A Good Feeling

He had a good feeling.

When the synthesis machine shook this violently, failure was out of the question. Far from it—the odds of a perfect result were high. Yujun had run the thing dozens of times. He knew.

With a vibration like this, how am I supposed to keep from getting my hopes up?

Flash. The four materials vanished in a single instant, and one item settled into place atop the machine.

"M-Master! The feeling is excellent! This is it—this!"

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"I know, you idiot. Quit the fuss."

Yujun snatched the item up and turned a glittering stare on his two teammates.

"Wh-why?"

"Why are you looking at us like that?"

"This is mine."

He didn't bother hiding the greed.

"We know. Of course it should be yours, Shin Yujun. So calm down."

"I haven't the slightest complaint! I am only grateful to you!"

They said the right things. Yujun still didn't lower his guard.

"My precio— ah. Not the time."

He threw up a barrier so the others couldn't come in, then checked the item.

Whatever that window was trying to say, he ignored it. Something else mattered more.

Yujun swallowed dry. A consumable of Transcendence grade. He had braced for Mythic at best, and the result had jumped a full tier past that. It was a kind of item he had never seen, besides. A new power. What power, exactly?

"Master! What is it?"

"Wait. I won't know until I eat it."

"……You mean to eat that? That thing shaped like a heart? Even I, an undead, would not commit such an act."

"You can't because you're undead. And you think I want to eat it?"

Why did everything in this place only take effect if you put it in your mouth? Last time he had actually chewed up a ring and swallowed it. A ring would have been better than this enormous heart. The thing looked revolting—bite down, and blood would surely drip. Even Yujun, half-blind with the hunger to grow stronger, had to hesitate.

He shut his eyes and put the heart in his mouth anyway.

Do I have to chew? Will the effect only land if I do?

The debate didn't last. He swallowed it whole. So long as he performed the act of consumption, the effect would probably take. That was how it had always gone.

Then a pain he had never anticipated crashed over him. Yujun folded at the waist.

"Ghk……."

Even Equanimity did nothing. It hurt past the point of endurance, and he thrashed.

Chaos…… what is this thing!

He clenched his teeth and held on. Somehow he was certain he must not black out here. If he did, the power he had just gained felt as if it would vanish for nothing. He drove a fist hard into his own thigh.

Paranet startled and hurried over.

"M-Master?"

"Kgh!"

"Is your head quite all right? Why this sudden self-harm……?"

"Why—! Why are you worried about my head? Can't you see I'm clutching my chest? Ghk……."

"Aha……."

The pain didn't stop. If anything, it worsened by the moment. He pulled a potion from his inventory and drank it, and the agony didn't ease a whit. His mind fogged until he could barely tell whether this was pain at all.

"Master……! Are you striking yourself in order to remain conscious? If so, I have an excellent method."

"……What…… is it."

Paranet set himself. He drew one foot back, exactly as if he meant to kick a ball.

"You…… don't tell me."

"The vital point! Strike a man in his most vital place, and he is certain to come to his senses at once, is he not?"

Paranet beamed and swung his foot.

Has he lost his mind?

Yujun's survival instinct was quicker than Paranet's. He yanked his hips back and the kick cut empty air. Then, wearing the face of a vengeful ghost, he brought the flat of his sword down on Paranet with everything he had.

The blow landed with a thunderous crack, and one unhinged undead was forcibly unsummoned.

"……What?"

Yujun tipped his head. He had hit hard, yes, but with the flat of the blade. And that was enough to dismiss him?

Paranet's pretty solid, too……. Was my attack power already this high?

At least it snapped him awake. The pain was still there, but he understood now that the energy packed into his body had to be brought under control. He stirred his mana, slowly. The channels that had lain still grew busy of their own accord. An unknown power sat knotted in his chest.

This has to be Chaos.

The new energy rampaged without direction or restraint.

So I only get to call it mine if I can control it.

He had thought eating the thing would be the end of it. Apparently he wasn't getting this one for free. Yujun focused. Having once passed through a trance, he had come away with a concentration that startled even him. He called up that feeling and turned his attention inward.

Suppressing it with mana is probably the proper way.

In truth he had no exact method. Nothing like this had ever happened before. So he set a top-grade health potion and an elixir out within reach, against whatever might go wrong, and only after posting Tapagol as a guard did he begin the work in earnest.

