[Floor 2 cleared!]
[A Low Tier loot chest awarded]
Cyrus saw the chest manifest next to him in a swirl of shadows. As the shadows dispersed the chest was revealed to be wooden with iron reinforcements on the edges. Bending down to open it, Cyrus lifted the lid and out came another screen.
[250 Rune Coins added to wallet]
[Shadow Fragment: A black substance that is constantly in motion. Used for alchemical potions or armor crafting. System allows it to be consumed by the Shackled to increase Intelligence.]
The floating black mass looked as if it was dark pudding, constantly undulating in place. The thought of eating it didn't sit well with him, but the sudden increase to his INT stat was tempting. But the thought of eating it was odd, when the system alerted him that something tried to take him over it rejected the action. He wondered if this was something similar, maybe his system was also a way to prevent things like that from happening, but he wasn't sure.
He looked at the Hatchling and gulped, "If it says it is allowed by the system, then maybe it wouldn't be too bad to attempt it." The glob was still floating over his hand as he looked at it again. With a heavy sigh, Cyrus opened his mouth and tossed the dark mass into his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue it tasted like he was licking charcoal covered in chocolate. He gagged and choked on it a bit having fallen to the ground, before finally swallowing it down his throat.
[Shadow Fragment consumed!]
[Shadow Fragment attempted to control Cyrus but failed due to being the ???? race.]
[Shadow Fragment converted into 1 INT stat.]
[INT: 5 (2)]
[CEP: 10/16]
Cyrus coughed and gagged on the taste alone. The feeling was dissipating slowly which allowed him to stand. Seeing the windows he dismissed them all, not even looking at it for he could feel himself filled with its energy. Not even noticing the message about him being a different race, he just felt like he needed to walk about to get the thought of eating another thing like that out of his brain. However, the system did protect him from the effects of the fragment. He just didn't like the idea of having to eat another thing like that.
Moving towards the door to the next floor, he decided to spend a couple points to regenerate his HP. Spending 4 CEP to regenerate 2 HP was a hefty cost, but he didn't feel comfortable going into another room with possibly something worse on the other side. With now 11 HP and now only 6 CEP he had to rely on his basic stats for a while. Until he could use the chain enough times to get back the CEP he needed.
The next gate was a big red double door with lettering on it, he looked at it but it was written in a language he didn't understand. Touching it, caused the system to bring up a prompt to begin deciphering the script. When it was going through different languages, some he recognized, while others didn't seem to even exist on Earth. Then it found the script and translated the words.
[Translation: "Speak thy name, speak thy desire, lie to me and face my ire."]
With that the door opened and a swirling portal on the other side allowed Cyrus to step through and head to the next level of the castle. Once he crossed the threshold the room was dark except for a line of standing torches. At the end of the torches was a pedestal lit up waiting for him. Looking around the dark space he wasn't sure what it was but the sound of breathing could be heard.
It was low, deep, and had the rhythm of something sleeping. The torches moved as wind would gently gust past Cyrus. Walking forward his boots echoed into the darkness, the sound seeming louder than he thought caused him to walk slow towards the pedestal. Upon reaching the stand he saw a mirror laying on the pedestal that was facing himself. He gazed into the mirror and he could see himself, but what he saw made him flinch.
Inside the mirror was that had their hair risen back, ashen grey in color with it having purple glowing tips. The eyes of the man were shining a bright purple while neck and had cracks leading down its left arm. Purple lines formed the cracks, raising his arm he could see that no shackle was on the arm except the odd runes that were on the wrist in its place. It moved just like Cyrus and when looking at this reflection he could hear a voice call from the darkness.
"Speak your name..." It drew out the words with a deep voice of some kind of giant. Cyrus looked around him so did his reflection. The voice repeated itself, but sounding impatient with Cyrus delaying, "Speak your name..."
"Cyrus Reinhard!" He responded, still trying to locate where it was coming from. But he couldn't find it, that is when he noticed a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness. "Who or what are you?" But it ignored his question.
"What is your desire?" It asked, seeing the eyes were unblinking and watching him. He could tell the creature was massive, and had eyes of red and looked like that of a reptile. Cyrus had to answer honestly or else he was afraid it would attack. But the problem was, what was his desire? What drove him? What did he want most?
"Answer..." The booming voice demanded. It seemed to move closer, the lights from the torches beginning to reveal its true nature. Revealing a scaled beast that was colored black and a shade of green.
Cyrus thought about what he desired. He wanted to protect his Sister, protect those close to him, and find his parents. But in order for him to do that he needed... "Power..." Answering the creature. The lights from the torches were then extinguished except for the red eyes that seemed to look at him. Within the few moments of darkness the creature asked something else.
"Why do you desire power?"
Cyrus clenched his fist, the chain rattling on his wrist, "I desire power to destroy any obstacle in my path. The power to uncover what has happened to me, and to find my family." Lights began to come on as it revealed what was in the room with him. A black and green creature with four legs, wings, and a tail. It was massive, its eyes weren't red any more but a shade of gold. It seemed to laugh at Cyrus.
"HA! Well... Seems like you have answered honestly." The creature gave a subtle bow, "I am what your kind call a dragon, my name is even in your legends. But for you, I give you a gift for your honesty, and to make your friend jealous." He manifested a green orb and a chest, "I think you'll find that your power will continue to grow, young inheritor. I shall bequeath you from my trove a little gift inside the chest."
Cyrus was really confused, "Wait... this seems way too easy. Why would you give me a gift? Why even help me? I thought all creatures in the Chaos Worlds were evil monsters?"
