Game Transcendence

9: Aether Castle

9: Aether Castle
Date Written: August 29, 2019

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In a certain small island floating above a lush valley, a scream that came from a non human creature sounded out.

It was a bird with a five meter long wingspan. Lightning and clouds swirled on its feather giving it a very mysterious feeling. It was StormBird, a level 40 wind, water and lightning type monster.

A large bullet carrying with it an ethereal feeling passed through its body like it was illusory. The StormBird let out a miserable scream.  It fired a bolt of lightning from its mouth towards a flying young man.

As if he was a nimble snake, his body twisted like he had no bones and dodged the attack. He suddenly jumped in the air and did a back flip. After that, a kick landed on the monster's head, creating a scene of horror.

"Ten points for Kian!" he cheered and did a dab pose.

Kian couldn't help but shake his head at his own actions. There was a smile on his face as he made his way to the corpse of the StormBird.

Unlike before, he didn't chose to do the System loot but personally looted the corpse instead. Materials gathered this way might be a bit troublesome but they earn you more money.

"What's this?" his eyes lit up with interest.

Right after the corpse dissapeared into countless lights, a circular metal that looked like a covering for a manhole was revealed. He couldn't help but slowly open it with curiosity.

Suddenly, a strong suction appeared. It was irresistible. The next thing he knew, he was already soaring through the skies. However, it was a different sky from the earlier one.

Rosy clouds blotted areas of the sky like a blanket. A slightly dark blue color peeked out from their gaps where the stars could be seen. It was a common sky that can be seen from fantasy movies. A perpetual sunset.

The air pressure was not that strong. Kian was quickly able to stabilize himself and landed on the ground.

The place was a huge island in the sky. He was right outside of a huge,ruined city made of a certain white stone. Even though he was just outside the gates, he could still see the gigantic castle made of a material that glittered with stars.

"Where is this place?" he couldn't help but get cautious, the beautiful scenery didn't affect his mindset.

He surveyed the area and found no gates that can go back to the previous level of the dungeon not a gate to quickly leave the dungeon itself.

After a while, he deduced that it must be inside the city or maybe in that palace itself.

Before that, he didn't forget to check the map at first.

"Level 200?!" he couldn't help but take a few steps back.

The farthest that the highest level players had managed to reach was merely level 155 and his was only level 120. How exactly did that manhole-like gate appear on such lower levelled areas?

Strangely enough, there wasn't the feeling of danger like he did whenever he went to a place full of monsters. It's as if there was no one here.

He tried to calm himself down and headed inside. After all, he couldn't just stand here.

The city was deserted. Although the buildings were in ruins, one could still make out the previous beauty that it held. A piece of stone he picked up from a fallen building was carved with imageries from celestial bodies.

His footsteps echoed each time he took a step, instilling a sense of peace inside him. It has been a long time since he heard silence like this. A nostalgic feeling came over him as his thoughts couldn't help but wander back to the times when he was still on Earth.

"I wonder what's gonna happen to us in a few more years" he sighed.

The city was huge but it didn't stop a superhuman being like him to reach the palace in just thirty minutes.

It was already magnificent just from afar but now that he was at the gates, he could clearly feel the majestic aura almaot breathless.

The gates opened on their own as if inviting him inside.

His footsteps were slow at first and his eyes were wary. A few moments later, he dashed and entered the palace. After he was inside, he couldn't help but stop and catch his breath.

The palace didn't need any sort of light source. The walls themselves that resembled the night sky lit with stars and comets were enough for him to see.

The hallways were empty except for the yellow stained windows that depicted certain images that gave him goosebumps. A chill made its way into his back the more he examined the images on the windows.

They depicted people who had extra ten eyes hovering above their foreheads. They had eyes and hair similar to that of the silver moon.

There were images of them fighting using some unknown kind of power and wielding machines that are too high tech to be considered as a part of this game.

He was about to pass by a different stained glass when hurried footsteps other than his resounded across the palace.

Kian's eyes landed across the second floor which was visible from his direction.

A figure passed by with great speed. Despite almost being a blur, Kian was still able to recognize see her appearance.

Silver hair and eyes and ten blue vertical crystal eyes on the forehead. She was one of the people mentioned in he stained glasses.

The next thing he saw however, made his eyes contract. That face... Those eyes... It was her!

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Author's note:

I've noticed (even if I didn't, I still felt like there was) there are a lot of typos in this book. There are a couple of people who commented on the typos and let me notified. Thank you so much guys and sorry for that!

Volume 2 is shorter than the first volume. I think it would just be a couple more chapters. I'll be doing a major editing after that. That's also the reason why my updates are faster than usual.

Also, I wanted to thank you guys for reading up till now. It always warms my heart whenever I see the same people who followed Kian's adventure in this novel.

Thanks a million times!