In the literal blink of an eye, Lucian—Equinox now, he reminded himself—found himself in a cavernous stone room, bright sunlight streaming in from coloured glass windows situated on all sides.
Chatter from voices innumerable slammed into his ears in the next moment, more than a dozen people, easily, surrounding him on all sides and garbed in clothing not too dissimilar from his own newly acquired ensemble.
It took a brief moment, but he eventually reacclimatised himself to such noisy environs. Just as he was about to look for Iona—Wyntir, he chastised himself—she found him, first.
A small hand gently slipped into Equinox’s. At its familiar feel, he turned, coming face to face—at least relatively, considering her shorter stature—with the white-haired flutist.
“Excellent. It looks like the fiery snowman was not lying to me.”
Much like him, she had altered her physical appearance.
Her white hair, as pure as driven snow, was threaded through with soft silver streaks, making it look like a starry tiara regally nestled amidst her tresses as a consequence of her usual crown braid.
While the colour of her eyes hadn’t been changed, their shape had. Initially a gentler almond shape, they had become far narrower.
Combined with more angular facial features, her aura, typically exuding an aloof stoicism, had become one filled with icy regalness; akin to a princess disdaining all and sundry.
While her tight white blouse—generously emphasising her modestly endowed chest—and even tighter brown pants—causing her alluringly wide hips to pop all the more—made a valiant attempt at diminishing her aura, it was counteracted by her resting impassive expression.
“Glad to see you too, Wyn – wait, what do you mean, fiery snowman?” Equinox cut himself off, her words belatedly sinking in.
Wyntir tilted her head ever so slightly, clearly baffled. “Yes~? I met a snowman after logging in. Did you not?”
DONG!
Just as Equinox was about to reply with a negative, the abrupt tolling of a bell stopped him cold.
Quickly pinpointing the origin, he craned his neck upwards and saw the bell in question; made from bronze and clearly moving on its own.
All the chatter around him died down in short order, solemn tolling all that remained for quite some time thereafter. A minute later, the bell abruptly came to a stop – a single, resounding clap shattering the silence before it even had a moment to settle, a sound far louder than it had any right to be.
All eyes were drawn to an imposing man standing at attention in front of a prismatic crystal stele, suited up in gleaming armour plate with full visored helm hanging by his waist.
“Now that I have gathered all of your attentions,” the man intoned sternly, posture remaining at attention throughout, “Allow me to be the first to welcome all of you otherworldly foreigners to Golden Trees Village.”
Chatter immediately broke out at the man’s proclamation, one that was instantaneously stopped when the man clapped; a faint blue shockwave pulsating out from his hands.
Like before, the sound was unnaturally loud, causing Equinox’s ears to briefly ring.
“I would greatly appreciate your silence while I am speaking. If you force me to employ my technique again, you will not like the results.” The man warned even more sternly. Even if not for his demeanour, the long hilt and oversized guard of a gigantic sword poking over his shoulder would have cowed the crowd into silence.
Without a further word, the man launched into an explanation.
As declared, the players had arrived in Golden Trees Village.
Protected by walls made of processed timber and refined stone, it was home to a population answering to the tune of approximately 5,000 strong.
Home to a barracks for the village guards, inns and taverns for passing travellers and regular merchants, as well as much, much more, Golden Trees Village boasted facilities that allowed it to thrive as a self-sustaining settlement – all to fend off hostile incursions from monsters and others, besides.
As otherworldly foreigners summoned from a realm beyond—a designation which caused Equinox to smirk, even if only slightly—they would be provided with food, shelter, and training free of charge – even if only for a week in the case of the first two and only in the basics with regards to the last.
However, while monetary compensation wasn’t expected for such boons, aid in the form of defending the village in times of crisis very much was.
Unfortunately, the armoured man didn’t go into much detail about the exact kind of hostiles plaguing the village. Even still, Equinox could make an educated guess at the kinds based on a name like Golden Trees.
Besides, it wasn’t as if defending the village was wholly detrimental to the players.
According to the armoured man, obtaining true strength in this world could only be acquired by slaying monsters and earning the rare Gem, Shard, or Fragment from their corpses.
It was about then when the armoured man brought the players’ attention to the stele he stood in front of. Known as an Exoene Lodestone, it was the crucial component to progressing in this world of struggle and strife.
Slay monsters. Collect Gems, Shards, and Fragments. Interface with an Exoene Lodestone, all to gain the strength necessary to survive and thrive.
Midway through the armoured man’s spiel, part of Equinox’s focus had been unconsciously drawn to the Minimap in the corner of his vision.
