Zarvian was alone once again.
For an entire day after the fight, Zarvian remained in the labyrinth, his mind numb.
The pain he had endured during the fight was overwhelming, and the pain it left was no less.
Over the span of eight years of isolation, he faced countless coma, trauma and deaths. Yet, this one was by far the most harrowing.
He could still feel Victor's grip on his heart.
…However, Zarvian's mind was strong. He may have succumbed to numbness for a day, but it would last no longer than that.
Now, he's about to check the new item he got from killing Victor, throbbing heart.
He skipped the profile section, looked through his inventory, and then selected the sixth item.
[Name: Throbbing Heart]
[Tool: Alteration]
'Alteration?'
Zarvian have never seen such thing.
[Origin: Drop]
[Moniker: Victor]
'Huh... why's his name here?'
He quickly selected his fourth item in his inventory, Margid's teeth, his beloved knife.
[Name: Margid's teeth]
…
[Moniker: Margid]
It was his only other item that had a moniker.
'What is the moniker exactly?'
After thinking about it for a while, he came to the conclusion that a moniker was, in some way, a title for items.
Or perhaps it was the name of something the item was tied to.
[Item Tale: The heart of a truly cowardly being. Even after death, the timid creature could not escape fear. The heart continues to beat under its dread.]
Zarvian couldn't help but chuckle a bit
'That bastard…'
Enhancements:
[Heart's Consciousness]
'Only one? …From that beast?'
He sighed and continued to read
[Enhancement Description]
[Heart's Consciousness] "This heart will support the host independently."
There weren't any skills, which didn't surprise him. Skills were as rare as multiple enhancements.
Of course, Zarvian wanted to see what it looked like, so he summoned it immediately.
He lingered for a while, waiting for the tool to take a form.
But then, he felt something inside his chest, where his heart was located.
It wasn't painful, but it felt weird. It was as if his heart was inside of water now.
He didn't know what it would feel like if his heart was underwater, but it probably would feel like this.
Suddenly, Zarvian felt much more energetic and alive.
His own heart had been perfectly fine on its own, but the item seemed to push it beyond its limits.
And speaking of energy, his numbness faded in a hurry as well.
'So this is what alteration meant, altering the body...'
Zarvian figured that something had changed about his heart.
He selected his [Attributes] section in his profile, there was new attribute below the [Survival Instinct].
[Heart's Consciousness]
Full of energy, Zarvian stood up and took a glance at his surroundings. Victor's riddled body was still there, surrounded by a pool of blood that had already dried.
He wanted Victor's boots, actually, he wanted them so much. The bastard had perfect leather boots, Zarvian couldn't help but think about how comfortable those boots would feel.
Looking at the boots intensely, he gulped and looked away. No matter how much he wanted it, his guts, or pride, whatever it was, stopped him.
As he looked away he remembered a much more important thing.
The journey to the sea!
'Right... the sea.'
Zarvian hurriedly picked up the map and began climbing the stairs.
'What time is it?'
He noticed that the tunnel was slightly cleaner as he went higher. It was as clean as when he first arrived.
After an intense climb, he reached the surface. The church was still the same.
It was nighttime, the dark sun was still as calm as ever, illuminated by thousands of stars. He could never get tired of this view.
Zarvian shifted slightly, he had one task before heading to Victor's boat.
'If that bastard wasn't lying about the whole boat thing…'
The task was to visit the last church.
Which was the northwestern one.
He hadn't checked it before, he had been wary of Victor.
Victor probably wouldn't have minded him exploring, but Zarvian still felt uneasy about him.
"Who knew what he might have done?"
Shrugging Victor from his mind, he continued on his way.
Unfortunately, the church was destroyed, and there wasn't any labyrinth. Which was not what Zarvian expected. He really hoped for another labyrinth.
Sort of disappointed, Zarvian turned back and began walking away from the ruins.
Obviously, Zarvian didn't want to leave the town this fast, it felt as if he was missing something.
But... he couldn't waste time, as he preferred to leave before morning came. He didn't want to travel during the day, because of the unbearable heat. Also, his excitement about the boat had been growing bigger.
Along the way, he noticed gaping holes scattered around the town. They were so massive that each one could have crushed entire houses.
They were the footprints of the Geo Beast, likely left behind when he had abandoned Victor to fight it.
'Right. Now that I think about it... What happened between them?'
Zarvian wasn't sure how, but he knew Victor had simply avoided the beast, somehow. He felt disappointed in both his plan and himself. The plan wasn't terrible, but it had failed completely. They didn't even clash with each other.
"Such a crappy plan… I should have realized he wouldn't live here with that beast without some way to avoid it."
And just like that, his thoughts returned to Victor. He could not escape Victor's grasp, truly harrowing even in death.
Better yet, Victor had many tricks up his sleeve. He could morph into three different forms, each with its own abilities.
The first was Victor himself. Zarvian wasn't sure if the humanoid form was his true one, but it represented him well. A tall, charming man, he might have passed as human at first glance if not for the striking danger sense and the rotting blood. For a brief moment, he could have even fooled Zarvian into believing he was human.
