Eric stared at the glowing notification, his eyes wide with disbelief. He had always known the price for participation was steep. asured not in gold or blood, but in years of his own life. Until now, the highest recorded cost for a system event among the newly integrated had been five hundred years. His patron had assured him that it had never exceeded that threshold, not in any of the countless eras he had lived through. Five hundred years had always been the invisible ceiling for early system events, a dangerous but manageable gamble. Yet the words before him told a different story. This ti, the toll was one thousand five hundred years. This was triple the worst-case scenario.
Eric’s stomach tightened. By his own reckoning, he had perhaps four to five thousand years of natural lifespan left before he needed to ascend to D-grade. His plan had always been straightforward. Attend every single system event, grind for rewards, and climb steadily until ascension.
Even if he encountered a particularly expensive event, the cost had never seed fatal. Most trials later would demanded seven to nine hundred years, but to bleed away fifteen hundred years at the very first event? That risk threatened to unravel all of his careful planning. His patron had estimated ten, maybe thirty years until he could reach D-grade. On paper, there was still room for survival, but Eric could not shake the dread curling in his chest. Why gamble blindly when one could ask the god who guided him?
"We have a problem. The entry fee is one thousand five hundred years", Eric sent to Solarian.
The reply ca almost instantly, the words burning in his mind. Gods always answered swiftly, as though their thoughts raced at a speed mortals could never comprehend.
"Troubling… but it changes nothing. You cannot skip this event. It is ti-dilated. The other Chosen will gain not only rare items, but levels and power. If you refuse, you risk your very life. Worse, we cannot know when the next system event will erge. With such a steep price so early, the cycle may be erratic. This era will not follow the old rules."
Eric’s jaw tightened. "And what about my people? Many don’t have that much ti left. I can’t take them with ."
He had half-expected this answer, but the thought gnawed at him. His army could be teleported in groups large enough to fill a battlefield, but he hesitated now. Too many among them hovered close to their natural limits. If they burned fifteen hundred years here, even survival might doom them. They could win the event only to die of old age before touching D-grade.
And without the proper training, without growth, their classes would stagnate at the threshold. He wanted the best outco for them, not an early grave. But if he brought fewer allies, could he still stand against other Chosen? The treasure hunt demanded numbers, scouts to spread out, fighters to guard him, and carriers to hoard prizes. Without them, how could he hope to place high enough to claim the rewards?
"You will need strong fighters at your side", Solarian answered after a pause, his voice calm as ever. "But if your fear consus you, you will not fight at full strength. Take twenty, thirty elite warriors—no less. The rest is your choice. Just know this. You may need to kill another Chosen to claim the first place. You have the tools. Use them wisely. None are chosen by luck. Each hides their strength or trick."
The god’s words settled over Eric like a heavy mantle. His patron’s tone was steady, unchanged, but the faint delay before the reply lingered in Eric’s mind like an echo. Gods did not hesitate. The thought was unsettling. Still, his resolve hardened. He did not have the luxury of ti.
He gathered his troops swiftly. Mustering twenty to thirty elites was no challenge, though it felt strange not to lead the full hundred fighters he had once envisioned. What worried him more was Solarian’s warning about killing another Chosen. That was a far more dangerous ga. He had hoped the elites from Thalion’s camp might join him, but they declined.
They debated whether to attend at all, preferring to wait for a safer event where they could control their own fate. Eric could not bla them. Paying such a cost only to hand the reward to another god’s pawn was a gamble few would take. If he died, their sacrifice would be wasted. Even his own future with Solarian’s domain was not fully clear. What help awaited them there without blessings? Even Eric himself did not know. His patron had promised only one thing: survival.
Around the camp, whispers of disbelief spread like wildfire. Soldiers and adventurers alike murmured at the staggering fee. Those with sharper minds understood the deeper truth: competition would be unlike anything before. The weak would not dare attend. F-grade mortals were barred entirely. The entry would kill them by the loss of ti. Maybe they had a few days left to reach the next grade.
Even fragile E-grades would balk, unwilling to gamble their remaining lifespans. This event would be a gathering of predators, the strongest of the strong. Normally, perhaps ten percent of attendees were elites, with only a rare few bearing divine patrons. Now, those numbers would swell. The battlefield would be a crucible.
Yet Eric did not falter. He had trained relentlessly, day after day, under Solarian’s guidance. His god was one of the strongest in integrated space, and surely that strength echoed in him. Surely that ant he stood among the higher echelons of the Chosen. At least, he prayed it did.
He readied himself, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his hunting party. When the mont ca, he accepted the system’s terms. Reality fractured.
Agony ripped through him as the purple vortex claid his body. It felt like his soul was being fed through a grinder. He scread, the sound torn from his throat as fifteen hundred years of his life vanished in an instant. The tearing ache passed quickly, but its ghost lingered in his bones.
Then the void cleared. He stood atop a massive pillar floating in endless space. His companions materialized beside him, their faces pale, their bodies trembling from the sa cosmic theft. Across their vision, the system’s words unfolded in brilliant, rciless clarity.
Welco to your first System Event
The first event will be a Treasure Hunt
Around your neck, you will find a spatial amulet, capable of storing any treasure you claim
Items you carried into the event cannot be stored
Your task is to gather as many treasures as possible
Only treasures within the amulet will count toward your score
At the event’s end, the system will reclaim these treasures in exchange for points
Beware your allies may beco your deadliest enemies
You may leave at any ti, but doing so will forfeit everything inside the amulet
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Exit is not instantaneous. The more you carry, the longer it will take, especially while fighting
Speed will be your greatest weapon
Good luck
Eric exhaled slowly, nodding once. He had suspected such rules. Eric reached instinctively for Solarian’s voice but felt only silence. The link was gone. The pillar they stood on seed more like a waiting chamber, suspended between worlds. They waited there for hours until the true descent began.
The second teleport struck without warning. Eric and his warriors crashed into a new realm. An endless plain of erald grass dotted with white flowers. To his left stretched a jungle of titanic trees, their canopies clawing toward the sky at a hundred ters tall. To his right wound a broad river, fifty ters wide and unfathomably deep, its crystal waters gleaming like a mirror.
Its serpentine course vanished into a canyon ahead, carved wide as the grandest of chasms, its cliffs crowned with castles both ancient and defiant. Eric’s skill, Light’s Eye, narrowed his gaze to the horizon. The fortresses perched precariously along the canyon’s edge glead with runes, daring intruders to test their strength.
Before he could plan, other presences flared. Three more parties materialized within sight. Two were human, one elven. Eric’s eyes hardened. This was no ti for rcy. He could not afford rivals. Not here, not now. Every treasure mattered, and trust was a luxury he could not grant strangers. With ruthless efficiency, he struck.
The amulet’s rules had not forbidden seizing the spoils of others. And Eric intended to take everything.
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