Halcyon

Dragon Realms Online: The Halcyon. Halcyon was consisting of four planes. The lowest plane was called, The Ruined Plane—it had four large lands and a single moderate-size island at the center of four lands where the Heaven's Pillar was located. 

The first goal of the players was to race towards the Heaven's Pillar on their own. To do that, they would begin at their avatars' races' land. Dragon Realms Online players had four different kinds of dragon races to choose. 

The Infernos—they were the Fire-type Dragons. A race who boast with their explosive offensive abilities. 

The Draquas—they were Water-type Dragons. A race that was widely known with their talents in water elements and extraordinary healing abilities. 

Third race, the Empyreans—they were entitled 'Kings of Sky' as they were Wind-type Dragons. The race was also widely known with their frightening speed and other wind-type abilities as well as healing powers. 

The fourth and last race was the Terras—an Earth-type Dragon race. Although they were known with their slow movement speed. They were without a doubt the most durable race because of their powerful defensive abilities. 

Each of these four races had their own country land. And each land had three borders. These borders were the trials. Players must pass the trials to reach the Heaven's Pillar.

The Heaven's Pillar was a hundred floors labyrinth. Each floor was guarded by a powerful boss. To reach the next level—or the middle plane, players were required to conquer the entire Heaven's Pillar. 

Just this stage alone was enough to let the majority of players abandon their hopes of conquering the game. The first level would clearly need a ton of time and effort to conquer. They could not imagine if they would be able to witness that time, or even if that moment would really happen. 

Fin, who had been fighting for 10 days could feel their hopelessness. As he had been forced to teleport to the 'Town of the Genesis—Jade Town in Empyrean Territory' by Angelica at the level of 1, he had no choice but to hunt Level 10 monsters to level-up. Why? 

Generally, before arriving at the Land of Empyreans, a player was required to reach Level 10 in an isolated village. Just then, the player would be transported to the land of the chosen race.

Therefore, in order to reach the very first threshold, Fin partied with other players who had the same situation as him. Despite being the creator of "DRO" he was not omnipotent. Thus, he must learn to adapt in every situation. 

At the Svelty Forest, western wilderness of Jade Town. It was located in the southeastern region of Empyrean Territory. 

Sound of clashing was periodically resounded in the sparse towering trees of Svelty Forest. The vibrant atmosphere could not be broken despite the battle that was happening. 

A party of four youths was fighting a 6 - feet tall bear covered with bristly and murky fur. It was a Level 15 elite - monster named—Frenzy Mad Bear.  

At the moment, red marks were apparent around the monster's body. Indicating that it received injuries from the four youths. Its hit points bar was turning the previous jade color to light-brown. It signified that the Frenzy Mad Bear's health was less than half of its filled HP. 

Roar! 

The mad bear let out a bellow on the top of his lungs before swinging his huge left paw which had protruding sharp claws toward the 165cm short emerald-haired youth geared with iron helmet and leather armor over the green set of clothes. In his left hand was a round iron-shield and a short ordinary-looking sword in his right. 

The claws were so sharp and swift as it caused a swishing sound and trails of pale-blue light in the air before it collided with a clang on the round shield; sparks flew around. The youth was gritting his teeth, holding his ground with all his might. It would be a wonder if this situation happened in the real world. Because the result would be entirely different if this petite youth received an attack from a wild and mad bear. 

"Nice block, Lean!" A muscular 183cm tanned youth in crew cut hairstyle exclaimed a praise. He was wearing a set of black clothes with the similar leather armor on the top of it. He held a big double-bladed steel axe in his hands, he then exclaimed before rushing forward, "It's my turn!" 

As soon as Lean heard Mike's voice, he immediately backed away after a side-step, giving Mike enough space to perform without looking back. 

"Haaaa!" Mike exclaimed as he activated an Axe-wielder skill «Cross Slash» his weapon glowed with pale-green light before swinging it twice, leaving a huge green cross mark on the monster's chest and quickly withdrawn into position. 

