"I haven’t seen this before."
The mont the words left rek’s mouth, he caught it, the brief flicker of surprise across Professor David’s face. Felicity shifted where she sat, and even Nero’s expression tightened slightly.
They had clearly expected him to know.
A beat of silence passed.
"Might be sothing good," Fred muttered from the corner, arms crossed. The tension in the room snapped.
rek slowly turned to look at him. His voice was calm, but the steel in it was unmistakable.
"If it is, you won’t touch it. Not until you’ve earned your keep." He paused, letting the words land. "Do that, and you’ll have a place in this room. But next ti..." rek’s gaze sharpened, "...don’t enter here."
Fred’s jaw tightened. His face twisted, teeth clenched so hard the muscle in his cheek jumped. His fingers twitched around the grip of his tal bat. Rage simred just beneath his skin.
Yuki stepped forward, sliding between Fred and rek like a guillotine being lowered. Her armor clinked softly with the movent. Behind the vertical slits of her helm, her glowing white orbs flared, almost hungry for an excuse to end a threat.
Fred flinched but said nothing. The pressure in the room beca suffocating.
Then rek reached forward and picked up the purple orb. With a light squeeze, it shattered, releasing a burst of glowing violet embers that drifted into the air like dying stars.
In his palm, sothing dark took shape, a scroll, pitch black and cold-looking, as if dipped in night itself.
[You have discovered a Chaos Skill: Duplicate!]
Duplicate: [A Stage-3 Skill. Can duplicate most items, skills, and other rewards gained from The Order once per week. Cannot duplicate anything of a higher stage than itself.]
Chaos Effect – Learning this skill will cost the ability to walk. For those already unable to walk, it will take away the ability to see.
This cost cannot be reversed or healed.
rek stared at the scroll for a mont. Then he calmly tossed it onto the table.
The others imdiately took a step back. Even Yuki’s head tilted slightly toward it, as if surprised by the nature of the find.
Exhaling, rek looked at the group, noting the mixed expressions.
"It’s a different kind of skill," he began, his voice low but deliberate. "One that can duplicate any of these treasure orbs... and whatever’s inside, once per week."
The mont the words landed, the scroll may as well have turned into gold.
Every pair of eyes locked on it.
"That’s..." Professor David was the first to speak, awe in his voice. "That kind of skill can literally increase our chances of survival. We could double our essence orb gains, duplicate your healing balm, even high-tier weapons..."
From the corner, Nero’s gaze drifted to Felicity before returning to the scroll. His brows furrowed in thought. Owning a skill like that, it would make soone the most valuable asset in the entire group. Maybe even their de facto leader.
But Nero wasn’t a fool. His eyes narrowed.
"There’s sothing you’re not saying. If it’s so powerful... why didn’t you learn it right away?"
rek’s expression remained unreadable as he t Nero’s gaze. "Because learning it cos at a price." His voice lowered. "You lose your ability to walk. And if you already can’t walk? You lose your sight."
A chill passed through the room.
rek continued, his tone flat.
"And let’s be honest... anyone who’s both blind and paralyzed? In this world?" He gave a bitter smirk. "They’re already dead."
No one spoke after that.
The scroll sat silently on the table, still pulsing faintly, like a gold in the devil’s palms, offering power... and ruin.-
"Anyone want to lose their ability to walk?"
Silence.
Not even a whisper rose from the group. Heads lowered, eyes avoided the table, the answer hanging heavy in the air like a stone dropped into still water. The tension drained the room of all energy.
rek scowled, not just at the cost of the chaos skill, but perhaps at himself for daring to hope. He had expected more from the purple orb. Sothing... usable.
With a grunt of disappointnt, he reached for one of the red orbs. It crumbled between his fingers in a burst of glowing crimson embers. Tevin and Nero followed suit, cracking theirs open with practiced hands.
As the last of the embers faded into the air, what remained on the table was a curious collection of treasure.
A tiny necklace, elegant in its simplicity. A delicate chain of black-silver tal that held a seed-shaped ruby, glowing faintly like a sleeping heart.
Beside it was a short sword, made from the curved fang of a colossal beast, its handle wrapped in white cloth.
Then ca a torch—a dieval-looking object made from stick and cloth, but inscribed with glowing runes that shimred faintly along the wood grain.
Another scroll lay next to it, its wax seal, intact.
A crossbow followed, sleek, light red in color, with faint runes etched into its limbs and fra, resting beside a matching hip quiver of 20 bolts, each looking sharp enough to pierce steel.
Finally, there was another short sword. Curved one-edged blade, its dark tal kissed with red as if it had been dipped in blood and left to dry in the sun. Its shape was predatory. Beautiful, but nacing.
Professor David turned to rek, his expression calm, but a small, knowing smile played at the corner of his lips. "You get first pick."
rek gave him a slight nod, then reached out without hesitation and touched the pendant.
Item Type: [Necklace]
Item Na: [Void Pendant— A Stage-1 rarity, grants the user access to a personal dinsional space of 1 cubic ter. Can store only non-living items. Maximum Weight Capacity: 150 kilograms.]
rek rolled the ruby-shaped pendant gently between his fingers, feeling its smooth surface, slightly warm to the touch. A small grin pulled at the edge of his lips.
Exactly what he needed in a ti like this.
A storage space ant flexibility. Speed. Survival. It was no weapon, but in the hands of soone like him, it was far more useful than most tools on that table.
He looked at the other items, his brows furrowed.
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