismissed his character sheet with a grin.
Ahead of him, the gate loomed.
It was time to start his adventure in earnest.