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Chapter #1.1

TROKC Presents:

A Sanity Eclipse reworked project.

Tell me if I have mistakes that need to be Amended!

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Volume 1: A Phantom Descends

Chapter #1.1

Ken

“Finally, it ends tonight”

Within the depths of a mysterious spiral tower in the realm where the damned lies known as “Avernus”, and where the throne where a god once sat.

There, lies two figures who both kneeled as they face each other. As silence ruled the air within this peculiar grand hall room anyone would have thought that both of them to be making a prayer of their respective gods or deities, if not for the scene around them.

In this peculiar once majestic room now littered with the dead as far as the eyes can see. Like those of rose petals that were strewn alongside an obsidian throne.

Those two weren't kneeling because they were praying; Rather both of them are kneeling because they were dying.

Up close, their faces could be seen filled with cuts and bruises and both were breathing heavily, as both of them are exhausted and near death's door.

The first figure belonged to the one who rules this ruined domain. An Arch-Demon clad in the diabolical black mist is an endgame dungeon lord of the game {Ruin} and one its strongest monsters.

The Arch-Demon's height was roughly over 3 meters. Its crimson skin had a color deeper than blood, and it had glowing blue eyes and a single humongous bent horn shape like those of a rhino. Wrapped in a mass of dead black mist and dreaded aura, the demon was very calm and had a hint of bemusement around his eyes as the demon himself seemed to be entertained as he tightly held a delicately designed obsidian longsword wrapped in hellish purple flames.

A majestic weapon so powerful it belonged to a group of the highest caliber. One of the highest in the game is known as “Demon Edge” of the mythical ranked few. The demon’s majestic armor was designed for a king was also obsidian and also mythical ranked known as “Vessel Of Avarice”, a part of the of a well sought out mythical set known as “Avatar Of Seven Sin” set.

This monster possessing such items was also recognized as a member of those who are called “Sovereign”, and could be said to be a monster worthy of worship for its strength that exists only on legends.

And the other figure could only be described as an awe-inspiring and frightening angelic winged being with a tattered broken left wing and yet, this one is not an angel entirely but rather an avatar of a person. He was without a doubt a player known only as Ken.

With the average height of 5’10”. Possessed a black hair and black eyes. He wore an intricately designed long black coat with an insignia on the back.

His body was battered and heavily bruised. His health was nearly depleted and barely had the stamina to maintain his current posture. As each of his tired hands held a different kind of small daggers both of legendary rank.

Near where his tired left hand dropped, a large sword had fallen earlier and embedded itself into one of the adjacent corpses.

An ongoing war had been waged for several days on this very resplendent room, as every side and corner of this once majestic walls had now been ruined, damaged, and filled with numerable holes from the on-going battle. It was without a doubt still imposing like that of Michelangelo's masterpiece. Many had died and only two remained.

As every second felt like an eternity as both of them calculated their every move to ensure that the other would surely meet its demise.

Both them made it surely that only one of them will be left to sit on the obsidian throne as desperation emerged in within their eyes, as the desire to kill one another grew yet despite all that had happened anyone could see that both of them had the same recognition of respect towards another.

Despite facing off Abaddon in a life and death match not a shred of nervousness could be felt. For he knew that one mistake would cost him his life. But unfortunately, his mind had begun to become a bit hazy and thoughts of how he ended up here in this current situation.

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After 2 years had passed since the last expansion was implemented and the game had been stagnant for quite some time. The game had been active for nearly 7 years. To be precise the game had been running for 6 years and with a few days left till it's in its 6th month. When the company who made this spectacular game {Ruin} named Ruined Corporation suddenly and unexpectedly released the next big expansion titled [Ruin of God] along with it accompanied was the implementation of the next gen graphics and a groundbreaking AI that showed improved overall [Non-Player Character] NPC behavior and emotions as if they and the game world are alive. It was as though you entered the game for real. Though in {Ruin} the players are referred to as “Pioneers” by the world's inhabitants.

As a result, Ruin had an increased level of realism that exceeded all current MMO’s that shocked the world last week.

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Thus reigniting it’s dwindling flame and the following days the population went from 5 million to 50 million. Multiplying its population by ten overnight surpassing the the top games similar to its kind.

Few raged that no warning came but most are glad on the update that came.

The game Ruin offered an immensely high level of freedom to the players.

The number of classes that formed the basis of the game easily topped 2000 when you added up the normal and high-rank classes.

It was the year 20xx several years after the days when E-sports was accepted by the general public as a highly popularize video games appear one after another as each of them garnered millions of players.

Like any Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game {Ruin}’s was the 1st of its kind to implement MOBA Or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena with the game as part of its entertainment coupled with its quality that could be defined as giving the player absolute freedom as each released class can be found on and used on It’s MOBA part. There are several hundreds of different type of species that exceeded any kinds of MMO has to offer and though the MOBA part of the game level capped at 25 it is just considered a side game when one gets bored and wants to play a different game.

Now called RPMMOBA or Role Playing Massive Multiplayer Online Battle Arena with the combination of the two as one can switch in between anytime they want.

