The clicking continued without stopping, growing more and more intense with each passing second. Arthur searched everywhere around him, even in his pockets and yet he couldn’t find the source.
“Am I losing my mind? What is this?” He muttered to himself. “Where is this clicking coming from?”
The sound was far too close to be coming from afar yet there wasn’t much around him that could result in such a noise. So, as a last resort, Arthur decided to open his inventory to check the rest of his items in the hope of discovering the source.
Upon opening it, Arthur’s attention was immediately caught by something shining brightly. His face immediately frowned.
‘Isn’t that the broken shard…? Is it the source of the noise?’ He thought to himself. His hand instinctively went to click on it to manifest it in the real world. But, then he remembered that he wasn’t alone and that on the other side of the bridge, several guards were waiting for him.
‘I can’t just show them something like that.’ He thought to himself. So, instead, he bit his lips and decided to check it later. Something told him that the shard wasn’t reacting in such a way for no reason. After all, he was very close to the presumed source of this broken shard.
Whether he is wrong or not, the main shard was within that tower, in the hands of the royal family.
After a few moments of contemplation, Arthur closed the window and finally continued walking through the thin bridge till he reached the other side where he was welcomed by the guards.
“Good evening, sir.”
“Good evening,” Arthur replied as he stared beyond the guards at the gates of the tower. Unlike the tower itself, the gates were simply terrifying. They were midnight black in color, almost absorbing all the light reflected on them. Their design conformed with the rest of the tower but still looked eerie.
Arthur felt as if he was staring directly at the gates of hell.
‘That’s a little ironic considering the fact these doors lead to a frozen place.’ He thought to himself.
“Are you entering alone, sir?” The man asked when he noticed that Arthur was completely on his own.
“Yes.”
“Mm, we do not recommend that, sir. It is very dan-“
“I know what I’m doing. Thank you for your concern.” Arthur replied. ‘Even if I die, I will respawn, brother. There is nothing that can kill me.’ He added in his head.
The man had a difficult look on his face but then exhaled and nodded his head. “Open the gates!”
The other guard nodded his head and turned around before walking to the gate. Then, under Arthur’s watch, the man pulled out a pendant hidden under his clothes and put it in front of the gate. Immediately, Arthur heard a clicking sound before the gates started opening on their own.
‘Interesting mechanism. I wonder what that pendant does.’ He squinted his eyes for a second.
“Please head inside and then you will be teleported to the first floor. There is a settlement at the point of spawning so you won’t be in immediate danger. But, please tread carefully.” The guard advised.
“Understood. Anything else?”
“Yes, the time inside the tower is different from outside. It is early in the morning on the first floor. So, please, no matter what, don’t stay out of the settlement beyond sunset. That is when the frozen peak becomes an extremely dangerous place.”
The grave tone the man spoke in made Arthur frown visibly. ‘Beyond sunset? I wonder what kind of abominations appear after that time. Well, I don’t want to find out either. The hours of the morning are more than enough for me.’
“Got it. I will keep that in mind. Can I go in now?”
“… Yes, please go ahead.” The man nodded after giving Arthur one last look and then stepping aside.
Arthur took a deep breath and stared at the open gates. He couldn’t see anything inside as it was completely dark. However, he could hear the clicking going even more chaotic in his ears. Yet, the guards didn’t seem to hear it.
‘It seems I’m the only one who can hear it. Good, I don’t want any weird suspicion.’ He thought to himself as he did some stretches, cracking his bones a few times to get all the rigidness off.
*Crack*
Then, without hesitation, Arthur walked toward the gate and entered inside. He didn’t look back once as he knew he might hesitate. Instead, he simply let the darkness engulf him as he heard the gates close on their own behind him.
For a second, everything became complete darkness. Arthur couldn’t feel anything, as if his body had been robbed of all sensation. However, the feeling wasn’t uncomfortable. Instead, he felt as if the darkness was welcoming him, yearning for him, and dragging him into its heart willingly.
The clicking sound reached a new height and this time, Arthur could swear the shard wanted to break through his menu and manifest in the real world.
So, Arthur decided not to waste time and he freed the object that was eager to go out into the world. Upon manifesting in the real world, the orb exploded with a bright light, illuminating the darkness around Arthur.
The boy watched in awe as the small orb seemingly did something.
[Ding!]
Stay connected via empire
[‘Blood Monarch’ has been triggered.]
[Ding!]
[You have gained a new secondary class!]
“A secondary class?!” Arthur’s eyes widened. His excitement immediately skyrocketed. This was the third time his main class had evolved and it came at such an unexpected moment.
‘What is it? Show me quickly!’
[Bearer Of The Broken Oath
Description: Once a full shard and a full, unbroken oath. The cracks spread and the oath was shaken. Then, in one moment, everything was broken and an oath was long lost in time. That who will bear the broken shard shall fulfill the oath and the world shall change.
Effect: +20% experience points from all enemies within the Shard Tower. +10% increase in stats when inside a Shard Tower. +10% resistance against all special effects when inside the Shard Tower.]
Arthur read the description of the secondary class and he was almost completely confused. “What…does that even mean? Bearer of the broken oath? Is this shard some kind of oath? Between who? And what does it mean the oath was broken when the shard was broken? Did someone break the shard?”
Although the question came to Arthur’s head when he first discovered the broken shard, he still couldn’t fathom who could really break a Divine Shard. These are godly items and as far as he’s concerned, nobody should be able to destroy them. Unless that person has godly powers equal to the gods themselves. But, that thought was simply terrifying so Arthur didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole.
“… *Gulp* Well, on the bright side, it gave me huge bonuses! That’s quite useful! I can perform even better whenever I enter the tower!” He exclaimed. The percentage-based bonuses the class gave him were quite huge and were bound to help him a lot.
At that moment, Arthur felt the darkness around him shift. The lack of vision shifted as he started hearing the loud whistles of wind. The temperature started dropping and he started feeling a very biting cold engulf his body.
“Here it comes…” Putting the shard away, Arthur looked around him. “It’s teleporting me.”
*Title: Bearer Of The Broken Oath*
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3