The Cursed Extra: Twin Souls Against the World

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After rambling about different ways a hex art could kill someone, Xenor asked, "Viyron, I think you understand how hex art works, right?"

Xane nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

Xenor nodded. "That's good." He then pointed to the paper in Xane's hand. "Now, think about the components of the hex art in your hand. What do you think those components should be?"

Xane looked at the paper and said, "Sir, I'm sure that the projection part of this hex art is based on the runes."

Xenor nodded his head and said, "Correct. To use any rune-based hex arts, you just have to transfer a bit of your hex energy onto the paper."

Xenor pointed to the ink. "By the way, one more thing. The ink I used to create that hex art is special. If I had to give you a value, just the raw cost of making one such hex art is about 3 points."

Xane looked at the ink bottle with wide eyes. But then he noticed something different about the paper, too.

He touched the side of the paper and felt not only that it was a bit thick, but also that it had a soft, velvety texture.

Zayn said to Xane mentally, [This must be made from one of the special tree barks.]

Xane mentally nodded, then said aloud, "As for the intention. Sir, this hex art should allow me to summon a creature."

Zayn mentally complained, [Dude, that's wrong.] But as he said this, it occurred to him that Xane was saying the wrong things on purpose.

Sure enough, Xenor shook his head. "No, Viyron, summoning a creature is not that simple."

Xane continued his act and asked, "What is it then, sir?"

Xenor paused for a bit and said, "You've read about most of the core hex arts, right?"

"Sir, about most of them."

"Good. So the thing is, most of the core hex arts have a prerequisite. Like, to learn the hex art of cursed weapon, you need to have a cursed weapon, or the hex art of malefic craft requires raw resources."

Xane nodded his head. "I understand, sir."

"So the requirement to use summoning hex art is for you to link to a world from which you could summon those creatures."

Zayn said in realization, [Oh, so this hex art is about that mark I told you about. Hey, ask him about the different worlds.]

Xane mentally nodded, then asked Xenor, "Sir, what do you mean by world? Are you talking about the cursed world?"

"Well, you can try summoning from the cursed world, but there's a high chance you'll lose your mind before you can summon any creature."

Xane mentally cursed Xenor. <Fck, this guy loves to talk about death.>

Not caring about Xane's reaction, Xenor asked in a low tone, "Oh yeah, Luna is your instructor, right?"

Xane stared at him and corrected him. "Sir, she is the Class 2 instructor, which I am part of."

Xenor waved his hand. "Don't worry, I know your position. Just tell me what she says about the cursed world?"

Even though Xenor said that casually, Xane could see there was some sort of connection between the two.

He asked Zayn, <Hey, do you know if our mentor has any connection with Luna?>

Zayn replied in an uncertain tone, [I mean, both of them are from the same cursed land. Maybe they had some encounters there.]

[Or it could also be jealousy because Miss Luna has super high potential and is already a Level 3 Hex Master.]

<Oh? What about our mentor's potential?>

[I don't know. There was no mention of hex master potential in the novel.]

<Well, at least we could say Luna should have higher potential.>

[Ah, we can't be sure about that. Xane, at higher levels, several other factors come into play that decide the speed at which a hex master progresses.]

<Oh, okay.>

Xane focused back on Xenor, who was waiting for a response. The good thing about this mental talking was that it was much faster.

Barely a second had passed in the outside world, while they had already discussed the potential connection between their mentor and instructor.

Not wasting any more time, Xane said, "Sir Miss Luna said to see the cursed world as ancient battlefields. The ten cursed lands on these continents are the focal points of ten wars that happened at different periods."

Xenor rubbed his chin. "Oh, so she's sticking to that theory."

Xane raised an eyebrow. "Is there another possibility, sir?"

Xenor opened his mouth, then paused and shook his head. "Nah, there's no point in you learning about that stuff. It's only going to confuse you."

Xane asked Zayn, <Is the battlefield theory wrong?>

[Dude, we're on the same page here. I know as much as you. It must have come later in the novel.]