The second form was a river of blood, a living torrent that surged into the labyrinth. Zarvian had not seen much of it, but he understood its danger through his [Survival Instinct]. In hindsight, that was likely how Victor had escaped the titan without injury.
The third, however, was the most terrifying. If not for the cursed sword, Zarvian would not have made it this far. He would have gone mad after dying hundreds of times to that form. The memory of his first death at its hands made him shiver slightly. The venomous tongue alone had been enough to kill him.
It had been his most painful death. Victor also held the second most painful one too. Zarvian could not recall it fully, but he remembered the sensation of millions of spikes piercing his body.
Too many mysteries. Too many.
"His sickness at night… were all Bloodbornes like him, allergic to the Black Sun?"
He did not know. All he had were assumptions.
Driven slightly mad by the thoughts, he quickly accessed his inventory and summoned the honored petals, wrapping himself in them like a child in a blanket. Just in case the Geo Beast appeared again, he hoped they would protect him from being caught.
'The scent of rotting blood remained a mystery too. That bastard appeared mysteriously… and died mysteriously!'
...
He was now far from the ruins, back in the boundless desert. Hill after hill stretched endlessly before him. Zarvian had no idea where the sea was, he just went in direction of where Victor used to go every morning.
Looking at the map once again, he doubted whether there really was a sea. He had never seen an actual sea in his life, but he did see rivers, and lakes. So he doubted the existence of sea entirely, it must be fairytale.
This place hadn't always been all desert. It had started turning into one as the number of magical beasts increased, and devoured humans completely.
Well, logically, humanity's extinction should've caused nature to evolve, but it somehow caused the opposite.
Zarvian just suspects that magical beasts caused nature to die out.
Actually… he didn't care!
Why would he care anyway, whatever was the reason, it wasn't gonna fix his problems.
But now, he was actually going for the solution of his problems, and he was excited about it. That's all that mattered. Leaving everything behind and cross the sea!
The dark sun was beginning to regain its flame.
Zarvian glanced at it once, then quickly looked away. He refused to meet its gaze again.
He held a deep hatred for the dread sun.
It would likely take second place on his list of things he hated, second only to his own ability.
And yet, the black sun claimed the first place among the things he loved most.
He felt peace within its embrace, and he cherished that peace. It was the closest thing to death.
A small flame flickered to life at its center, then spread, like fire spreading across a leaf. Zarvian had almost forgotten what a leaf looked like. It was once a thing he adored the most when he was a kid.
The sun ignited once more. Zarvian felt uneasy about the heat that was about to flow through him in a moment.
In an instant, the scorching light returned, flooding the sky with a blinding radiance. Even the glimmering stars disappeared.
Only leaving the merciless sun in the sky.
Zarvian braced himself for the heat to assault him.
To his surprise, the searing heat never came. Instead, it was replaced by a strangely gentle warmth.
'what?'
There he was again, lost in confusion.
The world was full of surprises, but the dreadful, merciless, scorching, and mad sun losing its blaze?
That made no sense. Absolutely no sense.
In fact, if his ability were to mysteriously disappear right now, that would make far more sense.
The sun had tortured him for an entire decade.
Why would it change now?
He stared at the sun steadily.
"Are you perhaps, trying to make me stay in this desert?"
"Well, it's too late then"
He almost felt as if the old sun had returned. It was strange, truly strange.
It was also suspicious…
That damned sun only changed when he was trying to leave, as if it were mocking him. Zarvian didn't know how he should react to it.
He wanted to know why, but there was nothing he could do. It's not like he could pick up the sun and ask the reason. So he gave up his thoughts about why.
Nevertheless, his mood lightened anyway. One of his problems had been solved.
Zarvian no longer had to worry about dying from the heat.
It had always been the most draining kind of death, one that left him unable to regain consciousness afterward. It felt as if his back got lighter.
Everything became great with this unexpected change, except that he was hungry and thirsty again. He had to hunt something.
Back then, he considered using Victor's corpse as food supply for a few days, but obviously, he decided against it.
He could eat anything to saturate his hunger, but he couldn't eat anything that resembled human. Zarvian just couldn't bring himself to it. He would be no different from a beast.
So, for him, starvation seemed the preferable option than eating another humanoid.
He reached down, pulled the leather bottle from his waist, and slowly took a few sips of the blood inside. He had filled it up with blood from the beasts Victor used to bring.
While drinking, one question that lingered in his mind for the last few minutes assaulted him.
It had taken Victor a few hours to reach that place, and by his estimation, he had already traveled for twice that long. So why hadn't he arrived yet?
Either the bastard tricked him, or his estimation was wrong.
He believed the former was the most likely.
Carefully putting his leather bottle back. He took out the map and looked at it again.
There wasn't much to see on the map. Most of it was water, with two small landmasses marked in the bottom left and top right corners. However, there were many markings across the ocean. Zarvian wasn't interested in anything beneath the surface, so they were useless to him. It wasn't truly a map of lands, but a map of the sea.
