The atmosphere inside the shop grew a little tense for a few moments. There was no animosity or the such, but the words Nina said were definitely something very serious and Arthur took that as it is.
"Even to this very day, those towers are being entered by countless people every single day. Ambitious people who seek power. Many of them die and even more end up regretting doing that." Nina continued.
"Is it that bad?"
"Let me put it this way so you can understand how dangerous and unpredictable these towers are. Let's take the tower conquered by humans for example. Its name is the 'Tower Of Slumber' and when humans were able to pave their way into it to acquire the shard. Do you know how many survived and actually reached it?"
"Uh, I suppose they walked in with an army, so it should be at least a few thousand people, right?" Arthur asked.
Purely from that vision, Fremen gave him at the start, he assumed the scales of these battles were in the millions which was something even Earth couldn't pull off unless the war was on a worldwide scale. Yet, he had seen it with his own eyes, millions had fought on the same battlefield and perhaps even more across the entire Divine Realm.
'If the wars killed millions, then at least a few thousand remain who are perhaps the strongest of the human race, no?' He thought to himself.
However, what he heard next shattered all of that logical trail of thought he took.
"No, of all those armies... Only one human was able to reach it."
Arthur frowned visibly as he leaned forward. "One? One human? Just one?"
"Yes. Everyone else died." She replied. "The same could be said for the other three races and their towers. Whether it's a coincidence or not, only one individual of each race was able to enter that tower and acquire the shard. No matter how strong their armies are or how strong each individual is, in every instance, there is just one person who is allowed into the tower. Nobody knows why."
A cold sensation washed over Arthur's heart for a moment as he fell into deep thought. 'Now, this is completely unexpected. If there is only one person allowed in then does that mean the tower chooses who takes its shard?'
He couldn't tell for certain, but all indications led to that conclusion so far. Looking at Nina, she didn't seem to know the answer either so both of them were in the same situation more or less.
"These towers are extremely dangerous and while taking the shard did make them far easier to enter even for beginners, that doesn't mean the higher floors are something anyone can take on. In fact, in the history of the Tower Of Slumber, only 5 people were able to actually reach the top after the very first shard bearer was able to conquer it. That is five people across decades of time."
"..." The more Arthur listened, the more a picture was drawn on his head. 'So this is what the game is about huh? These towers must be the goal the developers set for the players.'
Slowly, the entire purpose of this game started unraveling for Arthur. It wasn't fully clear yet, but he was slowly understanding what the Divine Realm was offering them. If he was right, and in this case, there was a very high chance he was, then that meant that there was infinite power waiting for them.
'No, I think far beyond that. If one of these players actually conquers one of the remaining towers, then they're gonna acquire far more than just power.' He frowned.
[Accept] [Refuse]
'Accept.' He thought to himself as he turned around and walked out of the shop. Looking up to the sky, the sun was still there, as shiny as ever. But, he knew that it was already far into the afternoon. It has been a few hours since he started playing and yet, it didn't feel like hours at all.
'I'm really having a lot of fun. So far, the world, the story, and the gameplay is something out of this world. I have never felt like this while playing a game before. No, this cannot even be called a game, it transcended that concept from the very beginning.'
This very world felt real and looked real. There was nothing about it that indicated it was a game except for the fact that it has a leveling system and that he can log out of it. Now, that world felt far closer to him now that he knew more about it.
He was aware that he only scratched the surface lore-wise, but this surface was so interesting that he couldn't wait to unravel the secrets lying under it.
"I feel like I'm living the dream! Hahahaha!" Laughing to himself, Arthur started running with excitement, heading to the village exit again. However, as he was running, something weird happened that completely took him by surprise.
[GAME WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT.]
[TO EVERY PLAYER.]
[Please read carefully.]
Loud ringing sounds echoed in his head and all around. The boy's eyes widened as he stopped and looked at the notifications with a frown.
"Announcement? What is it?"
Every single player around him also stopped moving as they looked at the announcement with deep curiosity. This was the very first announcement in the game and it certainly didn't feel like something unimportant. After all, this was a message from the developer, Divinity corp.
[It has been 4:00:01 since the official launch.]
[New feature unlocoked!]
[Gifted Ranking!]
"... Gifted ranking?"
(A//N: Support the book! Mhm!)