Chapter 10 : Chaos Element

Adam’s POV

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After the whole fiasco with the bone horse trying to turn me into a chew toy, and the mage girl, Dona, hugging me like I was the world's most fragile treasure, plus Nove dropping hints about my supposed jealous fiancé and that I shouldn’t be in much contact with other females. I decided to join the rest of the group. We gathered around, and they generously shared their food with me. The twins wrapped up their CSI investigation on the pulverized bone horse, the guy who got knocked out was still snoozing under the watchful eye of the necromancer-lookin' dude, and there was Dona, perched on a massive rock next to me and the leader of this merry band whose name remained a mystery.

As I sat there, munching on that juicy chicken leg, I couldn't help but feel a sense of liberation wash over me. No longer was I shackled to some organization, forced into tasks I despised. This was a fresh start, a chance to carve out my own path in this strange new world… Also, that chicken leg? It was like a gift from the heavens. After surviving on a diet of worms and bat meat, sinking my teeth into something so savory and delicious was like winning the lottery.

Dona and the group leader seemed curious about my story, and I could sense their interest since I overheard them talking about me before. So, I decided to keep it vague, introducing myself as Adam and spinning a tale about amnesia (totally not true, but it's a good cover story). I then talked about how I fell and that someone was trying to kill me.

I told them about surviving with a cracked skull, battling bugs like some insect gladiator, and proudly flaunting my measly Metal Weaving Mastery. The whole time, they were nodding along, treating it like some epic tale of survival.

But then, when I talked about making Core nodes, their faces turned from impressed to confused. I could almost see the question marks floating above their heads. Like, come on, guys, it's not that wild.

And then Mr. Necromancer in his fancy getup decided to burst my bubble. "Please, stop exaggerating. Just say you had some spare in your inventory," he deadpanned. Dude hadn't said a word until then, and here he was, being a flippen hater. "Making any kind of Core node is insanely hard and requires many materials and calculations in the case of a failure. You, who can't even metal weave properly, wouldn't know a thing about alchemy."

Ouch, Mr. Necro, way to kill my vibe.

"Kastor. No need to berate a child," the leader intervened, his tone serious.

Kastor, the thin dude just huffed in response. "The child shouldn’t say stupid things."

As they began their verbal jousting match, I couldn't help but lean back and subtly cover my mouth, to hide my mouth movement before whispering to myself, "Nove, explain."

I watched the Leader and Kastor argue all the while the twins and Dona started talking to eachother about something as if the argument was a common occurance, Regardless, Nove started talking in my head "He's got a point. For your average human, crafting a Core node is extremely hard. It takes complex formulas, machinery, alchemy circles, and calculations just to have a success rate at an 80% success rate. Without all of that, your success rate drop below 40%."

My eyes narrowed, Nove had been creating core nodes left and right like it was nothing. It seemed like Nove noticed what I was thinking about and responded "Most humans get distracted easily, can't calculate numbers fast enough. But I'm a Sentient core. No distractions, no errors. That's why I've got a near 100% success rate in all things alchemy."

Oh my god… I think I get it now on why Alper went all in on Alchemy and nothing else.

Anyways, as they all stared at me, a brilliant idea sparked in my mind. "Well, I can whip up some core nodes for you. Don't believe me? I'll prove it right now. You guys provide the materials, and in return, I get to keep the shiny new core node I make."

A hesitant glance exchange ensued among them, with Kastor, as expected, playing the skeptic card. "How do we know you won't just pull another Core node from your magical inventory?"

I flashed a sly grin. "Simple. You toss me whatever materials you've got, and I'll work my alchemy magic. If it's a success, the new core node is mine to keep. If not, I'll graciously hand over two of my own core nodes. Deal?"

Have fun with Core nodes made out of dirt and stones in the case I lose.

Kastor flashed an evil smile, but the group's leader intervened, "Hey, cool it, both of you. Adam, no need to explain yourself; we understand—"

I cut him off, "Nah, it's cool. So, Kastor, are you up for the deal, or are you still convinced I'll cheat?"

"Man, why would I turn down some free core nodes falling into my hands? You're on." Kastor extended his hand and a bag appeared in his grasp.

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I eagerly took the bag, peering inside. A piece of Sylvan Whisperwood with silver patterns resembling ancient magical runes, two dark purple four-sided diamond-shaped crystals, and a mushroom adorned with dark purple and red dots greeted my eyes.

Kastor took it upon himself to provide some details, "That's a piece of Sylvan Whisperwood—uncommon but not rare, Chaos Mushroom—fairly common in some regions, and finally, some Nexus crystals."

Dona, the mage, suddenly chimed in, "Kastor! Those are advanced materials that even give you a hard time! This is an unfair match."

"Oh, please, he accepted the match. It’s his problem now," Kastor declared, his tone dismissive. "Make a core node out of those materials that gives the ability to influence your weapon and yourself. I don’t care about the stats and extra abilities."

I glanced at the other members, and the twins were shaking their heads in disapproval. Dona and the leader engaged in a heated argument with Kastor about his unprofessional behavior, but I paid little attention to the drama.

