Jason

Year 2601, early March, Afternoon.

Human Realm, Human City, Inner Circle.

The winter had just recently passed in the Human City, making the weather still chilly. The pedestrians walking in the inner circle were still donning warm clothes. This place was called the Inner Circle, and it was sheltered by thick concrete walls that covered an area of fifteen kilometers in the Human City.

Beyond the walls was Outer Circle, where Non-Systemers lived. Systemer was the title given to humans who reached level 1. Those who were at level 0 were called as Non-Systemer.

The streets were packed with roadside stalls where guilds and parties were shouting and recruiting for more members. It was risky to go to the Realm Wandering alone. Therefore, many different associations were created. Their main goal was to hunt for ingredients for "Percentage Potions", which would give them the percentage that was needed to level up

In the junction of Main Street and Iron Wall Street. Inside the Adventurer Guild.

The doors were wide open while plenty of mission requests and bounty posters were planted on the walls. Then, a well-armored man with short blond hair and a handsome face stood up and cleared his throat loudly. His cloak fluttered behind him, giving him a feeling of royalty.

"Ahem, everyone, may I get your attention?" The Realm Adventurers, who had come to the Adventurer Guild to find missions, turned around toward the well-armored man. At first, they wore frowns on their faces before recognizing the symbol on the man's cloak. It had an image of a lion with thick fur and its two paws raising towards heavens. It was the symbol of the Golden Lion Guild!

They all turned silent because of the reputation of the Golden Lion Guild. They were famous for having several System Masters in their ranks. Their Guild Leader was rumored to have reached peak of System Lord rank!

After seeing the building quiet down, the handsome face smiled in satisfaction.

"On behalf of the Golden Lion Guild, I am here to recruit a party, with a member limit of ten, to enter the Dark Dungeon with me. It is a dungeon in the Horror Realm."

After hearing that it was a place in the Horror Realm, many mission-seekers immediately grimaced and planned to reject it. It was a horrendous place, with many disliking the creepy vibe of the entire realm. The whole realm was basically dead, with ghosts, ghouls, and zombies roaming the land. No one with a desire to live would go there.

However, it was a very tempting place for Realm Adventurers because of the amount of potion ingredients they could receive from those creatures. The Dark Dungeon was a newly-discovered area, around one hundred klicks away from Horror City, making it a relatively safe place.

Seeing the hesitant faces, the handsome man didn't stop smiling. He soon continued to tempt them.

"The rewards will be, of course, shared equally. Also, the ones who show excellent abilities have the option to join the Golden Lion Guild and receive enough ingredients to reach System Veteran rank."

Many eyes shone as this was a very tempting offer. Even if some of them had already reached System Veteran rank, the amount of ingredients they received would still be great, and they would take a huge leap toward System Master rank.

The ten man quota quickly got filled. Soon, the handsome man only needed one more person. He was pleased that three of the Realm Adventurers who wanted to join his party were of System Veteran rank. They had sufficient strength to be an important member of the Golden Lion Guild.

He, himself, was only part of System Apprentice rank. It was the first rank. However, he was level 9 and hoped that after a successful mission, he would receive enough ingredients to enter level 10, then one more level to reach System Veteran rank. When he would enter System Veteran, his level would return to 0, and he would again have to reach level 10.

However, his strength would have a huge leap because, at the start of System Veteran, he would receive his class!

His smug expression increased, and then he heard one more voice.

"May I join?"

The blond-haired man turned toward the entrance and saw a black-haired youth. He was around 18 years old, give or take. His skin was fair, with deep blue eyes. He could be considered attractive with his 1.8m tall build. He wore a beginner's set of adventure gear, including a holster with a revolver slipped inside.

'He is obviously new to Systemer. Hmph.' At first, the blond-haired man planned to reject him. However, then he remembered that the Golden Lion Guild always had porters carrying their heavy packs. That role was always reserved for the weakest person in the party.

"Very well." The blond-haired man reached his hand out. At first, it looked like he wanted to shake hands. "My name is Perseus. May I take a glimpse of your ID?"

The black-haired youth's eyebrow slightly jumped, but he didn't mind. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and took out his identification document. It was a small card that had his picture and information about his Systemer rank. Many party leaders would take a glimpse at their party members IDs before allowing them to join. The ID would also register their previous criminal charges.

Perseus snatched the ID and looked at the card. His gaze turned cold. The figure in the picture matched the black-haired young man's description. However, the Systemer Rank was "Non-Systemer". There weren't any criminal charges. Name was also written on the top.

Jason Grandhart.

Soon, Perseus let out a deep sigh and gave the ID back. To him, it didn't matter that Jason wasn't a Systemer. He expected him to be a level 1 System Apprentice. However, he didn't plan to let him join any fighting. It didn't matter whether he was Non-Systemer because he could still carry his backpack.

Jason pocketed his wallet and glanced at Perseus blue eyes. There was clear contempt hidden in them. However, he wasn't bothered by that look because strength ruled in the current world order. Before, strength wasn't needed; instead, intelligence was. Ever since the Age of Machine began, strength was very much needed. Otherwise, other realms would eat them alive.

