Chapter 3
Academy of Warfare 2
“Show Real Clock!!!”
A frustrated young boy shouted out to as to no one. Immediately a digital clock appeared in front of the boy who was now inside a dark room, swinging a wooden sword. ‘6:30 in the morning huh! Good grief! I will be able to complete my training in time for my breakfast’.
Shiv had been swinging his sword for 4 continuous hours. Rather than swinging his sword just like one would practice swinging swords in kendo, Shiv used this time to practice the moves which was taught to him by his martial arts masters. Thanking the masters that taught an impassionate guy like him, Shiv continued his training.
His continuous movement had triggered the creation of many new skills but Shiv paid no heed to those notification, he did not want moves that were taught to him by others to influence his game life. The young boy did not want to be restricted by the laws of his previous masters. He genuinely wanted to strive in the new world with his own original moves and he very well knew that the current him could not do such things.
Shiv had also not bothered to check the dialogue boxes which indicated his stats increase or satiety level or any other notifications. He concentrated his all on mastering the sword and his body.
Shiv put down his sword, panting and sweating heavily. ‘This world is too real for a game world’. Being worn out because of the training, Shiv decided to sit down for a while before he logged out. And as laid down on his bed, Shiv’s ears caught hold of a strange voice. Reluctantly the boy forced his body up from the bed and then closed his eyes so as to concentrate on to the strange sounds.
Shiv’s concentration increased as time flew, he could not distinctly hear the sounds, which now felt like some kind of chant. He remained in the same position for a while.
Ten minutes or so passed till the Shiv opened his eyes. Lifting his body completely from the bed, he paced toward the room to the left of the hall, the armoury. Taking out a bread loaf from the inventory, he chewed on the hard bread to satisfy is hunger. Finishing the bread in one bite, Shiv entered the armoury for the first time.
But the moment he placed his foot inside, the chant got louder and violent. A sudden pressure attacked Shiv from the dark depths of the armoury.
Shiv felt nauseated, blood drained from his face, pain surged through his entire body. But he endured, he took a step forward, then another step and another step. By the time he had taken five steps or so, Shiv was already panting, his face as pale as that of a corpse. Shiv wanted to go back, but something in him forced to move towards the dark space. With great strength, he placed his right leg forward and suddenly the pressure disappeared.
Colour returned to Shiv’s face as he breathed in air. The chant had gotten considerably milder. Shiv was at a loss at what to do. He wanted to move forward but at the same time cautious. Another round of that intense pressure and Shiv knew that he would collapse.
‘I will move forward. This is my new life. None shall oppose me’ A sudden burst of energy throttled the newbie forward. He walked into the armoury prepared for the worst. Those eyes no longer carried any hesitation, as power welled up in it.
The armoury was dark, yet Shiv could make out he number of weapons the armoury housed. From strange weapons to the most basic ones were aligned. Spears, swords, axes, shields, there were huge numbers of weapons, of different size and type. The very amount of weapons amassed in that place caused Shiv to be dumbfounded, but his ears was once again captivated by the chant.
The chant had gotten considerably louder. For a young boy like Shiv, the strange chant was an exciting turn of events. He wondered whether the chant was an effect of some kind of legendary weapons, a boy’s romance indeed.
At some point, the chant got awfully loud, and another step to the forward lead to a decrease in its amplitude. Shiv realized that the source of the chant was somewhere among the weapons near him. Shiv then rummaged through the numerous weapons, till he found the source of the strange voice he had been hearing till then.
In his hands were a small box with a dark violet shade to it. The box looked like any other normal boxes, except for the jewel that crowned it. Shiv inspected the box closely, especially the jewel and concluded that it was the small pinkish jewel that produced the chant. As Shiv stared intently onto the jewel, magic circles appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him in a flash.
The next instant, the circles began to emit intense radiation causing Shiv to shut his eyes in pain. He could not do nothing else but keep his eyes shut, until the voice of a woman shook him up.