As they bickered, I discreetly covered my mouth with my hand and spoke to myself, "Nove, can you make a core node with these materials and incorporate what Kastor said?"

"Affirmative. But without an alchemy circle, I cannot make it higher than tier 2."

"Can we make an alchemy circle now?"

"Impossible."

"Okay, then just use all these materials to make a core node, please."

The materials vanished from the bag, and I sat down cross-legged, waiting for Nove to finish. Observing my actions, everyone looked at me curiously.

"Is he making the core node in his Core Nexus?" Kastor chuckled. "He really is an idiot! No one succeeds from using that method!"

I remained silent, closing my eyes to avoid raising suspicions. Dona and the leader appeared irritated with Kastor, but I patiently waited for Nove's work to unfold.

After about a minute, Nove chimed in again.

"Apologies, while I said I’d be able to make a 2-star tier Core node, but due to the bad quality of the materials, I could only manage a 1.5-star tier Core node."

A game-like window opened up in front of me, displaying all the details.

Chaos Runes Nexus Core (1.5/6 Star tier):

* Stats Increase:

Intelligence (INT): +2

Wisdom (WIS): +2

* Special Attributes:

Chaotic: Due to the chaos element of the core, all effects of abilities will be chaotic and random.

* Special Abilities:

Basic Runes knowledge: Grants basic knowledge about enchanted runes. Such as,

1. Aol: Basic Rune of Damage.

2. Sul: Basic Rune of Support.

3. Del: Basic Rune of Disaster.

4. Fer: Basic Rune of Fortification.

Runic Canopy: Allows the user to write Runes on any surface, whether living or non-living. Each will be affected.

Woah. This is one cool core node.

In a nutshell, this core node seems to allow me to inscribe runes on surfaces, granting various effects. I won’t know the full extent until I use it, and I haven't equipped it yet.

Regardless, I opened my eyes and found Kastor staring at me.

"What’s wrong? Giving up already?" He said with a small devious smile.

"On the contrary, my friend," I held out my hand, and a shiny dark red bead with a silver-colored rune emerged from my inventory, "I believe I have won bet."

Kastor's eyes went wide. "That’s impossible…" It wasn’t just Kastor; everyone was staring at me. I tossed the bead to Kastor, and he began analyzing it before looking petrified.

“This is impossible…” He repeated, almost like he couldn’t believe himself saying that. I walked up to him, snatched the core node back, and told Nove to swap it with the muck worm core node I had.

As soon as I equipped it, some knowledge about runes suddenly flowed into my mind. The experience wasn’t unpleasant, just a bit weird, like feeling that your brain was getting itchy.

"Now, you said that it has to be able to influence both your weapon and yourself, right? Can I borrow a weapon of any kind since I lost mine?" I looked at the leader, and he took a sword out of his inventory and threw it at me. The sword looked like a regular iron sword but was a bit rusty and snapped in half, but it didn’t matter to me.

Using my finger, I wrote the rune for Aol on the weapon.

"Now, this rune symbolizes damage, but I don’t know if it means increasing damage or dealing damage. But we’re about to find out. Let’s hope it's not the 'rusty sword exploding in my face' kind of damage."

As soon as I wrote the Rune, it glowed in a silver light and then a red light. A game-like window suddenly opened up, saying, “Chaos effect: Frostbite.” The blade suddenly chilled up, white ice flakes started appearing on the sword, so fearing for my hand, I let go of the sword. It hit the ground and snapped again, freezing the grass and emitting an icy white gas.

Why did the blade suddenly get frozen? Nowhere in its description says that the rune freezes things. Or is this what the Chaotic Special attribute means? Random elemental effects?

“Does that count as influencing your weapon?”

“Absolutely not,” Kastor said.

“Then I want a retry.” I looked at the leader of the group, and he threw another weapon at me, a dagger this time.

So it seems like Aol simply damages whatever it’s put on. This time I used the Rune Fer, a fortification effect on the dagger.

Chaos effect: Phantom.

A translucent dagger in a similar shape to the one I was holding appeared right next to my dagger. It started mimicking whatever I did with a small delay.

“Now this counts, right?” Kastor gritted his teeth and nodded.

“Okay, time for the big one.” I said as I wrote the rune Sul on my hand, Sul is the rune of support.

Chaos Effect: Plant of rejuvenation.

My hand first felt tough but easy to move. After that, a bunch of vines wrapped around my whole arm, pulsing a yellow color every now and then, which felt really nice.

Looks like my deduction was correct; all the random effects happen based on the rune used. So using a damaging rune will cause a damaging random effect, but using a supporting rune will cause a random supporting or a beneficial effect.

“And there. I’ve won the bet, so I get to keep the core.” I smiled, but Kastor still looked in disbelief.

“…But… That’s impossible!”

“Buddy, I just showed you it’s possible.”

“No!” He screamed, “It’s Impossible!” It looked like he snapped for some reason.

He kept screaming until a blade appeared in his hand, and my eyes widened.

This guy really has a problem with a 14-year-old.

“Hey, we don’t need to do anything rash now, do we?” My words didn’t matter as he ran at me, screaming at the top of his lungs like a raging bull.