Apophis quickly opened his map.
He had to get to the ruins! His quest timer showed less than ten minutes before the mission deadline. He left the Zetark child on the ground and ran as fast as he could.
He arrived at the temple just in time. Once he found the archaeologist—thankfully, the lizards were in the basement and he didn't have to sneak past them again—Apophis turned in the quest.
System: Congratulations on completing rank A quest "Forgotten Knowledge."
Final Grade: A+
Reward: 35,000 EXP + 2,500 GC + choice of unique Passive Skill
*Level 4 achieved*
Please choose your Passive Skill:
-[ Archaeologist ]: Languages from extinct civilizations take 90% less time to learn.
-[ Superior Intelligence ]: +30% to all Intelligence gains.
-[ Science Affinity ]: Gain a special affinity for science.
Not exactly a simple choice. Apophis hesitated between the first and the second options, as the third was much too vague for his liking.
On one hand, Intelligence was a very useful stat. It allowed characters to access more Skills on the Talent Tree, which was especially important for Esper, the class he had been in his former life and which he intended to take again. However, there were many other ways to gain Intelligence boosts in Horus.
On the other hand, Apophis had a dozen Zetark books in his inventory. They would surely contain vital information, and Apophis really couldn't spare the time to acquire the Zetark language normally.
In Horus, learning languages took an extremely long period of sitting and studying a text written in that language. The older and more complicated the language, the harder it was to learn. Zetark was, of course, both ancient and intricate.
So, to maximize his early head start, Apophis decided to pick [ Archaeologist ]. He opened up the character interface.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼CHARACTER
║ ╰╼[Name] : Apophis
║ ╰╼[LvL] : 4
║ ╰╼[Tier] : F+ [Weakling]
║ ╰╼[Class] : None [Unlock at LvL 5]
║ ╰╼[Biology] : Male Primary Human
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼SOUL
║ ╰╼[Energy] : 1
║ ╰╼[Alignment] : 50 [Neutral]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼STATS
║ ╰╼[Strength] 140 STR
║ ╰╼[Intelligence] 140 INT
║ ╰╼[Agility] 140 AGI
║ ╰╼[Dexterity] 140 DEX
║ ╰╼[Luck] 1 LUK
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼BOOK SKILLS
║ ╰╼[N/A]
╟─╼TALENT TREE SKILLS
║ ╰╼[N/A]
╟─╼PASSIVE SKILLS
║ ╰╼[ Archaeologist ]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼EQUIPMENT
║ ╰╼[Galactic Coins] : 12,523 GC
║ ╰╼[Civilian Clothing (Common)]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼SUMMARY
You are a basic life form, though the tiniest spark of cosmic energy is struggling to ignite deep within you. What will happen if you nurture it?
╚═══════════════╛
His experience bar was two-thirds of the way to LvL 5, which would unlock his class choice. Not a bad result for such a simple quest!
He then returned to the Zetark child whom he had left slumped against a tree. She was sleeping as peacefully as a child after midnight. Apophis tried to wake the Zetark in a few different ways, but nothing worked. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.
Time was pressing, so Apophis put her back over his shoulder and began the journey to the city of Omeya, which was much closer than his starting town.
Along the way, he took the opportunity to open and browse the game forums through a special interface.
He quickly found two hot topics of conversation which he found extremely sensitive.
First, everyone was talking about the famous "Apophis" who'd managed to resurrect an alien species only a few hours into the launch of the game.
Many threads debated and speculated on Apophis's identity. A large portion of the player base believed Apophis was a professional MMORPG player from the days of the publisher's first game, World of Warcraft II. He must be quite skilled to achieve such a feat, they said! At this time, most players were struggling just to get used to the basic functions of the game.
There were a few who even wondered if perhaps Apophis was the new identity of one of the 7 Gods, the most famous MMO players of all time.
Someone who had achieved as much as Apophis was clearly accustomed to the habits and quirks of the developers, and that was exactly the kind of skill that was expected of the 7 Gods. Perhaps he had noticed an easter egg in some dialogue and this had tipped him off as to the location of the quest.
Others, however, just believed that Apophis had cheated. Still more claimed he was simply lucky and that his name would soon disappear as an afterthought compared to the actual professionals in the game.
A player named Scorpion popped up in one thread, claiming Apophis had robbed him just before the server notification. He received nothing but mockery, insults, and even a couple of death threats for it.
Ever since Apophis had betrayed him and then triggered the server message, Scorpion had been consumed by fury. He craved revenge at all costs.
Before the server message, he'd assumed Apophis was killed by the loud cave-in that occurred while his party was still fighting the lizards, and was infuriated to later find that Apophis had escaped a humiliating death in the collapse.
Beyond Apophis's identity, the forum's second hot topic was of much greater importance.
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