บท 9: Additional Rewards

After finding a seat on the Air Train, Russell comfortably sat before recollecting everything that had happened yesterday.

Starting from his journey, traversing a certain part of Armageddon Mountain, sleeping in the middle of nowhere which gave off a tranquil atmosphere that seemed to be a characteristic of nature itself, admiring the magnificent night sky and the bluish moon hanging above it, finding the Hidden Dungeon, meeting the Mistress of Twilight, and so on.

But, aside from the unbelievable encounter he never anticipated, the particular words of the Mistress of Twilight keep lingering in his mind.

– You are a strayed soul… and at the same time, are not.

– You know very well what I mean.

'…What did "She" mean by that..?'

He muttered in his mind, avoiding himself to speak verbally due to some passengers who might hear him, which would probably make him look like a broken-hearted man if his words were taken out of context.

He racked his brain, searching for the possible meanings regarding the enigmatic words that came out of the Mistress of Twilight's mouth.

Although he couldn't easily arrive at an answer, he was certain of one thing… That it was about his reincarnation in this world.

'…Strayed soul… and at the same time… are not, huh…?'

As he admired the view he was seeing from the window of the Air Train, his deep blue eyes dilated due to the sudden realization of the underlying meaning behind the Mistress of Twilight's words, which contained underlying mysteries.

'…I am reincarnated in this world… a world that's highly similar to the first novel I wrote which I didn't manage to publish. I was born here more than 16 years ago if I include the months, and I wasn't transferred to some other character's body, but rather directly born in this world…

'Hmm… I guess being called a strayed soul would probably mean that I'm a reincarnated person, and I have the memories of my past life, especially the knowledge about my unpublished novel.

'…And at the same time, I'm not a strayed soul because I was born in this world, I'm originally a resident of this world… with my family.'

Derek hypothesized about the possible reason for the Mistress of Twilight's words, but he couldn't come up with a conclusion just based on what he thought.

He recalled the first notification that indicated the Mistress of Twilight's presence when he entered the Hidden Dungeon.

The System said that the Constellation, 'Twilight of Primordial Chaos' had observed his "very being".

'…I wonder if "She" knew that this world, at least not all of it, was designed by me."

When it comes to Divine Power, Evil Power, and in his case, Chaos Power, they were called the Power Stats.

Although it could fall into the Variable Stats category as it was somewhat similar, there's a difference that needed to be taken note of… that the Power Stats were something that was heavily influenced by the Constellations' nature and power.

One would need some conditions to increase a Power Stat, and in Derek's case, it's to either find something that could boost his or to use the Chaos Consumption (EX) skill to the Strayed Dungeon's or Tower Dungeon's monsters upon their deaths.

Magic Power was something that was not considered a Power Stat as this was considered a general power that anyone could manifest, due to Mana being abundant in the world, and without the need to have a contract with a Constellation.

Although Magic Power was something that anyone possessed, the difference in power, in how efficient and potent it could be used, was heavily dependent on one's training, Mana-related Passive Skills, and equipment that helps Mana Regulation.

'…Let's just check everything.'

He thought inwardly before he proceeded to check the details of Variable and Invariable Stats in the System's General Information section.

It's something he decided to do due to the few hours remaining that he'd be sitting inside the Air Train.

…

Derek verbally muttered, causing some of the passengers to look at him with confused expressions, but that's all about it as the passengers returned to their own businesses.

Then, composing himself, he browsed the unread System messages that he received while leaving the Hidden Dungeon.

...

[You have cleared the hidden dungeon: The Ancient Depths of Mystara.]

[You have accomplished a nigh-impossible achievement!]

[You have received the 'Tainted Branch of Mystara'.]

[You have received the 'Seed of Chaos ']

[Due to your achievement, additional rewards will be given.]

[You have received the 'Tainted Seed of Mystara']

[You have received the 'Fruit of Chaos'.]

...

