'This is too much.'
"BOOM."
With every leap, the earth cracked beneath him, groaning under the force, while Vio soared through the sky like a missile fired from a cannon.
His movements grew faster and more powerful to the point that he struggled to control himself. Fortunately, he was gradually adapting.
Wanted to stop, take a moment, and reflect on what changed in his body, but the fear of being tracked pushed him to keep moving.
Didn't slow down until Vio felt he had put a considerable distance between himself and the cave. Landing on a tall rock—
"BOOM."
The sheer impact of his descent fractured the boulder, though thankfully, it was large and dense enough not to collapse entirely.
'This isn't good…'
Gaining more power was a blessing—but for Vio, not being able to control that power was no different from being weak.
Calmed breathing as his eyes scanned the surroundings. Only after confirming it was relatively safe finally inspected his body.
'Now, let's see what exactly happened to me.'
With just a thought, the CyborgHeart in his chest pulsed with a faint glow, drawing in the material coating his body. Vio watched in awe as the structure of his metallic frame became more visible—shinier and somehow… tougher.
Removed his upper clothing to get a clearer look.
There were no glaring differences to the naked eye, but Vio could feel the changes. The metal of his exoskeleton had grown harder, more resilient. Even the black spherical joints at his limbs had deepened in color—and when he moved his arms, they flexed more smoothly and freely than before.
'System, list the differences between my body before and after my slumber.'
[Exoskeleton durability increased.]
[CyborgHeart can now be manually moved by the hero.]
'???'
Almost instinctively, Vio looked down at his chest. A series of plates shifted and retracted inward, revealing what lay beneath his armor.
There was a transparent casing covering his organic heart—but not the cyborg one.
As if guided by a force he didn't fully understand, Vio reached in and gently touched the CyborgHeart, removing it from his chest cavity.
'So this is what it meant by 'moved'…'
He could now open his chest and even extract the CyborgHeart. But one tube still remained connected to it.
'System, what's the point of this feature? It seems more dangerous than useful.'
[The hero must discover that for himself.]
Of course, the system didn't answer directly.
With a sigh, Vio returned the heart to its place, re-engaged the protective material over his body, and put the clothes back on before continuing to review the new notifications.
[The following abilities have evolved:]
[Abilities]
Surge Strike:
Unleashes electrical energy throughout or outside the body.
EP Cost: As long as EP remains.
Adaptive Scan:
Scans the surroundings, allowing the hero to perceive objects as 3D models—even with closed eyes.
Range: 100 meters
EP Cost: 3 EP per minute.
His eyes lit up with excitement the moment he saw it—his most important ability had evolved.
'What does it mean? Can I fire electrical waves?'
[Internal structure has been modified. The hero can now discharge energy directly from the CyborgHeart.]
'So…'
Raised his hand toward a nearby rock. With just a thought, the CyborgHeart pulsed with energy—electric waves surged into his arm, forming visible sparks that lashed out toward the target.
"CRACK."
"BOOM."
The rock wasn't large, but watching it disintegrate on impact left Vio more than satisfied. Even as he noticed energy dropping, he didn't mind.
[3 EP consumed.]
'Yeah... that was totally worth it.'
His frustration began to fade. Earlier, he had been irritated after discovering something concerning about the system store.
To purchase engineering blueprints, he required a special system currency. To make matters worse, several sections of the store were locked. When he asked the system why, the answer was infuriating:
[The hero has not yet earned the right.]
He had zero coins.
Beside the store, a blank screen appeared, showing only a counter of his system currency: a pitiful 0. Vio was broke—and he couldn't pretend otherwise.
That blank screen, as it turned out, was a conversion panel. The idea was simple: place an item into it, and if it had value, it would be converted into system currency.
Thinking to experiment smartly, Vio picked up a random rock and inserted it into the panel—only to receive a blunt rejection.
[The item must possess value.]
'And how am I supposed to know that?'
[The hero must obtain 'The Unseen Eye That Sees All.']
That item was a reward for successfully exiting the mountain. It seemed like everything in this system was interconnected.
But even in the darkest void, a faint glimmer of hope always shined through.
And for Vio, that hope came in the form of a new mission—
['Know Alam' Missions Activated]
[Mission 'Discover the Aiz Mountain']
Type: Exploration
Requirements: The hero must speak the name of the place while within it
Restrictions: Do not exceed the boundaries of the place
Description:
The hero must triumph, and to triumph, they must control. To control, they must first understand what they control. As for the Aiz Mountains, it is just a needle among the things the hero must know.
