Chapter 3: The System Trigger
BEING GREETED BY A STRANGE PERSON UPON HIS ARRIVAL, Antonio was not at all surprised as he was having a day packed with surprises.
He opened his eyelids and again found himself standing in a Town Square. But, the architecture and the scenery around it were very different from the last one. Antonio saw semicircular arched windows, and doors of the buildings defining the architecture to be of a combination of Roman and Byzantine, otherwise known as the Romanesque Style of architecture.
A similar fountain was built in the center of Town Square. It was bustling with people, engaged in buying and selling commodities from the shops that were set up on either side of the city.
As Antonio was taking a look at the city, a whisper came into his ears. "You must come with me, tenth Dragon Knight. I have an important business with you."
Antonio instantly turned towards the direction of the voice and saw an unfamiliar figure standing beside him. He tried to recall what the person beside him whispered and he froze at the words 'Tenth Dragon Knight'. He had silver hair and his face was concealed by a mask, and only his black eyes were visible through it.
Antonio tried to calm himself a bit and then questioned the person. "Who are you and how do you know my profession?"
The person scoffed at the question and remarked coldly, "Listen, I am only giving you respect because I was asked to do so. And, who permitted you to ask something?"
Antonio immediately unsheathed the steel sword that was sheathed across his back and yelled in pure anger, "Oh yeah! And who permitted you to talk to me like that?"
Antonio tried to slash the sword to make some distance between the stranger and him. But, his thoughts were immediately put to rest when he felt a sudden pain on his left cheek and fell. The stranger was glaring at him with coldness in his eyes.
He kneeled on the ground and grabbed Antonio by his hair and directly gazed into the aqua blue eyes Antonio and mocked. "You are a weakling, aren't you?"
Antonio tried to loosen the grip of the stranger as he carefully assessed the current situation. "I know I am a weakling, but, just relying on my intelligence, I can formulate a strategy to come out of this sticky situation." He thought confidently.
The stranger released the grip on his hair and taking out another dagger from his scabbard that hung at his right thigh, made a deep cut into Antonio's left leg. It disabled any movement of Antonio. Antonio knew he was doomed, the moment his left leg faced a cut.
Looking desperately at the stranger, Antonio cried. "If you are Hector Romford, it's a great way to welcome me. You have to be Hector, and why are you doing this to me?"
The stranger came forward and took off his mask revealing a perfectly shaped face. A pair of black eyes, sharp nose, chiseled jawline, and bow-shaped lips added to his looks. He looked at Antonio and explained calmly. "Don't worry; I am not the guy you are looking for. My name is Luke Norman, I am known as the 'Second Dragon Knight'. And my friend, you are the Last or Tenth Dragon Knight."
Antonio was frustrated and furious by the way he was pinned down by the stranger upon his arrival. Moreover, he was furious at himself for not being able to do anything to repel the attacks of the stranger.
Releasing Antonio from his grasp, Luke continued. "I don't have time or energy to explain everything to you. But, you must come with me to the city of Gelion and meet the First Dragon Knight as he has asked for an audience with you."
Antonio started laughing after hearing Luke and tried to stand up on his feet. "Watch yourself buddy; I am not yours or your master's slave to take orders from an unknown person. And, if the so-called first Dragon Knight wanted to meet me then, he should have come himself, instead of sending his servant." He commented.
"Watch your tongue, kid. He didn't come because he has to deal with other important matters."
"In that case, tell him to meet me after he is over with those important matters at hand."
Luke got irritated by the blabbering of Antonio and clenched his fist before asking, "You don't understand the situation at all. Do you?"
Antonio tried to stand up and meet the gaze of the stranger. "I don't know anything about this world or the things you are talking about. The only thing I know is that you are breaching my privacy."
"My dear friend, your privacy was breached as soon as you entered this world. And if you think this is just a game, you are wrong." Luke scoffed
"What do you mean by that?" Antonio stuttered.
Luke slowly covered his face with the mask that he was holding and whispered. "You rejected my offer to come with me, I want to kill you right now. But, sooner or later you will seek us, The council of Dragon Knights."
Luke stopped in between to take a last look at the individual who was standing in front of him and then continued, "The meeting of Council of Dragon Knights is in two weeks. If you want to look for us, come to Gelion. We will be waiting for your arrival."
Before Antonio could reject the offer, Luke vanished into thin air. Antonio stood there for a while, trying to find a single trace of the individual. He stretched his neck to relax a bit and started walking aimlessly on the streets of Keldar. Antonio hasn't played games for the past two years let alone an MMORPG like this one. He took out his ALTDEV and navigated to his 'ECONOMY' tab which showed a thousand Kalvs, the official currency of the Empire of Lycia.
In the back of his mind, Antonio knew what things he needed to start with a boost. He continuously repeated the name of the things in his brain, "A permanent source of income, A set of weapons which includes, a sword and a spear, and most importantly a territory of my own since I cannot trust anyone here."
Antonio opened the GPS software in the ALTDEV and saw the map of the city before him. The city was divided into three different areas. The Residential Area consisted of housing zones and recreational zones. The Merchant Area consisted of markets where players can buy, trade, and sell items and the amphitheater where players can duel to earn Kalvs. The Administration Area consisted of the King's palace and the Town Hall, where a player can receive quests and register for clans.
Antonio thought of taking quests and head towards the Town Hall but, as he was passing through the merchant area, he heard a ruckus down the street. Instantly, he activated his sprint skill and rushed towards the noise. He got a feeling that it might be something of his interest. Antonio saw a crowd gathering in front of the entrance that led to a huge round Amphitheater that resembled the Roman Colosseum.
