Capítulo 31: Chapter 31 - The Game
Zenith had been preparing himself within the armory. He found that new attire had been prepared for him, which Jenabell told him was his as he boarded the vessel. Looking at it, it seemed almost identical to the design of his old one, but it felt more lively. Gazing at it, Zenith could almost feel the resonance coursing through it. He soon put it on. He had told the others he would be going ahead with his solo adventure for a bit to improve his skills, although it would be short-lived if he didn't luck out and the teleporter device led him to an empty space. Jenabell had even suggested he sell it for a small profit.
Zenith, though, knew that in this universe the strong ruled the weak and made the rules. One might see this as unfair, but with life and death ever-present, it was the only fair way to live. He understood it better than most.
He reached over after turning around, grabbing a pair of resonance gauntlets that weren't nearly as thick as his previous ones. These were named simply as Resonance Gloves, allowing better use of one's resonance energies while also having their own small reserve. It would let Zenith freely form weapons using his own power and even empower his rune abilities by 1%, but that was all one needed between a battle of life and death.
"Hmm, okay, let's go!" Excitedly making his way out, he headed to a different place within the relic outpost reserved for those wanting to try their attempts at solo adventures. It was a lineup of large rooms, each having what looked like defensive robots on guard and deactivated. They would only operate if a foreign entity had exited the teleporter device and into the room. Zenith had to pay 50k credits for this treatment, which to him was a hefty price considering how much he had.
A guard led him over to his room and began some small talk. "You know, you got guts, kid. Not many really want to try solo adventures unless they are powerful solo relic hunters, and even then, they won't really bother as they are contracted out by organizations for their work. The chances of teleporter devices holding anything useful or nothing at all is just too high. I once saw some poor guy excitedly come with 5 devices estimated to be White Wolf level, only for them all to be empty. Poor bastard, all his life savings, he said." He clicked his tongue and shook his head in pity.
Zenith's lips were pursed, a little nervous now, but he had confidence in himself. Worst case, he wasn't losing out; he had Allspace regardless if it contained something or not. "It's no big deal, it's a learning experience for me," he summarized his thoughts. His answer more or less got a nod from the guard, who wished him luck after handing Zenith the ID tag to use the room.
Stepping inside alone, Zenith moved to place the device. He then raised his hand like he had seen Mirabell do and activated it. The device creaked and clanked until its shape extended out and formed a metallic archway with resonance as the energy source.
What Zenith had failed to realize was a thin, almost invisible strand of pure white energy had seeped out and merged into the device while he was powering it up.
Zenith didn't enter at first. He sat cross-legged and began a breathing method taught to him by Fable to stabilize his mind. This made more sense alone; an unsteady mind would lead to danger. Utilizing this method for 10 minutes, he stood up and double-checked his equipment before taking a deep breath, a look of excitement on his face.
Then, in a quick stride, he entered into the portal, stepping through. But as he did, the seemingly blue color of the portal shifted and turned into a milky white while retaining the structure. When Zenith stepped out onto the other side, he encountered something he hadn't heard about or seen before. The entirety of everything was pure darkness, not a source of light anywhere other than the portal, which soon also turned milky white.
Zenith turned to look around and saw the portal's color change; his heart skipped a beat, as he had an odd feeling. "Is this normal? Is this encountering nothing?" he calmed himself from panicking.
Keeping close to the portal and seeing its change, which he was unsure about, as well as the endless darkness behind him, he decided that it might be too dangerous to remain here due to the unknown, and possibly this area contained nothing due to his luck.
He approached the portal again after giving the darkness in every direction a careful scan over. After approaching it, though, he jumped in shock. He felt his head buzz slightly like a soft gentle thought, and a light screen appeared in front of his face. [Would you like to Exit the game? - Yes, No.]
Zenith was stunned. "What the hell? Floating text like a virtual reality game? You're kidding me?" He had read up on all sorts of relic sites, the strangest that was ever encountered made available, minus the threat of danger, was a relic site that was a Circus.
Anyone could enter, but the currency they used to play the games was not money, but life span. 10 years of life for 1 attempt at a game. As for the reward for finishing the circus game, it varied, from Unique Items to their actual bodies and resonance being strengthened greatly. Unfortunately, when that relic hunter organization all exited the device, it had turned to ash, only being able to be used once.
Zenith was excited but unsure. He tapped the floating [No] on the screen and reached for his coms device, but the moment he did, another prompt floated above. [Party Mode Due to insufficient members, Solo mode Activated. Rewards are now 5x]
Zenith was stunned; it had happened the moment he picked up his coms device, and when he tried to activate it, it didn't work. He forced a bitter smile and sighed. But he looked excited as he saw that the rewards were now 5X. "5x reward?" he whispered to himself, waiting for something to happen.
[Loading World] he saw a prompt before he felt the endless void shake. Then, starting from where he was, it seemed like creation had formed from nothingness. All around him, bricks, materials, and things formed. He then found himself inside what looked like a dungeon hallway with bricks and torches lighting it a bit. The teleporter device retained its position as the exit. This entire scene shook Zenith to his core. Creation from nothing, if this was what it was, seemed impossible. It was something everyone would seek. This was definitely not virtual reality; there was no expensive cabin or anything.
[Welcome To My Old School Fantasy Dungeon Game. I haven't given it a name yet and just added whatever mechanics, but please give me some reviews after you finish playing. I would appreciate it!]
Zenith was dumbfounded. Was this some twisted joke? He then remembered something and began to consider things. "Was this made by a human?" If this was the case, then it made sense that some bored human would do this, but Zenith didn't know what the hell "Old school" was. But if it was something akin to a game, then it had to have progression and methods.
After the prompt vanished, he then saw nothing else. Was it truly simple and like this? Zenith tightened his gloved hands and began to enter deeper into the dungeon, the darkness fading as more light came into view. He progressed very carefully, but after taking 20 steps, a prompt appeared. [Enemy Encounter!] The void in front of him distorted as three globs of resonance mass appeared before forming into what looked like three small figures that Zenith had seen before. "Resonance creatures!?"
Not wasting any time, he rushed over. His speed quickened and agile, he noticed the difference with this outfit. He felt almost as if he were flying through the air. Before the creatures knew what hit them, Zenith's resonance-infused fist had crushed the skull of one. He then formed a longsword of resonance from his other hand, cutting the second creature that wanted to dodge, but it was cleaved in half.
The third creature had more time to react as the other two had died. It lunged at Zenith, its maw open, but Zenith used his right leg to deliver a smooth agile kick, breaking its head in one go. When he looked at the corpses, he found they had dissipated into light, just like the relic site that was a training ground.
Zenith sighed with disappointment, but he blinked as a prompt followed. [5x Reward: 75 Experience points granted] Zenith felt a soft warm glow enter his body. He didn't feel any stronger, but an idea popped into his head. He thought of the term Status Window, and soon a floating screen appeared, showing some basic outlines.
[Name: Zenith Sygin
Current Level: 5
Experience until next level: 642/950
Current Resonance Ability: Cosmic Contrast]
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder