A one-of-a-kind anniversary

''Huff, huff''

The heavy breathing of a person filled the empty forest.

*step*

Fast footsteps that left behind obvious traces. It was the mark of an untrained person; no expert would ever commit such mistakes.

''WHERE THE HELL IS THAT CAVE?''

That was because they belonged to a young child who barely had any stamina left.

*********************************************************

''Alright, this will be all, have a fun summer and a great future, everybody.''

Noise filled the large room; it was the biggest lecture hall of the college of oxford. The director of the engineering department had just finished the seniors' farewell speech. Richard Wilson was an accomplished engineering student, his life was average and so were his looks, he had a good social life, normal interests, However, there was one thing that Richard excelled at besides his studies. All of a sudden, a palm hit Richard's back.

''Richard! Are you ready for tomorrow's tournament?''

Richard to check who the owner of that voice was as it was hardly distinguishable amid all the noise in the lecture hall. Blue eyes, short blonde hair, smooth skin and a bright white smile, a huge muscular body; these were the features of the man standing behind him.

''Thomas, can't you be gentler, man? Anyway, I am going to practice and then have a good night's sleep, don't forget to pick me up at 9 AM''

''Yeah yeah, anyway crush them all tomorrow!!''

Fantasia, the hottest topic in the MMORPG industry, a fantastic historical game that takes place in a world akin to earth in its structure. All the legends and myths of Earth's cultures are actual events that happened in the past inside the world of 'Fantasia', As such, relics, artifacts, magic, gods, and many other types of fantastic elements of these legends played a major role in the game. Each country had its own unique features, the world was an amalgamation of all genres and eras, the northern European countries were similar to medieval fantasy worlds while the eastern continents held great diversity when it came to races and was an area of continuous wars and conquests. While the far west had already long entered the era of science and technology; there, resided the pioneers of magic engineering and biological research. And finally, the south, which was ruled by the barbarians and demons, two humanoid races that possessed unfathomable power. Players are 'summoned' during a certain era to this world and although they all must fulfill a certain duty when they first arrive, such as completing a quest to fight some monsters or do some good deeds, players are then free to make whatever choice they want in the game. And the one who stood among the 10 best players in such a revolutionary game was none other than Richard.

Richard arrived at his dorm and threw himself on his bed as he felt all his energy drained after his finals' week.

''Tomorrow's tournament is going to be interesting.''

A large grin formed on Richard's face as he imagined the possible events of the 10th 'Fantasia' Tournament that coincided with the 10th anniversary. The concept of 'Classes' was ambiguous in 'Fantasia', rather than them giving abilities they were more personalized for each player and represented the player's occupation, as such they could change with the players' actions. However, that rarely happened, it was because of what was called ''Innate talent'' and ''Innate skill'' which each player received at level 10 after completing the mandatory tutorial quest depending on their results and actions. This made most players choose a certain path that made the best use of their Innate skill and talent for them to grow faster. That being said, there was no limit to the kind of skills that could be acquired by the individual as long as they put enough effort and trained or learned enough.

Nonetheless, there were few exceptions, ''Innate skills'' and ''Ancient skills'' could not be acquired just by training. In particular, ''Ancient skills'' couldn't be owned by more than one person. This is because ''Ancient skills'' are linked to relics and the legends of the past, and so they are more of a bestowed power rather than a mere skill, a single ''Ancient skill'' would allow a player to rise to the position of a top ranker if used right. Players would have to go through a series of trials and be acknowledged by the relic and the power bestower before inheriting the power, in addition, one could only inherit a fixed amount of power and own a certain number of skills both of which depended on the player's stats and level. The explanation for this was that the power is bestowed to the mind or soul instead of the body, which acts as a catalyzer to manifest this power, so if one does not train their body enough to be able to channel the power, they would suffer from fatal backlash.

Of course, as one of the best Top rankers, Richard's avatar had a strong Ancient skill, it was a growth type skill known as ''The Lionheart''. Even now, Richard had not collected all the pieces that were needed to complete the skill. ''The Lionheart'' was one of the innate skills of ''Richard The Lionheart'', one of the 5 pillars of the past era of ''Fantasia'', Richard had only met a small part of Lionheart's ego and retrieved his sword which allowed him to receive a degraded version of the ''Lionheart'' skill, he then received a quest which required him to collect and find other traces of ''Richard the Lionheart''. Unfortunately, despite his numerous efforts he still wasn't able to finish the quest even after 9 years, The information about Lionheart's early life was mostly lost or hidden. Yet, ''The Lionheart'' skill could already be regarded as one of the 3 best ''Ancient skills'', It gave a huge buff to experience and skill proficiency acquisition as well as high resistance to all types of mental debuffs and curses.

''Okay, time to rest.''

Richard closed his eyes while lying on his bed, He had to rest well before Tomorrow's big event.

*********************************************

''I hope you'll be able to show me a better path.''

'Hm whose voice is this? Is it morning already?'

Richard heard someone's voice and felt the gusts of cold wind pierce his body, he slowly opened his eyes, attempting to wake up. The warm light covered his face and blinded him.

''Ah… I guess it's morning already… Alright time to get ready.''

Trying to stand up, Richard felt a loss of balance and nearly tripped on air.

''God, I guess I got clumsy after sleeping for so long.''

Richard opened his eyes, but instead of his room, what surrounded him were huge trees and the voice of birds as well as a small wooden cabin.

''huh?? What's that? Am I still dreaming? No, wait the sensation is too realistic for a dream.''

Richard tried to calm down and analyze the situation rationally. He was lying on his bed and was sure to have locked his room before sleeping.

''It's unlikely to be kidnapping, my parents are dead anyway, why would they take me as a hostage…''

Richard had a habit of covering his mouth with his right hand while thinking.

