The Mage Guild revered the six elemental gods, each representing one of the six basic elements of the world. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Darkness were the six pillars upon which the guild's power and teachings rested.
In stark contrast, the Chaos Sect also worshipped elemental gods, but their focus was not on the traditional deities. Instead, they venerated the Chaos Mother, the mother of all six elements, believed to be the origin of everything.
Because of this, the sect was considered a heretical and blasphemous cult by many, with the Chaos Mother dismissed as a myth, a concoction of twisted imagination, by most traditional mages.
Orson had no clear answer on whether the Chaos Mother actually existed or not. In his previous life, there were many who had tried to awaken the S-class Chaos Mage class, but all of them had failed without exception. Each attempt ended in failure, leaving the players frustrated and confused.
"You've got ambition, little one! A bright future ahead of you! Joining the Chaos Sect will be the best decision of your life!"
Fosset, the elderly man with a face full of rotting teeth, grinned wildly at Orson. He promised him that, if he joined the Chaos Sect, he would become the strongest mage in the Infinite Dimensions world. When Orson finally mastered Chaos Magic, he would even become the next leader of the sect!
It was a grandiose promise, one that sounded almost too good to be true.
But Orson couldn't shake the feeling that this old man was full of empty words. After all, the Chaos Sect seemed to be little more than Fosset himself, and even if Orson succeeded in awakening his class, he'd still be stuck with a lone commander title—he'd be a leader with no followers, no influence, no power.
"Come with me, little one, and prepare to embrace the power of Chaos!"
Fosset spread his arms wide, his eyes glowing with excitement. But the looks of disdain from the NPCs around them were hard to ignore. It was clear that Fosset had no standing in Pondenorlin City, and was mocked as an eccentric old fool.
Despite his exuberant speech, Fosset couldn't resist getting hands-on. He pinched Orson's cheek like a butcher inspecting his goods and then proceeded to examine his hands, as if picking out prime cuts of pork. The whole interaction felt strange and awkward.
"Enough of the nonsense. Lead the way," Orson said, his patience wearing thin.
Fosset nodded enthusiastically and led Orson through a teleportation circle. Within moments, they arrived at a remote village on the outskirts of Pondenorlin City.
In front of a half-collapsed building, Fosset raised his hand and grinned, "Building a place for the sect requires a lot of money. Do you have any spare gold coins, little one?" His tone was almost too casual, as if he had done this a thousand times before.
Quest 1: You need to provide funds to build a church for the Chaos Sect.
"Flame Fosset requests several gold coins."
A number input window appeared before Orson, but there was no specified amount listed. Only a vague prompt floated before him.
Orson furrowed his brow, his mind racing. He entered 1 gold coin to test the waters.
"Flame Fosset is starting to hesitate, questioning if you are the person he needs."
Orson froze. Was this how NPCs worked? He had been flattered as the chosen one, yet now he was being judged based on a single gold coin?
Frustrated, Orson entered 100 gold coins.
"Flame Fosset is beginning to lose faith in you, believing you aren't devoted enough to the Chaos Mother."
Orson nearly choked on his own irritation. He had never heard of other players needing to pay fees to awaken their classes. This was absurd!
And the old man's greed was practically unbearable! If it were anyone else, seeing that 100 gold coins wouldn't suffice, they would have probably walked away by now. But Orson, who had already mentally prepared himself for a financial bleed-out, couldn't afford to back down now.
"No wonder no one can complete this class. It's no surprise so many heroes have failed before," Orson thought to himself with a silent sigh.
It was clear that the Chaos Mage was a high-cost, high-reward class, and that meant only the rich and desperate would be able to even try.
He gritted his teeth and reluctantly typed in 10,000 gold coins—the full 1 million. The amount was painful to part with, but it was necessary to keep progressing. Orson swallowed his hesitation and clicked "confirm."
Clink, clink…
A sum of 10,000 gold coins vanished from his inventory. Orson felt like his heart was bleeding.
"Well done! You're the heir I've been waiting for! The light of the empire, the hope of all humanity!"
