Chương 4: New Realm

Suddenly everything went black, and I felt like an invisible force pulled me toward the center of the planet. I closed my eyes involuntarily, and when I opened them again, the platform was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a picturesque medieval village in front of me, with houses made of wooden beams and stone blocks, smoke coming out of the chimneys, people — NPC's? — living their daily lives and what looked like them getting ready for a festival of sorts.

At the edge of the village, there was a lush forest with a creek flowing through it, splitting the village right in the middle, with stone bridges leading from one bank to the other. Players kept spawning in a golden light, and they were looking just as much in awe as I.

"Welcome to Carpa! You're an adventurer, aren't you?" A child approached me.

"Y-Yes, I'm an adventurer," I said, quickly pulling myself together.

"Good, good! All adventurers were asked to gather in front of the village hall in fifteen minutes. The Adventurer's Association wants to welcome you to Ravenloft." So they measure time the same way here, I thought as the boy was already running to the next player he saw.

"Wait, where am I?" I shouted, hoping to figure out which region I spawned in. The boy turned back to me.

"This is Carpa village, in Tidemark County! Tidemark is the biggest port in Silverwing!" he said with a proud expression. Silverwing it is. If I were near the biggest port in the region, that could very well mean that naval exploration was going to be a big part of my adventures. Maybe it's time for me to turn into a pirate. I tried opening the Map menu, but as I suspected, I needed to own a physical one in order to do so. With that out of the way, I set off to find the village hall while keeping my eyes open.

I spotted the blacksmith, the tanner and the carpenter right away, and I also saw the marketplace, where most NPCs were running errands, putting stalls together and decorating everything. A woman was trying to set up a braided arc at the entrance in a hurry, struggling against the weight of the structure.

"Excuse me, miss. Do you need any help?" I asked. She smiled at me.

"No need, adventurer. I have done this many times."

"What are you preparing for? I noticed that the people around here are quite busy."

"Oh, this? The Spring Festival starts today in the entire kingdom," she laughed.

"Most villages and towns are getting ready for it, but villages like Carpa, which were chosen as the welcoming grounds for adventurers, are especially eager to give you a warm welcome." She bowed, and I knew it was a heartfelt gesture. In fact, every NPC I saw shared the same enthusiasm; they were laughing, treating the tasks as an honor rather than a chore. People in Carpa looked like they were content with their lives, probably very much unlike real medieval villages in the past.

"Oh, I see. So, this Spring Festival, does it happen every… spring?"

"It does, and it's my favorite time of the year," the woman answered with sparkling eyes.

"Sometimes even the lords and ladies go on a tour and visit the villages that are under their jurisdiction, and it is rumored that our just liege, Count Vizgrad, will come to Carpa in the coming days."

"That must be quite a sight," I smiled.

"May I ask, what did you mean by 'welcoming the adventurers'?"

"We just want to make sure you don't feel too out of place, but I'm certain that the officials from the Association will tell you more about the subject. You should go to the village hall; an appointed official is already waiting for the crowd of adventurers to gather so he can explain everything. And I'd better get back to putting this arc together," she sighed, but it was a sign of hard work well done rather than sadness. I left her to do her bidding and set off once again.

Once I arrived at the square, I saw that hundreds of players had already gathered and were chatting about the game. The villagers prepared benches that could accommodate some of us, but most were still standing. I still had a few minutes before the event began, so I started checking the menus once again. I had no map, but there were other windows already accessible. I opened my inventory and equipped the Hunting Bow and the Bottomless Quiver that looked like my starting weapons.

Hunting Bow Common Level 1 Attack Power: 5 Attack Speed: +5% Restriction: Ranger Bottomless Quiver Grants the user access to infinite arrows. Only one arrow type can be used at the same time. Current arrow: Copper arrow Attack Power: 1 Restriction: Ranger It seems like ammo won't be a problem in this game, I thought. I liked systems that didn't punish ranged classes. My base clothes didn't give any bonuses to my defense, and I had a bottle of water and three pieces of bread in my inventory as well.

Next up, I checked my status window. ORION Level 1 | Ranger | Rank: Copper | Kingdom: Ravenloft | Guild: none | Active Title: none Status Meter Health 100/100 HP Mana 100/100 MP EXP 0/1, 000 Basic Attributes Strength: 5 Agility: Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

5 Dexterity: 10 Vitality: 5 Intelligence: 5 Wisdom: 5 Presence: 1 Luck: 1 Influence: 0 Combat Stats Attack Power: 10 (16) Defense Value: 5 Movement Speed: 10 Attack Speed: 20 (21) Titles none Secret Attributes none Life Skills none Passive Skills none Resistances none There were a couple interesting things that caught my attention, like the title system, or that there were boxes for "secret attributes", "passive skills" and "life skills", all of which meant that there was quite a room for character customization.

I was also wondering what stats like presence, luck, and influence meant, but when I checked the tooltip, it only said that stat points cannot be manually distributed to them. I skimmed through all the other attributes. Strength increased physical power, Agility was for movement speed, while Dexterity gave points to attack speed. Vitality increased HP and physical defense.

Intelligence granted mana and magical power, while Wisdom gave a small increase to mana too, but it also boosted magical defense and healing efficiency.

"Attention, adventurers!" A man in his fifties climbed onto the podium and, once the chit-chat died down, he continued.

"My name is Cyndral, and I'm working for the Adventurer's Association of Ravenloft. Welcome to our world! I know it's most likely different from the other Planes you've arrived from, and we are incredibly grateful that you have come." The sound of applause filled the square, and some of my fellow players looked down in embarrassment, clearly not used to getting praised by NPCs.

"Let me start with the story of how the world had prepared for your appearance," Cyndral continued.

