Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 28: Enigma-fication

Core Attunement: N/A (0.0%)

Highest Attribute Power: 35

Highest Skill Rank: Intermediate

Highest Spell Rank: Novice

Martial Tier: Tier III

Constitution:E-Grade

The silence after was as if he had nailed the target on an old carnival game and dropped the entire audience into a pool of freezing cold water.

A thousand competitors stood in the arena, and thousands more up in the stands watching the proceedings, yet Alex could’ve sworn he felt every single one of them staring at him and him alone.

He stood in front of the obelisk awkwardly, the Magus in front him had their mouth slackly open, their brows knitted together. Their eyes flickered between the result in front of them, and then Alex, then back again. With each change, he became more and more uni-browed.

The air was thickly charged like the still moment before a storm breaks open and makes landfall.

Then, the first whisper shattered through the quiet. It was a woman’s voice, shrill with disbelief.

“Zero percent? That’s impossible—”

Another, a man this time, sounded somewhere in the audience stands. “A fraud scan? Has to be. No Core means he can’t even use aether. He’d, he’d be dead.”

“And a stat of thirty-five, as an Adept? He’s already survived a Heaven Tribulation?”

“A diverted strategy for the bolts, surely.”

“Still...“

Then more voices sounded out, shouts followed. Hundreds, then Thousands. A swelling wave of voices until the arena boiled with confusion and noise that assaulted Alex’s numb mind.

He stared up at the glowing letters, reading them once, twice, as if to confirm they hadn’t changed. They hadn’t. He knew they wouldn’t.

The scanner hadn’t lied. He didn’t have a mage core anymore. Not one that could be measured by something like this, anyway. The thing in his soulspace was no more than a shattered astroid belt of an object that once was upon a time.

But to the rest of those watching? To these proud Adepts and their noble spectators? It meant he was a walking contradiction, something that made absolutely no sense.

A freak.

The examiner hesitated before pulling back a step, clearly uncomfortable. The man worked his mouth, maybe to say something, or to call for a recheck. But he, too, froze as a new ripple of attention swept over the crowd.

From the highest balcony, the Empress had risen from her throne.

Even from that distance, Alex could still feel her. Her overwhelming presence. Her aura pressed against the air around them all, dense enough to make lesser mages sweat where they stood. The crowd quieted instantly, fear and respect grabbing at and squeezing their throats.

Beside the Empress stood a young woman draped in silver and midnight black. Alex hadn’t seen her before, at least not from he could remember. Her hair was dark, her gaze holding an intense energy. She leaned toward the Empress’ ear and spoke something quietly enough that the words didn’t reach the arena on the ground.

The Empress tilted her head, her eyes stayed on Alex but her expression became quizzical, then she asked a question.

The woman’s reply drew a faint smile to the ruler’s lips.

She made a single motion of her hand and the projection above Alex vanished.

In its place, a new display flared into existence.

[Assessed Rank: #97]

The gathering had a new reaction. Angry shouts. Whispered Disbelief. An uproar of confusion and incongruity.

“Ninety-seventh?!”

“He doesn’t even have a Core!”

“Is this some kind of joke—?”

“He’s being plumped!”

Alex turned from the screen and walked off the platform before the examiner could even speak. The angry shouts and words followed him, echoing down the marble steps, but he ignored them all.

Just like that, the arena floor felt different now. He could feel the aether currents shifting, drawn toward the turbulence his ranking had caused. He could feel which changes where caused by which people as he walked past them back to Lady Xhiu and his team.

He rejoined the others in the waiting line, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He didn’t look at anyone, not even when he felt Holly’s gaze on him from across the staging area.

She was watching him with a flat expression, but her shoulders hunched and tight. He could tell she was worried, though she’d never admit it out loud in public.

He gave her the smallest nod, and she relaxed a tiny bit.

