Entering the tent I could not decide where to focus my attention, it was illuminated by floating marbles of glowing magic? There was some creature that looked like a cat sleeping on a cushion beside the two identical thrones that I just saw outside, or to focus my attention on what clearly appeared to be a demon sitting beside the King. She wore long robes hiding her shoulders from view but it was flung aside to reveal her ample bust and toned stomach. She was wearing an outfit which appeared straight out of a Lovecraft novel, a piece of bright red fabric lined with royal white stretched to cover her body which highlights her ash-grey skin tone. The final nail in the coffin were two curved horns that were protruding from the side of her forehead.
'wait am I missing something-'
I realised that I don't know what she looked like and as I was about to look at her King Lem said, "So tell me, Human, what's your world like?"
'-- who asks something that?'
I turned to face the aged king, an intricate crown woven with some kind of interlaced material sat on his head with glowing crystals embedded in it, the closest base appearance I could decide was that of an elf, with pointed ears and fair skin tone, solid green eyes, devoid of pupils stared at me.
"Umm, my King, pardon my offence of not knowing your customs, Earth, our home planet is devoid of magic so we mainly use devices crafted from metals and wood, and extract energy from natural sources for our daily need-"
I stooped as King Lem chuckled, "Don't worry about it-" he waved his hand, "-Through countless years many different species have appeared in our plane and thus our customs are a mesh of different opinions, it certainly makes ruling more interesting-" He muttered the last part before focusing back on me, "-as long as you give proper respect when required you'll do fine." He shared a glance with the queen then continued, "Anyway, I was more interested in how you Human's go to war? since your world is devoid of magic, there should be some interesting ways to settle disputes right?"
'--I guess that makes more sense, since I choose one of the five attunements, there should be four more fortresses around this planet...'
"Can I show you?" my hand went to my buckle as he leaned forward with interest, I pulled the Glock out of its harness and clicked the safety off.
"What is that?" He motioned with his finger to come closer so I move forward and presented it to him. He shook his head and said, "I don't know how to use this little tool Human, do you throw it?"
'Okay, how to delicately put it?'
"Well-" I hesitated for a moment before pulling a magazine from my blazers inner pocket, I pryed a bullet out and held it between my fingers to show it to him, "This is what we call a bullet, it is made from metal and filled with explosive compound", I held a gun and mimicked aiming away from them, "You aim at what you want to shoot, and the explosive in the bullet is lit which makes it burst in the direction where you were aiming, piercing the target."
He looked intrigued and said, "Its like our beam cannon's but with metal instead of energy... that's interesting, can you give a demonstration?"
'On what-'
I looked around trying to convey that there is no suitable target when the queen laughed and waved her hand, A staff materialized out of nowhere and as she slammed it down she spoke in a mesmerizing voice, "Evocant Azeroth~"
Black markings spread across the floor as a dark shadow stretched outwards from it, It started to take shape before forming into a mutant version of a cat, Instead of two eyes it had one large eye right in the middle of its face, it had no nose and what appeared as no mouth as the eye took all of the space, the fur was dark black in colour and its paws had sharp long talons like that of a bird, "Better work quick it's not chained?" The queen's voice woke me from my stupor as the cat demon looked ready to pounce, I aimed at the eye as it looked like a venerable part and fired, the gun jerked back when I fired and while I destabilised myself from the backlash because of my improper stance, the bullet pierced the eye of the cat demon and it stood up on its two legs and shrieked, there was a huge mouth on its underbelly.
Its shriek ended soon as she flopped down and then started disappearing into particles. I looked at the weird scene before turning back to look at the King and Queen who looked in interest at the weapon at hand. As their focus was elsewhere I focused on the queen's face, she looked young, especially compared to the King, her eyes held a dark look as she gazed at the weapon on my hand and her face had a cruel smirk.
'aww, shit-'
It seems she noticed my gaze as her eyes locked into mine and her lips curled into a kind smile. I got shivers as I looked away towards the king who said, "Marvelous-" he stood up and walked forward as the body of the cat? completed its disintegration completely.
*Ding!*
A notification popped in front of me.
[Night Fox Demon (Tier-1) Killed!]
For defeating a monster 5 times above your level you get 2.5 x EXP
EXP gained = 1250]
[LEVEL UP!!]
[Being the first Human to kill a monster a title has been awarded!]
[Gained Title: Monster Hunter I (+5% damage to Monsters, All stats +5%)]
[Temporary Title Unclocked]
[Temporary Title gained: Forerunner of the Human Race (All Stats +5%)]
'...'
