Aiden wore the gauntlets, and they sent blasts of air as he used them. The feeling was exhilarating, and Aiden understood why the characters from Nail's novels liked fighting so much.
"No magical gauntlets would fix this," Aiden winced in pain as he rubbed his shoulder and chest. "Alright, it's ti to keep going."
Aiden no longer needed to use rocks to break the lanterns. A single punch from far away sent a blast that destroyed them, and they guided him through the maze.
The sa monster appeared, and Aiden squared off against him in a battle of punches. His gauntlets not only attacked, but acted as great defenses. However, Aiden didn't have a martial dance to guide him, and the fight took longer than expected.
A final punch to the monster's jaw twisted its neck and killed it. It fell to the ground, and Aiden did not hesitate to loot it. The monster dissipated while releasing a rotten stench.
"I hope this ability gets a better scent after upgrading it," Aiden muttered while staring at the loot. This ti, it was different: one red gem, a container of at, and a small bottle. "Is this… a shampoo bottle?"
Aiden looked at the strange bottle and raised it, and found it identical to shampoo bottles from his past life. However, he found writings on the bottle, and they were in English.
[Minor Healing Cream (Common)]
[A product of the Wishbound System]
[Can only be used by those with access to the system.]
Aiden read the words with a frown. He began feeling like he was hallucinating. The more he received things from the system, the more he felt like it was simply pranking him.
"I an… I have the wounds to test it out," Aiden muttered and opened the bottle. He began placing the cream on his freshest wounds which he had just sustained.
The bulging bruise began shrinking in size, and Aiden felt the pain disappear from his forearm. He looked at the cream in amazent as the bruise disappeared in under a minute.
"This is… more than just minor," Aiden muttered. "Ti to dip myself in cream."
Aiden emptied the bottle on his earlier wounds. He didn't think it could nd broken bones, but it could heal the surrounding tissue to let them heal on their own.
Aiden threw the bottle away after he emptied it, feeling like a new man. He advanced through the maze and followed the rift energy toward its source.
On the way, he looked for any artifacts or caras that might record him. He knew that the guild should be monitoring him sohow, but he didn't know how — and he didn't mind.
Aiden was new to this world, so he needed to be careful about revealing his secrets to others. However, according to what he learned so far, the Seekers Guild was the most influential global superpower.
For that reason, Aiden wanted to prove his worth — or at least his uniqueness to them. He revealed his looting ability on purpose, knowing that it would attract the attention of the higher-ups or even the Guild Master.
On the other hand, it might send him to an underground lab to be tested — but Aiden had a feeling that this world valued quick returns over long-term research.
In the anti, Aiden could use the guild in return to grow stronger until he no longer needs the protection of anyone. As his plans took shape in his mind, Aiden found himself in a large clearing.
"Well, this is a first," Aiden muttered. "I guess that's the statue."
Aiden saw a statue of a large warrior in the middle of the clearing. It stood three ters taller than the rest of the smaller statues that surrounded it, which were eight with different weapons.
The nine statues were standing atop so kind of arena. Aiden guessed that sothing would happen the mont he stepped foot inside.
"Judging by the layout, I'm guessing that the statues would move and fight ," Aiden muttered with a sigh. "I'm tired of fighting. Can't I just et the Guild Master now?"
He glanced around, but no response.
"I can loot things, you know? I might die here and that would go to waste."
Again, no response.
Aiden sighed.
Then, he looked at the eight statues. The desire of rift was undeniably the hardest to conquer, since it tested the person's ability to fight. He wondered what the other desires' challenges would be.
"There is only one way to find out," Aiden said as he turned away and left the clearing. "Ti to crush so lanterns."
Aiden began seeking the other statues and reached another clearing after an hour of running from monsters. He followed the green trail of energy, which led him to the Desire of Bond.
Aiden found a large tree, with the statue carved from wood on its top. Soone was already there underneath the tree. Aiden approached with a frown as he found the human with long ears hugging himself underneath the tree.
"No… no… please… stop…"
"Uh, are you alright?" Aiden called out. The young man did not respond and simply hugged himself and rocked himself back and forth on the ground.
Aiden realized that the young man had either lost his mind or was simply hallucinating. As he took a step forward toward the tree, he sniffed a scent of flowers.
The maze disappeared from his sight.
Instead, he found himself standing facing a wall.
"Are you alright?" soone asked, and Aiden turned to see Nail. His big brown eyes looked at Aiden with worry and concern. "You have been standing there for a while."
"What… where am I?" Aiden muttered. "You should be dead, Nail."
"Dead?" Nail questioned. "I'm pretty much alive."
"…I see what this test is," Aiden muttered. "The desire of Bond shows us people we miss. This is the challenge: our own mories and bonds."
Nail was silent.
"You are always so quick to figure things out," Nail muttered while looking at the book in his hand. "But why weren't you quick enough to save ?"
"You ran faster than I could react," Aiden replied, his expression unreadable. "You died before I could save you."
"But that's a lie, Aiden," Nail said with a smile. "You wanted to see what would happen — you crave disaster because it's bound to change your life."
"I didn't want you to die."
"No, but you are hungry— hungry for chaos," Nail threw the book away, letting it slam to the walls of the alley. "You are hungry for the world to strip its pretense that anything is ordinary. As others flee from the storm, you silently root for it, don't you?"
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