Macrocosmic Mage

Chapter 2: The Awakening in Arhod Desert (1)

The first thing that hit me was light.

Not the soft glow of morning, nor the dim LED flickers of my apartment. It was blinding, merciless sunlight pouring directly into my retinas, as if the sky itself had been torn open above me.

Instinctively, I threw my right arm across my face.

The heat struck a second later—a dry, suffocating wall pressing hard against my skin. Coarse sand scratched at my bare forearms and neck. My body felt leaden and sluggish, as though I had been dragged from a deep coma.

For a few long seconds, I lay still, forcing air into my lungs.

Then I pushed myself upright.

Golden dunes stretched endlessly in every direction, rolling across the horizon like frozen waves beneath a bleached-blue sky. No structures. No trees. No access roads. Just an endless expanse of desert shimmering under a brutal sun.

Where am I?

I looked down at my clothes and frowned. The soft cotton shirt I’d worn into the pod was gone. In its place were rough, sun-bleached rags, frayed at the hem and smelling of dust.

Unease coiled tightly in my chest. Then memory returned in a rush.

The Interplanetary Network. IPN.

I was inside the engine.

Steadying my breath, I voiced the standard system command: “Virtual Status.”

A translucent blue interface materialized before me, hovering weightlessly in the shimmering air.

===================================================

[ Welcome, Photon-V. ]

[ Current Location: Planetary System 687 (Planet Krada) — Arhod Desert ]

=================================================== PLAYER PROFILE: Photon-V =================================================== Archetype: Charmer (Lv. 1 - Ordinary) Vitality Lv. 0: 100% (Stable) Mental Activity Lv. 0: 100% (Stable) Mana Pool: 50 / 50 Equipment: None Current Experience: 0 / 500 Personal Funds: 100 Ridan Universal Time: 08:04:16 ===================================================

I scanned the data twice. The Universal Time timestamp matched the real-world clock down to the second. At least IPN wasn't desynchronizing real-world time yet.

Ridan was clearly the local currency. My starting grade was baseline Ordinary, my skill registry was blank, and my gear was non-existent.

A quiet, dry chuckle escaped my throat. I had spent my adult life grinding through double shifts and grading papers just to cover rent, treating games as a luxury for people with spare time. Now here I was, abandoned in a digital wasteland with zero stats and a pocketful of play money.

What is the objective here?

===================================================

[ Notification: Introductory Mission Available. ]

[ Accept Mission? (Y/N) ]

===================================================

“Accept,” I said immediately.

===================================================

[ Mission Initialized: Tower of the Wise ]

[ Objective: Travel to the southern region of the Arhod Desert and enter the Tower of the Wise. Acquire the Foundation Intelligence data block to unlock universe lore, historical logs, and base archetype skills. ]

[ Difficulty Assessment: 70% ]

[ Time Limit: 24 Hours ]

[ Failure Penalty: 72-Hour Neural Lockout (Account Suspension) ]

===================================================

“A seventy percent failure probability on an introductory quest?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them. In any standard game design, an entry mission was a tutorial. Here, a misstep meant a three-day lockout.

I checked my wallet: 100 Ridan.

The desert heat was already sapping my Vitality gauge. Opening the survival interface, I located a single item listed under consumables: Purified Water (500ml)—Cost: 10 Ridan.

Ten percent of my liquid assets for half a liter of water. Dynamic inflation at its finest.

I confirmed the purchase. A cold glass flask materialized in my hand. The water felt shockingly crisp as it ran down my throat, the sensory feedback so precise that my brain completely accepted the illusion.

After referencing the rudimentary map overlay, I turned south and started walking.

The desert was unforgiving. Every step sank ankle-deep into shifting sand. Thermal haze distorted the horizon, and the dry wind threw stinging grit against my face.

Fifteen minutes in, my breathing turned ragged.

Thirty minutes in, sweat drenched my coarse tunic.

Forty-five minutes in, I began to question whether the map was accurate or if I was walking into a rendered heat sink.

But just as doubt began to take root, a distortion on the horizon solidified.

A settlement.

Low, thick-walled stone buildings rose out of the sand, clustered around a monolithic structure that pierced the sky: the Tower of the Wise. Its pale stone walls reflected the sunlight, giving it a soft, luminous glow against the yellow dunes.

Relief washed over me as I picked up my pace.

Crossing the perimeter of the settlement, the stillness of the open desert gave way to a wave of audio feed.

NPC merchants shouted prices from canvas-topped stalls. Players haggled loudly over armor durability, while organized parties strode through the dusty avenues with the relaxed posture of veterans. Most wore high-tier ballistic gear or reinforced plate, with heavy energy weapons or spell-foci strapped to their backs.

Standing among them in my torn rags, I looked less like an adventurer and more like an escaped prisoner.

I kept my head down and headed straight for the base of the tower.

A long, orderly line of players stretched from the entrance archway. I fell in at the back and began observing the crowd.

“First time?” a voice asked from behind me.

I turned. The speaker was a tall, heavily built player wearing matte-black scout armor reinforced with carbon-weave plating. A broadsword nearly as long as my torso rested in a magnetic scabbard across his shoulders.

“Is it that obvious?” I asked, gesturing to my rags.

He grinned, extending a gloved hand. “A little. I’m Ashfall.”

“Photon-V.” We shook hands. His grip felt solid, heavy with feedback.

As the queue crept forward, Ashfall proved to be an endless source of information.

“Virtually everyone hits the Tower at least once,” Ashfall explained, leaning against his sword hilt. “It’s the primary lore hub for Planet Krada. The system tests your neural capacity, and depending on how much data your brain can index, you get awarded permanent stat boosts or skill books.”

“How did you do?” I asked.

Ashfall winced playfully. “Five percent indexing rate on my first try last year.”

“Only five?”

“Don’t say 'only', man!” He laughed. “Five percent was enough to unlock my class path to Planetary Hunter and give me the proficiency requirement for this blade. Most combat-focused players max out around three or four percent because the data stream causes severe sensory overload.”

I nodded slowly. A neural indexing test. As someone who had spent a decade absorbing complex academic papers and processing information under stress, that sounded much more manageable than a physical battle.

Nearly two hours passed in conversation before we finally reached the massive archway.

Ashfall stepped out of line, waving me ahead. “You’re up, Photon-V. Don’t panic if your head starts spinning in there. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Ashfall. See you around.”

I stepped across the threshold into the Tower.

The noise of the market vanished instantly, cut off by seamless acoustic dampening. Inside, a wide spiral staircase crafted from pale, polished stone wound upward around a hollow central chamber. Ancient, glowing glyphs were etched into the walls at regular intervals.

No guards blocked the path. No system notifications popped up to guide me.

Just the quiet staircase.

I began the climb.

Step after step, the temperature plummeted, leaving the desert heat far behind. By the time I reached the uppermost chamber, the silence was absolute.

The top floor was a simple circular room open to the sky. In the center sat a stone pedestal, and resting upon it was a massive, leather-bound tome. Its cover was worn with age, inlaid with faint silver circuit lines that pulsed with a faint internal power.

As I approached, the system display flared to life.

===================================================

[ Destination Reached: Tower of the Wise — Apex Chamber. ]

[ To initiate the Neural Indexing Trial, place your dominant hand upon the codex. ]

===================================================

I swallowed, wiping my dusty right palm on my pants.

I stepped up to the pedestal, raised my hand, and pressed it firmly against the cover.