Chereads / Island King / Chapter 1 - Awakening

Island King

🇺🇸ZGearCecil
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Synopsis

Chapter 1 - Awakening

Shifting uncomfortably in the hot white sand, a masculine form rolled onto its back. It was Jack with his bright green eyes, french cut raven black hair and pale skin.

His quiet chapped lips parted slightly as his eyes stared into the blinding sun, only to jerk into an upright sitting position and look around. A sharp translucent blue circular shape of the sun staining his vision.

"How in the world did I get here?" His head was pounding from a hangover. He had obviously been drunk prior and he remembered bits and pieces of what happened. That included falling down a well. No, he didn't fall down a well, he was pushed.

He looked to his right hand, brown hair was entangled in it and he quickly recognized the playful bobble that kept the locks bound together. It belonged to his sister

Letting out an unimpressed sigh, he closed his eyes.

[ Pip Pip ]

"Pip Pip?" Jack imitated the sound which echoed in his head. He didn't see anything around him except for the rolling tropical oceans and the tall standing islands amassed by trees and white sandy shores.

[ Greetings Island King! ]

"Who?" Dressed in a drenched pair of black cargo pants and a plain black shirt, but no socks or shoes, Jack questioned what appeared to be the air to anyone looking upon him.

[ You are the Island King! What would you like to name your first Island? ]

Jack just stood there staring at the words which were appearing in his line of sight accompanied by this strange almost soothing nonbinary voice. It was almost as psychologically calming as a woman's, but also as unusually intimidating as an alpha male.

[ King Dwyer, what would you like to name your first Island? ]

He still didn't quite comprehend what was going on here. He never read books that involved a system, though he had played several tycoon games, RTS and RPGs. His head slowly tilted to the side slightly.

"Who are you?"

[ ... Would you like to name your new island "Who are you," or would you like to try again? ]

This time it was a snarky and sarcastic tone, as if it wasn't really in the mood to answer. Jack simply raised a brow, noting the hair trigger tempered entity.

After a short observation of the island, noting the amount of rocks, trees and other attributes of the island, he nodded to himself. "Dwyer Island," Jack huffed indifferently as he folded his arms and stared at the water which was running up to his feet and caressing the tips of his toes.

[ Your Island's Name is now: Dwyer Island. ]

Jack poked at his cheek with his tongue before asking once more, "Now who are you?"

[ I AM THE SPIRIT OF THE ISLAND KING! ALL SHALL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! BUAHAHAHAHA! ]

Blinking several times in succession, he kept a brow raised as he heard this. Spirit of the Island King? Didn't it address him as the Island King though? Did that mean he was conversing with his own spirit?

Jack opened his mouth slightly as he coughed, covering his mouth slightly, his thumb caressing his cheek as he thought to himself.

Curling his toes into the hot sand, he pursed his lips.

[ I am the Ultimate King Maker, the Spirit of the First Island King. You should be most grateful for my assistance, Young Jack. ]

He stood there in thought, almost completely spaced out as he took in that little tidbit of information. The First Island King...? How many Island Kings were there?

[ Would you like to activate your Island King Interface now? Unless you do, all you will have is this Island and no one to share it with. ]

Hearing the tone of this self proclaimed spirit of the First Island King, Jack scrunched up his nose and nodded. "Activate it," he wasn't one for being alone.

[ Activation request of the Island King System has been confirmed and accepted. Standby... ]

Flickering into view was a game-like interface translucently lining the right side of his vision, including buttons for maps, character information, inventory, skills, abilities, shop, building and population.

[ Congratulations, you have completed the first Unspoken Quest by activating the System! Would you like to accept your reward? Please open your inventory. ]

Jack took a step back, one step closer to the treeline along the beach. "Inventory?"

Suddenly a solid holographic screen appeared within his sight, taking the form of an african mahogany board of wood with 8x16 empty blocks. Another rectangular screen appeared beside it with the word claim written under reward.

Pressing the claim button, an axe materializes a few feet from the ground and plops into the hot sand. The head of the axe appears to be steel, while the handle itself was made of a heavy duty polymer capable of withstanding a lot of physical abuse.

[ Congratulations, you claimed 55 XP and a Journeyman's Steel Axe. ]

Jack couldn't comprehend what had just happened. A weapon, a tool, had appeared out of nowhere. Was he being delirious or did that actually just happen? On top of that, the system said something about Experience Points? Was this a game of some sort?!

Practically squatting, he grasped the polymer handle of the axe with one hand before standing up. Oddly enough, it weighed almost nothing to him. "This is usually much harder to weild..." He exclaimed before pausing a moment, staring at the inventory. He would press the axe against it and suddenly the tool vanished, a new icon appearing in the inventory.

[ Congratulations, you completed the second Unspoke Quest by putting your first Item into your inventory. Would you like to accept your reward? ]

Hearing and seeing this, he watched as the boxxed screen appeared again, only to hit the claim button once more, awaiting to see what he would get next.

[ Congratulations, you claimed 55 XP and an auto-purifying canteen. ]

Unlike the Axe, the canteen appeared in his inventory already rather than having to be put in manually. Nodding to himself, he began to smile for the first time in a long time. Taking the canteen out of the inventory, he wandered over to the water and dunked it in.

He watched as bubbles of air came to the surface of the water and when they stopped, he lifted the canteen from the water. Staring at it for a brief while before sniffing it. Unlike the ocean itself, after a few minutes, the water in the canteen no longer smelled of salt!