Inside a lavishly furnished bedroom, its sheer size and opulence were almost unbelievable, especially considering its occupant was just a child. Not only did it boast a sprawling floor space, but it even had an en suite bathroom that would put most five-star hotel master suites to shame.
Inside the room, a child was sitting in front of a gaming setup that exceeded even the most extravagant setups of professional gamers, rich or otherwise. That child is Lucian Carter.
Lucian was a 12-year-old with black-golden hair that was tousled and fell over his forehead. He was on the smaller side for his age, but had a boundless energy that belied his stature. His eyes were an intriguing color that seemed to change depending on the light, ranging from deep brown to a low golden hue.
Lucian sat at his desk, he was speedrunning an RPG like game, fingers flying across the keyboard as he raced through the final level of the game. He couldn't believe his luck - this run was going even better than he had hoped! Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he reached the end and saw the "Congratulations!" screen flash before his eyes. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked at the viewer count: 995. He couldn't believe it - 995 viewers, without even using a camera or microphone! The rush of excitement that flowed through him was almost too much to bear. As he closed the game, he thought to himself, "The future is looking very promising for me!"
Lucian read the live chat, his heart sinking as he saw the flood of messages repeating the same thing over and over again:
[SPEEDRUN Tyriagon!]
[SPEEDRUN Tyriagon!]
[SPEEDRUN Tyriagon!]
[SPEEDRUN Tyriagon!]
He had been hoping for some praise or recognition after his successful speedrun, but instead, all he saw was this mindless spam. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed - after all, didn't his viewers appreciate his skill and dedication?
He was bewildered by the sudden change in tone; while they had suggested games for him to speedrun before, they had never been so forceful or repetitive.
Despite feeling slightly irritated by the incessant spamming in the chat, Lucian couldn't help but be curious about this Tyriagon game that his viewers were so insistent on. With a sigh, he opened a new window and started up a search engine, typing in the name of the game. As the results loaded, he couldn't help but wonder what all the fuss was about. After the results loaded up on his screen, Lucian started reading the description of Tyriagon.
Lucian's eyes widened as he read through the game's description more carefully. "Huh?" he muttered to himself. "An MMORPG? What in the heck do they expect me to speedrun in an MMORPG game?" He shook his head in disbelief. He had never considered the possibility of speedrunning a massively multiplayer online game before.
Like any whale, Lucian's knowledge of MMORPGs is: Throw money, become the best.
'In every MMORPGs I played before, there was no challenge,' Lucian thought to himself as he continued to read through the description of the game. He didn't like the idea of stomping on other players without any sort of opposition or challenge, and in every MMORPG he had played before, he had become the top-ranked player in a matter of days. Despite the incessant spamming from his chat, Lucian decided to keep reading the description of the game, hoping to find something that would capture his interest.
"[Tyriagon] is a breathtaking MMORPG with a massive open world that promises to take players on an unforgettable adventure. With its stunning graphics and immersive gameplay, [players] can truly get lost in the magic and wonder of its many regions and kingdoms," Lucian read aloud. The description sounded impressive, but he still wasn't convinced.
He continued to read: "At Tyriagon, we are committed to providing our players with a fair and balanced gaming experience. We believe that everyone should have an equal chance to succeed in our game, regardless of whether they choose to spend money or not. We promise that there will be no pay-to-win elements in Tyriagon."
Lucian raised an eyebrow. That was a bold claim for any MMORPG,
"No pay-to-win elements?" Lucian said with a suspicious glint in his eye. He had heard similar promises before in other games, only to find out that the developers had implemented pay-to-win mechanics in a sneaky way which he, as a wealthy whale, always took advantage of. However, he didn't care about playing Tyriagon all he cared about was speedrunning, so he decided to do some research and see if speedrunning Tyriagon was a legitimate endeavor or not.
"It's actually legit?" Lucian was stunned as he looked at the ongoing trend. Speedrunning Tyriagon was actually a legitimate endeavor, and the challenge was to get the highest possible level in 24 hours. The highest level held by anyone so far was level 56 in 24 hours! The more he read about it, the more excited he got. This was the challenge he had been looking for, a chance to prove his skills and gain new viewers for his streaming channel. He quickly made up his mind and decided to take on the challenge, determined to beat the current record and become the new champion of Tyriagon speedrunning no matter what it takes!
Looking at the still spamming chat, Lucian resolved himself and wrote to the chat:
[Leo Crest: Fine, I promise you guys I will claim the first rank on the speedrunning leaderboard of Tyriagon!]
The chat flooded Leo Crest's livestream chat with messages of encouragement, including [Good luck]" and [Best of luck!]
Lucian believed he was receiving a significant amount of messages of encouragement, but if he had inspected them more closely, he would have found that there were only around 4 to 10 messages.
[Leo Crest: Thanks, guys! I promise I won't disappoint your expectation of me! For now I will be closing the livestream because I need to start preparing for the speedrun of Tyriagon! I will be investing all my time trying into formulating the best possible path to follow so don't expect a live stream anytime soon.]
Lucian closed the live stream and immediately began his research for Tyriagon by opening multiple tabs. He was determined to formulate the best possible plan to achieve his goal of claiming the first rank on the speedrunning leaderboard.
