High above the blood-red skies of Norhera, those glowing golden eyes slowly blink open once more.
?"Ah... where the hell am I...?" Wren groans, squeezing his eyes tightly as a fresh wave of excruciating agony shoots through his entire body, making every single muscle and bone feel as though it’s been shattered to dust.
?Envy... hey, Envy, where are you? What is this place?!
?Before his voice can even fully echo in his own head, a familiar spectral owl flickers into existence right in front of his face, tilting its head with an irritatingly smug expression.
?"Oh? So the sleeping beauty finally decides to wake up, huh? Hmmm, I was honestly starting to think you’d flatline and I’d have to go out and hunt for a brand-new contractor," the owl squawks sarcastically.
?Wren forces a weak, ragged breath, a painful, breathless huff escaping his lips. But he’s in too much pain to even muster a proper laugh.
?"Envy... what... what actually happened? That fight..."
?The owl stares back at him, blinking in genuine bewilderment as if questioning whether the kid’s brain finally fried completely.
?"Hey. Tell me straight—you didn’t accidentally smash your skull against a stone wall too hard, did you?"
?"Are you serious? Of course I don’t remember! That’s why I’m asking you!" Wren grits his teeth, his voice trembling with sheer disbelief. "What the hell happened? How am I even still breathing right now?!"
?The spectral owl lets out a long, heavy, theatrical sigh, shaking its feathered head in dismay.
?"Unbelievable. Just check your damn Status, kid. Read it with your own eyes."
?Status?
?The moment the word registers in his scrambled brain, a familiar translucent blue screen snaps open right before his face.
~~~~~~~~~STATUS~~~~~~~~~
Name: Wren Extenguard
Race: Human
Level: 2 (0/250)
Class: Hell-Keeper
Talent: None
Strength: 1.7
Agility: 1.3
Vitality: 1
Intelligence: 0.4
Spirit: 0.3
Will: 2
Free Attribute Points:3
Skills: [ ??Hellfire Manipulation D(Lv.1) ], [ ??Chains of the Damned E(Lv.1) ] , [ ??Supremacy Through Envy S(Lv.10) ]
Titles: None
Gifts:Tattoo of Envy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
?Wren stares unblinkingly at the glowing status window hanging in the air, his mind completely blank as he tries to process what he’s looking at.
?For several long, agonizing seconds, nothing registers.
?Then...
?Wait.
?His golden eyes dilate, flying wide open as the numbers finally sink in.
?"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY STATS?!"
?His Strength, which had barely been scraping by, had plummeted from 3.2 all the way down to 1.7. His Agility had crashed to 1.3, and his Vitality was flickering on life support at a miserable 1.
?Even worse, his Intelligence and Spirit stats had flatlined, dropping dangerously below 1.
?"What the hell happened to me?! Did that damn skill permanently cripple my entire body?!" Wren panics, clutching his head as a dizzy wave of nausea hits him.
?"Congratulations!" Envy chirps cheerfully, doing a little mocking mid-air flip. "You’ve successfully discovered the magnificent, life-altering consequences of doing something utterly, breathtakingly stupid!"
?"SHUT UP!"
Wren immediately regretted shouting. The movement sent a sharp jolt of pain through his chest, forcing him to curl up and groan.
"Damn it..."
He carefully lowered his head, breathing through his clenched teeth.
Every part of his body hurt. Even moving his fingers felt like an exhausting task.
But the pain wasn’t what frightened him most.
It was his status.
"Envy," he muttered, forcing himself to look at the floating owl. "Explain. Now."
The owl tilted its head.
?"Seriously... you didn’t see any of that?" Envy asks, its voice dropping to a flat, deadpan tone of utter disbelief.
?Wren just stares back, his mind still entirely shrouded in confusion as he blinks against the pounding headache.
?"You’re a complete waste of space," the spectral owl sighs, shaking its feathered head in profound disappointment. "I actually thought you made that reckless decision after reading all of the system notifications."
?"What notification...?" Wren asks, his voice cracking as he struggles to comprehend what the bird is babbling about. "What are you talking about?"
?"Look at the logs, you idiot. Read them yourself."
?Wren panics internally, quickly swiping his trembling fingers through his visual interface to pull up the complete history of his system notifications from the fight.
