Rohan arrived back at his small apartment after a short flight over in a hover taxi. The first thing he did wasn't checking out his new equipment or Genetic Armament.
No, instead he chose to surf the internet. But he had a good reason for this. Now that he was an awakened, he had access to areas of the web that his previously unawakened self wasn't privy to. What caught his eye the most were the public forums where awakened advertised and exchanged information with each other.
"C rank Awakened Rowan Walker has returned from his 3 month expedition in the Origin Realm, and shock, he's actually a B rank now!"
"Commander Victory has won yet another battle for the human race, leading his hundred strong army of elite Awakened to wipe out the opposing Hoplite force."
The first page to hit his gaze were the numerous news feeds coming from all over the Human dominion. In particular, the one about Commander Victory winning yet another battle caught Rohan's attention, as the topic was something the entirety of the human race had an interest and stake in.
Yes, Humans are not the only intelligent race in the universe, and neither were they the strongest race either. There were several other intelligent races that had already been discovered, all of them through explorations of the Origin Realm where one's territory had met another and ensuing resource struggles were fought.
The strongest of which were the Hoplite race. Compared to the human race, they were far more developed in both the universe and the Origin Realm. Humans had only just started to get their foot off the ground and into the domain of space at the time the Origin Realm made its appearance, and while it had contributed greatly towards their expansion outwards, humans only had a tight grip on the solar system.
While the most recent intelligence reports indicated that the Hoplites had over ten star systems under their influence! The difference was even more drastic in the Origin Realm, the human area of activity was focused mainly in a 1 million kilometre area, and only stretched as far as 10 million kilometres at best.
While the Hoplite dominion's size was unknown, but was estimated to be at least five times the size…
The Human race hadn't given into pessimism and defeatism though, in fact the general attitude was the opposite! They hadn't even reached a century of development post Origin Realm era yet, while the Hoplites and many of the other alien races they'd encountered had histories far greater than that.
Many people believed we would even surpass them in a few hundred years of time.
Only those at the top knew the true facts of the situation though.
Rohan moved past the alien battlefield section of the news and quickly found a segment that was the very reason he was spending his time on the internet — the section on entering the Origin Realm for newcomers.
There were several million articles and even forum posts on the topic, to Rohan's delight.
Most if not all of them were written by Awakened about their own experiences and the do's and don't's, however all of those cost money to access.
'Being an awakened isn't easy, you need money for everything in this business…' Rohan sighed, moving past those.
Some of them even posted outrageous prices in the six figures range, promising a much more in depth analysis and even detailed guides of what to do exactly if you wanted a better start than everyone else.
They weren't what Rohan was looking for though.
Instead he checked the pinned posts at the top, written by the Association officials.
It was free to access, and provided a basic informational guide on what to expect upon one's first entry.
"What should you expect your first venture into the Origin Realm to be like?"
Rohan clicked on the first post at the very top.
"Many Awakened will come from lineages or clans, having their elders to guide them before they enter the Origin Realm for the first time. This post is useless for people like them. Instead, this post is targeted at newbies who don't have anyone to guide them, who are completely going at it alone. If you feel like you fit this criteria, then this guide is for you."
"First off, we have to address the most important thing: Origin Energy. This is the very life blood of both our universe and the Origin Land, and it is where we draw our strength from, whether you are an F rank newbie looking to enter the Origin Realm for the first time, or an elusive S rank sitting at the very peak. You all share the same source of power. The density of Origin Energy is 10x greater in the Origin Realm than in our universe, so it is highly recommended to start your first practice of the Basic Origin Energy training manual after you enter, since it is much easier to sense it in that environment."
"To get to the second most important point, it's the location you arrive at. Although you are guaranteed to arrive in a human occupied city the first time round, they are not all the same. For one, the cities are separated by tiers based on how populated they are and how valuable their location is. A tier 1 city for example, will have a population of 800,000 - 1.2 million year round, and will be located near prime resource spots. There are only three of these cities; Stormlight city, Evermist city, and finally Lindara city. If your only goal is to survive your first time safely, you should count yourself lucky if you arrive in one of those three, the survival rate of newbies who arrive in these is above 99%. As for tier 2 and 3 cities, they are less populated and closer to the outer regions of the human domain, so while there is higher risk, the potential rewards are equally high."
"Third and finally, as you might all know already, you only have 1 week of exploration time before you will be forced out of the Origin Realm, and there are only two ways to return, the one you need to focus on is returning naturally — you can only return once your time is up. Every second of this week is precious and you should do your utmost to obtain as many Origin crystals as you can, as not only are they highly priced, they are also your greatest resource for cultivating your Origin Energy while back in our universe. As for whether you can obtain your first gene or genetic armaments, that entirely depends on your luck."
The post was quite short and basic as advertised, but it touched on points that Rohan hadn't previously considered.
The first point especially, since he'd literally planned to practice the training manual for the first time after going through all the useful forum posts, but now that he'd read them, that plan was left behind.
However, he wasn't too concerned about his starting location. In fact, despite the very attractive 99% survival rate of newbies in tier 1 cities, he wasn't too bothered about that. The association had also made a note of this, saying that only those who really care about being able to use their full 7 days to the end should hope to arrive in one of those three cities.
Because of one major rule of the Origin Realm that was much more magical than everything else it offered combined.
Death isn't a permanent thing in the Origin Realm!