Chapter 2: Chapter 001

It was clear to anyone in the room that the trial was not impartial. All of the odds were against Hyx and he never had the chance to tip the scale. It was no trial at all. They never cared in the first place. They just wanted him gone.

But no one said a thing as the trial went on and concluded. The reason was simple. Hyx was a parasite leeching off of the clan’s precious resources. The Atlas Clan had a plentiful amount of resources but they were finite. There was one less mouth to feed and more for them.

This was the conjecture Hyx arrived at after being in deep contemplation for an uncertain extended period of time while lying on the rough stony surface of some cave. 

They didn’t even give him any time to prepare nor did they give him any living essentials. He was promptly banished to the darkest depths of the unknown.

Hyx did not know where he was banished to, only that he knew he was in the uncharted lands beyond the mist. It was a land northeast of the Atlas Clan’s territory, separated by lands of vassal clans and a thick layer of mist after crossing a vast mountain range. 

Though unknown, it was speculated that these lands were dangerous even for the seasoned and powerful Visirs, which was the reason these lands were still uncharted.

Vis, a nigh-omnipotent force found in all living things. Vis was believed to be the essence of life itself though to this day, none could properly prove such a claim. Vis was as abundant and common as air but only a few were able to harness the potential of Vis. The ones who could perform such a feat were known as a Visir and the process of becoming a Visir was called the awakening. 

The Atlas Clan was a clan with a long line of impressive and prominent Visirs. Even the weakest ones were considered to be above average in comparison to the overall standards of the world. However, Hyx was, by far, the worst Visir in existence in the history of the Atlas Clan. Not only was he not up to the Atlas Clan’s standard, but he was also even below the average of the overall standard. 

If he was born as anyone else but the only son of the Grandmaster, he wouldn’t have been able to stay in the clan for seventeen years. His birth status had guaranteed him some degree of assurance of his livelihood but that was no longer the case. 

“Status,” Hyx muttered and a translucent wall of texts and numbers appeared before his eyes.

Hyx
Vis Force: 120
Vis Efficiency: 70%
Vis Mastery: 3
Vis Rank: E
Unique Skills
Breathless I | Enrage I

Hyx let out a weak peal of self-deprecating laughter at the sight of his pathetic set of skills and meagre values. 

The wall of texts and numbers before him was a Status Screen, a privilege all Visirs possessed. It was a simple real-time record of a Visir’s progress and capability. No one knew who created this system but it had made discovering hidden talents and nurturing potential powerhouses easier than ever. It wasn’t perfect but it was still a very handy system.

Vis Force, Vis Efficiency Vis Mastery, and Vis Rank; these four were the main aspects of Vis. There were various other hidden aspects but only these four were able to be properly quantified. The average Vis Force was two hundred upon awakening and Hyx’s was a mere one hundred at the start. He had gained only twenty over the course of five years.

Vis Force denotes the strength and destructive capability of one’s Vis. The higher the number, the greater the strength and destructive capability. Vis Mastery indicates how many Unique Skills could hold. A Visir can never hold more Unique Skills than the number of their Vis Mastery indicates. 

Vis Efficiency refers to the amount of Vis that a Visir draws in versus the strength of the Vis’ output. The lower the efficiency, the more Vis one needs to draw in just for just to augment a single punch. Essentially, this was an aspect that usually determines the winner of a duel between Visirs as the one with the higher efficiency could brandish their attacks and skills faster. On average, most Visirs have around seventy to eighty percent efficiency while the Atlas Clan members averaged around more than a hundred. 

As for Vis Rank, it determines a Visir’s growth potential. The higher the rank, the greater the potential. The average rank was D. The lowest was F. Unlike the former two where a Visir could raise their values by training and participating in real combat, one’s Vis Rank can never be changed in any way.

Thanks to this system and the trust everyone put in it, the Atlas Clan deemed Hyx as a lost cause and a hopeless case. If he was anyone else other than the son of Soren Atlas, he would have been left on the street to starve and rot the moment he awakened.

“Breathless and Enrage… What a fucking joke…” Hyx scoffed at himself for the two useless Unique Skills he acquired upon his awakening.

The basic use of Vis is to augment one’s strength and speed. It can make one’s body as tough as iron, hit as hard as a bear could, or move as fast as a cheetah could. There are other uses for Vis and these uses usually manifest in the form of Unique Skills. Unique Skills are acquired through various means and the easiest way is to be awakened with them.

Hyx was awakened with two Unique Skills. This was his sole impressive feat as most awakened with either one or no Unique Skill at all. However, the Unique Skills he obtained were redundant as they could be easily acquired even without Vis.

Breathless allowed Hyx to recover his stamina quickly, which was something everyone could do if they trained long and hard enough as long as they didn’t have some physical illness. What made it worse was that even with Breathless, Hyx still couldn’t keep up with the others.

Enrage was essentially a taunt, also something that could be achieved without the use of Vis. Seasoned fighters could easily taunt their opponents without using Vis. Adding salt to the wound, Enrage was unreliable as it would not always work or it could work too well and become detrimental to Hyx.

Hyx had no idea how much time had passed as he was in a cave of sorts. It was dark but not completely. Vines were crawling all over the ceiling, giving off a faint glow, enough for one to see but not enough to make out any details.

More than angry, Hyx was exasperated and exhausted. So much had happened in the span of a single day. His mind had yet to thoroughly process all that had transpired. His clan betrayed him. The ones he saw as his pillars of support turned out to be the bringers of his downfall. His supposed stepmother conspired against him. His father gave up on him and saw the golden opportunity to get rid of him.