The above-mentioned rewards were the rewards he got from clearing the Hidden Dungeon, which means, even if he hadn't met the Mistress of Twilight, he would still receive them due to the achievement he accomplished.

Hidden Dungeon rewards aside, the items that helped themselves out by being sucked into his Dimensional Inventory were probably the items from the Ancient Treasure Chest from Chaos.

He then read the System messages about the acquisition of the treasures that the Goddess had left for him.

...

[You have acquired the 'Key of Chaos'.]

[You have acquired the 'Key of Abaddon'.]

[You have acquired the 'Key of Tartarus'.]

[You have acquired the 'Jar of Nothingness'.]

[You have acquired Chaosdite (50x).]

[You have acquired Chaostone (50x).]

[You have acquired the Scythe of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Sword of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Armor of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Helmet of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Boots of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Gloves of '???'.]

[You have acquired the Mask of Night.]

...

He felt elated in his mind upon reading the subsequent System messages after the above-mentioned ones.

…

[You have acquired the Skillbook: Scythemanship of the Reaper (Passive).]

[You have acquired the Skillbook: Swordsmanship of the Night (Passive).]

[You have acquired the Skillbook: Mark of the Night.]

[You have acquired the Skillbook: Chaos Mana Sense (Passive).]

[You have acquired the Skillbook: Calm of the Shadows (Passive).]

…

Skillbooks were something that was highly sought after in this world. These Skillbooks were used to make a player learn skills instantly, although it's highly sought after, the price of acquiring one, if not by dungeon raiding, was tens of millions to billions of Stella — the currency of the Orion Continent.

Prices varied from the Skillbook itself such as compatibility and nature.

Not every player could just learn every Skillbook that exist, rather, it depends on one's profession if such Skillbook was necessary to learn.

...

"Sigh… welcome back to me."

As a person who was shut-in in his previous life, although he never lacked exercise and never forgot to take his meals regularly as he took care of his physical health, he was used to talking to himself when he's alone, especially verbally, but in the presence of people he knew, it was his mind that mostly do the talking, and he only speaks when he felt like it or when it's necessary.

After the Emergence that happened 'almost' 40 years ago, which caused the 7 Continents of the world to be merged into one, and after a few years of trying to restore order and develop the crumbled government, the "Stella Organization" was founded.

The "Old Governmental System" collapsed, and to keep the balance of power that humanity possessed,

humanity's Strongest Players, the most powerful people in the human domain that's contracted with respective powerful Constellations, came to an agreement and built their own respective countries.

The 7 Continents Pre-Emergence, though massive in land and sea area, after the Emergence befalls the human world, contrary to the Earth's size of being 7 times its original diameter Post-Emergence, the human domain or the area where humans could "safely" live became incomparably smaller.

The Post-Emergence Continent's size was roughly about the "compressed" Pre-Emergence Western Continent, Middle East, Europe, and Asia, with the exception of the land area of the continents — Australia and Antarctica.

These merged continents were presently called the "Orion Continent", and the Pre-Emergence world was now dubbed the "Old World."

After arriving at the front of his dormitory room, aside from other students who were probably in different cafeterias at this hour, there were still a few walking through the hallway, but this time, they weren't paying attention to him, who were wearing a grey-hooded jacket, black pants, and blue t-shirt with Obelisk logo.

'…What a peaceful time.'

He muttered before entering his opened dormitory room.

…

After tidying himself up for a few minutes just after he took a quick bath as he didn't manage to take one of almost two days, he decided that it was time for dinner, so he quickly left his dormitory room as he felt that his stomach was boiling.

Just after he closed the door of his dormitory room, he stopped moving as he heard a familiar voice behind his back.

"Brother! Where the hell have you been?!" It was Derek Raven's younger sister, Luna Raven.

She's also a first-year in the Stella Academy, the same as him. Although he was roughly a year older than her, due to their family's past financial situation, he gave way to Luna to study first, instead of him.