Unlike when in the clearing, a fair bit of the fog surrounding the blinking green dot had vanished; replaced with landmarks and geography the armoured man spoke of.
Equinox could honestly say he was surprised by the occurrence. He had expected to have needed to travel around some and get a lay of the land to fill up the Minimap, but it looked like even hearing about the notable landmarks and the rough geography of Golden Trees Village was enough to banish some of the fog.
Mind, he was certain what he could see now only comprised the barebones strokes of the village’s layout and attractions, but it was better to have a guide to follow than not, at the end of the day.
“…And lastly, any troublemakers will be dealt with swiftly and with extreme prejudice. Am I understood?” While the armoured man’s tone still remained as stern as it had throughout his entire spiel, the undertone of power and authority in his last three words caused an even more stifling silence to fall over the listening crowd.
He waited for a moment, intentionally looking each player in the eye, before leaving without a backwards glance; upright armoured form slowly clanking out of sight past the temple’s wide open front doors, two other guards falling in step behind him.
Not even a second passed before pandemonium erupted.
Many instantly flooded towards the Exoene Lodestone, while a fair few others copied the armoured man’s example and hurriedly left the temple.
Equinox slipped his hand out of Wyntir’s and rubbed his face. “That was… interesting.”
Interesting was putting it mildly. Information overload would be a more apt descriptor, in this case. At least he wouldn’t be going completely blind into Golden Trees Village after leaving the Hall of Ascension, as named by the armoured man.
“Indeed.” Wyntir agreed. “What do you intend to do next, Equinox? I intend to check out the Exoene Lodestone. Join me?”
She peered up at him through long snowy lashes, face impassive yet tone subtly pleading.
“Yeah sure, I’ll come with. Like the stern dude said, I can finally assign stat points using the stele.”
Wyntir smiled at Equinox’s assent and immediately pivoted on her heels, effortlessly carving a path through the noisy crowd with her typical grace; chilling aura easily getting the rabble to part like prey scenting a predator.
Having seen such a sight countless times, Equinox followed after her nonchalantly, totally unphased.
Soon enough, he had passed through the entire crowd; wholly tuning out all the grumbles coming from those around him.
By then, Wyntir had pressed her hand to the Exoene Lodestone, joining several others in doing so.
From the—even more—impassive look on her face, it was clear she was interacting with something he couldn’t see – as the armoured man had indicated would happen.
While some might question the wisdom of becoming inattentive with strangers around, especially in a game where player killers could be in one’s nearby vicinity, there were guards posted on balconies overlooking the hall’s ground floor and watching out for troublemakers that might damage the Exoene Lodestone.
After all, it was a precious resource of the village.
Coming to a stop behind Wyntir, Equinox reached over her head and pushed his hand against the Exoene Lodestone’s unexpectedly chilly surface; a panel, not too dissimilar to the ones he had interacted with in the starting clearing, taking up a large majority of his field of view.
Equinox | Mid G-rank
Physique: 5
Strength: 0 [+] | Dexterity: 0 [+] | Perception: 0 [+]
―
5-point Foundation
Parietal Lobe (Primary): -
Glabella (Secondary): -
Prominens (Secondary): -
Chest (Tertiary): -
Dantian (Tertiary): -
―
Traits: None
Bloodline: None
Equinox instantly tried to bring up further information on each word listed, but failed to get a response from the panel no matter what he tried.
Instead of dwelling, he turned his attention to his Physique statistic and curiously eyed the three others right under it. If his guess was right, then he had five points to distribute between the three.
Though he would have appreciated knowing what an increase in each statistic would tangibly improve, he supposed he had no other recourse but good old trial and error.
Equinox unhesitatingly assigned one point each to Strength, Dexterity, and Perception with a mental command.
Instantly, his muscles contracted then expanded, the cycle repeating several times over in quick succession. At the same time, his entire body heated up, as if the blood coursing through his veins had suddenly become more active. Last but not least, each of his senses flared up briefly, something he likely would have missed if not for the chatter all around him becoming louder before subsiding,.
After all was said and done, it felt as if he had grown marginally stronger. As for feeling more dextrous or perceptive, he felt nothing of the sort. He supposed figuring out whether such parameters had improved would be a matter for the future.
While not pleasant, Equinox would have to say that the feeling of assigning stat points was not a painful one as well.
However, without knowing for certain what each stat point would do, he wasn’t willing to squander them thoughtlessly. Skimming over the entire panel one last time, he burned the contents into his mind before pulling his hand back.
