Ch.1 The Library

Proofread by Nobody

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***

A feminine voice spoke to him from the surrounding darkness.

"Yes," David said calmly.

-Select the name of your avatar-

He used the name he used for all games "Goliath," he said. The man who died at the hands of David. With the mind of David and the strength of Goliath he thought it was a great combination.

-Select your gender Male, Female, or Neutral-

"Mal.. Wait neutral?" he said confused.

-You have selected neutral-

"Wait! No, Male I choose Male," he panicked.

-You have selected Male-

Why do they even have neutral he wondered?

-There are forty-nine races in Royal Road you may choose from the primary 29 races-

"Human," he said. He thought human was a bit boring, but felt it would be better to fight in his regular body.

-You may alter your appearance-

He thought for a second about whether he should change his appearance. "Gahh it doesn't matter the way I am."

- Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road....-

"Pass," he said. He had read all of that on the website already.

-Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

"Jormungand in the Thor Kingdom," he said.

-Welcome to Royal...-

"Skip," Goliath shouted.

Skipping through the introduction he was trying to move fast to get to the game as fast as possible.

***

*Flash*

After blinking a couple of times, Goliath looked around to see a bunch of different people staring at everything around them and pointing. He also saw more and more people flashing in around him. He quickly moved away to an alleyway to avoid the massive amounts of people appearing, running, and pointing at everything. Then he looked around more closely and felt himself stunned just like those people around him. There was a huge castle and hundreds of multicolored buildings. Merchants were everywhere yelling their wares from stands, and he saw a large amount of dwarves walking around as well. The Thor Kingdom, the kingdom of dwarves.

After getting over the initial shock of entering the virtual realm, he decided to check his inventory. Pulling the bag on his back off his shoulders he checked the contents, 10 pieces of rye bread and a canteen.

“Hm, I hope this lasts the next four weeks,” Goliath said to himself. Since you weren't allowed outside the city until the end of a four week period you would have to do odd job quests until you could go out. This was to get people acquainted with the game. Also Royal Road was four times the speed in the real world so it would be only be a week in real time.

Now to commit himself to his plan.The city of Jormungand was a small city barely constituting for a beginner city. The one thing that Jormundgand had that few other starting cities had was a giant library. The lore for the city had said that the dwarvish scholars had gathered books and scrolls from across the continent to put into the library. The library was a large source of information for the players, though fame was needed to get the older and more useful books and scrolls. He ran down the alleyway and got onto the street. He turned around and looked for the library having already decided it was his first stop.

That's probably it, he thought as he saw a large structure carved out of stone. Jormungand was built on the side of a mountain, so most of the buildings were carved out of stone. Smashing his desire to explore, he tried to find his way to the library using the large structure to guide him. After going down a couple of streets and along several alleyways, he finally found himself in front of the Jormungand Library. It was a beautiful structure carved from white marble with gargoyles on the top and a bell tower.

He hurried up the stairs to the door and pushed it open. Inside he saw an angry elderly dwarf lady looking at him from behind a desk. Behind her were large shelves of books and scrolls.

“What do you want?” she snapped at him.

Jumping from surprise he looked back at her “I came to read,” he said confused.

Walking over and looking him up and down she said, “You think I’d let a beggar like you into the proud library of Jormungand.”

Shocked he looked at her.

“What are still doing here? I told you to get out! Leave or I’ll call the guards!”

Walking out of the library in a daze, he turned back and said, “but” as the doors were slammed in his face.

***

He sat on the steps leading up to the library doors wondered how he could get in. He hadn't realized that he would need fame just to enter the building.

“Dammit,” he yelled, startling the people walking up and down the steps. The first step in his plan had been ruined. While he was sitting here he had seen other users try to get in and get thrown out in the same way he had. None had been able to get past that angry old librarian. He took his canteen out of his pack and took a drink. He was still unwilling to leave when he saw a human girl who seemed around 15. She was obviously a NPC because she was wearing the same robes as the librarian was wearing. No user would be able to afford something like that on the first day.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

His thoughts whirled as he looked at her. Suddenly, he brightened at the chance that had been put right under his nose. He stood up and walked over to her until he was blocking her path. She wasn’t paying attention since she was reading a scroll, and she bumped into him. Of course, this caused to to drop all of her stuff onto the ground and fall on her butt.