The rest of the scans passed in a blur of color and light. Names, ranks, murmurs of speculation and bets being made. Dozens of prodigies were revealed, each one basking in their own personal moment of admiration, even if overshadowed by the lingering shadow of Alex’s reveal. By the time the final group finished, the sky above Athrastas was a tapestry of glowing projections showing the scans and assumed ranking breakdown.

Then, one by one, they all faded away and the assessors all activated some mechanism that sent the obelisks into the ground and out of sight.

Once more the area grew quiet as the next part of the ceremony was to commence.

High above in her viewing box, the Empress spread her arms.

“The trials begin. Let the Festival of Steel commence.”

She clapped her hands, aether flared from her like a star going supernova. Another display of light and crystallized ice that created a changing explosion of color over the area.

Trumpets blared along with the visual. Drums pounded somewhere off in the distance.

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The first day of the tournament had truly begun.

***

Alex exhaled, the noise almost swallowed by the anticipation inside his chest. His heartbeat had calmed by then, his body no longer jittery—but something deep inside him still burned with excitement of what was going to come next.

He didn’t know if it was pride, joy, the faint taste of fear, or something else entirely unrelated to his mad obsession with combat. But it was there nonetheless.

He was about to stand and begin looking through his status screen in preparation when a touch landed on his shoulder.

Alex pivoted slightly, his hand halfway to forming a fist, only to find Lady Xhiu standing there, her silken robes catching the dying sparks of the fireworks.

Her smile was practiced to the point of unreadable.

“Come,” she said softly, her tone somehow overpowering the thunder of the crowd. “We must talk.”

Alex hesitated, studying her face for any trace of emotion, any hint of what waited behind those golden eyes. There was none. He nodded once and followed her, their footsteps vanishing into the shadowed corridor beneath the arena.

The door shut behind them and the noise of the arena, all of its cheers, speculation, and scandal, vanished behind reinforced walls, replaced by a stillness. The chamber Lady Xhiu led him into was elegant but spartan all the same. It had polished obsidian floors veined with silver, soft white light spilling from floating crystals suspended in midair near the ceiling. A small bench lined one wall, a table with neatly folded towels sat against another.

Lady Xhiu did not sit. She simply stepped to the middle of the room and turned to him, her robes glittered faintly with the embedded glyphs that always seemed to move when she did.

“Your scan,” she began. “It made quite the impression.”

Alex met her gaze. “I noticed. It wasn’t really a surprise, though.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, though not with anger. “You should understand, Alex, with your high stats, your martial tier, even your skill proficiency… these things, they place you comfortably among the top one hundred adepts of this generation, as you have seen. But the absence of a core…”

She paused, seemingly searching for the right phrasing.

“It’s a problem,” Alex finished for her.

She inclined her head. “It’s an enigma. Every noble house, every guildmaster, every sect elder saw that screen, high-gods, even ambassadors from the other continents; they will whisper. They will question how you are what you are, how you came to be, and you continue to live. And many will send people to test the truth of it.”

“Spies,” Alex said flatly.

“Oh, much more than that. Assassins, informants, opportunists... Pick your poison.” Her tone didn’t change, but her lips changed from her practiced politics smile to a glib smirk. “Too much attention is dangerous. For you, for your team, and for the Empire’s investment in you.”

Alex crossed his arms, brow furrowed. “I didn’t exactly choose to have my core shattered.”

“I know,” Xhiu said. Her voice softened a fraction. “And this would have come out eventually, no matter what. Which is why I didn’t try to hide it. If I’d cloaked your condition with an artifact or illusion, the Empire’s analysts would have noticed somewhere down the line. Deception breeds suspicion, and suspicion is weakness in this court. It is better they see you as broken and immensely lucky… than as a threat they didn’t know about popping up later.”

Alex exhaled slowly. “So what now?”

“Now,” she said, producing a small black box from within her sleeve, “you play your part carefully. You will be heavily watched, more so than anyone else on your team. In the opening rounds, you cannot reveal the full extent of your abilities. In fact…”

Her eyes met his sternly.

“…it would be best not to reveal anything at all.”