Fosset's mood swung dramatically from skeptical to ecstatic, his face lighting up with joy as if Orson had just performed an extraordinary feat.
"You have completed S-level Chaos Mage quest 1."
Quest 2: Raise four different C-level or higher spells to level 10.
"I'll give you three days. With your talents, this will be a piece of cake for you."
After this, Fosset began leading Orson to see the statue of the Chaos Mother, but Orson wasn't interested in statues or philosophical discussions. He sat down right where he was, ignoring the old man, and began furiously spamming skill points.
"You spent 7 skill points / 4 gold coins, your magic leveled up to level 7."
…
"You spent 12 skill points / 14 gold coins, your magic leveled up to level 10."
Orson had been preparing for this moment for days, accumulating 380 skill points in preparation for a massive boost. He had planned for this all along, and now it was time to cash in on all that hard work.
Quaking Stone Spikes reached level 10, unlocking Earthquake, a C-level Earth Magic spell that summoned two massive stone vines in a single strike. The cooldown dropped from 1 minute and 45 seconds to just 1 minute, and the spell became much easier to control.
Whisper of the Wind reached level 10, unlocking Wind God's Sigh, a spell that unleashed the power of the wind gods in a devastating gust.
Chaotic Tides reached level 10, unlocking the Chaotic Tides spell, which could create unpredictable waves of destructive energy.
Other than the already maxed Touch of the Flame Serpent, all of Orson's elemental skills had reached level 10 and gained powerful awakening effects. The spells were now far more potent than before.
"Done," Orson muttered as he stood up, brushing off the dust.
"That's it?!"
Fosset's jaw dropped in disbelief. Even the rarest magic apprentices hadn't leveled up so fast. Orson's speed was nothing short of miraculous.
The prompt for Quest 2 completion appeared, confirming the task was finished.
"Hmph, you do have potential, that's for sure. I'll give you three more days to complete this," Fosset said with a smug smile, handing Orson a scroll with the same sense of self-importance.
"You have received the Fragmented Chaos Scroll."
Orson opened the scroll, and a thick gray-brown mist poured out, as if an entire world was hidden within. As the mist dissipated, Orson saw a blurry figure seated on a stone platform, its features unclear but hinting at a humanoid head and serpent-like body.
"You have unlocked the Fragmented Magic Talent Tree."
Orson opened the talent page and found that the original magic tree had vanished. Instead, there was a fragmented skill tree, with only the root section visible. It contained just two talent skills, one of which seemed basic, while the other was completely unknown.
"Complete the awakening conditions, and you will temporarily become a junior Chaos Mage."
"Awakening Conditions: Successfully unlock the talent tree."
Orson blinked in disbelief. After spending so much gold and skill points, all he got was this incomplete mess?
Wait… temporarily become? Did that mean this class was limited in time?
He stared at the gray magic tree, his mind racing. A small note beside it read: "Because the Chaos Scroll is incomplete, you need to recover the remaining two fragments within six months."
Hell-level hidden quest triggered
Quest Description:
"Fragmented Middle Scroll: Obtain the Dragon King's Horn and give it to one of Flame Fosset's disciples in exchange."
"Fragmented Lower Scroll: Obtain the Magical Eye of an Ancient Titan and use it as a trade item in the royal city's black market."
"Once all fragments are recovered and the talent tree is unlocked, you will receive the SSS-level divine class: Chaos Overlord."
"Quest deadline: 6 months."
"Abandonment penalty: You will not be able to awaken a new class."
The quest prompts kept popping up, but instead of feeling
a rush of excitement, Orson was only filled with frustration. The Chaos Overlord class sounded incredible, but the task ahead seemed impossible.
A level 26 player was expected to obtain a Dragon King's Horn? How could a mere mortal ever hope to challenge something like that?
And an Ancient Titan's Eye? Those were the stuff of legends! The Ancient Titans were long extinct, and Orson couldn't even fathom where he would find one of their eyes.
"You bastard, I'm going to kill you!" Orson was seething with rage, glaring at Flame Fosset for this shameless scam.
Fosset, with his thick skin, laughed heartily. "I knew it! You are the one! My judgment has never been wrong!"