Even though it seemed like everything was a lie, he had no options. There was nowhere for him to go. He wanted to find the boat, he wanted to see the ocean, and he needed to leave this desert.
Looking at the endless desert in front of him, he sighed, and continued walking.
While walking, he finally called upon the system and checked his profile.
[Name: Zarvian]
[Origin: Human]
[Titles: 1]
[Abilities: 1]
[Attributes: 2]
[Inventory]
[Companions: 0]
[Magic tier I]
[Physique tier II]
Nothing had changed since the last time he checked, from the looks of it.
Still, he went over each one again anyway. It was enough to relieve his boredom, even if only for a moment.
[Titles: 1]
[Survivor] [In use]
[When in use, the user's pain tolerance is increased]
He had gained this title after surviving the annihilation of his hometown. This title brings unfortunate memories which he doesn't want to remember again.
[Abilities: 1]
[Undying] [Unique Phase]
[The user is able to passively revive themselves]
'Wait… what.'
Something new was hovering in the air.
Zarvian froze for a moment, caught off guard by another surprise of the world.
'Unique phase?'
He quickly reached out and tapped it.
[Unique Phase]
[Phase of Dominance]
[Find the Immortals, and claim your dominion]
—
[1][The last bloodborne: Dead]
[Blood dominion: Claimed]
[You have authority over your blood]
—
[2][Unknown: Alive]
[Unknown dominion: Unclaimed]
[Description Locked]
—
[3][Unknown: Alive]
[Unknown dominion: Unclaimed]
[Description Locked]
—
[4][Unknown: Dead]
[Unknown dominion: Unclaimed]
[Description Locked]
—
[5][Unknown: Dead]
[Unknown dominion: Claimed]
[Description Locked]
Zarvian's eyes widened. He had never heard of phases. He didn't know why he had it, or when he had obtained it.
Perhaps it was a gift from the world, he had no clue.
It might even be Victor's final mystery, since his origin had been mentioned. It had to be his doing.
Even after carefully reading the description, Zarvian was left with more questions than answers, just like Victor's schemes!
'When will your bullshits end, bastard?'
Zarvian gained a general understanding of phases after reading the details, but he still lacked the context.
What did it mean by "immortals"? Were there others like Zarvian? And was Victor one of them?
If so, how had he managed to kill an "immortal" being like Victor?
And why were two of the unknown already dead, also the last dominion had been claimed? When? How?
His head began to hurt, so he buried some of the questions in sand and focused only on what he understood.
Phases were extensions or maybe upgrades of ability. And he had somehow claimed the first also the last phase unknowingly.
'Well, upgrade is an upgrade, i guess!'
It provided him a task to slain immortals, but he understood that it didn't mean invincibles. Still, he didn't know what authority over blood meant.
'Future owner of this ability will surely thank me a lot, just wait buddy, im coming'
He grinned and checked the rest.
[Attributes: 2]
[Survival Instinct][The user will feel any kind of danger]
[Heart's Consciousness][The user has a support of independent heart]
[Inventory]
[Nevermore Cloak]
[Steel Sword]
…
After checking and rereading the descriptions of everything, he felt complete and turned his attention to his surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ocean.
He had been walking while reading, unconcerned about beasts thanks to his [Survival Instinct]. He was also unconcerned about the heat because the sun had lost its energy!
Only hunger remained…
Usually, Zarvian fed on plants, since he was no match for most beasts.
Of course, he could butcher some of them if he fought as he had against Victor, but he had no desire to die hundreds of times just to satisfy his hunger.
He was in no position to suffer more than he already did from his immortality.
Strangely enough, he caught no plants in his sight. His hunger wasn't going to kill him anytime soon, so it was fine. But if this continued for a couple more days, it would become an issue.
Hunger could kill him in a draining way, causing him to revive without consciousness.
However, he could still wake up after a few unconscious death loops, unlike heat.
Heat related deaths were the ones where he couldn't regain consciousness unless something triggered it.
Mostly rain would wake him up in that case. Sometimes beasts chewing on his body would do the same, which was far from pleasant.
Why would rain wake him up? Well, everything in this world contained life force, unless it had been drained by something. Raindrops carried mana, plants contained mana, even stones held mana. That, was the reason for the rain.
For the beasts, there was no reason. They were simply too mysterious and unexplainable, no one could doubt their capabilities.
Even though his [Survival Instinct] attribute helped him avoid most dangers, there were still beasts capable of hunting him down without his notice.
Truly cursed entities roam this desert, he had seen many himself. Even his hometown had been wiped out by a single beast. It was something he could not hate, only fear.
That was because he believed the beast could sense his hatred toward it, that foe was truly a horror. It could attack people in their dreams. After killing the holy knights in their sleep, the beast manifested physically and slaughtered everyone. Only one remained, which was Zarvian himself.
With beasts like these roaming freely across the land, it could make sense if they had drained all the mana from the ground.
Drown in thoughts and memories, he continued on his journey.