Free Web NovelChapter 10: The Source
--Chapter 10--
Title >> The Source
Hidden behind layers of fog, Xavier watched as the blue sky above the Scar Swamp cracked open like an egg.
It stopped him in his tracks. Xavier watched it happen with his stat allocation screen still hovering in front of him, eight unspent attribute points still awaiting allocation while this virtual world edited itself in real time.
Next, the voice arrived from everywhere. Xavier recognized it immediately like a traumatic trigger.
He had heard that voice before. Outside, through every screen simultaneously, the crown, the golden flames, and the word Arillion burning underneath.
That was the version of the voice directed toward Earth before he entered the game, but this announcement was directed at the players now.
Xavier listened. And the message was crystal clear.
Whoever was behind that voice was gaslighting them as if they were a bunch of five-year-olds.
The story was that they were not prisoners of the game but potential champions of humanity.
It was quite funny when you thought about it. The so-called chosen champions were now given six days and several hours to get their shit together before the first world event arrived and potentially cut down their numbers.
The countdown hovering before his eyes was a constant reminder of that.
[06:23:57:32]
But amidst all this pressure, the wish was new information to him.
Back on Earth, the broadcast had been all about the human population praying for those trapped inside the game and how these players were the only thing standing between humanity and extinction.
The wish itself was something entirely new. Something Marco and the others had no clue about yet...
Sigh!
Running his fingers across the bridge of his nose, Xavier began thinking about what came next.
Not willing to dwell on the wish and its possibilities any further, he could only assume millions of players were hearing this for the first time as well, each processing it in their own way.
Just as the announcement ended and the golden throne receded from the shattered sky, he closed the stat allocation screen almost instinctively.
This official declaration that the game had begun changed his immediate priorities.
Right now, he needed to determine how best to allocate these points with the class and Origin Bloodline he intended to build this body around.
For now... the numbers could wait.
Securing a class and Bloodline within the next twenty-four hours couldn’t.
Wait...Speaking of classes.
Why wasn’t I given the option to bind myself to a foundation already?
This was standard according to the game’s logic.
Once you started a new playthrough like this one, the system immediately offered a class foundation followed by beginner equipment.
Xavier got neither.
It must be that fucking Irregular Status...
Talk about nerfing me after giving me the best Legacy reward imaginable.
He silently prayed Grace was being treated far better than he was.
Resigning himself to the situation, Xavier simply shook his head before pulling up the only thing that still worked.
The map.
The brown parchment unfurled, and the Wanderer’s Compass route was still projected across its surface.
Taking one quick glance at it before looking toward the countdown clock still lingering in his vision...
Xavier knew it was time to get his priorities straight.
Although he didn’t have a class yet while everyone else probably did...
Bloodlines were even more important.
If classes were courses of study at a university, then Bloodlines were the entire damn university itself.
Because it was only through an Origin Bloodline that anyone could truly wield mana within the world of Arillion.
Whether it originated from a Dragon, Demon, Elf, Titan, Vampire, or Divine Essence, an Origin Bloodline was the catalyst behind all magic in Arillion.
It was so fundamental that even the simplest pieces of equipment capable of casting spells or activating skills were engineered using one of those respective Bloodlines.
That was why players normally selected their class first, and then upon reaching Level Five, the system recommended the most suitable Bloodlines to maximize that class’s potential.
Of course, players were still free to choose whichever Bloodline best suited the fantasy they wanted to live inside the game.
In theory, equipment alone could carry someone through the early stages.
He’d done exactly that during one of his beta playthroughs.
But not against an early world event. Not against what he knew was coming in less than seven days.
And definitely not armed with nothing more than a stainless dagger and a cloak.
When it came down to it...
There was only one Bloodline he wanted. And he needed it before anything else.
Definitely before the one-hour mark.
Because by then, every veteran player would already be positioned for what they believed was the greatest early exploit in the game.
The shortcut of all shortcuts.
The Fallen Prince Event.
It was one of the most famous opportunities during the game’s early progression.
A wandering prince.
A hidden trial.
A chance for one player to obtain an Origin Bloodline long before everyone else.
Countless players knew about it. Countless guilds had fought over it ever since Arillion Online became a true open-world experience.
And Xavier was certain every one of those veteran players would already be gathering near the village closest to the original tutorial zone, waiting for the prince he himself had made famous through constant abuse.
I have to move fast.
Keeping the map open, Xavier raced through the swamp freely, following the Wanderer’s Compass as his guide.
Then he noticed something odd.
The compass pointed northwest.
Xavier looked at it before glancing toward the tutorial zone marker that had appeared after the announcement declared the game had officially begun.
The tutorial zone sat northeast. Exactly where it always had.
But the compass... That bloody thing still pointed...
Northwest.
"Hmm..."
Xavier expanded the map.
Tracing the compass’s direction outward, the path stretched beyond the swamp’s edge... beyond the territory he knew... until it reached a section he had only ever crossed once.
His pace slowed.
Was this shit actually real?
He had discovered that location during his most recent playthrough.
Back then, he’d been exploring an unmapped coastline while hunting for a hidden achievement tied to a dungeon.
The coastline boss had nearly ended a save file with over four hundred hours invested into it.
But he was still Hunter X. And he’d found a way.
After the victory, he’d uncovered an inland passage leading toward a ancient, empty forgotten castle.
Like somewhere the developers had never expected anyone to discover.
"Holy shit... Holy shit..."
Everything suddenly came flooding back.
Inside that castle...
There had been murals. And a throne.
And now everything finally made sense.
That was why Absolute Drop Authority had given him the Wanderer’s Compass.
Because that ancient castle northwest of the tutorial zone...
...was the true home of the Fallen Prince.
And Stockholm Village...
The place where every experienced player would soon be waiting for the prince to arrive...
Was merely the end of the prince’s journey from that castle.
A journey nobody had ever bothered tracing because the reward always waited at the destination.
Xavier fought to suppress the grin threatening to split his face in half.
This...!
This was the best possible outcome.
And what made it even better was that he’d never gotten around to uploading this discovery.
Marco had dismissed the idea immediately. And In his words.
"It is not so relevant."
God bless that lazy boy’s soul...
Xavier immediately glanced at the countdown again, using it as a timer for his own race.
[06:23:57:02]
If he moved fast enough...
He could still intercept the Fallen Prince before he ever left the castle.
Knowing every second mattered, Xavier broke into another sprint while reopening his attribute allocation screen.
Without hesitation, he assigned three of his eight available points into Agility.
[Agility: 6 → 9 (+14)]
The remaining five he’d save. If he is able to get the bloodline he wanted and should that bloodline worked the way he remembered, Spirit would suddenly matter. A lot.
A pleasant warmth surged through his muscles. Every inch of his body felt lighter, nourished and stronger.
His movement became noticeably faster.
Within seconds...
The fog swallowed him once again.
And while other players waited in Stockholm Village like idiots...
Xavier went northwest.
Straight to the source.
--End of Chapter--
A/N: If you enjoy the story then you can support with powerstones. T for Thanks.
