Chapter 9: Difficulty
Atlas did not hesitate anymore.
The growls in the darkness were getting closer. They no longer sounded distant or uncertain. Several monsters were moving toward him from different directions, and the Codex’s dim crimson light only revealed a small part of the lower ruin around him. If he stayed like this, surrounded with only Strength, Stamina, and Agility, he would eventually be torn apart.
His grip tightened around the Sanguis Stylus.
The final blank waited on the page.
Spirit: _ [ LOCKED ] [ LOCKED ]
Atlas moved the stylus toward it.
The tip touched the blank.
"Ughh—!"
The reaction came instantly.
An invisible pressure burst from the Codex and entered his body through the hand holding the stylus. It did not stop at his arm. It spread into his chest, spine, and organs, making his whole body shake as if the page itself had rejected the idea of him touching Spirit.
Atlas clenched his teeth.
His knees bent slightly, but he forced himself to remain standing. Just touching the blank had caused a reaction stronger than increasing Agility or Stamina. That proved one thing clearly. Spirit was not the same type of attribute as the others.
’Just touching it causes this?’
Cold sweat rolled down his face.
But he did not stop.
The growls were closer now. If Spirit truly amplified overall strength the way people said, then he needed it. Strength let him hit, Agility let him move, and Stamina let him survive damage, but Spirit might change the foundation of all three. Even if he understood only rumors, he knew that much.
Atlas decided on the first test.
’Five. Same as Agility and Stamina.’
His hand moved slowly.
The moment he tried to write, the Codex trembled violently.
The page distorted until the words themselves became unstable.
Spirit: ? [ LOCKED ] [ LOCKED ]
Then the number began to form.
Spirit: 5 [ LOCKED ] [ LOCKED ]
Atlas’s pupils widened.
The pressure inside his body multiplied immediately.
His heartbeat slammed against his ribs.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
For one second, it felt like his heart would burst.
Then the Codex rejected him.
A force blasted his hand backward, tearing the stylus away from the blank. Atlas staggered, lost balance, and crashed onto the barren ground while the Codex floated above him, glitching uncontrollably.
The number began erasing itself slowly.
The meaning was clear.
His body could not handle Spirit 5.
Several moments passed before the page stabilized again. Atlas groaned and forced himself upright while clutching his chest.
"Ughh... damn it all..."
His breathing was rougher now.
"I expected something like this but... even five is overkill in Spirit, huh?"
Frustration entered his voice, but he did not waste time on it.
He looked at the blood inside the Sanguis Stylus. The dark blood continued moving within the crystal body, thick and heavy. After increasing Agility, raising Stamina, and even attempting Spirit, the amount did not look like it had decreased much.
Atlas narrowed his eyes.
"A whole Hybrid Muxical was absorbed after all."
His voice lowered.
"That thing was B-Rank..."
The amount of blood inside the stylus was not being measured in simple drops. One B-Rank monster’s blood had given the stylus enough fuel for several uses, and the Codex seemed to draw only what was needed for each written change. Quantity mattered, but quality might matter more.
Atlas looked back at the blank beside Spirit.
"...I can’t understand this relic at all."
The Codex floated silently beside him.
The earlier violent glitching had calmed, but faint distortions still passed across the page now and then. Atlas inhaled deeply, then exhaled.
He needed a smaller number.
If five was rejected, then the next practical test was three. He had already used three for Strength at the start, and his body had accepted it. Spirit was different, but a smaller value should at least have a chance.
’Then let’s try three.’
The growls were much closer now.
Atlas ignored them.
If he failed here, running would not matter anyway.
He raised the stylus again.
The tip touched the Spirit blank.
The dark blood did not settle like normal ink.
It carved into the page.
Atlas’s pupils contracted. The number formed as if molten darkness was sinking into flesh rather than resting on paper. The Codex glitched violently again, and the page distorted several times as if trying to reject the value.
But this time, the rejection was weaker.
Atlas endured the pressure and forced his hand down.
"Ughhh...!"
His muscles strained.
"Damn it..."
The stylus vibrated uncontrollably in his grip.
"Just stay!"
The page shook, Then the glitching stopped.
The number stabilized.
Spirit: 3 [ LOCKED ] [ LOCKED ]
Everything changed at once.
Atlas’s breath stopped.
His knees hit the ground.
A crushing pressure entered him.
No, not pressure.
Something had opened inside him and forced its way through his body.
"AAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!"
The scream tore out of him before he could stop it.
Veins bulged across his body as an invisible energy surged through him like a flood breaking through sealed channels. It moved through his blood, muscles, bones, and nerves, opening pathways that had never existed for him before.
It was Spirit - True Spirit.
For the first time in his life.
The pain was not only physical. Strength had changed his muscles. Agility had changed his movement. Stamina had reinforced his body, but Spirit was different. It felt like his entire existence was being forced to accept a new layer of power, one that his body had never been prepared to hold.
His muscles convulsed, bones cracked and adjusted, blood moved faster, nerves burned.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The scream echoed through the lower ruin.
The monsters approaching from the darkness stopped for a brief moment.
Even they hesitated.
Then they began running toward him.
Atlas remained on his knees, unable to move while Spirit continued forcing itself into him. Seconds passed, each one longer than the last. The bulging veins slowly calmed. The internal reconstruction stabilized little by little. The unbearable pain reduced, but his breathing stayed ragged and broken.
His body collapsed forward.
Face-first against the ground.
But he did not lose consciousness.
He forced himself to stay awake because losing consciousness now meant death.
The Muxicals were coming.
The pain faded faster than it should have. His enhanced body stabilized itself unnaturally quickly, and Stamina helped keep him functional despite the shock. Atlas pressed both hands against the cracked ground beneath him and pushed himself up.
Then he froze.
A sharp sting pierced through his head.
He ignored it.
Slowly, he stood.
The instant his feet pressed down properly—
CRACKKKK.
The ground beneath him shattered.
Not a small crack.
The entire surface collapsed inward.
A massive hole opened directly under his feet, swallowing the stone he had been standing on. Atlas looked down just in time to see the darkness below widening beneath him.
"...What the fuck?!"
Then he fell.
- - -
[A/N: I know the Chapter felt too short, but the next ones are normal - around 1.5k words]
