Cosmic Peak

Chapter 2 - Wild Expanse

What shocked him was that there were many people in front of him, and more people appeared like they were being teleported from earth to here.

From his estimate, there should be millions of people currently gathered here, But it didn't feel crowded, indicating that this mountain is simply too big.

'Damn, it Looks like finding mom is going to be very hard,' Aren cursed.

< Do you wish to make spiritual contact with Lorain Azrael? Note that your target of communication can reject the Spiritual call. >

Aren hurriedly replied, ' Yes, I wish to contact Lorain Azrael.'

After two seconds.

"Aren?"

Hearing the familiar voice of his mother, Aren instantly asked about his mother's well-being, "Mom, are you okay?"

"Don't worry, I already left that place, a strange voice appeared when I thought of leaving, and it said that if you want to leave just say " yes " in your head, Anyway I am already back at the hospital...phew, I didn't know something like would happen, anyways, you can stay there and check things out if you want."

Aren heaved a clear sigh of relief, hearing that she was already back at the hospital.

'I want to leave,' Aren thought and indeed the strange voice once again.

< Do you wish to leave the Myriad Mountain? Please reply as "Yes" if you want to leave >

"First, I need to go back to check up on mom," murmuring, he replied, "YES, I wish to leave."

After that, Aren was back at the hospital, standing at the same place where he left.

"Aren, You're already back!"

Aren turned around, hearing the voice, and replied with a smile, "I am here to check up on you. Maybe something happened while you were there but didn't notice it; all those things are so strange, it's a straight-out fantasy."

Lorain shook her head as she replied, "Nothing happened to me negatively, and somehow I felt better in that place; the air was so pure, and staying there only for a few moments invigorated my body a bit like all of my exhaustion was swept away."

Aren was skeptical, "Really? I didn't feel anything, though. Anyway, since you are okay, then I'm going to check things out. Meanwhile, you can watch TV here as the media worldwide should be talking about the strange thing that is happening currently. "

'Hmmm, can I make a spiritual call here?' Thinking about it, he tried, "I want to contact Lorain Azrael."

Aren waited for some time, but no strange voice greeted him this time. 'Looks like this spiritual call thing only works on the myriad mountain.'

"Aren? Hey Aren, are you listening?"

Aren snapped out of his thought and replied, "Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something. Anyway, I will be returning to that place to check it out. It's really mysterious. I wonder how governments of the world will handle this?"

"You should stay alert during your stay at that strange place and don't put yourself in danger," Lorain said while worriedly shaking her head, " Promise me that you will not put yourself in danger. This is all so strange and weird. The voice also said that there will be fatal danger so...please Aren, Be careful there. "

Aren smiled and reassured his mom that he will be extremely careful there before speaking with sparkling eyes, "Mom, the world is going to change because of this and...if the voice is telling the truth that we will fight despair after 3 years, then...I don't want to waste time here. I don't want anything to happen to you in the future so I will fight and survive there and become a strong man."

Lorain was extremely worried and didn't really want Aren to go there but Aren convinced her after some talk and she finally agreed after warning him to stay extremely cautious there.

"You watch the TV and see what all governments think about it."

After that, Aren passed the remote of the TV to his mom and entered the myriad mountain the same way as the first time he entered.

The scenery changed in front of him as he successfully teleported to the myriad mountain.

This time he was teleported to the border because he could see many big trees. If he had to guess, the area where he and other people are standing should be surrounded by trees.

He also wanted to check if staying here makes the body feel better or not, but...

Suddenly...

<2 Billion People have already entered the myriad mountain which fulfills the requirement to open the Wild Expanse and start everyone's journey, A journey to make you stronger, A Journey which will help you to face the despair that is coming after three years, But also a Journey filled with mortal danger.>

The voice this time was different, It sounded like a woman's voice, and you could feel the emotions in it, unlike the strange voice.

<Now, first of all, Everyone will see a mark on the back of their hand. The mark's border will slowly start to fill up with red color. After the border entirely turns into red color, Everyone here will be transported inside The Myriad Mountain. Inside is a world vaster than the world you live in and It is full of opportunity and danger. Further will be explained after you are inside the Myriad Mountain.>

Aren looked at the mark, which was nothing complicated but a simple square, Half of the square's border was already filled up with red color.

After two minutes, Just as the border turned entirely red, Aren felt dizzy, and his eyes blurred and the scenery changed in front of him; He appeared in a dark place with three boxes hovering in front of him that looked the same appearance-wise.

<Please choose one beginner box, All three boxes contain different things but of the same value.>

The strange stiff, monotone voice sounded inside his head.

