Chapter 3

'I'm seeing a boring brat like you for the first time. You're even more boring than Kümir.'

Hadeon continued to ignore Karaş's grumbling. It had been almost two years since his seventh birthday. During this time, Hadeon had tried to adapt to the situation as best as he could and had tried to make the most of this thing called the 'status window', which provided him with a great advantage. However, he was really struggling with the curses and weaknesses he had. Fortunately, the god of Darkness occasionally attempted to seize him by revealing his angry side, and each time, he failed, earning Hadeon points.

[Status Window]

[Name: Hadeon Caelum Phasnis]

[Title: Simurgh of the Bloody Moon]

[Current Status: Curse of Karaş, Primal Fire, Physical Weakness, Mana Restriction, Blessing of Batur Han]

[Abilities: Fire Blossom, Rubah's Perception, Wrath of the Simurgh]

Strength: 21

Agility: 34

Endurance: 48

Mana: 14

Spirit: 7

Perception: 68

Anger: 20

Despite significant improvements in his statistics over the two years, his progress was still weak. Especially, there was almost no progress in Spirit and Mana. He understood why his mana was progressing so slowly, but the reason why his spirit, which was of uncertain use, was increasing so slowly was definitely a mystery. Perhaps it had something to do with willpower? The status window was not the only oddity he possessed. The crimson crescents that appeared on his cheeks on his seventh birthday were still there. Although they now looked like normal moons, it was really strange. Hadeon, although he had no idea how he did it, had managed to hide these strange symbols for a short time in the course of time. But ultimately, these symbols seemed to have become a part of his body, and they reappeared in any extreme emotional state. Karaş's mocking and demeaning comments were truly unbearable. The god trapped in the room with him never stopped talking. He kept talking about his life in the Underworld, his brothers, and his father. Initially confusing for Hadeon, these conversations had become a daily routine over time, and he had even begun to enjoy these stories after a while. Even now, he was listening to Karaş talk about Kümir, one of his brothers.

'Tamag is truly the nest of fun, but that idiot brother of mine, Kümir, could never get rid of his seriousness and obsession with order. If I had the chance, I would have taught him a good lesson.'

'If you had the chance? Was he more powerful than you?' Hadeon asked.

'Of course not! That foolish brat, I am much more powerful than him. I am the strongest among my brothers!'

'Then why didn't you teach him a lesson as you said?'

'Let me ask you a question, brat. If a community experiences internal conflicts and fights, can it defend itself against external attacks?'

'Well, I guess not, it can't.'

'That's why it is forbidden for us, the Princes of Hell, to attack each other. We have many gods who are enemies, especially our noble father. We must not forget that they are superior in number, even if they are not as powerful as us. Even a dragon does not underestimate its prey, you little bastard. Keep that in mind, or your end will be worse than those miserable souls in Tamag!'

'I will keep that in mind...'

'Good, at least you're not as stupid as I thought. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, that idiot Kümir...'

While Karaş continued to talk, Hadeon remained silent. These conversations had really started to become suffocating, and being stuck in a small room was not helping at all. After a while, he realized that he was getting sleepy, but he had no intention of sleeping now. So he activated one of his abilities, Fire Blossom. However, the only thing he could manage to do was to create a small spark and a barely burning fire. It couldn't get any worse in terms of mana...

Still, he was grateful for what he had. Perhaps he should thank Karaş, who inadvertently had a share in all this? However, when he heard Karaş still talking about Tamag and praising himself as a great ruler, he quickly gave up on this idea. Instead, he focused on his mana circuits and started to move his small amount of mana around his body. The only reason he did this was to increase his control over his mana. Karaş, noticing this, set aside the stories he was telling and grumbled.

'The same thing every day, you have the opportunity to listen to me, the noble Karaş Han, yet you waste this opportunity and play with your mana. How foolish!'

As usual, Hadeon remained silent. He wouldn't give up on everything just because of the provocations of a certain god. He had not been defeated yet. Although Karaş continued to grumble and even raised his voice from time to time, Hadeon ignored him as much as possible. However, just as he was focused, the door of his room opened this time. It had become a common behavior for the servants to burst into the room, knowing that he couldn't respond, but a little privacy wouldn't hurt. One of the servants who entered was one of the ones Hadeon frequently saw. But there was someone else standing next to him. He was a brown-haired, hazel-eyed, dark-skinned man who looked no older than 20-25. Judging by the man's attire and the sword he carried, Hadeon could say that this person's position was important. The servant bent down, and Hadeon's dawn-colored eyes met the man's sharp hazel eyes. Hadeon could swear that the man smiled for a moment, but he couldn't prove it.

"So, you're Hadeon..." said the man with a somewhat indifferent look on his face. Hadeon could say that this expression was a mask. Not receiving a response, the man continued speaking.

"You must have just turned nine these days... So, you'll have to come with me." 

?

Hadeon looked at the man with a puzzled expression. He was seeing the man for the first time in his life, so he decided to act more passively.

"Ah, right, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I am Raksa Umbran, the commander of the Ghost Warriors. I've come here to take you to the main building for a Mana test. What do you say, would you like to come with me?"

Although Hadeon didn't warm up to Raksa, he put on a smile and nodded. In fact, this smile had almost become a habit. He felt like he would continue to wear this smile mask, no matter who was with him.

"Great! Let's go then," said Raksa and tried to hold Hadeon's hand. However, seeing this, Hadeon quickly stepped back. Raksa talked with him again.

"Okay, okay. No touching. Just follow me, okay? You surely don't want to get lost."

Hadeon nodded again and started to follow the brown-haired man who left the room. As they walked through the corridors of the annex building, everyone looked at them and whispered, and Hadeon could easily hear these whispers and knew that Raksa could hear them too. The general topic was the suitability of a bastard cripple like him for a mana test. But after all, he was still a member of the Phasnis family, and this test was a protocol applied to every child of sufficient age in the Phasnis. When they exited the annex building, Hadeon noticed something. Karaş had been really quiet for a while. He wasn't talking about Tamag or making any comments. It was quite strange, but Hadeon did not intervene and continued to follow Raksa. After a while, they arrived at an area with about a dozen people. Except for the children of Hadeon's age, the middle section was completely empty, and at the very center of this area stood a massive door. Although Hadeon was quite far from the door, he could sense the incredible amount of mana emanating from it.

Finally, Raksa left him with the other children and left for arrangements. The mana test began about fifteen minutes later. The children took turns stepping forward and touching the door. All they did was this, and the door in shades of deep lavender-mauve instantly absorbed their mana and revealed their type and strength. Some children ran to their families with joy, while some cried in disappointment. After the twenty-sixth child failed the test and returned to his family, Hadeon heard his name being called and stepped forward with a calm expression. Despite his expression, he was quite tense and worried. He couldn't silence the endless thoughts in his mind...

He approached the door and, ignoring the pounding of his heart in his chest, touched the door. As soon as he did this, everything in front of his eyes blurred and turned into a forest illuminated by a bloody moon in the middle of the night. When Hadeon looked around, he saw a white-haired man. The man's eyes seemed to be an exact copy of Hadeon's, and what about the crescents on his cheeks? Although Hadeon didn't know who this man was, he somehow understood that they were connected. As the man continued to look at the bloody moon, he suddenly turned around. With this turn, the door appeared in front of Hadeon again. But there was no reaction at all. There was no sign of mana or anything else... Even the most unsuccessful child in the test had managed to produce a little fire, but Hadeon hadn't received the slightest reaction. In simple terms, he was the most talentless one...