Three days later:
Ryan sat cross-legged in a meditative state, taking deep calming breaths as he closed his eyes, attempting to concentrate. This wasn't a recreational exercise, but Ryan's effort to grasp the skills the system had tasked him to learn.
{Take a deep breath}
The system's mechanical voice sounded in his ear. Apparently, it could speak, but Ryan had not realized this until it first did so a day ago.
Ryan took in a deep breath as instructed, holding it in his chest.
{Exhale}
Ryan's chest deflated as he let out all the air in his lungs. He had been doing this for a long while now, and it was calming in a sense. However, his objective was channeling Chaos, as the system had instructed.
He had felt it a couple of times, a subtle tingle in his body and the air around him, but in a few moments, it always dissipated. Although, this time, he had a good feeling that this attempt would be the one.
He felt it, just like before—a tingling sensation that became more, a ravaging energy coursing through his veins, followed by an almost immediate sense of heightened awareness. He could feel everything around him.
It was an electric surge connecting him to a primal force. He could feel the disorderly flow of chaos energy through him—an intoxicating blend of power and unpredictability, like dancing at the edge of a storm.
{Connect the dots}
To any other person, the system's words would feel vague and meaningless, but Ryan knew exactly what it meant. He understood the chaotic flow of the energy around him. He had the pattern for the black burst in his head; now he just needed to connect it.
He opened his palm, his concentration at an all-time high, flowing with the unpredictable energy, gently guiding it, connecting each dot to form the necessary pattern.
Then he opened his eyes to see it. Just above his palms, interconnected with his fingers, was a black circle—much like the one that appeared on the hand of the woman who had come down here a while ago. There was a difference in pattern, though, and Ryan's was extremely dark too.
"I... Did it," Ryan muttered.
Then suddenly, with a shriek, a dark burst of energy shot upwards from the circle. Upon contact, it obliterated a chunk in the rocky roof of his cell.
"Oh..." Ryan let out as he turned to the notifications that popped up to his side.
[Skill: Black burst has been acquired]
[One New stat(s) unlocked]
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[ Adrian 'Ryan' Godborne ]
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Title: [Harbinger of Chaos]
Magic Affinity: [Primordial Chaos]
Chaos Energy Level: [1]
Chaos Energy (CE) Reserve: 40/50
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Stats
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Strength: [11] | Agility: [6] | Endurance: [5]
Intelligence: [10] | Chaos Reserve: [5] |
Chaos control: [1] |
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QUEST > [Beast Tide survival] (unlocked)
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Skills > Black burst(Rank F): Shoots a surge of Chaos energy.
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"Are you kidding?" Ryan exclaimed as he looked at his stats. "All that training, and I only got one point in strength and Agility."
He sighed as he shifted his gaze to the Quest. He hadn't given it any thought since he saw it on his first day here. 'What exactly is this?' he wondered.
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A conqueror's path. (All Quests under this must be completed)
QUEST: (Survive the beast tide)
Details: The Beast tide will soon come, and with Azkai province possessing no decent military force, the province and all its residents shall perish to the tide.
Your quest is to escape your imprisonment and survive this tide, along with the Azkai province. You must ensure Azkai and its residents do not perish from the tide.
Rewards: Three C rank Chaos shards
Failure: Death.
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"So, I manage to escape, and then instead of running away, I stay here and help these fuckers?... that's a good one," Ryan chuckled at how absurd the Quest was. He wouldn't even consider it, but as he looked at the penalty for failure, he knew he wasn't really given a choice. If the system could do all it was doing, then killing him should be relatively easy.
"Fuck," Ryan buried his head in his palm. He had planned to escape sooner—although the bars seemed to be amplified in durability by some kind of magic, he could probably blast his way out now.
However, he doesn't know what's outside, and with the new quest, he definitely can't leave if he isn't prepared.
"What's a bit more time here?" Ryan said to himself, before turning his head; someone was approaching.
It wasn't the woman; it was a guard. After the woman had brought Ryan food, for the last two days, a particular guard had taken over the duty.
His shadows created a long streak on the floor as he approached. From only a few encounters, the guard seemed to hate Ryan a lot, but after his life, Ryan knew better than to expect a reason for that. Now he just fantasized about smashing the bastard's head into a wall.
"Aye! Rat, you hungry?" The guard stood in front of the cell. Ryan resisted every urge to rush at him and grab his throat, then squeeze the life out of him, he remained quiet instead.
"C'mon rat, get on your knees and beg for it." The guard laughed.
Power is a dangerous thing; you give a nobody the slightest bit of it, and they go mad.
The guard gently placed the food tray on the floor where it was normally slid through for Ryan. "Here you go," the guard said as he used his leg to kick the tray into Ryan's cell, causing the food to scatter on the ground and the cup of water to pour.
"Fucking rat." The guard turned away, walking off, his footsteps becoming a distant echo until completely vanishing.
With a sigh, Ryan walked over to the food, sat cross-legged, and picked the bread from the floor to eat. He needed all the energy he could get.
"You all should enjoy it while it lasts... Soon..." Ryan muttered as he took another bite from the bread.