Slowly, Nux eyelids fluttered. He had just woken up from a very deep slumber.
'Huh!? Why was I sleeping?' Confused, he tried to stand, only to realize he can't move his body. Or rather, he had no body.
'Where am I? Hang on, why can't I feel my body' Panic surged inside of him, he frantically tried to 'move' only to fail.
Nux was no longer inside his room. Instead, he was in a field of black roses? In the center, a coffin, made of obsidian, lays.
Nux wanted to approach it, but his current circumstances did not allow him.
"Ho, you're awake aren't you?" A cheerful voice came from behind him. He wanted to look back to see who it was, only to fail again.
"Haha, don't get too work up. I'm right here, see?" The voice spoke again, this time, a young man appeared in front of him.
Hair darker than the night, blue irises like sapphire, a perfect face. What stood in from of him was a man, undeniably the most handsome man the world had ever seen. He carried a carefree smile as looked at Nux.
"Fifth Level Physical, hm not bad. A Dual Elemental Magic, acquiring 1 of the 5 elements of Chaos, excellent." The man said again, eyeing Nux with great curiosity.
"Eh, no Mental Attribute. Not good." The man, upon sensing he doesn't have a Mental Attribute, seemed disappointed.
"Oh right, it's considered rude not to introduce oneself. " The man scratched his apologetically. Nux, felt the man in front of him was childish.
"That's rude, calling your own ancestor childish." His 'ancestor' scolded him. "Right, where was I? Oh yeah, my name is... oh I forgot my name. Nahh, I never had a name to begin with. But, the guardian of this realm likes to call me "Enigma". A cool name don't you think descendant?"
'Did he just read my mind?' Nux wasn't focused on the name of this man, but the fact that it can read his thoughts terrified him.
"Of course I did. Aren't you looking down on me?" A frown appeared on Enigma's face, quickly disappearing as if it never happened in the first place.
"Wanna know about me, descendant?" A grin appeared on Enigma's face. "Well, get stronger first. I've prepared several quests for you. Of course, there are rewards as well."
Enigma began to make strange, black runic symbols in air. Minutes passed, the entire garden filled with floating runic symbols. All those symbols combined, entering the frightened Nux.
"Don't be afraid haha. It won't hurt you". Enigma said with a reassuring smile. "Say, how was it? How was the feeling of being helpless and unable to move?" Enigma asked, but this time, gone were that cheerful and carefree expression, replaced by a sad, solemn face.
"Get stronger and even stronger, don't be contented with the power you have. Nux, one day, when the time comes, be so powerful that you can no longer feel helpless against any situation. Don't be like me, once hailed as the strongest, yet powerless when that 'entity' came knocking in my door."
Enigma finished his speech. His hand, slowly and lovingly traced the sides of the black coffin while he, Nux was slowly absorbed by darkness.
....
"Hm.." A low, humming sound came from Nux's lips as he slowly rose to wake up.
"Young Nux, you're awake!" Arthur's worried etched voice reached his ears, startling him.
"Dean…what happened?"
"Well... It seems the mana released by the Mana Stone was too much for your body to bear, resulting in your entering a comatose state. " Arthur explained everything without hiding any detail. He even added that he, along with the help of other healers managed to remove the excess mana, stabilizing his condition.
"How... long was I asleep? " Nux, not even batting an eye to what just happened to him, decided to ask how long he was asleep.
"4 weeks…9 more days before the arranged competition. If you are still unwell by then, you may consider conceding." Arthur believed that life is more important to glory, hence why he advised conceding.
"No need for that Dean, I'm perfectly fine. Especially now that I have reached Fifth Level in both Physical and Magic." Quickly assuring the dean, without forgetting to boast his advancement.
The dean, after hearing what Nux said, had his mouth wide open. Fifth Level in two Power? In less than three weeks!? Not even the Deaconia Academy, who boasted that most of their talented students had reached Second Level, cannot be compared to Nux at all.
What's worse was, Nux had just woken up from coma. His cultivation time wasn't even half as long as them yet he had managed to surpassed them!
Such talent was unheard of! Even him, considered a genius, took 6 months of pure cultivation to reach the fifth level yet, yet this kid in front of him only needed two weeks!
Meanwhile, Nux oblivious of Arthur's thoughts, had his attention focus on elsewhere. At the left side of his vision, numbers and letters were written, cannot be removed.
Name: Nux Bloodbane
Physical: Fifth Level Warrior
Magic: Fifth Level Dual Mage(Darkness/Blood)
Mental: Locked
Attributes: Dagger, Darkness, Blood|Chaos(Locked/Incomplete)
Current Quests: None(click here mentally to choose a quest)
He recognized the words written there, except Chaos and Quests, which he remembered his ancestor, Enigma mentioning them. After pondering for a few moments, he clicked on the Quests mentally.
[Quests]
> (Click here to choose) A Commoners Pride - Help Valoria Academy win against the hateful nobles.(Rewards: A random, Advanced Level Blood Skill)
> (Click here to choose) Assassin's Path - Reach First Level Assasin within 10 month.(Rewards: Mental Attribute Unlocked)
> (Click here to choose) The Lurking Foe or a Pet? - Travel to the outskirts of Valoria City, towards the heart of Eborn Forest. Either kill (Rewards: Advanced Level Darkness Skill) or tame (Rewards: A magic beast pet at 1st Rank, capable of reaching the 7th Rank) the magic beast.
You can only choose one!
Nux widened his eyes in disbelief. Those are quite some easy task yet the rewards are great! The 1st Rank refers to him being a Warrior, the 2nd Rank known as Assasin, the 3rd Rank as Stage2 Assasin and so on!
(A/N: Just to stop confusion, Rank are divided to 10 levels, namely First Level to Tenth Level) (So at 3rd Rank, it's called Stage2 First Level Assassin.) (The Magic and Mental Power also has their own name, I'll introduce it later)