?His eyes scan down the lines, and his blood runs ice cold as he reads the fine print he had completely missed in the heat of battle:
?[ Warning: Upon using [Supremacy Through Envy], the host’s stats will reduce drastically. ]
?[ Penalty: Using [Supremacy Through Envy] triggers a severe backlash. All skills will be locked for a duration of 10 days. ]
?[ Physical Backlash: The host’s physical body will face a 10-day immobilization period. The host will be completely unable to move. ]
?[ Cooldown Restriction: [Supremacy Through Envy] is restricted to a strict usage limit of once per month. ]
?Wren stared unblinkingly at the glowing text, his mind refusing to accept what he was reading.
?Just once a month. Every single one of his skills completely locked down for ten agonizing days.
?And on top of all that, his physical body was completely paralyzed—immobilized for a full ten days where he wouldn’t even be able to twitch a single finger.
?He didn’t even know what to say.
?"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"
?His furious, desperate shout echoed across the empty, desolate space beneath the blood-red skies of Norhera.
?Or at least, it would have sounded dramatic and terrifying if his cracked voice hadn’t miserably squeaked and broken halfway through.
?Ten days... a full ten entire days...
?Desperate to test if it was real, Wren tried to command his limbs to move, to twitch, to do something. But not a single muscle responded. He was trapped completely inside his own broken shell.
?Gaaah—!
?A fresh wave of white-hot agony flared up across his entire body, making his vision swim.
?"Stop moving, you absolute moron," Envy said, watching him struggle with a look of profound, unadulterated disappointment. "Unless your secret, hidden ambition in life is to spend the next ten days screaming until your throat literally falls off."
?Wren slowly shifted his heavy, unblinking gaze toward the irritating bird floating above him.
?The moment I can stand up... you’re going to regret existing...
?He desperately wanted to reach out, grab the smug little creature by its feathery neck, and shake some actual sense into it.
?Unfortunately, he couldn’t even lift a single millimeter of his arm.
?A heavy, suffocating wave of despair washed over him as he stared at his miserable status screen. He had barely survived his Awakening Ceremony against all odds, only to end up right back in the dirt, completely helpless once again.
?He had finally acquired the legendary power he had always craved, only to discover that unleashing it came with a price high enough to leave him entirely at the mercy of the world.
?"...Why?" Wren whispered, his voice cracking with exhaustion.
?For once, Envy didn’t immediately reply with a sarcastic joke or a mocking jab.
?Wren stared blankly at his trembling, unresponsive fingers.
?"Why would you give me a skill like that... if using it just leaves me in a state like this?"
?Envy floated a little closer, its glowing golden eyes reflecting the harsh, dim light of the arena.
?"Think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t activated Supremacy Through Envy," the owl answered, its tone turning surprisingly sharp and grounded. "Hudson’s third punch would’ve connected straight to your chest, and your little adventure here in Norhera would’ve ended right then and there. Permanent death."
?Wren closed his eyes, a cold shiver running down his spine as he vividly remembered the sheer, suffocating terror of Hudson’s previous blows.
?The unbearable, bone-crushing agony.
?Envy drifted closer, hovering right at eye level.
?"You keep staring at the penalties as though the system robbed you of something. But tell me, Wren. What exactly did you have before you received that skill?"
?Wren remained completely silent.
?"What were your actual chances of surviving against a veteran gladiator like Hudson? One percent? Less?"
?The spectral owl tilted its head, its gaze piercing right through him.
?"You had zero experience with your own abilities, barely enough energy reserves to cast a spark, and a body that could barely withstand a single casual punch. Yet, you walked away breathing when faced with an opponent who should’ve crushed you into paste."
?Envy paused, letting the harsh truth settle into the heavy silence.
?"That skill didn’t make you an invincible god. It simply bought you ten seconds in which you weren’t completely helpless."
?"...Damn it," Wren hissed under his breath.
?He tightly shut his eyes, a bitter wave of regret washing over him.
?Back during the Awakening Ceremony, he had spent years dreaming and obsessing over what it would feel like to finally awaken a powerful ability. He had utterly convinced himself that raw strength alone would instantly solve all his problems.
?And now, after finally obtaining two unique skills and forming a binding contract with a Primordial Sin, he had blindly rushed headfirst into battle without ever stopping to understand the actual cost of wielding power.
?He had survived, yes. But survival didn’t magically mean he had made the right choice.
?And just as the suffocating weight of his own foolishness threatened to crush him completely, a soft, unfamiliar voice abruptly cut through the dark corners of his mind:
?"Big brother... are you alright?"