Xane saw that a whole lot of teens rushed after Liam and Samuel. They were sort of like the new idols that everyone wanted to interact with.

What was interesting was that he even saw a couple of elves and a dwarf in that group. He asked in confusion, [What's up with all that craze?]

Zayn looked at them and sighed. <It's just the initial excitement for building connections. But don't worry—it'll fade by the second class.>

[Man, they're like the new idols everyone wants to talk about.] Xane shifted his focus back to the list of instructors.

On the list, the instructor's name was on the left. In the middle, there was information about their element, their hex master level, and the type of core hex art they had mastered.

As Zayn scrolled through a bunch of pages, Xane noticed that most of the list was filled with Level 2 hex masters, and all of them had mastery over one core hex art.

What was more interesting was that a few Level 3 hex masters he saw had mastery over two, and one guy even had mastery over three core hex arts.

Xane asked him, [Yeah, so you were talking about the two core hex arts that those from the Cursed Land of Hex use?]

Zayn kept scrolling and said, <Yeah, in the novel, most of the hex masters from the same cursed land as ours focus on using the Core Hex Art of Somniomancy or the Core Hex Art of Hex Delirium.>

[What do those hex arts do?]

This time, Zayn closed the mentor list and opened the list of all the hex arts again.

He switched to the 5th page, which had a detailed explanation of the Hex Art of Delirium.

<See, the Hex Art of Delirium focuses on bending perception, emotions, and cognition through hex energy—sort of like creating illusions and manipulating memory.>

It took Xane a few seconds to register that.

[For f**k's sake, so other people could also target our mind?!]

<Oh, don't worry. Our hex property kind of gives us the best mental defense possible. That's the biggest pro of the hex property from one of the most ancient Cursed Lands.>

[Don't tell me it's because of the corrosion fog inside our minds. Geez, that's like saying, "Only I can destroy myself."]

Zayn shrugged.

<I mean, you can take it that way.>

[Forget it. Okay, so I imagine we could use this Hex Art of Delirium as a sort of mental therapy—to fix stuff in our minds.]

<Yup, it's just that, like therapy, it's still too slow. I mean, it could help us stay sane, but nothing too great.>

Xane nodded. [Yeah, in our case, I don't even know what kind of effect this memory manipulation would have on us.]

Just thinking about that irked Xane. He read the common uses of the hex art, and the more he read, the more he disliked it.

Xane understood one simple thing—a person's memory made them who they were. The reason he and Zayn were two different people was because they had different memories.

He didn't want to mess with their minds. He shook his head. [This hex art isn't that useful to us.]

Zayn also nodded. <Yeah, even I think it's just too risky. And the reward for taking that risk isn't worth much.>

<Also, progressing in this kind of hex art makes us sitting ducks under direct threats.>

Xane asked, [What about the Core Hex Art of Somniomancy?]

Zayn switched to the 8th page. <This core hex art focuses on creating dream-like illusions.>

Xane paused. [Wait, didn't the Hex Art of Delirium also create illusions? How is it different from that?]

Zayn looked through the page and shrugged. <I'm not sure. It just mentions that while the Hex Art of Delirium focuses on mind manipulation, the Hex Art of Somniomancy focuses on dreams.>

<So imagine creating a dream full of happy things—it's going to heal the mind slowly.>

Xane just sighed. [That's lame. I don't think it's going to be that effective.]

Zayn also sighed. <I mean, these hex arts are interesting to use on others, but when it comes to dealing with our situation, they're definitely lame.>

<It's just too bad that, until now, this world had no concrete method. That's why everyone treats those with the mark of the Cursed Land of Chaos as people destined to go mad and die. It's just a matter of how fast.>

Xane sighed. [What about the novel? Is there any clue you know?]

Zayn rubbed his forehead. <I mean, I do have some methods that might work.>

Xane spoke in a serious tone. [Are you sure we can trust the stuff in the novel? I mean, there's a whole lot of stuff going south compared to the novel.]

