When someone died in the Origin Realm, instead of that being the end of all things like usual, they would instead be sent back to the outside universe in a severely weakened state, and wouldn't be able to enter the Origin Realm again for a month.
This was partly the reason why so many awakened were willing to risk their lives inside, seeking all kinds of riches and greater strength.
But the greater the reward, the higher the risk. Remember how robbing an awakened of their Genes and Genetic Armaments was nearly impossible? Well, as it turns out that only applies in the outside world.
When in the Origin Realm, one would only be able to bring back their gains if they left naturally. It only applied to items found while on that particular venture inside, so any genes or genetic armaments already owned and registered to the status wouldn't be dropped if killed, but everything else was fair game.
You couldn't assimilate newly acquired genes or genetic armaments while inside the Origin Realm, that was only possible outside when you returned, so you had to carry your valuables with you the whole way until your time in the Origin Realm expired.
"Since that's the case, I'd rather prefer to be sent directly to one of those tier 2 or 3 cities, where there is more opportunity for people like me." Rohan muttered to himself.
Those tier 1 cities were already over saturated with Awakened; all the good opportunities and hunting grounds were already claimed or too expensive for newbies like himself to take advantage of.
Only in less populated and more dangerous cities could he have a chance to fight for better resources. Many of the lands around the tier 2 and especially tier 3 cities were still largely unexplored, and so ripe for pillaging.
'8 hours have already passed since I awakened, so I only have 16 hours left to prepare until I'm force into the Origin Realm.'
Rohan chose to continue reading more free articles and posts in the forums until his eyes couldn't take it anymore, leaving him to fall into the land of dreams.
***
16 hours later.
Rohan sat on the couch in his living room, anxiously awaiting the last remaining minute to tick down to zero.
'I heard that a portal opens and sucks you in when your time is up.'
He eagerly awaited that moment with excitement. He lived alone, since his parents died when he was young, and he was an only child, so there was nobody to miss him while he was gone.
His eyes kept darting back at the time, unable to keep his gaze still. To say he was overwhelmed with nerves would be an understatement.
'What do I have to worry about, I faced off against a beast in real life where death was a real outcome, how many others can say they did the same, and before even making their first entrance into the Origin Realm at that.'
His gaze shifted to that of a 2.5 metre long spear in his right hand. One of the first things he did this morning was summoning his Horned Rabbit spear for the first time, unable to wait any longer.
It looked just like any other wooden spear. It had a long, dark wooden shaft, while the tip of the spear was its most unique feature — the swirling horn of the famed Horned Rabbit.
He was unable to even hold the spear upright without it poking through the ceiling into the floor above, let alone performing any testing of its effectiveness, so any testing would have to be done when he was on the other side of the portal that had just formed right in front of him.
"Woah!" Rohan felt chills all over his body. Something about looking into that deep, seemingly never ending mass of light drew him in.
His body reacted just the same, moving on its own towards the portal. Just like everyone else found it, escaping from the Origin Realm's grasp was a completely hopeless endeavour.
[You are now entering the Origin Realm.]
A short notification played before Rohan, but he was too dazed to even notice anything.
The world had dissolved into a swirling mass of colours.
He could instinctively feel his body being pulled apart and reform elsewhere, but there was no pain whatsoever. Instead, it was like trying to fit a boulder through a keyhole — the boulder was naturally too big to fit through, so it had to be resized into smaller chunks in order to complete the transition.
That was how Rohan felt in the moment.
Snap!
Sensation returned, his consciousness descending.
Rohan found himself standing in the middle of a circular stone platform.
He blinked, taking some time for his vision to adjust to the feeling of sight once again. When he came to, he found that many more people just like him were standing around on the stone platform doing the same thing as him.
'Am I even the original Rohan anymore? Isn't this like the ship of Theseus paradox?'
His mind was in a complete haze, unable to get to grips with itself.
Above, the sky was a bright blue just like on Earth, and a familiar looking white sun hung above all else. There were even white and overcast clouds dotted about, making the resemblance a bit too uncanny.
'This is the Origin Realm.'
More and more people were materialising around him as he gained his bearings. Some were already off into the streets nearby with excited looks on their faces, while some were in an even more deluded state than Rohan was.
Rohan joined those who had already made their way into the city streets, making note of his surroundings.
'Modern technology doesn't work in the Origin Realm, so it makes sense that all the architecture resembles that of the renaissance period of Europe. But this just makes it harder for me to pinpoint where I am.'
The very first goal he needed to figure out was his location. Was he in one of the three Tier 1 cities, or did he find himself in one of the many hundreds of tier 2 and tier 3 cities?
"Guess I can only find someone and ask."