The grand event that had caused such a stir was over.
The persecutors had been executed, and Atlas could finally relax a little.
By now, he had resigned and realized nothing could change his fate in this cursed city, so he waited to receive the promised reward.
After all, 100 Low-Grade Chaos Stones and access to the treasury were a blessing.
The crowd had dispersed almost immediately after the executioner had announced his valiant deeds to the world, and the few people left were the guards and the Lord of the city.
Of course, the guards were not there for Atlas but to defend their master.
"Unfortunate young man, my guards will lead you to the treasury. You can choose an Artifact from my personal collection. I hope you can live a better life from now on..." The city lord's voice announced his commands, then left the temporary palace through the side exit.
'A better life, my ass... Bastard!' Atlas thought, enraged, but replied with a false smile on his face: "Thank you for your magnanimity, my Lord. Long live the city of the Inflamed Chalice!"
After all, Atlas could not insult the most powerful man in the city under those conditions, so he replied to him courteously.
The guards knew their master well, and without waiting any longer, they led the young man toward the city's most majestic building, the Lord's palace.
The place was reinforced by Chaos Runes, demonstrating the master's wealth and power.
In particular, the treasury was heavily guarded.
The young man could not sense every hidden guard nearby, but he was sure there were many invisible guards, even more potent than these warriors.
"Well... do not attempt anything stupid... you will be searched once you are outside. Also, the treasury is protected by a powerful Formation that prevents using dimensional treasures, so don't get any funny ideas." One of the guards warned Atlas again, then let him go inside alone since no one could enter the treasury without the Lord's permission.
Once inside, Atlas was shocked by the multitude of treasures.
Precious gems, weapons and armor, potions, and martial techniques. A pile of them was there thrown in every angle of the treasury.
Unfortunately, each type of treasure was placed in a separate room, protected by a Chaos Formation, and the only open gate was the one related to Chaos Artifact.
With so many precious objects in front of him, Atlas almost collapsed.
"Well... I certainly don't have much time. I have to hurry, but what can I get? A weapon... an armor?"
It was a bit of a difficult choice. Still, the young man immediately discarded the idea of taking the weapon because he had a reasonably powerful one at his side, even though he had not yet fully mastered all its powers.
So, after thinking about it for a while, he chose to take a finely crafted armor with excellent defensive quality, ideal for close combat.
Atlas approached the gate from where he could see the massive wing of treasures and instantly found himself inside.
The room was filled with armor of all kinds.
Light, medium, and heavy armor, with and without Chaos Runes.
There was everything.
Even masks and magical cloaks were present.
Atlas was particularly attracted to the latter because their rarity far exceeded those pieces of armor.
If before, the choice was complicated, now it had become even more challenging.
The cloaks and masks forced the young man to make a difficult choice.
"Hmm... maybe I should inspect the other items and get the one with the best Chaos Runes and the rarest material. With my knowledge, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out most of them."
Being born as a cursed child had undoubtedly made his life a hell, but that had never stopped him from learning as much as he could about the world around him.
In fact, ever since he could read, the young man had immersed himself in books, making him a walking encyclopedia. Knowledge of various things had long been branded into his memory. Still, the inability to make contact with Chaos Energy had made it impossible for the young man to test most of what he had learned.
In fact, the young man could identify a treasure and broadly assess its value, distinguishing the material from which they were made, whether he had read about them somewhere or deciphered the origin of the rune.
Atlas was about to dive into that world of treasures when his eyes began to ignite.
"Man... it burns..."
Troubled by the strange event, Atlas closed his eyes and began rubbing his eyelids hard in a futile attempt to quell that pain.
Unfortunately, the pain became more and more stinging and reached such a level that the young man wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. Still, before the screams could escape from his lips, the pain ceased, as if nothing that had happened earlier was real.
"What the hell happened?"
Finally, Atlas could open his eyes, and what he saw was a completely different world.
"What the hell..."
Surprisingly, the surrounding world had literally lit up.
Some treasures in the room were surrounded by a strange-colored halo.
Those hanging on the walls or placed on refined scaffolding were surrounded by a purple glow.
Others, placed on a table or piled in the corners of the room, were shrouded in a blue glow.
Strangely, those shrouded in a glow were very few, and the remainder were all very ordinary armaments without anything particular.
"Could it be the gift from the Nihilir, Obsidian Eyes?"
Atlas didn't have another valid explanation for this absurd change other than to think about that peculiar ability that could show him the energies of the universe.
"Well... if that's the case, then the most valuable items are probably the purple ones, followed immediately by the blue ones..."
The young man was still shocked by everything that had just happened. However, he did not get completely caught up in the astonishment and began to reason over the matter at hand.
His assumption was based primarily on the quantity because, after a brief glance around the room, he had noticed that the purple ones, which emitted a slightly purer glow, were fewer than the blue ones.
Clearly, it was a simple theory that he was ready to test...
The fastest way to tell the difference between the two colors was to find out the abilities of the objects.
Following his reasoning, Atlas approached one of the purple objects he had pointed to as soon as he entered, a black cloak.
The cloak was not in perfect condition. It was a bit ruined and even had holes here and there, but it was indeed one of the rarest objects in the room.
Atlas's knowledge about Artifact was deep. In fact, as soon as his hands rested on the cloth, he rapidly found out the raw materials used.
"Hmm... the main body is made of a single material, probably precious silk. The inside is smooth and warm, while the outside has a slightly rough surface and is cool to the touch..."
The young man's hand continued to caress the surface, sensing every tiny imperfection.
"... If I am not mistaken, the main material of the cloak is the silk of the Krufuru Weaver Spider. Usually, these creatures reside in the north of the continent. It offers decent protection. It's not bad at all."
Atlas was increasingly convinced by this item, but it was not enough to make him give in to temptation. The last thing to check was the quality of the Chaos Runes placed on the inside of the cloak, a few inches from the laces at the top.
"Interesting..."
Eyes were not enough to identify the rune quality. In fact, Atlas had to infuse his chaos energy in the rune to fully comprehend his usage.
As soon as the energy touched the silk, the surface of the cloak became transparent, but he couldn't see the hand that was holding the object.
"Incredible!!!" Atlas exulted, incredulous by the surprising effects of the Chaos Rune: "A rune that allows one to hide one's body... It doesn't reach the level of invisibility cloaks, but it is still a handy item."
Indeed, the cloak had disappeared, but the object's outline was still visible to a keen eye. It was hidden enough, but not perfectly.
"Hmm... These symbols should be symbols of the night... Hmm... no, no... it's related to the darkness element! This cloak probably reaches its full potential when used in an environment shrouded in shadows. Heck... it's probably a treasure of those Dark Elves, hiding in the snowy peaks of the north."
Realizing that it might be a product of those creatures, the young man searched every nook and cranny of the object, and finally, he found a couple of words in the Elvish language hidden beneath a layer of cloth. A language he had long since learned with incredible difficulty.
"..."