Objective:
Uncover the Aiz Mountain, its secrets, mysteries, terrain, rulers, past, present, and even its future.
Rewards: Aiz Explorer's Chest for every 100% of evaluation.
Of course, Vio wasn't exactly thrilled about learning anything concerning mountains. At the moment, survival was his top priority. But the truly exciting part wasn't the mission itself—it was what the mission triggered.
Thanks to a previous mission, 'Conquer the Mountains,' Vio had accidentally learned the name 'Aiz' when he casually mentioned it out loud. That offhand comment had automatically activated a new mission—and alongside it, a map appeared.
A full 3D map of the mountain rendered in the air. It was pyramid-shaped, shrouded in swirling mist, with a clearly defined line tracing his movement throughout the previous day.
To confirm his suspicions, the same thing happened when he exited the cave—just like in a video game. As he moved, the fog cleared, revealing more of the terrain.
A glowing arrow on the map marked his current location.
Most importantly, he was trying to escape the mountain. And with every step, that arrow moved closer to the edge. That alone was enough to make him smile.
But the core problem remained.
'I've been moving nonstop for a whole day, and this is all the progress I've made?'
Frustration crept back into him as he realized that yesterday's efforts barely moved the needle. Another wasted, Furious night in the mountains was the last thing he wanted.
He did the math in his head—and the XP he'd gain wouldn't even be enough to level up once. If he kept going like this… death was inevitable.
That's when his brain finally kicked into high gear.
'There's no way I'm escaping this mountain in a single day… So what the hell am I supposed to do?'
He slumped onto a boulder, deep in thought. A cold breeze swept across his skin, bringing back memories of the previous night in vivid detail. But instead of simply remembering, he dug deeper—focusing on how he felt at the time.
When he was searching for a spot to conduct his experiment with the soldier, he'd felt a strange dread from not seeing a single soul. Then there was the soldier's maniacal laughter… and the way he'd thrown his sword into the air before dying.
Certain keywords from his missions echoed in his memory.
Once the image came into focus in his mind, he opened his eyes, now filled with certainty—and a grin crept onto his face.
'They can't handle the Mountain's Wrath either… which means they use something to survive the night. And whatever that is… it must keep them stationary.'
Knew exactly what he had to do now.
Reaching into his clothes, Vio pulled out several pouches he had taken from the soldiers. Inside were small, clear, colorless stones. He had suspected these were the currency of this world.
He dumped all the stones into a single pouch and pressed it against the system's inventory screen.
'Much better.'
The inventory screen was divided into slots—around ten, with a plus sign at the bottom. When Vio tapped it, a second screen popped up asking if he wanted to unlock more inventory space.
But the price made his face stiffen.
'Ten million?! That's robbery!'
One of the inventory slots displayed a symbol resembling the clear stones—and beneath it, the number: 1245.
'At least it counts them for me…'
He considered converting the stones into system currency… but chose not to. For one, he might need those stones in this world. And secondly, without knowing their actual value, he could be getting ripped off. If one clear stone only amounted to a single system coin, he'd feel scammed.
'Even with 1245 system coins, I can't afford anything useful anyway…'
He pushed himself off the rock and prepared to continue his journey—but something made him pause.
Searched his pockets and pulled out the map he had found earlier in the soldiers' tent.
'Doesn't this count as information about the mountain?'
The moment he had the thought, a loud ringing filled his head.
[The hero has discovered the item: 'Map of the Mountain's Heart']
The map in his hand began to glow before dissolving into particles. Instantly, the mountain map reappeared before him—but this time, a new icon had appeared at the bottom.
'Should I press it…?'
He tapped the icon, and the foggy mountain transformed into a fully detailed 3D pyramid model—with interconnected lines running throughout it.
'System, are these tunnels?'
[Correct.]
The map now had two modes:
A surface map, still covered in fog.
And an internal map, revealing a tangled network of tunnels.
'Damn... it would've been better if it was a full surface map.'
[The hero has obtained significant information.]
[Calculating value of information...]
Exploration missions rewarded players based on how important and useful the information was—the more critical the data, the higher the percentage rating.
[Evaluation Complete: 431%]
One Aiz Explorer's Chest per 100% knowledge obtained.
Four glowing chests appeared before Vio, dropping heavily onto the stone with a thunderous impact.
"BOOM." "BOOM."
The boulder trembled beneath their weight.
[Please open the chests.]