The Ancients World

Chapter 95: A new beginning for some

{Mark any spelling errors. I'm really tired and don't have the energy to edit right now. This new volume is going to be a fun and awesome read, and I hope many old readers stick around and new ones stay!}

I wake up in an unfamiliar place among ruins. These ruins aren't ones I've seen before, they are buildings of my world covered in foliage and grass. I open the player interface and notice most of it intact, the only things that are gone is the friends list and the log out button. I have many notifications, and I don't feel particular about reading them right now. I want to know what happened, I'm having a hard time believing my eyes. People spontaneously turning to ash doesn't seem logical, and the suspicious activity from J&X adds to the seriousness of this situation. Many thoughts are going through my head, but there is only one that is prevalent.

This is what J&X was up to, and I wouldn't think this was on purpose. On the other hand Earth was turning to shit. Questioning J&X's motives right now isn't going to get me anywhere, I need to focus on what I do know. I know that this is Ancients World, and I also know I cant log off. If the crazy events that happened are going on everywhere its safe to say we cant get back to Earth. On the more worrisome side I don't know where my family is, while I was getting sucked up into the hole they were still on the ground.

If anything I can assume that this happened to them to, since they didn't turn to ash that means they got sucked up too. I look around my immediate area and I don't notice any other players, just some buildings from my world. That seems strange why would the buildings come, but not the players. My intuition is telling me I've been isolated from the rest of the players, why that is I don't know. I don't know the situation of the rest of the player base either. Did they appear in random places too? Perhaps they appeared together, the lack of information is killing me. I wont get any answers sitting here, I need to find some. However flying around with my angel wings seems like a bad idea, giving my identity away to other players at this confusing time will cause many problems. I think now is a good time to look at the notifications, and there are a lot of them.

[Congratulations! You are the first player to reach tier 1! As a reward you will be given a hint about your mana aura quest!]

[The Legendary Sword, The Witness, has tiered up with you! You can inspect its new information and values!]

[You have unlocked new skills and perks from your tier up!]

[New Active Skills]

[Winged Glory]

[Description: You can use your angel wings as powerful weapons and impenetrable shields. Any attack dealt with your wings will do 2% damage of the targets entire health pool. Your angel wings will negate all damage from weapons of legacy quality or lower.]

[Angelic Flight]

[Description: A rare skill that allows you to both fly inside and outside of combat. Out of combat speeds can reach up to 430mph. In combat flight gives a penalty to speed and can reach up to 60mph.]

[New Passive Perks]

[An Overachiever]

[Description: Despite being a divine class holder and dealing with half exp you still managed to be the first to tier up. Its obvious that a debuff wont keep you at bay. All exp debuffs have been removed. At the cost of 10 levels. No stat penalties.]

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.51]

[Exp: 38/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2050][Endurance - 2000][Dexterity - 2080][Speed - 2195][Focus - 8500]

[Health: 16,200/16,200][Mana: 85000/85000]

[Stat Points: 270][Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.7 325/700] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.7 225/700] [Slash Lvl.17 4500/8000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight]

I don't like that I've lost 10 levels, but I can make that back easily now that I don't have a half exp debuff. This particular passive perk is obviously very special, and was tailor made for me. Question is why, the system never does anything without a reason. If its doing this for me its clearly for a reason, I bet its one I'm not going to like either. This is a lot of new things for me and I know for a fact that I have even more to look at the first being the hint about my mana aura quest. I'll get to know something very important about it, and that's invaluable to me. I open the notification for the quest and hint.

[Chain Divine Mana Aura Quest]

[Description: Now that you have reached tier 1 you must undertake the real challenge. While many mana aura quests are the same, its a know fact the the rarer a class is the harder the quests will be for that class.]

[Objective 1: Make your way to the Holy City and speak to the Secret Keeper of Titans.]

[Objective 2: Complete the quest she gives you and get the first clue to the location of your Divine Mana Aura.]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Rewards: Information about the location of your Divine Mana Aura]

[Hint: You will need a powerful ally to help you at the end of this Chain Quest, you will not be able to defeat the boss with your current strength.]

Well I have a new goal, and knowing I'll need the help of someone strong is good. Time for the last notification, and I already know a little bit about it because of Winged Glory. I must say, having angel wings will be cool. Being able to use them in the way I think will make my life so much easier, but I'll still have to be select with them. I cant be using them all the time, that's a giant risk to my identity. Many will know who I am if they see them. I open the notification and begin to read.

[Angelic Wings of the Almighty line (Bloodline)]

[Description: As the grandson of The Almighty Father and son of Arch-Angel Michael your bloodlines true power will begin to manifest as you gain strength. While regular angel wings are white and a source of great power, your golden angel wings are of the highest quality. They allow you to fight and defend with them, and take flight.]

[Toggled: OFF, think or press to turn ON]

I have never seen something like this, what really intrigues me is the Bloodline status. Blue Chaos never got his angel wings for all I know, and that means this might be brand new information. Its either something I discovered myself, or a very select few kept it hidden. While this is all a lot of good news for my future in Ancients World, its safe to say there is a huge risk. I don't know what's changed and what's stayed the same. If the player interface has changed its safe to assume that other key aspects of the game have changed, if I can even call it that anymore. While it has game mechanics still I don't know if eating, sleeping, or death work differently.

Those answers will come with time, but knowing them now would be a good thing. I'm not looking to see if any changes have occurred with the death system, but eating and sleeping I can figure out now. I don't have any food on me right now since all the rations I had are long spoiled, and I'm not tired since I woke up recently. I guess finding water would be a good idea, I look at my player map and I don't see any rivers or ponds nearby. So that means I cant find out anymore information right now. I cant help feeling that I should be acting more shocked or scared, but my dad taught me to always keep a level head. That advice hasn't failed me yet, I wouldn't have gotten that one wish from the world item if I didn't have a leveled head.

I should try and search for other players, if the isolation can say anything it says that I shouldn't have contact with other players. However, its better to be with others in a dangerous situation than by yourself. I may be very powerful, but I'm in unfamiliar territory. I've never seen or heard of an environment like this, and that's not a good thing for me. I knew of key information and important locations, but not by a long shot do I know even a fraction of everything. My thoughts are interrupted as a world announcement rings out.

[World-wide Announcement: Welcome to Gaia! This is the true name of Ancients World! I'm sure many of you are very confused and scared, but rest assured you have a new lease on life! However, the truth is for all of you to uncover! So be sure to communicate with your fellow players to find out what happened!]

Talk about a way to break the news, the system seems characteristically different. I don't know what's happened to it, but it could prove to be a threat in the future. The system sounds like it developed a personality, and how that happened is beyond my knowledge. It almost sounded happy, very different from the usual announcement. Excitement and happiness isn't something that can be programmed, at least not in regular A.I. Hyper intelligent A.I.'s are a new creation. So I cant say the limits about it, the only information I have is the comparison J&X did with it. The comparison was along the lines of speed of sound vs speed of light, a difference that big is bound to make rise of unfortunate outcomes. I should get a move on, I don't know how far I am from the nearest players, walking will get my mind off this situation.