Asgard

After watching "Avengers Endgame" and reminiscing about the eleven-year Marvel series, nostalgia hit Alex and he thought of an old classic game that had accompanied him for many years. On a whim, he decided to pick it up again and play.

However, after a few years of absence, Alex found that the game had changed significantly. As he watched the level 120 players walking around, he felt awkward - in the past, these players would have been the leaders of famous guilds, but now they seemed to be everywhere.

This realization made Alex realize how much time had passed.

After half an hour of gameplay, Alex decided to call it a night and return to the real world, where he had a job to attend to the next day. He logged off and headed to bed, still reflecting on the memories and experiences that this classic game had given him.

----'xxxxxxx---

( in the dream of alex)

Alex had a dream in which he found himself chasing a golden light. It was pure and bright, like the sun, and seemed to have a magnetic pull on all living things.

The events in the dream made no logical sense, but he chased the light as it flew through the air like a shooting star, for no particular reason.

Despite his best efforts, however, the distance between him and the light never changed - it neither shortened nor lengthened.

After a while, Alex stopped chasing the light and suddenly found himself falling through the air, plunging into an endless abyss. He was filled with terror as he flailed helplessly in the pitch-black space, with no sense of up, down, left, or right.

But as he struggled, he failed to notice that the golden light he had been chasing had suddenly appeared at the end of the abyss. The distance between them shortened until the light was right within reach. Upon closer inspection, Alex realized that it was a book, made of golden light and shaped like red gold. It was about the size of a regular book, but slightly thicker, with simple, mysterious lines on the cover and small golden rings on either end of the spine.

Reaching out, he grabbed the book and was immediately enveloped in a golden light that exploded outward like a storm, engulfing everything in its path.

"What the hell!" Alex shouted, attempting to sit up in bed but only succeeding in falling off and landing hard on the floor. He groaned and clutched his nose, which had slammed into the ground and was now throbbing with pain.

As he lay there, dazed and disoriented, he gradually began to take in his surroundings.

He appeared to be in a masonry house with a strong classical atmosphere, reminiscent of the sets of a grand European costume drama. The room was a bit rustic, but the details were rich and ornate.

Confused and still trying to process what was happening, Alex looked down at himself and realized that he was dressed in clothing that matched the setting - a light gray-white linen shirt, brown trousers, and boots.

He couldn't remember how he had come to be in this strange place, but he knew he needed to figure out a way to get back to his own home.

Alex struggled to get up from the floor, his body aching all over. It took several attempts, but he finally managed to make his way back onto the bed. Exhausted and thirsty, he reached for the glass of water on the side table and took a long drink. As he looked into the glass, however, he was shocked to see the reflection of a teenage boy staring back at him.

He tried various tricks, like moving his head from side to side, but the reflection mimicked his movements. After a few moments, he was forced to accept that the reflection was indeed of him. His mind was racing with questions - was this a dream? But he knew that in dreams, people often couldn't see their own reflections, so this couldn't be a dream within a dream.

Just then, a realization dawned on him. He remembered the dream about the golden book and turned to see it lying quietly on the ground.

Alex's eyes widened as he saw that the book looked exactly like the one in his dream, just without the dazzling light. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it. As soon as he touched the book, he felt a wonderful sense of connection, as if it was somehow connected to his very blood.

The spine and cover of the book felt ordinary, even rough, as if it was just a regular book.

But when Alex opened the cover, the first page flickered with golden light and a few lines slowly emerged. He couldn't believe what was happening - was this real or was he still dreaming?.

"Holy Deeds of Kings. Owner: Alex."

Alex stared at the words in confusion, barely registering the footsteps approaching the house.

A moment later, a young woman with long brown hair burst into the room, also dressed in the garb of a European costume drama. She was pretty, with freckles on her face, and seemed surprised to see him. "Alex!" she exclaimed.

Alex tried to speak but found himself babbling incoherently, as if his mouth was cramping. He felt a strong headache and struggled to make sense of the two languages ​​competing in his mind - English and the Asgardian language of Runes.

As he struggled to process the fragmented information flooding his mind, he was frozen in place, his eyes empty and unseeing.

"Alex, what's wrong with you? Alex!" the brown-haired woman shouted anxiously.

Finally snapping out of it, Alex's eyes were still a little confused as he looked at her. After a moment, he hesitated and said, "Cousin El?"

