Alex felt a new sensation creep throughout his body a feeling of numbness started from his hands and crawled through his skin, causing Alex to panic. Unable to comprehend what was going on he began looking around to inspect what was happening. A soft golden glow quickly enveloped all around as the pain in his mind started climbing once more. Unable to hide the panic that was setting in any longer, he tried to reach out towards Lauranna. However found he was unable to as he simply burst into a cascade of golden light in the back room of the Cafe. Within the golden glow of Alex’s awareness and pain, the screen continued working on whatever line of messages it was trying to convey. Unable to concentrate on anything more due to the torrent of everything happening, he simply just closed his eyes and waited for everything to stop.
It was the sounds of wind gently moving along blades of grass that finally caught his attention. Opening his eyes to a vibrant blue sky above him, he slowly tried sitting up once more. The pain was finally gone, as was the golden light. All he could feel was the soft grass below him, the gentle breeze around him. He could feel the soft warmth of the sun above, and a thrumming sensation in the back of his mind. He ignored that for now.
After he took a moment to finally stand up and stretch, he surveyed the world around him. The rolling hills of emerald green and a few trees dotted the horizon. At the bottom of the hill he was on was a small dirt path, possibly a road to a village. The thrumming sensation was getting a little more persistent.
“Alright, alright I give up. I give up. Stop it already!” Unable to ignore whatever was trying to get his attention. Alex focused on the insistent sensation. WORLD_BUILDER.EXE NOW LOADED, NEW NOTIFICATIONS, was now showing in bold font.
“Ok, what are my notifications?”
[New Notifications]
“Yes! What are my notifications?” He was starting to get a little more annoyed at this blue screen.
[New Notifications]
“I get it, what are they? Was the screen trying to mock him, what was the system trying to prove here, he just wanted to get past this.
[New notifications]
“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!? I'm already in the middle of nowhere. You have been racking my entire body with more pain than I have felt, even in my old life. Now you keep telling me ‘New notification.’ How? How am I supposed to check notifications?’ Alex yelled, barely able to contain his frustration.
[...]
[Please press for notifications]
“What, Seriously that was it? Oh… Well now I feel dumb.” As a deep feeling of self-consciousness flooded him, he reached out and touched the screen. Shortly after several more screens popped into view, various messages scrolling within them. Finally a new screen appeared in front of all the others.
[Notifications]
[New Profile Generated assigning username]
[New Username Collected]
[Welcome: Keeper of Story and Song]
[Loading Main Screen]
The screen started loading all the information you would see in a video game, name, class, stats. Strangely, the Class section was empty. Confused about what was earlier read, Alex recalled a username prompted as "Keeper of something or other." he ignored that for now, looking on the bottom there was a new highlighted section for "Quest Info," he hesitantly pressed it and a new screen popped up.
[Quest: Road to Beginnings - Search for signs of the first heroes]
[Journey on the Road of Beginnings as the Original Heroes once did. Search for a small trace of them, and learn more of their Quest of Salvation.
Reward: The Staff of Beginnings, Access to Class System, Access to Command System]
"Well then, I guess I don't have much choice with that matter. If I don't have a class, I wont have access to skills or magic, if this is anything like the stories I loved reading." Alex mused, pressing the prompt to close the screens. Pulling himself together, he tried to find anything helpful along the small dirt road, aside from that and the grass, flowers, a slime, and... Wait a slime...?
Plop, plop plop... A small green can be seen just hopping along, devouring some flowers and insects. Alex gave a small laugh as it was his first time seeing one in real life. The jelly-like creature shined brightly in the midday sun, its jewel-like core glistening inside as the flower petals dissolved inside. Since he was maybe a few feet from it, it suddenly stopped, started shaking and hurriedly bounced away.
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"I'm guessing they are not aggressive?" Alex could only wonder, curiously watching the little guy flee. He noticed his hand. “Wait,something is off.”
Taking a better look at his body and attire, Alex was now in dark gray tunic, a pair of beige slacks and firm leather boots. His hands though is what really drew his attention, they seemed smoother, younger. He couldn’t quite place it, and put it to the side for now. For now he found a place to sit near the trail, as Alex remembered the book given to him by Kaze. ‘A Travelers Guide to the Havenshard Continent’ was written on the cover of the notebook. Opening to the first page, he found that he could understand the text written within.
-Welcome to the New World. You are currently on the main continent, in the Grandia Kingdom.
The Language spoken is Known as Common Tongue. Know that it is not the same as English, and that any mention of that language will alert the populace of your origins.
Due to "Kingdom Doctrine," the citizens of Grandia are hesitant towards Other Worlders, and will quickly report you to the authorities.
Your location is in... The Road of Beginnings? Why are you there? That place is way too close to the Main Capital.
“Wait... was this being written in real time?”
Closing the book and looking around and opening it again. Alex decided to skim a few pages and found that they are written in a language he couldn’t understand. Defeatedly returning to the original page he was on, Alex found an ellipses pulsing over and over.
“Is it waiting on me?” he asked himself quietly, amused by the situation. He took a deep breath and returned his focus to the small notebook.
-Are you done? Good... Let's start over.
Welcome, I am Libra, your Guide to the main continent of this world.
-I am here to help you get adjusted to your new life, and help you get safely to the Earlsvine Kingdom.
-However, first we need to get some basic knowledge assessed. What Hero Class did you choose? Fighter, Mage... Maybe Healer? I know that one has grown in popularity recently.
Unsure how to answer the book Alex decided honesty was the best approach.
"Yeah... so, I wasn’t able to choose a class. The system seems like it's making me do a Class Quest."
Alex continued to explain to the book everything that happened, with the tablet, to the system screen, to waking up the field they were currently sitting on. The whole time it just pulsed its ellipses as if thinking and waiting.
- This is very concerning. Not having a class right now means you won't be able to protect yourself or have access to the Skills Tree. However, this could make things easier to move around in since the Kingdom won't have any notice of you being summoned. You also mentioned that it gave you a username?
"Yes, it did," Alex answered.
- Interesting. I will have to think about that information for a little while.
-For now try to complete the "Quest" you were given.
-Also you need to come up with a backstory for any travelers you may come across. My recommendation is that you are from a small Village in the Franview Dutchy, they are at least allied with the kingdom you are in.
"Thanks Libra, I appreciate it. I will think of something if I run into any travelers. Before I forget, is there anything you can tell me about the Original Heroes that might help?" Alex figured he would try to get a bit more information from his new friend.
-There should be an old statue north of where you are... but it's been so long that it may be gone now. In the meantime, I must rest and think about the information you have given me. You should be able to call upon me in a few days.
Farewell for now, Adventurer.
With that the pages in Libra's book had become blank. He tucked the small notebook into the pocket of his slacks, and now noticed a small sack lay tied to his belt. He opened the sack to find a few gold coins, several silver pieces, a small crystal and a small metal card. closer at it a small prompt screen popped up. He held the card closer inspecting the cold steel. A new screen popped up.
[Identification Registered]
Name: Alex
Age: 23
Class: _____ {Error data not found}
Lv: _____ {Error data not found}
Rank: Copper
It looked like a form of ID which would make some things easier for Alex, but the blank spots for class and level seemed troubling. Unable to do anything about the situation, he returned everything back to the small sack. This was something Alex could worry about at a later time. He had other issues that needed to be addressed, like this dumb quest. So he allowed himself to stand back up, take a guess as to what direction was north, dust himself off and start walking down the road in that direction.