Azure and crimson, the moons shone in the night—illuminating a village in the south eastern corner of the Kingdom of Everia where might is right and classes mattered more than merit. Barbaric, an emperor of another continent may say, but it was the reality faced by a young man for the past several years of his life. Tonight he chose to fight back—because they pushed too hard and his shell of faux peace has cracked—its limit broken.

 

Edward, his face having noticeably lost the smile he always kept up, walked under the light of the twin moons of Arnea. People always said that he looked fearsome when he relaxed and did not make an effort to look amicable so he used to wear a smile like a mask. Now he let his thick eyebrows meet each other and his fierce eyes burn with rage. Tonight he shall have a staring contest against the evil that sought to extinguish his family and he had every intention to win.

 

He searched his mind for anything he recently acquired that he could take advantage of to gain an upper hand against the baron's men. He had a lower level but obtained a class of the highest possible tier he knew of. He had a companion that recently acquired a class of the same tier and he had a newly bonded monster that was probably stronger than an average [Soldier] in a backwater territory like Roksted. Inside the dimensional pocket in his left eye, which was actually an artifact, there were some healing potions and even some psionic skill scrolls that his father left for him. He felt—no, he knew that what he had was insufficient to survive the night—that is until he realized that he could use one of his recently acquired skills that may be more beneficial than all the others.

 

"But why does it have to be a song? Whatever, it doesn't say that it needs to be good anyway—let's see now."

 

He paused under a maple tree and stood under its shadow. Klay, who was following him, stopped beside him as well.

 

"Why did we stop?"

 

"I'm working on something in my head, don't talk to me for now."

 

"Very well."

 

Klay shrugged and sat down beside the tree. Ed remained standing and closed his eyes.

 

Then he activated his skill. Eternion Rhapsody.

 

A melody of his own making played in his head. It was simple and pentatonic, similar to a song he always heard when he was a child. But the words fit his own story tonight.

 

 

 

The sudden rush of information made Edward blink. He smiled. In his happiness he reached down and tapped Klay's shoulder—and a notification spoke and formed glowing words in front of his eyes.

 

"Non-hostile sapient Eternion user detected, would you like to form a party? [Yes] or [No]"

 

The melodic alien female voice spoke in his head identical words to what he was seeing in front of him. The words of knowledge from his father's collection of tomes did not mention anything like this!

 

"Yes," Ed answered.

 

 

And glowing words and numbers formed in front of his eyes, displaying Klay's basic status and class information. It also displayed a new indicator beside his friend's name that said [Vengeful Night Monarch Level 1] [Healthy]. The melodic voice spoke again and asked him another question.

 

"Would you like to set Dormant Eternion Point sharing to equal share? [Yes] or [No]"

 

The system message did not explain any further but Edward had an idea what it meant.

 

"Yes"

 

"New user has joined the party, please enter party name [ _____ ]."

 

Instead of entering the letters through the floating table of characters that once again materialized in front of him, Ed tried to just think of the name and see if whatever was talking to him inside his head could acquire input through his thoughts.

 

"[Mansfeld Knights] party successfully created."

 

That makes things a lot easier, Ed thought.

 

He then signalled Klay to keep quiet and follow him out of the cover of the tree but still walked among the shadowy bushes along the walls of the village. They stayed low and kept an eye on the [Soldier] who stood guard at the top of a watch tower that stood beside the gatehouse. Ed signalled to stop as they reached the edge of the bushes.

 

"You have that skill you said was called [Shadow Walk] right? Do you think you can sneak up on that guard up there and knock him out?"

 

"Well, I feel like I can."

 

"Okay, I don't know how many [Soldiers] are guarding the gate right now but they normally only place two right?"

 

"As far as I know, yeah. And they are normally greenhorns bullied into the boring job I reckon."

 

"This shouldn't be so hard then. I will try to get their attention with our little Smoke Wing here to make your job easier but I will need you to sneak up on all of them and just knock them out."

 

"Why are you so intent on just knocking them out? I didn't see you hesitate to kill those [Soldiers] in your house."

 

"Hey, I still don't like spilling blood okay? And—well, there is this skill that I have that has specific conditions. We need to meet said conditions and my skill would reward me quite well if I do manage to succeed."

 

"What skill?"

 

"I wish I could show you. It's—"

 

"Here are your quest details as requested."

 

Ed was interrupted by the melodic voice again but this time it was apparent that Klay heard the voice too based on the surprised expression on his face and the way he stared at the floating words in front of them.

 

 

Ed tried to recall the description of his skill and the floating words popped out in front of him.