"A hundred years ago, wars ravaged these lands. Every kingdom on Cindaar wanted to profit off of their neighbor's losses, and soon the situation became uncontrollable. That's when the Archmage of Pendragon, along with the other Royal Archmages of the continent, came to an agreement to betray their respective kings and put an end to the battles. With great magic, they had summoned a Prophecy; a world changing spell straight from the Other Powers.

The Prophecy created the Veil that separated the kingdoms from each other." He paused for a moment, looking at the distant horizon.

"However," he picked up where he left off, "the Veil did not follow exact borders, and thus the kingdoms had lost some of their territories to the magical barrier." Murmurs ran through the crowd of villagers gathered around us. They seemed not to like that part.

"These lost territories are now called 'No Man's Land', and no soul has entered these places ever since. Anyone who had been in these regions when the Veil emerged was stuck there. It is also believed that the magic is much wilder in the No Man's Land, and therefore humans, animals, and other creatures there were affected by it." He took a theatrical break.

"The Royal mages inspect these places regularly and closely, and it seems like these regions are overrun by monstrous creatures or unlawful bandits. Only a handful of communities kept their laws and culture from the old times." An Association worker brought him a cup of water to wet his throat.

"Three years ago, however, the second part of the Prophecy came into motion: it was revealed to the world that the day when champions from other planes of existence — you, adventurers — will appear in this world, the Veil would enter its last stage." He looked at the crowd of adventurers with a hopeful expression.

"After this announcement, the kingdoms, while communicating through magical channels, had founded the Adventurer's Association to help you, young heroes, get integrated into our world. In those three years, we have built a system, through the unlimited funding of the kingdoms themselves, that will help you get whatever aid you need for your upcoming battles," he bowed before continuing.

"And when I say battles, I'm not just talking about the No Man's Land. Every kingdom has internal problems with bandits, monsters, and ferocious wildlife alike, and our soldiers, while mighty and brave, can not keep down the constantly reappearing threats, because…" He looked like he had chosen his next words carefully, and I could have guessed why.

"There's no polite way to say this," he cleared his throat, "and we are eternally grateful for your assistance. You heroes are immortal. Death has no grip on you, unlike us. You can face those we have no hope of defeating. And that is one of many things why the Prophecy had chosen you. I'm not saying your lives are worth less. I'm just asking, in the name of King Seraf Ravensdale and the entire kingdom, to help us in our time of need."

He looked at us desperately, hoping nothing he'd said was hurtful or disrespectful.

"It's okay, little dude," a guy in the crowd shouted.

"We want to slaughter monsters as much as y'all want us to!"

"Yeah," another added.

"No need to sugarcoat it! Let the hack'n'slash begin!" More and more players followed suit, and Cyndral was visibly relieved.

"Thank you! Thank you, heroes!" He blew his nose into a napkin.

"There is one more thing I wanted to tell you. We, at the Association, have established a ranking for you to organize the jobs and quests you can take. We have establishments in every town where you can pick up these tasks. Completing them will reward you with both gold and valuable items to aid on your journey. The higher rank you are in the Association, the harder quests you can take, and the better the rewards will be! This is mostly for your own safety!" He took a piece of parchment from his bag.

"Right now you all are Copper rank adventurers, and the ranking is as follows." Copper Iron ️Silver Gold Platinum Diamond Mythril Orichalcum Adamantium"The Association also offers lodging to adventurers, although you can get accommodated at any of the kingdom's inns and lodges, or buy your own property if you wish to. You all are full-fledged citizens of the Kingdom of Ravenloft." He looked at his last note.

"What else… oh, yes. This is Carpa village, in the province of Silverwing; the northeastern region of the kingdom, and as you surely saw, the good people of the village are preparing for the Spring Festival that starts today. We would like to welcome you to join us in the celebration, partake in the events, and we hope you will feel welcome in these lands.

You can find me all day here in front of the Town Hall if you have questions, but I will also welcome other adventurers during the day, so if you missed out on any information, don't worry! Have a wonderful day, and for the last time, we are eternally grateful for your presence!" With that last sentence, he bowed one last time and got off the podium. Some players lined up in front of him with their questions, but the ones looking more seasoned went straight to the board the Association had set up.

I was the closest to the billboard, so I hurried there as well. Interacting with the post summoned a menu with all the available quests. Bandits near Silver Cove Required rank: Iron Wolf infestation in Shademere Forest Required rank: Iron Mercenaries needed for Count Vizgrad's retinue Required rank: Silver Quest limit: 20 Pest control Required rank: Copper Herbs for the Spring Festival Required rank: Copper Time limit: 7 days A timed quest, huh? It was some kind of a fetch and collect task.

I didn't know if the rewards for the timed ones were better, but there was no downside in accepting it. I also took the Pest control job as it was an unlimited one, fit for my Copper rank. I opened my Journal and read the descriptions of the 2 missions I took: Quest Log Pest Control Required Rank: Copper The Adventurer's Association would like to ask all available adventurers to help with controlling the numbers of wild dogs, wild boars, giant roaches and other small carnivores in the kingdom.

Objectives: Kill dangerous wildlife (small) 0/100 Herbs for the Spring Festival Required Rank: Copper ⏳ Time Limit: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes The Spring Festival had just started all across the kingdom. The residents are all eagerly getting ready with various delicious food and drinks, but some of the ingredients are hard to come by for someone not well versed in the art of fighting and gathering.

Adventurers are kindly asked to gather various herbs for the chefs working at the festive grounds in order to make their work easier. Objectives: Butterfly mushrooms 0/50 Blue wildflowers 0/50 Flamewing tulips 0/50 Walnuts 0/100 Both required me to go out into the wilds.

"Alright," I muttered.

"Let's see some action."