Book of Chaos

"The Book of Chaos." He read out loud.

'What could this be about?' He opened the book and started reading the words on the first page.

"From my veins flow the blood of chaos. And from my blood comes the Chaos-Borne."

- Antares Whiteflame

'Whiteflame? Is he one of our ancestors?' Krios wondered if this Antares Whiteflame is part of their lineage because he has never heard or have been taught about any Antares in their clan. He was sure for the most part because no one in this part of the continent uses the Whiteflame name aside from them.

Krios continued to scan the succeeding pages and he was shocked when noticed that the contents were about cultivation. But what shocked him was that it was not about cultivating mana, but a different form of energy called Chaos Energy.

'So that was what it was called." The thing he has been calling purple mana was actually called Chaos Energy.

"Chaos is everywhere. The harmony of mana can never be actualized without the presence of chaos." He continued reading.

"To get attuned to the Chaos Energy in the surroundings, one must use remnants of the chaos flame to cycle around the mana veins of the body three times. It must cover every nook, every corner, from the tip of the toes to the top of the head."

'Chaos flame, the purple thing I absorbed was called the chaos flame'

The chaos flame was a manifestation of the chaos energy, comparable to the different elemental manifestations of mana.

"Okay let's try this method." He then straightened his back and started concentrating. Letting the remaining chaos energy inside his chaos core to travel through his mana veins to cycle three times.

The first cycle was hard. the chaos energy was moving slowly like it was trying to get used to the mana vein it was passing through. It was also a bit painful. Every part of the mana vein the energy touches felt like it was burning.

After a painstaking first cycle, Krios decided to pause for a minute to gather his thoughts as his concentration was slowly slipping away due to the pain and exhaustion.

"Okay, time for cycle two."

Cycle two started a bit faster than cycle one. It was also a lot less painful as his mana veins are slowly getting used to the foreign energy.

In the middle of the second cycle, his skin started to tingle, his senses started to sharpen, and he became more sensitive to his surroundings.

'What a peculiar feeling' He was amused by the development.

Cycle two came to a close and he immediately started the third and final cycle. This time, the Chaos energy was flowing like how mana flowed inside the veins. It was fast, smooth, and efficient. The tingling of his skin persisted and he was now accustomed to the new sensation.

Then the third cycle finally ended. The tingling of his skin stopped, and his senses went back to normal.

"Wow!" He exclaimed as a tidal wave of energy swept through him.

It was the same weird energy he felt the previous day, but instead of it coming from one source, it was now all over the place. It was as if a veil has been lifted and he can now see, or feel this energy naturally.

"I can still feel the ambiant mana but this time, there is the chaos energy lingering in the surroundings as well." He felt Chaos Energy in the air as naturally as he felt mana.

By this point, Krios was too tired after everything he has done throughout the day. He barley ate, and had very little time to rest. His hands were shaking slightly due to exhaustion that holding the book and reading it's contents became a challenge.

"I guess I overdid it today." He mumbled to himself.

He stood up and his knees buckled.

'Oh shit, I'm too tired.' He thought as he held on to the side of his bed.

He slowly walked towards his bedside drawer and put the book back inside it then he decided to call it a day and go to bed.

The next morning, Krios woke up to his body being sore all over. It was still early in the morning as he saw that the sun has barely risen but he decided to get out of bed and go find food.

He thought back to all of his accomplishments yesterday and he can't help but feel giddy about it. He now can continue cultivation to the next realm, and on top of that, he had a newfound power that no one seemed to know about.

"Hey Alice, where are my parents?" He asked his attendant who was preparing his food.

"They both went to the union grounds to see young master Keian before he enters the spatial realm, young master." She answered and went back on her task.

'I almost forgot that my brother would be entering that realm tomorrow. I must train hard in the next three months so that he would be shocked by my progress when he comes back.' With his mind set on a goal, he has decided about what he should do that day.

After eating, he went straight back to his room and started reading the book again. It contained information on how to cultivate Chaos Energy and how to control it.