I felt a little change in my perception, I looked around for anything that happened but my gaze looked at the King bending down to pick up the discarded bullet left after the Nightcat disappeared, He looked at it for a second before snapping the bullet as if destroying an annoying bug, I immediately felt as if my back was drenched in cold sweat as the King noticed my expression and laughed, "Don't worry human, I have no interest in causing you any harm, this thing on the other hand-" he indicated to the gun and said, "this interests me, it seems like this time the Initiation will be more fun-" He laughed and went back to sit on his throne. I looked between him and the queen deciding what to do next.
'now what-'
I looked at the various status screens present in front of my face and slowly read through the rest of the notifications, hesitating over the words like Forerunner of the human race.
"It seems like we would have some company this time after all!" He looked like he was reading something in thin air before he pulled out his blade and cut his thumb a little, he pressed it in thin air where it looked like it made contact with something as another notification popped up in front of me.
[Trial 3: Exploration]
[King Lem has accepted to provide humanity with a safe house, you have been granted temporary citizenship in the Floating Castle, Narmae. You can now work through the mercenary office, Alchemy hall and the Inscription Palace to gather Citizenship points and thus advanced your rank in the city. Combat within the city limits is prohibited and any action against the Narmae laws will be swiftly punished. Time left in the Exploration period 30 Days 27 hours 59 mins.]
'uh... so he just now allowed us to enter the city, what would have happened if he denied us entry?'
I remembered the cruel smirk on the Queens's face and decided against asking such questions as King Lem continued to fiddle with his screen.
'Can't he operate it with his thoughts?'
*Ding!*
[You have been given permanent citizenship in Narmae and the rank of a Citizen (Common)]
[Trial 4: Inner Disciple]
[You now have permanent citizenship in Narmae, the citizens are happy to have someone new to socialize and nobels have a new political asset to manoeuvre, but hidden beneath the dirty politics are extensions of Hidden societies that will reach out to the outstanding performers among your species, some desire brute strength, some respect cunning and guile, but these superpowers are who will decide to what happens to humanity in the end, so play wisely. Time before the ending of the Initiation period 30 Days 27 hours 57 mins.]
'...did I skip a step in the tutorial phase?'
I looked at King Lem who said, "Yes I gave you citizenship and no I will not explain whatever information the system gave you, I need you to represent Humanity, or rather the wind attuned humans till they work to gain citizenship, now that I have allowed them as part of my population, I need to get some benefit from them, plus being a citizen gives you a right to live in the city and not stay in the beginner village on the ground."
'wait... beginner village?'
Seeing my confused look he waved his hand and said, "Don't worry Rick will explain it to you... I need you to find me someone among the people you bought who can help me build more weapon designs like what is in your hand, what is it called anyway?"
"- A gun, my lord-" He waved away my hasty reply and said, "also leave this gun? to me." I nodded and presented the gun to him facing the barrel away from him.
"Dismissed" he commanded and I bowed awkwardly and turned away as Queen laughed merrily at my awkwardness. I left the tent and took a deep breath, my shoulders relaxed and I sighed and leaned against the soft yet sturdy tent. Ricktor who was waiting outside walked towards me at a relaxed face and I looked at him.
'What the fuck is that now-'
Floating above his head was the word [Knight of Narmae]. I looked at it for a second as he laughed, "I see you got a promotion! this seems interesting enough, come on I'm sure you have questions."
'how did he know that-'
I dismissed my suspicion for a moment as I followed him away from the tent back towards the teleporter.
"So what is up with this beginner village?" I asked.
"Every time the initiation is started, every surviving member is given temporary citizenship and 20 citizenship points, for every hour you spend in the city you spend ten citizenship points deducted hourly as you are not really accepted yet, on the ground right beneath the floating city are where the temporary citizens reside, there is a branch of every shop and every institute down there just of a little inferior quality, some people like to come up here and get superior quality items but the loss of 10 citizenship points is an easy deterrent for the dregs of society to stay away. Crimes are punished with a loss of Citizenship points and you could also derank if the crime is serious enough. During the next 30 days, around 10% of you humans will be able to gain permanent citizenship and can decide if they want to go back to Earth or not."
'so that's how they make people work for them-'
"Hmm, what about me now that I am a citizen?" I asked as he gave me a grin and said, "Now that would be telling-" he laughed at my expression and continued, "The initiation is a big event you'll see as soon as we reach the main square, but you have your own job to do, maybe it is along the lines of keep gaining Citizen points and advance to the rank of a Knight? maybe it is to learn more about magic at the institute? maybe it is to hunt monsters to gain power? anyway, let's go-"
I looked at the teleporter ahead and jumped into it as I arrived back into the plaza. The first thing that gathered my attention was a huge screen like that of a leaderboard that has only one spot filled.
[#1 Ryan Richards Citizen of Narmae Wind 2]
'well this just got wierder-'