original

Empire: Titan's Rise

นักเขียน: king_frosh

บท 1: Welcome to Titan

Within a small room, a few people were gathered together, all staring at the very back of the room where a young man lay on a bed.

His entire body was lean almost to a fault, and his skin was paler than death itself. Everyone in the room looked at the young man with pity.

"Chief?" the voice of a young woman was heard as she approached the bed.

The young woman was as beautiful as they came. Dressed in a simple gown, it was clear that her background was humble, but the same could be said about the rest of the people in the room.

"Is he dead?" someone in the small crowd asked, causing everyone to either murmur or stare at the one who spoke.

As they all watched, they noticed the young man's arm move as he turned around. Seeing this, several sighs of relief filled the room.

"Chief!!" the woman called with even greater intensity than before and immediately began to shake his body.

"What?!" the young man shouted as he woke up with a frown on his face.

"Allow me to sleep, the appoint… who are you?" he asked, confused by his new environment.

"Where is this?" he asked with even greater confusion as fear began to creep into his heart.

He couldn't recognize anything here. Who was the lady before him? Where was he?

"Chief, you're finally awake?" the lady said as she quickly hugged him.

The joy on her face was reflected in everyone else's. The young man just kept looking around in confusion, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

One minute, he was at home sleeping, and now he was in some hut surrounded by what looked like villagers and probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"I don't mean to be rude, but where am I exactly?" he asked her, trying his best to be calm.

He could tell he wasn't kidnapped; otherwise, he wouldn't be seeing such concerned looks on their faces. Instead, he would be shoved around and treated without mercy, but here he even had a bed to himself.

However, this didn't mean he was okay with it. He was now much calmer but still wanted to return home. He hadn't eaten nor taken his medication, and he could feel the symptoms coming on.

[Welcome to Titan]

A cold mechanical but still surprisingly normal voice was heard as a golden holographic display appeared before him.

Seeing this, his heart immediately sank. He knew what this was; normally, it would be everyone's dream, as it was the ultimate escape from reality.

However, not like this. This wasn't what he wanted. He had spent so much time reading books that such a scenario was easily recognized.

It explained why the woman called him Chief, it explained the room that, though it looked poor, was still decorated enough to show status. It also explained their excitement when he woke up.

|You have become a [Dominus], a race of beings tasked to dominate all. Titan is now home to many [Domini] such as yourself, and your duty is to dominate and rule over all of Titan. You have a time period of fifty (50) years to accomplish this, or all [Humans] shall face death.

All attempts at resistance are futile and shall lead to your death in one way or another. Gather more power and dominate this planet, and one day, you may even get the chance to gain immortality or possibly Godhood.|

"Well… Shit!" he said as he read through the holographic display.

While he did so, he could see the woman before him and a few others asking questions and some others performing native healing techniques on him.

"His body is still weak…" he heard the herbalist say before immediately losing interest.

He had heard that many times in his life. He was only twenty-two (22) years old, and that had been a staple statement in his life since he was five (5) years old.

His body would never be stronger than this; that much he had come to accept, but now he had a chance to rid himself of it.

|Distributing all [Domini] abilities|

The voice said again as the holographic display lit up with what looked like a progress bar appearing on it.

The bar didn't take long to fill up, and soon he felt some sort of energy rise within him. It was weird and comfortable at the same time.

×××××××

Name: Tau Zoya

Age: 22.6

Race/Species: Dominus

Rank: nil

Abilities:

Domini's Mind: This is a racial skill that prevents alteration to the mind of a [Dominus]. It renders the user immune to all forms of mental and other related attacks.

Domini's Body: This is a racial skill that allows a [Dominus] to grow without any known limits. It doesn't grant infinite talent or infinite potential, but it allows for growth where possible.

××××××××××

"No stats?" Tau asked, shocked.

He thought it was one of those types of worlds, but it wasn't. There were no stats, which meant that none of them could get stronger quickly and they would have to learn from the natives.

Apart from that, it also meant that he would have to find a different way to mitigate his illness. If there were stats, he could just add more points to his vitality to get cured, but now things were a bit more difficult.

Looking through it, Tau found the two abilities somewhat familiar. They looked like the abilities of one character from a certain webtoon, but these ones seemed to have far less potential and power.

If they were the same, he would be cured, but he wasn't. His bones were still weak beyond comparison. He felt his strength degrading even as he just sat.

"Everyone, let him be for a while so he can rest and get his mind together," the herbalist said before the people began to leave slowly.

The elderly man followed behind as he dragged the woman along. Tau still couldn't understand the relationship between himself and the woman, but that was too much to think about now.