The Frenzy Mad Bear's HP fell by a small chunk. It roared once more, then Lean, who was on the side, took a stride and swung his short-sword dealing minor damages. The moment the monster's HP turned into a deep-red color, a young woman's voice broke out,"Mine, mine. It's my turn, let me end that crazy bear!" 

"Lean, shift with me!" 

Lean, who was just about to withdraw could not help to frown before eventually deciding, with a thought «Shift» in his mind, a long ruby-haired young woman had instantly appeared at Lean's previous position from the back. She wore a similar armor above a set of red garments sticking on her body, emphasizing her still growing body while also exposing her flawless pale-legs. Twin sleek rapiers made of black material were in her left and right hand. 

«Shift» was a party skill function. Two party members were required to activate it at the same time to perform, and the same members would instantly exchange positions. It could only be used within a certain distance. 

"Don't be reckless Zyra!" Mike, who was now behind the woman—Zyra, cried in a heavy tone as his brows knitted in worry. 

"Stop being worrywart," Zyra responded with an easy-going voice before quickly exclaiming, "Die big bear!" 

Her twin rapiers gleaming with red glow. Without even delaying a single second, Zyra triggered a dual wielding skill «Multiple Stab» thrusting her rapiers towards the Frenzy Mad Bear that was trying to defend the swift barrage of attacks. Red marks appear on its furry body causing it to roar in frustration. After the six-consecutives attack, Zyra hurled her twin rapiers forward at the same time with a scream, "Haaaa!" 

The twin rapiers along with Zyra zoomed forward with amazing speed; cutting through the air. Her momentum was so great that the Frenzy Mad Bear could not defend her attack, hitting its center and flew several yards backwards upon the impact after a bright light effect of collision. The monster's HP quickly fell. 

"Did you see that?! Haha." Zyra exclaimed as she immediately turned around, facing her party before breaking into laughter. 

She was being impatient since earlier, she had been too eager to execute the new mastery skill she unlocked upon reaching Level 10. 

"We saw it. Well done, Zyra." Lean praised her with a smile as he eyed the red-haired beauty who had almost the same height as him. He slowly lowered his weapons and let out a soft breath. 

"You brat–" Mike was about to scold Zyra when a sudden white flashed passed and interrupted him. And Zyra was also surprised at the incoming quick human silhouette, she took a step backward and spoke, "W-Woah, what's wrong?!" 

Soon, the figure passed by her, heading quickly at the direction where the Frenzy Mad Bear flew at. She immediately turned around the same time a swift pale light flashed through the air. Her eyes landed at the back of white-haired youth in a complete set of white garments under a dull colored leather armor. The only different color he was wearing was the black boots.

With a heavy thud, the supposed to be dead monster once again fell onto the damp ground. This time, it was certainly dead as the tiny bit HP left in its HP bar completely depleted. A horizontal red mark on its neck was revealed. 

The next second, the dead Frenzy Mad Bear turned illusory or transparent, revealing the outline of its body before vanishing into thin air like it was being sucked by a vacuum cleaner. A small explosion of particles of colorful lights occured at the end which was followed by a 'Congratulations!' that appeared in front of their eyes along with a celebrating background sound effects.

The youth who had just dealt the last damage to kill the Frenzy Mad Bear rotated his weapon before hitting the ground with the rear of his silver spear. He then turned around, silently staring at the gaping Zyra. 

"Wha...h-how…?" Zyra did not know what to say or react. She assumed her last strike would be enough to deal with the dying monster. 

The white-haired youth did not bother to respond, he took his eyes away from Zyra and made a gesture with his left free hand. The moment he opened his closed hand, a semi-transparent black floating window interface revealed before him. 

His avatar's tab was being shown. Beside it were other menu tabs. 

The upper part of the window had a picture of his avatar. It was encircled by 10 item slots that few of them were visibly empty. While the rest of the window's parts were showing his name, level, and other characteristics data. 

