'I forget I am in my underwear.' Alex thought, quickly equipped a fake cloth armor, and then looked toward his right to see the man.

'He looks Half-Elf, but I am not certain,' Alex thought as he looked at the man standing next to the throne.

The man was 6.8 feet tall with a well-built body and a handsome appearance, with silver hair reaching his shoulder and pointy ears like an elf, but the unique thing about him was a set of horns.

The set of horns looked similar to reindeer but on a much smaller scaler as they were barely twenty centimeters long and looked like they were made from black and white starry crystal.

"I have the bloodline of Dark Millennia Elf and Mythical Beast Snawfus, and these horns are a gift from my two bloodlines." The man replied calmly, seeing Alex looking at his horns.

'I don't know any of the two bloodlines he just said, but I can easily guess they are both ridiculously rare and strong.' Alex thought.

"My name is Varon Lychnus Thiodolfr, but you address me with just Varon, and before I tell you about this place, could you please tell me which trial you clear to get teleported here," Varon asked.

'I am not the first person to come to this place which is not surprising, but if Erebus is right, then I will be last to take the Ruler trial.' Alex thought with a bright smile as he looked toward the dark throne.

"My name is Hidden One, and I was sent to this place by [Erebus The Dark King] to become the Ruler of Malefis Domain," Alex said with a proud smile.

After hearing the reply, Varon looked genuinely surprised, and without saying anything, he appeared in front of Alex and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"I have been waiting to meet you for the last seven decades," Varon said with a bright smile.

'I was expecting him to ask a few questions to prove my claim, but seeing how excited he looks, I don't think I need to explain my meeting with Erebus.' Alex thought.

"I believe the first Ruler should have already explained things related to the process of Ruler selection to you, so after you are mentally prepared for the painful experience, you should sit on the throne to start the Domain Connection," Varon said calmly.

'He is convinced I will be selected as the Ruler, but What the hell is Domain Connection.' Alex thought.

Alex was not surprised that the procedure to becoming the Ruler would be painful as Erebus told him it would be a "memorable experience," but he didn't tell him anything about any Domain Connection.

"Sir. Varon, Can you please briefly explain what domain connection is." Alex asked.

"The first Ruler told you about the tasks the domain Ruler needs to complete and the punishment for failure?" Varon asked, and seeing Alex's head nod in confirmation, he started explaining about the domain connection.

"The domain connection is a magical link between the Ruler and Malefis Domain, and through it, the Ruler will receive tasks and rewards."

"I can tell you about tasks and rewards some previous Ruler received, but it would be just useless information because every Ruler walks a different path of strength, and the Domain gives them tasks and rewards that could best benefit them in their journey," Varon said with a smile."Why are you so confident that I will become the Next Ruler? And What If I didn't get selected by the Domain, will there be any consequences?" Alex asked

"I am confident that you will become the next Ruler because, to my knowledge, there have been eight Rulers in the last ..... years, and three of them were sent by the First Ruler, so chances of you not being selected are minimal," Varon replied.

'Zero could even block me from hearing certain words?" Alex thought after not hearing the number of years.

'I would like to know how much time the procedure will take and the level of pain I need to experience, but knowing it won't change anything,' Alex thought as he climbed the seven small steps to reach the dark throne.

'I wonder if this Quality comes after Mythical?' Alex thought, looking at the throne stats.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Name: Genesis [???]

Equipment Type: Throne

Quality: Ancient [Growth Type]

Rank: Unranked

Bound: ???

•①-Effects: LOCKED

•②-Effects: LOCKED

???

???

Description: [???][???][???]

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

'After I am done here, I will visit the hospital for Life Serum treatment just to be safe from getting any brain nerve damage.' Alex thought as he admired the majestic beauty of the pitch-dark throne.

The game was completely safe because Ai Zero monitored every player's health via the VR capsules, but that didn't mean the players couldn't receive health problems from the game.If a player experiences too many violent death or a large amount of pain in a short period, then there is a high chance of him having minor nerve damage, which could turn serious if not treated quickly.

If a player faced any health issue while playing, he would be immediately logged out by the Ai Zero, and a health team would be sent to help him, but Alex doesn't plan to reach that level of condition.

'I hope the process of domain connection doesn't take too long to complete.' Alex thought as he sat on the throne while taking deep breaths to calm down.

After a few seconds, the throne started releasing a gentle stream of milky white mana that got absorbed into Alex's body.

'I think that mana paralyzed me as I can't move a muscle.' Alex realized this after not being able to close or move his eyes.

"You will stay paralyzed until you get rejected by the Malefis Domain, or you get selected as the next Ruler, and the domain connection procedure is completed," Varon said.

'This is just plain mental torture.' Alex thought as he looked at Varon, standing at the end of the stairs like a statue.

'If his natural talent is even tenth of what Ahura had, he could get a valuable first gift after becoming the Ruler.' Varon thought, looking toward Alex.

'These look like Runes used by Elves and Dwarfs, but more complicated.' Alex thought as he saw twisted dark symbols crawling on his fingers.

'Do these runes plan to cover my whole body?' Alex, though, as he saw the dark runes covering his arms and crawling upward.

After a few minutes, the runes were covering his whole body, only leaving his open eyes untouched, and even though Alex couldn't look down, he was sure that the runes didn't even leave his private parts uncovered.

'I wonder when the pain will start, or is this slow torture the real pain?' Alex joking thought as he felt no pain from the crawling runes, but he immediately regretted his thinking.

'MY SKIN IS ON FIRE.' Alex screamed in his mind as he felt all the small runes on his skin symentiously begin to burn and get absorbed into his skin.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' Alex was being burned alive without being able to lift a finger, and the pain level was beyond unbearable.

Alex kept screaming in his mind as the runes sank into his body without harming it, while on the outside, he looked like an emotionless emperor sitting on the throne.

The pain was so agonizing that Alex couldn't even think of anything to distract his mind, and every second after the pain started was pure torture.

After three minutes of torture, the agonizing pain stopped as all the dark runes were absorbed inside the body of Alex, giving him a moment of peace that only lasted for a moment.

' ' Alex took an imaginary deep breath after the pain stopped, but before he could organize his chaotic thoughts, the agonizing pain started again but now burning his body from the inside.

Alex felt intolerable pain for another five minutes without going unconscious, feeling every second of the last eight minutes as all the small runes got engraved into his skeleton.

After eight minutes of pure torture, the pain stopped, but Alex didn't celebrate as his brain was blank, and even though his eyes were wide open, there was no shine in them, making him appear like a dead man.

After the pain stopped, Alex's brain immediately went black, and after a few seconds, everything became normal.

'I felt every second of that agonizing pain, but all I can remember is a vivid memory of it like a distant dream.' Alex thought as he raised his hand to look for any runes or burn marks.

"Congratulations on becoming the Eleventh Ruler of Malefis Domain," Varon said with a smile.

'All I want to do now is log out and have a nice long sleep.' Alex thought while being completely exhausted physically and mentally.

"I am going to sleep for some time," Alex said while his head rang with many system notifications, but he ignored the system and didn't even wait for Varon's reply and pushed the log-out button leaving the game while sitting on the throne.