With Excitement coursing through him Lucian muttered: "Let's get started"
He started by researching the game extensively, poring over forums, YouTube videos, and strategy guides to get a better understanding of the game mechanics and leveling strategies.
As he dug deeper into the game, Lucian was surprised by how complex and challenging it was. Unlike the other MMORPGs he had played before, Tyriagon required a great deal of strategy, planning, and skill to progress quickly. Also the gained experience was very harsh.
"Why is it so hard to level up in this shitty game??" Lucian said angrily after he spent hours researching Tyriagon
"The highest speedrun on the leaderboard is level 56, but the second highest is level 20, how is this possible?" Lucian continued digging for information but he found no clue how in hell the first player got to level 56. After continues research, the only thing he found was the assumption of it leveling through special quests, with no other clues what those special quests were.
-------
Lucian was lost in focus, trying to find the secret of winning this speedrun, he glanced at the time only to be stunned when he saw 2:30 AM
'This late? It was 9 pm when I closed the live stream. Guess I will just call it sick tommrow, hopefully mother won't insist on me going to school tomorrow, Ewww' Lucian chuckled while thinking.
'What a fine challenge, it is! I won't fall asleep till I find a solution for this! Time for a snack then.'
Lucian got up and started stretching. Sitting for too long took its toll on him. with a yawn, Lucain muttered:
"The kitchen is very far from here. Maybe I should annoy my mother into bringing me a fridge with different kinds of delicious food into my room? Plan noted." With a smirk, Lucian began walking towards the kitchen, not even bothering to be quiet. "What are they going to do if they catch me awake? Mother insisted that I go to sleep at 9 PM during today's family dinner. I can just say I'm going to the bathroom." After several minutes of walking, Lucian finally arrived in the kitchen. He opened the fridge, expecting to find many delicious treats, but he couldn't find his favorite dessert, the Crème Brûlée. With an angry expression and no concern for how late it was, he took out his latest phone covered in gold and dialed a number. The name of the person he was calling was Chef Isabella Rossi. The phone rang for 20 seconds before it was answered.
"Who is this?" It was a sleepy heavy voice that answered slowly with subtle angerness in it
"It's me, Lucian, I'm in the kitchen, there are no Crème Brûlée right now in the fridge. I want you to come to the kitchen right now and make one for me"
"..."
"If you don't come and make it now for me, I will go and wake my mother to make it for me then."
"........"
"I will wait for ten minute, Bye" Lucian said then hang up then opened the browser on his phone and continued his research.
-------
Inside a room that was modestly furnished with a twin-sized bed pushed against the far wall, a window with basic curtains, a wooden dresser with a mirror hanging above it, and a small wooden nightstand beside the bed. The walls were painted a pale blue color and adorned with a few framed pictures of scenic landscapes, adding a touch of serenity to the room. A figure was sitting in that bed holding in its hand a mobile phone, if one moved away the window curtains one could fully see the beautiful moon hanging on the sky. The silence pervaded the room until the figure sitting on the bed said quietly:
"FUCK!"
-------
Lucian was fully focused again on his research, not even glancing at the time. If he had, he would have realized that ten minutes was not enough time for Isabella to even walk from her room to the kitchen. In fact, the housekeepers and other employees lived in a separate building from the main house.
Lucian's focus was abruptly broken by hurried footsteps coming towards him. He glanced in the direction of the footsteps and saw a breathtaking red-headed beauty approaching, but he ignored her as his priority was to get his Crème Brûlée as soon as possible. He was exhausted from all the research and wanted to dive into the game and get a sense of it. He had all the time he needed, so there was no need to exhaust himself with excessive research. He could simply follow the ingame tutorial.
Researching without implementing is the same as cooking for hours without tasting your food, how would you know if you are going in the right direction or not?
Lucian looked at the time and it was [3:05 AM], he wasn't that mad because he used that time wisely and used it to research, but he acted mad and looked at Isabella and yelled as quietly as possible
"WHY ARE YOU SO LATE?? DIDN'T I--"
Please, young master, you will wake up the Madam!" Isabella cut off Lucian and pleaded.
'Even I don't want to wake mother now.' Lucain shook silently
"Okay, make me my desert now then!" Lucain said, this time more quielty
"Okay young master, I will make you the best desert ever!" Isabella said with a smile on her face
sabella didn't even bother to ask Lucain why in the hell he was still awake at this late hour. She just wanted to finish what needed to be done and go back to sleep.
-------
Lucian hummed happily as he ate his Crème Brûlée, downloaded the game, and watched an introduction to the Tyriagon starting area.
'Perhaps I should have started downloading the game earlier. Who would have thought that it would take up a whopping one terabyte?'
Lucain was angry at first because he couldn't get started as soon as he got back into his room, but taking a bite from his Crème Brûlée placated him, so he started viewing Tyriagon introduction videos.
-------
Even with all the information Lucain found, he felt like he only scratched the surface level, with a behemoth hiding deep down, still waiting to be uncovered, this shocked Lucian greatly. The number of quests he found that could be completed, not even counting those that wasn't made public, the number of areas known that can be , professions that can acquired, skills that can be learned and many more, hell he didn't even bother reading the huge public lore that he could see was getting updated every hour, or maybe even minute, as he felt that was unnecessary for him to bother with.
