Something More

~~~(POV: Justin Xander)~~~

~~~(Location: Outside Church of Darina, Geonia City, Aeternitatem Genesis)~~~

~~~(Day, Date, Time: Friday, April 12th, 5:49 PM PST)~~~

~~~(Age: 19 Years)~~~

The exquisite and beautiful building towers over me. Not in a literal sense, but just the sheer majesty of it really takes you in. I gave my thanks to Sir Rehan and Haleen for helping me, and that I'd see them again sometime.

Right now, I'm more interested in seeing if this bloodline stuff is connected to my quest. People are freely entering and exiting the building. No reason to waste time. I slowly make my way up the stairs.

The setting sun is being blocked out by the giant walls of the city. Making artificial shade. I half expect to be stopped as I reach the top of the stairs and the front door.

But I'm not; the guards just let me through with no problem. As I walk through the church, I notice the art work on the walls. It's amazing that so much has gone into the care of this. It makes me wonder how deep the AI worked on this game with the devs.

"May I be of assistance?"

A soft and gentle voice grabs my attention, and I turn around to see a short nun. Her eyes are closed as she looks in my direction. A pleasant smile on her lips.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I was told I could come to the Church of Darina and find out who my ancestors are through bloodline magic or something?"

I sound really confused cause I am really confused. Haleen didn't go into deep detail on how this all worked. Only told me where to go. I'm glad she helped me so much, even though she didn't know a thing about me.

The petite nun lightly chuckles and steps to the side. Opening one arm and showing me a direction to go.

"Right this way."

I start walking, and she takes a spot beside me. Not losing pace. There is only one door in the direction we're going, so I assume that's our destination.

"It's called Bloodline Reflection. It allows a person to view who their ancestors are. This is one of many services the Church of Darina provides."

She lifts her hand as we approach the door, and it automatically opens. As we enter through the door, we're met with a hallway turning to the left. We start walking down, and as we're at the turn. The nun starts providing more information.

"Everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, has ancestors they can learn or discover through the Bloodline Reflection."

Yeah, that's impossible for players. This is a giant waste of time, but I might as well follow through. Maybe I'll get a quest. After a minute of walking, we make it to a door. She lightly presses her hand against it, and it opens.

Showing a plain room with no furniture or decorations. All that's present in the room is a podium with a crystal ball on it. A knife takes a small space next to the ball.

"At this point, it's a private affair. All you have to do is pick up the knife and provide a drop of blood to the crystal ball. After that, you need to wait for results. Don't worry, nothing is recorded."

She motions for me to enter the room, and I do. After a second, the door softly closes behind me. I scratch the back of my head and stare at the crystal ball. Not really seeing anything else to do here, I step forward and pick up the knife.

I follow the instructions she gave, and I slice the tip of my index finger. A single drop of blood drips from my finger and into the crystal ball. I wait for a few seconds, and nothing.

I'm about to turn around and leave when a bright light comes from the ball. As I shield my eyes, I don't have time to react to the beam of light that hits me.

[A Quest Has Been Updated!]

The energy and life of my body are almost non-existent. Getting my barrings from the spinning world takes me a few minutes. It's a moment before I stand up and exit the door. The nun is nowhere to be found.

Instead, retracing my steps to leave the building comes next.

Eventually, finding my way back outside. However, the sun has completely set. What felt like a few minutes to me must've been several hours. The streets are mostly empty; players are either sleeping in-game or have logged off for the night.

I stumble down the street and reach an inn. I pay for a room and slowly make my way upstairs. Costing me 10 copper for the night.

The second I lay down in the bed, I feel sleep creeping up on me. The system message from earlier is on my mind. I open my player interface and click on the quests tab, seeing the blinking light next to it.

---[Quest: Last Descendant]---

[Difficulty: ???] [Grade: Mythical]

[Recommended Level: ???]

[Player Level EXP Reward: 1000]

[Rewards: ???]

[Step 1: Find the waters that stand still...] [Complete]

[Step 2: Watch the memories of unchanged blood…]

It worked...

It actually...

Zzzzz....

~~~(POV: Haleen)~~~

~~~(Location: Home, Geonia City, Aeternitatem Genesis)~~~

~~~(Day, Date, Time: Friday, April 12th, 10:13 PM PST)~~~

~~~(Age: 38 Years)~~~

I look out over the city from my balcony. A lot has changed in the last day. All the new arrivals are showing they're interested. I'm betting there are tons of them out there leveling up and doing whatever it is players call it when spending a lot of time doing one thing.

From what I overheard in the market, I believe the word was grinding. From what I've seen. Some are already approaching level 10, and those that have are looking into classes.

I remember when I was that young and weak. Leveling up when you're that low isn't hard; what gets hard comes after that. It's keeping up with those truly special around you. And I think I met one of those people.

They'll find out how hard leveling up gets. I'm peaked out at 300. No matter what I do, I can't get past my trial; they'll soon figure these things out, too.

It'll be entertaining to see. Those who keep climbing and those who stop.

I can't help thinking it's only a matter of time before something amazing happens.

~~~(POV: Justin Xander)~~~

~~~(Location: Unknown, Unknown, Aeternitatem Genesis)~~~

~~~(Date, Day, Time: Unknown, Unknown, Unknown)~~~

~~~(Age: 19 Years)~~~

My eyes peel up as I try and shake the sleep off. The cloudy overcast helps block out any light. As I'm getting my senses honed in, that's when I smell something you recognize the instant it hits you.

I lean up and look down the grassy hill I'm on. Seeing a battlefield. I slowly stand up and take in the scene before me. What I notice is there is no life on the battlefield. Everyone is dead. It's just a field full of corpses.

After a second, my eyes feel heavy. I slowly close them, trying my best to stay awake, and I force them open again. As I do, I'm not on the hill anymore. I'm in the middle of the battlefield. I look around, trying to figure out what's happening.

That's when I see him.

A winged man around 35 feet from me. His back is turned to me. A beautiful sword hangs from his right hand. His wings are large and powerful. You can tell by looking at them they're not something ordinary weapons can pierce.

They're made of feathers and flesh, but something about them screams don't mess with me.

His hair is white, and blood drips from his arms and sword.

"Hello?!"

I call out to the man, and he lifts his head. His head turns in my direction, but that's when I see his face...

It's...

My face...

Immediately, I start to hyperventilate. I take a step back and another blink. As my eyes open again, he's right in front of me. Only inches away.

Before I can scream from the chaos and confusion to what's going on. He shoots out his hand, and it enters my chest. I feel a power flow into me that I've never felt before.

"AAAHHHHHH!!!"

The next second, I'm screaming as I wake up in the inn room I rented last night.

[You've completed the quest (Last Descendant)!]

[+1000 EXP toward your player level!]

[You've leveled up!]

[Rewards: Mythical grade class.]

As my eyes read over the system messages, all I can do is silently stare at the last system message. I don't know what to say or think. A part of me can't believe how lucky I am. How my first day has gone in AG.

Another part of me knows that what I saw in that...

Dream...

Was real...

I take a breath and open my player interface. I know I've just gained something that will change my life and the lives of the people I love forever.

Time to see what I'm getting into.

I remember what Haleen told me about the grades... What they can do to the world...

Mythical grade class...