“Eh? What is a human doing in this place?” the beautiful voice enquired, a hint of surprise and curiosity was mixed in that crystal clear voice.
The startled Shiv immediately opened his eyes to confirm his surrounding and also the owner of the female voice. But the moment his eyes opened up, Shiv was struck with astonishment.
His mind was in disarray. Few seconds ago, he was clearly inside the dim lit armoury and so Shiv voiced his mind’s question out loud.
“What is this place? Where am I? Who are you?”
Question after question emerged from Shiv’s mouth. The youth could not believe his own eyes. The dark armoury had now changed into a big room with crystals emerging from every inch of the room. The crystals carried the same pinkish tint as the jewel on the top of the box Shiv had a while ago. And before he could re-order his thoughts,
“That’s too many. I can’t answer them all in a breath, you know” the voice sounded as if the person was sulking.
“Who are you?” Shiv asked in a reflex.
“Eh! You barged into my room and now you ask who I am? Such a rude human” the voice now had a tint of anger in it.
“I am sorry about that, I did not mean to intrude. I was thrown here suddenly. Just a moment ago, I was inside a dark place holding a suspicious box, and then…”
“And then you suddenly came here? Sigh, that old fox, can’t even properly do one single thing” the voice cursed somebody. “Sigh! What is your name, human?”
“Err! I am called Shiv”
“Shiv eh! I see. I will answer your questions for now. First this place is the inside of the box you were holding a while ago. I know, I know. Hard to believe, right? For now, let me continue. My name is Fortuna, goddess of time and space. Hey you, what’s with that face. I really am a goddess. This brat! Sigh!”
Shiv was sceptical about things, mainly about the part of the voice being that of goddess, the final sigh made things even more suspicious.
“I get it, I get it. You don’t believe me eh. Fine, I will prove it to you.” When those words stopped, Shiv heard the snapping of fingers. The crystal around him began to shine causing Shiv to panic but the light faded out soon.
When the light died out, Shiv found a small pocket watch suspended in the air just a few steps away from him.
“Go ahead, take it” the voice beamed with enthusiasm.
Reluctantly Shiv approached the suspended pocket watch. The watch was purely silver in colour, from the chain to the round dial was made of silver, its brilliance was enough to guess the material of origin.
Shiv extended his hand towards the watch and grabbed it gently and then,
“Trrrng”
Artifact found: Chains of Time
You have found a very rare artifact, Chains of time. This artifact once belonged to the God of Time, Fortuna. It is believed that the god had gifted this precious watch to a human who had begged for the god’s aid. The watch was soon fought by other greedy humans and so had been considered as an item with immense bad luck. The item was then lost and its where about forgotten.
Artifact with power over time itself. Able to slow time.
Time is doubled for the owner of the artifact.
Mana consumption: 200 mana per hour
200 mana per hour consumed for each hour the power is active
Usable only thrice a day
Effect lasts till mana runs out or the caster cancels it.
‘Holy cow! Time gets doubled? That means 1 game hour becomes 2 game hours? Then 6 days becomes 12 days! Though the mana consumption will run me dry in two hours.
Shiv opened pocket watch and saw two dials, each had its own set of minute and second hands. What intrigued Shiv the most was, one of the dial showed the current game time while the other dial was stationary.
Deciding to test the watch, “Chains of Time”, he shouted. Shiv felt the surroundings blur for a moment and then everything returned back to normal. ‘Did it really work?’ Questioning the watch’s powers, he checked the watch again and was astonished. The dial and the pair of hands which had been stationary before had started moving while the pair which had been moving was now not moving.
‘So it really works. What an artefact. No wonder people fought for it. With careful use, this pocket watch can make a guy invincible’ Shiv thought.
“Fufufu. You seemed to like it, don’t you, human? The voice resounded once again with a chuckle.”
