We'd already been roaming the city for a few hours, looking for a safe place to stay. Suffice it to say, it was no picnic. Indeed, all that accompanied us were graying walls. But then, as it turned out, I was the problem, and I resented it.

I couldn't see this colorful world or even imagine it. And yet, I could understand it, as if I'd already experienced this sensation in the distant past. All the more so as it could only be expressed as a sensation of shipwreck and loss.

A sensation of existential strangeness and mad contradiction was only the logical end to the thought that now haunted my mind. After all, who could fail to be shocked when someone revealed that our vision of the world was not the same as everyone else's? Not me, anyway, even if we'd have been right to be disappointed by someone who panicked at the slightest opportunity.

After all, wasn't this revelation the most minor of all the quirks of my Status? So why was it taking up so much of my mind? I knew the answer, even if I'd never have admitted it to anyone, least of all myself.

Indeed, I felt a little guilty that my sister was suffering from this condition because of me. She'd told me before that the colors were getting duller. And more recently, during our current outing, I had asked her the dreaded question.

Unfortunately, she could only answer in the affirmative, telling me that it was becoming more difficult to distinguish between colors as if her sensitivity to the color spectrum was fading. On the other hand, we could always console ourselves that our sensitivity to brightness remained intact.

Either way, I'm going to have to learn to deal with it in battle. Knowing that others can see something unimaginable to me doesn't make me very happy, and I could only be encouraged to be cautious in my future interactions. Who knew what kind of trap could be set for me if an adversary knew about this weakness.

Of course, I couldn't imagine the consequences of this weakness, but that was only due to my profound lack of understanding of my surroundings. Everything in this World was new, and I hoped the reverse was true. I could only cry out to be recognized by this World.

You may be wondering what I'm talking about here. Quite simply, my profound ambiguity about this World. No matter how much I uttered threats, vengeance, and inordinate ambitions in my mind, it could only ring hollow. They were not my true Desire, not even a fragment of it.

At most, they were remnants of my impulsiveness and witnesses to my immaturity and lack of understanding of the harshness of life. Even knowledge of my past or the System didn't motivate me much more. At best, they titillated my curiosity for a brief moment. So why did I continue this aimless journey, making promises I knew could never be kept?

Perhaps because I found myself in an uncomfortable position: between the Void and existence. These two would have been reconcilable in my wildest dreams, forming the quintessence of my Desire and, above all, my Identity. So, I was an existing Void, or I aspired to be one.

Nothing motivated me; everything in me suggested eternal emptiness, and yet, at the same time, I sought approval for my existence from a third party. Thus, I wanted nothing to do with this World while being recognized by it. Could I reconcile these two contradictions?

Nothing was less specific, at least at the time. Today, I've reached an answer. Am I happy about it? No. But I'm at peace because it's the answer I've always been given for the unique entity I am. And even though this answer may seem off-putting, frightening, and incomprehensible in the very existence of all other people.

However, at the time, I was still far from knowing this answer, all the more so as another primordial question had to be answered first: who did I want recognition from? Who could assure me of my existence in a way that would fully satisfy me?

And to answer this question, I had to ask myself another: what were my conditions of satisfaction? Under what conditions could I recognize the legitimacy of someone to define me? Because to acknowledge the existence of something was necessary to designate it, wasn't it? But the answers to these questions were far beyond my current understanding.

Even so, I would continue my journey to the top of this World. Even if it was only a promise made in the moment's circumstances, they also informed me of my will to live. I didn't want to die, even though I didn't want to live either. And I wanted to exist without living.

As I contemplated my inner paradoxes, I could only look wearily at my surroundings. A multi-faceted environment that sadly reflected me: decrepit, morose, and meaningless. And yet so wonderful and soothing, as if I belonged here. This place and I had much more in common than I initially suspected.

Of course, nothing would ever match the ruins I'd seen on the outskirts of town, a place so peaceful, beautiful, and desperate. The symbolism of the ruins alone evoked a warm, inviting winter breeze. And I could only marvel at these ruins, which asked me to share their fate.

All this to say that this city evoked particular sensations in me, even if they were hardly as intimate as those of the ruins. And what's worse, I barely knew the origin of these sensations. Why did I feel a sense of belonging to these places? What was it that fundamentally linked these places to me? What was our overriding bond? And what was the Desire of my being, of my Void?

