A Warlock's Ascent

The moon was shining brightly in the black sky. Most of the Midgard was asleep and was dreaming of a better tomorrow. But there were a few people in this world who didn't have a shred of sleep in their eyes. Amongst that group were Dan, Suzie, Soo-Young, and Sanjay, who were all sitting in a room discussing their future actions…

"I say that we should run away from here." Sanjay declared.

"I don't think it was a good idea. We don't know the extent of magical powers that the people of this world could perform. Don't you remember that the red-haired woman was able to disable us with the roots of trees, then she magically teleported us to Ravenshade." Suzie said. While Sanjay looked confused. "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

"I am trying to say, the powers that people of this world have are very alien to us. We don't know their full extent, we don't know their capabilities. So even if we make a run for it, the chances are that we would get caught immediately." Suzie added.

"So running is not an option. So what should we do?" Soo-Young asked.

"It is a very tough decision to make." Suzie then continued. "If we join her cause then we will become her puppets. And I don't think I want that. I don't trust that woman or anything that comes out of her mouth."

"If we can't run, then why not join her for now? And then we would just run away afterward?" Sanjay added.

"That is a good plan. They would teach us more about magic, after we have learned about all of their abilities, it would be easier to run away." Soo-Young said.

"So it is then settled, we would stay in Ravenshade for now then run away at the first chance that we would get," Suzie added.

"Yes," Sanjay said enthusiastically. It is then he saw Dave, who had been quiet for some time. "Dev, what do you think?" But he got no response from him.

"Dev?" Sanjay called him again. Still no response. So he shook him out of his stupor.

"Yeah? Sorry, I was thinking about something." Dave said.

"Dave-Oppa did you hear anything that we discussed?" Soo-Young asked.

"No, I am sorry. I was thinking about stuff that happened today." Dave apologized.

"So were we," Suzie said with little anger in her voice. "Anyway, we were thinking of taking the offer from Carlin. We would join the city of Ravenshade. And then we will run away at the first chance that we get." Suzie said.

Dave nodded his head. "Right. That is the only solution to our problem. So it will work for now.".

Sanjay then couldn't help but ask. "Dev, what were you thinking about?".

"Before? I was thinking about the race." Dave answered honestly.

"The Race?" Soo-Young asked.

"Yeah," Dave said.

"Did you notice something?" Suzie asked.

"A lot of things," Dave said.

"Like what?" Sanjay asked. Hearing him, Dave sat down straight and started speaking…

"Guys, remember what is our goal? This is not supposed to be a game of survival of the fittest. But this is supposed to be a Race. The quest in our system says that we need to cross the 9th world to get out of this place. That means that there is a way to go to the second world here and we just need to find it."

"So what are you trying to say?" Sanjay asked.

"This world is too small. As I have told you guys, this world is just a piece of land floating in space. That means somewhere in this world is a path, from which he could go to the second world. We should be focused on that as well." Dave said.

"Yeah, we forgot about that," Suzie said while thinking about it.

"And then comes the map of this world. Did anybody observe it properly?" Dave asked.

"Was there something special about the map?" Soo-Young asked.

"Everything was special about the map. The rivers of this world were originating from an island called Death Valley which is situated in the middle of the map. But the interesting thing was, the island was red, and…" before he could say anything else, they were interrupted.

And it was at that exact moment, blue boxes started appearing in front of the eyes of everyone present in the room…

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Congratulations Sonia Ivanov for being the first player to reach this far.

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A player had reached Level 50.

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Special requirements have been fulfilled.

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The cataclysm would start in 1 hour.

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All the players are advised to brace themselves for the cataclysm.

...............

As the bunch of messages started popping up one after the other, everyone became quiet and started reading it. And once they were done, all of them looked at each other to confirm that they all got the same message…

"Guys, do you know what this cataclysm is?" Sanjay asked.

"It usually refers to an event that causes a great amount of destruction," Suzie said.

"So what does that mean? Is this world going to experience an earthquake?" Soo-Young asked in a scared voice.

"I don't think so, But something far worse than an earthquake is heading our way ." Dave said in a grim voice.

***

5 mins ago,

Sonia was in her backyard, Igor was fast asleep inside while she was out there basking in the moonlight. She tried her best to quell any doubts that the Earthians had about their daily life. She answered them to the best of her abilities and she thinks that she did a good job as well. And now all she could do is wait.

Yureka was pretty open about the future vision of Earthians in the city. Any Earthian who is willing to become a warrior or an adventurer would be supported by the city. They would be provided with homes and a certain amount of fees from time to time during their tenure under the city.

But the Earthians who were cowards or were not willing to fight will be cast out by the city. The city will not provide any sort of facilities to them. And their movements would be restricted as well, they cannot migrate to another city. If they did so, Yureka would make sure that they would be hunted down and killed in a very brutal way.

