Alex felt like he was in a dream and everything was going to break apart, and he would wake up any moment.
"A REAL FU**KING MYTHICAL ITEM"
Alex screamed at the top of his lungs and felt like he was going to get attacked and the Red Gem would disappear; many random thoughts were going on in his head.
Alex stabilized his emotions and took a deep breath to calm down. Then, he put the gem in his inventory and took it out many times, and after confirming that he was not hallucinating, he felt extreme joy.
Alex acted like that because, in his previous life, only eight Mythical items were ever found, and big guilds had owned them all.
Alex doesn't know much about mythical items other than public information, but even in his previous life, there has never been any news of a Mythical item with a (+) mark.
"The Red gem is only one part of the ancient artifact and has the potential of mythical (+); if I can find the other part, can it evolve?"
"I don't even know how to use it; let's do things step by step and see where life leads me to this time."
...
"Now I understand why that dude made an entire story about how he found the dungeon and what he got for uncovering its secret; he made a big story so even if someone did not believe his story, they would think that there was some truth to the story."
"Hiding the equipment from the world, I understand, but I don't understand why he never used this thing; he was only an average player and did streams of his discoveries of Ancient world secrets."
"He must have sold it to some big guild. But he did not join any guilds. I don't understand; I can only find the truth by uncovering it myself."
Alex made some theories in his mind, and not finding any reasonable one, he dropped the subject and started focusing on the present time.
.....
"All legendary items can be bound to the player, so they don't drop when the player dies. The RED GEM is a mystical item it can be bound to. Let's try it out. I am not going to sell it anyway."
Alex cut his finger and dropped some blood on the red gem; it shined for a moment, and then Alex got the notification that the Red Gem was bound to him.
Name: Ancient RED GEM(1/2)
Equipment: RED GEM
Quality: Common{ Mythical +}
Bound: Hidden One {Cannot be dropped, Traded, or Gifted to someone else}
Alex was thrilled because this was the first item of higher quality than Epic in his life.
"This life, I will achieve everything I dream of doing in my previous life and surpass even the strongest players."
....
Alex left the dungeon toward the royal city.
'I plan to collect everything as fast as possible, but after the fight with that abnormality, I understand that strength is the most important right now.'
'I will rest and buy things like Health potions and then clear my Rank promotion quest to get a significant boost to my stats.'
'After getting everything done, I can continue to loot the assassins' cave and get my first pot of gold.'
After traveling for some time, Alex got to the royal city; he paid the entry fee and started traveling toward the ice dale hotel.
Ice dale hotel was the best resting place for players in the royal city's outer circle; they had good rooms and food at low prices.
It was huge, and thousands of players rented rooms in this place all the time, with the population reaching close to 10 million; in the city, all cheap hotels were full, and for the players to rent a room, they needed to pay a higher price or leave the royal city.
Stormward Capital city was separated into inner circle city, outer circle, and slums, and the slum of the royal city looked better than many other cities' outer areas.
The population of the Ancient world had already crossed 800 million, and with this massive amount, even the Ice kingdom player count had already crossed 250 million; even though the Ice kingdom was huge, it still had good and bad areas.
The royal capital was, without a doubt, the best place to develop at any game stage.
The royal family of the ice kingdom ruled Stormward royal city, but for players, the city was ruled by the Frozen Flower guild that ranked ninth, the same guild that Alex owed a favor to, and he intended to pay it fully.
Hydra Guild, Ranked 18 in the top one hundred rankings, was also fighting for supremacy in the royal city, and their guilds fought with the Frozen Flower guild many times to settle their dispute.
'Frozen Flower guild will lose the final war for supremacy in the next seven months and all because of one rat, but well, things are going to be different this time. I can't wait to mess with those Hydra guild fucker'
'The Ranked 8 Hundred Coffins back Hydra guild, and their guild master girlfriend is the same bitch I hate the most. So spoiling one of their plans will feel really good.'
Alex thought as he entered the hotel and walked toward the counter lady.
And asked, "I would like to rent a room for one week."
"Sir, that will be 35 gold coins, and meals will be on the house." the lady replied
"Ok, here are the gold coins" Alex paid the gold coins.
After hunting in the dungeon and killing the secret boss, Alex got 370 gold coins, and with that, he didn't need to worry about the gold for at least one week.
Alex paid and did some other formalities; after he was done, the lady gave him his room keys, and Alex left for his room to log out of the game and rest.
Alex entered his room, a standard small room with one bed and nothing else.
"They are ripping players off for five gold to spend one day here, but most new players are broke and can't pay five gold for a night; veteran players have no problem with such small chump change."
"I need to do so much before I can get my legacy and start playing the game without worry," Alex said as he lay down on the bed and logged out.
....
Alex left his game pod and took a shower to clear his mind of everything he was going through in such a short time.
It was morning when Alex exited the game, and his family was having breakfast.
"I can have breakfast and spend quality time with my family."
Alex sat at the dining table and greeted his father, mother, and little sister, who was playing with her food.
"Brother, you are up early. Did you play your game all night" Sophia said
"yes, I have been playing and learning the game," Alex replied to his sister.
"Son, don't get sick by playing all the time," Alex's mother said worriedly.
"Ok, Mom, I will take care of my health," Alex said
"Alex, did you make any progress in the game or just enjoy the views of the Ancient world" Alex's father, Bran Crawford, asked
"Father, I did make some good progress, and I think I can do better than the average players."
"Well, all the new players think like that. Don't be too happy with small successes and focus on the bigger future; if you want to become a good player and need money, you can ask me. I know to make reasonable progress, you need to spend money to buy resources."
"I will work hard, father; you don't need to worry."
'Father always has the strict front and doesn't share his problem with others, but he wants the best for his family, and my last life idiot-self thought otherwise and only appreciated when things were going down, but this time, things will not go the same route.'
Alex's father finished his breakfast and left for work, and his mother took his little sister to her school.
Alex finished his meal and returned to his room to start his computer to search the game forum to find what was happening worldwide.
Alex searched the forums for some time and found nothing interesting other than the diamond Ranking game. The winner was the guild master of rank no 1 guild (Asgardian).
Asgardian guild is ranked no 1 in the top 100 guilds, and their guild master 'Odin' is a SSS legacy holder and is one of the strongest players in the game.
Asgardian is the strongest guild in the game, and they have the most S Rank and higher legacy holder with them, and they have mighty people backing them in the real world.
'Well, their guild is made up of strong players who took the Norse mythology persona too seriously.'
'I didn't have any bad blood with them in my previous life, and I hope we don't cross paths this time.'
Alex finished his browsing and went to sleep.