The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen by Brent Roth Read Free Book Online

taken the red pill at some point.
    If that was really the case, I'm not sure I would want to face the reality.
    Well, my reality was what I wanted it to be anyways.
    Once I initiated that log in sequence and the room starts to dim until it's pitch black and I can no longer see the hand in front of my face, it would only be a minute before the game state takes over and my consciousness fades to the other realm.
    And, that's exactly what I did.
    As if life were a dream, I found myself waking up from my nap underneath a tree as the cold night air sent a chill through my body. The silence of the night was a little unnerving but it was also comforting in a strange way.
    I could barely make out the sound of voices off in the distance but I wanted to enjoy the serenity of the moment, and pretended not to hear. The stars were shining brightly but the colorful aurora was barely visible from here.
    It was a shame.
    Even so, it was still a lovely sight while lying on my back, watching for shooting stars and other odd events in the night sky.
    I started to wonder how Selene and Katherine were holding up but I had a feeling they were doing just fine. They had a large population of fellow NPCs to keep them company after all, there was no way they could be lonely now. If anyone was lonely, it was probably me, but I was actually pretty content with how everything was progressing.
    "Well, time's a wasting," I said out loud to myself while getting up.
    A quick walk to the dungeon entrance proved to be pointless as all of the groups that had gathered were looking for members for the first and second floors. I was already beyond that and didn't want to waste my time farming or grinding out floors I already conquered, especially with a new group that didn't have the experience.
    I was already entering with an elitist mentality, no longer beginner friendly since I had already been there and done that… it was a pitfall every adventurer fell victim to at one point or another. When you're a beginner, a noob, you want people to give you a chance to prove yourself.
    Then once you've proved yourself you change your tune and think to yourself, "I don't want to go with noobs that have no experience." Yeah, that wasn't right. I'll give it a go with whoever is available, once I get my new quests.
    It was only the right thing to do.
    After a bit of a jog to the town square where everyone was gathered, I wasn't too surprised to see large crowds mingling about. A bustling quest hub with people looking for groups was a natural occurrence out here. Especially since the Call to Arms basically advertised this specific locale to the entire northern region.
    This was, after all, the lowest level beginner dungeon available to those in the North and possibly the only one within a few hundred miles. There were probably other dungeons out there, but they had yet to be discovered. The appeal of a beginner dungeon was something else, too.
    One dungeon floor plus the two quests per could easily net someone enough experience to advance a character level or two. Figure with a decent group you could clear a floor in an hour or so, and that was about as fast as one could hope to level.
    The constant fighting was also a boon to progressing proficiency, since you could really focus on one aspect and through repeated use, essentially power level your skills. There really weren't many options for those trying to raise their proficiency in holy magic outside of group scenarios.
    And on the other hand, I wasn't going to mindlessly shoot lightning into the sky.
    It just didn't work after a while, what with diminishing returns and all.
    You needed a target, and to actually do something with it. I could hunt rabbits with [Lightning Bolt] for a month but I couldn’t expect great progress.
    Granted there would still be some progress, just not much.
    The game did try to balance realistic progression with some minor standard gaming restrictions, which was a necessary evil and a nice