Wizard Of Cosmos

08 - That is Where I Should Start

The surrounding lights changed, and Jason felt the warmth of the newborn sun.

Even before he got used to the environment, his body stiffened. He felt the slight traces of magical energy or mana brushing against his skin. 

‘Huff… Huff….’

He gasped for air, trying to calm his mind. The feeling was from the atmosphere he lived in for thirty years. It made him instantly feel like a fish out of water because his ending in the past life wasn’t the one he expected to have. 

The surroundings became clear to him, and he wasn’t alone. There were many others and more and more lights flashed in the surroundings as more people appeared around them.

‘So, is this how players come here?’

He looked at his clothing. It was an off-white shirt and pants. It was similar to everyone else. Men and women both wore identical clothing, but they all had different skin tones and hair. He even saw several coloured hairs among the group. 

“Huh? Are we all players? How are we going to identify players? There are no markings?”

“Wow! This is so realistic.”

“Wait! Are you using Mandarin? You are so fluent.”

“I thought you speak English.”

…

Almost everyone looked excited and started to talk and walk around. The lights kept flashing around them. 

Jason noticed the few figures in front of him that were trying to observe and keep their calm.

‘They must know the truth.’

It would have been impossible to keep their calm in such a realistic experience unless they were super calm or had an idea that this wasn’t exactly a game.

Jason started to observe the surroundings, trying to grasp the situation.

They were in an open area surrounded by a palisade wall. There was an opening on the wall to the direction he was facing, and it opened to a stone paved road with stone buildings on the other side. 

It was the typical material used in constructions in Yuriel.

There was a time slot given for each player to enter the game, stating that too many players at the same time could overflow the server. However, Jason guessed the real reason behind these time slots. 

Different parts of Yuriel had different time zones, just like on Earth. If everyone entered at the same time, they would come at night for some part of Yuriel, while others would be there at different hours. 

…

“Alright. Everyone calm down.”

A man who had a thick brown beard and shoulder-length hair appeared in the opening of the wall. He looked about forty years old and had a strong build. A pair of sharp brown eyes observed everyone. His build was bulky and strong. 

‘At least a master’

Jason assessed the level of this man. However, he didn’t feel threatened. Not because the man didn’t emit a threatening aura, but because he felt the scholarly aura from him. A powerful man who had a calm mind to deal with a curious and unique bunch like the players. 

“My name is Boris. I am here to do some basic introductions….”

“OMG, look! An NPC.”

“He looks so real. Can I touch him?”

“Are you a pervert?”

“What do you mean by a pervert? I am just an admirer.”

‘Sigh. What did I even expect?’

Jason realised most of these people were average players who enjoyed playing games. The noise was too loud for them to hear what the envoy was talking about. 

On the other hand, Boris had an entirely different thought. 

‘Damn… I never thought it would be this difficult.’

He heard what it would be like to deal with these newcomers, but he didn’t expect it to be this difficult. Some chatted with each other, while some played with the weird device in their arms. Some people were poking around the guards and the palisade and the most annoying bunch was even trying to touch him. 

He only saw a few people paying attention to him, and the young man with black curly hair was the only one who gave him an acknowledging nod. 

‘Interesting.’

Boris lingered his gaze on the young man, who showed a bit of maturity and spirit. He looked about six feet tall, but his build wasn’t strong. 

‘Sigh.’

Boris started scanning through the crowd again and tried to keep away the annoying people who wanted to touch him. He could see the helpless look on the soldiers dispatched by the kingdom as well. They all had turned into objects of curiosity to these weirdos.

‘I can’t believe I have to do this every morning.’

He had orders to carry out this duty every morning for the next five years. Every morning at 6.00 am, a group of newcomers might appear on this spot. 

‘If not for His Majesty’s order….’

If this was back in the army, he would have slapped some of these newcomers to death.

“Enough!”

He released his bloodlust to calm them. He had to explain the basic rules to these idiotic weaklings. 

He saw the crowd getting stunned by his outburst.

‘Great….’

He was about to rejoice. 

“Wow!”

“So cool.”

“Did you guys see that? He is like a real person.”

“Damn, I already love this game.”

“I got chills. So scary.”

“That is how a warrior should be. I want to be like him.”

‘Sigh. Whatever.’

Boris gave up his effort and took out the scroll with the basic rules to read. Luckily, he saw several more people than the initial bunch paying attention to him.

In the crowd, Jason kept his eyes straight, trying to grasp the situation. 

The basic rules included not entering buildings other than shops and official buildings without permission. Not harming the people and not breaking the kingdom's rule of Alexandria. There was more, but he wondered where Alexandria was. Because it wasn’t in his memory.

Of course, he knew there were so many kingdoms scattered across the Yuriel, but he needed to understand where exactly he was. However, he decided to give this man some respect and wait until he finished reading the rule. 

As he expected, there were many who did their own things without listening, but more and more people paid attention over time. 

…

Jason watched until Envoy Boris left and entered the two-story building across the streets. There were a couple of guards on both sides of the door, and he guessed both of them were around Elite level. 

‘Hm….

He finally turned around, ignoring the players with their own busy minds.

He saw four guards standing behind him inside the palisade. Also, there was only one opening, and it was the one he was facing earlier.  

There were around two hundred people with clothing similar to his. 

‘It should be around two-hundred-thousand people across Yuriel.’ 

He roughly guessed the number of people that could have entered as players. 

‘I think this is it for today.’

The new player login was limited to 6.00 pm to 6.30 pm according to his time zone. It was early morning in this part of Yuriel. After the first entry, there were no rules for entry time. He guessed it should be because of the need to do the basic instructions. Also, the first entry should be at least in the daytime. 

‘Why are those people gathered there?’

He felt curious when many players were gathered around the four guards in the middle of the palisade. 

‘They looked like they were guarding something.’

He got closer to the group.

‘My god.’

His eyes widened when he saw the object guarded by the guards. 

It was a weird object with a metallic base and a pyramid-like blue crystal on top. The crystal was as big as a human head, and it emitted a pale blue light periodically. There was a bluish force field surrounding the object in a spherical shape.

The first thought that came to his mind was to find a way to get out of this place. 

He hurriedly touched his armband and three holographic screens each in the size of an A4 paper popped up inclined to each other.

He knew the pale-green screen and the translucent-black one, but he hadn’t seen the yellow-gold one before. 

He hurriedly checked the new screen and saw options like Anti-Harassment, Forum, record and other game-like items. 

He understood why he had never seen this screen before. Because by the time he entered Yuriel in his past life, it wasn’t a game anymore. 

‘Sigh.’

He breathed in relief and his hand finally stopped shaking when he saw the logout button at the bottom of the yellow-gold screen. 

Jason panicked because of one simple reason. That was because he knew what that device guarded by the soldiers was. Even without guards, he knew no one would ever be able to break that force field. Because even a Grand Wizard like the Angel of Death failed to do that.

It was the device that brought people from Earth to this planet. There were many more devices like this one at the place he entered Yuriel. 

Jason was terrified that he might not be able to go back to Earth.

He hoped he didn’t have to lose his small apartment for a while longer. 

‘Are we here in our real bodies? Then why didn’t I ever hear someone on Earth becoming a Master Swordsman or a Wizard? Do these crystals have a way to restrict our strength when we go back?’

He didn’t believe all the gains they had on the game would reset when they logged out. Then there should be another reason, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy to find them. Because the answers must be with The World Builders, who he didn’t want to interact with at the time. 

'I can't lose focus. That is where I should start.'

He eyed the building across the street.