Perseus then turned to the rest of the members. He informed them that they would gather the necessary materials today. Tomorrow, they would gather near the Entrance of the Realm Station. Before then, they were allowed to freely gather their own materials.

Everyone nodded in satisfaction and departed from Adventurer's Guild. Perseus was the first to leave, soon disappearing into the crowd. Jason was the last to leave, and with a small smile, he returned to the inn, where he had rented a room before coming to visit the guild.

When he was in front of Room 202, he opened the door with his key and entered. Once the door closed, he removed the leather armor and holster before hanging them from the chair. He then got seated before a desk, where a small laptop was.

"Yawn." He yawned and placed his feet on top of the desk. Then he opened the laptop and surfed the internet before entering a famous website—Realm Streamers. It was a website for streamers who liked to stream their experiences from other realms. It was bustling business, and the most famous streamer had an average view count of 10 million.

With his one free hand, he awkwardly typed on the search bar "Horror Realm" before pressing enter. There were over fifty streamers, who were apparently in Horror Realm. However, Jason quickly realized that most of them were hoaxes and were actually in Human Realm. Most of them faked realm travel and were actually somewhere safe. They were never famous because the famous fakers would get banished from the site.

However, there were several real ones, and they happened to have a wide audience. Jason caressed his chin and entered one of those streams.

The streamer was trekking in a dark forest. The camera was shaking, occasionally showing the dark sky and crimson moon. Whoever was holding the camera seemed scared. It wasn't held by the streamer because he was walking slightly ahead. Most of the famous streamers have their own cameramen.

'Is he lost? Isn't his map pointing the wrong way?' Jason cocked his head to the side slightly and noticed that the map carried by the streamer was flipped upside down!

Jason's expression turned stern as he crossed his arms. He expected this stream to take a very dark turn soon. The chat was still relatively peaceful, with most of the chatters joking around and occasionally trying to scare streamer by saying that they saw something.

'Hmm, the information this streamer posted below the stream said that he was at the peak of System Apprentice rank. So, he is level 10 and could reach System Veteran soon. He should be experienced enough, but how has he now gotten lost?'

Jason debated before coming to a conclusion. His father forced him to do research about monsters since he was barely old enough to stand. He remembered that there was a race of Wraiths who could mess with sense of direction.

'Maybe, in the streamer's vision, the map is not flipped. It could explain the confused expression he showed occasionally. They should have reached their destination by now... maybe they were already planning to leave Horror Realm?' Jason glanced at the chat, and his theory seemed correct since some chatters said that they should have reached Realm Traveling Station by now.

Jason stopped leaning against the chair, pulled his legs back, and began to type seriously in the chat. He stated that the Wraiths might be interfering with Streamer's sense of direction. However, the chat only returned his worry with ridicule. In their minds, the streamer was basically System Veteran. He must know better than random chatter!

The streamer happened to turn around and see the chat that was displaying on his phone. He saw a user named Astrum's message. He read it slowly in his mind, and after finishing it inwardly, he took another glance at the map and retracted his steps.

He placed his finger on the spot where they first came from, then he traced it backward. He wondered where they would be if Wraith had actually messed up with his directions. Then, his finger stopped, and he saw where they would be and nearby landmarks.

His throat turned parched as he looked around. There were three sharp mountains with a river flowing past them. The location was also shown on the map, and it was exactly where he stopped moving his finger. It confirmed it. They had gone the wrong way, and the place they were... was the Red Zone, where Wraiths lived.

He dropped his map, and his good friend, the cameraman, frowned and was about to ask what was wrong. However, then a ragged creature flew past the camera. It happened so quickly that no one had time to react. Not even Jason, who was intently staring at the screen.

The cameraman turned toward his friend and noticed that he was gone! His eyes widened in shock, and he looked around in a hurry. He was surrounded by a dark forest, with crimson light peeking through the thick branches.

Thud.

Then, something dropped from the tree. The cameraman turned around and widened his eyes in horror and sadness. The camera happened to point at the thing that dropped. It was the streamer's separated head. His eyes were hollow, and blood was still spurting from his neck. There was no sight of his corpse anywhere.

"N-No..." The cameraman turned around, but his body instantly froze as if his blood had turned into ice. From the mountains, rivers, and trees, Wraiths wearing tattered rags appeared as if they were summoned by the darkness. They drifted along the wind before snatching the cameraman and pulling him in different directions. The cameraman's body was pulled apart, and with one final cry of pain, Wraiths carried his mangled pieces of corpse away.

The camera lens was dyed in crimson blood. It had fallen to the ground, right before the streamer's decapitated head. The viewers were utterly shocked and frightened. They were too afraid to type on the chat, imagining that the Wraith could see it and hunt them down!

Then, the stream turned dark. The website's administrators had shut down the stream in a hurry, and the chat was also closed. The viewers woke up from their stupor and swarmed into other streamers, wanting to tell them what happened.

Jason closed the laptop and combed his hair with his hand. He let out a sigh and closed the light before plopping down on his bed. He slowly closed his eyes in anticipation of tomorrow. He was also heading to the Horror Realm. Many of today's viewers would be permanently traumatized by Horror Realm, but not him.

If he had gotten cold feet before even entering another realm, he was quite afraid that his father would return from Action Realm and give a beating which he would never forget!