Xane sighed and asked, "Sir, about the other worlds…"

Xenor tapped on his head and said, "Yeah, so Viyron, let's stick to the battlefield. Now imagine creatures so strong they could even split worlds into multiple parts."

Xane shook his head. "That makes no sense."

Xenor nodded. "I know, but from what we know, during the first three wars, something like this really happened."

Xenor waved his hand and looked up as he said, "The creatures that fought to create the ancient three cursed lands were so strong that their battles split the massive battlefield into multiple parts."

Xane thought for a bit and asked, "Sir, you mean the cursed world of Vareth is actually a bunch of different small lands that are clustered together?"

Xenor shook his head. "Nope. The thing is, on the biggest part of the battlefield, wars continued to happen, and that formed Nythra. While all the other pieces didn't have any Nythra at all."

Xane rubbed his head. "Oh, so you mean Nythra did not affect those other lands because no such big war took place in them."

"Correct. So, the thing is, we believe this battlefield used to be the world of elements. But for some unknown reason, all the broken pieces only left with a single element each."

Xane thought for a bit and tapped on the table. "Sir, I do have a few things I want to ask."

Xenor waved his hand through his thick brown hair and nodded to him. "Feel free to ask."

"Okay, first thing. Sir, are these other worlds connected to the real world?"

Xenor shook his head. "Nope. All these worlds were already scattered across different spatial areas. A few hex masters believe that at some point, a few of these worlds might have connected to our world of Zerathia."

Xenor glanced around, then leaned closer to Xane. "Viyron, you know, according to those hex masters, in the distant past, a few different humanoid species actually came from those other worlds and settled down on Zerathia."

Just as Xenor said that, he placed a finger on his lips. "Shhh. Forget what I said. It's a taboo topic that might get you killed."

With that, Xenor leaned back in his seat like nothing had happened.

Xane just sat there, not sure how to process this information.

It might have been a big revelation for the real Viyron, but it was just one of many possible thoughts for him.

From the moment he heard of cursed worlds and the real world and then different factions, he thought that at least some of those creatures might originally be from the cursed world.

So instead of getting blown away by the information, he focused on Xenor's face while acting shocked outwardly.

In his prison life, Xane had met all sorts of people.

People who let their impulses take over them. Those who lost control of themselves. Even the actual mad psychos with mental problems.

But when he looked at Xenor's dark eyes, he saw none of that. Instead, those eyes were extremely focused.

Xane mentally clicked and said to Zayn, <This Xenor guy is something else.>

Zayn asked in confusion, [What do you mean by that?]

Xane focused on Xenor's fingers, which were fidgeting on the table. <Look, his eyes are clear. Also, his hand? There is no rhythm to it. This is not his true personality. He's acting in front of us.>

[Wait, what?! That can't be right.]

Xane glanced down at the floor. He noticed even more details that he'd missed earlier. <Zayn, even though the floor looks messy, all the papers have the same shade to them. >

<Even those that were already scattered way before we came in look the same as the one I have in my hand.>

When Xane started pointing out those things, Zayn also started to notice a few other details. He was familiar with messy rooms and knew in most cases these messes would have layers to them.

Where the stuff at the bottom later decays. But then he looked at the runes drawn on the walls and counted. [No, Xane. It could be because of those runes. Maybe they have some otherworldly ability that stopped the decay.]

<Oh? Then what about the stuff he just casually revealed to us? Do you think he would randomly say all that to us?>

Zayn focused on Xenor in confusion. He never had much interaction with others, so he wasn't sure if Xane was just being paranoid.

It was just too bad the novel had no mention of this hex master. There were just a few paragraphs describing the hex art his student used—that's all.

That also made his knowledge useless.

Still, he asked, [I mean, why would Xenor even do that? It's not like he could gain anything from us. In the other eye, we're about to die anyway.]

Xenor coughed at that point. "You okay?"

Xane smiled at his mentor and mentally said to Zayn, <Well, you hit the nail, Zayn. I think Xenor is more like Melina. It's like he's conducting some type of experiment on us before we die.>

Xenor asked, "Do you have more questions?"

Zayn cursed in his head. [Fck, the more you say, the more I'm starting to see it.]

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