HideousGrain
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Forgotten Lands - Chapter 3 (Book 1)
🕑 Added 2024-02-13 13:49:20 +0000 UTCZayn decided to believe that he traveled back in time. There was no sign hinting that he was in a dream or illusion.
It was like a dream had come true.
But as amazing as it might be, several issues surfaced in Zayn’s mind.
‘Even if I join Forgotten Lands when it launches, I never learned how to destroy Dimensional Anchors or World Bridges. Acquiring enough strength to destroy them with brute force is possible, but definitely not in half a year. I would have to be much stronger than I was back then to use brute strength to damage the anchor of a World Bridge.’
Zayn could dream, but he witnessed how strong a God – a Lesser God – had been. If it was that easy to become as strong as Gods or overwhelm them, Zayn wouldn’t have died against the first God he encountered. Instead, he would have killed the Lesser God, plundered his Heart Deck, and barged into the Primordial Pantheon to slaughter all Gods on his own, and return to his family to have a happy reunion and life happily ever after.
Evidently, that didn’t happen.
Therefore, one of his issues was to find out how to destroy the Dimensional Anchors.
The game, Forgotten Lands, was a copy of the Gods’ Domains– isolated realms created by the Gods with the sole purpose of conquering and assimilating other planets – that would descent onto Earth in six months.
The Gods’ warriors and monster breeds were trained and nourished in the Forgotten Lands. As a result, the VRMMORPG would be held in a copy of the horrors they would encounter in reality in the future. The sole difference was that the danger level in reality would be several times higher.
One could say that the VRMMORPG was a beginner-friendly version of the real deal – a tutorial if one wanted to put it like that.
But the dangers of Forgotten Lands were not what attracted Zayn’s interest. It was the lore of the Gods, their religions, and numerous other secrets that were hidden in the Gods’ Domains, and therefore also in the copy.
Most Gods designated the Forgotten Lands in a specific way because they desired to convert humans into devout believers of their Divinity. This would grant them tremendous benefits once and make it easier to emerge on Earth without losing too much of their Divine Power.
‘If I search enough I should find some information about World Bridges and Dimensional Anchors in their libraries, temples, and sects. These proud bastards are too full of themselves to imagine a mortal researching the ways to destroy World Bridges in their gestation period. The Lesser God underestimated me as well. He never expected to die at the hands of a mere mortal.’
Zayn witnessed firsthand that the Gods underestimated mortals. That they’d underestimated him. Now, it was time to show them that their arrogance would be their downfall.
He retrieved a few pieces of paper and wrote down a few things. One piece of paper turned into a to-do list that was quickly filled to the brim.
–Information about Primordial Pantheon, the Gods, their power level and weaknesses, Divine Power, means to counter Divine Power more efficiently than Infernal Essence, World Bridges, Dimensional Anchors, seek contact the strongest survivors from the past to ensure that they would attain their former combat prowess earlier this timeline…–
“That is way too unorganized,” Zayn cursed under his breath and put the mess of a to-do list aside. He had a lot to do, but the research plan sounded feasible.
His priorities were quite simple. Acquiring strength and information in Forgotten Lands was his highest priority.
The second highest priority would be to make a fortune. As long as he made enough money, Zayn could create a team, possibly even a guild where he could train and strengthen Players rapidly.
As long as it was possible to strengthen as many Players in a short period, it would be much easier to survive the emergence of monsters IF…sorely IF he didn’t manage to close or destroy the Dimensional Anchors in time.
Zayn didn’t want to think about the possibility but if he didn’t make it in time, he wanted to ensure that he had powerful companions that could protect his beloved and the people around them. In reality, his goals were broad, but he had to aim high to make things work. Zayn was going up against the Primordial Pantheon, after all.
It was much better than despairing and idling around. Furthermore, Zayn figured that he needed allies in the game, either way. He would be able to solve many missions by himself, but some things were easier to solve with a team of well-trained Players. It was much better to have some comrades, especially a team, who could grind for Cards and equipment while he did everything necessary to save everyone.
Therefore, his long-term goals ended up being rather simple, much simpler than the to-do list by his side – Strength, Information, and Money.
As for his short-term problem. It was aligned well with his long-term goal. Money. Zayn lacked money. He didn’t even have enough money to purchase a VR gaming pod, which was one of the crucial items he had to procure as quickly as possible.
A VR gaming pod was usually used by professional virtual reality gamers to connect to special VRMMORPGs. It has an incredibly high synchronization rate that allows the players to witness the game like it is real. The synchronization rate and the function to provide the energy and nutrients required by the body at any time were two major reasons Zayn would have to procure one for himself as soon as possible.
The third reason and the most important factor, however, was that the VR gaming pods were capable of stimulating his body’s muscles, preventing the body from weakening after playing for long periods of time, while also developing the potential of the Player’s brain as well as restoring and enhancing their physical fitness.
One of Zayn’s friends in the past told him that the enemies of the Primordial Pantheon created the VR gaming pods to strengthen the Players and prepare them for the Awakening of their Heart Deck and to slowly integrate a Player’s Foundation into their real body.
Zayn was not sure whether he should believe that or not. However, it was a fact that the Players who’d been using VR gaming pods had an easier time overcoming the backlash caused by the Awakening of their Heart Deck and their character’s Foundation integrating into their body.
Whether it was a miraculous creation made by humans or the work of Gods, Zayn didn’t really care. All he had to know was that he needed a gaming pod, the sooner the better. If possible the best one on the market.
That left the issue of the exorbitant price.
Quick research showed that the cheapest VR gaming pod cost one million credits, whereas the most expensive exceeded tens of millions credits easily.
Meanwhile, the house Zayn and his family lived in cost 500,000…if not less.
His bank account didn’t look all that blessed by fortune either.
[Balance: 95 Credits]