'Hmm...' Aren started contemplating out of his habit as he likes to think outside of the box.

"What if I don't choose any of the boxes? Will I still get something?" Aren spoke after thinking for a few seconds.

The answer didn't come immediately, as one whole minute passed before the reply came.

< If you choose not to pick any of the boxes, then you will be given a Pandora's Box, The Pandora's box may contain good things whose value might surpass the previous three boxes, but it may also include bad things which might bring trouble upon you or both at the same time. >

'Those three boxes are beginner boxes, which means that their use will be limited and won't be useful in the long run. But I have a chance to get something of higher value in pandora's box. Although it might also contain bad things but...instead of choosing the beginner box, I might as well choose the pandora's box with the chance to get something good,' He thought.

Aren thought for two seconds before replying, "I choose to select the pandora's box."

<The Pandora's Box has been moved into your inventory. You can open it after entering The Wild Expanse, The world inside the Myriad Mountain.>

After that, The scenery changed and he arrived in a city which didn't seem to be modern as the houses and shops seemed like they were from middle age.

There were already lots of people, from the young to the elderly.

Many people were looking blankly in front as if there was something.

Indeed something appeared in front of him as well.

-Name: Aren Azrael

-Level: 1

-Body Health: 150/150----- [ 50x3 constitution, 0 in Health results in death. ]

-Soul Health: 100/100 ( Soul damage hurts the soul, and 0 in the soul results in death. )

-Life Stage: Mortal-1

-Spirit Energy: 100/100

-Soul Energy: [Locked]

-Mystic Field: 0/50 points

-[Stats]

<Strenght: 4>

<Constitution: 3>

<Agility: 4>

<Soul> [Locked]

-Stat points: 0

-Abilities: none

-Skills: none

-Inventory: 1xPandora's Box (Bronze)

Aren was shocked seeing this, ' Is this some kind of game? But...I guess we won't be reviving continuously like in-game. We might die for real here since everyone came here with their actual body. No wonder that female voice said that this world is full of both dangers and opportunities '

Suddenly, The female voice once again announced.

<Welcome to the Wild Expanse. Anything you learn here, anything you get here, you can bring it out to your own world. You can get Supernatural Powers and Superhuman Strenght, you can learn Magic and can also learn Martial Arts, but...>

<These opportunities are tied to dangers. If you want to get stronger and survive after three years, You have to risk your lives here. If you die here, you will die for real.>

<The natives of this world consist of many races such as Humans, Dragons, Vampires, Goblins, Werewolves, Orcs, Elves, etc. You can also change your race in this world, but it will not be that easy, and beware that this is not a game you play in your world. You are here with your real body, and You will appear as your chosen race when you go back to your own world.>

<I sincerely hope everyone has great success in your future endeavor.>

Aren looked around and thought while wondering, 'Who can do something like this? This whole world is inside a mountain? Only the so-called gods can do something like this, but obviously, there are many things at works considering what that female said about facing despair after three years.'

Aren took a deep breath to calm down, after which he murmured, "Since this looks like a game, then we should be able to accept quests from natives of this world just like the games on earth where we could get the quests from NPC, But the female voice said that natives are all-natural, living beings like us, so it would not be that easy."

'This small town seems like beginners village, so there should be a town chief. Talking to him might give me a good quest,' Aren thought as he started walking deeper into the town.

After walking for a few minutes, he quickly found the town chief's house, but instead of being happy, he could only frown and shake his head.

Because there were already many people, mostly around his age, gathered at the chief's house, apparently all having the same idea of getting a quest from the chief.

Suddenly he heard two men talking to each other, as they seemed to be acquainted, which is very rare. Because from what he can see, there should be around ten thousand people in the town, which is very low considering the 2 billion people who came to this world.

And If all people started at the same point, then there should be a shocking amount of beginners towns, and considering that this is just the start, This world should be way bigger than earth as there seem to be many races here and each race might have their vast territories.

Back to those two people's conversations.

"What did you get from the box you picked? I got two skills and a long sword, but damn those skill books seem to be headache-inducing, I used one called <stab>, and I had such an intense headache for a few seconds."

"Oh? I opened my box, but I did not learn any skills yet, but value-wise, I also got two skills books, and instead of a long-sword like you, I got a spear."

Aren listened and thought,' looks like the starter box is not that impressive, and its only use is for us to get started in this beginner town until we get better things. '

'Let's see what I get from this so-called pandora's box.' Aren pondered as he opened the pandora's box.

<Pandora's Box>(Bronze)

<Do you wish to open the pandora's box ( Bronze )?>

'Yes.'