"Hell, this Tyriagon isn't simple" Lucian said, while smacking his lips taking the final bite of his beloved Crème Brûlée.
"Should I ask Isabella to make another one for me? Forget it.." Lucian said while yawning
"Ahh, I'm getting sleepy" Lucain looked at the download time remaining for Tyriagon
"It has almost finished downloading, no way I'm sleeping now before getting a taste of the game, even if the only thing I do is creating a character then sleep. "
"Guess I will write what I learned while waiting for the game to finish downloading."
Lucian opened a fresh document and started writing everything he learned.
-------
While writing Lucain yelled
"WAIT A SECOND!"
Lucain then hurridely began searching for the Tyriagon global leaderboard and he finally saw it, the way to win the speedrun! The way to rank first!
The first player in the global leaderboard is level 98. Lucain saw the level and said in excitedly:
"The level of Tyriagon first ranked player is so freaking low! The grind looks real as I couldn't even find what the max level is, but I don't care as I have no plan investing my time in this game anyway. I was scared of wasting time inefficiently trying to find the best possible strategy, but here I already found it in the first day! HAHAHA" Lucain madly laughed outloud, not caring one bit of how loud his voice was
With tears forming in his eyes from laughing Lucian continued: "I just have to form a group and get all of the top ranked players to boost me!" "HAHAHA, genious me!"
Lucian continued laughing till he heard an angry feminie voice knocking
"LUCIAN, it's 5AM, STOP, or I will wake up mom!"
Lucain stopped laughing and didn't even answer back to the voice calling him out
'Forgot Olivia was living beside me, and it's 6AM stop lying. Wait, 6AM? I need to sleep before 7AM or if I'm found out to be awake I will have to go to school.' Lucian looked at the Tyriagon launcher and was happy to find it green
'I have the plan discovered already, I will just take half an hour exploring the game then sleep, and maybe tommrow will contact the top ranked players and offer them money to boost me, no way they are going to refuse money right? hehe' Lucain genuinely smiled when he thought about occupying that juicy first speedrun rank.
'Now, I just have to get the feeling of how the game starts as. I already know as I researched extensively, but researching and implementing is worlds apart.'
-------
Lucain was very excited as he clicked the [Launch] button, all it took were seconds before the game was launched and a login screen appeared. There were fields asking for username and password and there was a register button down there, but Lucain didn't even glance near it.
"There you are, my best favourite button of all, [Continue with Google]. Nice" Lucain said happily, he found it to be annoying going through all of the registering procedures.
After clicking [Continue with Google], a prompt appeared in the screen:
[A contract with the Originator-----]
It was a very lengthy contract, Lucain only glanced at the title, then saw the Agree/Disagree button, he instantly clicked on the Agree button.
-------
'The best thing about this game is, there is no time wasting thing like character selection, your character is picked randomly. The characters are humanoid, but they are not human. Instead, the building blocks of the characters are stones and no flesh can be seen' Lucain waited for the screen to load then he released an involuntary gasp.
"Wow! The graphics, they are so realistic! How is this even possible?! Very amazing indeed."
Lucain opinion of not continue playing the game was waning, his gaming instincts were yelling at him. The makers of this game truly invested tons of time. shouldn't time be spent appreciating this beauty of a game?
The starting point of Tyriagon is very fluid, meaning you can start in anyway you want. You can start by going to the Adventure Hall to pick your first class as a starter, you also get a decent starting equipment suitable for the class you have chosen,or you can go to the Magician Tower to get your Affinities awakened, or find a sanctury and get your Soul Ability awakened, with many possible ways to start the game.
'Very confusing indeed, starting the game with many choices is very overwhelming, and since the spawning location is chosen randomly, a planned path could be wasted' Lucain thought, laughing internally at the player that spawned into a village with no other players or building around him, just farmers.
'I have decided, I can't count on being so lucky of having all of the possible starts options available, but since sanctuaries are wider and easier to find, so I will be choosing to awaken my Unique Soul Ability' Lucain decided
'A Soul Ability is a unique ability that can't be replicted or stolen, they are very random with no way of picking what ability to awaken, they are like a lucky roulette.' Lucian recalled the information he read
Lucian was moving around and unlocking the building names on his map. The map was blank, and when Lucian moved his character around, the map gets updated with the detail of everything around Lucian's character. While trying to find the Sanctuary, Lucian remembered the information he read about the way to unlock one's Soul Ability, he remebered the Wiki he read stated that there were only two ways to get your soul ability unlocked either by finding an item called [Veiled Animus], or by finding a being on the Second Step if one wants his Soul Ability awakened. There was no more explaination about what the heck a [Veiled Animus] is or where to acquire it or what makes one a Second Step, the author of the Wiki stated that this information was from the Character Profile. Lucian opened his Character Profile, ignoring all of the dump info about the character stats, there was indeed, next to the [Abilities] tab, a tab called [Soul Ability]. Lucian hovered on the [Soul Ability] tab which was greyed out and he found the same info he read on the Wiki.
-------
Minutes passed and Lucian was getting more urgent as the time was getting close to 7Am, but he still haven't found a Sanctuary or even any signifcant importrant building, he found many Npcs, he stupidly tried to write asking them for the direction but he got no response from them. Lucian was getting hopeless, maybe he should just try tommrow? Just as he was about to click on the [Logout] button, Lucian saw a green name hovering over a character
"Wait, finally?! I have found another player!" Lucian said excitedly, he right clicked on the location of the player and started spamming
[Leo Crest: Hello???]
