I frantically rolled on the ground, trying to ease the pain. After fifteen minutes of doing that, I stood back on my feet and inspected the dark sinkhole we had fallen into.

Murky as it was, I could tell that we fell near a cliff wall that encircled us, which appeared to be as tall as fifty meters and as wide as one hundred meters from one side to the other; it would be impossible to climb such height without proper equipment, as the walls were smooth. Most importantly, falling from such a height was tantamount to death if not for Lunaria’s help in dampening the fall with the drone.

First of all, I checked my things. My backpack was there, and the gun that I hung on my shoulder was also in place.

Speaking of which…

In haste, I searched for Tuilë, who was thrown away when I hit the ground. And she was lying on the ground some distance away.

“Hey, Tuilë. You alright?” She was injured before, so it was highly likely that the fall exacerbated her injuries further.

She was unconscious…

“You don’t search for me first? How rude,” Lunaria chimed in as her 3D hologram projection appeared from Luna-1 that was floating nearby.

“Hmm… You’re controlling a drone; even if it got destroyed, you won’t die.”

“That’s true, I guess.”

“Anyhow, do you think first aid will do to heal her?” I asked Lunaria.

I had brought a box of first aid inside my backpack, but I didn’t have much except for some bandages, disinfectant, and cotton. Looking at what had befallen her so far, it would be a miracle if she only suffered a broken bone or two.

“First, you must stop the bleeding and then give her some bandage. For now, just follow my instruction.”

“Good idea.”

I did as Lunaria instructed. Fortunately, Raymond had experience in giving people first aid, hence it wasn’t difficult for me to do, and I did exactly like what he did in his memory.

It didn’t take long for her to come to. She possessed great strength and vitality indeed…

“Maxim? Where are we?” She raised up and opened her eyes wide, which were already larger than mine, to look around in confusion.

By this time, Lunaria already had the drone to hide inside my backpack.

“Well, we fell into the sinkhole. So, you know…” I scratched the back of my head. “But worry not. I’m sure there’s a way out somewhere.”

It wasn’t just wishful thinking, there was bound to be a sewer or something under a city infrastructure. At least, that was how it normally was.

She seemed unconvinced, however.

“I’m useless! Just like it was in the past, nothing changed at all.” Tuilë made a calm-yet-self-loathing smile. “I’m sorry… Because of me… you…”

“No, you’re not. I think this is the least I can do as a friend.” Sufficed to say, I had thought this through since I wouldn’t have taken the risk otherwise. After all, I had my own sense of proportion behind this… I hoped so.

“Friend… I left all my friends and family behind… My homeland… It’s difficult to say if it has been swallowed by the red fog or not.” She had her face downcast, clenching her hands.

“Your homeland?” I wonder if she lived in a similar place to Raymond — in a sheltered habitat.

It would be an interesting implication if she were to live inside one and her shelter’s Life Support Systems failed as well in the adjacent time span to Raymond’s.

“Mm… We live on the back of a massive six-legged creature that we called Morpheus in a valley between a huge mountain range just outside the Crimson Fogland. Alongside it, we traveled from place to place, from ruin to ruin, that’s why my people understand the ancient language and are able to use the machines left behind…” She began retelling her backstory without me having to ask.

The creature that had become a guide for them was attacked by mutated monsters similar to the pale cruncher for nearing the red fog too much. At the time, she took the initiative to lure them back into the Fogland with her steam kite but failed and got separated in the process, thus losing her way back.

Although she brought a compass with her, it wasn’t working and was rotating chaotically because of the interference of the fog. But thanks to her already powerful combat prowess, enormous will, and great luck, and through all sorts of hellish incidents, she wound up in Aquarine. However, she didn’t know whether her family back home was safe.

It finally connected in my mind: Her true reason for approaching me was because I had an airship — she could tag along with me to get her back to her homeland.

“No! You could reach this place with merely a steam kite was an astonishing achievement in and of itself.”

I mean, even if she stopped at some location like the skyscraper I previously found or some other high place, the journey definitely exceeded the range of the aircraft. And that was despite her not knowing where she was heading to.

“Really?”

“Yup. You can ask anyone here… Not that there’s anyone else besides me. But you get my point.”

