Ouch!!
Alex felt his back hitting the hard floor. Slowly, with a pained expression, he stood up and looked around.
“Everything is the same as before.”
He was in a white room, on the side was a small bed on it were some clothes and food. As he was looking around a white transparent screen appeared in front of him.
A new message appeared on the screen.
[You have received a message, would you like to open it?]“Open It,” Alex said, and the screen changed
[Please choose a weapon!!]
The screen displayed six choices:
Sword, Spear, Dagger, Bow, Wand and a Gun
“What should I choose this time?” his gaze shifted between them.
He already knew the kind of challenge he would face. His eyes lingered on the sword, a solid choice, but was too common on this level. The spear brought back memories. In his previous life, it had carried him to the third floor, but against the creatures on the lower levels, it had been frustratingly ineffective.
“Sorry, old friend. This time, I need a different path.”
His eyes moved past the dagger as it was not practical. The bow was too situational.
That left two. The wand and the gun. His fingers twitched with hesitation, and with a deep breath, he made his choice.
“I choose the gun.”
A prompt appeared.
[Are you sure about your choice?]
“Yes, I am.”
[As you wish. Confirming your choice.]Alex’s expression stiffened, this last voice message was somewhat different, and he knew who it was.
‘The Impartial Goddess is intervening? That never happened before.’
“First, my sister who had never reached the apartment in my past life, and now this? What else has changed?”
His thoughts were interrupted by another notification.
[Your weapon has been delivered. Prepare for the world on the first floor.]
As the message vanished, the space in front of him twisted like stretched rubber. The spherical distortion shrank, contracting into a singularity. Alex instinctively stepped back.
Boom!
A small shockwave rippled through the hall. He steadied his breath, watching the pulsating sphere.
“A wormhole… They make it look effortless.”
Even after two centuries, humanity had barely scratched the surface of true wormhole technology. Only two people had ever possessed a unique stigma allowing them to open one at will.
“No… There was a third.”
His hands clenched. ‘After I get out of here, I need to find him.’
His gaze shifted to the bed, a silver briefcase rested on it. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and unlatched it. Inside was a gun and ten magazines.
He picked it up and tried it,
‘It’s heavy’
This was his first reaction, he released the mag and saw that it was also full of seven bullets.
“So, seven bullets and ten extra Mags. 77 bullets in total…this is not enough.”
There were thousands of monsters on the first floor, to have only 77 bullets looked crippling but there was nothing he could do about that. This was the choice he had to live with.
“But it’s not that bad, for the cold weapon like sword and spear we had to repair it. Looks like there is no restriction on the guns like that, I will just have to buy the bullets from the store till I can use mana.”
Chi chk!!
He reloaded the gun and placed all the extra magazines in the pockets of his pants.
“Let’s go then,” Alex looked at the pulsating sphere and after taking a deep breath he jumped in it.
———————–
Alex slowly floated in the dark void, in front of him many white message windows were opening up.
[Please be ready for the trials!!]
[Status Window can be accessed now!!]
[Quest window can be accessed now!!]
As the messages ceased, Alex was violently thrown out of the dark void. A blinding light forced him to close his eyes, and when he finally opened them, a breathtaking world unfolded before him.
Stretching endlessly in every direction was a vast grassy plain, its emerald expanse swaying under the touch of a soothing breeze. The air was crisp, the world serene, almost inviting. But Alex knew the truth. Beneath this illusion of peace lurked horrors beyond imagination.
At first glance, the land resembled Earth, but a closer look revealed the subtle, unsettling differences; the alien structure of the flora, the faint hum in the air that spoke of something unnatural.
Above him, the sun burned bright in a sky. Instinctively, he gauged his direction, scanning the horizon for any sign of danger. The vast expanse of mountains going through north covered the land from east to west.
On the south was a large stretch of forest and in the middle surrounded with normal sized trees was a Golden tree, its trunk was as large as the biggest mountains, its crown covered whole direction touching the mountain on the both side.
“Irminsul, still as majestic as ever.”
No matter how many times he saw it, he was still awed him.
[Quest window has been updated!!]
