A Warlock's Ascent

As Dave pushed the red door open, he was greeted with a very unusual scene…

The door led to a small cubic room, it had a desk and a pair of comfy chairs, and a stack of papers was lying on the desk. The weirdest part about this room was the skeleton that was sitting on one of the chairs.

The skeleton was wearing a blue color two-piece suit, despite being a skeleton, it had long silky hair and a flower clip on the top. He didn't know what to think anymore, whether this skeleton was supposed to be amusing or was this supposed to be threatening, he didn't know. But it was very weird seeing a skeleton with full-length hair like that.

"Oh good, it was becoming a bit boring waiting here all day long… What is your name lad?" the skeleton said.

"The fuck!" He was startled. He unconsciously took a step back and collided with the door. The skeleton moved his jaw and a voice came out, that could not be possible.

"Oh, did I scare you, love? I am sorry." Dave still didn't move, he knew that skeletons don't talk, let alone speak with a British accent.

"What the? What what what… what the hell! How are you speaking?"

"Well, technically I am not talking. I am just moving my mouth while using a skill called [Telepathy]. With this skill, I can communicate with anyone with their mind. It is a quite handy skill when you meet a lot of people with different backgrounds and ethnicities."

It was then he realized something. "What the hell is going on here? Am I in hell?" Amused, skeleton shook her head.

"No… but I have heard that is quite a nasty place love. You don't want to end up there. But still depends on which part of hell you end up at…" the skeleton then started speaking about how awful the hell is, she spoke as though she had visited hell herself and was speaking with personal experience…

"OH BLIMEY! Look at the time. Sit down love, we have hardly any time left." Like a command given to a robot, as soon as those words traveled to his ears, his body started moving on its own, and he took a seat in front of her like he was commanded…

He just couldn't believe that skeletons could talk, then one that was sitting in front of him gotta be a contraption of some sort. He knew it. He carefully observed her to see whether he could figure out the complex contraption that is making her move. But he couldn't.

Now she commanded him as if he was a puppet doll that has to dance on her fingertips, everything that he had seen till now was making him think that this was not just any ordinary kidnapping, this was something more, something more dangerous.

"Now love, I know you have a lot of questions in your mind. But I have a very small amount of time left to answer all your questions. So let's just get this over it…" She then started rummaging through some papers on her desk and then he took a page out and passed it to Dave, then she continued.

"You and all the people that you saw back there are here to participate in a very special game that we call R3T or Race To The Top. The game is pretty simple. You and the other participants would be thrown into a magical world. Where all you need to do is get to the top to finish the game. And after finishing the game, The Celestials or Gods will grant the winner any wish they want. Everything or anything is on the table, you could ask for power, you can ask for any deceased person's life or you could ask for money, anything that you want. Pretty sweet deal ain't it?" But Dave was not having it.

"NO! I am not playing any sort of game. You guys are fucking kidnappers!" Seeing him yelling, the skeleton shook her head with disappointment.

"Oh for fucks sake… Look, love, I know you are scared. But believe me, this is going to get worse and I don't have time or patience to answer all of your questions and accusations. Now, look at this paper. And choose one of the classes." The skeleton said while gesturing toward the paper in front of him.

He was reluctant to look at anything, but suddenly something took over his body once again and he started reading the paper in front of him…..

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Name- Newbie Swordsman

Equipment- A basic short sword, a knight shield.

Description- A person who had gotten a sword from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it.

Perks- Big inventory.

Skill- <None>

.....................…..

Name- Newbie Spearman

Equipment- A wooden spear, low-level armor

Description- A person who had gotten a spear from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it.

Perks- <None>

Skill- <Aura Blade>

.....................…..

Name- Newbie Archer

Equipment- A wooden short bow, a quiver full of 20 arrows

Description- A person who had gotten a bow and arrows from somewhere and had no idea how to wield them.

Perks- <None>

Skill- <Eagle eyes>

.....................…..

Name- Newbie Magician

Equipment- A wooden staff

Description- A person who got a staff and book from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it.

