A resource node is an area which has been affected by magical energy, what type of resources it is can vary but resources with magic in them can be used for things like weapons and armor, or you could make potions, one thing is certain though it's that they cost a lot of money to acquire, having a resource node is a blessing and a curse at the same time, it's a blessing because it could make a good source of income but it's a curse because if people will know where it is, they would want to take it away from you, and if you don't have enough people to protect it then you would probably stand no chance

The Elf village wasn't discovered by anyone yet but sooner or later it will be, if Drake wasn't prepared for that he could end up being forced to do something he doesn't want to do or even worse, after all this world is decided by the strong and even though he was 3x times stronger than the average human, lvl 20 still was considered quite weak compared to the strength people have in other places, however, this was all for later and Drake didn't need to focus on that for now since increasing his strength was the most important thing at the moment

After you surpass lvl 50, energy levels will become unlocked in your status, levels are a great way to increase your strength but that only is the case for your physical body, energy levels are a bit different, magic depends on your comprehension of the laws of the universe, so what's the difference between energy levels and normal levels? Instead of affecting the physical body like normal levels, energy levels affect the soul, when you comprehend a law it leaves a trace on your soul, a sort of stain, these stains gradually add up after a while and will determine the way your evolution goes, if you trained in the law of fire then expect to have an evolution related to fire, but now you might be thinking, Then what are energy levels for? The soul also has levels, but unlike normal level, energy levels can't be stolen by others, so it's not like you'll gain exp for energy by killing monsters, unless in extremely unlikely situations you'll need to grind your soul to dust and reshape it, strengthening it over time, though this also carries a risk, you're essentially putting yourself in a grinder so it'll be painful, there is also a risk of death which can't be ignored, however with great risk comes great rewards, if done successfully your strength will greatly increase, while also having a higher amount of law ''stains'' which could lead to a better evolution

It has great rewards, but the risk of death is still real, so many experts decide to wait for their first evolution before training in the soul, since when you evolve your soul evolves with it, it practically doubles your energy level, for people that didn't train in the soul that wouldn't amount to a lot but it's still better than going in blind and dying instantly, though this also brings another reward for the people who train in the soul since  having a higher amount of energy level also means that your evolved soul's energy level will also be higher

Currently, Drake wasn't nearly close enough level to train in the soul, but he found something interesting related to it, according to the villagers he found soul crystals! the resource node nearby turned out to be soul crystals, you see soul crystals are very strange crystals, no one really knows how they form, what people do know is that the places that form them are extremely old and all have a mysterious aura around them

However, what made Drake confused is that there didn't seem to be any mysterious ancient civilization ruins anywhere near the node, and that wasn't even the strangest thing! Why did the resource node only appear now? It was as if it didn't exist before, does it have something to do with the bonus quest, or did it just form recently?

So many questions without answers, but Drake was determined to at least uncover a part of the secrets that this mysterious place holds

As Drake made his way through the forest, the sunlight started to dim, the leaves above him were thickening as he proceeded, and eventually, almost all of the sky was covered and only a few rays of sunlight still penetrated through the ever-expanding ceiling

The forest now seemed eerily quiet, and Drake's intuition told him to move away from this place as fast as possible, but he ignored it and went on, the ground formed into stone tiles while also becoming wider, the path seemed to be going on forever, Drake regretted not bringing someone along for his journey, even though he wasn't scared easily being in a dark forest that seemed to be completed devoid of life could still make him shudder

After a while he found a clearing inside the forest, in the middle of the clearing stood a fountain, the fountain seemed to be made from a marble-like material, but instead of being white, the fountain was pitch black, inside the fountain there was a red substance of unknown origin

'A fountain? Why is there a fountain in the middle of the forest, and where is the resource node?'

As he went closer to the fountain, he could smell a peculiar smell, and it seemed like the source of it was the red substance inside the fountain

'Iron? The red liquid inside the fountain couldn't be blood, could it?'

He went closer to investigate, and the scent of iron grew stronger as he went closer, however, after a while he was forced to stop, the scent of iron began to sting inside of his nose and grew stronger the more he resisted, he quickly lept back, but it seemed like the damage was enough and a drop of blood dripped out of his nose and fell onto the ground

As if waiting for that moment all of the cracks in the stone tiles started shining a crimson red light, the blood moved its way up from the tiles and went straight into the fountain

''What the f*ck?! Why did this need to happen to me? What did I do...''

Drake wanted to continue talking but he was interrupted when the fountain suddenly started emitting the same crimson light as the stone tiles on the ground, after that the red liquid inside the fountain surged upwards, and became a tsunami that threatened to envelop him

''Oh, Sh*t is this the day I die?''

Drake struggled as much as he could and ran as fast as he can, but even someone with his speed couldn't escape the crimson tide...

...

''Ugh, Where am I?''

Drake was now in a dark room, three doors stood before him, each leading to a different corridor, Drake was startled but he calmed his mind soon afterward, at least he wasn't dead so that's already a good thing

While surveying the room for a bit Drake tried to gather information by checking his location on his status, but what he saw made him even more confused

--

Status:

Name: Drake

LVL: 20, Exp: 100/300

Titles: [Lucky]

Class: Paragon

Race: Elf

Health: 384/384

Mana: 400/400

Stamina: 660/660

Skills: [Wind Dash]

Development skills: [Archery LVL: 4, Tier 1]

Racial skills: [Agile], [Aptitude for magic],[Blessing of the void], [Magical Body]

Spells: None

Vit: 32(20% Increase)

Str: 33(20% increase)

End: 33

Agi: 12

Int: 20

Wis: 20

Luck: 15(+15)

Current instance: ???]