"So I can absorb chaos energy in the surroundings just like mana. Interesting." He close his eyes and tried to focused on the chaos energy in the air. He willed it to like how he does with mana and it obliged. It seeped through the pores of his skin, then traveled through his mana veins straight towards his second core.

"Amazing! It's just like mana." He beamed at his discovery.

'Would I be able to absorb it together with mana though?' He curiously thought. Then he decided to try and was instantly disappointed by how hard it was to do.

It was hard to concentrate on absorbing two different things and trying to move them to two different places.

"This is just impossible. It takes too much concentration and would take too much time to accomplish!" He muttered.

'What if I try absorbing chaos energy through the left side of my body, while mana gets absorbed on the right?' With that thought, he proceeded to test out his new idea.

He closed his eyes again and tried concentrating. He first absorbed mana through his right side channels, then after a few moments, he proceeded to absorb chaos energy through the left.

His eyes snapped open and an excited look on his face showed.

"Oh god it works!"

He tried it again, and again, and again, to the point where he can do it without giving it much thought. He then tried reversing the process by releasing mana in his right side and chaos energy on his left.

In his right hand came out pure mana while on his left hand came out pure chaos energy. They still have not manifested as elemental energies because Krios was still not in the Core Reformation Realm. Only then would he be able to know what type of elements these two energies would turn out to be for him.

"Okay, that's enough cultivating for now. I need to do some research regarding this Antares Whiteflame guy." He stood up and started to walk towards his bathroom.

After cleaning himself up, he put on a fresh set of robes and went out of his room.

Krios decided to go to the library of the palace to see if he can find anything or anyone who can tell him who this Antares person was.

"Good morning Young master Krios, what brings you to the library?" The elder who was also the library attendant greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning Elder, I was just getting bored inside my room, so I decided to read up on our clan's history. Would you mind pointing me in the direction of those books?" He politely said.

"Oh really? Interesting. The books you might want to see are right there young master, five bookshelves to the right." He said with his finger pointing towards the direction of the bookshelf.

"Thank you Elder." He politely bowed and made his way towards the inside of the library.

He searched the bookshelf the elder directed him to, looking for books that might contain his clan's history.

"This mone might be it." He said as he took a boom from the shelf. It was a thick book with a thick cover.

He went and find himself a place to read and started scanning the contents of the book for the information he was looking for.

But after quite a while and a couple of books down, he never saw one mention of the man Antares nor who he is.

"Did this man really exist?" He mumbled to himself.

Losing patience with his search, he decided to return the books and just call it a day for now.

"Have you found anything interesting on your search young master?" The elder asked him as he was passing by his desk.

"Nothing really, none that I don't already know." He answered back.

"I understand, please feel free to come back if you need anything more from this library." The elder smiled at him.

"Elder, how confident are you about your knowledge of our clan's hsitory?" Krios asked the elder.

Bewildered by his question, the elder looked at him again.

"I am pretty confident young master. I have been in this library longer than anyone, and I have done extensive research on things that matter to me, including our clan's history." He answered politely.

"If so, do you know who Antares Whiteflame is?" He asked

The elders eye widened for a second, then lit up with excitement.

"How did you come to know of him young master? No one in this clan except for me and my predecessors know about him."

"I just saw his statue in the grotto in the central garden." He was not actually sure if it was indeed his statue but knowing the thing he found there that belonged to him, he decided to bet on it.

"Ah, yes the statue." The elder smiled.

'So the statue there was Antares indeed.' He thought.

"Yes, that's why I got curious, but I didn't see any mentions of him in any history book that I have read in there." He said as he sat in a seat in front of the Elder's desk.

"His name is indeed not part of our history books as he was not considered an important figure in our clan, or so they think." Krios remained silent.

The elder looked at Krios knowingly.

"Do you know who our clan founder was, young master?" The elder asked

"Arcturus Whiteflame." Krios answered

"Yes we all know that Arcturus Whiteflame founded the clan. But it was actually his father, Antares Whiteflame, who started it all."