Chronicles of Forgotten Extra

[Displaying Status]

==

[STATUS]

[NAME—ALDEN DRAVEN]

[TITLE—SLAYER OF RULER, VANQUISHER OF CHAOS, THE THIRD SUPREME]

[MANA CORE – INITIATE (BEGINNER)]

[POTENTIAL—LIMITLESS]

[MANA TOME – THE ECLIPSE CODEX (PRIMORDIAL)]

[WEAPON ART—SEVENFOLD RUIN (???)]

[SUPREME ABILITY—LIMITLESS ASCENSION]

[SOULBOUND WEAPON—SWORD OF CHAOS]

[STATS]

[STR–F]

[AGI—F]

[INT–F]

[VIT–F-]

[END – F]

[MANA—4000/4000]

===

[▒▒▒▒▒ Trial—You may challenge the trial, but each success increases the waiting time for your next attempt. Death in the trial means death in reality.

[Next Trial – Can be attempted immediately.]

==

[Abilities] – None.

==

Alden calmly scanned his status window, his expression unreadable.

Hmm, nothing much had changed, except for two things.

First of all, his old sword art was gone. Not just erased from the status screen, but vanished from his mind entirely.

He couldn't even remember anything about it anymore.

It was probably a side effect of inheriting Chaos Art.

Gretta had warned him before, hadn't she? That if he inherited this power, he would not be able to practice any other weapon art for his life.

He had dismissed it at the time.

But now?

Now, he understood what she meant.

Secondly, a new tab had appeared.

[▒▒▒▒▒ Trial]

Alden frowned.

That tab?

Yeah.

That definitely wasn't there before.

He was sure of it.

What changed?

…Nothing.

Except for one thing.

He had used his Abyssal Soul for the first time.

A coincidence?

Maybe. But if there was one thing he had learnt in this world, it was that coincidences rarely exist.

The trial was open, and he could attempt it right now if he wanted to.

But he wasn't an idiot.

No, he was going to wait.

There was something far more important happening in a month.

A major event in the story.

The same event that had killed him in the novel.

Alden didn't know if it would still happen, as the plot had been all messed up, but he still was going to prepare for it.

He wasn't the pathetic Alden from the story anymore. He had grown. He had changed. And this time, he would survive.

But surviving wasn't enough.

There was someone he needed to kill.

Someone who, if left alone, would become a problem for him later. And for that… he needed to break through to at least Intermediate Initiate Rank.

Alden exhaled, pushing his useless thoughts aside.

He still had one more thing to check.

His new weapon art.

Just the name sent shivers of excitement within his body.

==

[Chaos Weapon Art – Sevenfold Ruin.]

[Rank - ???]

[Mastery - Beginner]

[Description – To cut is to destroy. To destroy is to cut. When precision and chaos become one, the world itself falls before the blade. There are seven steps to this art, but no successor has ever managed to go beyond the fourth step. More steps will be unlocked with increasing mastery.

[Steps]

[First Step – Ruinous Severance]

==

Alden's eyes narrowed.

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'Rank: ???

He had a theory about this question mark.

In the Chaos Trial, he had learnt something important.

Primordial Rank probably wasn't the highest level of power. There were beings beyond even that level.

If that was true… then manuals and tomes might follow the same rules.

Which meant…

The reason why the rank wasn't displayed was because it wasn't supposed to exist in this world's system.

Was the case similar in my potential before I awakened my supreme ability?

Alden recalled the question-marked potential he had before awakening his ability.

Alden dismissed the thought and moved on.

His mastery was still at beginner, which made sense, as he hadn't even started practising it yet.

But the description of the sword art caught his attention. "To cut is to destroy. To destroy is to cut."

How poetic and … ominous.

The line about no one surpassing the fourth step was also concerning.

So except for Lucia who created the art, no other person had even passed the fourth step?

Was it just that difficult to master?

Alden didn't know.

But he would find out.

__

His mind already had all the information about the weapon art, but most of it was sealed, only to be unlocked after he reached designated mastery.

It seems a new step will be unlocked with each level of mastery.

He was eager to unlock them all, but for now he focused on what he had.

He opened the first step details as a detailed screen popped in front of him.

[First Step – Ruinous Severance – The Blade That Rejects Resistance]

[Mastery - 0%]

[Description: A blade that ignores resistance and slices through all physical matter with ease. However, each strike carries an unstable force, shifting between precise cuts and chaotic destruction. The control can increase with mastery.]

