[Welcome to Nexus] [Beginner Protection is Over] Beams of light shot from the skies to the Forest Floor. From a golden beam of light, Thorne stepped onto the forest floor.
It was the same place he had been grinding at with Mufasa yesterday. 'Its dark', The environment was different from yesterday.
The sunlight was gone, making the glow in the forest more pronounced. The numerous bees that had been hovering around the area were gone. The environment had gone from a brightly lit space to a dark glowing oppressive one.
'Is it night'. He wondered, looking up. There were no moons, no stars. Heck, even the clouds weren't there.
Rather than night time, it was like something had covered the skies, blocking out everything.
Ding!
[Beginner protection period over]
[The forests are dark and treacherous. Its glowing allure fatal to the weak but rewarding to the strong. Such is the nature of the forests. Impartial yet unjust]
[Survive for your life depends on it]
The last line creeped Thorne out. Subconsciously, he felt that the warning wasnt one to be taken lightly. 'But wasn't this just a game, how could someone die here.' he wondered.
"The monoliths are gone!"
A sudden yell brought Thorne back to reality. Turning around, he realized that aside the dense number of player constructs, there was nothing except grass flowers and mushrooms.
The barrier was gone and so were the monoliths. People who logged into the game were dropping as beams from the skies.
Ding! Everyone in game heard the bell chime at that moment.
[Global Mission Issued]
[Description: Reach the Sanctums at the cardinal ends of the Forest Floor]
[Quest Rewards: Primary Evolution]
The first mission. It came as Supreme Horseface Po had predicted. The reward sounded valuable although he didn't know what it was.
Ding! [The Kill Count Leaderboard has been opened]
[Individuals on the leaderboard will be rewarded Starshards (Grade: Astral Glitter)
[The Leaderboard]
1. The Second Daughter 307 Kills
2.The First Son 256 Kills
3. The Third Daughter 222 Kills
4. Axel 221 Kills
5. The Fourth Daughter 205 Kills
6. The Sixth Son 125 Kills
7. The Fifth Son 94 Kills
8. Dynasty King 80 Kills
9. Flower Maiden 76 Kills
10. The Federation's Crown 43 Kills
The crowd burst into an uproar. The kill counts on the leaderboard were insane.
'Who were these people'
'Did they cheat'
'How did they kill this many mobs at the beginning of the game.
Even Thorne found it difficult to believe. He had spent most of the time in his last game session killing insects with Mufasa but he failed to achieve such numbers.
However, seeing titles similar to his made him believe that the people on the leaderboard weren't so simple. They were all his predecessors, from the first son to the sixth. These people surely had powerful cosmogems. As for the others, they were definitely strong to have killed this many without cosmogems.
But how?
That was the question. How did they accomplish this feat?
Wasn't the time limited for everyone?
The players begun moving out in droves. It seemed that everyone was eager to get on the leaderboards. Although they weren't knowledgeable on the grading systems, they were sure hat Astral Glitter Starshards were definitely better than luminous ones.
They also wanted to know what changes the primary evolution would bring. Since Mufasa hadn't arrive yet, Thorne found an isolated spot close by and waited.
He chose to explore the limits of his starshard since he had nothing better doing. He constructed a sword with a bit of energy, then he constructed another alongside it. The first thing he wanted to test here was the limit of the number of constructs he could make. So, with the two in hand, he tried constructing another sword.
Failure!
'So I can only construct two items for now'
After doing away with the swords, he moved on. The next test was on the starshards constructs itself. Was he only capable of manifesting cold weapons or he could create more. The starshards description never added a limiter, so he tried constructing something random; a ladder.
Success!
A golden ladder construct two times his body length appeared in front of him. He tried something else.
A shovel.
Success!
A gun.
Failed!
A car!
Failed!
A simple crude boat
Success!
After multiple tries, he realized that as long as his constructs were simple machines or items, he was good to go. Their sizes did determine the number that could be created though; so larger constructs could only be made once at a time while smaller ones like darts could be constructed ten times. It was not an energy requirement issue but rather Thorne assumed it was because of the grade of the starshard.
A while later, Thorne heard people approaching him. Looking up, he realized that it was a party of two golden constructs, four purple and three white ones.
"Look, its a single golden player. How about we add him to our team" A purple construct, upon noticing him, beckoned the leading goden construct.
It was a familiar burly four armed one. He took a glance at Thorne and recognized him immediately.
Shaking his head, he chided the purple construct. "Its just a useless defect. We're better off without him.
" The purple construct immediately replied. "He's still a golden construct, isn't he?"
"How about you join him then, huh." The four armed construct, retorted angrily.
"Oh I will." And at the shocked gazes of his companions, he skipped merrily away, heading to Thorne.
Thorne, overhearing everything, was surprised as well. Was it that this fellow knew him? That would be impossible as even if he did, it would be impossible to recognize him. The reasons for that were obvious.
When he finally got a glimpse of the fellow's username, Thorne knew, at that moment, that his peaceful days were over.
It was a name deeply embedded in everyone's minds.
A name famous but universally despised.
It was....
'The Supreme Horseface PO'