Chapter 7: The heart of Shadows

"Bleh! I stink!" Aiden pinched his nose and stepped out of the cauldron, tracking the dirty filth on the floor of the crafting room. Each room had an attached bath and toilet, so he directly stepped into the shower, scrubbing himself until he felt clean and fresh. Though he still looked like a bag of bones, his body now had a healthy glow and his skin did not have a single blemish. The pimples and freckles on his face had also disappeared giving him a neat look.

Aiden then quickly threw his shabby beginner clothes back on. There was an automatic reset rune on the cauldron, which when activated completely cleaned the cauldron inside out. So he opened his inventory space, which only had 10 slots, and tossed the cauldron in one of those 10 slots.

"Hi. I am done with the crafting room." He handed over the medallion of the room back to Clara, who now stared at Aiden even more incredulously. She could see that he had somehow transformed a lot in such a short amount of time! His pitch-black eyes looked unfathomably deep, coupled with his incredibly handsome face. Clara gulped without realizing that she was openly ogling at the young man. She wanted to ask him how he had done it, but unfortunately, he had already walked out, only his back visible at a distance now.

Aiden summoned his status screen to look at his basic stats again.

______________

Name: Aiden

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Level: 1 [0/200]

Title: Rolling in Debt

Class: N/A

Health: 50/50

Mana: 70/70

______________

Stamina: 10

Defense: 11

Intellect: 14

Strength:16

Vitality: 13

Agility: 12

______________

Hmm… Not bad, but I can do better." Aiden clicked his tongue and walked over to his next destination: the Arcane Combat Arena.

Though this place was far less crowded than the novice village, the Arcane Combat Arena still had a lot of people coming in and going out. This grand structure, with its soaring spires and enchanted glyphs, was designed to inspire awe and trepidation in equal measure. Its massive courtyard was filled with players engaging in various forms of combat practice. Some were dueling against enchanted dummies that retaliated with basic spells, while others were perfecting their weapon skills on training bots that mimicked the movements of different monsters.

This space was meant for learning and practicing basic skills from the instructors of the arena, but some people stayed longer than necessary, repeating the same set of actions over and over again. This was admittedly one of the strategies to gain bonus stat points, but albeit a very time-consuming and boring one.

For instance, if one swung a sword continuously a hundred times or a thousand times stretching out their stamina almost until it broke, it was possible to get 1 or 2 stat point boosts for stamina. However, to receive this benefit again, they would have to swing their sword a million times for the next stat boost reward.

So ultimately, it was not an efficient way to spend one's time, but some perfectionists still preferred fighting for every bit of advantage that they could grasp. Aiden even spotted a couple of women in the group who were swinging their swords without taking a breather. At this point in the game, women were truly very rare so he couldn't help but give them a glance before turning his attention back to the instructor who was sitting in the corner on a stone bench, a menacing warhammer resting beside him.

As soon as Aiden's gaze fell on the middle-aged man, the man's eyes also swept over to him, meeting his gaze. Instantly, a domineering aura seeped from his body. Other players might have been at least slightly intimidated by such a strong, violent aura, but Aiden simply nodded at the instructor and walked over to one of the empty spaces in the arena.

He, of course, did not plan on doing the mundane exercises which others were doing. There was no use chasing over every single stat point. He had a lot more important things to accomplish before his time ran out! He placed the rusted sword he was carrying back into his inventory and then took a deep breath before slowly starting to perform a series of movements.

Just as Aiden immersed himself in his exercises, the instructor suddenly shot up from his seat, making the trio, who had been observing Aiden from a distance, stop in their tracks. Max, Sarah, and Ethan turned to observe the instructor's behavior curiously as the middle-aged man hadn't made any move all this time, except for sitting back on his bench and looking down on all the new players.

"What do you think is going on?" Max asked, his voice low as he squinted at the instructor's determined stride.

"Maybe it's a quest trigger," Sarah suggested, her eyes bright with curiosity.

"Or he's had enough of the eyesore and is finally going to toss him out," Ethan said dryly, though a hint of amusement tugged at his lips.

