"Yo, Kaelos, wake up already."
"W-what? Just let me sleep for a bit longer, Troy..."
"Dude, you've been sleeping for over an hour; you already get so much sleep at night, so why do you always seem so tired?"
Kealos sat up groggily as he rubbed his eyes. Blinking as he tried to adjust to the brightness of the sky.
"I just like sleeping, okay? It's quite fun; you should try sleeping more instead of training all day."
"Tch, unlike you, I'm busy chasing my dream in life! Lazing around all day won't do anything; it's better to spend more time training and make progress towards my goal."
Kealos eventually stood up with great difficulty as he stretched his body, his dark hair in a mess as he glanced at his best friend, Troy. Troy was quite the ambitious person; he was also the same person earlier who exclaimed his dreams of becoming a Chaos Voyager.
Although others looked at him with gazes that doubted him, Troy always believed in himself. Whether they believed in him or not, he put all his efforts into achieving his dream.
Kealos, on the other hand, was a relatively laid-back person. Compared to his best friend Troy, he never had many grand aspirations and ambitions. Although the two had completely opposite natures, they were still best friends.
Kealos had always been alone during a majority of his childhood. Without any parents or relatives, he lived in a constant state of life-and-death survival. Perhaps through fate or simply a miracle, he eventually ended up in the village of Elandor. There he eventually met with Troy Stoneheart, who quickly became good friends with Kealos.
Later, learning about his living condition, Troy decided to invite Kealos to live with him, but in return Kealos had to work for their family. Although hesitant and suspicious at first, Kealos eventually agreed and had been in this village for over a solid year by now
He and Troy grew closer as time passed; he eventually started to forget about his past and started to enjoy his current life. Unlike Troy, he was quite content with his current situation. Perhaps due to the experiences that he went through, he never sought out grand aspirations, only wishing to live a quiet life.
"You know, maybe settling down and living a peaceful life would be better than becoming a Chaos Voyager..."
Listening to Kealos' response, Troy shook his head as he exclaimed his next words in a loud tone
"How could I settle for such a boring life?" By only exploring the spirals of this world, I can finally gain immense power and wealth, truly becoming one of the most renowned Chaos Voyagers in this world!"
"…"
Chaos Voyagers were a special type of people in this world. It wasn't based on nobility or status but on exploring the Spirals of Chaos around the world. People that explored these Spirals, gaining immense power and wealth, would be called Chaos Voyagers.
Chaos Voyagers explored the Spirals located throughout the world of Aloria. Each Chaos Voyager would have immense power compared to the average person and would live a life of danger and risk. But within danger and risk there lay countless treasures and wealth.
Such dreams of wealth and power were sought out by many people in this world. But in such a reality, becoming such a person was not simple at all.
Although it sounds easy at first, even if a thousand ordinary people were to attempt to become a Chaos Voyager, on average only one person would remain. Such danger often dimmed people's ambition of becoming a Chaos Voyager, but other times it ignited the flames within people's hearts, and they proposed to become a Chaos Voyager with even greater ambition.
"But it's too dangerous, though. Even if you were to find a Spiral of Chaos within this remote village, what chances would you have of a Chaos Voyager? One in a thousand is just too low of a chance; you shouldn't take that risk." Kealos said with a deep sigh, shaking his head as he looked at Troy
"Even so, I want to. I know that I will become a Chaos Voyager. I know that if I try hard enough, it will eventually happen!" Troy said with his voice heavy with naivety and ambition.
Looking at the face full of excitement and ambition his best friend Troy held, Kealos felt like this conversation was going nowhere. For almost the past year, he and Troy have had this same conversation over and over again. After looking at him in silence for a bit longer, Kealos let out a sigh before deciding to stop arguing with Troy.
"Alright, alright, whatever you say, man, let's just get home and finish our work so I can get back to sleep..."
"Hey! I'm really going to become one, you know! Just because the chances are slim doesn't mean that I can't do it."
After pausing for a bit, he looked away before looking back at Kealos with a strange gaze.
"Also, why are you trying to go back to sleep again? Didn't you just take a nap?"
"..."
Without responding, Kealos looked at the setting sun as he ignored Tery's words. Walking back home to the place where he and Troy lived. Glancing back at Troy, Kealos felt a sense of helplessness but also a sense of happiness.