“Ah! Sorry for not believing you, Fortuna-sama” Shiv bowed slightly as an apology.
“No need of such formalities. So hero candidate, now that you believe me, let me answer the next question. Hm? What is it boy?” The voice as if noticing something in Shiv’s mind, voiced out a question.
“Err! Can you please explain about the ‘hero candidate’ part. Fortuna-sama? I have no idea what that means.”
“Huh! You began your training not even knowing what and who you are? Are you an idiot? Sigh! Fine, listen carefully. You do know that, you are now in the village of Draklake, right?”
“I do. But strangely, I seem to be the only human no, the only traveller here”
“You did notice it eh! That makes things easier. You travellers are originally beings that were summoned to this world, in short you are other worlders. Normally when you are summoned, the Gods this realm assign you a particular village to begin your adventure. Currently, there are more than a thousand such villages. But the village of Draklake does not belong to that category.”
“Huh” exclaimed a surprised Shiv.
“Out of the tens of thousands of the summoned ones, some of them, in the range of few hundreds, gets send to special villages like these. The criteria of selection varies from gods to gods and only few gods have the privilege to do so. The village of Draklake is one such village. These special villages are under the direct protection of gods, and so everything here has divine power in it”
‘I see! So that is why I received those huge status buffs.’ Shiv could now figure out some of the mysteries of the villages.
“But just because you were summoned to these villages does not mean anything. Your time of stay is limited, may be a week or two. And in that given time you have to make use of the most you can. Some might get huge rewards, some won’t. But those who completes all the challenges in these special villages are given the right to be the apostle of the god who protects the village. In your case, the Dragon God, Oberon. But you sure are lucky and unlucky as well”
“Hm! Why is that so?” asked Shiv unable to comprehend the meaning of the last few words.
“To be chosen by the One True God, Oberon in itself is an honour, you know, but at the same time a curse. The Dragon God is strict and merciless. And so the challenges he forces on to you will be one different level as compared to the other gods. Of course, the rewards will be of a different level.”
“I see, everything makes complete sense now. The Oberon’s bless, the quests, the academy. All of these are to make sure I have the minimum ability to pass. But at the same time, relying on these abilities only will not help me clear this stage. Correct?”
“My, my what a sharp boy. Boy, I have a question. What did you mean by Oberon’s Bless. I have not heard such a blessing before.”
“Oh, that’s something I got as soon as landed here”, saying so the boy lifted his right hand to show the dragon tattoo coiled around it.
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“You, why do you have that mark?” Contrary to the gentle voice till before, the voice now harboured intense bloodlust. For a moment Shiv thought that the person he was talking to had switched places with someone. In the next second, the blood lust died out and the same cheerful voice rang out.
“Ah, I showed you something disgraceful. I lost my composure, teehee” the voice apologized.
‘Don’t teehee me, you stupid goddess’ Shiv retorted in his mind as he could mentally imagine a beautiful goddess doing the act.
The voice continued, “To call me stupid, how cruel! Sniff, sniff”
‘An esper?’ Shiv thought.
“I am a goddess, you know. At least reading the mind of a few should be easy for a goddess of my prowess.”
“Sigh! I give up.”
“Good boy, good boy. You know, I once knew a human who had the same tattoo, long ago. He was someone I cherished. Sigh, why was he born as a mortal.” A deep sad voice resounded in the room. Shiv wondered about the man who could make even a goddess long for him.
“Let bygones be bygones. Young boy, its almost time for you to leave. As a reward for letting me have some fun, I shall let you have that pocket watch and also for letting me see something good, here is a bonus”
“Trrng”
The goddess of time has granted you, her blessing
+200 mana[align]
Shiv closed the notification and lifted his head to thank the voice, but strangely what surrounded him now where a long stretch of weapons.
‘When did I even get back? What a whimsical goddess? May be should visit one of her temples someday’ making note of to do things, Shiv logged out for a while to rest his body.
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