It was a little bit cruel, to force someone to fight to the death. But the morals of this world are very fickle, to begin with. And the sooner the Earthians recognize this fact, the better it would be for them.

The only regret that Sonia had was that she played a very important role in the manipulation plan by Yureka. According to her instructions, she had deliberately portrayed an image of the world in their minds, from which they would think that working as a Guard or an adventurer is a pretty noble job in this world. And the people who do not work at these jobs are considered weak people and they are destined to die penniless.

It was not exactly manipulation, as it is the harsh truth about the world. But somewhere in her heart, she feels what she did was a little unethical…

SWING

Sonia took out her sword and started swinging it. As she couldn't sleep she thought that she should practise her swordplay a little bit. Maybe she would be able to get a stat point while practising.

She realised that if one wants to strengthen their core attributes, they should do so by doing repetitive tasks, like swinging a sword, then they would be able to get a stat point for themselves. She used to practise sword swinging in her earlier days, the sword was very heavy for her, and it made it very difficult for her to fight it.

To get used to the weight of her weapon, as well as practice some moves, she started swinging swords. She started exercising regularly as well, because of which she started gaining dexterity, endurance, and strength stat points. In the same way, Igor found out that when someone reads the books of this world, they gain intelligence stat points. It was a very neat way to gain stat points without killing anyone.

Now she has reached the stage when swinging the sword doesn't easily give a stat point. But she still keeps trying, after all, she needs all the power she could get to survive in this world.

While swinging the sword, Sonia heard a squeaking noise from her left. When she turned that way, she saw a mole the size of a Corgi, munching vegetables in her vegetable garden. Seeing this she got irritated. She hated these creatures as they always destroy her garden. So stopped swinging for a moment, she gripped the sword tightly in her hand, and then she threw it towards the mole.

The sword easily penetrated the mole's skin and thus killed it easily. But it was then Sonia started to get a string of messages in front of her.

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You have killed an Earth Mole.

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You have gained 1 exp point.

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You have leveled up.

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Congratulations on being the first player to reach the level-50 mark.

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As a Level-50 player, a special perk of Familia had been unlocked for you.

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Now, you can join the Familia of God and get gifts from them.

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The Mistress of an Owl has sent you an invitation to join her familia.

...............

The Monster Huntress has sent you an invitation to join her familia.

...............

The Jackal Face has sent you an invitation to join his familia.

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The Falcon's head has sent you an invitation to join his familia.

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Special requirements have been fulfilled.

...............

The cataclysm would start in 1 hour.

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All the players are advised to brace themselves for the cataclysm.

...............

*****

Ravenshade is known throughout Midgard as the city of magic. The dungeon of this city had a lot of resources for magical arts, because of which they are known to produce the strongest mages in Midgard. And one of the biggest accomplishments of this city is the network of Watch towers that they had built throughout their domain.

Every watch tower had a certain number of soldiers guarding it. These soldiers go on regular patrols to see whether any beasts are spawning in the nearby area. And if there is then they take care of it. Or if beasts that had spawned are a lot then, they can contact the watch tower above them and order major reinforcements. And just like that with the combination of 50 small watch towers and 4 Big Camps, most of the beast tides are easily dealt with…

3 soldiers of Ravenshade city were off on a regular patrol when they saw an orange light in the sky towards their left. Seeing this everyone stopped. Usually, the orange light in the sky means that there a monster had spawned just below the illuminated area. So the three soldiers started moving toward the light to scout the area. Their job was to look at the monster that had spawned and deal with it if they could.

But as they were moving towards it, they started noticing a very peculiar thing. Usually, after the monster spawned, the orange light vanished without a trace. But today, that didn't happen. It took them about 5 mins to reach the area, but the orange glow only glowed brighter and brighter as they reached the area.

Ron, who was the leader of the group, had been working at his watch tower for 50 years and was quite an experienced soldier.

"Why the hell is that light not going away?" one of the soldiers asked.

"I do not know. Never saw something like this before." Ron truthfully answered.

"What do you reckon that is then?" the other soldier asked.

"Don't know. But it is our job to find out what that hell that is." Ron said and with that, they started moving toward the spawning point….

***

15 mins later.

The southernmost watch tower of the Ravenshade city was oddly quiet at the moment. 6 men were sitting around the table and playing cards. The silent game of cards was so intense that none of them noticed that 3 of their comrades who had gone on patrol under the leadership of Ron hadn't returned yet. They would have probably not even noticed them missing. But it was then…

BAAM!

The door of the watch tower swung open and Ron ran inside while covered in blood, he didn't greet anyone, just ran straight inside. The men of the watch tower only saw a glimpse of the man, but they smelled the blood on him. All of them noticed that there was not a trace of the other two soldiers that went with him. Seeing this everyone got up and rushed inside to see what had transpired…