"It's so peaceful here…" Kelaos muttered to himself.
"Huh, did you say something?" Troy responded, not quite hearing what Kealos said.
"It's nothing; let's just get back home."
After his response, he picked up his pace before he gave Troy a chance to respond back.
Once again looking at the setting sun, his mind fluctuated with different emotions and thoughts as he walked. After hesitating for a bit, he thought of a word: 'System'. After thinking of this word, a bright blue screen suddenly popped up in front of his vision, only visible to him.
[System]
[Quest: Venture into the Spiral of Chaos]
[Reward: ???]
This same screen, one that everyone could see from birth and one that Kealos had looked at countless times, appeared once again in front of his eyes.
Looking at the screen in front of him, Kealos had countless thoughts:
'Chaos Voyager... Is it really so important to everyone? Were glory and wealth that important to others? But I'm also curious and want to explore the Spirals of Chaos too…'
But such thoughts were quickly shot down by Kealos as he gazed forward once again.
'It's better to not think of such grand aspirations; we ordinary people can never match up to the gifted ones…'
Kealos quickly thought to himself, burying the previous thoughts deep within his mind. Unlike commoners like himself, nobility and upper-class families were the most common people that tried to become Chaos Voyagers. Children with the opportunities to train from a young age get real-life lessons from Chaos Voyagers and are able to receive support from their families.
People like Kealos Locke or Troy Stoneheart were not trained enough to even dare think of becoming a Chaos Voyager. Much less dreaming about becoming a successful and renowned Chaos Voyager; as a matter of fact, it would be a miracle if they were to find a Spiral of Chaos within this remote place.
Within this world, Spirals of Chaos were often monopolized by the rich and wealthy. By monopolizing them, they can choose who to enter or even get paid in tolls by Chaos Voyagers when they decide to re-enter the Spiral of Chaos. Aside from this, being able to transport materials out of the Spirals could help families expand their territories and power.
But since the amount of materials that can be taken out is heavily limited by one spiral and mortal workers can't enter Spirals of Chaos much, wealthy families often hired Chaos Voyagers to take materials and supplies out of the Spirals of Chaos and use them to expand their land and build it; multiple spirals would essentially act as a gold mine, often as the foundation of a town. Due to this, the chances of a commoner like Troy or Kealos even encounter such a phenomenon were rare, especially since they lived in a run-down rural village in the middle of nowhere
Although Spirals of Chaos can be considered big in numbers, thousands or millions in number, the world of Aloria was simply too vast. Most Spirals of Chaos were owned by the people in power. To give or show an example, most high-class families would have around a couple hundred to a thousand Spirals. They could essentially act as factories for the families, and the Chaos Voyagers could work for them by supplying materials while simultaneously gaining the support of the families to help with their exploration.
For nobility, the amount often resorted to a minimum of thousands, having land and cities that expanded far into the horizons. As for the empires of the world, each controlling a continent, they could possibly have hundreds of thousands to possibly a million. With the endless supply from the Spiral of Chaos, it allowed humanity to build structures on an enormous scale.
Often undiscovered Spirals would be taken in by neighboring powerhouses, forcing the people around them to work as essentially slaves, blackmailing them through their family to do gruesome labor. This was another reason why so many people in the world wanted to become a Chaos Voyager. Although glory or lifespan was a big part of it, they also wanted the power to protect their family.
The cruel reality of this world, the commoners being used as tools and cast aside, was printed within the laws of this world. Only the power that one had could possibly help you achieve your desires in this world. Money or strength—they were simple parts of the power that a person needs. And very conveniently, both could be obtained within the Spiral of Chaos.
But alas, it was simply a fleeting dream. A reality that commoners could only dream of. People like Kealos knew this fact too well, while people like Troy simply wouldn't give up. Whether it was determination or pure naivete, it was also something to admire.
'But enough of these thoughts; this is simply a part of the world. The strong devour and use the weak. It's pointless thinking of changing it. Living a simple life and finding someone to settle down with should be the goal of us commoners'.
Thoughts and ideas drifted through Kealos' mind, his eyes flickering with the soft gleam of the sunset as he walked with Troy back home.