--

'WTF is this sh*t, this system is trash! What do I do now just wait here until someone saves me?'

This thought was immediately rejected though since nobody knew he was here, but just as he was ready to depart, he heard a loud growl and heavy footstep approaching him from inside on of the corridors...

*Growl!*

Drake turned his head towards the nearby door, a scary presence seemed to be moving towards him at a fast pace

*Grrrr...*

The darkness gradually revealed its figure, at first it looked like a normal human male but after a while, Drake was given a shock, it was a sort of half-monster half-human beast, the place where its eyes normally would be was covered by two scars, it smelled the air looking for its prey, after that it started slowly walking towards Drake

--

Name: Zero

Race: Blood-Sucking Beast

Lvl: 50 Tier: 0

Health: 1000/1000

Mana: 500/500

Note: Extremely Fatal!

--

'Did my movement awaken this beast? It seems to be blind so its hearing and smelling capabilities must be how it found me, well either way if I fight this guy head-on I'm dead for sure, I need to find a way to move past him since staying here won't do any good'

Drake slowly looked around the room while analyzing the situation 'Oke the beast is blind so at least it wouldn't be able to see me. If I use [Wind Dash] I'll be able to increase my speed, but I don't know how long the corridor is. Think Drake Think! That's It! If it's Lvl 50 that means its total attribute points gained from Lvls should be 250! if its health is 1000 that means, it has 100 attribute points in Vitality! It also has 25 points in Intelligence, oh please for the love of God let his remaining 125 attribute points be more focused on Endurance or Strength and not Agility'

Even though Drake was deep in thought, he wasn't going to stand around doing nothing, he immediately activated [Wind Dash] and Wind energy surged around him, Zero seemed to have noticed him and let out a roar that resonated throughout the entire room, it charged at Drake with a shocking speed of 60km/h. for a normal person, this would be terrifying but Drake was very gleeful at this moment

'I knew it! its attributes are probably focused around Strength, Vitality, and Endurance, but if I were to fight it, I would be committing  suicide, I need to remember to focus Agility for a while'

Zero was gradually catching up with Drake, but the distance between them was still quite large, but the fact that Drake went through the opposite door from Zero saved him some time

After a large amount of running, Drake could see rays of light at the end of the corridor, it even blinded him for a while, when his vision returned he saw that he went through a giant metal door, the giant door suddenly moved, it was screeching and squeaking

The giant door slammed shut! Zero eventually made it to the metal door and was enraged that its prey got away, it roared and sacrificed a part of its Vitality to increase its strength, the scary presence that it was emitting started to condense around its arm, and it punched out with all its might!

*Boooooooom*

You could even hear the aftermath of that punch from behind the door, but the metal door remained shut, steady and without any form of damage on its surface, Zero roared again and started barraging the door with punches, but nothing worked, it eventually gave up and started heading back to the Dark room...

Meanwhile, Drake who was behind the door heard all that happened, he was still panting and dropped to the floor, his stamina was almost zero so he needed rest in order to regain it fast

'Wow... That was scary, I'm pretty sure even 1 of those hits could have obliterated me'

After a brief rest, Drake gazed around, he was in the middle of a field of grass, it was nighttime and the full moon shined like a jade, right underneath the moon there was a towering castle on a mountain top, right behind the castle there was a village, inside the village a few humanoid figures were walking around doing various tasks

'It's already Night? Did I really run that long? And why would this place be inside the fountain? Staying here wouldn't get me any answers, I'll go towards that village in the distance and see if I can find a way back'

As Drake walked closer to the village, the characteristics of the figure gradually revealed themselves, the inhabitants had pointed ears like the Elves, but instead of the usual jade-like skins of the Elves back in the village, these Elves had pale skin, as if the life was drained out of them

one of the figures saw Drake approaching the village and immediately informed their elders, he walked through the village to make sense of his surroundings, two male pale-skinned Elves approached him, and Drake checked their status for more information on them

--

Name: Callon

Race: Night Elf

Lvl: 30 Tier: 0

Health: 500/500

Mana: 700/700

Note: Be Cautious! 

--

Name: Cirden

Race: Night Elf

Lvl: 40 Tier: 0

Health: 700/700

Mana: 1000/1000

Note: Fatal!

--

'Night Elves, huh? That explains why they look so similar to normal Elves' Just when Drake was about to try to talk with the Night Elves, the higher leveled one started talking

''Hello Stranger, my name is Cirden and this is my brother Callon. Might I ask what your purpose is in traveling here?''

"Hello Cirden, my name is Drake I'm just traveling by this village at the moment but I would love to have some accommodation, my body is rather weary from all the walking, I'll compensate for any living expenses of course''

The face of Cirden seemed to become wary for a short moment, but he still put up an amicable appearance while saying

''Accommodation you say? You can stay at our house for now since it's only temporary''

''But... Big brother we...'' Callon said with a conflicted expression on his face

''Callon, we can't just leave him on the streets, I'm sure everything will be fine, you heard him yourself, he will only stay here temporarily'' Cirden scolded

''Thank you, I'll be in your debt, if you ever need anything just ask me! Drake was then led to a medium-sized hut on the outskirts of the village, he was given room to stay with a bed and blanket when Drake saw this he immediately jumped onto the bed

'Hahahahahah, Yes finally I get to rest, I'm almost dying from exhaustion!'

Thus concluded the first day inside this strange realm...