Russell verbally muttered, causing some of the passengers to look at him with confused expressions, but that's all about it as the passengers returned to their own businesses.
Then, composing himself, he browsed the unread System messages that he received while leaving the Hidden Dungeon.
...
[You have cleared the hidden dungeon: The Oldest Root of Yggdrasil.]
[You have accomplished a nigh-impossible achievement!]
[You have received the 'Tainted Branch of Yggdrasil'.]
[You have received the 'Seed of Yggdrasil']
[Due to your achievement, additional rewards will be given.]
[You have received the 'Tainted Seed of Yggdrasil']
[You have received the 'Fruit of Chaos'.]
...
The above-mentioned rewards were the rewards he got from clearing the Hidden Dungeon, which means, even if he hadn't met the Goddess of Night, he would still receive them due to the achievement he accomplished.
Hidden Dungeon rewards aside, the items that helped themselves out by being sucked into his Dimensional Inventory were probably the items from the Ancient Treasure Chest from Chaos.
He then read the System messages about the acquisition of the treasures that the Goddess had left for him.
...
[You have acquired the 'Key of Chaos'.]
[You have acquired the 'Key of Abaddon'.]
[You have acquired the 'Key of Tartarus'.]
[You have acquired the 'Jar of Nothingness'.]
[You have acquired Chaosdite (50x).]
[You have acquired Chaostone (50x).]
[You have acquired the Scythe of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Sword of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Armor of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Helmet of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Boots of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Gloves of '???'.]
[You have acquired the Mask of Night.]
...
'...T-this is madness.'
He inwardly said while a grin was still painted on his expression. Although he had no idea about what he just received, as the author of a certain unpublished novel, he was pretty certain that these items were extraordinary to their own degree.
'...Madness aside, it's the best help I never expected.'
He didn't know the possible underlying reasons why the Goddess of Night had made a contract with him, becoming "Her" champion, aside from taking care of a mysterious Egg and traveling with it throughout the world, but he was grateful for the sudden leap, not in his overall power as he's still below an ant compared to the bigshots he knew about, rather, he's grateful in acquiring these rewards due to the catastrophes and wars that would befall the world according to what he knew, based on his unpublished novel.
'...T-this is what I needed the most right now! And five of them at that!?'
He felt elated in his mind upon reading the subsequent System messages after the above-mentioned ones.
...
[You have acquired the Skillbook: Scythemanship of the Reaper (Passive).]
[You have acquired the Skillbook: Swordsmanship of the Night (Passive).]
[You have acquired the Skillbook: Mark of the Night.]
[You have acquired the Skillbook: Chaos Mana Sense (Passive).]
[You have acquired the Skillbook: Calm of the Shadows (Passive).]
...
Skillbooks were something that was highly sought after in this world. These Skillbooks were used to make a player learn skills instantly, although it's highly sought after, the price of acquiring one, if not by dungeon raiding, was tens of millions to billions of Obel — the currency of the Orion Continent.
Prices varied from the Skillbook itself such as compatibility and nature. Not every player could just learn every Skillbook that exist, rather, it depends on one's profession if such Skillbook was necessary to learn.
It would be a waste of money and time if a Fighter-type profession learns a Support-type skill.
Compatibility and nature aside, the prices of a Skillbook also depend on its rank, ranging from F- to SSS+. These Skillbooks could be acquired from raiding Strayed Dungeons or Dungeon Towers or be received from the Constellation that a player has a contract with.
But, the Skillbooks that were given by the Constellations to their respective champion were exclusive ones, which means that there couldn't be more than one person who could possess such a skill due to it being a 'Bound' skill.
Russell never doubted that he was not the only person possessing such 'Bound' skill, but the difference between exclusive skills was extremely due to the Constellation that a player has a contract with, the Constellation's power and nature, as well as the Constellation's standing.
...
Honk~! Honk~!
"Dear passengers, we have now arrived at the Red Star Station~"
A voice of a woman, seemingly passionate about her job, repeatedly sounded in Russell's ears, causing him to be snapped out of his thoughts.