''hmm…''

It wasn't long before Richard noticed something was off.

''Why is my hand so small? What?''

Richard examined his body as well as he could.

''Bloody hell, why is my body the size of a grade-schooler!!''

''Richard!!''

A woman's voice entered Richard's ears.

'Someone who knows my name!'

Richard hurriedly turned his head around, the woman was standing in front of the cabin, she was a woman in her thirties and her beauty was stunning. But Richard Couldn't notice these details right now, a sharp pain invaded his head as all types of information started to enter his brain. He barely held himself from screaming as he fell to the ground and started rolling to forget the pain. After the pain subsided in few minutes, he could hear the woman's voice again.

''Richard; love, what happened to you, are you in pain, do you have a fever?!''

The woman's tears were falling, it seemed that she was shocked because her son didn't answer her calls.

'Wait…Son? My mother?'

Richard had lost his parents at a very young age and his grandfather was the one who took care of him until he fell ill and since then it was Richard who worked relentlessly to pay his hospital bills, that was until he passed away last year.

'Richard…Richard The Lionheart…Mommy…Bollocks!! I am inside Fantasia???'

The information that Richard had received a moment ago seemed to be more organized now, but his mind was more chaotic than ever. But before asking any question he quickly calmed down and decided to handle the situation as swiftly as possible.

''Sorry, mommy… my head was hurting…''

''Oh, Richard…Richard…''

Elena, the mother, held him in her arms as she wiped her tears.

''Don't play that far away from home anymore, young man! Understood?''

''Yes, mommy…''

Richard tried his best to act like a kid by using the memories he had received. It was the best solution for now as he needed to get more information and understand the situation instead of acting recklessly. He then held his mother's hand and walked with her to the wooden cabin, it was a cozy small cabin on the inside, a classic fireplace, two small beds, and a small kitchen.

''Go sleep, for now, I will wake you up when food is ready.''

''Yes! Thank you, mommy!''

'I am really not used to acted this childish…'

Richard threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes as he went through all the information he had received.

'It's no use thinking about the mechanism, let's think about how to handle the current situation, as far as information goes, this is definitely the world of Fantasia that I know, given that This body does indeed belong to Richard the Lionheart then we're currently in the previous era.'

[The user's vitals have stabilized]

'Huh?'

A familiar styled notification popped up in front of Richard's eyes.

'A system notification??'

[Confirming that synchronization is complete]

[Confirmed]

[Welcome, Richard Wilson!]

'It recognizes me?'

[Yes, the system recognizes you due to the synchronization process]

[You have resonated with 'Richard the Lionheart']

'Resonated?'

[Optimising the used language to match the user's understanding]

[You are possessing the body of 'Richard the Lionheart']

'Bloody hell… Are there any other people with a similar situation?'

[Unable to confirm]

[Synchronization with the main server has failed]

'Is it because the game is not 'Live' and players haven't been summoned to this world yet?'

[Unable to confirm]

[The system is unable to extract sufficient information from the current database]

[The system will Reboot now to organize all the functions in a form optimized for the current user, do you agree?]

'Whatever, it's not like I got a better option. I agree.'

[Rebooting the system…]

[The Hero protocol has been initiated!]

''What?''

'The hero protocol', it was a concept that Richard was familiar with. It was basically a contract that the player would sign with the ''Will of the world'' which had many other names such as Yggdrasil, Gaia, The guardian, etc… and which allowed players to access a wide variety of functions.

It only had one drawback, one would need the necessary qualifications and achievements to be able to sign such a contract, but once that is said and done, the player would be able to play a much bigger role in the order of the world as they become a main factor in the ''Main quests''. The ''Will of the world'' would also guide and support players in their growth so that they can complete the quests it initiates.

There were less than 100 players in the history of 'Fantasia' who managed to sign that contract. In the game where players had an unlimited number of lives and could keep reviving, it was a huge benefit, but for normal people with only one life, it was more like a certain death contract as the contractor would have to complete the quests or else the system will recognize it as a failure and abandon the region that the 'Hero' is responsible for, which would then turn into a deserted, lifeless plain.

'NO, NO, CANCEL IT RIGHT NOW! CANCEL IT!'

[You do not have the necessary authority to cancel the Contract]

[Proceeding with the initialization and the reboot]

'FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!'

Richard couldn't contain his nervousness; he was known for his ability to use the information he had and use it to adapt in order to produce the best results.

'How am I supposed to risk my life when I am still a grade-schooler and barely have any information about the current world!'

[Reboot complete]

[System is analyzing abnormalities]

[Confirming the user's inability to fulfill the contract's conditions currently]

[The contract start date has been delayed]

[Time remaining until the contract is put under effect: 3768 days]

[Is the user satisfied with the new conditions?]

'So about 10 years huh… I guess it's going to be a rough life…'

[Confirming the user's answer]

[Welcome to Fantasia, Richard Wilson!]

[Name: Richard ''The Lionheart'' (Richard Wilson)

Age: 7 years old

Race: human

Status: Stable

Titles: Son of the blood witch, The Lionheart(sealed), The one who carries the blood of a dragon(sealed)

Innate skills: sealed

Innate talents: sealed

Level: 1

Hp: 40/40

Mana:0/0

stats:

Strength: 2 Agility:2

Stamina: 3 Intelligence:2

Charisma: 1 Courage: 5

Magical energy:0(not awakened) Aura : 0 (not awakened)

*Other stats are available but are currently sealed due to low abilities and growth. *

Skills: Sprinting lvl 3, Arcadian Swordsmanship lvl 1(sealed), superior senses lvl 0(sealed), composure lvl 1, Gifted lvl ?? ]

'A very rough life indeed…'