Chapter 6: Hope is the Worst of All Evils

By the end of the fight, my experience gauge filled up, bringing me to level two. All my stats went up a couple of points, and I unlocked a new portion of the skill tree, allowing me to choose which class I want to become.

Every time you level up, you get to choose from many upgrades, including skills, stat boosts, and passives. For now, my first option was to pick a class.

Warrior, paladin, rogue, mage, archer, and cleric.

I could go the safe bet and choose paladin, but I've always wanted to try something different. Becoming a rogue or a mage seemed fun, and I've also always wanted to play a berserker warrior. As for archers, my aim is atrocious, and I don't really want to play a cleric because I was the main character of this game, after all. When you finish the main quest, you have the option of switching classes, but I wasn't sure if there was endgame content in this world yet.

After some thought, I ended up choosing to become a paladin. I picked that class when I first played the game, so I had the most knowledge when it came to different builds and strategies. For maximum enjoyment of the game, I could probably run a high-DPS build with survivability.

Now that I had finished upgrading my skill tree, I returned to the game.

Many civilians helped clean up the rubble, including a couple of mages that used telekinesis to move heavy objects, and some mages who used water magic to douse fires. Almost everyone could use magic, so in a sense, almost everyone was a mage, but novices were only known as simple magic-users. True mages practiced for years, honing their craft, training their body, and perfecting spells, much like an athlete. Different spells focused on different concepts, so most mages specialized in whatever type of spell they had an affinity for.

"What now?" I asked Ayame.

"Hold on. Look at that."

A portly man was running toward us from the city's edge. He had come from the woods, and he had cuts all over his body.

"Help!" he yelled.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's the demons. I found out where they were coming from. There's a whole nest of them in the abandoned temple!"

A line of text appeared in front of me. It read,

[New Quest — Prologue: Part 2]

I pressed the accept button.

"Let's go, Ayame," I said.

"Right!"

We ran off into the woods and headed southwest. To make sure we were headed in the right direction, I pulled up the complementary map in my inventory and scanned the area. So far, the map only showed the city of Eden, but it should expand as we explored more territory.

I zoomed into a portion of land by the river and found a structure titled "Abandoned Temple."

It looked like we were headed in the right direction. And so, Ayame followed me as I led her to our designated location. Once we arrived, I slowed my pace and scrutinized the surroundings.

The temple was simple, being modeled after neoclassical architecture, but it was difficult to tell, considering how many plants were covering up the edifice. Additionally, numerous columns lined the side like the Ancient Greek Parthenon, but the walls were enclosed instead of open-air. A singular entrance was wide open, and a multitude of cracks sprouted from several locations.

I remembered fighting this dungeon back in the day. Since it was the first one, the mobs were easy, and the loot was pretty common, but it gave a decent amount of experience points. I can also use this opportunity to train my non-existent sword-fighting skills.

"Do you have a plan?" Ayame asked.

"We run in and destroy everything."

"Are you crazy?"

"It's just low-level demons."

"If you say so."

"Aren't you supposed to be a powerful mage, Ayame?"

"Yeah! I'm powerful, alright!"

"Then, this should be a piece of cake."

"Okay. Let's do this."

I dashed straight through the entrance, alerting the horde of wild demons. There were about twenty of them in the room, but upon activating my Strengthen, I performed a Whirlwind Strike, instantly killing more than half. There was no need to learn martial arts if I could just abuse my skills.

From the entrance, Ayame said, "Arcane Missile!"

She launched four blasts of magical energy that homed onto their targets, incinerating one demon for each shot.

Finally, I took out the remaining demons with a few slashes of my weapon.

This dungeon was way easier than fighting Shopen and Hauer.

A glint at the far end of the building caught my eye. As I neared, I recognized the object to be a chest, which was something that every dungeon contained. Whenever you cleared all the enemies, it unlocked, allowing you to collect various treasures.

I opened the chest and peered inside, but it was only a stack of coins. The currency in this world was known as the Szerath (abbreviated as Sz), and it took the form of golden coins with a diamond-shaped hole in the center. Ancient script also lined the edges, but I didn't know what they meant.

