Chapter 2  : New Journey

 AtlasStudios  Editor: AtlasStudiosThe wind blew through the canyon and set off waves to the prairie.

The wild cows that were bowing to eat the green grass looked up towards the sky. There, a ten-meter long wooden merchant ship was floating in the air. The ship moved forward slowly as the sail bellied with the wind.

“No matter how you see it, this scenery sure is a magnificent one.”

A middle-aged man in leather armor stood next to the deck, looking down at the endless grassland and its beauty.

“For us merchants, this is also a rare opportunity.”

Standing next to the middle-aged man was a slightly overweight merchant. He had a weird curly hair and was wearing a merchant’s robe. His small eyes were slightly narrowed as if he was planning something while gazing at the scenery in front of him. Looking at him, it was as if he was thinking that the beautiful scenery in front of him could be sold.

“If it were not for this thing, I am afraid we won’t be able to move the goods into the central area this quickly. To be honest, I always opposed the idea of opening a market, but now it seems that my choice was correct.”

“Please forgive me for being frank, but if you do not choose a wider route, even if we went from here, although it will save more time, the degree of danger will also increase. I heard that the other side is not quiet, and I think you have also listened to the captain’s reminder that it seems there were Wind Serpents around here recently, what if…”

The man’s face darkened. He turned his head, shifting his sight to somewhere not far from the mountains. Towering peaks blocked his line of sight, making him unable to see what was behind. But he could faintly perceive that the distant sky was not pure blue, and there was a touch of cloudy darkness.

That’s not the world they should get involved with.

“Do not worry, how can there be so many ifs? Money comes from danger. This is the reason why I spend so much money to hire you! Only a few serpents, is that not it?”

The merchant stretched out his hand and patted the man’s shoulder.

“Yes, what about the condition of the young man we saved? Is he still alive?”

“Lize has bandaged his wound, and now he is sleeping. His condition supposedly will not be life-threatening.”

“That’s good.”

Hearing the man’s answer, the merchant nodded with satisfaction, but then he quickly frowned.

“But what kind of wound is that from? Looking at the wound, it seems like it was from a big lizard, but is there anything like that in the north of Paphield?”

“I do not know, Lord, but it’s supposedly a very ferocious beast. I hope we do not run into them.”

While talking, the man’s eyes subconsciously swept the entrance of the cabin, then he turned his head again, looking forward.

–

Rhode opened his eyes.

W-what happened?

He stared at the ceiling; his brain was dizzy. He remembered that he had been leading his team to fight the most powerful boss in the Dragon Soul Continent, the Void Dragon, and had successfully gotten the first kill. He was sure that he had got the achievement and system prompt, but then, the Void Dragon’s last attack also took his life away.

According to his plan, Rhode should’ve respawned and then he would log out. But the moment he was killed by the Void Dragon, his whole vision immediately become dark, as if he was forced to log off. Then he lost his consciousness.

How can this be? Did I encounter a bug in the game?

Rhode could barely turn his head, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of the blue azure sky and white clouds outside.

Where is he? What’s this place? What happened? Is he dreaming? Or is he still in the game? At least he was sure that this place wasn’t his small rental apartment. Doubts immediately flooded his mind.

Then, Rhode frowned and tried to get up.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, he felt an acute pain from his chest. He bit his lips and stopped moving. He found that his left shoulder and chest had been completely wrapped by a bandage. Although he did not know what happened, judging from the blood stain that permeated it, it seemed that his injury was quite severe.

This is definitely not a game.

Rhode was undoubtedly certain of this. He knew that although the current technology was quite advanced, and as the world’s first virtual reality game, Dragon Soul Continent Online had also used a lot of high-tech technology, but according to the rules, it was impossible for the player to experience pain. The reason was so that people could distinguish between reality and the game. Also, for the sake of the players, they had to reduce the pain threshold. If the player was injured, instead of pain, the game would reduce the player’s speed and use red color to block the player’s line of sight. It was done so to warn and remind them, rather than the real simulation of pain. When the virtual reality simulation technology first appeared in the world, it had caused a lot of controversies. Dragon Soul Continent’s operating company naturally knew it too.

