Caleb shook his head in confusion before stepping forward. Before he could get far though a tall man seemed to step out of the shadow under the gate. This caused him to reach for his sword although he didn't draw it as he knew on an instinctual level that the man before him would be able to kill him in less than an eye blink. He also realized the man seemed significantly weaker than the giant, Baltar. Still he refused to go down without at least attempting to fight back, of course that depended on if there was a need.

"Hello new citizens of the multiverse. My name is Evriu Dagan, a dark elf of the Atliverian Empire. I will be your guide for the first day you are here. If you require assistance later you can also hire a guide for 1,500 credits per hour. First i suggest we go to the chaos crystal to sell your trophies. After that we can head to the alchemist guild to do your Cleansing." the elf said. Caleb couldn't help looking closer at the elf as he seemed decidedly un-human. Admittedly he had already met a giant but giants just look like huge body builder humans. The dark elf male had dark purple skin, red eyes and long black hair. The ears while pointed where only slightly longer than a humans, almost unnoticeable unless specifically looking.

Stepping forward he greeted Evriu in turn. "Hello these are my companions Thomas McGrer and Jared Kingsley. I am Caleb Fulmen. I would appreciate the help and information you could offer us." Caleb said with respect.

"A Cleansing can be done twice per rank after you are F-rank. As a G-rank though it can only be done once. It removes impurities in the body giving you a random number of stats between 15-25 that are distributed randomly. At F-rank you will also become able to cultivate. Body-forging arts give physical stats while mana arts gives mind stats. For most F-rank cultivation arts they give between 250-500 stats but only if all ten levels are completed but that is rare as cultivation techniques are agony especially at higher levels. Most can only cultivate the 1st-3rd level before giving up, there are those who even fail to cultivate a single level. Only 1 in every trillion people have the innate will to cultivate an art through all ten levels. That number drops steeply as the ranks increase as well. The stats will also be distributed by the cultivation art rather than by you this is why you need to be careful on what cultivation arts you pick at each level.. Ah it looks like we are here." Evriu said as they turned another corner to see the chaos crystal. It looked a transparent dark purple quartz with red and gold lightning crashing and flashing, seeming to try and devour each other and even themselves throughout the crystal as It hovered in the air above a raised silver circle with four copper legs. There was also blue and black glowing runes over both the silver and copper metal.

"Whoa, what are those runes?" Caleb couldn't help but ask.

"Those are Tier 4 runes, far beyond what you can learn. As a G-rank the best you can learn is Tier 1 runes as anything more profound will kill you or shatter your mind if you try to learn it. But the purpose of the stand and the runes is to summon and keep the chaos crystal stable. Luckily once it is activated only an S-rank could damage this particular formation thanks to the system otherwise a lowly D-rank could potentially destroy a city by making the crystal explode. Now go sell the eyes and the horn of that rhino. I would advise you from buying anything just yet but looking at a few things could be a good idea." Evriu stated in response. " Although I am somewhat what surprised to see your apparent interest in runes."

"Yes I find runes to be very interesting, well to be honest I find magic in general to be fascinating. I was wondering though if runes could be used in combat?" Caleb asked with enthusiasm. For Caleb's entire life he yearned to have magic, to study it and learn its width and depths. Now was his chance and he would give it his all, to the very last breath in his body.

"Yes in multiple ways actually. The first and by far most common is runes on weapons and gear, this gives them special magical properties. The second and still somewhat common way is through formations. War Wizards use these as amplifications to magic and is the reason why only a fool attacks a wizard in his tower. The final 2 are extremely rare. First you should know that most magic is done through manipulation of mana such as compressing enough mana in a stable let violent manner to create a mana bolt. You could do the same using runes but this is usually slower, however arcanist fight like this and with training they can use their willpower stat to affect rune creation speed. For example this is me casting the spell Runed Mana-bolt." As Evriu said this one by one 4 runes slowly began to be drawn in a circle above his hand taking 4 seconds in total. "Now this is me using my willpower to enable my agility stat to affect it." This time each rune only took a tenth of a second meaning the entire spell was done in 0.4 seconds as compared to the prior 4 seconds. "Now a proper arcanist could have done it far faster than me even if he were weaker due to the training that they go through. Now as for the final method i had mentioned it involves branding runes on your soul. This is done by using a special ink mixed with your blood to give you tattoos. Few will use this method as while it gives power it is highly dangerous and more often than not kills those who try. " Evriu finished his explanation.

"Why is the branding one so dangerous? Is it just because you are messing with you soul?" Caleb asked in curiosity.

"Partly yes. Branding the soul like that is inherently painful and if you fail to stay conscious you will die. On top of that you have to already have a completed and correct runic sequence, also referred to as a totem tattoo. For an F-rank that means 25 runes that have to be put at the right places, in relation to each-other, and in the right order or it will rip your soul apart. Finally even if you own a proper sequence it will only cover a single rank as after advancing to a higher the Tattoo will be crushed and absorbed by your soul and you will need to go through a whole new process for the next rank. Each rank also requires 25 more runes than the rank before. The only good news being that only the cornerstone runes show up on your skin, one for each limb and one on your left chest, while all the rest seep into your body and towards your soul. Also all the runes on your skin will appear black no matter the color of the ink used, though no-one knows why that is." Evriu answered with his understanding on the subject. Although he had never received a runic tattoo himself this was considered basic information throughout the multiverse.

"So with all of those dangers, why do people still get runic tattoos?" Jared asked at this time in confusion.

"In one word? Foundation. The more stats you have, outside of gear, the better your foundation will be equaling the chance to reach higher levels and get access to better classes and professions when you advance. Runic tattoos for F-rank gives 200 stats distributed based off of the runic sequence that is a huge number of points especially for the ambitious. There are only a few ways to get points especially for the poor. Leveling, bloodline, cultivating, totem tattoos, treasures that can be eaten, Titles, and elixirs are the only known way to gain stats. A poor man with great ambitions will take everything he can to get more powerful. Your foundation and achievements all grow your Records, thereby allowing you to continue growing and ascending. Anyway enough of this let us head over to the alchemist guild to perform your Cleansing after that we can go to the mages guild to check your affinities.

Jared looked down at the potion in his hand. It was pure white yet the smirks that the alchemists had when giving it to him made him very worried. Then again he was sure that if they wanted to kill him that there was no reason to waste poison on him. Then he thought of that kid, Caleb, laughing at him for being to scared to drink the potion so after clenching his hand he tilted his head bag and chugged the whole thing. Then......nothing. "Maybe it was a du-" not even able to finish his body dropped to the ground in agony his body feeling like it was burning all the way to his bones. Or more accurately from his bones and up out through his skin.

Roughly 30 minutes later Jared noticed the pain beginning to leave his bod. 15 minutes later all the pain had left but by now all he could think of was this horrendous smell. It took a few more minutes before he realized the smell was coming from himself. After that realization he immediately tried to stand up but found himself stuck to the floor. Wiggling around he finally managed to get up and took a look at himself . His entire body was covered in this putrid black tar like substance. He was now thankful that they had made them strip before entering the room he was in to take the potion. Going over to the wall he pressed the silver button like he had been told to do after he had finished the potion.

All of a sudden silver water began to fall on him from the ceiling. There was a hissing sound as the tar like substance began to dissolve. At first Jared got worried but soon noticed the acid had zero effect on his body and only the impurities were affected, which by that point he had already guessed was what that black stuff was. Soon he was completely clean and the smell from his Cleansing dissipated. Seeing this Jared went and knocked on the door that he had used to get in.