The name of that place felt ancestral—mysterious, powerful.
The moment Arthur arrived in that world, he sensed that the mana there was far denser.
It was as if the land itself exuded an ancient, dangerous aura.
Arthur looked around and realized he was inside a small wooden house. The place was furnished, and beside him, he found a letter and a necklace.
The letter was written in a language he didn't recognize. Arthur was unable to understand it.
His gaze shifted to the necklace, and he reached out to pick it up. It looked extremely old, made of a silvery material that didn't seem to be silver at all. Arthur had no idea what it was.
At its center was a gem radiating an absurd amount of mana.
[Necklace of the Sovereign of Worlds]
[Ancestral Legendary Item]
The system provided him with some valuable information about the necklace. Apparently, it was an incredibly powerful artifact capable of opening portals to return to the gateway Arthur had just used.
In other words, it was the only way he knew to go back.
I can't ever lose this, Arthur realized.
Using the necklace, however, was far from simple. It required a very long casting time and also had an extremely long cooldown. It wasn't something Arthur could rely on during combat.
Arthur more or less understood how to use the necklace, since the system had provided him with the necessary information—but what about the letter?
He had no idea what kind of world this was, nor who had left the letter and the necklace inside that cabin.
When he looked out the cabin's window, Arthur saw a vast ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. That was when he realized he was on an island, isolated in the middle of nowhere.
"What the hell?" he thought.
He had never imagined he would end up in the middle of an island. On top of that, this world felt far too strange.
Arthur sensed that he could be attacked at any moment. It was completely different from the feeling of safety he had begun to experience in the goblin dungeon.
That was when it hit him—he could try to bind himself to the dungeon, just as he had done before.
He activated his special ability, and to his surprise, a different system message appeared.
[You are too weak to bind yourself to an entire world]
[Would you like to bind yourself to the island instead?]
The system stated it plainly: he was far too weak to bind himself to that dungeon.
Arthur had never tried binding himself to higher-rank dungeons, such as C, B, or even A-rank ones.
In other words, he had no idea whether this message would also appear in dungeons of that level—or if the dungeon he was currently in was truly something entirely different.
In the end, with little choice, Arthur decided to bind himself only to the island. It was the only thing he could do at that moment.
"Better than nothing," he thought.
The moment he connected himself to the island, something happened.
Arthur glanced at the letter again—and this time, he could read it.
"If you can read this, then you possess the Sovereign class as well. I sent a green stone drifting between worlds. It will wander for years, and perhaps some intelligent creature will be chosen to inherit this class…"
"This island is home to the Ancestral Serpent. It is a dangerous world, and if you, heir, is unable to gain the serpent's aid and grow stronger, don't even think about leaving this island."
"That is all the information I can give you. If I write too much in this letter, they will discover it and kill you before you ever reach this place. Good luck."
Arthur read the contents of the letter carefully, utterly perplexed. He had to sit down on a nearby wooden chair—otherwise, he would have collapsed onto the floor.
His mind returned to that moment atop the building, when a glowing stone had emerged from a portal and rolled toward him.
That stone had awakened his mana, and with it, his special class. It seemed he was not the first person to receive it.
However, the previous Sovereign—the one who had written the letter—was ancient. The letter itself looked old. So did the necklace, the small house on the island, and even the small settlement Arthur had found inside that cave.
In other words, everything appeared abandoned. Without a doubt, it had been a very long time since that glowing stone was sent out in search of someone worthy to become the next Sovereign.
Arthur didn't know what to do.
After calming his thoughts, he stood up from the chair and searched the cabin for anything else.
Perhaps there were clues about who had built all of this—or hints about this world, and about who they were, the ones mentioned in the letter.
Of course, he found nothing.
The house contained absolutely nothing useful.
The only useful thing was a well outside the cabin. It held drinkable water. Arthur had no idea how such a well could exist there, considering the water surrounding the island was saltwater.
Yes—Arthur had walked to the shoreline to taste the water himself, just to confirm it was salty.
And it was at that moment that he felt the entire island tremble.
It felt as if a tsunami were rushing straight toward him. Instinctively, Arthur grabbed the necklace and tried to activate it—but to his surprise, it didn't work.
[A tremendously powerful ancestral creature is nearby. All forms of teleportation have been disabled.]
The system's warning made his body tremble, a chill running down his spine.
The worst part was that he had nowhere to hide—and no way to teleport away.
The only thing Arthur could do was stare at the waves on the horizon and hope he wouldn't die.
Slowly, a gigantic creature emerged from the water.
The serpent's head was green, its eyes a burning orange. The sheer size of its head alone seemed to be five times larger than the island Arthur stood on.
Its body was enormous. Only a small portion of it had risen above the water.
It stared at him.
In that moment, Arthur froze. Cold sweat broke out across his body.