[Leo Crest: BROTHER]
[Leo Crest: PLESAE ANSWER]
[Leo Crest: HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO]
[Leo Crest: ---
-----]
[MysticRose: ?]
'OH he answered! There is a chance to get my Soul Ability before I Logout then!'
[MysticRose: Don't call me brother, I'm a girl]
'WHO DA HELL CARE'
[Leo Crest: Hehe, sorry. Can you possibly help me? I'm trying to find any sanctury right now]
[MysticRose: Are you a new player?]
[Leo Crest: Are you stupid? Why would I ask for navigation if I'm not a new player, also you can left click on me and see my level which is 1]
[MysticRose: Did you just... Call me stupid???]
Lucian, getting more sleepy and irriated for finding such a stupid person as his encounter, he couldn't hold his anger so he smashed typing
[Leo Crest: Yes, YOU ARE F*** STUPID! , ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OR NOT]
[MysticRose: NO, I'm not helping a rude person like you...]
[Leo Crest: I DON'T NEED HELP FROM SOMEONE LIKE YOU, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE? GO PREPARE SOME SUPPER! STUPID!]
Lucian then left click on the MysticRose a menu appeared then he clicked block. Lucian then glanced at the clock and saw it was [6:50 AM]
Lucian, still angry decided that he won't sleep till he unlocks his Soul Ability.
Lucian continued moving forward as he found a player in that direction, maybe he will find another, and pretty soon he did. Lucian then initiated contact and asked for help politely thankfully the player helped Lucian getting into a nearby sanctuary.
It was then that he heard a voice:
"Young master, please getup, the breakfast is already served" it was a feminine voice, belonging to Maria Chavez. She was the maid resposible for taking care of Lucian.
Maria kept knocking and openning the door, but try as she might, Lucian have already locked the door from inside. Lucian ignored all of Maria attempt and didn't even answer her. He clicked on the Sanctuary and read the information displayed on it
[Nyxaris Sanctuary]
"That's it?" Lucian said in disbelief,
"Any more information? What does even a Sanctuary do??" Lucian asked and was met with an answer
"Young master, I don't know what a Sanctuary does, but please, you will make it late to the school at this rate, the Madam and your sisters are already on the table waiting for you, please come out and join them."
'Tch, I messed up, I need to get that Ability awakened now before my mother come up..'
With no care of what a Sanctuary is, with no care to appreciate the otherwordly design of the Sanctuary, Lucian entered the Sanctuary with the intention to get the Soul Ability unlocked before going to school, there is no possible execues Lucian can make now, he had to go to school.
-------
A massive palace, an architectural marvel, with towering spires, intricate stonework, and majestic arches that reach towards the sky. It's a sprawling complex of grand halls, luxurious chambers, and verdant gardens.
Inside one of those chambers lay a man on a simple bed, if one saw him from a distance, all they would see would be.. bones. The man was so boney that flesh could hardly be seen on his body. The man was lying still, even if one watched him for days they would see no movement. If one didn't know better one would swear that's a body that belongs to the dead. Suddenly, the eyes of the man opened very wide, fear could be seen on his eyes. The man used everything in his power and muttered weakly:
"Amanda," The voice was hoarse indicating the man's old age and was trembling indicating the fear he was feeling
As soon as the man finished calling out the name, a figure immediately started manifesting from the shadows beside the bed the man was lying on, a monotonous voice then followed
"Here my Lord"
The figure was a shadow cloaked one with no way to figure out it's gender, even if one listen to it's voice, no information could be extracted from the monotonous dull voice
"Bring me to the emperor as fast as possible! I allow you to use {Umbral Blitz}"
"As you order my Lord"
The figure began assimilating to shadow, mysteriously the man also began assimilating to the shadows.
-------
Inside a throne room, a man could be seen sitting on a massive, intricately-carved wooden throne that sits atop a dais, commanding the attention of all who enter. The walls were lined with suits of armor and weapons, there were people standing infront of those suits implying there were some kind of a meeting going on right now.
A man, very tall and broad-shouldered, with a powerful build that one can easily notice which was honed through years of training and battle.
The man spoke with reverence seeping into his voice:
"My Emperor, our army is fully ready for a full scale wa----"
The man couldn't finish his sentence as his face abruptly twisted, with lightning-fast reflexes, he swiveled his head towards the magnificent throne entrance door and yelled:
"HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE INTO THIS MEETING WITHOUT HIS MAJESTY PERMISSION!"
A scary power was gathering into the man, ready to tear who ever dared disrespect the emperor.
"Aurelius, stop" A mighty, angry voice came from the direction of the throne, when all the participants heard this voice they all went down on their knee. Worship and awe could be seen in all of the faces of the people in the throne room. They had to worship, for the man that just spoke was none other than Tyriagon himself! Tyriagon the great! Tyriagon the conqueror! Tyriagon the Alpha of Contractors! He was the peak existence lord of the whole world of Tyriagon!
Tyriagon looked at the prostrating figure on the ground
"Zerak, I thought you were resting?"
