Ti Left: 30 Days, 4 Hours]
I was grateful.
The fact that I didn't listen to reason, despite the overwhelming odds, but chose to follow my instincts instead, made smile in relief.
If I had given up then… how would I have reached this point—just a few more seconds away.
I had thought wrong in assuming there were no traps.
The real trap was impatience and fear. The fear that ca about when using reason.
I could have just as well been wrong. But sohow… I was right.
What a cruel trap.
In any case, I was here now, face to face with the results of sticking to my desperate hopes, and… it was strange.
Two options in the form of doors currently presented themselves before .
and .
was white as clear milk, pure and undiluted. As for , it was as black as cold ink.
Both of them contrasted each other as they stared at .
"What is this?" I murmured unknowingly as I watched this arrangent with genuine surprise.
I thought I would be eting a treasure room, but why was my Authority being displayed in front of the doors?
'Is everyone who makes it this far going to experience sothing similar?'
Yeah. Perhaps that was it. Maybe the treasure being given depended on the Authority of the person involved.
'Then, with my path being divided into and , I guess I have to pick one…'
I rubbed my chin for a mont to decide what path to take.
If I were to talk about the more powerful of the two Skills, it would be , but the penalties for using it made it too dangerous.
was indeed my safest bet, but I couldn't help but consider what would hold for if I went down that route.
After waiting for a while of deliberating, I finally settled on what choice to make.
"Why not go for both?" A grin ford on my face.
Thanks to my Skill, I could be in two places at once.
Plus, since the rooms were right beside each other, I wouldn't need to worry about the distance required to control my minion.
'Having a useful Skill really cos in handy at tis like this…' My thoughts trailed and my smile broadened.
Gaining the two treasures was also another part of quick thinking.
"" I whispered.
[ERROR]
"E-eh…?"
W-what was going on right now? ' isn't activating?'
No, that wasn't it.
It said… I wasn't going to be able to activate any Skill due to interference.
'Ah, now that I think of it… , , and have also been deactivated.'
I initially thought nothing of it, but now… with the System telling that they couldn't be activated, I found my heart racing quite a bit.
"" I spoke gently.
[ERROR]
""
[ERROR]
""
[ERROR]
No matter what I tried…
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[
ERROR]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
… It yielded the sa results.
"Ah…"
It was at this point that I realized just how pointless it was.
"I really can't use any Skills."
This had never happened before! Situations, where a Skill of mine failed, had occurred once or twice, but this was talking about a complete shutdown of all of them.
'What Interference could be causing this?'
The issue wasn't simply the fact that I was more reliant on Skills than actual Stats in my overall areas of competence, but also the fact that was also a Skill.
If wasn't working here, didn't that an… I had everything to lose now?
A loud gulp echoed in my ears as I stared at the two doors once again, my body slightly trembling.
Reason told to take steps back, but I couldn't—no, wouldn't—move.
Sothing existed behind this door, and I intended to find out what it was.
'I won't die…'
There was a part of that worried that this level of danger was too much for , but once I realized that this was probably another test of this treasure room, I cald myself.
I had to keep going forward since I already ca this far.
"Alright, Mikey. Let's choose…"
Since the circumstances had beco this skewed against , I had to go for the safest option.
"I'll go with ," I mumbled, taking a slow step forward as I reached for the knob in front of .
The pure white door reacted to my choice, and shimred with light.
I touched the doorknob and felt so sort of electrifying sensation course through . It guided to keep moving forward, and so I twisted the knob and opened the door.
Greeting was nothing but blank light, but what dwelled inside felt too inviting to resist.
And so I took a step, then two, and ultimately three… and ventured into the unknown.
Unsure of what awaited .
*******
[Monts Later]
I found myself in another corridor, one very similar to the one I just left.
However, the difference between this one and the previous one, was the odd sensation that coursed through .
It felt like I was being watched by sothing… or soone.
And, without my Skills with , I knew I was absolutely vulnerable. Still, I kept my chin up and made my body move.
The blankness of the room wasn't very distracting since I had gotten used to it, so I simply kept walking.
I feared it would take an eternity to get to my destination, especially since I couldn't hurry the process with Skills, but thankfully, this ti it only took exactly five minutes.
Yes. I was counting the whole ti.
When the five minutes were up, I encountered a similarly blank hall at the end of the corridor.
The hall wasn't that huge, but its emptiness added to its conceived size.
Nothing existed in the hall except sothing that stood at its center.
A lectern.
An obsidian black lectern was placed at the center of the room, proudly standing in the blank hall as if it were afloat in nothiness.
However, it wasn't simply the lectern that caught my eye. It was the item that sat on its smooth surface that caused my eyes to widen slightly.
A book.
The lectern held a book that called to it. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire
And… before I even realized what was happening… I answered the call.
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[A/N]
Looks like we are about to see sothing interesting.
An upgrade, maybe? Next chapter will be quite interesting for sure.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
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