Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

As soon as Kaizen arrived at one of the gates of the Royal City, he was very breathless. His skin was glistening with sweat and his breathing was so euphoric that it drew attention.

The players present looked at him strangely, after all it was unusual to see someone so tired. In fact, absolutely no one was ever so tired as to be in the state Kaizen was in. There were several ways to recover stamina within the game, such as eating and getting some rest, so it would only take a five-minute break for someone to be completely rested.

"What is this guy doing?"

"Does he think he's betting race against some ghost? HAHA!"

"I wonder if he's not running from some monster?"

"In a low-level area like this region is? Don't talk nonsense, no one would be that bad."

"He could be taking some test or he's just in a hurry."

"He's coming from out of town, so wouldn't it be better to have a horse than to get so tired?"

"This guy is an idiot getting tired like that."

Kaizen didn't mind the stares and comments about him one bit, because he was too exhausted for that. After opening the inventory, he took out his canteen and drank all the water until he emptied it. Meanwhile he opened the map and located the Royal Palace. The place was not that far away, considering that Kaizen was already in the vicinity of the white houses district. Immediately, he started walking in the direction of the palace where he intended to talk to Ravastine, and at the same time picked up a loaf of bread to savor during the walk.

'AH! This is so tasty!' Chewing the bread, he thought with his eyes shining.

The people at the city gate judged him with confused and questioning looks. They were curious as to why Kaizen had rushed into town, but he didn't say anything when he left, and this piqued their interest, and they continued to wonder why this player was getting so tired.

The closer Kaizen got to the Royal Palace, the more luxurious the buildings became and the streets became less populated.

Guards with white armor and cold stares, like the guard Kaizen tried to talk to on the big bridge, were also seen more often. They walked the streets in pairs, patrolling.

In addition, finding players became more and more difficult. Most of the people in the area were NPCs with casual, but not common, clothing. The clothes these NPCs wore were full of detail and their fabrics were distinctly more refined, as was the way they dressed. Obviously, they were noble.

The moment the buildings were finished, Kaizen came across a very wide and empty square where there were four shallow pools of water, one at each corner of the square. This positioning of the pools formed a beautiful crossroads of crystal clear water. In the center of the square, there was a majestic fountain with three frequent jets of water.

"Ow!" Kaizen expressed, because in addition to the beautiful plaza, there was a large palace with architecture clearly inspired by the Taj Mahal with white towers all around it and oval ceilings in each of the three highest parts of the main building.

There were also very high white walls connected to the four towers, forming a large square around the property, which prevented anyone from snooping around the Royal Garden.

Before Kaizen knew it, he had crossed the entire square and was standing before the imposing walls of the Royal Palace. Three guards were protecting the place, not to mention the mages in the towers and the archers at the top of the walls.

"They really are ready to defend themselves against anything." Kaizen uttered and moved closer to the three guards in front of the giant white iron gate.

Before Psyker could speak even a word, the guards exclaimed:

"Attention!" They pointed their spears at Kaizen. "Don't get any closer than that, tourist!"

"Tourist? I am not a tourist. I am here at the invitation of a woman named Ravastine." He countered neutrally.

At that moment, a red aura enveloped the right ear of the guard who was in the center of them and he seemed to be concentrating on something other than Kaizen.

"All right. They allowed you in... Open the gates!!!" the man shouted and lowered his spear after the red aura vanished in a few seconds.

The other two guards also relaxed and they simultaneously stepped out of the front of the large gate, which with sounds of gears was slowly opened.

When the gate was fully opened, a man appeared on the other side of it. This man looked to be around thirty years old, had straight but short hair, and dressed very well. He was wearing a classic dark green suit made of wool, black leather gloves, and a white scarf around his neck.

The NPC put his left foot back, his right foot forward, and bowed courteously while slightly rotating his left arm.

"Hello, Mister Kaizen, my name is Petril Wyvernjack and I will be the one to guide you to your meeting with Princess Ravastine."

Trying to be as polite as this man, Kaizen bowed subtly. "It is a pleasure to meet you Petril Wyvernjack. Sorry to ask about this, but I am curious about how you recognized me." he inquired as he approached.

"Miss Ravastine warned me that you would be coming and told me some of your physical characteristics. Light lancer's armor, stripped cloak, intensely black hair, and frightening eyes. I'm not claiming anything, those were just the characteristics she passed on to me."

'Scary eyes?" Kaizen was a little nervous at that description. "I don't think she liked me very much."

"I don't think that's true, sir. Miss Ravastine has never received visitors before that were not official, student or professional engagements."

"And this will only be a professional visit." Kaizen stated seriously.

"As you wish, sir. Follow me, please."

After passing through the magnanimous gates, Kaizen noticed that the walls were even more robust than they had initially appeared to be, as well as there were many more guards inside them than on the outside of the palace. Two rows, which contained at least ten guards each, were parallel to the walls on the inside of the wall.

When Petril and Kaizen finally left the protection of the wall, the Psyker came across a beautiful garden, where there were dozens of flowering trees. The place was also full of flowers in rectangular bushes. The grass throughout the garden was so green and rectilinear that it didn't look natural. To complete the exquisite look, some trees were pruned in unusual ways to resemble figures, such as horses, shields, and even an elephant. Among so many beautiful things, the palace in the middle of the site was still the most impressive and imposing.