I didn't lose a single second. As soon as I stepped into the room I sat on the bed and opened the book.
[Corrupted Bloodshaper]
I had been feeding a certain fear that, after I exited the dungeon, the book would evaporate. When that didn't happen, I feared that the contents would be gone.
Luckily, none of that had happened. The title read the same, and at least the introduction was still equally vague as it had been before.
I drank the ink out of those pages. I had never been much of an avid reader—an euphemism to say I never touched a book. Yet, this time, one could say my life depended on it.
Those who poses the [Corrupted Bloodshaper] class cannot access some System enhanced functionalities.
For instance, System abstractions such as `mana` are no longer perceivable. Instead, users are required to acquire a sense of the world's inherent energy by their own means.
To say I was left confused was an understatement. I could not feel or use mana, that much I knew. But that was not the important bit.
Mana was not really the energy powered magic. It was just the system’s interpretation of it. I was accessing the raw material behind it. Whether that was better or easier, it was left unsaid.
It was also left unsaid that there were other functionalities that I could not use. Was sight one of them? It seemed unlikely.
To acquire the class, the user must first be in possession of a [Bloodshaper] class.
The user must find a method to replace all the blood in his body for some other substance that still allows it to function.
Note that, for some species known to the System, this might result in termination of life.
The resulting subject then poses an existential problem for the system. Their assigned class is not compatible with their features.
The System can resolve this in two different, mutually exclusive, ways.
It will first try to accommodate a new class. Potentially, ending in an undefined state. If this state is deemed functional, the System will assign the class.
Otherwise, if the state is too close to non-functionality, the System will terminate the subject's life.
At any point, if the allocated System resources for the subject exceed the maximum configured amount, the System will terminate the subject's life.
Yeah…
I was left speechless. The system had basically decided that killing me was not worth. Or necessary. And I was left in an unknown state, which was a nice way of saying corrupted.
In other words, the book was a confirmation of my status. It also served to warn of the dangers of my class, and it made it clear that it was pretty unique.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The book itself was large. One of those novels that, just from seeing it, you would say it was more than 400 pages long.
And it probably was, I didn't bother to count them because right after the third page, everything became garbled. Just like those movies were a computer virus manages to make the text unreadable.
So, while I was expecting to spend as much as a whole day reading without rest, it didn't come to that.
I was trembling. The moment had come. I had achieved everything I had set for, and now only one thing was left.
[Start evolution for
“Yes.”
[The evolution process might take some time. During these time, your physical form will remain in your current place. Do you want to proceed? Y/N]
I laid down on my bed, closed my eyes—the very same ones that could see nothing—and answered.
“Yes.”
All of a sudden, someone turned on the sun right in front of my face. It felt as if I had lived in the darkest cave for all my life. Almost like I had never seen any light.
I was blind again, magically blind. Overwhelmingly so.
[You lost 15 energy] [You lost 25 energy] [You lost 35 energy]
I immediately retracted all my energy within me, to the point I could no longer feel anything but my own heartbeat.
The messages stopped.
The smooth transition I was waiting for never happened. I was thrown right into the lion's jaw.
“Looks like he is here,” an elderly man said.
“Yes, he's come,” answered some young girl.
“That's unfortunate,” yet another voice, a woman, said.
“That it is,” replied a deep male voice.
I tried to expand my energy once more, but immediately regretted doing so.
[You lost 5 energy]
“I'm hurting you, sorry, this is not what I normally find,” a familiar voice said. “Try now, honey.”
I was hesitant to send another pulse. The feeling was far from nice. Every single particle I sent out was assaulted by a force thousands of times bigger than mine.
I sent out the smallest I could, and only when nothing happened I dared pulsing again.
“Charlotte? What-what are you doing here?”
I could perfectly recognize her. She was wearing the same farmer outfit as last time, and her face and body looked exactly the same they had.
“Oh, am I upsetting you?” The answer came from everywhere around me. “I just adopted a familiar form, something that would make you feel at ease.”
I saw how Charlotte disappeared, and on her place a man who must have been around 40 appeared. His beard was long and whitening, and his tied hair gave him an air of mystery.
“In case it's not clear,” the man started, “I am not Charlotte. I am the System.”
“Well, now it is. That was quite… the unorthodox welcome. How should I call you, then?”
“I respond to the name of System, although others, at times, have called me Fixun’s Administrator.”
“Can I call you Bob? That will make my life easier.”
After a few seconds of excruciating wait, I was convinced I had broken it. Perhaps my corruption had extended to the System itself.
“You…” but he finally answered. “You want to call me Bob?” He was lost in thought, his sight lost somewhere on the ceiling. “You may call me Bob.”
“Great, Bob! Where are the others, by the way? And how does this work? Do I get to pick any class I want or what am I supposed to do?”
“You really know nothing, do you? They are I, and I am they. I am the System.”
He paused.
“And you shouldn't be here.”