The air in my room turned heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and the weight of a thousand compressed histories. I wasn't going to wait for the world to come for me; I needed a weapon that could withstand the friction of 'Chaos' without shattering like glass.
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Fusion'!]"
"[Fusing the B-Rank Item 'Dying Tree Branch', the B-Rank 'Black Meteorite', the A-Rank 'Word Tree Leaf', the B-Rank 'Glass Shard of Queen's Mirror', the A-Rank 'Dragon's Tooth', the S-Rank Item 'Golden Apple', and the Broken A-Rank Item, 'Fig Spirit Sword'...!]"
The Items collided in a violent swirl of light. Gold, black, and iridescent shards began to weave together, forming a silhouette that defied the current laws of the world.
"[Notice: A 'Status' of a higher dimension is being detected!]"
"[Notice: The Tower's 'Restriction' and 'Probability' have been applied!]"
"[Warning: The 'Tower of Trials' is rejecting the birth of an unknown 'Status'!]"
The System windows turned a frantic, bleeding red. The Tower was screaming at me, trying to snuff out the anomaly before it could solidify. But I had prepared for this, as I have always.
"[Activating 'Monopoly' Lvl 1!]"
"[Notice: You are able to reap the best possible outcome!]"
I watched as the lights mixed and settled, but the Tower's intervention was getting physical. The space around the fusion point began to crack under the pressure of 'Probability'. I stepped forward, my hands moving in a blur of complex patterns.
"[Activating the 3-Star Barrier, 'Eclipse of the Inner Gate'!]"
"[Activating 'Moon Imprint' Lvl 1!]"
"[Notice: Your 'Barrier' Skills have been greatly enhanced!]"
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Crimson Constellation Sovereign: Genesis of the Chaotic Universe' Lvl 1!]"
"[Info: You are able to convert all sorts of energy into your essence 'Chaos'!]"
Using my enhanced [Barrier], I forced a microscopic Rift into existence, wedging it precisely between Cero's Subspace and the 'Forge of the Ice Heart'. It created a temporary vacuum through which all sorts of energies found within the 'Tower of Trials' began to stream like a torrential river. Normally, such a feat would require specialized [Spatial] Skills, but I bridged the gap with raw barrier calculations. As the foreign energies poured through, I funneled them into the fusion point, converting every drop into 'Chaos'.
"[Congratulations! You have obtained a nameless L-Rank Sword filled with the energy 'Chaos'!]"
"[Notice: As the master of this Sword with the 'Status' rivaling the 'Named Swords' of the Tower, you may give a name for your Sword.]"
The 'Named Swords'. In the long history of the Tower, there were exactly seven of them, legendary blades that possessed their own will and grew alongside their masters. The Holy Sword, 'Excalibur', was the most famous among them. Melchior actually had it tucked away in his Vault, unused, but those swords were picky. My 'Chaos' energy would have been rejected by the Holy Sword's righteous Will.
In all my 104 accounts during the VR days, I had never seen this Item because I never possessed the 'Chaos' essence required to stabilize the forge. But now, it was real.
"I will engrave the name 'Erravoth' as the name for this Sword," I declared, my voice steady despite the drain on my energy.
"[Notice: The name 'Erravoth' has been engraved into the 'Will' of the Nameless Sword!]"
"[Notice: The Chaos Sword, 'Erravoth' has been recorded as the 'Eighth Named Sword' in the Records of the 'Tower of Trials'!]"
"[Congratulations on obtaining an Item that has never been there before!]"
"[Notice: +20,000 Coins have been awarded and the achievement will be permanently recorded in the 'Hall of Fame'!]"
I reached out and gripped the hilt of 'Erravoth'. The moment my fingers closed around it, the sword began to drink my energy. I felt a massive amount of 'Chaos' leaving my body, the blade testing my worthiness to be its master. Then, a cold, vast power flowed back into me, the Sword's own energy, 'Void', refined from the Rift.
"Isn't that... a 'Named Sword'!?? Arthur Tempest... I know you are one hell of a human, but this goes beyond that!! I shouldn't be asking but— @)#)_&$}¥}^π§√\€\¢{€!!"
Melchior's voice glitched out like crazy. His entire being flickered in real-time, his words dissolving into a static noise that sounded like the universe itself was being censored. It wasn't the Tower's 'Restriction' or 'Censorship'. This felt like something deeper, something higher than the 'System', preventing his question from being heard.
I tried to ask him what he was going to say, but Melchior just blinked, looking confused. He simply mentioned he was surprised by my knowledge and that was all. Whatever had caused that glitch had completely erased his intent to ask that specific question from his mind.
When I first discovered the [Lost Language], I felt a thrill. But now, for the first time since this journey began, I felt fear.