[System]
[Quest: Venture into the Spiral of Chaos]
[Reward: ???]
Kealos felt a deep sense of fear but also excitement as he gazed at the deep spiral that lay beneath his very eyes.
'Is this a Spiral of Chaos? The aura it gave off was frightening and mysterious, but why did one suddenly appear right in the middle of nowhere?'
Kealos felt some suspicion as he gazed at the Spiral of Chas that was in front of him, along with a strong sense of caution and doubt, but beneath that he couldn't shake this feeling of excitement that was boiling within his heart.
Kealos knew something clearly, and that was the fact that he shouldn't venture deep into the Spiral of Chaos. He knew of the odds that people said, how there was a one in a thousand chance of a person living through to become a Chaos Voyager, but at the same time Kealos felt something deep inside him that told him otherwise.
He remembered his past life, where he had been a homeless kid on the streets of cities, living off scraps and his own bitter struggle of life and death. Throughout those times, the only thing he wished for was to live a simple life, a peaceful one away from conflicts.
Living a life of peace was his dream from when he was a stray, a person that never got to enjoy what it was like to live day to day without worries about how to survive the next day. But during his time in peace, he instinctively felt something, a feeling in his gut that said that this wasn't the life he really wanted. But keeping his mind clear and avoiding any rash decision, Kealos decided to keep at this happy and peaceful life.
But subconsciously he felt it; he felt that he was bored.
But Kealos didn't want to return to living as a stray, wandering around in a state between life and death. That was also, in a way, boring to him too. he thought back to something that Troy had mentioned during last night, something that had flew over his head during that time but now resurfaced
"When I was seven, my dad told me about the world. He talked about the wonders of the Spirals, the extraordinary sights, the beautiful cultures, and the thousands of unique people."
Kealos at this moment felt something wash over him, not another emotion of excitement, fear, or joy, but a moment of realization.
Kealos understood his own self better than most people understood their own emotions. Kealos chose a life of peace and quietness because at first it was different from his previous life; it was interesting to him at first.
But as time passed, his feeling towards peace and quietness was more forced; he still stayed in this village because he wanted to repay his debts to the Stoneheart family but also knew deep down that even if he left, there wasn't much he could do; at most, he could go back to the boring life of being a Stray in cities.
And so the only interesting things that he enjoyed were learning about the new world, listening to stories told by the old elders, and also sleeping, because it would allow him to dream of scenes and experiences that he knew he would never see.
And so he remained within the village of Elandor, he had planned to remain here for the rest of his life, paying back the Stoneheart family and possibly living a quiet and peaceful life, enjoying his time through sleeping and reading books.
But now the opportunity lies right in front of him, a chance that allows him to truly experience the mysterious yet wonderful world that lies beneath him. But the instinct of survival still rang in his head.
Instinctively he had the feeling of not going at first, but as Kealos calmed this instinctive feeling within him, he also had contradicting thoughts that went completely against his usual thoughts.
If Kealos were to remain in the village, would he really be happy? Although he felt joy through sleeping and learning, it would only be momentary, short-lived, and gone once a while had passed.
Kealos felt a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation towards the Stoneheart family for giving him the opportunity to experience peace and quietness, but he also knew that purely in terms of debt owed and debt paid, he had already paid off what he owed the Stoneheart family through work.
The only reason he stayed was because of those emotions of gratitude and appreciation that kept telling him to repay more, and with nothing better to do, he had already decided to remain here.
And so with this in mind, what was the difference between dying now or dying of old age?
If he were to die right now, Kealos knew deep down that he would experience the same emotions dying decades later. The regret of not being able to explore this world to the fullest would still remain.
But now he was given the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance that would never be given even if he were to personally seek it out himself. If he were to personally try to explore the world, he knew for sure that he would die without a doubt, but now there was an opportunity for him to possibly grasp his dream.
Kealos' heart pounded as he looked to the side of the Spiral, small stone steps slowly extended down along the edge of the Spiral, slowly moving deeper and deeper in the Spiral, making out a circular shape that entranced Kealos.
'Those endless steps into the deep abyss, I want to see what lies there, what wonders that could be explored.'
Kealos slowly took a step forward, putting his right foot onto the first series of endless steps.
Kealos paused; he waited there momentarily as he waited for something to happen, but unexpectedly nothing did.
'Does this mean that I have to go deeper into the Spiral in order for something to happen?
With this in mind, he cautiously took another step, then more and more as he grew more comfortable, eventually walking down the Spiral at the same pace as walking down a normal flight of stairs.
These flights of stairs wrapped around the spiral in a counterclockwise motion. To the right of you was a hard, cold wall, while to the left of you was the dark hole that extended down into the abyss.
As he walked further and further down, he eventually stopped and turned around, there was still a small bit of gazing down into the spiral, but it was still extremely dark.
Gazing above and behind him, he could still see the bright blue sky, illuminated by the bright rays of sunshine, but those same rays of sunshine felt swallowed by the Spiral. The deep darkness felt deep and unfathomable. Kealos walked down the Spiral as his view eventually started to be surrounded by darkness.