After the crowd of people went inside the amphitheater, Antonio went near one of the stalls and started inquiring about the ruckus from the man who was sitting inside the stall, "Why all these people are gathering near the amphitheater, is something the matter?"
The man at the stall scanned Antonio before replying in a harsh tone, "Don't disturb me, kid! Don't you see, I am trying to sell these healing salves."
"So, you wanna play hard. Isn't it good for nothing NPC?" Antonio thought.
After some time, Antonio questioned maintaining his calm composer, "How much these healing salves cost?"
The man abruptly looked at Antonio and immediately answered in a humble tone, "These cost around five thousand Kalvs. Can you afford it?"
"I cannot afford them at the moment but, if you provide me with the information that I need, I will pay you handsomely," promised Antonio.
The man did not waste a moment and demanded greedily, "A thousand Kalvs."
Antonio acted as if he did not hear what the man said and started to leave the place without another word. But, he was instantly stopped by the man. "Where do you think, you are going after disturbing me?"
Antonio, for the very first time, sees the man carefully. He had a large figure and he was wearing a brown vest which revealed his bulging muscles. The man signaled with his right hand and soon Antonio found himself surrounded by a mob of merchants who looked more like brawlers than usual merchants.
Antonio shook his head and cursed softly, "This game, it is surely trouble. First that Luke guy who threatens to kill me but, instead end up inviting me to some council of Dragon Knights and, now this mob of merchants who look more like street brawlers than actual merchants."
Antonio unsheathed his sword and started moving carefully within the short circle formed by the mob of merchants. He turned his head in all the direction at equal time intervals. The merchants just stood at one place and keep staring at Antonio, who kept moving within the circle while thinking of a plan to escape this situation.
"Hey, kid! are you afraid of us?" mocked one of the merchants.
"No, no Jeff, this kid is just being too careful or he might get squashed like a bug that he is." said another beside him.
Antonio was still maintaining his movements as he came up with a plan to avoid getting hit by the brawlers who surrounded him. "If they come one by one, I have no chance as I won't be able to protect myself from the others while fighting one. Let's not think about what I cannot do. I should rather focus on what I can do to get out."
One of the merchants suddenly stepped forward and tried to punch Antonio on his face, which he dodged perfectly but, it left his back wide open for another attack. At that moment, a punch landed perfectly on his waist which forced him to lay flat on the ground. As soon as Antonio landed on the ground, all the merchants came forward and started kicking him mercilessly.
Antonio started to lose his consciousness, he knew he has lost it. He stared at the blood that was spreading on the ground through his head. "Huh, I know I am pathetic. I don't know why I play hero whenever I shouldn't. But, I am happy, All this is finally ending. I just wanna return to the real world." Antonio mumbled as his eyes just stared at the Health bar on the top right of his line of sight.
The health bar kept decreasing slowly draining the numbers displayed beneath it. First, it turned from bright green to a lighter shade of green, then it turned to a shade of yellow. Soon, it turned to orange and finally turning red. The health bar stayed at red for a while and a pop-up window appeared before Antonio.
'Player health dangerously low. Now, triggering the Dragon Knight A.I. System.'
After Antonio read the message on the pop-up window, he lost consciousness as his Health Bar depleted completely. The merchants who were beating him stopped abruptly and looked at each other as they smirked. One of them picked up Antonio's lifeless body and started carrying it away.
All of a sudden, a person stopped the merchant who was carrying Antonio's body. He had silver hair and his face was concealed by a mask, only revealing his black eyes. The merchant pushed him away with his left hand but, the person leaped into the air and draw out his spear which appeared out of nowhere, and beheaded the merchant with the sharp spearhead in one go.
The lower body fell on the ground as soon as his head was cut. The person got hold of Antonio's body before it hit the ground. "Who wants to get his head cut off and join him?" the person mocked other merchants and pointed his spear at the fallen merchant. The other merchants tried to run away but, instantly all of them got hit by arrows taking their lives.
Another person appeared beside the guy and whispered in a feminine tone, "Isn't this a little too much, Luke?"
Luke took off his mask and looked at the person standing beside him and replied, "No Elise, This is just the beginning. I have to inform Leon about what had happened here."
Luke took out his ALTDEV and threw it on the ground, breaking it into several shards. Elise stares at Luke with confusion, she couldn't contain her questioned and asked, "Why did you throw your ALTDEV, even though it will be back in your holster?"
Luke shook his head in disapproval and explained, "The ALTDEV is now useless since the system is triggered. The Dragon Knight system is a different A.I. system interferes with the main system and doesn't let you log out of the game. Now, all the ten dragon knights cannot log out of this game and we have a different user interface. I cannot tell you everything at the moment."
Luke connected his index and middle fingers with his thumb and cut through the thin air. Immediately, a panel appeared in front of him. " Elise, would you please take Antonio to the infirmary or he will die?" Luke said as he called Leon. Elise held Antonio and carried him away as Luke stood in the middle of the merchant area.
"So, he triggered the Dragon Knight System?" came a voice from the other side of the line as soon as it got connected.
"Yeah, the fool did trigger the system. Even if we knew about this bug, it was good for nothing." Luke cursed softly.
"I told you to keep an eye on him but, you weren't careful enough and now this happened. It is true that what is going to happen, will happen. It's useless to stop what's coming for us all."
"Now now, what's done is done. We cannot change the past. But, we must be prepared for what is coming."
"True. Now, the time for preparations is over. It is the beginning of a new era, the era of war."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AldrynKnight
AldrynKnight The New Chapter is here. I will be releasing three more chapters in this week. If you want updates on my work then join the official discord server of Eternal Battlegrounds.
Yeah, I made one finally. You can ask questions and have a talk with me there. Check the Auxilary Chapter for the server link.
Also, If you liked the Chapter, just like and leave a review.
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