The words on the crystal looked very ominous...
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THE COMMANDMENTS
The More You Advance, the More You Will Understand.
The More You Understand, the Less the World Will Protect You.
Life Is Measured in Time.
Every player has a finite amount of time in their timer.
When your Timer reaches zero, the player will be terminated.
Death Has No Boundary.
Death within the Dreamscape is death in reality.
Beasts Bear Runes.
Slaying beasts in Dreamscape would grant Runes to players.
Runes can be converted into Time.
The Fallen Leave a Remnant.
Upon death, 30% of the remaining Time will be deducted from the dead player's timer.
The deducted time will manifest at the location of death.
It may be claimed by others or recovered later, if you return.
Death Is Not Release.
If Time remains after your death, you will reawaken in your Beginner Village.
Distance Determines Threat.
The farther you travel from your village, the stronger the beasts you will encounter.
Risk Defines Reward.
Stronger beasts yield greater rewards.
Safety sustains life; danger advances it.
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Safety sustains life, danger advances it. The line resonated with Karan. As it was very close to the principle that he had been following in his life.
At the same time, he was curious about time. Earlier messages also talked about time, but he had yet to see any clock.
It was when he came to an understanding.
Time, he commanded, and a window appeared before his eyes.
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TIME WINDOW
Current Time Remaining: 12 Days, 04 Hours, 17 Minutes
Status: ACTIVE
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12 Days? I have 12 days. Suddenly, the first commandment about time being finite started making sense to him.
The whole scenario that Karan found himself in was intriguing to say the least.
But the fact remained that he was getting pulled into something without his consent, and he was not liking it. This game, or simulation, he didnt sign up for it. And he didnt like that, somehow he was forced to play this game.
Sulking won't do him any good, he knew it.
Might as well get the most of it. He thought as he turned towards his right. There was a literal village filled with historical buildings just before his eyes, so he figured, why not explore this place while he was at it…
Karan, when he entered the small and clean pathways of the village, he couldnt think back of the Districts. Unlike the streets here, the streets of the districts were full of piss and excrement.
Houses here were built of wood and stone. They looked fragile enough that any push from Metallics would send them crumbling.
But despite everything, walking through the narrow streets of the village was a rather pleasant experience.
Eventually, Karan encountered a white building. This one seemed to be made entirely of white marble, with big white columns supporting the whole thing. On the top of the building was a dark brown wooden plank, written on it was The Bank in golden words.
At the entrance was a small tablet, saying, Here Runes are converted into Time.
Remembering the commandments yet again, he commanded. Show me Runes.
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RUNES
Total Runes Held: 1,284
Lesser Runes × 926Greater Runes × 228Sovereign Runes × 2
Total Convertible Time: 12 Days, 04 Hours, 10 Minutes
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So these are the Runes that I need to earn, huh? He thought.
Not paying that much attention to the bank, Karan moved further down the road. And came across another building named Weapons Emporium, beside which was another building named Training Hall.
Weapons? Now that is interesting. He thought, entering the building.
As the name suggested, the place was literally a hall full of weapons, all of them hanging from the walls like displays in a museum. But they were not modern weapons that he was used to, but instead, the weapons looked straight out of a museum.
There were swords of various shapes and sizes, and there were axes, from long ones to short ones. Even bows had various shapes. The only thing that he could understand was the knives, as they had been part of the training that he had received.
There was a knife, a Kukuri to be exact, that looked exactly like the ones that a scavenger group he knows uses. When he tried touching it, a message appeared before his eyes
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The first weapon of your choice would be free.
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Do you want to buy this knife?
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Now this is interesting, He thought.
Looking around the array of weapons and after pondering for a minute or so, he couldnt decide what to get.
As a man living in the 22nd century, he was not alien to the concept of killings or guns. But using knives or swords was never his style, nor had he used one before. From his experience, it is better to kill the target from a distance and get the hell out of there.
Bow suited his style of fighting, but which bow should he use? He had never held a bow before.
Wait, there is a training hall adjacent to this building, right? Quickly, he made his way out.
He saw that some people have now started venturing on the streets as well. He feared that the training hall might get crowded, so he quickly entered the building.
What greeted him inside was a very empty room with a very tall ceiling. There was nothing inside; the ground that he was standing on was made of soft brown soil.
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It would cost 5 Lesser Runes to access the room for 2 hours.
In those two hours, you can train with whatever weapon you want in here.
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Followed by these two messages were big window, with photos of all the weapons that he could train with. As he scrolled through them, he eventually spotted something called Caster's Wand.
He tried to select it, but a red window appeared before his eyes.
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Level Cap Detected. You cannot use the item with your level.
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Not thinking about it much, Karan eventually got to the bow section. And selected a longbow to train with.
His surroundings changed, and he found a shooting range of shorts.
There was a target 100m from him. There was a basket full of arrows where he was standing, beside it was a black bow.
Around 4 feet tall, the bow looked sturdy. The polished wood gave it a premium feel as well.
Let's see what I am dealing with here. He thought.
Nocking an arrow on the bow was the easy part. When he tried pulling the string, he was shocked by how tight the string was. It took a considerable amount of strength to pull the string all the way back.
And when he finally let it go, the arrow went straight, cutting through the air with incredible speed. But it completely missed the target, falling just a few feet short of the target.
That could have been worse. He thought. Karan then picked up another arrow, but he didn't knock it this time.
Looking at the pointy tip of the arrow, a thought came to his mind. He gripped the arrow firmly and cut his palm.
Blood did pour out of his hand. It is then that a bright light appeared from his wound, and his wound healed in milliseconds.
Now.. This is.. Interesting.