Breath in. Hold. Breath out.

"Repeat."

Breath in. Hold. Breath out.

"Hmm, you are a curiosity, little boo," Nyx exclaimed, observing Andrew who was sitting within the circle she made out of her body, giving Andrew the illusion that he was all alone in a completely dark room. "Your core is absorbing the ambient siso without you making a conscious effort to."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Andrew could easily imagine his core absorbing too much siso it exploded, or something.

Nyx didn't answer readily. She remained silent for a couple beats of heart before she voiced her assessment, "both. It means you will get stronger by virtually doing nothing. 10 hours of merely breathing for you will yield the same result as 3 hours of meditation for any of us. If that sounds too slow to you, remember that it means actually meditating will give you an explosively better yield in cultivation." Andrew's lips almost broke into a smile before Nyx opened her mouth again, "however, that also means you will grow complacent in your lack of endeavor and take power for granted. Your own strength will be beyond your control."

Andrew fell into a thought. He would be lying if that didn't sound a bit too familiar. The next thing he needed was a disastrous lack of self-esteem and a growing number of harem and he would happily change the title to his story into 'Delivering a Slow Life on the Lowest Floor of the Different World Tower for Ten Thousand Years and I Became the Strongest?!!!' or something as ridiculously long. Although, he would also be lying if that didn't sound lucrative to a fantasy junkie like him.

Andrew fell into a deeper thought. What is it that he wants? What did he envision when he answered the voiceless question in the space between spaces? Did he see himself repeating the same old day for years to come? Or did he wish to be drunk in power and steamroll every single wonder this world has to offer? "...Nyx?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can... fix it?"

Nyx chuckled for the nth time since they met. The serpent sure liked to laugh. "I can't fix what isn't broken, silly. But I can help you learn how to adjust it. That's what the boon is for."

Andrew looked at the pair of bracelets. That was when Ghetto's raspy voice boomed from outside the Nyx-wall, "You're a strange human, Lu. I’ve heard stories about Otherworlders, and they are always some sort of battle-crazed weirdo in each and every story they’re in."

“Fufu, they were,” Nyx spoke as though she recalled an old memory, “they were also ones who always brought change to the tower, for better or for worse.”

That remark made Andrew sweat. If even an incarnation of a God, a being that grew and shrink depending the time of the day and born from some kind bubbling chaos to reunite with her not-mother and become one again with the night sky, agreed that Andrew was weird, then just how weirder otherworlders are compared to Gods?

“Now, let us start.” Nyx’s voice snapped Andrew from his train of thoughts. As soon as she said so, her body began to shift around him, almost as if she was trying to squeeze his soft human flesh with all her might. A danger alarm blared loudly inside his brain and Andrew could feel every single nerve in his body screaming he should escape this very instant. He tried to bottle it all like he always did, but the growing sense of claustrophobia didn’t help him at all. His breath became shorter and shorter as the snake’s encirclement became smaller and smaller. But then, Nyx spoke to him. “Andrew, in the name of Goddess Nyx, I swear that I have no intent to harm you. Please remember so.”

A breeze of relief washed him. Right. In the past one day and two nights, Nyx had given him quite the scare time and again, but it always ended with just that, a scare. There was nothing to be scared of.

…but, something felt afoot.

“Repeat,” Nyx ordered. Andrew complied.

Breath in. Hold. Pain.

Searing hot pain.

There was a scream, and it took Andrew too long to notice it was his.

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