The mist swallowed him, and as soon as his torso passed through, the pain came. His entire body trembled violently. A burning agony spread through his muscles, hitting his chest, stomach, and head—like tiny needles piercing every living cell from the inside. Enrico dropped to his knees with a dry thud on the rocky ground, but he tried to hold himself together.
His eyes shook in their sockets, and his heart raced, as if trying to escape from what was consuming him from within.
'Poisoning… from the Mana Zone…'
Enrico's body was merely that of a Circle Zero. And in this part of the cave, hidden by the mist, the concentration of mana was so dense and corrupted that it felt alive—aggressive and hungry. The air he breathed was pure poison for someone like him.
Black veins began to pulse in his arms. The pain intensified.Enrico tried to crawl forward but could barely move his fingers. The only thing keeping him from losing consciousness was one fixed thought:
'If I can't endure this now… I'll die later, when something even worse appears.'
Every second, his body felt like it was imploding from the inside. But still, he didn't turn back. He couldn't return now. If he wanted to be strong, he couldn't retreat.
'Stay calm. Don't scream. Don't waste air unnecessarily. Breathe deeply...If it weren't for the necklace, I'd already be dead. This necklace is greatly reducing the pain.'
Enrico sat behind a rock near the wall.
'And I have to stay here for at least an entire day? Damn it, Enrico, why did your potential have to be so low?'
Enrico's potential was lower than Tolen's, who was considered the weakest. It wouldn't be surprising if Enrico had the lowest potential in this entire world. If not for the person who had taken over this body, he wouldn't even be at 50% of Circle Zero.
'To make it worse, the first three Circles are considered the easiest to advance. I have to break my limit soon.'
If he could reach the "limit break," that body's potential would match Tolen's before he broke his own.
'That's why I admire him. He managed to increase his own potential. I mean, he was still below average when he broke the limit, but just one step below.'
Breathing steadily, he checked to make sure no Ranvil-level Nartheis was nearby.
"Besides, I'm going to increase my potential again once I get the pacts back."
[What do you plan to do? You know, with your pact. I'm curious, since it still needs approval.]
'So curious… I'll tell you now so the constellations can start analyzing it.'
[That's right, go ahead.]
'The system really seems excited… wait, why is it excited? That's worrying. Oh, I get it—must be because it wants to add a drawback like last time.' Enrico's thoughts kept racing.
[Do you really think I'm that cruel?]
"Yes." His face showed not a shred of doubt.
[… You didn't even hesitate. Alright, now I'm actually sad.]
'Either way, I'm sure they'll accept it.'
[So confident, huh? Very well, go on.]
'The pact is this: in exchange for increasing my potential by just one tier, I will suffer from Fire Cancer.'
[What is that? Sounds seriously dangerous.]
Fire Cancer was a disease caused when a fire mage was afflicted with the Phoenix Curse. Those who bore the curse seemed to gain greater potential, but in exchange, once a month, they had to survive one hellish day specific to that month—and it always got worse the next month.
'And finally, the curse always kills the person who has it by the age of 20… if they don't die earlier during one of the monthly events.'
[Wait, so even if you survive the episodes, you'll die at 20 no matter what?!]
'There's a way to partially cure it—either by receiving the blessing of the god Apollo or reaching the Eighth Circle.'
[But that's impossible for someone with this kind of potential! Even if you improve, you said it'll only be on par with Tolen when he broke his limit.]
'If I don't take the risk, I'll die anyway. I have to increase this body's potential. And I'm sure the constellations will add something to make it worse.'
[What do you mean?]
Enrico started to move better and looked at his Fire Circle Zero, which had now reached 72%.
'The pain from this disease increases month by month. If I start now, wouldn't that be too easy for the constellations?'
The system went silent for a few minutes, then returned.
[You're right. The constellations just called, and they said they'll spin a roulette from the month this body was born until the current month.]
'Well, that's surprising. Leaving it to chance… this could be really bad or really good.'
Enrico looked both relieved and worried. Suddenly, an explosion was heard far above.
[Is that Serenya and Valença?]
"No. It's probably the battle over this territory between the mages and the Nartheis. In the original story, around this time, there was a great battle where the mages won. It lasted two days."
So they're not in danger?
'No, they probably can't even hear it. This battle is happening in the Mana Zone, which has such a high concentration of mana that it created its own dimension in this mist. I also made sure to seal the hole as carefully as possible so they wouldn't see it.'
Enrico struggled to breathe properly due to the pressure in the area. He pulled out a bag of bread from his pocket.
"Thank you, Sir Damian, for the necklace."
[Why doesn't he make more of those necklaces?]
'Well, because he had to sacrifice a huge amount of his own mana. This necklace restores everything that was destroyed, and you could say he only recovers the mana he spent two years later. He only made two, and one is with me now.'
Enrico gave a mischievous smile.
[Please don't smile like that… it's gross.]
Enrico almost laughed. 'Alright. Well, that limitation was placed by some unknown god. I guess the world would be boring if a bunch of these existed.'
[What a petty god.]
'Very. In the original sto—'
Before he could finish, Enrico suddenly felt a pressure that stopped him in his tracks. What had already been difficult breathing became much worse.
A finger tapped his shoulder several times, and he turned around.
"How interesting. I didn't think I'd find such a pathetically weak potential in this world. You'll definitely be useful."
A Nartheis appeared, with long black hair—half of it white—and a mask covering her eyes down to her mouth, shaped like a cross. Her skin looked like gray stone with black lines running across her legs, arms, and torso.
Enrico couldn't see her stats, but he could clearly see her Rank.
"Hello, boy. I hope you don't die—your weak potential will be very useful." She seemed to smile.
Name: ????????? — Rank: Ranvil.