Summary: Max is an orphan trying to survive in the dangerous city of Gotham. One day, he experienced a nasty headache. Upon returning home and falling asleep, he woke up in a strange room containing only a table, a chair, a large pool filled with mysterious liquid, and a floating screen displaying material classes and their corresponding rune slots. Max then resolved to dedicate his life to exploring where this path would ultimately lead him.
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Chapter 1
In the darkness of the night, outside a quaint little shop, a young man with silver hair could be seen carrying boxes and carefully entering the building. "It's getting late, Max; you should go home," said an elderly woman, her voice warm and concerned, as she emerged from inside the shop. Max gently placed the box down and replied, "I am just bringing them inside, Mrs. Anderson." The elderly lady's name was Mrs. Anderson, and she was the owner of the shop.
Mrs. Anderson approached Max, her eyes narrowing as she noticed the paleness of his face. He went back to carry another box in, but she reached out and caught his hand. "My god, are you sick?" she asked, her voice filled with worry. Max tried to brush it off, saying, "It's fine; I just have a little headache." He turned to face her, and in the dim light of the night, she could see that he looked weary.
"No, this won't do. Go home now, get some rest, and if you don't feel better by tomorrow, promise me you'll go to the hospital," she said, her concern evident in her eyes. Max reluctantly agreed and left after gathering his belongings. Half an hour later, Max could be seen entering a modest apartment building, holding a bag of groceries close to him. He closed the door behind him and carefully placed the groceries in their intended places. But as soon as he did so, the world seemed to tilt, and his vision started to fade before he lost consciousness.
In a place as dark as the void itself, Max found himself floating, surrounded by endless darkness. His form appeared as a figure made out of light, though his features were discernible. He seemed to be sleeping within the vastness of this void. Suddenly, a tiny point of light appeared in the distance, but it grew larger as it approached. It was blindingly bright, and it startled Max awake, his expression filled with confusion.
Panic surged through him when he saw the approaching light. He tried to back away, but he couldn't escape its advance. But then, to his surprise, there was no pain as the light engulfed him. Instead, he felt a sense of safety and wonder. Opening his eyes, he found himself glowing with a brilliant white light. "Whoa," he exclaimed, fascinated by the radiant illumination emanating from him. Lost in the spectacle, he failed to notice another light, adorned with vibrant colours, rapidly approaching him. Before he could react, the light surrounded him, engulfing him once again, and he was blinded by its intensity.
However, the pain he didn't expect this time came, and Max could feel something tightly attached to his body, causing an overwhelming sense of agony. Every single part of his body was throbbing, and he experienced a myriad of painful sensations: burning, suffocation, melting; there wasn't a single type of pain he didn't endure.
If Max had been awake, he would have seen something strange flowing out of his body. It was repulsive, but like a mysterious force, the waste dissipated into thin air, as if it had never existed. His body seemed to emit a faint glow, not in the literal sense, but there was an aura about him that felt otherworldly.
Returning to consciousness, Max found himself in an unfamiliar room. "What the hell is happening?" he asked aloud, but no one answered. He scanned the surroundings, finding only a pool of shimmering golden liquid, a desk, and a chair on which he was seated for some reason. A magnifying glass lay on the table, alongside a pen with a blade-like tip.
"Am I hallucinating?" Max questioned, rubbing his eyes in disbelief as he got up from the chair. "How did I even get here?" he wondered aloud, approaching the strange pool. He hesitated, unsure if he should touch it. "Probably shouldn't risk it," he muttered to himself as he looked for an exit, but to his surprise, there was no visible door. "How do I leave?" he pondered before stumbling and falling unintentionally. Instinctively, he closed his eyes, expecting the pain of impact, but it never came.
As he cautiously opened his eyes again, he found himself back where he had lost consciousness earlier. "What are these weird dreams?" he mumbled, getting up from the floor. "I don't feel like my head is splitting open anymore," he recalled, remembering how he had fainted. "But the pain from those strange lights was far worse than any headache," he commented, taking a moment to drink a glass of water.
The water tasted strangely sweet, leaving Max puzzled. He glanced at the glass, and to his surprise, a hologram appeared, revealing new information:
[ Name: Glass-Cub ]
[ Material Grade: Trash ]
[ Rune Slots: 0/0 ]
[ Description: Not suitable for inscribing runes ]
"What the hell?" Max exclaimed, setting the glass down and rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Am I still hallucinating?" he asked rhetorically, standing up only to be bombarded by hologram screens popping up everywhere. "STOP!" he yelled, overwhelmed by the barrage of information. When he closed his eyes in frustration, he found relief as the holograms disappeared. "Finally," he sighed, but confusion still lingered. "But what the hell is wrong with me?" he wondered, receiving no answer.
"I should go to bed," Max decided, making his way to the only bedroom in the apartment. He laid down on the bed but before closing his eyes, he checked the item in his pocket. "Thank god you didn't break from the fall; otherwise, I can't afford another one," he remarked, referring to whatever he had in his possession. "But what were those holograms?" he questioned, only to have another one pop up unexpectedly:
[ Name: Phone ]
[ Material Grade: Class 2 ]
[ Rune Slots: 0/2 ]
Description: a device that is intricately made by a machine, it contains several components, Can be used for inscribing low-level runes]
"What's with the rune stuff?" Max pondered, and as he did, he felt himself inexplicably falling even though he was lying on his stomach on the bed. Suddenly, he found himself back in the mysterious room with no apparent exit. "Here again?" he murmured, wishing to leave as he had done before, and this time, his wish was granted.
"Okay, this is definitely not a hallucination," Max said, affirming the reality of his experiences. "I don't feel nauseous from entering anymore," he observed, growing accustomed to the peculiar occurrences. He approached the desk, which remained one of the few constant objects in the room, and sat on the chair. He placed his phone on the table which for some reason he was carrying with him, and unexpectedly, a hologram appeared without him even wishing for it.
[ Name: Phone ]
[ Material Grade: Class 2 ]
[ Rune Slots: 0/2 ]
Description: a device that is intricately made by a machine, it contains several components, Can be used for inscribing low-level runes]
Max read through the hologram again, amused at the notion of a "rune inscribing table." He picked up the pen, and suddenly, a different hologram materialised before him. This one displayed two sets of alphabets—one in English and another in a language he couldn't comprehend.
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