 

[Eternion Rhapsody] lvl.1 - create a song that can be sung through the ages containing an objective that can be fulfilled by all guild members, party members, or summoned units (currently limited to tier 1 and tier 2 quests, level up by repetition or skill point allocation in order to unlock higher tiers)

 

 

He could study his skills some other time. For now, they needed to hurry and save his mother.

 

"You understand?"

 

"Your skill is wonderful! What's your class called?"

 

"Let's talk about that later, I want to get out of here as soon as we can. Do you understand what to do?"

 

"You distract them with your big black chicken, I sneak up on the guards, knock them out, no casualties."

 

"Good. Let's go."

 

Ed sent a thought to Smoke Wing and the young cockatrice flew out of the forest and circled the tower. He—for some reason Ed could tell that Smoke Wing was male since he bonded him—flew at blinding speeds and darted around the gate while dodging all of the arrows that the guards shot at him. The erie shriek he let out sent shivers down the men's spines—even Ed's.

 

Suddenly, the light on the watchtower dimmed and a shadowy figure rose behind the [Soldier] who was perched on it as he was shooting arrows at Smoke Wing. The shadow-man choked the [Soldier] from behind using his right arm and dragged the guard down to the ground. Moments later, the same shadowy figure grabbed the other [Soldiers] who were busy shooting at the little cockatrice—one by one without making much noise in the process. Ed was the only other person aware of what was happening.

 

He exited the cover of the bushes and approached Klay, who was now holding a stolen arming sword while standing beside the [Soldier] near the gate. Nodding at each other, they lifted the thick plank that locked the gate doors together and deposited it to the side without making any loud noises. Then, slowly, they opened the gates wide enough for one man to slip through and stalked out in turns. They started running north-east once they reached the dirt road leading to the location of the nearest monster dungeon and a dark shape started gliding above them while keeping in pace.

 

It was then he heard a sound—like a high pitched bell struck by a steel hammer in his head. His eyes widened and so did Klay's.

 

"Quest successful! [Belt of Minor Strength] obtained! + 100 D.E.P. obtained!"

 

The two friends stopped simultaneously in the middle of the dirt road and stared at the floating words in front of them.

 

Ed focused on the word "Acquire" right beside the item name [Belt of Minor Strength] and a leather belt with bronze buckles materialized in front of him and floated there until he grabbed it and wore it around his waist.

 

The moment he finished putting on the belt, a new sensation of strength entered his body. He opened his status sheet and saw that there was a new +20 additional status indicator beside his base strength attribute points that was not there before.

 

It almost doubled my strength points! He thought.

 

Then, his tall friend beside him blurted out a cry of excitement.

 

"Ed! This is insane!"

 

Klay—with wide eyed bewilderment—examined the new leather gauntlet covering his right fist and forearm. It had small metallic plates protecting each individual knuckles and a large silvery one covering the back of the hand. Tiny sparks of electricity jumped around the surface of the entire gauntlet.

 

Ed focused with intense curiosity on the new item that his friend wore and began to utter a question.

 

"What does—"

 

But the melodic voice in his head interrupted him mid-sentence and a complete description of the object in question popped in front of him in glowing transparent letters.

 

"[Gauntlet of Lesser Sparks] - provides +10 to Agility and adds minor lightning-type damage to each attack."

 

"Oh! I see, so focusing on the item would prompt whatever this voice in our head is to provide a detailed description of the item."

 

"What voice in our head? I only heard the strange voice after I joined you in this party thing that you created, you know. Also, no matter how hard I stared at this gauntlet on my arm, no such description showed up. I could only see an added ten points on my Agility status when I checked my status sheet. I also didn't know what these sparks around it did until those descriptions in front of you showed up."

 

"That's interesting, I think I have an idea why but let's talk about it some other time. Try to make use of the E.D.P. that you received however you see fit."

 

Ed used his E.D.P. to increase his class level. He acquired the entire 100 points that the quest reward listed so he assumed that Klay received the same. He didn't know, however, how much 100 E.D.P. translated to class levels. He did not expect much from the amount that he received from completing a quest that was labeled as "Tier 1" but was pleasantly surprised.

 

"Congratulations! You have reached Realm Keeper lvl. 2!"

 

"5 skill points obtained! 15 attribute points obtained!"

 

Under time pressure to save his mother, he decided to dump his skill and attribute points on whatever he thought could give him immediate results in the battles that he expected to face throughout the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A series of notifications sounded off in Ed's mind. It irked him though how vague the descriptions of the skills were. For example, he couldn't find out the exact amount of damage the skills dealt or how large an area they affected until he actually used them. The descriptions also did not mention just how much stamina each skill usage would drain from him when he used them. It all meant that he would need to learn from actual combat experience and risk his life first before he could get a proper grasp of his new abilities.