"My Lord! I deserve death!!" Zerak trying yelling as much as he could, even then, his voice was still so low that many barely heard what he was saying.
Looking at the death state his best friend, Zerak was in, Tyriagon sighed..
Tyriagon shook his head, ignoring the gasping his ministers were making and said gently
"Zerak, you were my father, my brother, you were the one who I depended on my struggling year, get up"
Zerak could't hear the voice clearly as his hearing is barely functioning and the distance between the throne and the entrance door wasn't helping, but at the end, he could clearly hear the words "get up"
Zerak looked up and could see the Emperor smiling at him, the Emperor even gave Zerak a hand, tears began forming in Zerak's eyes, Zerak Sobbed very hard while trying to squeeze the important words he came here to say
"My Lord, Tyriagon will fall into chaos very soon, an otherwordly will be the cause of the chaos! Please my Lord, I beg you to sever the connection between Tyriagon and Aetheria!"
As soon as Zerak finished his sentence, the warm face on Tyriagon disappeared and a cold face appeared instead.
"Haven't we discussed that before?"
Zerak felt a cold chill that almost extinguished the little life force he had in him.
"My lord, please, the chaos will be flooding everyone, even my lord himself will be in danger!" Zerak squeezed out while trembling, he couldn't handle the pressure coming of Tyriagon anymore and kneeled on the ground.
"Even me?" Tyriagon asked madly
"My lord, Please tru--"
"{ShadowBind}" Tyriagon muttered slowly
As soon as Tyriagon finished muttering, shadows exploded from his body going in every direction blinding everyone, screams could be heard from the ministers and everyone gathering in the throne room. After what seemed as an enternity, people started getting their sight back, after they saw what was around them some fainted while some even soiled themselves.
They found themselves in an eerie and mysterious place, where light struggled to penetrate and darkness was what prevailed.
The terrain was rugged and jagged, with sharp rock formations and craggy hills that cast long, menacing shadows.
The air was thick with mist, and the ground was covered in a layer of damp moss and twisted roots.
The sky above was a deep shade of purple, and clouds of inky black were constantly swirling.
The trees were tall and twisted, with leaves that are almost black in color, casting a dark and foreboding aura.
The sound of rustling leaves and the occasional howl were the only audible noises those who still retained their consciousness could hear. Were they thrown into a nightmare? into hell?
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Some even started crying and speaking gibberish, some almost surrendered to the madness till they hard a voice.
"EVEN ME?"
When they heard that voice they started crying loudly.
"MY LORD, HELP"
Meanwhile, Zerak was stunned, and muttered
"A Third Step domain?" then started laughing while crying
"Does that mean the incoming threat have the ability to defeat a Third Step Ascender?? We are doomed! WE ARE FINISHED"
Tyriagon looked at the sorry state his best friend have become, had he overdone it by releasing his domain? Looking at Zerak Tyriagon said:
"Zerak, I'm sorry but the connection to Aetheria is a must for the future, plus we are connected to a backdoor region of Aetheria with zero Ascenders. Zerak, it truly saddens me, but you must have become old and senile for thinking that a threat would be coming from such a place like that, it was called 'Earth' I think. Zerak, I know that even if I'm strong, I know where my limits is."
Tyriagon continued while moving his hands to the still laughing Zerak
"Didn't think the time would have come, I wanted you to be the one to stand next to me, to witness the grand conquests I'm going to achieve, but it was time again that I failed to win against. Zerak, it's time for you to join Amanda"
With his hands on Zerak, with a small tear threatning to fall down from his eyes, Tyriagon muttered {Umbramancy}, shadows started flooding into Zerak from all around him, all it took were moments for Zerak to be completely covered in shadows, Tyriagon watched all of this, he wasn't the only one that was watching, a figure standing behind Tyriagon was also watching the shadowfying.
After the shadowfying was complete, Tyriagon retracted his domain, he could see all of his aids, the majority of them were unconsciousness, with an emotionless voice Tyriagon called out:
"Aurelius"
Aurelius struggled to standup and hurriedly went to his Emperor with more reverence in his eyes.
"YES MY LORD!" Aurelius yelled while forefully hitting his head on the ground
"There are currently 4,321,987 Players from 'Earth', using my authority as an Originator contract referral, I added a new clause stating that a fragment of the Player Soul will be used to inhabit a golem"
When Tyriagon remembered how he was almost disintegrated for daring to add a clause into the contract without first consulting the fanatics worshipers in any Originator Shrine first, fear was almost shown in his face but he suppresed it.
"The majority of those players unlocked their Soul Ability which in turn is tied to the small Soul Fragment bound to the golem, with that, we have millions of almost indestructible golems, all with unique Soul Abilities that can enter Aetheria without triggering Aetheria primordial barrier. "
Tyriagon glanced at an unconsciousness female then continued:
"Aurelius, I want you to cooperate with the President of the Magic Towers Association to train 50 millions soldiers, enabling them to control a golem with perfect control."
"As you command!" Aurelius said, deep battle intent raging in his eyes
-------
After Lucian entered Nyxaris Sanctuary he found it... empty.
"SERIOUSLY!" Lucian couldn't help but yell.
