Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

Venturing much deeper inside the Deep Woods, I have finished other requests such as; the gathering etcetera. I would say I am pretty lucky as I got the goblin ears drop rather easily.

And now it is just a matter of waiting until the night-cycle comes as I need to hunt the forest wolves & gather some Mana Herbs.

In the meantime though...

“Ah!! That boulder!!!”

In a hurry, I began to brandish the pickaxe & swung it right at the boulder. While the golem is standing beside me like a helicopter mom. Even if I commanded it to stay several feet away it will revert to the default setting to stay at my side. So, I just let it go.

--

*TING* *TING* *TING*

Haaa... Haaa... Haaa... I have abysmal SP, just three swings were enough to make me feel like I have done cardio for 1 hour.

“Not that I’m physically fit in the real world too. Haaa....”

Unlike in the real world, the fatigue disappears faster as I can stand up again and repeat the swings. Until I get around 15 Iron Ores and several flawed jewels.

“Hmmm... Now I wonder...”

I glance at the golem in my party display panel. I can check its HP, {Status}, {Skill}, {Spell}, and use a voice command to give it a short duration order before reverting to its original behaviour.

I didn’t see any duration regarding how long the summon lasted or anything like it. It made me think.

(“Does that mean my mud golem is a permanent summon? And... is it possible to have more than 1 golem?”)

Let’s try...

My heart skipped a beat as I smiled, couldn’t help to contain the excitement of discovery as I began to cast the very same {Spell}.

Once I cast it though, the mud golem beside me suddenly loses its form. It turns into the very same sphere of soil as it continuously spins and seemingly absorbs more dirt.

“Ah... I can only have one summoned golem at a time.”

Then the same panel appears in front of my face, a selection of Golem’s Mode & its type including a choice for me to ‘Build’ one myself.

“I have iron ores... maybe that would work.”

Clicking on the tab for it, the display changes into my inventory and the iron ore seemed to be available for me to choose.

I tapped on it as 10 Iron Ores immediately deducted and my eyes glanced at the dirt sphere.

“Whoa... It changes colour.”

The brown colour of the dirt has now greyed and has a metallic sheen whenever rays of sunlight shine upon it.

Reverting to the Golem panel, I can see that the ‘Iron’ type of Golem is unlocked at Level 10.

“I see...”

It means that I can summon Golem ahead of my level provided I can obtain the materials.

“Summon! Iron Defender Golem.”

The metal sphere began to melt and moulded into the shape of a humanoid. Same look as the mud golem the only difference is that. It is now made out of iron complete with that flashy sheen whenever sunlight hits on it. It began to move to my side as per its default behaviour settings.

Hmmm... rubbing my chin, I tried to compare and contrast the previous mud golem {Status}, HP, {Skill}, and {Spell} to the iron golem.

So far, it is a direct enhancement of {Status} and bigger HP.

“Owh...? What is this?”

-System-

<Golem’s Provoke>

Description: The golem gains the attention of enemies in its surroundings but is unable to move.

-System-

“Ohohoho! You have a {Skill} now. Good...”

My mind already thinks of many ways to utilize that ability. Combining this golem provoke and an AoE {Spell} I could easily decimate a horde of enemies.

I nod to myself as I look up & see the sun has declined indicative that it’s dusk. As my surroundings darkens...

“[Light]!!”

The tip of my staff glowed like a lamp giving off a whitish hue and I could see easily now.

“GRRRRR!!!” -Forest Wolves-

“There we go!”

With a smile, my targets are here as I begin to cast.

--

“Fiuf! That’s done and dusted!”

I am now Level 9 as I sit on the ground, already spent the entire night cycle hunting down any forest wolves I can find for their special fangs and gathered Mana Herbs.

I am done with all of that, the only thing left is fighting a boss. I’m not sure if I can tackle it... knowing it is a ‘Raid’ type of thing.

“Maybe this game has those ‘Dungeons’ type of thing? Hmmm...”

In any case, the golem at my side helped a lot in terms of protecting me. Buying that spell book is worth it.

At the moment, it has ‘Shielding’ behaviour by using its body or limbs as a shield, blocking attacks at the cost of being damaged. Then ‘Shrugging’ to knock back the attackers.

I helped in casting [Mending] in between to recover its HP. It seems by upgrading the golem, ‘Healing’ it gets more difficult.

Hmm... There might be a better version of [Me ding] as I get higher in Level & discover more spell books to ‘consume’.

“Shall we go?”

(“Oh shoot! I forgot..”)

Internally, I face palmed myself knowing the golem wouldn’t reply as I embarrassedly stood up and ventured deeper into the woods ignoring what I did.

...

...

...

*BAM!*

“WAH!!”

My vision changes so quickly that it's dizzying as I close my eyes bracing for impact as I know I stumbled on something.

But it never came as I felt a firm grip on my stomach.

Opening my eyes, I could see grass and dirt in front of me as I turned my head around to check who prevented me from falling.

Ah... it’s my Golem, I didn’t know it would also do that as well...

“Thanks...”

Again! Aghhh... It reminds me of when I said ‘Sorry’ to a mannequin when I bumped into it.

Shaking my head, once I am back on track the Golem retract its hand and continues to stand on guard.