The dragon frowned, "You think the one that gave you his power is evil? You think I am evil for giving you a gift for your honesty? Have humans really fallen so far as to not look a gifted dragon in the mouth?"
"No its just... wait you know who gave me their power?" Cyrus looked at the shackle.
The dragon waved its claw, "Of course I do! We came from the same world, but he is not the most popular where we are from." Reaching out its claw and pointing to the shackle, "Why do you think your power is reduced while you wear that?" Looking at the shackle again he shrugged, "It's because he is known as the chained Armageddon, Fenrir the Wolf of Ragnarok! The devourer of worlds and all those in power."
Cyrus was still confused and had so many questions, but he decided to ask the dragon, "And who would you be for knowing all of this?" The dragon squinted, looking at Cyrus with a smirk.
"Well, I am known as Fafnir, dragon of greed, power, and wealth." With a cloud of smoke appearing around Fafnir his size shrunk and a flash of green and gold dust dispersed from him. What was revealed was a dwarf in heavy armor, a horned helmet, and the most decorated beard with gold and jade ornaments. "Aye, I am one who is called a god just like Fenrir amongst our kind."
Cyrus looked at the dwarf, shocked that it even turned into a different form. Fafnir continued, "Now boy, are ye goin to take my offerin' or not? I am being kind and allowing you to have something from my hoard." But the dwarf had a glint in his eyes, "However, when ye can, find a way to find me. I shall wait for ye to get stronger. Then when ye have done both things, I shall put you through a test again, but different from this one." He gestured to the room, "Seems the Chaos world drew me here and because of Fenrir giving you his power, it instead left all others in a separate dimension than ours."
Cyrus recalled the phantoms that seemed to be wandering around looking like the soldiers of Fenrir. "Yeah, I have seen the phantoms of the others, but why separate us?"
Fafnir shrugged, "I am in the dark just like ye boy. Now, take this cause you'll need it to reach the top and Fenrir will be jealous to see another of his kind lending a hand." Fafnir elbowed Cyrus in the hip, "He likes doing things on his own and doesn't like to play well with others. I will say this though, Your power will allow you to do more than what you have discovered so far."
That is when Cyrus remembered something from when he first saw Fenrir, "Hey... what would cause Fenrir to become injured and weakened? Cause... I saw weapons that were sticking out of his back when I fought him." This raised an eyebrow of Fafnir's, scratching his beard he turned around.
"To put it simply, no one from our world wants Fenrir around, but now that he has been defeated and had his power transferred to thee. It seems that who ever did it is now believe he is dead. Gods don't die like mortals do boy, but instead we transfer our essence into beings who can handle our power." He turned around and looked at Cyrus again, "You have unlocked a portion of his power, but not even close to all of it. But I am guessing that you will be stronger than Fenrir himself someday, but not without my help or those that you will encounter."
"Wait others?" Cyrus just stared at Fafnir, "Who would help me? I am not even sure what is happening to me yet."
Fafnir then walked over to a door and knocked on it, causing it to open, "Boy, if ye were to know the truth of everything now, ye would only have more questions than answers. Now take my gift and get stronger, I want to see what ye do with his power. Till we meet again!" With that he vanished in a puff of green and gold smoke. The sound of rattling coins echoed in the room with a hearty laugh from Fafnir.
"Good luck boy! You'll need it!" With that the room went silent, Fafnir had vanished, leaving behind the green orb and old bag. Then a notification popped up when he grabbed the orb.
[Floor cleared!]
[2/10 Orbs obtained!]
[Fafnir left a bag for you! Fenrir is agitated by the situation, but couldn't do anything about it.]
Cyrus went over to the bag, pulling off the tie that held it closed he looked inside. There wasn't a notification that popped up so it wasn't an immediate item or Rune Coins. Instead what was inside was another skill crystal, a broken sword handle with still some of the blade on it, and a key.
[Greater Skill Crystal obtained, 3 Skill Points added!]
[Broken Wyrm Blade (1/3): Find the other pieces to return it to its rightful glory!]
[Norse Key: Not strong enough to use key, reach level 25 to unlock a door to a world of Chaos!]
Cyrus saw the extra points and that the sword went into a special section in his inventory called "Artifacts". There were slots in there but from looking at the broken sword icon, it had the [1/3] on it. Meaning it only took up one slot in the Artifacts page. Meaning there was more artifacts to obtain. But for now he went to his Skills page for the Shackle of Fenrir.
"Well can't let the gift go to waste, even if you don't agree." Cyrus said, while he got another message from Fenrir.
[Happy to get more power back, but not happy it came from that greedy dragon.]
Cyrus chuckled, and looked at the mirror again, showing himself now instead of the form it was prior. "Well best not wait to select something, lets see what we can get with 3 points." As he clicked the tab, revealing that there was a couple skills to unlock. Reading the names he saw, as they were accessible at 1 to 3 points:
[2 Points, Fenrir's Howl lvl. 1: 3 CEP, for a short period of time, all Summons have double the attack power for 30 seconds. Recharges after 3 minutes.]
[1 Point, Wolf's Senses lvl. 1: No cost, your eyesight is heightened allowing you to see in the dark, your hearing becomes sharper, your sense of smell is better than a dogs, and you can sense creatures by feeling their energy within 5m of you. Can not sense through magical barriers that prevent the detection of life and energy. Can also determine what level something is compared to yourself.]
[3 Points, Gather Chaos lvl 1: You can gather surround Chaos to replenish your CEP by meditating for 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes you gather 5 CEP.]
All the abilities seemed useful, but from what he needed right now, he decided to make his choice.
[Gather Chaos lvl 1: Unlocked!]