I was surprised to find out the answers to the above questions. Nonetheless, I felt invigorated, as if the search for this answer served as an excuse to travel. I had no knowledge of the finality of events and whether I would ever discover the answer, but at the very least, I could now proudly declare that I possessed a purpose.

And I wasn't the only one, as the eyes of all the inhabitants seemed inhabited by an unknown and almost unhealthy ambition as if their Will was devoted to one and the same thing. We might have some differences like that ambition.

However, this naturally led me to another question? Desire and ambition are not quite the same thing. What was my ambition? What did I want to achieve in this World once my Desire was complete? Was ambition even a critical variable to consider in discovering my Desire?

I couldn't ponder these existential questions further, interrupted by Systalia's words. I'd been dwelling on my thoughts so much that I'd forgotten to take note of my current situation. Once again, I repeated like a mantra to be more careful next time. Who knew when danger might come? I had to stay alert at all costs, even if the sight of this grayish landscape bored me.

We'd find somewhere to hide for the time being. We'd taken great care to get as far into the city as possible, carefully avoiding the direction opposite to the door we'd taken. After all, if we were wanted, the search would have concentrated first and foremost in the opposite direction. It would have been the most apparent instinct driving us away from danger.

This decision might have extended our life expectancy by a few hours at most. Even if it was little more than a palliative. That's why I now had to face what I'd been running away from for the last few hours: my Status.

I could inspect it better now that my initial shock had subsided, and I wasn't as likely to have unexpected reactions. Or that I no longer had to endure debilitating feelings when interpreting these "errors" in my Status. I really needed to strengthen myself emotionally, I thought wearily.

Systalia entered the shed, abandoned by all but the rats and various insects. In fact, this was my first contact with other animals, which until then might have been considered a myth. For a moment, I wondered where they came from and how they could thrive in such a dusty, dilapidated place.

But I quickly banished these thoughts from my mind, refocusing on the aspects of this small building. With my apostle's footsteps, the floor could only groan with age. It was sometimes cracked, sometimes crumbling, giving a glimpse of the abyss of hell.

At least, that was the feeling I got from this glimpse of a highly oppressive and disorientating obsidian-black floor. My mind could only fixate on this incandescent black. And now I saw a luminosity in the heart of the greatest darkness that had ever existed. Moreover, it reminded me of something, for this black was as black as...

Wait a second! The memory came back to me, thoroughly embarrassing me in retrospect. What I'd been looking at was just the ceiling again. I'd forgotten for a moment that Systalia had fallen to the floor. My frustration grew as I contemplated the breaking of a promise to myself. Even if it was unintentional, I had ended up with that ceiling.

Apart from this little mishap, there was nothing to report in the vicinity. There was nothing perilous, apart from the bits of worms and sharp scrap metal, the uneven floor engulfed by countless objects emitting little crackling noises, the slimy substances oozing from the walls, and the canals carrying murky water that was undoubtedly contaminated by who-knows-what, judging by its bright glow.

No, nothing indeed; it was important to tell me one last time. It was essential to convince myself that I'd arrived in paradise. Once again, I was running away from reality in the face of the deplorable and revolting state of this room. No wonder no one occupied this room anymore. In fact, my theory was that this shelter was the coffin of the last tenants.

I could only agree, given the frankly nauseating state of the place. Especially as the faint smell of decay made the idea more credible, although I wasn't sure I wanted an answer. So, I decided to pretend nothing had happened and move on. And what a mistake I made; I was really looking for trouble.

Afterward, I could always console myself with the fact that I'd had a short respite. It was a blessing in disguise. Granted, I needed to be more accurate with the importance of this room. Thanks to this rest, we could stop being vigilant about our surroundings. This way, we could finally rest mentally and, for my sister, recharge her physical batteries.

And even that was an understatement, as her body was in bad shape. Countless scratches, dirt, and corrosive products dotted her soft, delicate skin. Her legs, wracked with muscular spasms and crabs, were agonizing under the weight of the sharp pains. I had to face that our stroll through town hadn't been as wonderful as I'd thought.

My apostle didn't even have enough strength to go upstairs, only enough to sit on a dusty ash-grey coffee table adorned with symbols unreadable even by Systalia. Perhaps its purpose was purely decorative? Its wood, long since rotted and dampened by all the substances and liquids in the room, bore witness to an ancient glory now forgotten by all.