<Nah, actually, I'm not fully trusting the novel. Wait—let me show you what I'm talking about.>

Zayn started going through the list of hex masters. After like five minutes, he pointed. <Okay, this is the first method.>

Xane looked at the screen and the information about the Level Two Hex Master with the dark element. As he read the hex art mastery, Xane paused, [Core Hex Art of Malefic Craft? Isn't that the method of creating cursed weapons?]

Zayn nodded. <It's more about creating cursed artifacts—weapons are just a part of it.>

Two hours had already passed, and Xane just lay there, trying to collect himself.

Xane slowly stood up and began dusting himself off.

What was interesting was that Zayn—who had been screaming the whole time—was suddenly quiet.

Xane asked with a smile,

< Haha, Zayn, what happened? Don't tell me you passed out from the pain. >

After a moment of silence, Zayn said in awe,

[ Fck, that was crazy. ]

Xane was taken aback by this response. He raised an eyebrow with interest.

< Oh? I wasn't expecting that kind of reply. >

Zayn continued in awe,

[ The way you rolled, then that jump from the top of the branch with the mid-air swing to a safe area. Heck, even the side-turn between those two trees in the first run... ]

[ Oh my god, I never knew something like that was even possible. ]

Xane was truly surprised. He started to doubt whether it was still Zayn he was talking to. Just to be sure, he tapped the arm with a fresh wound.

In the next instant—

[ Ah! You bitch! That hurts! ]

< Oh, so you are Zayn. >

[ What are you talking about? Forget it, Xane. Let me ask—do you think I'll be able to do the same thing? ]

< Well, this is an interesting development. I never expected you to accept the training so quickly. >

[ Oh, come on! I'm not an idiot. I finally understand what you meant by unlocking the full body. Damn, the way you twisted your upper body to avoid falling, and then the way you turned on your toes... Fck, how the hell did you do those things? ]

Xane began walking out.

< Well, it's good that you understand the purpose of this training. But yeah, to answer your first question—nope. >

Zayn asked in a disappointed tone,

[ Oh? Why? ]

Xane pointed to his body.

< Let me explain in simple terms. Just imagine everybody's body as a machine. >

Zayn mentally rolled his eyes.

[ Geez, here you go with another of your weird comparisons. Okay, so our body is a machine then? ]

Xane ignored Zayn's comment and said,

< You see, the output of every machine is decided by two components. First is the quality of the machine, and second is the ability of the operator. >

And just like before, Zayn kind of understood what Xane was trying to say. Just to be sure, he asked,

[ Quality of the machine is how fit we are? ]

Xane continued,

< Yup. And you see, this is something that's going to take time. We can't just catch up to others who trained their bodies from childhood that fast. >

Zayn asked in confusion,

[ But I thought we made a whole lot of progress in the past few days. Xane, keep in mind this is not Earth. ]

Xane sighed.

< Nah, it's just our body was too starved, so the changes feel big. Also, it's not like it's impossible to catch up with those guys—it's just going to take time. >

Zayn said in a serious tone,

[ And we lack time. ]

Xane nodded.

< Yup. That's where the ability of the operator comes in. To give you an analogy—it's like comparing a bodybuilder with someone who trains in martial arts like judo. >

Xane thought about that dwarf who was going to join the main cast. It hit him that Zayn hadn't mentioned the Hex Art of Malefic Craft before, so there must be something special about this Hex Master.

He asked Zayn, [Okay, so what's special about this Hex Master?]

Zayn shook his head. <There's nothing special about the Hex Master. It's just that, in the novel, there's this dwarf under him who uses living creatures or monsters and transforms them into living weapons.>

<Those living weapons have brains, and they can breathe and eat just like normal creatures. That guy even developed a method to transform humans into weapons.>

Xane had seen a lot in the past 2–3 days, but this still surprised him. [Man, I don't know what the deal is, but it sounds like some unique horror shit.]

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