Chapter 1: Death Bed
Immortal Graveyard, the land sandwiched between the Tafavid Kingdom and the Dalazim Kingdom. The rich and bountiful land where people of great aspirations gather from all over the continent in search of the crystal that could grant a mortal's dream.
Legend says that thousands of years ago, an evil spirit ran amuck on the continent, destroying everything it came across and wantonly slaughtered the populace to satisfy its neverending bloodlust.
People of the continent was said to have cried a river of blood as they prayed for solace. Their prayers have not been for naught because an army of Immortals appeared on the continent. The army battled with the Evil Spirit and its minions for a month which resulted in a pyrrhic victory in favor of the Immortals.
After the war ended, the land where the Evil Spirit and the Immortal Army fought was named 'Immortal Graveyard'. In addition to this, cyan colored crystals started to appear on the 'Immortal Graveyard'. Not only are their beauty unlike any other gem found on this continent, but the crystals are also of great use to the Immortals.
The appearance of the crystals that would later be called on this continent as 'Spirit Crystal' caused the Immortal Army to split into two.
Records were vague after the split, maybe the two sides fought, maybe they talked in peace. Regardless of whatever happened in this part of history, it ultimately led the Immortals to give an all-powerful mandate.
They mandated that the Immortal Graveyard were to forever be ownerless, no mortal kingdom was to ever claim ownership of the land, failing to obey would trigger the wrath of the Immortals. Furthermore, in line with the agreement made by the Immortal army that was split to two, mortals were given a chance to go to the Immortal's Graveyard and search for the crystals that they could then exchange for something they desire.
It was said that with enough crystal, any mortal's desire could be accomplished, even becoming an Immortal is possible. The sumptuous reward that could be received caused massive uproar all throughout the realm.
After the mandate's announcement, the Immortals vanished, only a handful of them would come back every ten years to accept the tributes of the mortals.
On the day that the Immortals first came back, two lowly individuals managed to do the impossible, they were able to successfully pull off an intricate scheme, stealing every attendee's crystal. Not only did they blindsided everybody, but they also had the guts to offer the stolen goods to the Immortals in front of the victims.
The Immortals were astounded of their feat and accepted their wish, thus they became founding kings --- respectively the Tafavid Kingdom and the Dalazim Kingdom. These upstart kings then waged a brutal war that annexed the territories surrounding the Immortal Graveyard in a swift and domineering way.
Because of the immense attractiveness of the crystals, countless men had fallen, their blood soaking deep into the soil of the Immortal Graveyard, feeding the ground and bolstering the nature.
Every day a number of lucky people would rise above their peers, earning considerable wealth and glory. Their life would become tales that would be talked about by many.
Innumerable young men conscript hoping to jump through the dragon's gate and earn themselves a spot on the higher society. But most of them would lose their life, becoming stepping stones on the path of the lucky few. Such is the case, everyone knows it, but still, they are like moths to a fire, blinded by the light, starving for a chance to shine, destroyed in the process just to spark for a fleeting moment.
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Night time, in one of the military camps of Dalazim Kingdom.
"Huuogggrrkkk! " A heavily injured black haired man around the age of twenty is coughing loudly and desperately while gasping for air. His fresh injury tormenting him to no end, he would cough out blood every other minute staining the hard matt he is laying on.
" No, I can't die this early! I just arrived earlier goddammit! " The darkness of the place couldn't hide the clear desperation on his teary eyes as he thought of the events earlier.
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Radd, a twenty-five-year-old white-collar worker from earth suddenly found himself on another man's body.
Before being transported in this world, the last thing he remembered doing was laying on the sofa while listening to his favorite podcast that talks about things related to history which was mainly focused on wars.
He didn't remember dying or being hurt at the slightest. Things just transpired on its own and the next thing he noticed was that he was marching along with a ragtag army.
Radd and most of the men he is marching with are only wearing rough clothing akin to those worn by the poorest back in his world. In addition, the weapon that most of them use is a substandard wooden spear that doesn't even have a metal head. Only the round wooden shield they are carrying can be called decent as they had a crest of three bronze swords painted on its center.
He wouldn't even dare call them a proper army. At most, they are only a mob since only a select few mounted officers have proper scale armor.
Radd fell into confusion the moment he arrived, he didn't know what to do, he tried to test if he was just dreaming. But all of his tests was futile as it only led to the conclusion that he wasn't dreaming.
Unfortunately, Radd didn't receive the memories of the previous owner of the body. But the good thing is that he was able to understand the language of the people talking around him, he felt weirdly familiar with the language, it was as if he had been using it all his life.
While he was deeply thinking, chaos blasted the ranks of the soldiers he was marching with.
Out of nowhere, without even noticing it, different-looking soldiers wearing simple leather armor surrounded them. They popped out of the surrounding woods, brandishing their weapons and chanting incomprehensible war cries.
The outer periphery of the marching column was struck unprepared, they hurriedly formed ranks facing the attacking enemy.
Without that much time to react, a volley of arrows flew targeting the center of the column. Arrows whistled as it heavily rained down on the confused soldiers.
Radd was barely out of range from the arrows. Around a foot away from him, he saw people being pricked as they were late on pulling out their wooden shields.