Of course, there was plenty of other furniture, including chairs. However, all this wooden furniture was too eaten away by humidity, substances, or the many termites that populate this place to be used as support at the risk of finishing them off for good. So the only alternative was this coffee table, even if the sight of it reflecting the extreme insalubrity of this room was enough to make me nauseous.

So my sister rested her aching muscles while I ensured she was holding the book in one hand one last time. Indeed, when she let go of the book, I found myself incapacitated. My ability to connect to the book then conditioned my ability to access the Status, although I didn't know why.

The book was always mysterious, as was where it came from and why it was there when I woke up. Before my amnesia, I was firmly convinced that this book must have been important to me. Even if the basis of its importance still eluded me and would continue to elude me for some time to come.

What's more, it was unique in this World for the time being, considering that I had found no object resembling it until now. Especially as he was the only one to attract me so viscerally, the Desire to keep him close to me gnawed at my mind and tortured me with every reminder of his existence. And that's why I started calling it the Void's Book, although, for simplicity's sake, I'll call it The Book.

I then concentrated, displaying my Status. Now that I knew the procedure, it was much simpler and quicker, so I could do it in just a few seconds. Now, I could see all the intriguing elements of my Status, which I persuaded myself to analyze from bottom to top despite my eyes being drawn to the messages at the bottom.

Safe mode version enabled ❢〘 ⚠ 〙

The first visible element was none other than what I could only assume to be information about a significant and potentially dangerous feature of my Status if the big exclamation mark and warning sign were anything to go by. I didn't know what to make of it, except that it heralded complications and trouble ahead.

Name 〖 RoRrE#yØaPvEoOtΩrHiTeDnRøE#eRrOr 〗《 Analysis failure: Unknown reason 》

After that came a section of general information about me. First, the Name, which was utterly buggy, materialized in illegible text, although the characters themselves were legible. Seeing this sequence of characters, a feeling of unease emerged in me. The characters made sense, even if I didn't understand it then.

But that's not what troubled me most. I was much more puzzled by the analysis error. Not only had the analysis failed, but the reason still needed to be discovered. This was crucial information: the System wasn't all-powerful and couldn't even analyze or understand everything. The System had flaws that I could exploit.

Age〖 101 〗｟ Max: 10 ｠《 Law enforcement failure: Outside interference 》

I kept this revelation in my mind, scrutinizing the next piece of information: Age. What can I say except that I didn't understand this contradiction? My age was above the maximum, which seemed to trigger an error in applying the "law". Whatever the nature of this "law", one thing was sure: the System didn't like me exceeding this maximum age.

And if I exceeded the age limit, perhaps that would make the System want to kill me. This revelation gave me the creeps; fortunately, some outside force prevented it from achieving its ends. This element was also very intriguing, as the reason for the law's failure was known this time.

Why was the reason unknown before and not now? For the Name, the System didn't even know if the failure was due to external interference, meaning that the System had no understanding of the entity, preventing the analysis process from reaching its conclusion. And that entity was undoubtedly the Void since that is Our Name. Although the question of the failure of my name Æther left me doubtful.

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And yet, for the Age, the System had succeeded in analyzing the entity hindering it in its task. Thus, it at least recognized the entity's existence, being able to categorize it as an entity and not as something fundamentally incomprehensible. I deduced that this entity had a good chance of being distinct from the Void, even if I'd never encountered anyone other than the Void.

Also, the word "external" suggested that this entity was distinct from my being, unlike my Void, which was part of me, just as I was part of it. Of course, I quickly glossed over that I was a hundred and one years old and, therefore, already a hundred years old when I woke up. I could only remain pensive for a few seconds at this discovery before finally moving on to the next element.

Authorization〖 Lvl. 1 〗

Class〖 None 〗

Magic 〖 None 〗

The next three elements were quicker to analyze. I glanced briefly at the Authorization, having nothing more to say than that I knew little about its effect or whether level 1 was remarkable. That left me with only the other two elements: Class and Magic.

On the face of it, I didn't have any Class, which didn't surprise me since Systalia had already mentioned that nobody in this place had any Class. Magic was a little more surprising, revealing crucial information: the Void's ability was not considered part of the magic. And if it wasn't, what was it? Once again, the Void's capacity seemed unknown to the eyes of the World.

