“To start with, first, what happened to your left eye?” Instructor Draco said staring dead straight at Zeras as his face grew extremely cold and the surrounding air suddenly gained a chill.
Zeras noticed the greatly dropping temperature of the room but he still replied as naturally as he could.
“It was a result of a slight contact with a foreign object in the last expedition…”
“Oh, was it due to the malevolent sea…” Instructor Draco asked raising an eyebrow. Of course, the tale of the rescue mission on planet Humbad already reached their ears.
“Yes, it was after that strange encounter…”
Instructor Draco’s eyebrow furrowed at hearing that as he was also aware of one of the forbidden grounds of the Infinite Galaxy, one of which was the Malevolent Sea caused by the invasion of dark matter. Since Zeras traveled in the river, it was a possibility he got his eyes mutated therein.
“That’s all I wanted to ask..” Instructor Draco said as the cold feeling in his eyes disappeared while the chill in the air dispersed as it regained its normal temperature.
“Um, why do you ask though…” Zeras asked after breathing a sigh of relief within him.
“I can sense the energy of dark matter within you, Zeras. A power only us Chaos dragons can harness…” Instructor Draco said.
“Dark matter…” Zeras muttered in his breath with a lost expression.
“Yes, Dark matter. There’s this law of the universe where everything in the world must have their opposite, even Mana wasn’t an exception to this rule. So do you know what the opposite of Mana is?” Instructor Draco asked looking at Zeras who had his eyes narrowed to points but suddenly they began widening as realization dawned on him.
“Correct. That opposing energy is Dark Matter. It’s an incredibly dangerous energy possessing all the negative attributes of Mana. In short, it is not an energy anyone or anything should come in contact with.
Yet, I sensed a great deal of that energy in your eyes. If your left eye was really due to the mutation of the malevolent sea as you say, then I’m willing to pay for an Eye-nanobotic transfusion…” Instructor Draco said as Zera’s eyes widened.
An Eye-nanorobotic transfusion is for those who have lost their eyes but instead of remaining blind, their eyes can be replaced with technological eyes, An eye-nanorobotic transfusion is a very major eye transfusion as it grants increased sensory ability to the user than what the normal eye could imagine.
In short, Instructor Draco suggested he remove his left eye and transplant it with a nanorobotic eye.
“Thank you Instructor Draco, I’ll think about it…”
Zeras said standing up before giving a bow to instructor Draco before heading back towards the exit.
“Don’t think I’m trying to get rid of your eyes, Zeras. I know well of the terror of Dark Matter. Mark my words, it doesn’t stop…”
Zeras didn’t turn back his gaze as he continued moving towards the door exit.
“Let me let you in on a secret Zeras. A secret almost nobody in all of existence knows. You can take that as an apology for me asking you to get rid of your eyes…” Instructor Draco said as Zera’s hand which lay on the doorknob suddenly paused.
“There’s a secret to all energy in the world and that is that nothing is free and everything has its prices, even Mana itself. Earth has forever changed once Mana invaded it.
The strongest now rules. There are now more people in meditation, Cultivating Mana, and learning principles, with some out there in the limitless galaxy looking for objects to break through their bottleneck. You can also say the price of Mana is its power of evolution and making people devote their time to it which has more positive and very little negative.
But do you know the price of Dark Matter?…” Instructor Draco asked his voice getting incredibly heavy and solemn.
“The price of Dark Matter is… your SELF!” It will corrupt you and then make you its slave. Dark Matter is never the one to bargain, it will give you great power, some beyond imagination, but its price is ultimately you. In the end, you’ll become its slave, you will be devoured by its power.
Let today be forever etched in your memories, Zeras. For I asked you to get rid of it before it could spread. Before you become its slave. And you refused.
Whatever happens to you, whatever your losses are due to this energy, then it’s fully your fault…”
“BAAAAAAAAANG”
The door was slammed shut as Zeras moved away from the Dojo, a vein on his forehead.
Get rid of his left eye? It could be said to be the one that gave him the greatest of strength.
The system was the origin of the Chaos Devourer gene. It was the source of his power. It wouldn’t be wrong to say, it was the source of his life.
It was the one who gave him hope when the entire world seemed to turn its back against him. And now it has blessed him with even greater power. But they want him to get rid of it because of some stupid universal rule.
“Instructor Draco. I know well your concern as I’ve seen the results of Dark Matter…” Zeras muttered.
He had truly seen the effect of dark matter. It completely changed the malevolent sea turning every of its inhabitants into mindless creatures. There were countless strong Abyssal creatures in the malevolent sea all due to the effect of the Dark Matter source beneath it.
It was just like Instructor Draco said, dark Matter gave them power but it robbed them of their intelligence and self. It made the Abyssal creatures its slave.
But this wasn’t enough to scare Zeras. Unlike what Instructor Draco said, Zeras didn’t possess Dark Matter energy. It was just the energy his Chaos Devourer gene radiated that looked similar to Dark Matter. He had zero dark matter within him.
“I don’t know what the price of this system fusing with me is. But I know well whatever the price, I’m willing to pay it… because I won’t ever be on the losing end. This is my conviction” Zeras said affirming to himself as he headed towards his dorm room.
— — —
10 minutes later…
Zeras clenched the doorknob as he entered the room but was shocked speechless by something: The Mana in the room.
It was so concentrated, that Zeras could feel them grazing past his skin and entering into his pores just from standing in the room.
“Woah, so this is what a 150% Mana means?” Zeras almost screamed out loud. 𝖋𝔯𝔴𝔟𝖔𝖛𝖑.𝔠𝔬𝔪
“It seemed the Event was really worth all of the trouble. I can’t even begin to warp my mind around losing all this. That said..”
Zeras immediately grabbed hold of his watch as he inputted some codes.
Zeras immediately clicked in the yes.
“Yes”
Zeras breathed out a sigh of relief at hearing that. Of course, he had never forgotten the VR helmet that Quinn bought for him with his points last time so he had promised to pay him back once he had enough points.
With that done, let’s get to the real major hit in this Event.
“Activate System interface.”
[Congratulations, Quests Completed…]