9 Chapter 9: Message!

Chapter 9: Message!

The formulas to gain XP weren't the end of the screen, as it also announced the penalties.

No concept of "PK" existed in the world of Myth Online. Adventurers and NPCs were the same, which sounded like an extremely developed AI for the characters. But Aakesh knew that it wasn't a simple game, so the NPCs in Panagea were also most probably living and breathing characters.

Since PK didn't exist in Panagea, the penalties associated with it also didn't exist. What existed was a rule to make sure that higher-level adventurers wouldn't be able to use their sadistic personalities on those with low power levels, owing to their being unable to die inside the game.

Once the death count of low-level adventurers and NPCs reached ten, killing another low-level person would cost them one XP.

Once the death count surpassed five hundred, the penalty would grow to negative five XP.

Once it passed the ten thousand mark, the penalty would be negative ten XP for every killing.

Once it crossed one million, the punishment would become negative twenty-five XP per killing.

This rule would be enforced even during the war to prevent high-level adventurers from taking advantage. The only exception to this rule was the war started by the game.

Since these rules might affect Aakesh, he engraved every word on the screen into his head.

Aakesh then thought about the disappearance of the screens, and soon after, the rule screen and status panel disappeared.

Since Aakesh had already completed the quest, he decided to return to the town. Because of that blue viscous liquid, Aakesh was able to stay in the game for twenty-four hours without suffering any physical or mental harm. Since things were like this, Aakesh needn't worry about spending more time in Myth Online and harming his body.

Aakesh had only decided this when an autonomous voice rang in his head.

[Aakesh, the future planner has a message for you!]

First, the voice referred to him by his actual name and not the character's name. Second, the sound difference between it and the voice heard by Aakesh when entering the game was like comparing a toad to a swan.

If the voice welcoming him to Myth Online was heavenly, the autonomous voice was hellish.

Aakesh only pondered over this for a moment as the diary left by Manish had a new message for him.

The next moment, he summoned the diary. Not long after, light particles began gathering and, in the end, formed the diary.

As Aakesh opened it, the first page was still the first quest, but now the second page was open. As Aakesh turned the page, there was no obstruction.

The next moment, the entire content on the second page got engraved into Aakesh's head so that he would never be able to forget it.

The diary became less bright, as if the transfer of information had used up a lot of its energy, and then it disappeared from his hands.

Aakesh was in no mood to check on it since he was listening to the message left by Manish.

"Bhaiji, I knew you would be able to complete the quest. Even though you are one of the most cowardly people I know, you become no less than a monster when you decide to do something."

"The Ring of Abundance, particularly its skill "Last Attempt," would be extremely useful in the early stages of the game. It is one of the best skills you can own at this point in the game. I hope you will put it to good use."

"I have struggled a lot thinking about whether I should help you in some areas and let things go your way, so both of our efforts would change the result I failed to achieve despite taking rebirth more than once."

"But after a lot of struggle, I have decided to trust in your judgments of the game situations and only help you with some knowledge of the future, which will be of great help to you. As for what to do with them, I left that for you to decide. I am the last person to talk of strength and strategy."

"Since you have now entered the game and begun the leveling journey, it's time to tell you the most significant thing about the future."

"Around fourteen months from now, on 17 December 2023, the Earth would merge with Panagea, mixing the real world with the game world."

"The Kingdoms the adventurers had gotten aren't only their entry points; when the Earth would merge into Panagea, those states would merge into those Kingdoms. The entire Indian subcontinent would merge into the territory of the Radison Kingdom."

"When the merging would happen, the Kingdom would wage war on the newly merged area to gain complete control over it. No adventurer would be able to match the strength of the Kingdom even if they combined their strengths, so those who were of help to the Kingdom would survive, while those who were useless would either be killed in large numbers or they would have their fates sealed as slaves of the human nobles."

The voice telling the information stopped, breaking Aakesh out of his trance.

A gloom covered Aakesh's face as the voice telling the information was familiar. It belonged to none other than Manish, his younger brother.

The information had been engraved into Aakesh's head so he could never forget it.

Calming himself down, Aakesh listened to the information once again.

"17 December 2023, " Aakesh muttered under his breath, as this day would change everything for the Earth's people.

'I can't waste time thinking about it. I need to get my act together if I want to save my family and friends from the fate of being killed or sold as slaves,' Aakesh thought after calming down.

The diary revealed the first challenge in his journey to reveal the truth behind his brother's rebirth and the future.

Even though it put heavy pressure on Aakesh's shoulder, he didn't worry. As Manish had said, Aakesh was cowardly and easily gave up on things, but if he became adamant over something, he became a monster.

As for why the diary stopped at that, Aakesh only gave it a single thought. He hadn't reached a sufficient level to unlock that knowledge, so if he wanted to know more, he needed to increase his level.

From the knowledge, Aakesh could sense that it wasn't complete, so Aakesh set his first goal in Myth Online at that moment.

"Achieve the requirement to unlock the next page."

***

A/N: Don't forget to share your comments about the chapters. I know it's early to get a feel for the story, but I will most certainly hope to listen to your thoughts about these nine chapters.

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