Eternal Kingdom

Yuri twitched his eyes. Awake by the bustling noises. He opened his eyes and found himself in a room that was lit with a candle. He saw himself lying in a wooden bed. He got a slight headache just after he woke up, he grabbed his head once more and stared at the ceiling, trying to organize his thought.

He propped himself up and sat on the bed. He also found the [Heaven's Will] on his hand, also to his surprise his body was clean of any bloodstains, but his armor was still broken and tattered.

'What happened...Why am I suddenly woke up in here— The old man? He said it was our last meeting? This item...' He had many questions inside his mind, but there's no answer to it.

Creak!

He perked his ears, the room door was opened and he saw two people walked inside. It was Byrne and Rommel. The men that he rescued earlier, even though he didn't remember what exactly happened but knowing the two were safe he sighed a relief. He also was surprised that the two didn't log out after experiencing the unpleasant situation from before.

"Yo. You're awake." Rommel said with a smile.

The two approached him. Yuri saw Rommel was smiling but Byrne expressions were a little depressed. Maybe it was because of the torture that he got earlier. It was understandable, because anyone will become depressed after that kind of situation.

The situation became awkward after he saw the two. He didn't know what to say, although he had known the truth about the game situation, he can't casually let anyone know it either. Even if he did say it, nobody would believe him anyway.

"H-Hey...Thanks..." Byrne said awkwardly.

Yuri was startled, he wasn't expecting Byrne to speak first, "Y-Yeah...You're okay? How's your hand?"

"It's fine. The priest healed me and grew it back." Byrne explained.

"Oh...It's good then..." Yuri smiled awkwardly.

The noise became even louder, it looks like there's a commotion just outside his room. Yuri perked his ears and his face became puzzled. 'What's happening outside?'

Rommel saw Yuri puzzled face and said, "It's about the bug."

Yuri turned his head towards Rommel, and questioned, "What bug?"

Byrne took a breath, "The pain receptors...It's gone..."

"You mean the pain receptors configuration?" Yuri asked.

"Yes...That's why Byrne was in so much pain before." Rommel clarified.

----

The commotions were not only happening in-game, but it also was happening in the forums. The forum became a war zone, blasted by complaints and bugs reports that were posted at each minute. Gaming media also came into play, countless articles with controversial titles, saying that the critically acclaimed VRMMORPG were now dead, claiming that the bug was game breaking and also can lead to a potential mental hazard.

"I've looked at the settings but the pain receptors configuration is nowhere to be found anymore..."

"Yeah, its gone now...Is it a bug? The devs should have known it right?"

"I'm afraid to play this if the pain was real."

"Hah! A bunch of sissies!"

"Come, let me slash you with my sword, and we'll see if you're still acting tough after that!! Stupid!!"

"Sure!! Meet me at the Colosseum in Novara!!"

The company was trying their best to appease the masses, they can't let their old players disappointed. The customer service was on fire on that same day, while the engineers and the programmers were spending their best effort to fix the game, although it was futile to begin with.

----

Back to the room, the three were quietly listening to the commotions, trying to get a better grasp of the situation.

Rommel grew restless, he didn't like the awkward situation in the room right now, "Right...What happened to you before? We found you lying on the ground near the exit of the forest...Also...What's your level? You killed those soldiers in a single strike...They were level seventy to eighty..." Rommel inquired.

"Oh! I've got my stamina exhausted...So...I fainted..." Yuri lied. He knew exactly what happened to him, but he decided to keep it a secret. However, his minds were blank after that, he only remembered that he woke up in the old man mansion, maybe the two would have the answer to that.

"When did you find me? Is this the next day?" He stared at Rommel, trying to get their side of the story.

Rommel and Byrne were puzzled by his question, "N-No...It's still the same day...We found you just after it gets dark." Byrne answered.

'I didn't get transported...That's why the old man said I must wake up...All of that was just a dream— Old man...Just who the hell are you...And...What am I?' He was lost in his thought, his brain throttled hard to deduce all of the things that happened to him, although its only bits and pieces, it's already satisfying to him, because the old man was an enigmatic person, and every clue he can get, would get him closer to the truth.

His thought was also strengthened further by the fact that, in that place, he was covered in blood, while in actuality the bloodstains in the game only lasted for a couple of minutes, before it turned into light motes.

"I almost forgot!" Rommel exclaimed.

Yuri, lost in his thought were surprised by Rommel sudden exclamations, he turned his gazes and found Rommel right hand was extended in front of him added with a smile on his face. At first, he was puzzled, but then, he realized that they didn't even know each other names.

They've changed introduction with one another. Yuri found out that Rommel was level sixty-two dwarf barbarian and Byrne was level sixty-six human knight. He introduced himself to the two, but he didn't say his level, not because he wanted to be mysterious, but he himself didn't know what level he is.

They found themselves comfortable talking with each other, and decided to exchange in-game contacts. However, Yuri thought it was just a pleasantry, he knew that the two will not be coming back to the game because the horrifying circ.u.mstances that they had experienced, but, he complied anyway.

After they've chatted with each other for a while, the two decided to finally log out from the game, they've found out from the menu, it was four in the afternoon in the real world. Yuri was a little sad by their goodbye because they were his first friend in-game aside from Felix and So-Hee, but, knowing that this was probably his last meeting, he said his goodbye properly by shaking their hands.