Name: Fin Aincor 

Level: 10 

Race: Empyrean

Stats: ...

Skill Mastery(s): 

Spear Art Mastery Lv. 9 (Proficiency - 99%)  

Martial Arts Mastery Lv. 5 (Proficiency - 75%)

Empyrean Mastery Lv. 5 (Proficiency - 45%)

Weapon Defense… 

After a quick glance at his statistics, Fin closed his hand and the window interface immediately vanished. He let out a soft sigh as he slumped his shoulder; feeling defeated. 

Dragon Realms Online had no job system. Every weapon had a corresponding skill art mastery that they required to train in order to unlock the following set of skills. And to become stronger, one had to grind levels, equipment, and the most important of all, proficiency skill. 

All of the term to quickly become stronger only had a single answer—Grinding! 

Grind until you bleed! 

As an avid RPG fan himself, Fin had no objection about it. However, at these ten days of hardcore grinding, he could not count anymore how many times he cursed himself for making this game so difficult. He somewhat regrets it.

But at the end of day, this was what makes the game more interesting. A satisfaction that would bloom into the player's heart the moment he got what he'd been working on for a long time. And this satisfaction had different kinds of levels. Especially when a player had even sacrificed his own time and health just to get what he wanted! 

Shrugging off his thoughts and weary expression, Fin quickly back to his usual stoic self. 

At this moment, Mike approached Fin after giving Zyra a glare. He then spoke, "What just happened Fin? Would you mind giving us an explanation? 'Cause I thought Zyra had already killed it." 

Fin stared at Mike and spoke in response, "Nothing big…" 

He paused and shifted his attention to Zyra and continued, "Elite monsters are designed to be an elite. Of course. In order to differentiate them from a normal monster, they have a set of red skills. Red skills means, the moment the elite monster's HP bar fell into the red zone, they will unleash red skills, some of those skills are «Berserk» type of skills which strengthen their overall power for a certain period of time. While only a few are «Life Saving» types of skills. 

"In our case earlier, with the strategy I've given, the Frenzy Mad Bear couldn't get a chance to use his red skill. That's what I thought. However, the moment Zyra attacked it with «Multiple Stab» I knew that monster was one of those sneaky bastards. They will sneak behind a player after faking their death. Usually, the «Berserk» elite-type monster will always execute their red skills no matter what is the situation, even being interrupted by a skill, a «Berserk» monster will execute his red skill once before dying." 

"How did you know all those details?" Lean asked in curiosity after hearing Fin's detailed explanation. 

Fin did not say any single word and kept his silence. Fortunately, the brawny voice of Mike which sounded like an angel's voice to Fin's ears rang out, "Shut up, Lean. Of course he knows that. He was a beta tester. What kind of explanations do you want, huh?" 

"Okay-okay. Don't be so fierce. I'm just really curious," Lean backed down with his hands raised in the air. 

Fin could only smile without agreeing or denying their assumptions. They would not believe him even if he told them the truth. 

After all…

Humans tend to believe the lie more than the naked truth. 

"Okay, let's end today's hunting. Besides, it's already 11:30 in the afternoon and we haven't had lunch yet…" Mike said after he focused his gaze on the right-uppermost corner of his vision where the real-time could be found at the opposite corner was his name beside a green-colored bar above a purple-colored bar, HP and MP bar respectively. 

Mike then shifted his attention at Zyra and continued, "...also, we've got a brat here to scold." 

His eyes were glinting sharply. 

"H-Hey. Don't be too hard on your own sister." Lean interjected while looking at Zyra who was staring blankly at the ground. 

"She's my younger sister, that's why I'm being hard on her. This is for her sake. And you, who are you to butt in our siblings problem? Are you her brother or am I her brother?!" 

"You–" Lean was speechless. 

... 

At the outskirts of the Town of Genesis. The party of Fin were sitting on the green field after a not so hearty lunch. Since they all had been eating hard bread that did not have any taste at all. The Sensoria only satiated their feelings of hunger. 