Putting his right hand on the wall, he slowly kept trying to descend down the Spiral, his pace drastically slowing down. But suddenly the sound of stone grinding against each other could be heard. Hearing this, Kealos was surprised, and suddenly he found a faint dark blue light illuminating the steps below him. Seemingly out of nowhere, torches now appeared on the walls of the Spiral, giving the already scary Spiral a deeper sense of fear.
Kealos was momentarily shocked and stood still, unmoving, but quickly regaining his thoughts, he slowly started to walk deeper down the Spiral.
Time slowly passed as a scene quickly appeared before Kealos, shocking him deeply as he froze in his steps. His mind shook with confusion and disbelief, questioning if what he was seeing was real or not.
In front of him lay a series of steps, but they didn't continue down forever like what he had assumed before but instead led to a flat area. In this flat area at the bottom of the Spiral lay torches that illuminated the area, allowing Kealos to see around him.
Kealos first looked above and could see nothing but darkness; there was no sight of the blue sky, nor was there the sight of the previous torches that had lit his path. The only things that remained were small steps and the dark, unfathomable darkness that towered over him like clouds.
As he slowly stepped into the flat area and looked around, he quickly spotted a door embedded into the stone walls, as he approached the door, he didn't find anything wrong, but as soon as he placed his hands on the handle of the door, a blue screen suddenly appeared before him.
[System]
[Quest: Venture into the Spiral of Chaos (Completed)]
[Reward: (Optional Quest), The Depths of Chaos]
[You have received an optional quest, The Depths of Chaos]
[Quest: The Depths of Chaos]
[Description: Complete your first Chaotic Challenge.]
[Rewards: Unlock additional parts of the system. Ability to harness the power of Chaos.]
Kealos stared at the blue screen in front of him, his entire body frozen in shock. He slowly took his hand off the door handle as he gazed at the new quest and details that were now appearing in front of him.
"Additional parts of the system? Chaotic Challenge?" Kealos couldn't help but mutter out loud, questioning what the rewards meant by this. He already knew about the ability to harness the power of Chaos, but he didn't understand what a Chaotic Challenge was.
As he quickly thought of what a Chaotic Challenge was, he quickly brought out the system once again and gazed at the screen and quickly found something that he had never seen before: a blank screen, but quickly he found that on the top of his system screen, there appeared to be tabs.
Kealos quickly clicked on one of the tabs as he looked at it in a daze.
[System]
[Quest: The Depths of Chaos]
[Description: Complete your first Chaotic Challenge.]
[Rewards: Unlock additional parts of the system. Ability to harness the power of Chaos.]
He saw this and saw the familiar quest once again, but this wasn't what surprised him; right next to this tab was a new one, one that he had never seen before.
[1st Chaotic Challenge]
[Would you like to attempt? Yes/No]
Kealos looked as he quickly felt a sense of confusion and also dread at the same time. Kealos didn't know what a Chaotic Challenge was; he couldn't understand if this was good or bad, if it was something that he should attempt.
Should he attempt the Chaotic Challenge, or should he enter the door in front of him? This question lingered in his mind as thoughts sparked in his mind. Looking at the quest tab again, Kealos quickly thought of new ideas that could explain thoroughly what a Chaotic Challenge is.
'The quest says that if I complete the Challenge I will be able to harness the power of Chaos. The ability to harness the power of Chaos must be how people become a Chaos Voyager, meaning that the Chaotic Challenge is the key to this qualitative change.'
Piecing this together, Kealos came to a realization but also had a confused look on his face.
"If that's the case, I will stay a mortal until I attempt the challenge, but just what lies beneath this door?"
Kealos had a gaze of excitement as he looked at the door that was in front of him. The tall stone door, mysterious and cold, behind it must have something important or something of value.
'Chaotic Challenge or explore behind the door?'
These were the main questions that Kealos kept asking himself, but eventually he decided to go through the door.
Although Kealols knew that the Chaotic Challenge was the key to becoming a Chaos Voyager, he also knew that this Chaotic Challenge could be completed later on. According to what he knew, mortals like himself would eventually develop Chaotic Energy Aberration.
But he knew that a method of curing this disease was to become a Chaos Voyager, meaning that this Chaotic Challenge could still be attempted later on. Instead, he wanted to shift his focus to the door and what lay beneath it, which most likely was a Floor
But he suddenly remembered something that he had long thrown to the back of his mind: that was the old grandpa from the village. He had once mentioned that people must complete Chaotic Challenges in order to reach a Floor.
But at the same time, if completing a Chaotic Challange allowed a person to become a Chaos Voyager, then why would mortals be able to explore the Spirals of Chaos?
Kealos felt a sense of doubt and suspicion at the thoughts of this and quickly thought of a possible reason
'Perhaps that old grandpa had gone senile and forgot some important details?' Kealos thought in confusion as he hesitated for a bit.
"Well, I might as well test it out; there shouldn't be any harm in trying to enter behind the door."
As he put his hand on the door handle, he could feel his heart pounding louder and louder; he felt his body heat up as his breathing became a bit ragged. Slowly he opened the door, and he stepped inside.
Suddenly the system had a message once again
[System]
[Welcome to the first floor of the Spiral of Chaos]
[Floor 1: Sanctuary of the Heavens]