Zayn also sighed. [Even though this world is the same as that novel, there are just a lot of things going south.]
Xane raised his eyes and asked,
Zayn said in an uncertain tone. [Well, I only know the story from the protagonist's perspective. The plot is basically the protagonist leading humans in a darker time.]
[Yeah, the protagonist is the world's favored one. He formed the contract with one of the three ancient cursed lands.]
Zayn mentally nodded. [Yes, three ancient, four middle, and three new cursed lands. The earlier these cursed lands formed, the more dangerous they are. But the power gained from them is proportional to the danger.]
[The Cursed Land of Chaos is the worst possible ancient cursed land one could become part of.]
Xane tilted his head.
Zayn sighed. [Xane, let me tell you one thing—our potential is a scam.]
Xane blinked.
[In the novel, there was no character with a Mythril-level Hexis core. Even the protagonist of the novel only had an Adamant core, which is one level below.]
Xane's eyes widened.
Zayn clicked his tongue. [That would be true if we were part of another cursed land, but having high potential is the worst for this cursed land.]
[It's the side effects, man. Didn't you experience it yourself? What just happened when you used Chaos Hexis?]
Zayn spoke in a defeated tone. [Yup. And you saw what that little Hexis did to you.]
Xane slapped his forehead. He remembered those crawling sounds, like hundreds of ants scuttling inside his ears.
Then, there was that vision. He wasn't sure if the side effect caused the vision, but he imagined the mental horror awaiting him if he hadn't closed his status in time.
Just thinking about it irked him. It was only now that he understood Zayn's reaction, but something still didn't add up.
Zayn paused. He thought about Xelami. She was the caring mother from that novel. Well, it wasn't entirely wrong, so her actions must relate to their sister, but how?
Zayn shifted focus to the full scope of Chaos Hexis's side effects. After minutes of mental gymnastics, he said, [Burst power. Even though Chaos Hexis causes mental corrosion, in terms of raw power, it's the most powerful at the same level.]
Xane raised an eyebrow.
[Yeah, except the damage done to the brain is permanent.]
"What the hell." Xane could not control his voice and said aloud. This dropped on him like a hammer. He rubbed his forehead.
Zayn said with much dread, [Worse. Much worse. More like mindless animals that bite everything they see. A powerful beast at that.]
Xane just dropped on the mattress on the ground like all this strength left his body. He just stared at the ceiling, questioning the kind of life Viyron in the novel must have gone through.
There was just no end to bad news. It was like a rotten onion—the more layers he peeled, the worse it stank.
Though this explained that woman's behavior. She was actually thinking of him as a beast, a mindless weapon that she wanted to wield. A lot of things got clear in his head, but he didn't want to achieve this kind of clarity.
He took some deep breaths to calm himself.
Zayn took his time, trying to remember more about the chaos Hexis and chaos key. While he was reading the novel, he recalled that he found the land of chaos to be most interesting. It was just his memory was foggy.
After a long thought, he said, [Actually, I am not sure why they can't see our true potential. This might relate to the Hexis ability, which is both good and bad news for us.]
Before Zayn could answer, a knock on the door made Xane tense.
Xane looked up and saw two maids walking inside, as the door was already open.
They did not even bother to look at him, let alone ask for his permission.
The older of the two was a woman with short brown hair bound into a bun. She barely glanced his way before speaking in a flat, emotionless tone. "The family announcement will begin soon. We will pack your belongings."
Without another word, they got to work.
One went to his closet, pulled out wrinkled clothes, and started tossing them into this brand new suitcase without care.
The other maid moved around the room, cleaning the mess he made, mumbling complaints under her breath.
"Tch. making a mess," she muttered while dusting off the bedsheet.
Xane saw that neither of them acknowledged his presence.
Not once.
They didn't ask him what he wanted to bring. Didn't look his way for approval.
Zayn said in his mind. [They are acting like Xelami.]
Xane watched them for a few seconds, waiting to see if one of them would say something to him—something related to the announcement—but they didn't.
Soon, he lost interest and lay back on the mattress.
Zayn interjected. [Viyron's situation is worse.]
Xane clicked his tongue.
Zayn noticed a maid frowning but shrugged it off. Neither he nor Xane cared about their antics. Their actions weren't important to either of them.
After revisiting his line of thought before the interruption, Zayn said, [Yeah, so the good news is: if others realized our true potential, forget the academy. They'd send us to a lab for experiments.]
After hearing all that, Xane couldn't help but smile.
Zayn said with uncertainty, [No, actually, this misunderstanding is our chance. These cursed academies are all about the competition between top families' elite kids.]
Xane raised his eyebrow.
[They're the ones with high potential who get sent to high-affinity cursed lands.]
Zayn paused. After thinking, he said, [Even I don't know the true meaning. Each species in Zerathia specializes in cursed lands others struggle with.]
Xane rubbed his chin.
Zayn continued. [Humans handle the Cursed Land of Necrosis Ice, Cursed Land of Molten Metals (two middle ones), and two new cursed lands.]
Zayn mentally nodded. [Humans are leaders of one of three factions. Other major species also control around the same numbers of lands.]
Xane nodded, then paused.
[None. Only rare individuals succeed—species-wise, everyone's equally clueless.]
Xane's face fell at this, but then he asked,
[Yeah, and academies are their battleground.]
Zayn sighed. [Would be, if not for that absurd year-end task.]
Xane paused.
[It's better to wait. Just know every elite wants to join the Supreme Ten teams.]
Xane just nodded along, as he already learned a whole lot of stuff.
Zayn added, [That's what Xelami and Melina are after.]
At that moment, a maid marched over, holding a bright blue suit. "Change into this for the announcement."
Xane stared at the suit, his stomach twisting. The hell, they wanted him to wear this bright clown shit.