Sitting on the grass while both hands on the back of his head. Lean who had already removed his iron-helmet suddenly spoke, "Did you guys think if we'll be able to taste real food again?"

Fin and others who were chatting went silent. 

Lean did not mind their silence and he continued, "If you guys ask me? I'm not really optimistic in our situation. This world is filled with danger, any time we could meet our end. But, I will never stop fighting and grinding until I get out of this prison…" 

The moment Lean's voice ended, big arms swept and gripped his neck from behind, "Hoh. Why are you talking like a party leader?" 

"M-My...neck…!" Lean struggled to release himself from Mike's arms but to no avail. 

Mike slowly released Lean's neck, which began coughing. He put his arm on Lean's shoulder and spoke, saying, "Well, if you ask me. I've also got no plan on staying here forever, I will join the frontliners sooner or later. How about you, Fin? What's your plans?" 

Mike set his attention to Fin who was beside the still silent Zyra. 

Fin did not answer immediately as if he was contemplating. In truth, he already had his plans. He just did not know how to tell them.

However, in the end, he decided to do it. 

"Actually, from the beginning. I'm planning to leave the party the moment I reached Level 10…" 

Zyra, who was beside Fin, suddenly jolted her head up upon hearing Fin's words. Mike and Lean were also surprised. However, Mike quickly recovered and he smiled. 

"I've known that one day you will leave this party. We can't selfishly contain someone like you in this small party. A lot of people will need your help. So, I understand…" 

Mike took a pause before he continued, "So, when are you leaving?" 

"...right now." Fin simply replied as he stood up. 

Mike and others once again went silent.  

"I-I see, that's really surprised me this time…" Mike had a bitter smile on his face before slowly raised his body up which followed by the two. 

Standing before Fin, Mike placed his hand on Fin's shoulder. 

"I'm not really good at saying goodbyes. So, let me just say, see you around and thank you for the help, White Prince." Mike chuckled while patting Fin's shoulder. 

The nickname 'White Prince' began the moment he bought a dye at the hairstyle shop and changed his hair from black to white. Some players began to call him first 'White Maniac' while some girls called him 'White Prince' because of his stunning features. 

He only did it in case someone could still remember him. 

Fin also put his hand on Mike's shoulder in response and spoke, "No, it should be me thanking you guys instead. You let a stranger like me into your party. And I believe we will still see each other around." 

Fin smiled. It was all thanks to them that he had managed to reach Level 10 without so much difficulty and worry. 

After Mike took a step backward, Lean approached Fin and asked after a moment of hesitation, "Before you go, would you mind telling us how old you are?" 

"I'm 24 years old." Fin immediately answered as he did not have any plan to hide his age since the beginning. 

"What?!" The trio exclaimed in deep shock. They were even more surprised compared to his revelation of leaving the party. 

"Are you really older than me by 5 years?" Mike asked; doubtful. 

Before Fin could answer, Lean words interrupted, "You look really young. I thought you were around my and Zyra's age, 18. Anyways, thank you for all the information you gave us. See you around." 

Fin only nodded his head. 

Despite his young age, Lean spoke with maturity. With his attitude and curious mind, Fin believed that they would soon reach the frontline. Mike was a battle junkie but a good leader, he had the charisma to lead. Lean on the other hand was a brave person and had the thirst for knowledge to support his courageous attitude. 

And Zyra…was now being pushed forward by his brother. 

Fin saw her fidgeting around and could only decide to initiate the conversation. He patted her lowered head, "Zyra, listen to me. Don't be too ashamed of your mistake. You're a human being, it's only normal that you make mistakes. Be ashamed if you don't learn from the mistakes you made…" 

Fin paused at the same time Zyra lifted her head. The corner of her eyes began to moist. 

He continued, "This is just friendly advice. It's normal to make mistakes but you should be always prepared to face the consequences of your mistakes and learn from them…" 

Fin then put his mouth closer to Zyra's ears and whispered, "You can change but don't loose yourself in the process. Your party will need you. Especially, your brother." 