"Yes young master, the Madam is already waiting for you" Maria pronounced 'Madam' more loudly hoping to intimidate Lucian into finally opening the door, but like always Lucian ignored her.
Lucian angrily moved around in the Sanctuary hoping to find anyone or whoever Nyxaris, Lucain even spammed in the chat:
[Leo Crest: Nyxaris!! WHERE DA HELL ARE YOU!!!]
[Leo Crest: Nyxaris!!]
[Leo Crest: Nyxaris!!]
[Leo Crest: Nyxaris!!]
Lucian still spammed but nothing answered in turn, hearing Maria knocking on the door got him more irritated, he almost gave up finding where the hell Nyxaris was until he found a tablet inside a room. Lucain left click on the tablet with no intention of it doing anything, but a prompt was triggered instead.
[
Name: Mysticon Tablet
Description: Connects the touching user to Nyxaris
Connect: YES | NO
]
'OHH, THIS IS IT' Lucian thought happily! Finally!
Lucian then spammed clicking on YES
[Connected Successfully...]
Lucian waited but he got no another prompt.
'Now what?' Lucian thought angirly,
'This was supposed to be very easy, the tutorial said you just go to a Sanctuary and you have your Soul Ability unlocked, it shouldn't be that hard to time consuming!!'
Lucian left the room with the tablet on it and tried searching else where inside the Sanctuary, but after five mintues he still found nothing, Lucian was almost going mad but thankfully he got another prompt.
[Nyxaris is teleporting to your location..]
'YES, YESSSSS'
Seconds after the prompt, a creature appered before, it was an insect.
'EWWW' What the hell is that??
It was a monstrous insect that was a terrifying sight to behold. Its body was massive, with chitinous armor that seemed impervious to any attack. Its legs were long and spindly, with sharp claws at the end that could rend flesh and bone with ease. Its mandibles were wickedly curved, and dripped with a deadly venom that could paralyze or kill its prey in seconds. The insect's eyes were multifaceted and glinted with an otherworldly intelligence, as if it were a creature from another realm entirely. Its wings were leathery and bat-like, allowing it to fly with incredible speed and maneuverability, making it all the more difficult to escape its deadly grasp.
Lucian could only react like that because he didn't see it in reality, had he seen it, he would have surely pissed himself.
A prompt appeared on Lucian screen:
[
Name: Nyxaris Contract
Content: Nyxaris is offering to awaken your Soul Ability.
Price: 8% of your gained experience
Accept: YES | NO
]
'WHAT, you cheaty bug, I did read that awakening your Soul Ability comes at a price, but I read a reasonable price was 3%, but now you want to rip me out of 8% Exp, and with no time limit at that? you cheaty BUG!!!!'
Lucian thought about it briefly but shook his head and clicked on YES
'No going back now'
A prompt followed after
[A mysterious energy is trying to awaken your Soul Ability...]
[Awakening...]
[Two Soul Abilities were found... The energy received was only enough to unlock one ability... Please select one]
[Abilities: The Lightness Harvester | The Darkness Harvester]
Lucian looked at the prompt with confusion in his eyes.
'Two abilities? The Wiki was adamant that only one Soul Ability can be awakened'
Lucian tried hovering the mouse over the first ability but that triggered nothing, tried for the second and it also triggered nothing..
Lucian contemplated it and decided to choose the second ability! {The Darkness Harvester}!!
'It sounded cool, Hehe'
After Lucian clicked on {The Darkness Harvester} a new prompt appeared:
[Congratulation for unlocking the Unique Soul Ability: {The Darkness Harvester}]
"NICE!" Lucian yelled excitedly, he then opened his profile and looked at the Soul Ability tab!
'Yes, its not greyed out anymore!, FINALLY!'
Lucian clicked on the Soul Ability tab and was about to start reading the description of his new ability, just then he heard a voice, it was gentle, yet carried a serious tone that commanded attention. It was soft and soothing, with a slight rasp that hinted at a life full of stories and experiences calling out:
"Lucian... Open the door"
'Hell, It's MOM!' Lucian started panicking, he yelled while reading the ability description
"I"M IN THE BATHROOM"
"I know you are not there..."
Lucian gathered any courage he had in him and ignored her.
'Sorry Mom, but I worked hard for this, I need to atleast read what the description of the ability is, the curiosity will kill me if I don't!'
[
Ability Name: The Darkness Harvester
Ability Potential: Cryptic
Ability Description: Harvest the Shadow of anything
Activation Requirement: Target's Soul must be of very low quality or lower
]
Lucian eyes bulged looking at the ability description, he couldn't believe it! He was fully focused on the screen that he even didn't hear his mother repeatedly calling for him.
'What is this? Why does it sound so strong? And what is even a Potential of the rank Cryptic ? I don't remember reading about it in the Wiki, I remember reading that the strongest Potential was Mythical if I rememeber correctly, I'm so sleeepy, but it should be correct, so what the hell is this Cryptic thing??? And how does even The Darkness Harvester??'
Lucian asked himself, he wanted to try The Darkness Harvester very much but listening to his Mother calling for the head maid to get the spare key means he is in DEEEEP trouble!
'I just need to profusely apologize to Mother, sure she will reprimand me alot and Olivia will be laughing at me like always but I will be forgiven like always, hehehe' Lucain was about to logout and go open the door, but then he saw a green hue surrounding Nyxaris, feeling curious, Lucian clicked on Nyxaris, then something he never imagined was possible happened infront of his eyes.