Like in the MMO, everyone starts off as a class is known as [Novice] until one reaches level 10 then after a choice would be given to either remain as a novice or proceed to the basic classes or extended classes. Selecting a class must be considered wisely for each action the player takes opens or closed a branch path that could lead to a different yet similar types or a higher type class rank. Also, note that a class could be changed anytime to any different type of Classpath if it the player hadn’t reached the required class level yet. If one wants to further their class one must reach the specific requirements.for the next stage.

In Ruin, all classes had a Job limit level of 30, before they will be available to ascend forward meaning aside from [Novice] a player had to have at least 1 class and the with the newest released version there is now an ascended class. Prior to the latest release, everyone had a maximum of 9 classes.

The game has the implementation of evolution for an example a [Novice]’s reached the specific requirement would trigger a selection of various classes like basic classes like [Swordsman] that will evolve into [Knight], [Crusader], [Samurai], or perhaps enter into a different branch path if specific conditions are met like turning into [Ghost Swordsman], [Blind Swordsman], or [Magical Swordsman] that can open up several possible new paths on a different branches.

A highly prized novelty of this game was the enabling one to spec or re-spec of each class it to however they want, so long as you would fulfill the necessary conditions. Though it is possible to to reach [Novice] class to reach level 240, by then it would become [Super Fledgeling], [Sacred Neophyte] or the highly famed mysterious one-of-a-kind class that only one player out of millions had managed to create that also became an insult for a stagnant player was the [Eternal Noob] class.

And those are only examples.

For a player can have a cap level of 270 and 2 Jobs of that is capped at Class level 30.

As Ruin’s system allowed every player to be distinct, and supplement painstaking conditions to replicate another player's character, unless it was intentionally made to be such.

And If you unlocked a hidden class the game developers would let you create the character type and set an exclusive [Title] for it as a reward. Then they would announce it server wide several times on the date you unlocked it and register you on it’s ever increasing hall of fame. Currently, 26 hidden classes had been unlocked and 21 named by players and the last 5 classes the players couldn’t decide so they let the game’s GM decide.

Each Player action bounds them to what type of moral alignment that affects both their chosen classes and how the world reacts to them.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

As the previous Level Cap was 270 but with the release of the latest expansion it have been said that it could exceed 300 and several new types of well-balanced classes are being released and within the forums there’s an ever growing rumor that it is possible after surpassing 270 to select for a [Transcended Rebirth] for which those who chose will lose all the skills, experience, and stats in exchange for keeping only xx% overall stats be descended and re-spec back to level 1. If you think about it keeping xx% isn’t that great and quite discouraging.

Though no one really know if [Transcended rebirth] is actually real or not as there had been no official statement from the company only unofficial hints from its former employees. .

After all the extreme hassle and time-consuming grinds that led a player to arrive to 270 isn’t even a joke but if it accumulated and played wisely a player could fight at with a strength that exceeded the balanced 100% than those who did not. Yet no one really knew actually as all of them are only speculations that had been coupled with the game’s new motto "For the Sake Of “Knowledge"” made the expansion so mysterious, exciting and hard.

With no definite guide and reliance with the collective knowledge from others triggered a new exciting romance among players with the release of new unknown contents, new classes, new gears, a new system, new unlockable races and the possible exploration of the recently opened new massive continent for every player to explore. Though sadly the qualifications to enter the new continent needs a higher standard of a specific condition to enter the new “Forbidden Zone”.

A vast world, innumerable classes, and fully customizable visuals as {Ruin} had been set on the massive world known as Paradise a massive world far larger and harsher than our own. A world with the mixture of not only medieval and renaissance style Europe but also other cultures that use to existed on earth and where humans aren’t the only inhabitants but the world was also filled with demons, titans, beasts, dragon, beast-men, demi-humans and a whole sort of monsters that clashed with one another. A world filled with awe-inspiring sceneries, adventures, and glorious battles wherever one goes. Even simple dungeons, flying castles, gigantic beasts, are all breath taking could make anyone inspired just by watching them for a second.

Nearly two weeks had passed after the expansions were implemented when Ken re-logged back into the game as he received and accepted an invite from an online “friend” whom he barely knew and to enter and play the next expansion located on the new “Forbidden Zone”, a new continent called Romblon.

As their meeting place was located near the newly discovered spiral ruined tower now known as “Avernus” within the new continent that had a high standard of restrictions being applied only several thousands of players worldwide had managed to enter. Luckily Ken barely qualified to enter after 3 days of collecting specific extremely hard to acquire items and solving difficult in-game puzzles throughout the game with the help of some of his friends and the given hints of other players on the game’s website forums.

The continent of Romblon had 4 main land mass Romblon, Tablas, Sibuyan and San Jose varying in shape and sizes. The largest of which is Tablas where Avernus is currently located on one of its town.

The safest Pioneer settlement is about 5 miles west of Avernus called Danao Sur City on a country called Santa Fe.