"Thank God, you're fine," El replied, relief evident in her voice. "But don't do this kind of thing again, okay? That bet is just..."

Alex didn't hear the rest of what she said, his brow furrowed as he was consumed by complicated thoughts and shock.

It slowly dawned on him that he had somehow transmigrated from 21st century New York to Thor's hometown of Asgard, one of the nine realms. But it was still relatively early in Asgard's timeline - Thor had not yet been born. He was still called Alex, although the pronunciation was similar but the spelling was different.

This coincidence, or perhaps fate, made Alex rethink his previous assumption that these frequent coincidences were simply the result of lazy writing. Maybe there were actually rules to this transmigration.

After clearing his mind, Alex realized that the original owner of the body he was now inhabiting no longer existed. Fortunately, they had left behind some memories for him to absorb, which helped him feel less disoriented in this mythological world.

"Hey, is the little fucker finally awake?" a gruff voice called out, and Alex turned to see a middle-aged man with a fat body and a half-bald head walk into the room, holding a bottle of mead. "Since you're awake, don't just lay there. I mean, you haven't done any work in days!"

"Father, Alex has just woken up," El said, sounding distressed.

"What's wrong with just waking up? I think his spirit is stronger than mine!" the bald, fat man replied. This was none other than Alex's uncle, or rather, the previous Alex's uncle, who was now known as Peter. Due to his parents' early demise, Alex had been living with his uncle and cousin El, who treated him like a younger brother and took good care of him, despite Peter's rough demeanor.

Alex was thin and small, one of the smallest among his peers, but he was very active. At the age of 24, he still enjoyed climbing walls and trees, which was considered normal for Asgardians at that age.

The average lifespan of an Asgardian was around 5,000 years, and although their lifespans were long, their growth rate was similar to that of other intelligent beings. They were typically considered adults at the age of 30. In the movie "Thor: Ragnarok," it was mentioned that Thor was stabbed by Loki when he was eight years old, which further demonstrates that the childhood growth of Asgardians was not slow.

Once an Asgardian reaches adulthood at 30, they enter their prime for nearly 4,000 years, during which their power is fully manifested. Most creatures in the universe would not dare to conflict with an adult Asgardian, who are truly god-like in their strength and abilities.

"The Frost Giants are restless again. We need one hundred healing stones, make them as soon as possible!" Uncle Peter barked the order before leaving with his bottle of wine.

The Peter family lived in the town of Lyfia, located at the foot of the Lyfia Mountains in Asgard. Although it was called a town, it was more like a village, as Asgard was still quite small. The Lyfia Mountains were rich in herbs, so Peter had opened a herbal shop. Healing stones were one of the shop's most important products and were also essential on the battlefield.

"Alex, how are you feeling now?" El asked.

Alex felt that his mind was still a bit confused and replied, "I'm fine...I just want to be quiet for a while."

El was about to say something when she noticed the "Holy Deeds of Kings" book on Alex's lap and asked, "Hey, what is this?"

"This..." Alex was momentarily startled.

To his surprise, El flipped through the first few pages before returning it to him and saying, "Your new diary? It's a very unique shape."

Alex couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He couldn't believe that when El had looked at the "Holy Deeds of Kings," she had seen nothing but blank pages. Could it be that only he could see the text on the pages?

After a while, El told Alex to rest and left the room.

Hastily closing the door, Alex opened the "Holy Deeds of Kings" again.

The first page was still the same two lines of characters, but he was shocked to find that they were neither in English nor in the Runic language, or a combination of both. The characters were vague and ethereal, yet he could easily read them, as if the language had been tailored specifically for him. There was also a line at the top of the second page that read: Devotion Store.

Alex was a bit puzzled by the word "Devotion," but he naturally understood "Store," and the pictures and texts on this page were similar to the store interfaces of some games he had played in his previous life. In fact, it resembled the shop interface of World of Warcraft.

Could it be that this book has something to do with monsters? Alex couldn't help but think of the paladin's book called "Sanchi."

There were two items in the store, both marked with numbers that were probably their prices.

One of them was a golden question mark pattern: [Gift of Fate], 0.99 (limited time offer, original price 9.98).

The words in brackets made Alex speechless for a moment.

The other was a golden shield pattern: [Gift from the Guardian], 0.00 (limited time offer, original price 0.00). In the corner of the store, it read [karma: 0.00].

Karma? Alex frowned and hesitated for a while before using his finger to lightly touch the free [Gift from the Guardian].