Putting on a smile he held out a hand to her and said “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“No, no it’s my fault. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m so sorry,” She started freaking out.

He helped her to her feet and picked up her stuff. Success, he thought, this happened in many manga, and anime. With this he could try to befriend her.

“Thanks for your help,” she said and bowed to him.

“Oh, don’t thank me, it was partially my fault” he said acting apologetic.

“And my name is Goliath,” he said holding his hand out to shake.

“Oh uh my name is Shale,” she said grabbing his hand and shaking it.

“Shale huh, do you by chance work at the library?” he asked already knowing the answer.

“Oh yes, how did you know?” Shale asked startled.

He pointed to her robes as answer then said, “Well I tried to go to the Library earlier but I wasn’t allowed in. I have a love for knowledge, and couldn’t stay away.”

“Oh that is Laris she has been the librarian there for twenty years.” Shale said “She is very protective about who gets into the library.”

"Why is she so protective of it,” he asked, actually curious to know, knowledge is power.

“Well a long time ago, when she was a lot younger, she let some adventurers look at the books, and when she wasn’t looking they stole several of them,” she confided.

“Who would dare steal from Jormungand,” he said pretending to be shocked.

“Well thieves are pretty common here sadly,” she said.

“So, what happened after they stole the books?” he asked.

“They left the city in a hurry, the books they took were very important ones from the old Daroon kingdom which was known for its Dark Magic,” she confided.

“Well, I just wanna read. Maybe you could talk to Laris tell her I am not a thief,” he said.

“Oh and how do I know you aren’t a thief,” she said looking at him suspiciously.

“Why by my honor I would never steal from anyone, and I do not like you accusing me of being a thief.” he said in defence of himself.

“O.K. I’ll ask her but only in apology for bumping into you,” she said giving into his request.

Shale took the lead and tucked the scrolls she had been reading under her arm. She led the way up to the library. Once we got to the top of the steps he moved fast and opened the door for her “After you,” he said smiling.

Shale walked in and put the scrolls on the desk where the dwarf lady Laris was sitting glaring at him again. Goliath walked inside behind her and looked around as though he didn’t see the glare Laris was directing at him.

“What are you doing here beggar,” she spat at him, “I told you to get out or I would call for the guards!”

Obviously he couldn’t ignore her anymore. He turned to look at her and said, “I am no beggar and I have only come here to read from the greatest Library in the Thor kingdom.”

Still glaring at him with no less hostility, “You think I would let your dirty hands touch the books gathered from across the continent? This is the greatest library on the continent do not disgrace it with your words.”

Well the praise backfired, he thought.

“Um, Laris I think you are being too harsh maybe you should give him a chance,” said Shale weakly from where she was standing next to the desk.

“You are too trusting girl, live a few more years and you will know what I mean,” she said angrily to Shale.

“Come on, there must be some way I could convince you to let me study here,” he said after realizing that Shale wasn’t making any headway against the old woman.

Shale nodded agreement but looked chastened and unwilling to speak.

Glaring at the both of them she seemed to be in thought, then a terrifying smile spread across her cracked lips.

For some reason he felt something bad was gonna happen.

“I will let you read the books here if you can clean the library and put away the books to my satisfaction before I return home,” said Laris.

Tring..

The librarian of the Jormungand Library needs help cleaning and putting away books

in the library. This must be done within 6 hours.

Rank F

Reward Access to the first floor of the library

Is that all? Goliath expected something much worse, but then he saw Shale’s sad expression. He had very little trust for that old librarian so there must be a catch. The library was large but he could dust it and put everything away easily within 6 hours.

“I accept,”he said.