“Pfft. Thanks, Maxxy. You’re one weird dude.”

Unexpectedly, the sound of stomach rumbling appeared. It didn’t come from me obviously, so I looked at the only remaining person in the place — Tuilë — only to find her cheeks reddened. Since she had pale white skin, the reddening was even more apparent.

“I-I don’t mean to… Geez…! How embarrassing.” Her face sluggish, she hit her stomach. “At a time like this… I just have to leave my food on the steam kite.”

I put down my backpack and gave her a compressed energy bar along with my water bottle, saying, “Here’s some food and water. It may not be to your liking…”

“You sure?”

“Of course. Listen, you stay here to recuperate; I will be exploring to see whether there’s an exit.”

She nodded her head and began chewing the energy bar I’d given. In consideration of her appetite which might be big, I left my backpack behind while taking my gun along with me.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I went ahead and walked around the place looking for a way out as she recuperated, and it wasn’t long until I found one. Located ten meters above the ground on the cliff was a horizontal hole that seemed to be a tunnel… a sewer. There was bound to be an exit there as long as we followed the tunnel.

While getting there might pose a problem, I rushed to where Tuilë was located to inform her of the good news. After all, it was better than nothing.

“Hey, Maxim. What’s this spherical thing?” Tuilë was holding Luna-1 with both hands with a face like that of a maniac.

“Stop with your absurdity this instant,” said Lunaria in an annoyed tone, using the Fogland language that she had been secretly learning. How unusual.

Now that Lunaria’s existence was known by Tuilë, there was no need for her to hide any longer. Still, it was surprising that she was able to learn the language in a matter of a day. As expected of an AI… I mean, a digitized mind.

“Oooh! It can talk! Mind if I disassemble you?” Eyes sparkling, she inspected every inch of the drone, trying to figure out how it worked.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Aww… don’t be such a miser. A little bit wouldn’t hurt, no? Hee-hee, ehehe.”

“…”

Lunaria and Tuilë were bantering with each other. The depressed and lonely look that was plastered on Tuilë’s face had vanished like it was never there.

I let her play with the drone for some time before intervening since it would get nowhere if I didn’t. Lunaria took that chance to hide the drone inside my backpack.

“Oh yeah, I discovered a tunnel that may lead to a way out. The red fog will cover this place when the sun goes down, is that right?”

“Uh-huh. I already told you that the red fog could cause a mutation in normal people and only a source user like me can last longer without consequence. Prolonged exposure was still equally dangerous, y’see.”

Now that she said that, wouldn’t this be where the mission had a spike in difficulty? But after rechecking it, there were no changes whatsoever. It appeared that I couldn’t have more than one mission at once, and it wouldn’t disappear unless it succeeded or failed.

Still, the situation was in no way good for me. Once the sun went down and the red fog encroached on this place, I would be turned into one of those white freaks. A gas mask would probably mitigate this issue, but I didn’t have one, not that Tuilë had one either since she was a source user.

“Also,” she frankly said, “I think I sprained my leg when falling. I’m afraid I may need to rest some more… twelve hours should bring me to my tiptop condition.”

“I’ll be dead by then!”

“Sucks to be you. Teehee.” She chuckled.

“Are you for real…” Was saving her a wrong choice?

What she said next refuted my negative thought, though.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Then, just become one.”

“Pardon?”

“Become a source user — an enhancer. What else? Normally, it would be impossible to become one in just a day. But lucky you, we have tons of source crystals with us. The Second-Order source crystal that we got from the mutant blood mosquito is more than enough. Plus, your physique is only a step away from reaching Tier 1.”

Hearing what she said made my blood boil. I mean, who wouldn’t be interested in possessing extraordinary strength?

The wind seemed to be at my back, urging me onward as I aimed to become the strongest in the world. Like literally.

“Are you going to teach me?”

“That’s right! Leave this to me. Now lend me your ears…”

She then launched into an hour-long lecture about the prerequisites and how to become a source enhancer — the easier path between the two. I learned that to become an enhancer, you must open the twelve specific spots in the body akin to acupoints to allow the source energy in the air to circulate in the body. This process could be assisted through source crystals dropped by monsters.

Head, abdomen, left and right leg, left and right hand, left and right feet, left and right arm, and left and right chest. That were the twelve spots — my constitution and Tuilë’s were similar in this case.

