Zoanna was feeling so weak that even getting up was a struggle. There was a terrible headache and her body hurt like hell all over. It seemed that the blood all around her was her own. Unable to move, she looked at the blue screens again. The screens were in front of her, floating harmlessly in the air. The priestess candidates were not allowed to keep any kind of communication device on them but Zoanna had seen the computers and used them for transactions whenever she visited the sky bazaars on behalf of the Priestess. Usually, people with the GRM chip in their brains didn't need to interact with the computers at all. For people like her, there were small stickers that you could stick behind your ear and then use your thoughts to interact with the computer.
Maybe it was all a hallucination and would go away in time, but she didn't want to miss out on any important information if it wasn't. Reading everything on the screen, she got some understanding of the stats. It seemed that intelligence and vitality were her defining stats since they were the highest. She focused on intelligence, trying to think if it just showed how intelligent she was. Suddenly, another screen popped up:
Intelligence: Efficiency of one's brain in dealing with connections, memories and energies and measure of computational speed
Delighted to find the information, she quickly checked out other stats as well.
Strength: Force you can exert without getting exhausted
Endurance: The body's resistance to pain and damage
Vitality: The measure of one's life force and efficiency to regenerate it
Dexterity: Measure of one's agility of body and limbs
Perception: Measure of one's ability to see and feel the surroundings using available senses
Control: Measure of coordination between different limbs of the body, reaction to internal and external stimuli, precision of attacks and effectiveness of spells
Luck: Increases the chance of positive encounters
It was a lot of information. She quickly focused on three bars under her name:
Health: 10.1/60 Health regeneration: 0.11/minute Mana: 60/60 Mana regeneration: 0/minute Stamina: 10.1/40 Stamina regeneration: 0.2/minute
The information on the blue screen indicated that even if she didn't do anything, she would recover her health in some time. Next, she focused on her name and a menu appeared:
Change name (Locked) Companion Change system theme and related setting (Locked) Create a party Set time (Locked) World events
Before she could check out any options, she heard a terror-inducing bestial roar that froze her for a second. Suddenly very aware of her surroundings, she noticed a dense white fog covering the entire floor. There seemed to be serpentine shapes moving in the fog. Panicking, she struggled to sit up but instead fell from the altar. She inhaled some fog and found it difficult to breathe. gasping for fresh air on all fours, she stood up and walked to the nearest room. Glancing around and making sure there was no one else in the room, she shut the door off. The room belonged to the Advisor, on the right side of the room there was a bed and a table with some water on it. Some fruits were lying on another table near the window. She quickly shut off the window. Feeling safe enough, for the time being, she drank some water and consumed the fruits. She sprinkled some water on her face to get out of the drowsiness she was feeling after inhaling the fog.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Zoanna glanced at her health, in 3 hours she would gain back around 20 points of health. She quickly went back to the options and focused on the [World Events].
Upcoming world events:
1. Rush: starts in 09:52:21
2. Survive: Starts in 70:53:21
3. Conquer I: Starts in 198:55:49
For further information on world events, please wait for the system announcement.
This new information filled her with dread, one thing was clear, she wouldn't be able to bunker down in the room for long. [Rush] sounded like she would have to get out of the temple eventually. She was afraid. Afraid of the unknown beast that had frightened her, probably roaming outside somewhere. Afraid of getting found by her people and the gruesome outcome.
Zoanna wasn't a coward or weak. Her life never had been easy but she never stopped living. She was bullied throughout her childhood but still made a friend. Some people tried to kidnap her or kill her, but she had evaded them. Gathering some courage, she decided to act on the information that she had.
It seemed that for the world events, she would have to move out of the room or probably even the temple. there were approximately nine hours before the first event began.
'I should first focus on recovering whatever health and strength that I can before the word event starts. The blood on the altar was definitely mine, the Priestess and chief really tried to sacrifice me. I cannot stay here any longer.' Zoanna thought to herself and started searching the room.
She found a small dagger hidden underneath the mattress. She went back to the door and peeked outside. Seeing no one in the hall, she closed the door and rested on the bed. In around thirty minutes, the headache was reduced as well as the body pain. Getting a sense of urgency, she stealthily moved out of the room making sure to not make any noise. She crouched and started walking towards the stairs. Midway to the stairs and near the altar, she discovered the collapsed body of the Priestess and the advisor.
Zoanna was shocked, she quickly checked the nerves of both the women. there was no pulse. She raised the head of the Priestess above the fog and noticed a wound on her forehead with some dried blood around it. She probably hit her head when she fell. She checked on the Advisor, and although there were no visible wounds on her body, she wasn't breathing anymore.
Getting a very bad feeling, she quickly went down the stairs. there was no one in the temple and neither did she encounter any more bodies lying around. Sticking close to the temple walls, she went towards the front entrance. What she discovered next was even more shocking.
'this doesn't even make any sense.' She thought, even more cautious to make no noise and crouch as low as possible. She quickly went to the kitchen room of the temple and retrieved some food and water. She climbed back the stairs stealthily and once back in the room, locked herself in.
What she saw outside flabbergasted her. The houses surrounding the temple were nowhere to be seen, instead tall and green trees surrounded the temple. and among the trees, rested a snake so large that its mouth wouldn't even fit in the temple entrance. She decided that now she would not move out of the room unless necessary.
She rested on the bed and opened the system screens. The system mentioned something about terraforming in its messages. Maybe the change in the temple's surroundings was the result of this terraforming. but then what happened to her tribesman?
Nothing else to do, she watched her health and stamina bar fill slowly. It kept her brain occupied and did not think about the terrible snake outside. Soon the nine hours passed without the big snake attacking the temple. The inevitable system message arrived, announcing the start of the world event:
[Announcement]
[Commencing the world event: Rush]
[Objective: Find the tutorial access gates and enter the tutorial. The sooner you enter the tutorial, the better the rewards]
[A pillar of purple light will shine above the gates to help locate them]
[Time limit: 11:59:58]
[Rewards will be granted based on individual performance]