Alex arched an eyebrow. “You want me to lose?”

“Absolutely not,I want you to be smart” she replied evenly. “The early rounds are bait. The Empire, along with the other factions will be watching for talent they can claim or eliminate easily. So they will try to learn as much about your skills, spells, martial art and more, as they possibly can. Let them think you’re a curiosity, a cracked stone with a bit of spit shine. When it matters, when it truly matters, then you show them what you are and what you can do.”

She held the box out toward him. “These should help.”

Alex took it and lifted the lid. Inside, neatly folded and resting on a cushion of dark silk, were a set of new garments: deep blue robes with faint streaks of gold and silver, a fitted shoulder guard etched with intricate runes, gloves made of some scaled beast hide, and boots of a reinforced weave that Alex didn’t recognize. There was even a pair of small, gleaming earrings that sat in a separate compartment, the gemstones set in them shined with golden light.

He sighed, feeling a strange mix of appreciation and reluctance. “You’re replacing my boots,” he muttered.

“Your old ones were… charming,” she said dryly, “but they would not last against a proper Adept strike. These items are fully fitted with Aether-guidance enchantments and augmentor boosts. The robes and armor carry dual circuits, augmentation and protection, custom recommendation from your mentor, Master Sionnadel.”

Alex looked up in surprise. “Sionna made these?”

“She selected each piece herself, but they were crafted by commissioned guild experts.” Xhiu corrected. “Consider this a rare honor. Lady Sionnadel does not give recommendations for just anyone.”

Alex nodded once, glancing back down at the items. “And the earrings?”

“Gathering focus enhancers,” Xhiu replied. “They stabilize your aether circulation and reinforce your body-gate during channeling. The enchantment is subtle, but potent.”

She hesitated, then reached into her sleeve once more and pulled free one last object. It was a small metallic rod, barely four inches long.

“This,” she said, placing it in his hand, “is something else. A last-minute request from Master Sionna. Keep it hidden. You will know when to use it.”

Before he could ask anything else, she turned toward the door and started to pass through the opening before she stopped. “Change quickly. The other Worldstriders are being fitted with their own equipment. You’ll join them shortly.”

Alex inclined his head. “Understood.”

She lingered at the threshold for a moment longer, studying him with a foxlike intensity in her eyes. “Do not mistake this intrigue around you, Alex. The Empire rewards useful pawns, but it buries unpredictable ones.”

Then she was gone, the door whispering shut behind her.

He stood alone for a while, staring at the box.

The robes glimmered in the crystal light, threads of aether dancing across the woven silky fabric. It all looked… expensive. Really expensive.

He sighed, stripping off his flame-painted boots, setting them aside. “Guess that’s the end of you guys,” he muttered. “You did good. Sorry Garret.”

Obby flickered to life in his vision as he picked up one of the earrings. “Assessment mode engaged,” the rock said, its tone somehow both smarmy and mechanical. “Scanning item, stand by.”

A pale-blue screen opened in his vision, symbols cascading in a stream from top to bottom. He saw some of the display flicker between English letters, numbers, and symbols he didn’t know. “Updating drivers. Patching flesh-sack brain software. Please do not turn off your genius enchanted rock companion...”

Alex rolled his eyes but waited, adjusting the new gloves on his hands. “Very funny. So, what do we got?”

“Object identified,” Obby reported. “Earrings of Grand Focus. Enchantments: Mind-Gate Resonance: +5%. Aether Channeling Efficiency: +4%. Mental Interference Resistance: +10%. Mana Restoration Rate increased based on user’s willpower stat.”

The numbers finalized. Obby’s tone remained aggravatingly neutral, but Alex could hear the faint hum and haw hidden beneath it. Even the rock was impressed by what he saw.

“Damn, that really is good. Okay, what about the robes?” he asked.

Obby scanned those as well, and this time he brought up the typical System style notification screen.

Alex read it, then he blinked heavily. Then again.

And, almost too quietly, he whispered,

“…What? Holy shit.”