 

We would just have to wing it then. He thought.

 

"I'm done. Are you?"

 

Klay nodded back.

 

"Okay, let's go!"

 

Ed started dashing up the road again and his companions followed. He didn't like how they had to spend time studying every new thing that their classes gave them but conceded that they should at least know what tools they had at their disposal so they could use them efficiently in their attempt to escape with his mother later. But they had to hurry.

 

Cold and wet, the wind blasted against his face as he ran faster than he could ever have imagined. The speed at which they were going was faster than a normal horse at full gallop! He remembered reading about such marvelous feats in the tomes of knowledge that he consumed as a boy but the exhilaration of experiencing them first hand left him in awe.

 

Is this why they looked down on us as if we were inferior beings? He thought.

 

Somehow, it brought a tinge of fear to him. Will he become like the arrogant class holders that he despised?

 

He glanced beside him and managed to grin at Klay's ecstatic face. His friend was enjoying their newfound freedom even more than he was. But perhaps it was because his mother's life was in danger and he couldn't fully revel in the power that he now embraced.

 

 

Excruciating—the most painful memory of them all was that of his father—who died a traitor's death because of his love for his son and his loyalty to a dead king.

 

Ed wiped the wetness away from his cheeks and jumped his way around jagged rocks as they neared their destination. He could see the lights coming from the fort situated outside the monster dungeon's entrance. Dozens of [Soldiers] patrolled the battlements and he knew that there were at least two platoons inside guarding it from outside invasions. Then there should be three more platoons delving in the dungeon to map it out, hunt monsters, obtain the monsters' body parts, and look for ancient treasures to add to the territory's income. Conquering a dungeon was a slow and dangerous endeavour that the Everian army conducted and monopolized. It was not the same in other Kingdoms but most Everians agreed with the Royal family's doctrine that it was the military's job to fight against monsters and contain the deadly threat posed by the monster dungeons that littered the entire kingdom. But Ed knew a deeper truth as a former nobleman's scion—a dangerous truth that could incite rebellion among the masses. He didn't know if he wanted to use it later for revenge yet but for now it didn't matter.

 

The obvious question was: How would they go inside such a heavily guarded location?

 

Ed noticed that Klay had a concerned look on his face as he glanced at their supposed destination. He understood his friend—but he wasn't really worried.

 

Instead of running towards the fort in front of the dungeon's entrance, he ran westward along the rocky cliffs at the foot of the mountain away from the legion of [Soldiers] who might kill them on sight.

 

"Ed! Where are we going? I thought you wanted to go inside the dungeon?"

 

"Just follow me. There should be another entrance right about ... there!"

 

He pointed at a strange rock formation and made his way towards it. The rocks on this part of the mountain roughly looked like they formed a gigantic ... reptilian head. Ed had seen wyverns before when he used to live in the capital with his family where some [Knights] rode the elephant sized flying lizards as mounts. The reptilian head that these rocks seemed to form was three times larger than the entire body of one of those wyverns. But you wouldn't realize that it was a reptilian head unless you knew what you were looking for—because vegetation covered where the eyes and parts of the snout should have been and thick layers of younger rocks covered some of its key contours.

 

Ed climbed towards the part where the left eye should have been. There he activated his left eye again and opened its dimensional pocket. He reached into it and took out a large scroll with glowing characters and shapes that noticeably interacted with the ambient Eternion in the surroundings. He stopped his friend from approaching.

 

"Don't come near me until I tell you so. You too Smoke Wing, fly higher and keep an eye on the fort."

 

He lifted the scroll, the side where the glowing characters were written facing towards the rocks, and tore it in half.

 

An ethereal hand made of small glowing lines of words and numbers materialized and opened its palm towards Ed's target. A gush of green viscous liquid poured onto the rocks and melted them away until a smooth crystalline door emerged from the thick layer of sediments that covered it. Ed opened his already partially healed left hand and sliced his palm again with his short spear. He left his blood pool a bit then whisked it at the crystalline door which glowed upon contact with his blood.

 

"Welcome Eternion Champion, would you like to enter the trial dungeon? [Yes] or [No]"

 

A new but similarly melodic voice spoke to him in his mind. Like before, he just focused his thoughts and chose [Yes], then the crystalline door slid open and a wide dark passage welcomed Ed to enter.

 

"It should be safe now. Come here guys, let's go inside."

 

Klay, who was watching from a distance, approached with a grin on his face.

 

"You have a lot of things to explain, my friend."

 

"If we survive the night, I'll gladly tell you everything."

 

Into the dark passage they went, two peasants and an oversized pet bird, to face a trial that no man has challenged for tens of thousands of years.