He did not head to the settlement but rather he headed straight to the tower. Upon reaching Avernus he saw a horde had been assembled. 26 thousand players had gathered in order to participate in an ongoing event known as [Siege Of Ruin] were a newly opened “Designated Conquerable Free Zone” or “DCF Zone” as players like to call it. Where anyone who could manage to enter could participate.

It is a free-for-all event where the one who conquered the zone will get to own it as it is considered the conquerable property of an NPC. This zone ranges from castles to an abandoned mines, towers, dungeons, small islands where one can establish and convert for their own purposes.

A major rule of the “Siege Of Ruin” was that as long as you register before the start of the event occurs qualified you to enter anytime during the course of the event but will be unable to exit for that will be considered as the willingness to forfeit your participation rights.

Though If a guild or a person manage to conquer such zones they will be given a week’s time before they must defend the acquired territories if they don’t want to lose it. Currently, there are less than 25 of these zones that had been captured so far and all those who managed to defend reap large benefits such territories produced. A single of such can sometimes produced rare minerals or local produces specific to that area. A wide variety of possible exists managing such zones. As such when an event occurs it mostly will definitely end up into a clusterfuck as alliances, treachery and supremacy are deemed at its highest.

The company stated that there are 3 discoverable ways to trigger the event known as the [Siege of Ruin] but only a single method had been thus far triggered. It is when a new strategic resource zone had been found and the game deemed the newly discovered zone acquirable.

An event where a massive Player vs Player vs Environment or in a simple term everyone vs everything that you can kill. Though one has to be careful during this siege unlike the event [Guild Wars] where every player had had unlimited respawns but each death increases the interval of each resurrection countdown. This event contained only a limited amount respawn and if a player had managed to die 3 times they would be automatically kicked from the zone but at the same time logging out was allowed so that those who have school, work or those who wanted to rest can do so.

A rule that could be easily taken advantage of but for some reason, the game developers only allowed during the [Siege Of Ruin].

The objective of the players was the obsidian throne “Spectral Regalia” where an Arch-Demon Abaddon “Lord of the Spectral Mist” awaits.

After nearly a week of continuous battle, that resulted in thousands of players deaths since the seventh expansion opening with guilds and mercenary companies battling both each other and the tower, the throne was now near on sight.

Twenty-six thousand players went to and participated in the war of “Avernus” making it instantly the largest high-level military incursion on a single zone in the server’s history. "The Great and Stupid Clusterfuck" as it had been called as it was without a doubt the largest "Free-for-all" war. This event's entirety of the affair had instantly turned Avernus into a dark legend and gained the nickname “Spirit Breaker”. For it crushes the hopes of whoever may enter and see.

For the players side, several alliances clashed containing large and mid tier guilds, their respective guild affiliates, mercenaries from both players and NPC’s, joined by several independent solo players, parties, and groups. While representing the Avernus are its inhabitants, Avernus’s Horde, [Keepers], the fearsome [Dungeon Lord] and the Tower itself.

For the ruined floating spiral tower that is “Avernus” contained at least 15 humongous known levels, that seemed like each floor was located in a different part of the world and not within the tower itself. Avernus, as it stands, feature the first ever to have an implemented a Secret level which made the demand for it even higher.

It is the 1st Mythical Sovereign class Zone to have been discovered and the only with the feature that it’s bigger on the inside. It's the first dungeon discovered in-game that could be considered a world of its own. There are 13 designated “[Keepers]” each held the level of above 275 guarding every floor and a"[Dungeon Lord]" that had the level with an unspecified level as it’s reigning monarch sitting on the highest level of Avernus.

Level Location Zone

Level 1 ─── Lowest Floors ─── Ruins Of Avernus

Level 2 ─── Lower Floors ─── Labyrinth

Level 3 ─── Lower Floors ─── Caverns

Level 4 ─── Middle Floor ─── Sea & Islands

Level 5 ─── Middle Floor ─── Desert & Pyramid

Level 6 ─── Middle Floor ─── Mystic Peaks

Level 7 ─── Middle Floor ─── Rain Forest

Level 8 ─── Middle Floor ─── Necropolis

Level 9 ─── Highest Floor ─── Frozen Tundra

Level 10 ─── Highest Floor ─── Molten Prison

Level 11 ─── Highest Floor ─── Endless Abyss

Level 12 ─── Palace Outer ─── Palace Of The Damn “Garden Maze”

Level 13 ─── Palace Inner ─── Palace Of The Damn“Residential”

Level 14 ─── Palace Inner ─── Palace Of The Damn“Courts and Halls”

Level 15 ─── Palace Throne room ─── Palace Of The Damn“Throne”

Secret Level ─── Unknown ─── “Lost” Vault

The last 4 levels are considered a separate yet part of the same zone located on top of the tower known as the floating palace of Avernus and only an Endless Abyss connected the 2.

Though this is the very 1st ever Mythical class siege in {Ruin} it's significance goes beyond that of a mere game and that those within shall unravel something far greater than they'd expect.

For now the pioneers of Avernus must play a preordained game and a "Gate" to a whole new another possibility must be opened.

To be Continued.

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