Chapter 4: Taken

Upon completing, he promptly received a notification that the funds were withdrawn from his bank account, without the need to link his account or enter any codes within the app. The process worked so seamlessly that it was mildly unnerving.

As soon as the one hour was over, Raven found himself engulfed in darkness, as if the world had vanished and he had been pulled into a void.

He had lost all control of his body, experiencing a sensation of being constrained by different dimensions. The feeling was akin to soaring through the air while also plummeting to the ground simultaneously.

[Welcome to Hellfire]

As he came to a halt from his fall, a screen he recognized appeared. He took notice of his feet landing on the ground which didn't feel solid, rather quite soft like grass. Although his vision was still dark, he felt a sense of relief standing on the ground finally.

As the world gradually brightened, Raven's surroundings came into view. Much to his astonishment, the location was vastly different from what he had anticipated!

Although he had the sensation of standing on grass, the reality was that he stood on a hard floor. The small room that surrounded him added to his confusion, as he could feel the gentle brush of wind against his skin, despite being indoors.

Despite the absence of any birds in the room, he could still hear intermittent chirping noises.

"This is... Hellfire?" As Raven spun around, he realized that he was standing alone in an unfamiliar place. 

His mind raced as he searched for a way out, but to his surprise, there was no exit visible anywhere in the room. He couldn't help feeling perplexed and lost, wondering how he was supposed to leave this place.

There was no one he could ask anything either. 

"A new Player from earth? How long has it been since the last one came from there? Interesting."

As Raven surveyed his surroundings, a voice startled him from behind. Suddenly, a person materialized seemingly out of nowhere.

The gender of the speaker was indiscernible from their voice, leaving Raven perplexed as to whether they were a man or woman. As he turned around to identify the speaker, he was surprised by what he saw.

He noticed a shadowy figure standing behind him. However, he couldn't quite discern whether it was a human or not, as the person's head was enveloped in a hazy mist, obstructing his view.

He observed that the person had donned a lengthy white coat, which reached down to his ankles. He seemed to be mostly humanoid in appearance, in terms of his physique. Nevertheless, there was a discernible peculiarity to him - the man had an extended, reptilian tail that trailed behind him.

Raven was stunned. Until now, he had only read about such people in fantasy books when he was little. However, to see one in real life... If he hadn't researched Hellfire before coming here, he would've thought that he was still in a dream. 

"Stop looking at my tail. Didn't anyone teach you proper manners?" 

Raven lowered his gaze as the man responded with a displeased voice.

"I'm the Guardian of the Bloodline Trials. I'll be your guide to assist you with the setup process," the man said with a smile, as if his previous displeasure was completely gone. "To begin, let's choose a name for you."

"Don't worry. I've heard many embarrassing nicknames used by players. You can freely tell me," he said in a teasing voice, as if he was expecting an interesting selection of names. 

"Raven, that's the name I want," Raven responded, not minding the strange behavior of the reptilian being. 

"Quite boring," said the man in a lackadaisical tone, shaking his head. "Regrettably, someone else has already claimed that name."

Raven furrowed his brows in confusion. He was already behind the others by five years, and there weren't many options left to choose from.

"Astral?" he let out, selecting his last name. 

"Also taken."

"Wind?"

"Taken."

"Sun?"

"Taken..."

"XAEAXII?"

"Also taken."

The Guardian looked at Raven weirdly before shaking his head. "If you're having a hard time selecting a name, how will you face the Players who have already become as strong as gods in Hellfire?" 

Raven continuously suggested names that came to mind, only to discover that they were already in use.

He persisted for several hours, trying different names but to no avail. In an outburst of frustration, he finally asked, "Is there any name available that hasn't been taken?"

Raven was unable to see the lizard man's face, yet he had a strong feeling that the man was smirking in response.

The Bloodline Guardian shrugged in response. "Many. Keep going. Maybe you'll find one that's not taken..."

Raven's was starting to feel tired. However, he still continued. "Myth?"

"Taken."

"Hellfire?" Raven asked. 

Hearing the name, the Guardian was slightly taken aback. However, eventually, he burst into laughter. "I think that's available."

"Are you sure you want to use the world's name? You might face some interesting things in the future..."

"Better than going back and forth over names for an hour. I'll take Hellfire as my name." Ultimately, Raven joined in agreement. The entire experience had left him feeling fatigued. He didn't want to go through it again.

[You've selected 'Hellfire' as your name]

"Excellent. Your name is finalized. Now, let me review your information,"  the reptilian creature gestured, causing a screen to materialize before him. "I don't often come across new players from Earth, so I'm quite intrigued."

Unlike Raven's screen, the one that appeared before him had a different appearance, as it was colored in a dark blue hue.

"Strange..." The Guardian appeared taken aback, looking at the screen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Hellfire

Planet of Origin: Earth.

Age: 24

Exclusive Skill: ???

Exclusive Skill Number: ???

Coins: ???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What is his Exclusive Skill? Why can't I see its information? This doesn't make sense at all. Unless he has exclusive skills numbered in the top ten, but that's impossible. Is there some problem with his information?"

The Guardian seemed to be engaged in a conversation with himself, as he made another attempt, only to face the same result once more.

Despite multiple attempts, he couldn't access the desired information. He was keen to directly ask Raven but the rules he was obligated to follow restricted him from doing so, unless he was ready to face fatal consequences.

"Exclusive Skills ranked in the top ten?" Raven inquired, keeping a calm expression on his face. He didn't know why, but he didn't tell the other person about Limitless, since he had already used that skill to cheat in a way. 

"You don't need to know that. Those existences are beyond your reach," the Lizard-man responded. "They're like demigods in Hellfire already, with strength far beyond anything you can imagine."

"They are one of the most talented beings, who were the first to awaken. If I'm not wrong, there was quite an interesting human amongst them. Someone called Weiss. What a pity that he died so soon. I really expected him to achieve more…"