Theo’s gaze remained on the translucent screen.

His eyes slowly lit up with excitement.

"...I actually get to choose between two advanced elements?!"

And they weren’t some simple elements either.

Both curse and chaos were incredibly strong in their own ways.

One could debuff, weaken, and even prevent opponents from healing. From what he remembered, one could even kill their opponents from great distances!

The other he was far more familiar with, having seen not one, but two Diamond Core hunters use it.

It could change a spell’s direction, freeze it in place, speed your own spells up... pretty much stabilize and destabilize everything.

Theo’s heartbeat sped up as he stared at the two options.

But there was one clear winner in his eyes.

’I’ve been hoping for this one,’ he thought, glancing at the second option.

While both were absurdly powerful, chaos felt far more compatible with him at the moment.

His water element was pretty well-rounded, but it lacked speed and couldn’t give him true battlefield dominance at his current level.

As for his lightning element, it was pretty much the opposite. While it gave him speed and power, it lacked defense and long-range control.

The chaos element would fill those gaps perfectly. It could speed up his water element and create a domain in which he was unpredictable.

’I can already imagine suddenly accelerating my water vortex,’ he thought, smiling. ’Or even redirecting dozens of spells back at my opponents.’

Without another thought, Theo pressed down on the second option.

Another translucent window popped up immediately.

[Choice made.]

[Granting the Chaos Beast’s SSS-rank Chaos affinity now...]

Theo’s heart raced from excitement and anticipation.

He closed his eyes, focusing deep inside his core.

Suddenly, an uneasy feeling radiated through his body, almost like it was warning him.

’Stay calm now,’ he thought, clenching his fists. ’Just take it like last time...’

That’s when a dense, almost gray dot appeared beside his two other affinities.

At first, it was nothing but a small speck that didn’t even radiate any light.

Theo instantly focused on it.

That’s when the dot began to change. It turned into a spike, then into a cube, a triangle, a spiderweb, all while slowly growing larger.

Lightning and water mana immediately surged toward the mass. Yet, as they got close to it, they vanished into thin air.

Theo’s expression instantly changed.

"What?"

Before he could even properly process what was happening, the gray mass suddenly twisted again.

The cube folded into itself unnaturally, its sides connecting in ways that made absolutely no sense.

For a split second, Theo felt like he was looking at both the inside and outside of the object simultaneously.

A sharp, stabbing pain immediately shot through his head.

’What the hell is this???’

The mass continued shifting through countless more unnatural shapes.

Suddenly, it stopped changing.

The gray shape abruptly collapsed inward, swallowing all excess mana in an instant before stabilizing into a dense gray mass.

Everything fell silent for a moment.

Then—

BOOM!

A pulse of gray mana shot through his body.

Theo’s eyes snapped wide open immediately.

The room around him had started to warp, almost like he was standing in the center of a spiral that kept twisting downward.

Dust began to cover the floor, the pure white walls growing murkier each second. Even the metallic cases began to rust, the mana scriptures fading away.

Theo’s breathing slowly grew heavier.

"What... is happening?" he muttered, stumbling back.

For a split second, he genuinely wondered if the breakthrough had somehow damaged his mind.

But the rust spreading across the metallic cases was very, very real.

"What the actual hell did I just awaken...?"

Suddenly, he felt a splitting headache shoot through his mind.

"Fuck!"

He grabbed his head tightly.

The edges of his vision began to grow darker as everything spun around him.

Just before everything went dark, a single system panel popped up.

[Congratulations! Host has successfully awakened Chaos Beast’s SSS-rank Chaos affinity.]

Then—

Everything went dark.

...

Time seemed to pass slowly.

Or maybe quickly?

Theo genuinely couldn’t tell anymore.

His consciousness drifted aimlessly through endless darkness while strange whispers echoed faintly around him.

Finally, he slowly pried his eyes open.

That’s when he froze.

Gray mist stretched endlessly around him, covering the ground all the way up to his waist.

"Where... am I?"

He took a step forward, feeling solid ground beneath his feet.

As he glanced down, he caught a glimmer from a strange kind of pure black rock.

"Is this even... Earth?"

The moment those words left his mouth, something suddenly moved within the mist.

Theo’s body tensed instantly.

Far in the distance, gray figures floated through the air, letting out soft cries.

At first glance, they resembled ghosts... except their bodies were fractured and completely made out of particles.

One second, they looked thin and starved.

The next, their limbs extended unnaturally before snapping back to normal again.

Theo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’What the hell are those?’

He immediately got into a proper combat stance.

As the creatures drew closer, he tried to form a lightning bolt beside him.

But quickly figured out that he couldn’t.

’I can’t gather my mana?’ he thought, utterly confused.

He wanted to curse and shout as the creatures got closer and closer.

Just as they reached him, Theo gritted his teeth, preparing himself.

Except... they just floated straight through him.

"That’s it," he muttered. "I’m dreaming."

At this point, he didn’t even care how strange this place was anymore.

He just wanted to wake up and get the hell out of here.

Slap!

Both his hands hit his face.

He paused for a moment, a chill running down his spine.

His face slowly began to burn up... just like it would in reality.

His expression immediately stiffened.

"...No way."

Before he could think any further, the gray mist far aabove him suddenly began to twist violently.

The ghost-like creatures around him let out strange cries, instantly scattering in every direction.

Theo’s pupils shrank.

Then— 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The mist parted.

A single, colossal eye opened in the darkness, its deep purple-gray iris lighting up the land beneath it.