Zyra was startled for a second before tearing up as she nodded her head in understanding. In these ten days, Fin saved their asses from death more than once. Therefore, she was sad about this farewell. 

Fin took a step backward and stared at the trio. He was sincerely grateful to them. But, he needs to pace up his plans. He could not bring them with him. 

"I'll be leaving now…" 

Mike and the rest nodded their heads. Fin nodded his head and turned around. 

"Keep safe, Fin." Lean shouted the moment Fin turned around and began to walk away. 

"Take care of yourself, Fin. Let's hang out again later!" Mike followed. 

"Fin!!!" At this shout of Zyra, Fin abruptly stopped his steps and turned around. 

"Don't forget about us, okay? Send us a message anytime! And…don't die! Did you hear me?!" 

Fin nodded one last time before bending his knees a little and leaned forward, arching his back. Soon enough, an almost translucent 1.5 - meter jade-green dragon's wings sprouted out of his back. It was emitting particles of gentle green light. 

With a powerful kick, Fin flashed through the air, leaving trails of green glows into the golden-orange sky dyed by the sun that was about to set.

"Goodbye~ Fin!" Mike's party waved their hands, saying their last goodbye to Fin who was also waving his hand without looking back. 

The moment Fin was already out of their sight, Lean could not help to mutter, "His empyrean mastery is already level five…" 

.... 

One week later. 

In a small flat space amid a thick forest of the starry black night sky. A white-haired young man dressed in pale-white long robe above a similar colored garment was being surrounded at all sides by four dark, tree-like creatures. It was none other than Fin. 

The creatures were almost seven feet tall. 

Slash! 

A pale light flashed in the air followed by a screeching sound of the creature—Nocturnal Treant. 

Nocturnal Treant was a demon tree creature that only actively roamed the wilderness in the middle of night. They were predators of the night as they hunted in groups. They used their innate appearances to camouflage in the dark to launch a perfect sneak attack. 

If someone witnessed Fin's current situation he would think that Fin was unlucky. However, if someone looked closely, they would be surprised as Fin was in no way being suppressed. 

In fact, he actually got the upper-hand. 

A swift tentacle-like branch of Nocturnal Treant pierced through where Fin's head previously at. 

While still he held his head lower, Fin took a long stride before tossing out the silver spear in his hand towards the Nocturnal Treant with all his might. 

The silver spear shortly glowed with jade-green light before shooting swiftly, a shockwave erupted as the incoming branch of a Nocturnal Treant bounced back. 

Bang! 

The silver spear penetrated 3 inches into the trunk. However, Fin frowned at the result, clearly disappointed. 

Branches of the other Nocturnal Treant were quickly heading towards him. 

With a little shrug of his back, dragon wings poked out of his back. He then kicked his feet leaping to the silver spear stuck in the trunk of Nocturnal Treant. In the next second, Fin arrived beside his spear, crossing the 15 yards distance the same time the sharp branches of the three Nocturnal Treants pierced the ground where Fin previously stood; dust smoke broke out. 

His brows were still knitted; he pulled the stuck silver spear and stabbed it once more and twisted it the moment he heard a cracking sound as if a material made of glass had been broken. 

It was the 'core'—the weakness of Nocturnal Treant.

Without waiting for the result, he pulled out his spear and pushed himself away from the treant and dodged the incoming branches. 

Boom!

The spear-like branches pierced the treant as it let out a last screech before turning into monster's data outline 'animation effects' and exploded into colorful particle of lights after being sucked by a vacuum force. 

Hovering several inches off the ground, Fin beat his wing and sped to the closest Nocturnal Treant; jade-green lights trailed behind him. 

At this moment, a treant's branch was quickly creeping behind him. Fin was still calm as ever. He impassively changed his flight course, increasing his altitude. 

The Nocturnal Treants' branches closely follow on his tail. 