After a long journey, he finally arrived at the "Red Star Station" of Central Olympia or Obelisk City. He didn't stop by the "Starlight Station" of the Northern Olympia, where the Player General Store, the store where he bought the necessities in his journey, was located, as there's a one-way ticket from the "Yellow Sun Station" of the Northernmost Olympia to the Red Star Station.
After tidying himself up, he stood up from his seat as the passengers started to exit the Air Train, while the next batch of passengers was eagerly waiting for their ride to be emptied.
'...I didn't even manage to use the Crude Shortsword I bought.'
He lampooned inwardly, and although he managed to pick it up before the Hidden Dungeon closes, his reason was very simple for doing so.
'...It's a waste of money if I left it there.'
...
"Sigh... welcome back to me."
As a person who was a shut-in in his previous life, although he never lacked exercise and never forgot to take his meals regularly as he took care of his physical health, he was used to talking to himself when he's alone, especially verbally, but in the presence of people he knew, it was his mind that mostly do the talking, and he only speaks when he felt like it or when it's necessary.
...
The Obelisk Academy was only a few minutes away by foot from the Red Star Station. As he walked down the road, he admired the towering buildings of the Obelisk City as various thoughts surfaced in his mind.
The Obelisk City, the capital of Olympia, was one of the major countries and was considered to be the center of the human domain.
After the Emergence that happened 'almost' 40 years ago, which caused the 7 Continents of the world to be merged into one, and after a few years of trying to restore order and develop the crumbled government, the "Obelisk Organization" was founded.
The "Old Governmental System" collapsed, and to keep the balance of power that humanity possessed, humanity's Strongest Players, the most powerful people in the human domain that's contracted with respective powerful Constellations, came to an agreement and built their own respective country.
The 7 Continents Pre-Emergence, though massive in land and sea area, after the Emergence befalls the human world, contrary to the Earth's size of being 7 times its original diameter Post-Emergence, the human domain or the area where humans could "safely" live became incomparably smaller. The Post-Emergence Continent's size was roughly about the "compressed" Pre-Emergence Western Continent, Middle East, Europe, and Asia, with the exception of the land area of the continents — Australia and Antarctica.
These merged continents were presently called the "Orion Continent", and the Pre-Emergence world was now dubbed the "Old World."
The Orion Continent was divided into 7 major countries:
1. Olympia – Modern Korea (Land of the Stars – Central Orion)
2. Cassiopeia – Modern England (Land of the Noble – Northern Orion)
3. Alastor – Modern America (Land of Diversity – Westernmost Orion)
4. Etheria – Modern Europe (Land of the Harvest – Northernmost Orion)
5. Nereia – Modern Pacific or Oceania (Land of the Seas – Eastern to Easternmost Orion)
6. Arka – Modern Antarctica (Ice Land – Southernmost Orion)
7. Bhaskara – Modern Middle East (Desert Land – South Orion)
Due to the impact of the Emergence, the Old World came to be, and the New World was born out of it.
'...It's a messed up geography, though.'
Russell inwardly thought as the afternoon Sun seemed to scorch his slightly fair skin as he arrived at the gate of the Obelisk Academy.
...
'...I'm glad it's still okay to go out.'
He said while walking as he remembered the rules, that the moment the classes starts, no Obelisk student would be able to go out of the academy premises unless it was a special case like a family emergency, school trip, club activity, or class activity.
But considering the abundance of resources that the Obelisk Academy possessed, Russell was reluctant about class activities being held outside the academy premises.
After entering the Obelisk Academy after he passed the identity check, he took his pace to go back to the dormitory room assigned to him.
'...6:42 P.M...? Just how long did my journey take? It's probably because of unnecessary stops.'
Clicked-!
Creaked...!
After arriving at the front of his dormitory room, aside from other students who were probably in different cafeterias at this hour, there were still a few walking through the hallway, but this time, they weren't paying attention to him, who were wearing a gray-hooded jacket, black pants, and blue t-shirt with Obelisk logo.