I touched the stack of coins, and instantly, all the money transferred into my inventory like a magnet, leaving the chest empty. I gained 200 Sz, and I reached level three.

In my skill tree, I had the option to increase my damage by ten percent, or I could gain the Divine Siphon skill, which granted me the ability to regenerate two percent of my health every time I hit an enemy. As much as I wanted the damage boost, I wanted the Divine Siphon because this was my only chance of getting such a valuable passive ability. Once more, I closed out the skill tree screen.

[Prologue: Part 2 - Complete]

[New Quest — Prologue: Part 3]

I clicked accept on the new quest again. Now that I finished the tutorial, I headed back to Eden with Ayame, and we stopped by my house.

I hugged my parents and my three little siblings while Ayame awkwardly stayed behind.

"Who is this young woman?" my mother asked.

"Her name's Ayame. She helped me fight the demons," I said.

"Really? Well, come on in! You can eat dinner with us!"

"Are you sure?" Ayame asked. "I don't want to impose."

My father put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine!"

And so, we all ate dinner as a family. I felt strangely at home, even though nobody here was a real person. In a sense, my parents in this game were more authentic than my biological parents, who never cared about me and sold me off like a slave. Of course, I wasn't mad about them selling me since it allowed me to play the fully immersive Serial Slain, but it still gnawed on my heart.

Now that I thought about it, I'm glad that I could finally experience a loving family in my life, despite everything being fabricated. Even still, this world was so realistic that it might as well be my own reality.

Yes. That sounds nice. My new reality. One where the hardships of the real world are non-existent.

While everyone was finishing their roasted pig stew, my mother brought in a cake with eighteen candles.

"Happy birthday, Ares!"

"Thanks!"

"It's your birthday?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah."

"He's turning eighteen!" one of my little sisters added.

"Make a wish!" said my brother.

After a few seconds of thought, I blew the candles.

What was my wish, you ask?

I'll never tell. It's a secret.

My mother sliced the cake and served it to everyone around the table. Surprisingly enough, Ayame gobbled it down like it was the greatest thing ever created. Even though everyone appeared to be having a good time, there was an underlying melancholy in my parents' faces.

"Is there something wrong?" Ayame asked. "I hope I'm not—"

My father shook his head. "Oh, don't worry. It's not you. It's just that...the prophecy."

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "Prophecy?"

"Have you heard of the Hierophant?" mother asked.

"Hierophant? Wait, you don't mean the being who is destined to defeat the Demon King?"

"That's exactly right," my mother said. "You see, when I gave birth to Ares, my husband and I received a prophecy, saying that our child was the Hierophant and that when he turned eighteen, he must venture out and defeat the demons once and for all."

"There's no way."

My father nodded. "We felt the same way at first, but as Ares grew up, he showed immense strength and magical prowess. He was a prodigy in everything. It wasn't until his first death that we truly found out he was the Hierophant."

"What do you mean, first death?" Ayame asked. "You mean to say that he...died?"

"Yeah!" my brother exclaimed. "He got ran over by a wagon and went splat!"

Ayame furrowed her brows. "But...people die when they're killed! How is he still alive?"

"It's true," my mother said. "Afterward, he resurrected in this very same house. At first, we celebrated, but Ares's aunt—my sister—soon died of a heart attack, so our joy was cut short. Still, we were astonished that Ares is truly immortal."

Ayame was speechless.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's a lot to take in."

"That's fine," I replied.

My father said, "You should get home now, Ayame, before your parents get worried."

"Alright. I wish you all the best of luck. Goodbye!"

"Bye!" everyone said.

When Ayame left through the front door, my mother said, "This'll be our last day with you, Ares. You'll be heading out tomorrow to fight the demons."

I nodded.

My siblings jumped out of their seats and hugged me.

"Don't go, big brother!"

"Stay with us a little longer!"

"We're gonna miss you so bad!"

I petted my siblings' heads and said, "There, there. Everything will be alright. When I come back, all the demons will be gone, and we don't have to worry about getting attacked anymore."

My mother got up and ushered my brother and two sisters to their bedrooms. "It's time for bed, now."

"I'll get everything ready for when you leave tomorrow," my father said to me.

"Thanks," I replied.

[Prologue: Part 3 - Complete]