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Welcome to Second Awakening
Ren opened his eyes after the log-in process was done and found...nothing. It wasn't that he was in an empty room or that he was in so deserted location. All round him was just a black nothingness. An endless void without light. Underneath him Ren could feel rough stone. Ren was just starting to get confused when a notification popped up in front of him.
System Message Because you failed to set a re-spawn point you have been automatically
re-spawned at the closest safe area near your point of death.
Ok did I really not set a re-spawn point? Ren thought and if I’m near were I died that means I’m still in the tunnels right? But where exactly am I? This would be so much better if I could see.
Ren searched through his bag but he didn't see anything. He was about to close his inventory when he spotted the novice sword he used to help practice [Static Blitz]. Ren never really paid attention to it before but now when he looked at it he noticed that the name of the sword had changed. Ren took out the sword to examine it and, to his extreme shock, it let out a dim blue glow. Ren quickly used [Sage Eye] on it.
Name Type Shocking Novice Sword - Rare Quality Normal Damage 3-8 Durability 50/50This sword use to be a normal Novice Sword but due to constantly being hit with lightning it
absorbed some of it changing its properties. This sword now emits a dim blue glow and has
a small chance to paralyze anyone damaged by it.
-5% chance to inflict the [paralyzed] statues effect
Ren was very shocked. Not just because of the chance but by how it was changed and what the change gave the sword. Sure it was still a novice sword but right now, if Ren sold it, it would sell for 20-30 gold, or $20-30 since gold was being traded 1:1 ratio right now, might even go more if he sold it on an auction site. People were still joining the game and any newbie with that sword would definitely have an early-game advantage. While the potential for the sword to be worth a lot right now was good, Ren was more excited about the light it produced. Sure it didn't spread very far, maybe 4 to 5 at the farthest, but he could see!
Using the glow of the sword Ren looked around and saw his steel sword that he dropped when he died. This caused Ren's heart to sink because now he knew where he was. At the bottom of the chasm underneath the bridge he fought on. Ren held the sword up higher to see if he could cast the light further but it didn't really help. Ren was just about to start exploring to see if he could find a way out when he got a message
||Powell - Hey Ren where are you? We saw that you died yesterday so we sent Azriel back to wait for you in the city but you didn't show up when you logged back on.||
This was actually the first message Ren has gotten in the game. Sending a message was a way to communicate with some far away. All you had to do was say "Message [insert name]" and say the message you wanted to send. There would be a couple minute delay before the recipient got the message and it couldn't be used in combat. This was to try to limit the communication advantage that players had to around what the NPC's could do with magic items.
"Message Powell" Ren said, "I forgot to set a re-spawn point to I re-spawned at the safest area near where I died, which just happened to be where I died. At the bottom of the chasm. Send"
While He waited for Powell's reply Ren picked a random direction and started walking, it would do him any good to just stay in one place.
Ren walked in what he hoped was a straight line for several minutes when he got a reply from Powell.
||Powell - Seriously? You didn't set a re-spawn point? Can you get out? Can we help?||
"Message Powell. There are only two ways I can get out of here. One is to walk around until I find an exit, the other is to hope you or I can find some way to teleport me out of here. I thing we both know which ones going to happen. Send."
Ren continued walking after sending the message.
Ren walked for what felt like hours. He found one of the wall of the chasm and used that as a guide so he didn't walk in circles. He would occasionally send some lightning into the sword, which Ren found increased the brightness of the sword for a bit of time. Ren was hoping he might find some rare plant or something but nothing came up, all Ren found was barren rock and darkness. At one point Ren thought he saw something shine in the distance so he picked up his pace a bit and...tripped. Not only did he trip he tripped and fell down a slope and proceeded to roll said slope, throwing his glowing sword down the slope in the process.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Ren felt like he rolled for several minutes before he came to a stop by rolling off a small ledge and lading hard. Thanks to Ren's [Fall Damage Reduction] skill he didn't receive and damage from the rolling or the fall at the end and to Ren's surprise, the //Shocking Novice Sword\\ was right in front of him. Ren picked up the sword and looked around. It was still dark but Ren swore he could see a dull red-orange glow coming from in front of him. As Ren walked towards it the glow got brighter until he didn't need the sword for illumination anymore. The further he went the brighter it got until it was almost as bright as daylight. It was also hot. Very Hot. Ren felt like he was standing in from of a forge but he kept walking. Ren was very curious about what was ahead.
After a few more minutes of walking Ren rounded a bend and he saw...
An absolutely gigantic cavern with an equal size lake of lava.
Not only was there a lake of lave but in the middle was what looked like a huge city. Bridging the gap was a large stone bridge that looked like it shouldn't be able to stay up but also looked like the most stable structure Ren has seen yet. Ren made his way down towards the bridge and cautiously stepped onto it. After a few steps he jumped a few time but nothing happened so he continued walking, watching out for any cracks and cracking sounds.
Eventually Ren made his way to the huge, open, black metal gate of the city. The walls of the city were massive, they soared dozens, if not a couple hundred, feet in height and through the gate Ren could that that they were probably 50-60 feet thick. The walls were made of a rock that looked similar to granite but had a greenish tinge and was laced with red and black veins. Looking closely Ren could see strange symbols carved into every square inch of the walls. Just looking at the walls that surrounded the city made Ren even more excited to see what it was like inside.
Ren stepped through the gate and into the city proper and stopped in shock. The City was massive. It looked big from a distance but being inside it made Ren realize just how big it really was. It's not like it was a city for giants, everything was pretty much human sized but the size of the city itself was beyond what Ren had ever seen before. Also when Ren stepped though the gate he felt an immediate drop in temperature, It's still wasn't that cool but now it was at least tolerable.
As Ren took in the city he received a notification.
System Message Congratulations!
You are the first person to find the lost city of Aukrokia!
You receive 1500 fame and, because it's been abandoned, the right to claim ownership
of the city. To claim ownership of the city you must find and hold the throne for at
least one day. By claiming ownership of the city you gain the right to levy taxes on its
citizens, both in the city and the surrounding area, the right to raise and army, the right
to hand out quests related to the city, and the right to create events related to the city.
Ren was even more shocked than he already was. He could own an entire city? There were just no word to describe what Ren felt at that moment, than he remembered something very important and all of his fantasies came crashing down. What Ren remembered was the location of the city. How would anyone visit a city that was in the middle of a lake of lava situated deep underground in a mountain infested with goblins with no known route to it from the surface? Ren felt depressed. He could have a city but it would be the same as a king ruling over an empty kingdom. Despite his mixed feeling over getting a city Ren made his way through it, checking random buildings on his way to the large palace in the center.
It took Ren about an hour to make his way through the deserted streets and to the palace gate. Ren walked through the open gates and into the building and started walking around, searching for the throne room. One would think that it would be easy to fine but it took Ren a few hours to make his way through all of the rooms and corridors before finding the throne room. Ren stood outside its doors, took a deep breath, and opened the doors. The throne room was a grand as one would expect from a city like this, even after who knows how long. It was as long as a football field and about as wide. At the end was a figure sitting on a raise throne. As Ren walked closer, his footsteps echoing in the empty hall, he saw that the figure was a dried-out mummy that look remarkably human but with one major difference, the figure had a pair of large, dried-out wing behind it.
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I'm just going to head off any complaining out Ren getting a city before it starts. Yes he has a city (well not yet) but the city is in what it probability the most remote place discover yet. How many of you would want a city that was in the middle of Antarctica, the Siberian wilderness, the Sahara, or a volcano that had no modern tech? How many of you would want to live in a city like that? Nothing that big will happen with it for a while yet so it's not like he gains something that useful.