Equinox | Mid G-rank
Physique: 5
Strength: 1 [+] | Dexterity: 1 [+] | Perception: 1 [+]
―
5-point Foundation
Parietal Lobe (Primary): -
Glabella (Secondary): -
Prominens (Secondary): -
Chest (Tertiary): -
Dantian (Tertiary): -
―
Traits: None
Bloodline: None
Equinox stepped back and looked around, seeing that the size of the crowd hadn’t diminished at all. Before he could keep scanning the area, a man shouldered him out of the way, not even acknowledging his existence before placing his hand next to Wyntir’s.
He felt a flash of irritation but quashed it back down, uninterested in getting into trouble with Golden Trees Village’s authorities for starting a brawl; the armoured man’s warning still ringing in his ears.
While it would be the polite thing for him to back away and give other’s space to interface with the Exoene Lodestone, he couldn’t care less. Instead, he stood his ground, guarding Wyntir’s back while waiting for her to finish.
Fortunately for the rabble, it didn’t take too long.
Abruptly stepping back and pulling her hand away, Wyntir bumped into Equinox’s back. Although she flinched momentarily, a quick glance over her shoulder told her who was behind her, letting her quickly calm back down as she slipped her hand back into his comparatively larger own.
At the familiar feel of the small hand in his, Equinox didn’t waste a moment, tugging Wyntir along and forcefully bringing her out of the chattering crowd. Only once they were completely clear did he let go.
“I didn’t ask earlier, but which Trail and Foundation did you choose?” Equinox asked as he turned, facing Wyntir full on.
And so she told him.
Like him, she chose the Trail of Intrepid Freedom. Though he asked her why, she only casually deflected and said it sounded interesting.
Knowing she wouldn’t budge even if he kept asking, he left it at that.
Unlike him, she chose the 3-point Foundation. When he asked why, she just shrugged, saying it was because she had two oniisans.
Normally, such absurd reasoning would have made his eyes twitch. With his reason for choosing a 5-point Foundation being no less absurd, however… well, he didn’t have any grounds to stand on.
Furthermore, as he suspected, the number of one’s Physique statistic was indicative of how many points were available to be distributed into Strength, Dexterity, or Perception – a fact confirmed because Wyntir admitted she assigned all of her points.
A small part of Equinox felt like chastising her for doing as she did, but he held it in. While they were close friends, to put it mildly, he didn’t feel like he had the right to interfere in her choices so casually.
In the meantime, while they exchanged words, it wasn’t as if they stood still to do so. Stepping outside the Hall of Ascension, they were greeted with a quaint little village; bright noonday Sun gently shining down on the houses and gilding the bleached wood in a soft shade of gold.
Tightly packed dirt paths wound between the buildings, the rare gravel coated road breaking up the monotony when more opulent façades of brick or stone were involved.
Amongst all the buildings, three in particular were especially eye-catching.
A squat wooden building to the West, bright scarlet shingles tiling its entire roof and golden streamers hanging down all around their edge; the Dojo of Arts.
A white marble edifice due Northeast, streams of gold winding up its supporting pillars and sporting sparkling emerald clusters across its tapered top; the Temple of Mantras.
A solitary stone tower piercing the clouds in the Southeast, smoothly polished stone releasing a soft blue gleam and boasting a floating orb radiating golden light at its peak; the School of Invocations.
“By the by,” Equinox said, sidestepping a passerby clearly in a rush, “I’m going to head to the School of Invocations first. It sounds like that place will be where to go to learn how to use magic, or whatever NAoC’s equivalent is, at any rate. You?”
Interested as he was in some of the other buildings, he would only check them out after finding whatever qualified as magic in the New Age of Champions. Having always played as a mage-equivalent in prior VRMMORPGs, he wasn’t going to stop now.
“I think…” Wyntir mused out loud, “That I shall get a feel for the Dojo of Arts, first. Although the armoured man did not elaborate on what lies there, I have a feeling it is exactly where I need to be.”
Unlike Equinox, she had never had a particular preference about the types of classes she played in VRMMORPGs. However, she always did like finding any instruments predominantly used in whatever game world she entered.
With a name like the Dojo of Arts… it was probably her best bet to find such even from the starting line.
Equinox shrugged and turned away, halting midway as a thought dawned on him.
“Suit yourself. Let’s Meet back here once you’re done, yeah? I haven’t figured out how NAoC’s chat function works yet. It’s going to be super easy to lose track of each other if we don’t set a meeting point beforehand.”
“Of course~.” Wyntir agreed before spinning away, unhesitatingly taking her leave – though not before gracing him with a small, bright smile. “See you later Nox~!”
