Second World

It took around five hours for the entire one hundred rankers to go up and claim their rewards. The sun was about to set in the west. Silverwing and Scarface were both amongst the one hundred. When the one-hundredth ranker left the Giant blue sphere, it dissolved into thin air.

Honuren floated towards the colossal black doors that were still shut tight.

"Congratulations to you who have received your rewards," he said heartily. "Now that the award ceremony is over, we should get to the main event. You will be entering a new world that is completely different from your old one. Try to learn the rules as best as you can; it might be the difference between life and death. As my time here is limited, I will allow three questions before you go through this gate. Please make you questions count. Afterward, you will have to find the answers yourself from the locals. Only the first, second, and third rankers have the privilege to ask these questions."

The crowd blared into a murmur.

"No fair! There is so much I want to ask!"

"Can I go back home?"

"Where are my kids?"

"How do I check the stock market?"

As the cacophony increased in volume, Honuren's body flared with blue light, he lifted his cane high and a lightning snake came thundering down from the sky. It hit the pond water that Honuren was floating above and created a crackling sound. The water churned with electricity. Luckily no one had had any thought of swimming in the pond at this time. Otherwise, they would have been cooked alive. All the noise died down after this display of power.

"I said three people!" His voice boomed out. "All others keep your mouths shut!"

He then pointed towards Jack who was the first ranker. "Ask your question," he said.

Jack was perplexed. He had many questions, but, being asked suddenly and only being able to choose one, made him unsure of what to ask.

Honuren was waiting patiently while Jack was contemplating. The others, however, were not. But learning from previous experience, they did not dare to call out to rush Jack. After all, Honuren might see it as another affront to his authority. So they kept quiet in displeasure, especially Warpath; he was forcing himself to keep his mouth shut.

After contemplating for a long minute, Jack finally realized the multitude of eyes staring at him. He began to sweat.

He knew that the Goddess didn't know anything about the real world or how they could get back to it, so he figured this Demigod would have no idea about it either. So he asked the next question he thought was most important.

"Master Honuren, my question is:  if we die in the wilderness in the Main World, will we die for real? I mean, do we stay dead forever?"

Some of the others who heard it were facepalming. Why did you waste your one important chance for such a useless question? They had seen and known from the past few days that none of the players who died in this supposed game world had come back to life like in past VR games. They were gone and no longer existed. So they really were dead.

However, Honuren's reply took them all aback, "No, if you die in the wilderness, you will come back to life in the nearest safe zone. But you will lose all your equipment and levels, starting back to square one again from level 1, no matter what level you were before you died."

The crowd was shocked. The answer was completely different from what they had expected.

Warpath who was just about to ridicule Jack for asking a stupid question, instead blurted out, "What about the people who were killed before this? During this Tutorial period?"

Honuren turned to him and answered, "They will revive too, of course. They will come back to life again in the capital, Thereath, once you start to cross through this gate. But they will also lose all their possessions and levels, starting from level 1… Ok, third question!"

Warpath was dumbfounded, "W–wait! That wasn't my question!"

Honuren turned back at him with irritation, "Are you trying to trick me? You were given one chance to ask, and you have asked one question. So your chance is done!"

Warpath was unwilling, but there was nothing he could do. He gritted his teeth and glared at Jack. This was his entire fault.  The answer to his question caused Warpath to blurt out unintentionally.

Jack, who saw the glare, felt wronged and thought, 'Brother, how is this my fault?'

Honuren ignored Warpath's discontent and turned to the third rank, Kill Order, who seemed to maintain his cool throughout the proceedings. He asked his question promptly, "Can we kill people in the safe zone? Will they also revive back to level 1?"

"That was two questions," Honuren said. "But I will let it slide. By killing people in the safe zone, I will assume you mean people like you here, not the natives of the Main World. The answer is yes, you can, but there will be a penalty. What this penalty is, you will have to find out for yourselves. As for the people who die in a safe zone, they will come back to life without losing any possessions, and will only lose 1 level."

Thus the questions ended, with all three questions revolving around players dying. Jack didn't realize that his first question would steer the other two towards similar questions. There were others that were hoping they could find out the answers to questions about how to return to the real world, but now the chance was lost. Those with this thought glared at Jack.

Bowler whispered to Jack, "is it just my feeling, or do many people seem to be angry at you?"

"I have no idea," Jack replied.

Honuren floated down towards the front of the colossal black doorway. He tapped his cane on the door. A ring of light circled outwards from the point of contact. Rumbling sounds were heard as the doorway started to vibrate. The vibration was transmitted to the pond water below which created small waves that spread outwards.

The door leaves started to open slowly. A golden light was shining from the gap between the doors which continually widened. As the doors fully opened, a golden sheet of light rolled out from inside along the surface of the water. The golden carpet created a pathway that stretched across the pond into the opening in the doorway. Nothing could be seen from the opening except golden emptiness, as if a layer of golden sheet was covering the opening of the door, preventing anyone from seeing the other side of the doorway.

Honuren landed on the golden pathway. The way he stood on it made it look like a solid floor. Someone tried to do the same and raised one of his legs to step onto the golden pathway made of light. He half expected his feet to go through and dip into the water below, but the golden light was solid.

"You may now enter the Main World through this gateway," Honuren's enhanced voice sounded out again. "There is no requirement for who is to enter first, but I expect everyone to proceed in an orderly fashion. This is not a contest. The first to cross will not have any advantage over the last one. So proceed calmly. Anyone that tries to make trouble will face my wrath. I will not repeat again."

He then stood beside the door and gestured for those nearest to start making their way inside the doorway.

No one made a move. Everyone just stood there looking at each other. They had come here expecting to go to this world that was called Main World, but now that it was time to do so, they paused. It was human nature to fear the unknown. Here, although the world had changed beyond recognition, the landscape was still the city they were familiar with. But beyond that black door, no one knew what they'd find.

After what felt like a long time, finally someone made a move. The Third rank, Kill Order, went up to the front of the doorway. He looked back and said, "Black Cloak, with me!"

A bunch of people came up following his call.. He then turned around and stepped through the golden opening.