MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

Alex landed on the island, the ground beneath his feet cracking under the impact, with the surrounding gravity settling to around 40 from the initial 100Gs he experienced in the sky.

The terrain around him was surreal, filled with short and wide trees with pitch-dark bark, their twisted roots gripping the ground as if resisting the crushing gravity.

The sky above was an ashy grey, filled with patchy clouds that drifted lazily, offering no glimpse of any celestial bodies, and below lay an abyss of darkness, a seemingly endless void.

Despite the ominous surroundings, the entire area was bathed in a cold, dry light, not the bright light from the sun or the cool light from the moon but a dim, harsh illumination that barely pierced the gloom.

As Alex familiarized himself with the knowledge that had flooded his mind about this trial, he heard screeches from his left side, but before he could check its source, he was forced to move instinctively, shifting to the side just in time to avoid an attack.

Alex activated his void sense and Eyes of the Ancient without hesitation, scanning his surroundings and locating the three crimson-skinned humanoid creatures.

These creatures had lanky builds, humanoid faces with pointed features, dense white spiky hair, sharp, jagged teeth and claws, and cold yellow eyes that glinted with malice.

'They seem to have a thin protective layer of anti-gravity around their bodies, but besides their insane speed, their physical strength is likely their best trait,' Alex thought, instantly analyzing them for information.

Alex drew Misery, a pitch-dark long sword that drank the light and reflected nothing, a selfish thing just as its given name.

As the three creatures lunged at him, his sword moved like a blur, leaving behind a trail of darkness, slicing the three creatures into pieces before they could even inch closer to him.

"To clear the trial and advance, one must understand the present, know the past, and use that knowledge to find where the change was first cast," Alex said aloud, mumbling the riddle that had come to his mind.

Alex realized he needed to locate the origin of the twisted gravity that had shaped the biome into a realm dominated by chaotic gravitational forces ranging from zero gravity to nearly 400Gs.

The challenge was immense, as the riddle offered few clues, and as far as Alex could see, there were chains of floating islands, some as small as a hundred meters in diameter and others stretching for several kilometers.

Alex saw nothing in the surroundings that screamed special, so even if he could manage the extreme gravity and fend off the monstrous inhabitants of this biome, finding a small shard of something unknown that appeared special would be a daunting task in this vast, unforgiving land.

Alex was forced to consider whether he wanted to invest his time in this tomb for a reward that, while potentially great, was of unknown value.

However, after considering what he knew about the tomb, he knew that he was in a special trial, possibly the one that Astovias Gold mentioned in his message, which could possibly offer a treasure of time element.

'Four floors, each with its challenges housing four pieces of an artifact hidden somewhere with my only clue being vague riddles, for a reward that could be great or just a waste of time,'

'So what should I do?' Alex questioned, contemplating whether he wanted to stay or leave.

Now that Alex no longer had his legacy weapon, he had tried to get other artifacts with time skills, knowing their value in battle, but any artifact that had even one of the skills he was familiar with costed at least a middle-grade Ruler wish and even then they could not match his old skills.

So even if he had to spend a few days clearing the tomb trial and could get a time element artifact of value, then it would be worth the trouble, but the question was if he would get a time element treasure.

'The riddle does say to understand the present and know the past, which could be just the riddle, but it could also be a hint at the reward,' Alex thought, trying to reason why he should stay, knowing well that the trip will not last a few days as he expected it to be.

'One week, I will give these trials one week, and if by then I either don't clear it or know for certain that the trial hints at the time element, then I am leaving,' Alex thought, reaching a decision after a few minutes of contemplation.

Alex knew that while the chances were slim, the opportunity was too great to miss, so with the decision made, he instantly sprinted into action to look for something or someone who could tell him the past of this place.

There were at least a few thousand islands in the surroundings, some barren pieces of rock, others blobs of water with giant stones, and others resembling normal islands, with flora and fauna unknown to Alex.

It did not take long for Alex to discover ruins of man-made structures remnants of once lively settlements, and by checking the nearby islands, he also confirmed that these islands were once part of a much larger landmass.

However, he did not find any intelligent creatures, as even the strong Zephyrs, the crimson-skinned humanoid race, were incapable of communication.

The information he discovered from the texts and markings in the ruined settlements was useless to him since he could not translate any of it.

Alex recognized there would be some places that housed the history of this place, which would lead him to the source of the gravity anomaly and the shard of the artifact.

However, he knew it would take a lot of time, which he did not have, so he needed to do something else to find the artifact quickly. After some thinking, he recognized that the place with the most gravity or no gravity should be the place to house the artifact.

So Alex began to wander the different islands, migrating toward the central area, and the deeper he went, the stronger the gravity he experienced.

However, his initial optimism faded as he recognized that the central area with the most gravitational anomalies stretched for tens of kilometers and housed a few hundred small and large islands.

Every other island had an area with a gravitational anomaly, so checking all of them was also going to take a long time, but at this point, he had no other choice and could only hope that he would luck out and find the artifact within a few days.

Alex summoned thirteen early to mid-stage Sixth Rank elementals using the summon gate and sent them to search for the unique anomalies and places.

In the following two days, Alex discovered many promising places that stood out, but he had no luck finding any information on the history of this place or even narrowing down the possible location of the shard.

At this moment, Alex was seated atop the bloodied corpse of a beast with a furry body and a fleshless stone skull, with their surroundings lying in complete ruins, a testament to the tough battle that took place.

'One must understand the present, know the past, and use that knowledge to find where the change was first cast,'

'What if the riddle means something entirely different from what I think?'

'What if I do not need to learn the history of this place and find the source of the gravitational disturbance,' Alex thought, trying to see if the riddle gave any other meaning than what he believed.

'One must understand the present, know the past, and use that knowledge to find where the change was first cast,' Alex thought, repeating the riddle once more in his mind.

'What if, by understanding the present, the riddle is telling me to believe that there is no information on the past of this place?'

'By knowing the past, it is telling me to know my past?'

'Use this knowledge to find where the change was first cast,'

'By change, what if it is not referring to the gravitational disturbance of this realm, but instead referring to Me?'

'I am the outsider, the change in this place,' Alex thought, and like pieces of the puzzle falling into place, the fog cleared, and an answer came to me.

"The damn artifact shard is located at the place I was teleported to in the beginning," Alex said, the realization hitting him like a bolt of lightning as the puzzle pieces finally snapped into place.