Chapter 511 Welcome to the Hell Hole
Chapter 511 Welcome to the Hell Hole
It was a strange yet euphoric sensation, unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and mere moments later, the feeling was gone, and momentarily, he felt devoid of any sense.
As the darkness faded away and his senses returned, Alex felt solid ground beneath his feet once more, and as he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a grand passageway.
The stone walls stood over fifty meters high, with an arched ceiling that was embedded with light crystal, illuminating the passageway, while the walls were plain and without any particular marking or wear and tear of the passage of time.
The grand passageway stretched straight ahead and behind into an unknown distance, with large open doors on both sides, each housing a revolving dark vortex as its entrance.
Alex took a deep breath, marveling at the sheer scale of his surroundings while feeling like a mere ant standing in the halls of Titans.
"Welcome, Adventurer of the Ancient World, into the realm of opportunities,"
Alex's thoughts were interrupted by a melodious female voice that filled his mind, and the voice was so soothing that when it ended, he felt a pang of panic as if he had lost something of immense value before the feeling simply vanished.
The sudden shift in feeling was a bit scary but nothing that Alex was not already aware of, so he calmed his mind and prepared for the flood of information that arrived moments later.
In an instant, Alex received a great deal of information about the nature of the realm, his location, the adventurer's games, and so on, which flooded his mind.
--------------------
Key Details of the Ancestral Land:
Law Tokens: All adventurers are given three Law Tokens that can be found in their space ring.
•-The law tokens could not only be used to revive the holder when they fall to an enemy or another adventurer but also bestow upon the holder the opportunity for instant enlightenment in their chosen law when they break it.
•-The tokens could be gained as a reward by participating in the yearly games or by performing exceptionally well in yearly or random games.
•-The only other way to gain law tokens is either through the grim act of killing other adventurers or by compelling them to relinquish their tokens through force.
----------------
Grand Trials: The games are divided into Epochal Trials and Apex Conquest.
•-Epochal Trials: The Epochal Trials are realm-wide competitions in which all adventurers would need to participate but could also sustain from entering at the cost of 33% of their Law tokens while the adventurers could leave a game at any time by paying the same price.
•-The Epochal Trial will run for one year, and only 33% of the original participants will win.
•-Those who complete their assigned objectives in time will receive the promised reward, while those who fail will incur a penalty of losing 25% of their Law tokens.
•-Apex Conquest: The Apex Conquests are elite contests that would take place during the Epochal Trials, but the opportunity to participate is given only to the victors of the Epochal Trials.
•-In each Apex Conquest, no more than a hundred adventurers from one world and no more than three worlds will participate.
•-Once the first two requirements are met, all of them will be teleported to a separate space with different objectives for different groups, and the first one to clear his objective will become the champion and receive the reward, while those who fail will suffer no penalty.
----------------
Space Rings: Every adventurer is given a valuable tool known as a space ring, which can store an unlimited amount of non-living items, and its contents can only be accessed by the owner.
•-However, upon the adventurer's death, besides losing a law token, the adventurer will lose 25% of his amassed loot, with the items dropped being completely random.
----------------
Equipment: The realm offers opportunities for adventurers to acquire weapons, armor, and various equipment reminiscent of their home world.
•-These coveted items can be obtained through various means, including participation in games, Killing formidable inhabitants of the realm, or engaging in trade with the realm's denizens.
•-Alternatively, surviving a decade within the realm grants the privilege of departure, offering a pathway back to the world they came from.
--------------------
'Now I know why Elders called this place a hell hole,' Alex thought as he organized all the major details in his mind.
The trials or games were brutal, as each year, there would be a game in which every individual who had come to the ancestral realm would possibly number in millions, but only a third of them would win.
Those who lose would automatically lose 25% of their law tokens, which were the literal lifelines of an individual, but the problem did not end with just winning because, with the given conditions, everyone would be gunning for the other.
All of the adventurers would be in a contact state of competition, and at the end of the year, many would have died a true death or returned to their home world, which was very scary considering that a large majority of the other worlders were top-class individuals.
Alex was also given information about the place where he stood. This place was called the Infinity Nexus, and all the doors with vortexes were portals leading to different parts of the realm.
Alex also received various memories that introduced him to the powers he could expect to encounter. While the majority, if not all, of the information, was already known to him, it was still better to learn it firsthand from the source.
As Alex was informed, he did not have access to his normal inventory or his Ruler inventory, but he still had access to the system, which would be of great help in organizing knowledge just like it was in the ancient world.
'I was expecting the skills to not return, but it still stings,'
'But that aside, now I just need to feed my sword with many high-quality weapons for it to return to normal, and then I would be in near-perfect condition,' He thought as he examined his newly changed character window.
Alex's level was 427, and besides him having new armor and two new rings, nothing had changed.
The armor skills were solely of an offensive nature, while one of the rings gave him space skills for additional mobility and defense, while the other gave him healing and defensive skills.
The skills from armor and rings would help little in battle at the top, but as the elders said, every little help counted in this hell hole.
'Let's see if the system understood the goals of the yearly game any better than me,' He thought, as he opened the quest section to see the details of the epochal game.
-----------
Title: Epochal Trials
Objective: Steal the Breath of a Light Dragon, Silence the Footsteps of a Ether Wraith, and Capture the Machine Spirit of an Iron Giant.
Time: Twelve Months
Reward: Between 3 to ??? Law Tokens based on performance, along with one artifact of Mythical Quality.
Hint: Adventurers must seek help from the inhabitants of the realm to pinpoint the elusive targets and uncover the means to complete his objectives.
Accept/Decline
-----------
'These look less like goals and more like riddles, and how does one even take away an aspect of something that is not physical?' He questioned, but besides more confusion, he found no answer.
'Let's hope it is not too hard,' He thought, as he walked toward the gateways on the right side, each bearing a different symbol that, even though he did not recognize, he somehow knew what it meant.
The symbols gave little to no information, merely indicating the elemental environment awaiting him on the other side.
Alex understood that luck would play a crucial role, as the symbol of water could signify anything from a simple lakeside near a bustling empire to the endless expanse of an ocean with no land in sight.
After inspecting nearly a hundred doors, all bearing identical elemental markings, He decided on the one adorned with the symbol representing a forest.
While the gateway could lead him into an endless swampy woodland, he could only remain hopeful and proceed with his chosen path.