Rhode lowered his head and looked at his right hand. Its shape was not like his character from the game; his body was not that full of muscle nor was it mighty. On the contrary, the arm in front of him was small and thin. Since he had almost never exposed himself to the sunlight, his skin was a little bit pale. This was definitely his own body; he was sure of it.

However, how did he get hurt? Was this place a hospital? Rhode scanned his surroundings; the whole room looked like a cabin—no lights, no phone, no call bell. A wooden table, two chairs and a fixed cabinet on the wall were the only things in the room. He did not know why, but he felt like he had seen this somewhere.

While he was studying the room carefully, the door suddenly opened.

A blonde girl wearing a white robe entered the room. She looked at Rhode who was half-sitting in surprise, with her eyes wide open.

“You have woken up? That’s great!!”

The girl did not speak Chinese or English, but he seemed to be able to clearly understand it. He could not help but feel a little bit surprised because he knew the language too.

This is the Nimus language, one of the official language in the Dragon Soul Continent!

“How are you feeling?”

However, the girl did not care about Rhode’s expression. She quickly went to his side, carefully checking his left shoulder and chest.

“Your injury is really serious. Frankly, I was worried whether you would survive or not…”

“This is…”

He frowned but did not know what to say. He turned his head, looking at the mirror next to the wall where a clear reflection of his face could be seen. It was indeed his face, no doubt about it, but it was not supposed to appear here.

“Did you forget?”

The blonde girl curiously blinked her eyes, her twin tails following her movement. Her blue eyes were clear and transparent, exuding a cheerful disposition.

“Two days ago, you fell in the middle of the Paphield Plains and suffered a very serious injury. If it was not because of the Silver Libra’s merchant guild floating ship passing by, I am afraid it would be even worse. I do not know what kind of monster you fought against, but the left side of your body received a very serious injury. It can be really dangerous.”

Wait, left shoulder…

Rhode froze in surprise for a moment. He immediately thought about the last battle with the Void Dragon before, wasn’t it his left shoulder that was attacked? But it was his game avatar that was injured, and there was supposed to be no connection to the player itself, right? But now, the one who got injured was him?

Although the situation in front of him was a mess, Rhode still quickly calmed down. As the top player and the world strongest guild leader, he had a strong mentality, and in the middle of the conversation with the blonde girl in front of him, he had also learned about his current situation. He was seriously injured in the Paphield Plains, and Silver Libra Merchant Guild floating ship happened to pass by, so they saved him. According to what the blonde girl had said, his condition was pretty bad, but his ability to recover was pretty good.

“My name is Lize Noir, I am a member of the Crescent Star mercenary group. I am a Cleric. You can just call me Lize.”

The girl straightforwardly introduced herself to Rhode.

“I’m Rhode Alander.”

Even though he still could not completely sort out the situation, he hesitated for a moment, but he still told her his ID from the game.

“I am an adventurer from the Eastern Plains.”

“So you are an adventurer, that was why you were alone in the vast mountain.”

After hearing Rhode’s answer, Lize did not feel surprised because, in this continent, there were many adventurers who liked to explore alone, so Rhode’s identity was not much of a problem.

“But what kind of thing did you fight with actually? How did you get such a serious injury? I remember that there should be no high leveled monsters in particular in the plains.”

Hearing her inquiry, Rhode showed a bitter smile. What could he say? Should he say that he was injured because he fought one of the five creator dragons, the Void Dragon?

“I did not see what it was because I was attacked at night. There were a lot of them and they were very quick. I think that maybe they were things from ‘the other side’.”

“I understand.”

Although Rhode did not elaborate, Lize seemed to know what it was and nodded. By then, she had also finished checking at Rhode’s wound, so she stood up.

“You have not eaten for two days, so you must be hungry. Please wait. I will get some food for you to eat. Ah, yes, I would like to report this matter to my leader, I think he will come to see you soon.”

Having said that, she nodded towards him politely and then left the room.