Pain tore through his chest as if something were ripping it open. He endured. Forcing his mana into line, he touched Chaos.

Chaos recoiled, violent.

"Ghk!"

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For an instant he nearly lost consciousness. Too hard, too fast, right from the start. Yujun shook his head hard. This was something he had to do alone. No one else could help.

Slowly. Don't rush.

It might be the most important moment of his life. Someone could call that grandiose. It was grandiose. He prodded Chaos with mana, gently this time. Chaos bristled and tried to swallow the mana whole—but the purity of his mana was as high as mana could be, and it did not yield easily. More than that, Chaos itself was no larger than a thumbnail. Yujun began to press in with sheer overwhelming volume. He had no intention of handling it roughly. He squeezed, slowly. He was not trying to erase it.

Perhaps that intent mattered. Little by little, Chaos began to seep into the mana. Mixing did not change its nature. The two simply coexisted. He repeated the tedious, nerve-racking work for a long while, and his expression gradually brightened. Compared to before, the rampaging Chaos had grown much tamer.

Did it work?

Mana had covered Chaos completely. He tried to shift it a little, using the mana as a hand. Chaos refused, stubborn—but the backlash was nothing like before, and there was no pain.

Is it telling me not to force it?

Setting the mana aside, Yujun put his will directly on Chaos and asked it to move. It jerked away a few times, then, as if it had no choice, began to obey.

It's like the thing is alive.

Strange. An energy that moved on its own. Still, he had done it. Small as it was, Yujun knew how vicious that speck of power could be, and he had no intention of dismissing it.

Has the status window changed?

He never could leave a curiosity alone. He opened it at once.

It had been a while since he had looked at the window. The numbers were difficult to believe of any level 450 player—and that was without the percentage bonuses even showing.

Stats up by thirty each, Swordsmanship at EX, and a stat called Chaos on top of it.

One thing more. The all-stats increase didn't seem to apply to Chaos. He had checked by taking his gear off and putting it back on. Nothing changed. If the bonus had applied, Chaos would already have grown. A shame. He would have to be satisfied with what he had. He hadn't used the energy yet, but he knew, without question, that it was powerful.

Can I use Chaos in place of mana?

He drew on it and cast the basic spell Light.

A crackle. A sphere of light seemed to form, then vanished at once.

Why does it start and then die?

He could create it. He could not hold it. The feel was nothing like mana.

Chaos. Even the name feels a little grim. Maybe it simply doesn't agree with light.

Then another spell. He formed Dark Arrow, of the dark line. This one didn't disappear. It held. Even so, Yujun's brow tightened, as if something about it displeased him.

If anything, the power feels cut in half.

Mixed with Chaos, the magic only grew less stable.

What about a spell with no attribute at all?

Space Domination. He used no mana whatsoever—only Chaos—and seized a stretch of empty space.

A low hum answered him.

It worked!

Space Domination unfolded cleanly, without a hitch. The force of it seemed greater, if anything. Not so much greater, though, that he would set mana aside and rely on Chaos alone.

Then what about Chaos itself?

He opened the hand that had been clenched around it and let the energy out. A murky current spilled from his palm, shot across the room, and struck the door that stood firmly shut.

The impact roared.

A great hole opened in the door.

"……."

What.

It said it wouldn't work.

Wasn't that door supposed to be unbreakable? It had broken just fine.

Is Chaos itself simply that powerful?

He still wasn't sure. He cast another powerful spell, and this time he mixed in no Chaos at all—mana alone.

The crash shook the room.

The same message. The door was intact. Nothing existed but the hole Chaos had already torn—no other break, not even a crack.

…Don't tell me Chaos can ignore rank.

If that was true, it was exactly the ability he needed. It didn't feel as though the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠door had broken merely because the force was great. The matter of rank had been grinding on him without end. The door would not break. He could not kill the Heresy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Inquisitor. All because of a difference in rank—and now he held a power that could close that gap at a stroke.

I'll only know for certain if I test it further.

A good idea came to him. Yujun drew out the Absolute Sealing Orb.

He hasn't even been sealed that long.

It didn't matter. The orb wasn't going to wear out from use, and right now he needed the Heresy Inquisitor. Yujun didn't hesitate. He released the seal.

Light burst outward in a sharp flare.