Hyx continued to lie there, staring blankly at the strangely beguiling vines that covered nearly all the entirety of the ceiling. He wondered if he should just kill himself and be done with this miserable life of his. He thought about getting revenge but a glance at his surroundings was enough to dishearten him.

Where would he even start from? And what could he even do? His Vis Rank was E, which was practically a statement by fate that he was not destined for greatness. It would take a miracle of cosmic proportions for him to have any hope of getting out of this unknown place and taking his revenge.

His desire for revenge. His desire to live. His desire to be someone that matters. All of these emotions of his surged to his head all at once.

Hyx screamed into the empty air until his throat hurt. He punched the rock-solid ground until his knuckles began to bleed. He didn’t want to give up right here. He wanted to make those who wronged him pay. He wanted to show fate that it was wrong about him. He wanted to live. 

The beautiful face of a certain girl with long black hair and crystal blue eyes drifted to his mind. Her name was Alyssa. She was the daughter of another prestigious clan and she was his betrothed but the engagement was broken off the day after his awakening. Hyx never truly loved her but the shock and humiliation he felt when he received the letter of the annulment were so great that he became bedridden for a week.

Hyx wanted to repay that humiliation. He wanted to see her rueing the day their engagement was annulled.

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But all that was just wishful thinking. He had been miserable and hapless for his whole life. It would have been better if he was born a peasant. That way, the expectations of him wouldn’t have been so heavy. 

Hyx began to weep. He clutched his head tightly and clawed into his scalps. His weeping turned into sobbing. He had half a mind to just smash his head against the ground and end his misery once and for all.

But before he could, a line of texts appeared before his eyes.

[A Main Quest has arrived.]

“Main quest? What does that mean?” Hyx blinked profusely at the sudden appearance of such an enigmatic sentence.

After a few seconds, two new lines of words appeared.

[Navigate your way out of the Burrow of Mondra.]

“The Burrow of Mondra? Is this what this cave is called?” Hyx asked no one in particular. His amazement and confusion were only deepened as he read the next line of words.

[Reward upon completion of quest: +100 Vis Force | +10% Vis Efficiency | +2 Vis Mastery | +1 Unique Skill of choice.]

“W-what? I can gain a hundred Vis Force, ten percent increase in efficiency, two fucking Vis Mastery, and a Unique Skill of my choosing for simply finding my way out of this god-forsaken place?”

At first, Hyx wanted to just jump in joy and shout in glee but his scepticism got the better of him. It was too good to be true. Something this wonderful and life-changing just so happened to appear before him at the lowest point of his life.

After the text disappeared, a glittering drop of light appeared out of nowhere and streaked across the vast empty cave, leaving a trail of wavering light.

Hyx stood up and stared dubiously at the light trail, leading him to somewhere. He had many apprehensions about this unexplained phenomenon and the supposed reward he would be getting if he completes the task requested of him, but he was at his wits’ end. Even if this turned out to be some elaborate trick his mind was playing on him, then so be it. 

He had nothing to lose.

As Hyx began to follow the trail of light left behind by the fluttering light drop, the trail behind him faded. But as he backtracked, the trail reappeared. 

“Huh, intriguing,” he muttered in wonder. 

He had yet to walk for even a minute when a new line of words appeared.

[Hint: The Burrow of Mondra is filled with all manners of threats. Be watchful of monsters and deadly traps.]

“Monsters and deadly traps…” Hyx began to chuckle nervously.  “Of course, it won’t be that easy. But what kind of monsters will there be?”

His musing was unanswered even after some time had passed. He sighed and continued following the trail of wavering light. 

Hyx took small and light steps as he trod cautiously along the guidance of the light trail. He was still very much doubtful of the authenticity of all these but in case it was truly real, he didn’t want to blunder this opportunity.

As he vigilantly made his way through this seemingly never-ending stretch of a cave, he realised it was no cave at all, but a very vast and long tunnel. There were many deviations and detours in the paths but he took the ones where the light led him to.

Quite some time had passed and Hyx had yet to come across any monsters or traps. As much as he wanted to keep his vigilance, it was mentally draining to do so. Just as he decided to lower his guard and let his mind take a moment’s breather, a sinister growl echoed across the tunnel.

Shivers went down Hyx’s spine as the growl sounded incredibly close. His instincts told him to look up when he perceived nothing around him. When he did, something dark and vicious sprang at him from above. He saw it just in time for him to dive out of the way of the nasty claws aiming for his head.

Hyx quickly scrambled to his feet to face his abrupt assailant. He tried his damndest to calm his breaths and steel his nerves. Erratic breathing would make one lose focus and unsettled nerves would disturb one’s composure. It was paramount that one kept those two factors under control when experiencing an ambush.

However, it was easier said than done as Hyx’s assailant was a gaunt humanoid-ish creature that was adept at walking on two and four. Its skin was as dark as the shadows around it and if Hyx didn’t know it was there, he would have easily overlooked it if it stayed still. The creature had no eyes, only a set of wide maw and a pair of concave ears.

“What the fuck…?” Hyx muttered in utter disbelief, not at the hideous creature’s appearance but the words hovering above its head.

Stygian, C-Rank.
Unique Skills: Shadow Meld

The ability to assess other living beings’ information was not part of a Visir’s system privilege.

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