Fin did a loop-a-loop and other flying techniques in the air. Skillfully maneuvering his flight technique, dodging the assaults. 

In the newbie's eyes, Fin's action was confusing. However, into beta-testers eyes, his movements were perfect and certainly difficult. It was like a sword-fish smoothly evading an octopus' tentacles attacks. 

It was no laughing matter to master the flying technique. It would take years of training and strong brain power to master the flying function. 

Only one thing defined a character's movement speed in this world: the speed of the brain when processing the signals sent by the full-dive system. The Sensoria sent out a pulse; the brain received it, processed it, and then sent feedback in the form of a movement signal. The quicker that response system, the faster a character could move. It was said that only through considerable experience could one eventually move faster than his or her natural reaction speed.

In Fin's case, his brain sent out another type of signal in the form of flying and movement signal. Thus, it could only be used for a limited time as it would stress the brain if used too much. 

Few moments later, the remaining Nocturnal Treants let out a loud screech at the same time they discovered their branches were entangled with each other's. 

As stoic as ever, Fin hovered at the center above them and began to chant using the dragon's language.

"...deuc..mar..ami..ngin..ha…" 

Strange symbols appeared one by one around him as the symbols began to glow in golden lights. 

Fin then held his fore and middle fingers out, slicing in the air to the side the moment he uttered, "Spiral Gales!" 

«Spiral Gales» was a low-level skill of Empyrean's innate mastery. A wind-magic skill. 

Three winds in a form of spear appeared around him and flew straight at the cores of the Nocturnal Treants. 

Without anything to protect their weakness, the treants could only watch as the «Spiral Gales» penetrated their trunks into their cores, destroying it. 

Crack~! 

After the cracking sound, the three Nocturnal Treants were stock-still after their health bars became empty and turned translucent the next second before exploding into colorful lights. 

Fin closed the prompt that appeared before him after a quick glance. 

Looking ahead at the far away distance, Fin calculated in his mind how long would it take before he reached the first border. 

It had been a week and he was still several miles away from the first border. In this week, he passed several towns and travelled 25 kilometers in a span of 7 days. 

Naturally, he hunted all the hidden mini-boss and elite monsters along the way. He leveled up quite a bit and increased his combat and weapons proficiency. 

Fin slowly descended onto the ground after he withdrew his wings with a slight shrugged of his back. 

"It's already 8:47 in the evening… It'll be better to set a camp here than to continue moving forward or walking back to the town..." Fin mumbled to himself after looking at the virtual clock which was also the time in the outside world. 

With an open-hand gesture, black window interface popped out as he guided his hand with a familiarity movement, clicking the menu tab for his inventory. 

After taking out a particular item, a foul odor assaulted the surrounding coming from a leather pouch in Fin's hand. Fortunately, he had already adjusted his smell sense parameters to zero. Therefore, he was unaffected to this disgusting odor. 

It was a monster repellent item named—Demonic Skunk's egest. He bought this item from a Wandering Merchant—a hidden merchant that was selling limited items. It could be found in the wilderness in a certain period of time. 

He bought it for 10,000 sil—sil was the only currency in Halcyon. 

This item was a one-time use item. It could repel every level 1 to 35 monsters within 50 diameters radius. It would last for 8 hours. Definitely worth the price. It was a must item for campers. 

Fin then took out his portable tent and tied the Demonic Skunk's egest on the top of his tent. After doing all of that, he didn't dilly-dally anymore as he slept inside. He needs to rest in order to recover his brain. Of course, he left his map open as it would alarm if it caught a sign of living organisms within its covered area. 

Four hours later, the peacefully sleeping Fin was startled awake by the sudden alarm. 

Four dots were caught in his map. Three orange-colored dots and yellow-colored dots. The three orange dots were quickly moving behind the yellow dot. 

Fin frowned upon seeing this. He quickly understood what was happening. And evidently, they were heading towards his location. 

"Hah~ I can't even have a good sleep…"