Chapter 3

Gabriel pondered his current situation as he spooned a bowl of porridge into his mouth. He was seated at an oak table while Edwin stood off to the side with a worried frown.

The current circumstances were rather dire so he couldn't blame his advisor. But the old man could at least pretend to be calm.

With a sigh Gabriel flexed his hand and called up the familiar interface of Age of Ruin. The strange tattoo on his hand gave him access to a lot of useful information.

It seems that every Monarch, the title given to the leader of a faction in Age of Ruin, had a tattoo that gave them access to several important features.

There was the Monarch tab, which listed his own status.

[Monarch] - {Gabriel Goldcrest}

[Race] - {Human}

[Rank] - {Mundane}

[Level] - 1

[Status] - {Normal}

[Traits] - {Mortal}

[Skills]

[Equipment] - {Simple Noble Clothes}

[Spells]

He grimaced at his status. What kind of garbage was this? Sure starting at level 1 was normal but how come he had nothing but some clothes??? He had read enough web novels to know that he should get some sort of secret skill that would let him rise to glory.

His starting stats were even more abysmal then the normal Monarch he started with all those years ago. At least he had a weapon and skill to make those first few battles easier.

In Age of Ruin there were 5 different ranks that applied to most things. Mundane was the lowest, followed by Abnormal, Supreme, Ascended & Transcended.

Below the Monarch tab was the Champion tab which was currently empty. Champions could lead secondary armies for their faction, be strong combatants that could bolster a Monarch's main army and even act independently on the map doing all sorts of useful things.

The possibilities were truly endless with Champions and one could never have enough of them. Sadly there was usually a cap on how many you could recruit.

Next was the research tab. Back when Gabriel played Age of Ruin the Research tab was one of the most important tools. It was a big web of different perks, buffs and unlock-able buildings that you could go through. Determining what order to grab different research options could spell victory and defeat.

Currently he was eyeing the Research tab with a frown. It looked nothing like it was supposed to. Instead of the sprawling tree that he memorized after hundreds of hours of staring and plotting in the game. It was just three words that he could choose.

Bravery, Deceit & Arcane

As he focused on Bravery a brief description materialized under it. 'Facing untold horrors without batting an eye. The path of Bravery will bring you one step closer to Damnation'

Gabriel snorted and shook his head. Why would he want to reach Damnation? If it said something like glory or victory he'd be tempted to select it but Damnation was not appealing in the slightest.

With a sigh he focused on Deceit hoping for something a little more promising. 'The path of trickery is one meant for cowards and cheats. Why be honest when the world is so cruel and cold?'

He narrowed his eyes as he considered the description. It was rather cynical and didn't give him much info to go on. But at least there was no Damnation in this description.

Finally he focused on Arcane. 'Leylines are the veins which bring the world to life. The path of Arcane taps into this corruption, destroying all but the most studious'

This one was obviously related to magic in some way. Humanity were the worst spellcasters in Age of Ruin. The devs stated that Humanity wasn't meant to harness it due to having weaker constitutions than the other spellcasting races. But they added it in for fun and just increased the fatalities among spellcasting units to be more in line with the lore of Age of Ruin.

With a groan Gabriel finished off his breakfast, closing the Research tab. "Edwin, let's go take a look at the town's infrastructure" If he was going to make a decision he needed to grasp the whole picture.