Chapter 3: Sage

[Naming successful. Generating avatar…]

Immediately after the voice ended, an illustration of Venn's real-life appearance appeared before his eyes.

[Physical appearance may be adjusted up to 10%. Do you wish to alter your appearance—]

"Please do so." Venn said without any hesitation, cutting off the AI mid-sentence.

From his past experience, there were quite a number of cases where people got into trouble in real life for not changing their appearances.

Other than the occasional e-idols that were actively looking to make a name for themselves in the game, it's better to be safe than sorry to keep one's identity anonymous.

[Your avatar has been created. You can access your stats while playing Heaven Descent]

[Please choose your birthplace from the three major human kingdoms. Below are the choices tha—]

"Rosewell Kingdom."

[Rosewell Kingdom confirmed. Randomizing city… Player will be teleported to Maple Leaf City within the next 3 seconds]

[Please enjoy the game.]

With a flash of light, Venn's sight blurred as he got teleported away.

What came into view shortly later, was the sight of bustling streets filled with both players and NPCs alike, conducting their daily business. Players could be seen hustling in groups headed to the outskirts and crowds swarming certain NPCs to collect quests.

Surrounded by buildings that had a similar style to that of an old medieval city, and coupled with the joyous mood and hyper realistic sight that unfolded, Venn's body couldn't help but shake with excitement.

"I'm finally back!" Venn exclaimed.

However, before Venn could plan his next course of action, a system announcement appeared in the world channel.

[World Announcement: Congratulations to player Night Raid for becoming the first player to attain the Sage title.]

[World Announcement: The queen of Rosewell has issued an edict to summon player Night Raid to the imperial palace. (Celestial Quest)]

The unexpected system announcement was like a bolt out of the blue to every player that was currently playing the game.

Almost immediately after the announcement was made, a crippling silence shadowed over the town square.

Everyone had a look of disbelief on their face as all of them halted their actions momentarily as if there was some kind of tacit agreement before exploding into a booming uproar.

"Who is this Night Raid?"

"Must be one of the badass top rankers."

"Shit! Why isn't it me instead?"

"Praise the Queen!"

Deafening chattering began to emerge from the town square with everyone discussing the matter, whereas the nearby NPCs got into a joyous mood and started praising their queen and celebrating the appearance of a Sage in their kingdom.

It was the first time a player had triggered a world announcement ever since half a year of game time had passed, and it was the first time a player was able to establish a connection with the imperial kingdom.

Furthermore, what was most jaw-dropping about this incident was that the announcement revealed the existence of a Celestial quest!

Up until now, no one had heard about the term celestial. The highest rank quest a player had completed was still an elite level quest.

So, imagine the looks of envy and fury from all the players around Venn.

While they are still in the beginner city, someone had already surpassed them by such a huge margin!

Meanwhile in the town square, unlike what most people had pictured, Venn was perfectly blended into the crowd with the same shocking blank look as the people around him.

He had honestly no idea what the heck was going on, and little did he know that the effect of the world announcement would be so far reaching that it would send astronomical tremors to the real world.

Within seconds, numerous threads asking about information regarding Night Raid had flooded the forum. Handsome rewards were promised and bounties were issued to find him whether be it dead or alive.

Large conglomerates were alarmed by the societal effect the game had, and many took the stance of aggressively entering the scene and began their preparation, pouring billions upon billions of credits into the scene.

Companies like Azure corporation who had foreseen the game's bright future and entered the game earlier were also feeling the pressure of succeeding before the bigger players in the market came in.

It was the beginning of the Virtual Era!

Although it was inevitable that the large conglomerates would enter the scene, the appearance of Venn had accelerated everything. It was something that Venn had failed to account for!

***

Ignoring the commotion of the nearby people, Venn moved away from the town square to find a quieter place to figure things out.

Fortunately for him, players' names were normally hidden unless they themselves chose to select the option to reveal their name or when they engage in combat. Thus, not a single person paid any attention to a newbie who just recently spawned in the town square.

After finding a remote spot, he mumbled to himself. "Stats panel."

Character: Night Raid (Human)

Affiliated faction: None

Title: None

Fame: 0

Level: 1

Health: 100/100

Strength: 4

Agility: 4

Stamina: 10

Wisdom: 4

Charisma: 0

Monster Cores: Not Activated.

Free Stats Points: 3

After taking a glance at his stats, Venn scrolled through his game log to find out what exactly happened.

[Ding]

[You have read more than 90% of the books that existed in Rosewell Kingdom]

[Title of Sage has been given]

[Equipping the Sage title will grant you the following effect: Sage Mode (Experience and Skill Mastery received will be doubled)]

[Celestial quest received: The appearance of an all-knowing sage entering Roswell city has alarmed the imperial family. It is unclear how they got hold of the information, but given the wealth and information network that the royal family has, it doesn't surprise anyone.]

The Queen has summoned you to the imperial palace for unknown reasons. It is up to you to decide whether to attend the banquet that is going to be held in your honor.]

[Quest reward: Unknown | Time remaining: 89 days, 23 hours, 11 mins]