His character shadow in the game inflated rapidly and formed into a figure like a Scarecrow that stood tall, looming over the fields like a dark sentinel. Its body was fashioned from shadows, twisting and curling in an unnatural manner. The darkness seemed to coalesce around a skeletal frame, giving the impression of a macabre figure beneath the rags that served as its clothing.
In its hand, the Scarecrow held a scythe made of the same shadows that composed its body. The blade gleamed with an ethereal light, and seemed to flicker and dance like a flame. Its eyes, if one could call them that, were nothing more than two points of light that burned with a malevolent intensity. It seemed to watch over the fields with a sense of dread, as if daring anyone to disturb its silent vigil.
The figure like Scarecrow was standing still with no sign of movement, Lucian eyes almost popped out of their socket as he stared at the formed Scarecrow, fear was creeping inside Lucian heart, something about this Scarecrow was.. ominous. Even Nyxaris froze in its spot.
Suddenly, the Scarecrow seemed to come to life, its ragged clothes flapping in the breeze. Its eyes, glowed with an unearthly light. It let out a chilling cackle, as it swinged it's scythe at Nyxaris, after the swing, Lucian character shadow went back to normal again.
Watching as Nyxaris dropped to the ground and stopped moving Lucian froze.
'This..??' Lucian couldn't believe his eye but a prompt appeared after, further stunning him
[Nyxaris (7521) have been slain]
"LEVEL 7521!!" Lucian couldn't help but yell more! He couldn't hear his Mother losing her cool and yelling at him to open the door
'Is this a BUG?!!!!' He couldn't help but think this.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
.
.
.
[Level Up!]
[Maximum level (1000) have been reached!]
[Evolution Available!]
[Global Shop Unlocked!]
[Global Quests Unlocked!]
.
.
.
[Global Guilds Unlocked!]
A spam of notification was getting pushed into Lucian face, one kind of notification was in golden that grabbed Lucian attention.
[
The Lightness Harvester is resonating with the casted The Darkness Harvester, Would you like to cast The Lightness Harvester?
Cast: YES | NO [Please note since the The Lightness Harvester is not awakened yet, Life Force will be used]
]
'What the hell is even Life Force? is it like HitPoints? I still didn't check my upgraded stats but since I'm level 1000 there should be no problem!, hehe' Just as Lucian clicked on YES the door was opened.
Lucian looked at his mother strolling in and behind her were Olivia and Emma. Lucian expected Olivia coming with his Mother but not Emma.
'Is she here to make fun of me too? Huh? Why am I feeling so light headed suddenly? Oh well must be because I didn't sleep from yesterday, I just need to apologize now anyway and everything should be solved, Mom face is soooo red she must be so angry at me. Huh weirdly everything is redder than it's supposed to be' Lucian feeling lightheaded and sleepiness was hammering into his very being.
"Mom, I'm sorry I---" Lucian manged to say only that and couldn't continue his sentence, the last thing he heard was his Mother Scream.
"LUCIAN!!!"
'Huh? Mom never screamed at me like that before Did I---' He couldn't continue his thought before he went into unconsciousness.
-------
Florence Carter, she was the wife of Reginald Carter, he was the president of a very famous Shopping malls that have branches opened in more than one country. She was happy to have a rich husband like Reginald, but she herself, came from a very rich household before meeting Reginald and falling in love. Reginald gave her alot of gifts, but the best gifts he gave her were her six jewels that she cherish more than her life.
She still remember meeting Reginald when she was 23, got married at 24, and had her first daughter, Grace, at the age of 25, then after every 2 years she was gifted a beautiful daughter. Grace, Natalie, Lily, Emma and Olivia, five beautiful daughters. After they had Olivia, Reginald wanted to try for more, he truly wanted a son, but she was adamant that five is hard enough to give equal love to, getting another child would be very hard to spend time with all of them. Reginald was pleading but she didn't change her mind one bit, forcing Reginald to yield.
She still remembers how she got diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome at the age of 37, she still remembers the dissapointed face of her husband, was he still hopeful of getting another child? Knowing that it was a very low chance for her to get pregnant, she stopped taking a birth control pill.
She still remembers at the age of 42 of how one day she experiencing severe cramps and abdominal, thankfully there was a small infirmary within the courtyard of their house, she was moved there with the help of the house maids, she was yelling from the painful cramps, she still remember the pain to this day, but this pain was something she would embrace for enternity if it means having her new small jewellery. She didn't expect to be pregnant, no one expected her to be pregnant. She was going constantly going from consciousness to unconsciousness from the pain, but all of it was worth it when she held her last jewel in her hand, when she held her son, when she held lucian.
And now, infront of her eyes, he only son, Lucian, was bleeding from his eyes, nose, ears, and even mouth, she couldn't help but cry hysterically and run to her son
"LUCIAN!!!"
She didn't know what to do, Lucian was.. very cold, she didn't check to see if he was breathing, she didn't check for a heartbeat, watching all the blood, she hugged his cold body tightly and kept on yelling at him
"LUCIAN, PLEASE ANSWER ME!!!"
