Anyway, the problem with his situation was that as the System contracted host of the tournament, he was obliged to ensure the safety and privacy of the fighters. He had been able to bend these strictures somewhat with the help of his ally in the System imprint, but actually breaking into the room of one of the competitors would not be allowed, no matter what the imprint tried to do to stop him. The rules of such events had been laid down in stone by the System and would not be subverted by the mere whims of a D Ranker. Instead, Berrigious would simply have to wait until he could either get to Sam or until he had managed to open the box.
Sam was not as close to opening the cache of documents as Berrigious thought. The last question was a real stumper, and he had been puzzling over it for hours. It was a riddle, but one with no clear answer.
I am eternity, I am an instant.
I am everything, I am nothing.
I am everywhere, I am nowhere.
I am the answer, I am the question.
What am I?
The number one appeared on top of the sphere as soon as it had opened, and this more than anything else was what was causing Sam so much trouble. He only had one shot at this and the riddle was too complicated to easily intuit. It seemed to be some sort of trick question as the sentences were contradictory, making his task much harder. His mind could almost be heard whirring as it tried to solve the riddle, but so far he had no luck. Sam had never been that good at riddles, and especially not ones like this.
“Damn it,” Sam said, immediately clapping his hand to his mouth. It was too late though, and a clicking noise came from the sphere. Sam got up and ran to the other side of the room, thinking that it was about to explode. Instead, the sphere went green and clicked open, revealing a pile of documents. Staring at the thing, dumbfounded, Sam took a moment to collect himself
“The answer was “Damn it”?” Sam asked, confused. He walked over to the sphere and saw that a note had fallen out of the metal. He picked it up and read it.
Sometimes, there is no right answer.
Sam sighed as he realized what the purpose of the riddle had been. It had told him that he only had a single chance in order to make him procrastinate and second guess himself, but in reality he could have said anything. Sam picked up the contracts and immediately dropped them as what felt like an electric shock ran through him. Wincing, he searched for why that had happened. The answer was in his System logs.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
You are not permitted to touch the contracts of anyone other than yourself.
This was going to make finding his own one a lot harder, but Sam had to do so, or else Berrigious would be his master forever. Bracing himself for the shock again, he spread out the papers in one quick motion, his stats allowing him to do so before he was shocked again.
The shock was far stronger this time and he was flung across the room and into the wall. Groaning, Sam got up and made his way to the table. He wasn't sure if he could take another one of those. Checking his health, he nodded. The first shock had dealt 25 damage, and the second one had dealt 100. If it increased by a factor of four each time, he couldn't survive the next one. Praying that his contract was visible, he let out a cry of relief as he saw his name on the top of a sheet of paper. Unfortunately, that was all that was visible and the rest of the paper was covered in other other ones. Trying to find a way to get it out from the other paper, he felt his hands begin to steady as his Dexterity stat sensed that he needed its help. His muscles tensed, not allowing him to make a wrong move as he snatched the paper out from under the others. Preparing for another shock, Sam sighed in relief as he was unharmed. Now that he had his contract in hand, a System notification popped up.
This contract has been tampered with. Do you wish to read the full and unabridged version?
Y/N
Of course, Sam picked yes and watched as the words on the page were magnified, as well as what looked to be a whole book of text that appeared out of nowhere, which must have been the shrunken one. Reading down the page, he ignored the words that he had signed off willingly to and started to read the hidden text.
The signer of this document will not be allowed to resist the commands of the being known as Berrigious Elevantus. Attempts to do so will result in the forced control of the signer's body to do the task asked of them by Berrigious Elevantus. If the signer is recalcitrant for more than three times, or if Berrigious Elevantus wishes, then they will die.
The rest of the text was a list of situations in which the signer was still bound to the letter of the document, and Sam didn't even know what most of them were.
“What the hell is Cloud Bunny possession?” The answer was not forthcoming, nor was it for any of the other strange circumstances that the document outlined. After having scanned the entire thing, Sam was given another System notification.
You have entered this contract without full knowledge of what it entails. Do you wish to dissolve it?
Y/N
Sam laughed as he hit the yes button with all of his mental energy, feeling something pull itself out of his body like a parasite. He watched as a tendril of blue energy retracted itself from his head and snapped back into the document before the paper exploded. Sam sighed in relief as the feeling of freedom filled his body and he opened the door, ready to face off against Berrigious. He had tucked the other contracts away in a bag, so that he didn't have to touch them. He would distribute them to the other fighters as he found them.