Defiant’s Edge (Black Iron Empire) - Valtir 1497

“A Unique quest, huh?” Zac inquired after Markus explained the quest details. “I suppose it makes sense you got a quest right away, but not a unique rarity one.”

“What do you mean about that?” Markus asked.

He could tell his companion had ideas running through his mind, but Markus himself had no clue on what was going on. It seemed like his spawn point had been placed deliberately inside of the ruined country township as if something or someone expected great things from him, but this wasn’t some kind of anime where the main character was super overpowered straight away. This was a game where nothing really mattered and everything was all made up, right?

“I mean this is unprecedented. Unique-rarity quests aren’t meant to be easy and usually end up being an entire questline devoted to some overarching story. For you to receive one this early into the game, it doesn’t bode well for your future,” Zac explained. He looked at Markus with a small twinge of worry for a moment then returned to a somewhat neutral expression. “Despite the ominous mystery behind the quest, it is best if we get it completed first. Maybe there are clues that can lead us out of this ruined town and take us to a nearby city where we can get you properly kitted out.”

Markus didn’t refute that since there wasn’t much else to do save for exploring the town and completing this quest. He went to look around the ruined buildings one by one in an attempt to discover what happened, but for the first three places he checked offered nothing of interest. When he arrived at the fourth place, however, Markus found something unexpectedly interesting laying on a shelf. Subconsciously commanding the System, he used [Examine] on it.

{Examine: ???}

Type: [Skill Tome]

Rarity: ???

Description:

A tome that produces a somewhat vague aura that seems otherworldly as if it is not bound by the rules of the Mortal Realm. From what can be inferred, it appears to be a [Skill Tome] relevant to [REDACTED].

#$%^&$%%@!#%

You meet the requirements to use this. Absorb? [Y/Y]

Before Markus could even make mention of his discovery, the skill tome flew into his hands and mere seconds later, Markus blacked out.

Meanwhile…

“What do you mean he isn’t able to log out?” Clarkson asked his assistant after hearing about the successful login into the game.

“I mean just that, sir,” the assistant replied as he read out the report from his tablet. “It seems that despite disabling the permalogin feature of the game for this alpha testing phase, mister Reeves has been fully integrated into the Ark. We don’t exactly know how or why this is happening before Integration Day, but ever since he logged in, everything has gone out of the window with various errors and data being entered into the quantum servers being reported by the AIs. Almost like something or someone tampered with the Systems.”

“Fuck,” Clarkson swore as he realized the implications. “What do we know so far that has gone right?”

The assistant checked the tablet again and pulled up Markus’ recent profile from the System which for a moment seemed normal until it fritzed out-startling Clarkson and the assistant-until a single line of dialogue remained.

“He has been saved from Integration Day. When the time comes, the Cruxborne will return to Earth.”

Neither of them moved a muscle as if death itself descended upon the meeting room and that day began one of the most important events in history: the Legend of the Cruxborne.

Within Defiant’s Edge…

My message went out loud and clear from what the Eternal System informed me as I imagined Clarkson palling in fear from receiving it. I knew from the events to come for Earth after Integration Day that despite having over millions of people residing on Valtir, it would be for naught if this world was destroyed by the Calamity.

“Good thing that it will take about ten years for Markus to grow into his new role in life. From a pauper back to a prince, so to speak,” I thought to myself as I watched Markus learn his first-ever Class through the System.

A customized Class just for him that will follow him to the end of this Cycle.

The [Oblivion’s Descendant] Class.

End of Chapter Stat Recap:

Name: Markus Reeves

Age: 20

Race: [Vil’thrum (Eternal/Elder)]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [Cruxborne Progenitor], [Oblivion’s Descendant], [???]

Tier: F-

Level: 1

XP to Level: 500/1,000 (50%)

Class: [Oblivion’s Descendant]

HP: 7400/7400

Energy: 6000/6000

Available Points: 2

Vitality: 740

Strength: 60

Agility: 80

Perception: 100

Intelligence: 300

Wisdom: 300