Some unlucky few despite being able to react timely was still scratched or even hit on their vitals. Radd was horrified seeing people struggle as they breathed their last while others did their best to patch their injuries.
It was then that he saw a transparent blue pane appear at his very front.
****
« Civilization Builder »
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[ CP: 500 ]
****
Overjoyed seeing the great fortune he came across, Radd even forgot that people around him were dying one after another. He knew what this screen signifies, he was all too familiar with it for he had read countless novels focusing on such.
But even though he discovered such treasure, he was only able to look at it for a few passing seconds before focusing on something far more important --- his survival.
The screen he saw slowly faded into obscurity without leaving any traces.
In his brief stupor, the ambushing enemies had made significant progress as they were able to cut down holes on the marching formation.
Officers riding on horses dismounted and used their mounts as meat shields while they busied themselves on trying to restore order. The line was in tatters, the foot soldiers were disoriented and broke formations, allowing the enemy to cause further havoc.
In the heat of the battle, formations and order were thrown out of the window. The battle became divided into smaller pockets of fight zones where soldiers on both sides duked it out using brute force.
The battle went through for an hour, Radd tried his best to support, the spear in his hands were bloodied as he lost count of how many enemies he had injured while hiding behind the back of his fellow soldiers.
Although he was always at the back of someone else, he wasn't spared from injuries. The enemies would frequently throw rocks which proved disastrous as he and most of his compatriots weren't wearing armor.
Good thing the people at his front were quite reliable as they stood their ground firmly. They were like huge rocks on a river facing the continuous harsh flow of water.
Still, even though the people on their side did their best to block, they were still routed nonetheless.
The rout was merciless, people running for their lives were cut down because they left their backs open for the enemy.
He ran and ran and ran… he followed the officers riding on horses but weren't able to keep up like every footman around him.
Despair welled up within him as he tried to suppress his aching feet and continued running. His throat was dry and his vision was blurry but he still persevered on running alongside the other footmen.
" Allies! We're saved! " A voice full of hope sounded somewhere at the front of the running army. That's the last thing he heard before falling unconscious.
-----
The internal injuries he suffered from the enemies throwing rocks became worse and worse. His shoulders were battered and turned blue, some parts of his torso were showing signs of turning purple, his foot was strained from recklessly running, and he was coughing clotted blood.
" There should be something in that system I saw earlier!" Radd thought, clinging on the last hope he knew.
" System! "
" System! "
" Show yourself! "
He mumbled while thinking of the blue transparent screen he saw earlier.
****
« Civilization Builder »
‹ Technology Tree ›
‹ Build & Create ›
‹ Shop ›
[CP: 500 ]
****
The screen slowly materialized giving him hope to get out of his current predicament. Without wasting any time, Radd selected the shop with a trembling hand.
There were so many things listed in the shop, some he was familiar with while most were new names he had just heard for the first time.
He scrolled down looking for something that might alleviate his sufferings but because of the unending number of random stuff, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed.
Even the most trivial of things were on the list, different types of soils, woods, spoons and forks, everything he could think of was on the list.
" This is troublesome, I need medicine. " He mumbled under his breath. The injuries he sustained need to be properly treated soon or he can only imagine what would become of him.
" Medicine I could afford, please. " He thought while crossing his fingers.
Along with his pleading thought, the items in the shop changed.
Different kinds of medicines appeared on the list, from ancient herbal medicines to advance medicines.
What caught Radd's eyes was the one called 'Basic Nano Medic'. It sounded like some sci-fi medicine so he instinctively selected it over the other things from the list.
****
Basic Nano Medic Bots: Could heal clotted blood vessels and mild organ injuries, removes harmful foreign materials from the body, treat muscle tears,...., helps metabolism, and can make the user's natural healing faster.
The Basic Nano Medic Bots are only effective for one month, after the given time, it would lose its effects and be flushed out of the body.
( Your first buy is subject to a discount. The price is now a hundredth of the original. )
Cost: 400 CP
Do you want to Buy this?
Yes/No
****
After reading the description, Radd's heart can't help but beat faster. The effects were incredible, he almost jumped from his hard matt when he saw it. Without even thinking further, he clicked 'Yes'.
A simple light blue bottle with complex patterns slowly materialized in his hand. The thing doesn't have any instructions or labels.
" It doesn't have any instructions on it? Am I supposed to directly chug it or should I use a syringe? " For a while, he contemplated on how to properly use the medicine but ultimately ended up with nothing but a headache.
" Since there's nothing that came with it I suppose I just have to orally take it. "
With great care, his trembling hands slowly unscrewed the bottle's cap. Inside the bottle, a thick white syrup gave off a soothing aroma, it was like a gentle flower's fragrance.
It tasted weird and dull at first but the moment it slid down his dry throat everything changed, the taste became better and he felt like his throat is being submerged in a cocktail of wonderful nutrients.
" Haaa~ " Satisfaction and longing were the only things left on his face after he finished consuming the medicine.
Tiredness kicked him hard, he felt incredibly sleepy, his injuries became numb and he was able to have a respite in fighting the pain. He placed the bottle nearby and laid down. In no time, he was already soundly sleeping.