Alden exhaled.

A sword art that didn't just cut—but ignored resistance itself?

That was… insanely OP.

He understood one thing: Sevenfold Ruin wasn't just a normal technique. It was a force of nature. And he was its new successor.

His lips curled into a faint smirk as he stood up.

There was no point in waiting, as his hands were itching to try the technique.

He summoned his [Sword of Chaos.]

The pitch-black sword immediately appeared, heeding his call.

The weight of it was familiar in his hand.

His private training had many immobile dummies to practice his weapon art. He took a slow breath as he walked towards the nearest one.

He circulated the mana within his body according to the manual.

The mana circulation was simple… or perhaps not so simple.

According to the manual, he had to circulate his mana through his sword and make it resonate with atmospheric mana.

Simple, isn't it?

Then why the heck isn't it happening yet?

He could circulate mana through his sword in a specific pattern, and with his [Monarch of Mana], he could feel the atmospheric mana clearly.

But when he tried to resonate his sword with atmospheric mana.

Nothing.

No response.

Am I missing something?

He tried again and again.

But nothing was happening.

Only after trying for more than three hours did he finally managed to barely resonate with it, but that still required his utmost focus.

As soon as resonance happened, the world around him stopped for him. He could only see the training dummy in front of him.

He could see a clean line passing through the air.

He instinctively understood what it was.

It was the pathway…the most efficient trajectory to sever the training dummy.

He followed it….but he couldn't do it cleanly. His hand shook a bit. But he still roughly followed that trajectory.

The air itself shuddered.

The blade moved like it was cutting through water, there was no resistance or weight.

And then, suddenly—

Crack.

The training dummy in front of him didn't just split in half.

It shattered.

Alden blinked in shock.

The fragments of the dummy scattered across the floor.

Unstable.

That was the first thing that came to mind.

He lifted his sword again, studying the blade.

There was no glow, aura or any other visible sign of the power.

Yet the destruction it unleashed was obvious. He didn't release his resonance as he slashed again.

The next dummy was barely scratched.

Alden frowned.

He checked the description again.

"Each strike carries an unstable force, shifting between precise cuts and chaotic destruction."

Right.

That was the problem.

He could cut through anything physical. But the strength of the cut wasn't under his control at all.

It could be a perfect severance or a reckless explosion. And that meant—

He had no choice but to master it.

His hand tightened around his sword.

He wasn't done with his training just yet.

He slashed again and again.

Each time, the result was different.

Sometimes the dummy was severed cleanly, sometimes it shattered and sometimes the sword simply just grazed it.

And yet… Alden couldn't help but be excited.

This was a powerful technique.

And he just had to make it his.

"Alright, you unpredictable bastard," he muttered, tightening his grip on his sword.

"Let's see who wins this little game first, me or you."

__

Alden exhaled as he stared at the wreckage of training dummies around him.

He has been lost in his practice for the last few hours. He had noticed something as he was practising.

The weight of his longsword felt… wrong. Sevenfold Ruin was a weapon art unlike anything he had ever used.

It was an art that focused on speed and preciseness.

He examined his longsword in his grip. It wasn't slow, but it wasn't fast either.

The weight distribution was balanced, but that wasn't what he needed. He needed something precise.

Something that could flow with [Sevenfold Ruin's] unpredictable nature instead of fighting against it.

He racked his mind thinking about which weapon might suit this technique perfectly.

And finally an answer came to him…

A katana, perhaps?

A longsword required controlled swings, deliberate movements, and measured strikes.

But [Sevenfold Ruin] was anything but measured.

He needed to resonate his sword in the flow of ambient mana. A katana could follow that flow better than a longsword.

Its curved blade, lighter weight and, most importantly, its precise nature—this wasn't a weapon meant for brute force. It was meant for speed and precision.

"Guess I'm switching weapons." Alden muttered.

It wasn't like he had much of a choice.

If he kept using a longsword, he'd just be limiting himself.

[Sevenfold Ruin] was already hard enough to control.

No point in making it worse.

He willed The [Sword of Chaos] to change its shape into a katana. The sword soon followed his will as it changed its shape.

A pitch-black katana was in his hands; several vein-like structures were present on it just like its base form.

'Time to practise some more.'

He raised the katana.

And kept practicing.

____

Hey Author Here,

Minor Change Alert: The ▒▒▒▒▒ Trial cooldown now increases with each attempt instead of resetting monthly. Just a small tweak to balance things.