Long Island

Chapter 36: Hya'cinth

Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.

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Author's note: Still unedited and perhaps a little short. Also apologies for delay. Have been having lots of trouble with my laptop, my primary writing medium. Also thank you for all the votes and the positive comments. It really made my day when my story reached 200 something rank :)

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You may change your race. Would you like to change your race now?  

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Raka stared at the message for a long time. Although he felt it was a long time, he also felt like he had stepped into a world where the time seemed to have slowed down. Perhaps it was the system's way of helping him not be interrupted during this fateful decision.

At first, he was quite surprised. 'Quite a few penalties for race change? And what is this about memory affected?' Like a lot of other players, Raka was also wondering about this. He was not yet aware but within moments of uncovering the race transformation system and unlocking of the dwarf race, the forums had exploded into chaos.

If players were not discussing it, it was only because they had already decided to delete their old avatars and entered the character creation menu to choose the dwarf race.

Raka noticed the keyword 'now' and decided.

"No."

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Change refused. You may access the race transformation menu to change your race at any time while on the island. Please take note of the conditions for race change according to the system.  

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'Well, that's what I thought.' With this new message, time had returned to the normal pace. He looked up and was surprised once more.

'He's black!' Raka mentally noted as a tallish dwarf wearing a rustic looking garb, like the kind plumbers often wear and a hat approached him. Unlike the dwarfs Raka had seen, this one was not heavily built like a tank rather he looked like a healthy person with a slight belly. Maybe because of this, he seemed a little taller than he expected. And he had black skin.

The dwarf reached him and said.

"abababababa"

Raka simply nodded his head in the negative. He did not understand. Then he looked at Nobby and asked.

"Nobby, do you understand?"

"He said, hello and for what purpose have you come.." Nobby translated.

"Ah..well say hello back and ask if he speaks Ilmentian or Khardoumian," Raka said. He guessed that they should owing to the fact that the dock workers in Khardoum understood the language of the dwarves.

But then the dwarf spoke. "Welcome to Hya'cinth. Do you understand the language of Khardoum?"

Raka gladly sighed. "Yes I do." 'Thank god, I guessed right.'

"For business or pleasure sir?" The dwarf asked.

"Mostly pleasure. Do you know a place where I can park my boat for some time?" He asked.

"Yes sir, there are coves to the south, just a little way from here. After you complete the formalities, you may move your vessel over there." The dwarf replied.