The night passed, and the sun slowly rose from the east. Showing its brilliance towards Lindow. The commotions outside were slowly subsided after the sun slowly rising. He found himself sitting alone in the room with [Heaven's Will] in his hand. The two also asked about it before they logged out, but Yuri once again lied to them, although they didn't pose a single threat to him, he thought it was best for him that only a handful of people knew this highly coveted item.

His initial plan was somehow successful, now, he was in Lindow, where he planned to upgrade his inventory and also gather some information about the emperor's wars. Before he set out on his way, he decided to check his level first before something weird happening or in-case he forgot about it.

"Avatar Status"

- Error! -

- Error! -

- Restarting avatar status interface. -

- Avatar status not found. -

- Searching for a backup log. -

- Not found. -

- System rebooting. -

- Checking Universes Will Log. -

- Log found. -

- Updating the old interface. -

- Loading new status interface. -

====

Name : Yurian | Yuri Adams

Race : Alter | Human

Gender : Male

Alignments : Neutral

Professions : None

Reputation : 0

Infamy : 10

Gods Enmity : +9999

Divinity: 0

Bloodline: 0

====

Level : 716 (+1 Rebirth Counter.)

====

Health : 92.125 | 312

Mana : 52.110 | 112

Strength : 928 | 28

Stamina : 912 | 22

Vitality : 836 | 18

Agility : 944 | 36

Dexterity : 858 | 24

Wisdom : 720 | 15

Intellect : 730 | 15

Charisma : 750 | 15

Luck : -99999 | -99

====

Resistance :

Fate resistance (Null)

====

Physical Attack : 5428

Magical Attack : 1224

====

Defense : 3537

====

Guild : None

Territories : None

====

Equipments :

[Scarred Leather Mask - Rare | Broken] +2 VIT, +1 Poison Resistance.

[Jerkins of Relentless Power - Rare | Broken] +2 STR, +2 AGI.

[Bandit's Grasp - Rare | Broken] +3 STR, +2 AGI, +2 DEX.

[Silver Bangle - Uncommon | Broken] +1 DEX.

[Deep Black Leggings - Rare | Broken] +3 AGI, +2 Dark Resistance.

[Crimson Cloth Footguards - Rare | Broken] +2 AGI, +2 STA.

====

Passive Skills :

Demons Blessings [Lv.Max]: HP, MP, and Stamina regenerations +100%.

Fiends Blessings [Lv.Max]: Survive with 1 HP after a death-dealing blow. (One-time use. | Cooldowns: 4380 Hours)

Curse of Fate [Lv.Max]: Normal monsters didn't give out experience. (Players were considered normal monsters, unless they have a divinity or special titles. | Boss monsters and special type monsters give out normal experience.)

Gods Curse [Lv.Max]: Can't learn skills automatically. (Can only learn from Skill Books or Legacies. | Bloodline inheritance did not count towards automatic skills acquirements.)

Primordial Sigil [Lv.1]: Can ingest souls of devils, demons, fiends, angels, immortals, and gods. (Inheriting one innate skill from the devoured souls. | Adding one point for bloodline or divinity counter depending on the type of souls the holder ingest. | Holder didn't have enough knowledge to upgrade the skill.)

====

Active Skills:

Void Axis [Lv.Max]: Anti-Space attack (Innate skills of Alter race. | Spell power based on user STR + AGI + WIS + INT stats. | Cost: 90% HP and 80% MP | Cooldowns: 2190 Hours - 2184 Hours remaining.)

====

He was baffled looking at his own status. Overnight he became level seven hundred and sixteen, just eighty-four more level and he hit max level for mortals in this world, his avatar race was also changed, but he didn't heed to it much because he looked like a normal human, with only a bloodline changes, although he was curious, no answers shall come out from his minds, so he decided to ignore it until he found a concrete clue about it.

He scrolled through his stats and saw that now his stats were divided into two. The first was his avatar, and the second was his evolving human side. He was shocked, if his stats were fully integrated into his human body, he can become just like those superheroes from the comics or anime.

He also found out that his skills were now replaced, he was blessed and also cursed at the same time. The blessings were nothing special, but his curse, it was making him basically a handicapped person. The first one made his avatar harder to level up, but it can be worked out, he can always search for bosses in dungeons. The second one, however, was a big problem.

From his experience, skill books were rare commodities, even though he can find it in the auction houses, it will cost him millions or even billions of currencies in this world. While legacies, on the other hand, were as rare as finding the angel shark on the vast oceans of earth. Also, if he did find one, usually there's also a hellish difficulty quest attached to it.

Basically, he was a level seven hundred players with a skill of level two hundred players. His only advantages were his stats and his three months cooldown active skills. Even his stats were just average in those level range.

'How am I supposed to fight for my survival with all of these!' He wanted to cry, but nothing was coming out. He wanted to curse out loud by his predicaments, he wanted to curse the old man and also the gods, for all the things that happened to him, but, knowing how futile it is, he just sighed instead.

Done with his lament, he decided to go outside and head towards the mages associations first before going to the adventurer's guild. He didn't change his equipments yet, because he didn't want to bring attention to himself, with those flashy level seven hundred items, or so he thought. Unfortunately, his current appearance was worse than that, he was the center of attention, with his tattered and broken armor.

He picked up his pace and scurried away towards the mages association, although he wears his usual stoic expressions in his face, on the inside, he was screaming from the embarassments.