Authority〖 Lvl. 0 || #Error 〗《 Occasionally immeasurable: Unknown reason 》

Stats 〖 #Error 〗《 Analysis failure: Missing Body, Spirit and Soul 》

After that, I scrutinized the last two elements, Authority and Stats. Indeed, both had received analysis failures, albeit for two very different reasons. First was the Authority, which had two level values, a level 0 and an Error level.

For level 0, I could perfectly understand I had no Magic, so I had no rights over the changes I could hope to make to the World with my spells. The opposite would have been astonishing. On the other hand, the presence of an error level, to which the error message was certainly addressed, meant that my Authority level could not be analyzed for a short while.

This left me wondering, for the more I examined Authority, the more the phenomenon of Will crept into my thoughts. The Void's Will, Our Will, which could subvert the Will of the World, changing its laws for an instant in exchange for an unknown long-term price, was similar to what the Authority was measuring.

Except that, instead of changing the World's laws via spells, the medium was Will. And if it was indeed Will creating this error, was it the phenomenon of Will itself or the unique nature of the Void's Will that was causing it? Unfortunately, I had no evidence to support either hypothesis.

Then, the Stats were straightforward to understand since I no longer had a Body, Spirit, or Soul. At the moment, my essence resided in a Void connected to my apostle. However, the implication of this was even more surprising. Despite my connection to her, our Stats were counted separately. One of my fears of having our Stats intertwined vanished, replaced by exacerbated opportunism.

Nevertheless, these plans to strengthen me would take a very long time and require me to obtain some kind of magic to level. Thus, I could only turn to the other categories, which were not grouped with the others and had a very different design. Perhaps this was information deemed less vital by the System?

【 Buffs 〔0〕】

【 Debuffs〔1〕】

➨ Reduction of all stats 〖 Irreversible 〗《 Application failure: Missing Body, Spirit and Soul 》

I then glanced at the following two closely related categories. Unlike the second, the first, which indicated buffs, was empty. Should I laugh or cry? In any case, I wanted to fill the buffs category as soon as possible and not earn any more debuffs.

In truth, I wasn't confident about this last statement, as the debuff for all the Stats came from the Void. Another worrying fact about debuff was that my fears had been well-founded and were irreversible. The conclusion was quite terrifying: if I continued to use the Void, more irreversible debuff could be added.

Horrified by the long-term implications and unable to bring myself to deny the use of this power that had served me so well on so many occasions, I turned my attention to the next part of the Status. My only comfort was the fleeting thought that the debuff could not be applied to me.

【 Inherent characteristics 〔3〕】

➨ Colorless vision｟ All planes ｠

➨ Weird energy consumption｟ Body, Spirit and Soul ｠ 《 Application failure: Missing Body, Spirit and Soul 》

➨ Sleep immunity｟ Body, Spirit and Soul ｠

This time, too, it will be pretty straightforward, except for one odd element. Indeed, two of the three didn't generate any errors; if they did, the only failure was the same as for the debuff. On the other hand, while the first condition was quite telling, the second was rather strange, suggesting that I wasn't feeding usually.

And in hindsight, it was obvious: people need to eat. Even Systalia used to eat mana, yes, but still average food. The System considered the food I ate bizarre and, therefore, unknown from its point of view. And only Void's energy qualified in this case, my source and my sister's energy since I'd resurrected her.

Yet what was really bizarre was the last line or the error message that was supposed to be there. In fact, I understood why the error message wasn't there: sleep immunity still applied to my essence, but at the same time, in the scope, there was no essence, only the three elements I was currently missing.

I was genuinely fascinated by this apparent contradiction, and no matter how I looked at it, one answer was evident: the System wasn't just scanning those three elements. It could examine my essence, which is nonetheless connected to the Void.

Although my Void could be projected onto the etheric plane, it was actually on the entropic plane. My essence connected to the Void was also partly related to it, even though I couldn't see this plane because I wasn't immersed enough in it and didn't have the necessary algorithms to analyze it.

In this way, the System could probe at least part of this hypothetical plane without disclosing it on the Status. So this information had to be quite sensitive, even if I didn't know how sensitive. From now on, I had to be on the lookout to see if other inherent features also possessed this apparent paradox.

Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming from adjacent rooms. With disconcerting vivacity, Systalia got up and took our things despite the deplorable state of her legs, forcing her to hobble. I could only stand in silence as I felt her eyes water and the muscles in her face writhe in pain.

With the noise coming from above, we decided to head for the entrance after thoroughly checking the surroundings. We set off in search of another abandoned and, to my chagrin... unsanitary shed.

During our walk, I also undertook to ask about the snatches of conversation we'd overheard from these strangers. And the answer blew my mind as much as it left me pensive. This house really did have a corpse upstairs, and the people in it were criminals who had returned to search the victim's belongings for some unspecified object.

It wasn't until almost a day later that we arrived at our destination of a new temporary home, hoping with all our hearts that it would be less transient than the previous one. To my dismay, I only had time to finish analyzing my Status before the tranquillity was broken and the search for a new resting place, especially for my increasingly limping apostle, resumed.

【Skills〔1〕】

➨ Unknown skill 〖 #Error 〗《 Analysis failure : Unknown reason 》

And these last elements of my Status were without doubt the most incredible. Firstly, my only skill was utterly unknown, from its nature to its level. And the error message was of little use to me. At least, it gave me some information and a hypothesis. The System couldn't understand my skill, although it must have spotted some skill pattern.

So the System just knew it was a skill. In other words, it could categorize an object without understanding its content, thanks to metadata. So, anything could qualify as a skill if the metadata was tampered with. And it was all the more intriguing if my conjecture was correct.

If this skill was the deployment of my Will because, this procedure qualified very well for the Skills category if I believed my apostle's words. And it implied an unexpected link between Authority and Skills that I intended to exploit. In conclusion, the level of Authority is not only restricted to the application of magic but also to Skills.

Or, even crazier, the skills were derived from the base magic, and the link between the two was more tenuous than I initially thought. And if this second conjecture proved true, I held my key to creating new magics via fake skills with doctored metadata. However, this plan first required me to be in a quiet place where I could not be disturbed.

〚 System note 〔 2〘 2 ⚠ 〙〘 2 ❢〙〕〛

╚>〘 ⚠ ❢ Safe mode enabled 〙

『 Safe mode has been activated following several errors during your analysis.

As a result, system support and display are now limited and unstable.

As a result, bugs may occasionally occur, and some Status functions may work strangely.

Safe mode can only be disabled by the System.

The System will not be held responsible for any damage caused!

The moral of the story: you should never have been born! 』

╚>〘 ⚠ ❢ Authorization: Permission extension ⦃ From: 🔒 ⦄《 Sender name blocked: A higher level of Authorization is required 》〙

『 🔒 』《 Content blocked: A higher level of Authorization is required 》

Especially as the two System notes made my job easier. Safe Mode had limited system support, so the System also had less grip on my Status. On the other hand, my Status was eventually unstable and buggy, giving erratic behavior that could bring me both unexpected advantages and disadvantages.

I could only pray that this wouldn't happen at a critical moment. Let's face it: no god had considered my prayers that day. In any case, I was confident that my Status was different from the others, perhaps in a less guarded version. This difference could enable me to flush out and exploit the loopholes in the System better.

Nevertheless, although I didn't know it then, it was the second note that contributed most to my ascent. Indeed, the replacement of Permission by Authorization was more than just a change of name since Authorization somehow gave rise to more privileges than Permission.

What's more, complemented by Safe Mode, which locked down fewer user actions or sensitive displays, offered me many undeniable advantages. Even if essential functions such as the clock that told Systalia the time didn't work.

All this information did, however, prompt me to reflect on the System's intentions and whether access to these advantages was known to it or whether the process was automatic, like a process belonging to a person's unconscious.

However, there was one detail that bothered me: the sender. I understood my lack of Authorizations, but why was there a sender in the first place? This message was in the System's notes, and the other message had obviously been created by the System consciously, given the last sentence, which showed a little hatred for me.

So, who was this other entity? What was its link with the System? And above all, why leave me a message that I could only open in the possibly distant future? The only certainty I could agree on was that, from now on, I would seriously investigate the secrets of this World and the Void.

And perhaps they were far more closely linked than I could ever have imagined. And it didn't matter if I discovered horrible, delirious, or disastrous truths along the way because I, no, the Void, accepted everything into its bosom.