Perks- <None>

Skill- <Mana ball>, <Mana Shield>

.....................…..

After reading about all the classes and their description, he was confused, he couldn't understand why the skeleton was making him choose one of these. He wanted to ask her about it, but his body didn't follow his command, It was then he remembered, she ordered him to give the name of the class that he wants to choose.

'If I am right, then I can talk to her only after making my decision about the class.' he thought. So he read all the classes once again. He was leaning towards Newbie Magician as his class, but giving it another thought, he started to wonder whether this class would be useful to him.

The Magician's equipment includes a staff and only two skills, given that he had no knowledge of any other spells, it might be a little bit disadvantageous to choose this class. He didn't know why they were making him choose all of this, but to be on the safe side, he figured it would be for the best that he plays by his strengths. And his strength was his physical ability at the moment.

He started eyeing the Spearman and Swordsman class. He didn't know how to use either one of them but he was confident that if he practices well enough then he would be able to master them eventually. While Archer's class is interesting, he knew that he wouldn't be able to handle the class. After all, Archery takes years of practice before one could become proficient in its use. So that class was out of the question.

After giving it some more thought he eventually landed on a decision. "I will choose Newbie Swordsman's class,"

"Wonderful, goodbye dear. I pray that you will survive the ordeal." The skeleton then waved her hands.

"Wait I need to ask....." Dave wasn't able to finish his sentence as got teleported from his chair.

***

When Dave opened his eyes, he was lying under the shade of a tree, birds were chirping around him, and the air carried pure fresh breath which was very soothing. This might have been a good picnic spot if wasn't for his body. His head was spinning and he was feeling nauseous. He felt like someone dismembered him and then reassembled him in this place.

After getting his bearing, he saw dense vegetation all around him, maybe he was in some forest. He looked down and saw that he was wearing different clothes now, he was wearing a white color medieval-style shirt and brown leather pants, with black color boots. While the most interesting thing about his outfit was the sword that was dangling from his waist.

The sheath of the sword was strapped to the belt of his pants. He took out the sword from its sheathe to inspect it, its hilt was made up of black color leather strips interwoven with each other. While the sword itself was pretty shiny and had some weight to it.

'From the looks of it, this sword was sharp.' he thought. He swung the sword with his hands in the air making a whistling sound. It was a pretty great sword.

DING

It was then a message ringtone chimed in the air, it was then a blue color window manifested itself in front of his face.

.....................…..

Welcome to a New Reality Player,

This world will be your home for the upcoming years. In this new world, there are many mysteries and powers hidden from the naked eye. Find those powers, refine them and make them your own. They will be useful in the upcoming arduous path.

Reach to the Top, Fight, and most importantly survive.

P.S- Please say 'Status' to continue

.....................…..

He tried to touch the interface of the message. But surprisingly his hands went through the window. A Fucking Hologram. From what he knew such kind effects shouldn't be possible with modern technology, so how any of this was possible?

"Status," he said out loud. Immediately the blue color window in front of him vanished and another window popped open in front of him.

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Status

Name- Dave Gonsalves

Class- Newbie Swordsman

Level- 3

Stats- <Think about it to expand>

Inventory- <Think about it to expand>

Quest- <Think about it to expand>

Skills- <Think about it to expand>

.....................…..

The Quest tab of this window was blinking continuously, prompting him to open it up. With a simple thought, the tab expanded and another window opened. The new window was a list with only the top spot of the list taken. While the rest of the spots were empty.

The top spot in the list had a quest called The Race To The Top. Dave thought about opening it and the details of the quest opened in front of him…

.....................…..

Name- The Race To The Top

Rank- GOD LEVEL

Description- The magical world that the player has been thrown into is divided into 9 worlds. These worlds have many mysterious powers hiding from everyone in plain sight. Gather any power that you can. And reach the 10th floor before anyone else.

Reward- Any wish of the winner would be granted by God.

Penalty- <None>

Time limit- <None>

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