Although it was a shame he had no more fate points, that probably also meant his misfortune had ended.
Although it may not have been much, he could still feel an ominous aura from himself the moment he accepted that deal.
He could only thank fate that those mad cultists didn't barge in immediately and capture them.
But that wasn't his concern right now.
His number one priority right now was the book!
If it meant unraveling mysteries and gaining abilities beyond his mortal scope, Irwiz wouldn't have regretted the least to sacrifice his life back in his home world.
Now, here, that excitement still hadn't died out.
"You found the book? Let me see!" Beside him, Rera was also excited.
But, Irwiz paid her no attention and immediately opened the book.
However, what was brought to his eyes were something that he didn't expect at all.
It wasn't the same ancient Seraph, nor some language he didn't know. Instead, all that appeared was just an empty page.
Irwiz flipped the book again, and... again empty.
He flipped it exasperatedly. Unfortunately, all that awaited him was a blank page upon blank page.
Nothing that was of use to him. All he saw were yellowish pages that seemed to have withered a lot.
Flip and flip, Irwiz flipped until the last page, where he finally saw words.
It was a word written in black, that sometimes seemed to shimmer with light occasionally.
It was in a language he couldn't read. However, he was somehow able to get the meaning across.
[They who art destinate shall obtain this tome. They who art fated shall gaze upon its contents. For those not destinate, but calamity doth await! Cast this book aside forthwith!!
But as thou hast had the chance to seize this book, a guerdon shall be thine. Thou mayst spill thy blood upon the hinder cover to awaken a spell fitted for thee. Yet if thou hast not even the fate for this, be not covetous.]
Those who are destined...?
"Hahahahaha" Irwiz laughed out loud.
Irwiz smiled. Such pretentiousness from a book.
But afterwards, his smile faded as he understood the grim warning within it.
And from the side, Rera couldn't help but getting scared. Although she had stopped digging, she still wanted to see the book.
But, this boy didn't give her any chances at all, even crazily flipping the books' pages. Then afterwards, he started laughing? Then he suddenly stopped?
Was he a madman?! Maybe the cult put some curse on here.
With that train of thought, Rera didn't dare get close to Irwiz. She timidly retreated to a corner.
Irwiz, however, didn't pay any attention to her.
'At least, the book left a reward' he thought.
Then without hesitation, Irwiz put his palm's thenar muscle to his mouth and bit it hard. Since it didn't work, he bit it even harder, and after a while drops of blood started seeping down through his teeth.
Only when he tasted the iron taste did Irwiz let go.
Then, positioning his hand above the back cover of the book, he watched as a few drops of blood fell down on it.
Instantly, some sort of silver red light started shining from the cover as Irwiz saw a complex circle shaped runic drawing get revealed before his eyes.
It was radiating an incredibly familiar yet foreign feeling to him.
It was so strange because he felt as if this entire drawing felt like a part of him, while at the same time, he felt some sort of avoidance towards it.
Immediately, Irwiz realized that this was the spell that was designed for him.
Unfortunately, soon afterwards, the drawing began vanishing.
Knowing that if he couldn't somehow jot this down into his memories, or at least on some sort of paper, he would lose it, Irwiz panicked.
In a hurry he quickly started pouring more blood on it.
However, the fading away of the drawing didn't vanish. But at the same time, he saw as trickles of blood mist extend from the drawing into his head.
Although hesitant, Irwiz didn't move and let the mist go to his forehead.
Strangely, the mist seemed to vanish as it went straight into his forehead. The next moment, there was no trace of the mist that went inside.
The blood mist was still going into his forehead.
Then!
Just as Irwiz was confused, a sharp pain hit his mind. It was as if someone was sticking a long needle right into his forehead, to his brain.
"AHHH" Irwiz cried out in pain.
The pain was really unbearable. But at the same time as the pain, Irwiz also felt a vague image appear inside his mind.
It was the drawing of the spell!
But the drawing wasn't complete. It was only a small portion at the time, seeming to become more and more complete as the blood mist continued going into his forehead.
Only a corner...
Irwiz barely thought.
He had to hold on!
However, the blood mist was getting smaller. With that, the pain also was becoming smaller.
'I must give more blood!'
Realizing what was happening, this strange memory transfusion, Irwiz subconsciously decided inside his mind.
Right now, his thoughts were too chaotic and entangled from the pain to form a solid conscious thought.
Still though, his body moved on its own, and his handles shakingly pushed towards the place where he bit his palm.
The next moment, several more drops of blood dropped.
AHHHHHHH
Irwiz couldn't help crying out.
This pain! This pain!
It was tearing his mind!
Irwiz's body began to unconsciously shake on its own. His eyes were blood red, several veins have bursted within.
His body had also soaked in sweat.
However, Irwiz didn't stop dropping his blood onto the cover.
Instead, he pushed harder.
But then, he noticed.
No more blood was coming out. It was barely forming drops as it fell down.
Although the pain was tearing his mind away, Irwiz had decided what to do. At this point, his body's pain wasn't affecting him much anyways.
So, Irwiz shakily brought his palm to his mouth.
Due to the pain, he couldn't control how hard he bit.
He just bit, with all his strength.
At some point he realized he had torn off a small chunk off his hand.
'Ah' only then, did Irwiz stop the self mutilation.
He just laid his palm with the chunk torn off, onto the back cover. Then, he let time do his thing.
...
After some time, Irwiz realized the blood mist was no longer coming out.
The pain was unbearable, enough to drive a man to take his own life. However, it had passed.
Right now, Irwiz had a clear view of that cursed runic drawing inside his mind.
It was far too complex...
Just remembering it gave Irwiz severe headaches.
Then, Irwiz looked at his palm.
He didn't know how much time had passed after all. It seemed like only a second has passed, or perhaps 10 minutes, or even an hour.
He just knew he has gone through the pain. Things should be better now.
He didn't know how to utilize this spell he has stored inside his mind, however, he finally had something he could call magical now.
Just from that, he didn't regret a single decision. Eventually, he will know how to use this thing.
Then, Irwiz looked around the room.
...
He couldn't find Rera.
'Fuck' he couldn't help but curse.
Then, Irwiz looked harder. After all, his vision was blurry. Maybe he overlooked her?
Nope, she really wasn't there.
Then, he called out her name.
"Rera?"
No reply.