The Earth After Rebirth

Nikolai was a bit dejected as he walked around the capital. He had wanted to see Kiro in action. He'd already experienced how fast his brain worked, but now he wanted to experience him fighting. When he got to the base, Hiro told him he was already gone and he had no idea where.

Hiro had told him to give him alone time. As much as Nikolai understood, he'd also heard about the incident that almost got him expelled, he still wanted to fight with him.

'Well, there's plenty of chances in the future I guess, I need not rush anything.'

Nikolai didn't know what it was, but he felt a strong connection with Kiro. He thought it strange though, because they lived worlds apart, what could they possibly have in common?

He first went to the tailor's shop to buy an assassin's robe. He wanted a black one, but he was told that fabric of colour didn't exist. So he chose the closest thing to black, which was dark grey.

It was a one piece robe, came with boots, it was baggy but not by much. It also came with boots and a hood, with either a sword sheathe or dagger one. He obviously chose the latter. He paid a hefty price, not as hefty as Kiro's though.

He walked into the quest hall, that was called Valhalla, Asgard wasn't like other games. Once you've graduated from beginner's village, and into the capital, you were eligible for real world quests. That were often found in this particular hall's bulletin.

Of course people could still fished for quests the old way, buttering up NPCs. But most players liked the convenience of Valhalla, so very little of them took quests from NPCs outside beginner's village.

The building somehow looked out of place. It was the only futuristic one in Asgard, with the latest tech their world has. Even the bank wasn't this advanced. The bulletin was a huge screen, you swiped left to right, looking for a quest that best suited you.

There weren't any queues, as the screen covered every inch of the four walls inside. Though not everyone was standing by the walls, swiping. The hall was also used as a player hangout zone.

So you could imagine how big the building was, it was made to hold millions and millions of players at the same time. There were a lot of floors, just for this.

Nikolai felt like a bug entering the lobby. He felt like a big serpent had swallowed him whole and now he was just stomach waste in the deepest part of its bowels. He chuckled at how silly this was.

Everything was self-service. There were rules however, no fighting inside, no trashing the place. If you eat or drink, kindly put your trash in one of the bins installed inside. They were always empty, as they swallowed anything that got in there.

If you break any rule, you'll be automatically ejected and restricted from the Valhalla for 30 days, real time.

Nikolai causally swiped the screen, he couldn't find anything he was interested in. He then stumbled on a quest simply written 'Lost Temples.'

He meant to click on it and to make it bigger so he could read the information about it, instead...

Ding!

[You've accepted the 'Lost Temples.' quest. Help a young monk find his father's remains. The location of the lost Temples is said to be north of the capital. Bring his father back home.

Rank: A

Duration: None]

"Ah, I didnt intend to accept this..."

He was frustrated, as the quest sounded boring. When he looked at the rank however, he knew this wouldn't be easy.

"Well, let's see shall we. I'm an assassin, gathering and finding things should be my forte, no?"

With those words, he left the hall to find these temples that were lost in time. And since he was an assassin, his movements were quiet and calm. He casually used flash stepping, by the looks of it, it was definitely better than blink step.

He walked far away from the capital, and deep into the northern mountains. A place no humans walked into anymore, the road was almost closed up because of that.

He should've sensed it but he didn't. He stepped into a trap, that split the ground he was standing on into two. It didn't take long before he reached the bottom, he managed to land on his feet. Fortunately for him, the pressure didn't shutter his legs.

"Such a great assassin, can't even smell traps." He berated himself, he was frustrated.

But under all that anger, his heart skipped a beat when he saw ruins of temples. Clearly nobody was meant to find this place, but he did so by sheer luck. The place was dimly lit with lanterns.

Immediately when he entered it's gates, a huge force fell from the heavens, by instinct he used the shadows to travel far away from the attack. A huge hand stamp appeared on the ground where he previously stood.

He huffed at how close that was.

Ding!

[Congratulations you've awakened your true blood. You're descended from humans and the legendary creature, the basilisk. Your new race is Demihuman.]

[You have unlocked a subclass, Shadow King. You can manipulate and assimilate with shadows/darkness]

[You've unlocked three new skills, Death Stare, Poison Dagger and Deadly Ballad.]

[As a result of your awakening, you've unlocked a new stat called Constitution. Common swords can do nothing to your bare skin now.]

[Flash step has been changed to shadow step.]

[All stats increase by 10.]

[Congratulations on being a guardian.]

Nikolai's eyes sparkled, he didn't regret much drinking the potion now. This was a great boost in strength.

He felt the energy and strength course through out his entire body. He had even forgotten where he was and what he was there for, he was absolutely immersed at his sudden growth.

Just then, Kiro sent him a stealth skill which he used immediately and felt obliged to send him a lengthy message about his whereabouts and what he was doing.

Ding!

[You've consumed a stealth skill, the current one will be overriden since it's lower in rank.]