Divine Sprouts
That was the name given to Players by the inhabitants of Archeon.
According to the lore there was once a powerful seer that was said to be able to gaze thousands, if not millions of years in the future. One day, she prophesied the arrival of beings blessed with immortal souls, which she called Divine Sprouts.
Their arrival would signal the start of an era of expansion to many kingdoms and empires with the advent of new technologies and magic, but would also bring many disasters never seen before by the people of that time. It was a double-edged sword.
For that reason there were many polarized views from the NPCs' standpoint towards Players. Some saw them as saviors who came to help, and wished to assist them with all their might; there were even cults with the sole purpose of helping Players. A portion was neutral towards them, not wishing to partake in what wasn't their problem. The last group was made by those that feared the Players; they believed Players to be the cause for the many disasters that would come, and as such, wished to stop such calamities from befalling them by killing or entrapping the Players.
According to what the seer described, the impressive growth of the many nations coupled with the unpreceded disasters would endanger the World Order, thus awakening Boromir.
That chain of events would lead to a giant war between nations, where Players, natives and Boromir would clash in a war of apocalyptic proportions, but which side would win, the seer could not tell.
If Boromir were to win, the Players would be banned from the game, ending the entire story until the next expansion was liberated.
If the Players won, then there was chance that part of the natives would also survive or all of them would be erased.
The last outcome saw the natives as the winning side, weakening the Players and, just like the one before, killing Boromir, which would lead to a chaotic era filled with war.
In all the possible outcomes things would become hectic, but now there was a problem; the judge that was supposed to wake up in a few years had already awakened, and so, the entire plot would change.
"I see," the dragon answered, a sigh hidden between his words.
Mack caught on that and hurriedly tried to offer some solace, "It is not your fault your lordship, it was my mistake that led to your premature awakening. As a Divine Sprout myself I am aware that my actions have consequences and I shall bear with them."
Boromir narrowed his eyes, the meaning behind those words were very clear to him so he asked, "you are a Divine Sprout?"
Mack showed a calm face, but if you looked attentively you could see his lips twitting. He literally bit his tongue when he processed what he had said.
If he were a native, the affirmation that he had learned about Boromir's 'golden rule' trough books and tales would be, at least, credible, but as a Divine Sprout things were different.
Not having other choice, he decided to explain himself.
"Yes, I am a Divine Sprout. As I said I learned about your lordship through books, and I tell the truth, among those who have arrived, some of them went straight to the path of battle, but part decided to learn more of the culture of this world by both reading and travelling."
"Can you prove your identity?"
"Your Lordship, if I were any mortal human, would I have survived so long in the scorching heat of this volcano? Any human would have fainted and suffered from successive convulsions before being burned to ashes."
The dragon showed an understanding look, but he seemed far from convinced with just that, making Mack take a deep breath.
Pressing both index and middle fingers together he made a downward motion in front of him, as if he was cutting something. As his fingers moved down, a small, black colored rift appeared.
Once it was big enough he moved his hand inside and took a small copper coin from inside.
Every Player received alongside with their Status Window an Inventory with 20 slots and 10 copper coins which were used as currency. What he just did was simply open the Inventory, but it was enough for the dragon to nod his head.
The dragon could not help but ask out of curiosity, "What is a Divine Sprout like you doing in a place like this? As far as my memory goes there are better places for your kind to visit if you wish to learn more about this world."
Putting the coin back inside his storage space, Mack told the dragon about his 'encounter' with the fortune teller, the 3 blank cards, and that he had been pointed to the volcano to continue his journey alongside with the old woman's wish.
"Can you show me the cards?"
Mack wanted to cry. This old lizard, even having his Relationship raised to Neutral, still couldn't believe his words.
Sighing in defeat the boy raised his arm, hand spread open, and willed for the card to appear. In a flash of light a small, blank card appeared floating in his hand.
The dragon looked towards the card, then back to Mack.
"Do you wish to make a contract with me?"
'Yes!' most would say, after all, this was a Level 400 Legendary Boss! Having him as your summon would be akin to being the King of the World, but Mack didn't think like that.
"No. As I said before, 'what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours'. I do not have the right to take your freedom from you since it does not belong to me," stretching his body a little he looked back at the crack in the wall that he pretended to use as an exit before continuing, "I think I will go back to the upper layers and see if I can contract with one of the monsters up there. Worst that can happen is my death, but I can simply be reborn at the town."
Boromir had an expressionless look in his face. Turning around he started to walk towards one of the walls of the dome.
His eyes glowed for a moment and an intricate pattern appeared on the wall before completely disappearing and leaving behind an open tunnel as big as the dragon.
"Come"
Uttering this single word he proceeded to enter the dark path.
Mack stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before shaking his head and hurried after the living disaster.
*
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*
At the Adventurer's Guild's training field a small commotion was happening with the NPCs.
Most of them were running from one side to another in an excited while others looked at the center of the training filed with unpleasant looks. There stood a youth that couldn't be olden than 20, short brown hair adorned his head and emphasized his blue eyes.
The youth was wearing the same basic clothes that Mack did, but this guy had a sword in one hand and shield on the other.
In front of him were a man and woman.
The man seemed to be in his late thirties, white strands of hair already mixed with his original black ones. He was clad in white robes with golden lines, a bright sun visible at the side of his legs symbolizing that he was a priest from the Church of Light.
The woman on the other hand seemed to be in her early twenties, her bright red hair maintained in a bob cut.
She wore a mix of leather and metal armor, with an iron pauldron on her left shoulder that seemed to have seen its fair shares of fights, a tight leather chest piece colored in brownish red followed by leather greaves and metal bracers. One would mistake her for a ranger was it not for the bastard sword that was hanging from her waist.
Both were looking at the boy in front of them with interest, an excited look plastered on the priest's face while the woman showed a smirk.
"Well, what do you say priest Bien? Is he really qualified?"
A random staff member asked seeing that none of the two had spoken for some time now.
"Qualified?" The woman asked with a snort, "if he weren't qualified I would have kicked him from this place a long time ago! Are you questioning my skills?!"
The staff member shuddered and hurriedly shook his hands in deny, "n-no! Of course not Mrs. Bel-, I mean, Instructor Bella! I don't doubt that he has outstanding sword skills. I am just asking if he has any affinity towards magic, that's all!"
"Magic. Hunf!" Crossing her arms, Bella looked towards the middle-aged priest who looked at her as if what she said didn't mean anything.
Both gave a quick nod and the man approached the youth, a warm smile in his face.
"Young man, you have outstanding potential. Not only your skills with the sword are impeccable, but you affinity with light magic is above normal. If possible, I would like to teach you the ways of the Paladin. What do you say?"
The man extended his hand towards the boy and a crisp song entered his ears.
Ding!
Special Quest: [Way of the Paladin]
Difficulty: None
Priest Bien, from the Church of Light, and Instructor Bella, from the Adventurer's Guild, both vouched for your abilities with both the sword and magic.
Now, priest Bien intends to teach you the way of the Paladin.
Reward: Class change to Special Class [Paladin]
< Do you wish to accept? Yes/No >
The youth shook Bien's hand with a smile.
"It would be an honor."
"Good, very good. Young man, would you mind telling me your name?"
"My name is Heaven Wings."