“Use the First-Order source crystal first. Depending on your talent, you may use less than what the average person does.”

With the five First-Order source crystals lying on the ground, I gripped them one at a time and stuck them to the spots that I had to open. She guided me well since our constitution was similar in this aspect. And through her guidance, I opened all the spots one by one, each taking less than half an hour. Overall, the time that it took amounted to a bit more than five hours in total.

I didn’t even have to use the Second-Order source crystal, though I used almost all the First-Order source crystals with the last one on the brink of being completely depleted. Funnily enough, the source crystals that had been depleted turned into impure dust.

There was a pushing force around me, feeling like I had made a breakthrough or something — I saw Tuilë’s snowy hair being blown into the air from the pushing force that she had to cover her face with her hands. Immense power that I’d never felt before burst within me as intangible energy circulated through every fiber of my muscles.

I could even sense the source of energy all around me. It wasn’t as pure as the one stored inside my body, but now I understood how Tuilë was able to know the grade of a mutated monster without a Vocation like mine. With this, checking people’s source power was easy.

Light. So light…

Never once had I felt this great before… I felt like I could move a large boulder over one hundred kilograms with ease or even break a wall with a punch. Okay, the last one may be an exaggeration, but still…

Itching to find out about the current state of my body, I checked my status screen.

Maxim Peterson (Raymond Orton)

[…]

Source Level: Tier-1 enhancer

Source Element(s): All (basic)

Vocation(s): [All Elements] | [The Survivalist]

Stats:

* STR: E- (19 → 25)

* AGI: E- (18 → 24)

* VIT: E- (16 → 22)

* SRC: F (5 → 11)

* SPR: F (10)

Accumulation Points: 10 → 12 [F+]

The first three stats were expected to increase, but SRC was the most intriguing thing on the list of stats.

SRC (source power)

The accumulation of source energy’s limits within the body and the ability to perform elemental-based attacks thereof.

“Congrats on becoming a Tier-1 enhancer. Now, you just step into Tier 1, so you may need time to adjust to your body. We have to figure out your source element as well. This will determine your offensive power.”

“Source element?” I already had my suspicion since it always appeared inside the status screen, but I was always clueless regarding this.

“Correct. Except for some extremely rare elements, there are seven most common ones: Anemo, Geo, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, Dendro, and Electro. I myself mastered Electro. I can guide you if you have a high elemental affinity with Electro.”

“Cool. How do you check the elemental affinity rate then?”

“Through the catalyst stones. There are, certainly, more specialized tools to check affinity, but we don’t have the luxury of using one right now. Though, unfortunately, I only have Pyro and Electro catalyst stones on hand.” She handed me two shining gems, one fiery red, and the other dark purple, into my hands.

Observing a brilliant red gem on my left hand that was unlike a ruby, rekindled the fire of fantasy within me. Feeling my hands somewhat itching, I gently stroked the red gem. It was warming hot and filled me with endless passion!

Just thinking about being able to conjure fire made me giddy with joy… Wait, only an evoker could conjure magic unless I used a catalyst weapon.

But there was no reaction. Nothing.

“Oh, and be sure to channel source energy into the stone,” Tuilë added. You should have said so from the get-go!

And thus, I did just that. The fiery red crystal magically shone redder and warmer than ever, like a colored light bulb.

“You have a high elemental affinity with Pyro. Usually, one only mastered one element or two at most, even if it’s not unheard of for someone to use any type of element that they don’t have an affinity for. While I also have a reaction to Pyro, Electro is more suitable for me… Huh?!” Her face turned dumbstruck at the sight of the Electro catalyst stone that shone no less bright than the Pyro’s.

Hmm… So this is what my other Vocation is all about.

[All Elements]

An ability that allows the user to be capable of using all source elements. But this won’t help the user in mastering them; it will require real talent.

Current available elements: Anemo | Geo | Hydro | Pyro | Cryo | Dendro | Electro

Thinking back, I wasn’t sure about the reason for having two Vocations. It was more probable that Vocation came from the power of the soul and me being reborn in this body might be the impetus of having two.

I wasn’t a dunce that couldn’t notice this obvious fact, in spite of everything.