As soon as I opened my eyes… a world of wonder had unfolded before me.
-Sweeeeeeeish~!
The vast expanse of a sun-kissed grassland stretched as far as my vision could reach.
"Wow…"
Fresh blades of grass, bathed in morning dew, gently swayed with the caress of a gentle breeze. The air carried the sweet scent of earth and nature, awakening the senses.
"Otherworld…'
Golden sunlight poured generously from a boundless sky, casting a warm, enchanting glow upon the landscape.
The radiant beams played through the leaves of scattered trees, dappling the ground with patterns of light and shadow.
In this idyllic scene, I found myself immersed in a haven of virtual tranquility and serenity.
"No."
The touch of the sun's warmth embraced my skin, creating a comforting contrast to the cool breeze that whispered through the grass.
The air echoed with the melodious symphony of chirping birds, adding a magical soundtrack to the natural tableau.
Each breath I took seemed to infuse the spirit with vitality as if the very essence of fantasy danced in the air.
"This is real."
A sense of awe and realism filled my heart as I stood amidst this breathtaking panorama.
This was a realm of dreams, where reality and imagination converged seamlessly. I couldn't help but feel a profound connection to the beauty of the natural world, a place where the ordinary transcended into the extraordinary, and the heart was filled with the joyous wonder of a fantastical reality.
"Haaaa…"
The world of Nexgenesis. Even though it was a virtual reality, it was nothing less than the real world.
Everything was as real as it could be even with the fantastical elements.
The air, this warm sunlight, the fresh scent of earth, everything was no mere replica of the real world.
This was the same as the reality that was created after eons of natural processes, after billions of years of natural evolution.
"Nice."
This was much better than I had expected it to be. And this place was good as well.
"Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be too dangerous of a place."
In the world of Nexus, there are many cases where the starting point that is random for the the players turns out to be a very dangerous area where many people just die as soon as they get summoned.
Or, there are times when the players start in a beginner hunting zone that is closely connected to a higher level hunting ground.
'I have read cases where people start off in completely unknown locations, and by the time they get to the civilization marked on the given map, weeks or perhaps months would have passed.'
The system of this world is very simple, and it makes sure players don't face any difficulty that is impossible for those specific players to overcome.
The world presents challenges to all players, giving them opportunities for growth, and if one manèges to overcome those presented trials, they get rewarded with special things.
"Most people who start off normally, or near a town or city, or even with a tutorial that is all about doing the basic hunting tasks or gathering tasks, aren't always able to get as much as people who face greater difficulties and overcome more complex problems, in some unknown, unpredictable location."
The three gods, the most advanced artificial intelligence of our world, created this world with some specific set of undisclosed [Laws].
And, everything follows these laws.
Including the starting points of all individuals at a certain probability.
"Alright then."
For players, there was nothing like a health bar, stamina bar, or magic energy bar.
Everything in Nexgenesis was represented in numbers for them.
'Status.'
There were only a few system features in this game, and just like the status window, all those functions could be controlled with thoughts, or as the developers say, by the will of individuals.
[Ding!]
============
ID: KiRA (Level-1)
Race: Human (Commoner)
T-T (Physical stats)
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
T-T (System stats)
Intelligence: 1
Luck: 1
Charm: 1
T-T (Functional stats)
Energy: 10/10
Stamina: 10/10
Fatigue: 0/10
(Stat points: 9)
{Skills: — .}
[Titles: — .]
============
That was the status window of a freshly starting player, trash.
"In the real world, they have these magazines specially dedicated to the rankers and their 'speculated' and 'known' status windows, some of them are even multiple pages long filled with all kinds of skills and titles."
There is no limit to how many skills or titles in whatever field one could acquire in this game, but they sure do affect the player's characters directly in both positive and negative ways.
"Not that acquiring either skills or titles is anything easy."
'Inventory.'
[Ding!]
Just like the inventory slots, the easiest way players had to acquire skills was through actual money.
"But since I have no money, I will have to sell these beginner stuff to get the money for tomorrow's food."
Giving away everything I had was a bad idea… but we can't do anything about what has already happened.
The generos [Hyperlink XII] gave every player a basic healing and stamina potion on top of a beginner sword.
Both of these potions as a set should be around a few copper coin so, as long as I finish my tutorial quest and get to the nearest civilization, I should have some money to eat for a few days.
'Though all that will come after my tutorial quest.'
According to the place one ends up in, a unique tutorial quest is assigned to all players.
Most of the time, it is about defeating a set number of opponents in the area, or sometimes, it is also about defeating a certain stronger creature after defeating the weak creatures.
There are times when people gather for quests in places like the one I was in since it is rich with useful herbs. While some of the times, if players end up inside the cities, castles, or noble estates, they are given the special tasks that most people might never get even after trying their best.
"Though, all the special quests do not mean better rewards and a better start than the others."
Every single quest that is given to any player in Nexgenesis has to be accomplished on their own, under the given guidelines. Failing to do so not only means no rewards, or penalties that are applied to their characters for failing, but push them beyond the normal players who start in the most normal way.
'This is one of the reasons I wanted a simple quest, hopefully, a gathering quest according to the place I was in…'
But fate has something different in store for me.
============
[Tutorial quest]
: The plains of Sōzō used to be the home of Fay species (Triade colorwings), however one day, the Ghost species (Small blockhead) migrated here.
The native species did not have any problems sharing their plains with the new guests at the beginning, however with the fast-growing population of (Small blockheads), the landmass they needed increased significantly, resulting in the expansion of their territory that clashed with the older inhabitants.
Both species have been in constant conflict with each other which has now turned into a battle of existence.
Objective: Resolve the conflict between two species.
Rewards: It will depend on your actions, and choices made.
Failure conditions: None.
============
"Just like those rare few people who get intertwined in a complicated tutorial quest and end up wasting days, weeks, or perhaps months, this situation doesn't look good for me either."
Resolving a special conflict was not someone one could just… do.
A conflict in itself is a political matter that couldn't be solved by the presence of a single person who doesn't even know a thing about what is going on or the actual cause of the conflict.
'The information this status window gave was vague and too basic to conclude anything on my own.'
But, since it said the reward would depend on what I do, this unique quest isn't something I can just ignore.
'It's sad that it's not any gathering quest or simple fighting quest, but this much is fine as well.'
Resolving a conflict isn't something I am practically familiar with, but I know a good bit about both conflict and how one could handle it… I just have to put what I have learned through those books into practice.
"Alright…"
At least, let's go look at what these strange Fay and ghost species I have never heard about are.
Fay creatures are said to be lower class Fairies, more mischievous and negative creatures that are opposite to the pure and playful fairies. While the Ghosts are lower-class Spectors that reside in the common world, creatures of pure energy that are mortal, and mainly exist in a separate world of their own.
Both of these species' creatures were monsters of basic to intermediate levels, including creatures like goblins, basic spirit creatures, and small ghosts.
So, after hearing names like (Triade Colorwings) and (Small Blockhead), I was expecting to see something that resembled either the ghosts or the fairies… but what I found out after walking around this place for a while, revealed something completely unexpected…