Even Emma and Olivia seeing their little brother like that.. They couldn't help but fronze on their spot and start sobbing and crying
It was the headmaid who yelled
"CALL THE DOCTOR, NOOOW!!!" the headmaid yelled as loudly as she cold then with her shaking hand took out her mobile phone and starting dialing for an ambulance, deep down she knew, the small infirmary they have in the house, even if the doctor was experienced, had no way to curing.. that. She looked at the pool of blood forming under her lady and under the pale Lucian and shuddered involuntary.
'May the lord help us' She prayed silently.
-------
It only took a few mintues for the doctor to arrive, after he arrived and went inside Lucian room he was also stunned, but as an experienced doctor it took him mere seconds to get a hold of himself. He hurriedly moved to Lucian. He wanted to take hold of Lucian to inspect him but Florence holding Lucian very tightly, she was in a hysterical trance not responding to any of the doctor plea for her to loosen her hold of Lucian but it was to no afair. Seeing Lucian like that his doctor instinct was telling him that every fraction of a second is very precious for Lucain, so he used his strength to overpower Florence's hold of Lucian, and it wasn't hard, an old woman of 55 age surely would be very weak compared to an adult with most of his energy still retained.
The doctor took hold of Lucian and ignored the screaming Florence and started inspecting Lucian.
'NO GOOD, there is no breath or any heartbeat!' The doctor thought, knowing that revealing an information like this at this situation won't bring any good. he lay Lucian on the ground away from the pool of blood and adjusted Lucian appropriately and started performing Cpr.
Florence, seeing something like this couldn't handle it any more and fainted. The headmaid thankfully was next to her and took hold of her before she fall to the ground.
While performing the Cpr, the doctor yelled
"HAVE YOU CALLED FOR AN AMBULANCE?!"
"Yes, it should be in it's way" The headmaid replied with a quivering voice
The doctor continued performing Cpr while occasionally performing rescue breathing.
'Sh*t, he isn't responding at all!' The doctor was doing his best, huge sweat could be seen falling from his head
The doctor brought an emergency bag with him, he needed to give Lucian an Epinephrine injection immediately, but he already had his hands full, he didn't have the seconds he needed to perform the injection, he cursed himself for giving the nurse a day off to go and meet her ill father.
"CAN SOMEONE GIVE AN INJECTION HERE?!" the doctor yelled loudly but he got no response, maybe some knew how to give an injection but they were too stunned with the abrupt situation! This wasn't the first time that Lucian behaved like a brat like that so no one were in their right mind.
The doctor miraculously remembered something then yelled:
"EMMA!! I WANT YOU ADMINISTER A DOSE OF 1 MILLIGRAM EVERY 3 MINUTES OF EPINEPHRINE"
Seeing no response from Emma, the doctor yelled again:
"EMMA, I KNOW YOU ARE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL, PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP!" The doctor yelled while breathing very hard, doing Cpr was truly very hardwork
"EMMA, PLEASE, YOUR BROTHER NEEDS YOUR HELP!!!"
Emma finally pulled herself together out of her stupor, she moved shakingly at where the doctor was.. at where here brother was lying.
Seeing that Emma arriving, but was lost on what she was supposed to do, the doctor said again but in normal voice this time:
"Administer a dose of 1 milligram every 3 mintues of Epinephrine"
Emma then proceeded doing as the doctor instructed.
-------
It felt like eternity but the ambulance finally arrived with the medics. The heaved a sigh, left Lucian for the medics, and went to check on Florence, thankfully she was alright.
"Should the Madam also go to the hospital?" The headmaid asked the doctor with concern in her eyes.
"No need, she is just in shock, she just need to rest and she will be fine"
"Have you called the Mr. Reginald ?" The doctor asked the headmaid before leaving
"No, I forgot.."
The doctor then took his phone out then, with a sigh called Reginald and made sure to inform him of Lucian situation, and made sure to hint that the chance of survival was.. Close to.. Zero.
-------
Reginald Didn't believe what he just heard.. His son.. is Dying? He was in a business trip finishing some important work, as soon as he closed the phone call with the doctor he won't to the airport ASAP, he don't care how much a flight would cost, he doesn't care if he rent a whole airplane to get back, he doesn't care if he lost his whole fortune, he only wanted to see his son.
-------
Inside an ambulance, a pale kid could be seen lying on a stretcher, with a medic beside him continuously performing Cpr, there were only medics in the ambulance, Emma was the only one that followed them, Olivia was too soft to go so Emma suggested for Olivia to stay with her mother while she would be going with the ambulance, she already called Grace, Natalie and Lily and they will also be arriving at the hosptial.
-------
After what seems an eternity, they finally arrived at the hospital
-------
She saw what she have been learning be performed on her brother, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she could only watch.
'Grace, Natalie, Lily, anyone, plesae don't leave me alone like this, please, someone be with me please!'
Emma could only sob while helplessly watching defibrillation performed on her brother, she could only watch as time moved slowly while hoping for a mircale to happen while praying silently
'Please, lord, Please'
-------
Emma couldn't believe her eyes, she saw the doctor getting of her brother, closed her brother's eyes, then looked at his watch.
She knew what that meant but she couldn't process it, it wasn't untill the doctor said
"Time of death, 8:30AM"
Everything for Emma went black, she fainted.