'...What a peaceful time.'
He muttered before entering his opened dormitory room.
...
After tidying himself up for a few minutes just after he took a quick bath as he didn't manage to take one of almost two days, he decided that it was time for dinner, so he quickly left his dormitory room as he felt that his stomach was boiling.
Just after he closed the door of his dormitory room, he stopped moving as he heard a familiar voice behind his back.
"Oppa! Where the hell have you been?!"
It was Russell Moon's younger sister, Freya Moon.
She's also a first-year in the Obelisk Academy, the same as him. Although he was roughly a year older than her, due to their family's past financial situation, he gave way to Freya to study first, instead of him.
In this world, the educational curriculum only consists of Kindergarten, which tackles the basics of reading and writing, basic arithmetic, and basics of System knowledge, as well as the good deeds of admirable people that's renowned to this day to inspire the children, then during Elementary, what was being discussed was the advanced version of the above-mentioned basics, and the general overview of being a "Player" or adventurer, along with its opportunities and risks. By early discussing this path, the Elementary students, ranging from 7 Earth Years old to 13 Earth Years old, would be able to decide early for themselves with the guidance of teachers or their parents.
"Player Career" aside, there was also "Civil Career". Although it was quite a harsh reality, it still stands true that there were students not talented enough to pursue the adventurer's path due to its underlying dangers, but, with the existence of non-Fighting-type or non-Support-type professions, there were careers open for players who didn't want blood in their skin: Production-type professions.
These Production-type professions consist of blacksmiths, miners, farmers, herbalists, alchemists, and so on.
In any case, a player with a Fighting-type or Support-type profession, but didn't want to risk his life, could take classes or training under the Production-type professions or be an office worker under some companies, but learning something a player wasn't meant to be was arduous in itself.
It's only possible in Production-type professions because a Fighter-type profession wouldn't be able to learn anything, even with great effort, what a Support-type profession does.
Then, after graduating the Elementary studies at the average age of 13 Earth Years old, students would then be given a year to stop studying. It's the rule that was set by the Obelisk Organization with the sole reason that it takes a long time to truly decide what path a person should take, but during this time, although not mandatory, one could attend training centers for the "Three Types of Professions".
And lastly, what Russell hope he had experienced in his previous life... College Education was abolished due to the System's existence which became an excellent help to the person's learning, which helped people to determine their talents earlier.
At the moment they turned 7 Earth Years old, the age at which children were already capable of thinking somewhat rationally, the System would be granted to them.
Russell designed it that way when he wrote his unpublished novel since a child wouldn't understand whatever the System says at a very early age.
...
"...Oppa!?? What are you thinking about, huh...?"
Russell was snapped out of his random thoughts upon hearing his approaching younger sister.
When he thought about his current situation, he was given more than he could ever ask for; a complete family in this world that he didn't have in his previous life.
A great father, a caring mother, and a younger sister that takes after her caring mother.
"O-ouch!"
Russell — who seemed in a reverie, even at this evening — was jolted awake by a pinch from his younger sister to his right cheek.
"...Nothing, nothing."
He reflexively responded to her previous question as he leaned his head to the side, an instinctive reaction to the pinch that Freya did.
"...I asked where the hell have you been?! I was looking for you yesterday, too."
Without answering her question, he spoke nonchalantly.
"...Sigh... I'm hungry, let's grab some dinner."
He started to walk, in which Freya followed suit while looking at him with constricted eyes as fierce as a needle.
While walking through the hallway of Russell's dormitory block, he thought of some things that worry him about Freya, his younger sister.
'...She's a classmate of the main characters in the novel I've written.'
Freya belongs to the A-1 class, while Russell belongs to the A-11 class of the first years. And he knew, that where the main characters were flocking, troubles were their shadows, which always follow them.
He was somewhat glad that he was not their classmate, but due to his younger sister, he told himself that he would only meddle in the plotline if the safety of his family, in this case, his younger sister was at stake.
'...Sigh... what a twisted fate.'
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