[
Quest Objective: Reach Irminsul
Description: Travel the Valor Plains, navigate through the perilous Icarus Forest, and reach the legendary Irminsul. The path is marked, but beware—hidden dangers lurk in the shadows, and not all humans you encounter will be friendly.
Time Remaining:- 01:23:59:21
Quest Reward:- Fruit Of the World Tree, 10 Energy Crystals
]
Alex looked at the quest window and let out a small laugh. He looked toward the forest one more time then, stated walking north.
His destination; The northern mountain opposite of the Irminsul.
He was now on in the of Valor Plains, he had to cross it to reach the foothills of the mountains.
“To think this was the battlefield, where Vitra race fought against the Perimorphs.”
He looked at the grassy plain and sighed “No matter who won, at last it was nature that ruled the land.”
He really wished he could just go around and dig, the spoils of War was just beneath a thin layer of grass. But he could just wish, while this grassy land looked like a vacation spot, it was not. It was filled with creatures that peoples have nightmare about.
‘And for them Humans are delicacy.’
He took small and careful step around the grass, trying his best to not disturb any unimaginable nightmare.
He had only taken ten or so step, but he suddenly stopped. His whole body and mind screamed, after twenty years of hunting he had experienced it many time. The fear of death.
With his peripheral vision, he stated to scan his surrounding. Once, twice… ten times. Finally, he spotted it, A glowing red eye looking at him from behind a thick patch of grass.
From a single glance he knew what it was, a Red-Eye Lemin. A big cat like monster with only one red eyes, but the real danger wasn’t in its appearance…it was in the way it hunted.
‘It looks alone…but its pack could be near.’
Alex tightened the grip on the gun, his finger was sitting on the trigger ready to fire. In his previous life, he had never encountered a Red-Eye Lemin in Valor Plains, which made him even more cautious.
His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, ‘Damn it!!’
He barely had time to react as the Lemin lunged toward him, its powerful legs moved it forward with a blur. Alex jumped to the side, rolling on the ground as he raised his gun and fired.
Bang!!
The shot rang out, but the Lemin twisted mid-air and dodged the bullet.
‘Fast, agile…but what is that?’
Alex saw that the Lemin only had three legs, ‘it’s injured…Did his pack leave it behind?’
“Then it could be alone!” he pointed the gun toward the it, the Lemin looked fearful of the gun, while its red eyes were focused on Alex, it slowly moved limping around him in circle.
Alex was calm, he also did the same as Lemin and they both slowly moved around a circle, Waiting for each other to make there move first.
After seeing that Alex was calm and did nothing,
Roar!!
It jumped forward, even without one leg its ferocity had not dulled. The jump was like a blur, but Alex was ready. He didn’t even move, simply ducked and pointed the gun above him.
Bang!
The shot rang out, echoing through the plains. The bullet went through it’s shoulder, but it didn’t stop. It twisted midair, using the force of its leap to contort its body and slash down at Alex with its claws.
Alex tried to roll out but he was not fast enough. The claws scraped his shoulder, leaving deep gashes.
“Ugh”, Blood started gushing out of the wound; Seeing the blood, Lemin excitedly lunged again.
Too fast!
But instead of retreating, Alex pressed forward. His instincts screamed at him, but he ignored them. He slid under the beast as it pounced, flipping the gun in his grip. The moment he was beneath its belly, he fired twice.
Bang! Bang!
aaaahooooo!!
The beast howled in pain and crashed onto the ground, blood splattered all around the grass. But it still wasn’t dead.
Alex didn’t waste the chance. His shoulder was bathed in blood but he still scrambled on his feet, and quickly aimed his gun at the Lemin’s head. Its red eye was burning with rage and hatred. A wounded beast was always the most dangerous.
Roar!!
It let out a deafening roar, a final act of defiance, and lunged once more.
Alex exhaled.
Bang!
A single shot. Right through its eye.
The Red-Eye Lemin collapsed mid-leap, its body tumbling forward before skidding to a stop just inches from Alex’s feet.
Silence.
Alex stood there, gun still aimed, his breath was steady but his muscles were tensed. He waited a moment longer, waiting,
A message resound,
[You have killed a monster, You have claimed a Mystery.]
Finally he lowered the gun.
