Everything that exists in the world is made up of the Aspects.

Water. Land. Animals. Minerals. Fire. Monsters. People.

However, the concentration and the proportion of the Aspects in anything and everything differs. For example, Animals have more “Life” Aspect concentration than Land, and Fire has more “Energy” Aspect concentration than Animals.

Since everything and everyone is made up of Aspects, it means that they are bound by them. But, with the body I possess… I am not bound by it. As a result, none of the Aspects make up my self, making me immune to their general effects.

This has various advantages for me.

For one, I am able to use Hex unlimitedly. Since I am not bound by Aspects, I can defy them. Unlike any Hex user that exists, I only need to interfere with the natural order of the world for me to use Hex. However, they need to transform the Aspects which are within them into the desirable result. How sad.

I rose from my bed. Talia was fast asleep, meaning I could go wherever I wanted. If all things go smoothly I would be able to return return before long. The location of the item I seek is in a ruin, thousands of miles from my location. Normally it would take me a great deal of time and journeying to get there, in which Talia’s wings would have been long gone by then. However, using Hex, especially with my current body, that isn’t necessary.

“Hex #71 ‘Warp’ ” I said.

Immediately, I disappeared from my location, or more like I warped.

Using Hex to distort Space-Time, I am able to close the distance between myself and my target. The target in the case is my item. Of course Hex isn’t omnipotent. There are conditions to be fulfilled before certain effects can be actualized. For this particular Hex one needs to fulfil two conditions

One is the exact knowledge of the target. That is, the appearance and sufficient traits unique to only that particular target and no other. The second is the location of the target. Since Hex is like a machine, or more accurately a “Code”, whatever is imputed in it is carried out. Like Hacking into the system of the world and the Aspects, such is the nature of my creation.

Since I fulfilled both conditions, I was able to successfully warp to my destination. However, as expected I was warped to the entrance of the ruin and not the exact room where my item is located. The reason for this is due to the barrier I placed around the ruin. It can only be removed by another Primordial, and I’m sure even they do not care for such an object.

With my current Ability I do not have enough power to break the barrier that surrounded the Ruin, or even scratch it for that matter, but…

“There’s always a loophole” I smiled to myself.

I walked toward the entrance and entered the ruin normally. Normally, the barrier would have sent my entire body disintegrating into nothingness, since any thing that touches the barrier would be reduced to nothing. But my case is different.

The way the barrier works is that it automatically destroys any and all Aspects that come in contact with it, and since all things and beings comprise of Aspects they are eliminated. However, since my entire self is independent of any Aspect, the barrier might as well not recognize me. This made it a cakewalk for me to get in.

I couldn’t use Hex to get in immediately because Hex uses Aspects, like a hack. So it is technically an Aspect filled mechanism. This means I had to manually enter the ruins. Well, it isn’t all bad though, might as well stretch my legs.

I walked for several minutes noticing nothing had changed since I created the ruin. No surprise there. Since the barrier blocks out all Aspects then concepts such as time and change do not apply within the ruin. Meaning no matter how long is spent in the ruin, no time at all passes in the world.

“This will be a good place to train and orchestrate things” I said to myself.

I arrived at a checkpoint, and before me was a large gate. The gate shone so brightly and it was so massive that you would have to raise your head almost to the ceiling to see the top of it.

“The entrance of the Store room… Or so it appears to be” I said with a smirk.

Of course this was a dud, a distraction to throw any invader who managed to infiltrate the barrier. Of course for the gate to still remain standing and the barrier to be intact, it means no one had gotten in. Still, I was a very cautious and meticulous being at the time. Or maybe it was because I had a lot of time on my hands.

I made so many traps in so many of my dungeons and ruins that were most likely never going to activate. The Giant Shiny Gate, for instance. It was supposed to swallow whoever opened it and consume them in an eternal void.

“Such a waste” I mumbled.

I turned from the gate and saw a very opening in a corner. Most would be too distracted by the gate that they would fail to notice the opening. I smiled and approached the opening. As I got closer, the opening grew wider until it was enough for me to walk through comfortably, and so I did.

After a minute of walking through the opening and passing a cave like space, I finally got through the exit. One would expect this particular ruin, due to its high difficulty, to contain magnificent gold and priceless treasures in abundance, but… The Store Room contained none of these things. As I entered the room, the entire space was filled with absolutely nothing, entirely blank. There were a few rocks and stones here and there but nothing worthwhile.

“Or so it seems” I smiled.

I walked forward and looked to the ground. There it was… The object I travelled thousands of miles for. The treasure of the ruin. “The Root of All”.

It was a ring, it was black in color, with purple inscribing on it and a dark purple jewel affixed on its center. I picked up the ring and blew on it. Of course this was just for effect, there was no dust in the room.

“There you are” I said to my prized item.

Normally, someone ought to judge the quality of a dungeon or ruin based on its difficulty. In essence, the more dangerous it is, the greater the rewards. This particular ruin was nigh impossible to infiltrate meaning a great treasure would exist within it. Entering a deserted room with no single treasure in place could mean two things for most people.

One, another person had come before them and had made away with the treasure

Two, the entire thing was a bust in the first place.

However, I’m not entirely unfair. I’m a rewarder of hard labor. It would be entirely unreasonable to go through all the trouble of laying all these traps and barrier for nothing to be inside the ruin. Even if I was inconsiderate of the treasure seekers, I wasn’t so bored as to create an entire ruin and put so much work in it just for nothing.

The empty room is also to throw invaders off. The treasure in the room is but a single object. The ring I hold in my hands. Its worth is proportional to the entire ruin, meaning even this ring is as valuable as a room filled with gold and priceless weapons, maybe even more.

This is because…

“Root of All” I stated.

The purple jewel glowed and buzzed, showing it had awakened.

“Show Inventory” I said. “List Object quantity and quality”

“Confirmed” The Jewel responded to my instructions.

Immediately, a screen appeared before me, displaying everything in the inventory.

The Root of All is akin to a Coin Card, only phenomenally more superior. Coin Cards merely connects the treasury of the owner to the card, however… This ring, ‘Root’, is the treasury itself. Also, it is not only limited to money, but…

“Coins are numbered 999,999,999,999” The Root said

Good, I smiled to myself.

“Sacred Grade Treasures are numbered 99,000”

“Divine Grade Treasures are numbered 9,999”

“Primordial Grade Treasures are numbered 9”

“Failures are numbered 100,000,009”

“Miscellaneous are numbered 999,999,999,999,999…”

And so on.

I smiled to myself.

“Who’s broke now?”

The Root, in short, contains my most basic and essential items. Though some were really useless to me, I still had sentimental value for them.

The items I didn’t put in other ruins, dungeons or in other places are contained in the Root. This ring is one of my most valued treasures and its recovery is essential if I am to live in the current world.

“Now then, time to head back… I wonder how much time passed since I left the inn…” I said to myself.

TIME PASSED: 1 minute…. 12 seconds.