“Come to think of it, what was that? So far I have never stumbled or bumped into something in this Area.”

Turning my head around, I can see a different kind of view contrary to the lush greeneries around me.

These are rubbles splayed out for me to see, unlike my temple the structure seemed to have been destroyed for a long time.

The grey colour of the buildings made me think of carved stone and I tried to picture in my head, the original look of this building.

Hmm...

Hmmm....

*DING!!!*

My eyebrows twitched for a bit from that notification sound as a panel prompt appeared in front of me.

-System-

Congratulations! You have discovered your first dungeon! ‘Ancient Ruins’

The location of this place will be registered on your map.

Dungeons are repeatable instances where players face myriad challenges. Obtaining valuable rewards in return for completing those challenges.

Note: Entrance to a dungeon is regarded as a Safe Zone as such the same rules apply.

-System-

“Oh! So this is a dungeon? Why there’s not a lot of people around though...”

As soon as I said that, I heard several rustles and footsteps behind me.

Turning around to look, players of different classes and outfits appeared, either giving a polite greeting nod to me or blatantly ignoring me before abruptly vanishing.

They must have entered the dungeon. How do they do that? And their outfit suggests they are higher level. More than Level 10 suggested by the Deep Woods area.

I stepped forward as a panel appeared once more. ‘Would you like to enter a dungeon? Solo / Party

My eyes are drawn to the word ‘Solo’ as I hover around to see the description.

“Ahhhhh... Dungeons can be adjusted depending on how many members are in a party. Multiple people in a dungeon gave more EXP and rewards but also increased difficulty. Meanwhile Solo has an easier journey with lower EXP & Rewards.”

The thing is Adventurer’s Guild request regarding slaying a boss doesn’t specify if it is the ‘Field’ Boss or a ‘Dungeon’ Boss.

My lips curved upward in a grin.

(“Maybe I can try...”)

With my Golem beside me, I pressed Solo and another tap to confirm entry.

--

Immediately the scenery of ruined rubble & forests changed.

“Where... where am I?”

I can see around me is a vast chamber with strange murals etched on its walls and behind me is a large stone gate where I assume it is the entrance.

In the centre of this chamber, there is a single sunbeam giving off dim lighting in this room allowing me to see all of those with the help of my [Light] spell.

...

...

“...Wait... it’s nighttime outside! Why there’s a sunbeam?”

I talked to myself as my brain turned to think of what was going on. The only logical solution I can find is separate ‘Space’ which in this case the devs can alter the time inside without affecting the game world.

My hands unconsciously touch the murals and I can feel the cold surface of the gritty carved stone. As I rubbed my fingers together to wipe the dust away.

“Wow... they certainly made a big effort to the game.”

So far, I haven’t seen any enemies in the vicinity. But I can see three hallways leading somewhere that’s too dark for me to look further.

I have 3 options... going right in front of me, to my left, or to my right.

Hmm...

I’ll choose my left then as it is closer to me compared to the other hallways.

Pointing my staff at the front, the intense glow of my [Light] spell illuminated the area. The murals are still etched on the walls of this place.

I can see some unlighted torch sconces attached to the walls in an orderly manner. If only I can set them alight my vision range will be expanded.

Hmmm....

“[Fire Bolt]!!”

Flames burst out from my hands and shoot straight forward to the sconce that I aimed. Once it hits...

*FWOOOSHHH*

Fire crackles and gives off its orange light to the surroundings.

*FWOOSH* *FWOOSH* *FWOOSH*

“Huh?”

Once I set one alight, the others follow suit making the entire hallway visible. Knowing that I manually turn off my [Light] by casting the spell again to my staff.

My footsteps echoed within the walls of this place as I continued my trek forward.

...

I stepped on something...

“What is that?”

Automatically, I looked down and saw a tile on the ground that went deeper due to my weight.

*GRRRRT* *CLICK*

I heard stones grating to one another and then a mechanical click. My brain immediately knew what this entails.

“[Shield]!!”

Instinctively without wasting a second, I cast that spell and a blue dome formed around me.

*BAM* *BAM*

“Fiuf...”

I let out a sigh of relief, in front of me there were two arrows on the ground presumably deflected by the barrier I erected.

I change the way I’m gripping my staff, instead of holding its middle part I hold the top part of it like a cane and use the extended range to tap the tiles in front.

*TAP*

(“Nope, not that one.”)

*TAP*

(“Not this either.”)

*TAP* *GRRTT*

Ah... This one got pushed so easily with a slight tap and It didn’t trigger the mechanism either. So, I kept on tapping while walking in front, avoiding those trap mechanisms.

--

(“Hmmm... What is this place?”)

The hallway ends in another massive chamber where a strange crystal lies in the centre.

My eyes are glued to a blue glow radiating from that crystal, judging by the attachment on the top & bottom of the object. It is immovable as I move around it.

“Eh? I see something.”

Briefly, I saw some scribbles inside the crystal as I approached that object in closer look.

“Oh! It’s not scribbles, it is an image of something.”

That image is scattered making it hard to discern what I am looking at. Until I change my viewing angle as I realize what this entails.

It is a puzzle where I need to look at the correct angle to shape the image correctly. Knowing this, I slide around the room where my iron golem keeps on following me...