The three continued watching as the man walked up to Aiden and stood in front of him with a revered expression on his face. "Young man, you are almost there. Keep doing it." He even encouraged him, becoming his personal cheerleader. All the other players in the training ground immediately became dumbfounded.

The instructor who had been gruff and rude to them was going out of his way to act polite and nice to the skinny weirdo. Where was justice in this world? Some people even tried imitating Aiden, but the instructor's attention was fully locked onto him and their actions went unnoticed.

So everyone could only helplessly watch as the instructor continued encouraging Aiden more and more. Soon, just a few minutes later, something weird started to happen. Instead of sweat, Aiden's body started to ooze something dark and black, stinking up the entire training area.

"What the heck???"

"Did he just fart??"

"This stinks."

Everyone scrunched their noses in anger, but the instructor's face beamed in surprise. "You have done well, lad." He patted Aiden, who now stopped moving and stood erect, slightly bowing to the instructor.

"It has been such a long time since I have come across a competent young man like you." The instructor's voice boomed across the training ground. "There is a sharpness in your eyes, and I can see that your will and determination burn brightly. You have the tenacity to achieve the impossible. Young man, do you wish to attain perfection? Do you seek absolute power?"

The instructor's words utterly shocked everyone around, making their jaws drop. All the surrounding players could clearly see that Aiden was currently receiving a quest, and more importantly, it was not an ordinary quest. It was definitely a special quest! Or perhaps a hidden quest! Or even a unique quest!

While special quests typically offered more rewards than normal quests, hidden quests and unique quests were rarer and coveted more. Particularly, unique quests were offered only once, and the entire questline disappeared after the specific player finished the quest.

Since *Infinite Realms* was brand new, no one was able to guess what was going on, but they could tell that this was something special. To make matters worse, they were only able to hear half the conversation, after which no one was able to hear what the two were talking about anymore. Only Aiden was able to hear the instructor's words, and he had a big, satisfied smile on his face.

"A few years ago, when I was defending a besieged town against a horde of demonic creatures, I stumbled upon a relic of immense power," the instructor began, his voice dropping to a hushed, reverent tone. "This relic, known as the Heart of Shadows, was the key to my victory but also my undoing."

The instructor's eyes darkened as he continued. "The Heart of Shadows is a cursed artifact. While it granted me unparalleled strength and agility, it also inflicted a terrible curse upon me. My body began to deteriorate from the inside out, riddled with corruption. No healer or priest could cleanse the dark energy that ate away at my flesh and bones."

He paused, looking deeply into Aiden's eyes. "I kept the Heart of Shadows, hoping one day someone would be able to master its power without succumbing to its curse. I see the same potential in you that I once saw in myself. If you are willing to face the darkness, I will entrust you with the Heart of Shadows and a mission that could either save or doom you."

Aiden's heart raced as he listened. This was more than just a quest; it was an opportunity to prove himself. "What do you need me to do?" he asked, his voice steady despite the excitement bubbling within him.

The instructor nodded, pleased with Aiden's resolve. "First, you must seek out the Beast of the Abyss. It is a creature born from the same dark energy that curses the Heart of Shadows. Defeat it and bring me its core. Only then will you be able to harness the full power of the Heart without falling victim to its curse."

[Ding: Unique Chain Quest activated]

[Ding: Quest cannot be refused]

[Ding: Defeat the Beast of the Abyss and bring its core to the arena instructor]

Aiden smiled, happy that the information he had was indeed accurate. This was the main issue about unique quests. The person who managed to get it most often wouldn't spread the details of the quest around unless he was a total fool. But Aiden had been fairly confident about this particular quest because the person who managed to get it was none other than the bully who had been tormenting him his entire life.

He had pulled up the quest screen repeatedly and boasted to Aiden, every time thrashing him around, while the latter could only watch helplessly as his bully rose in power because of a single quest! But now, Aiden had successfully taken his first step! He had managed to snatch someone else's fate and make it his own!