"Huh?" overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of two missions, Irwiz uttered a surprise.
In response, Rera only looked strangely at him.
Thinking Irwiz hadn't been able to hear her answer, she repeated "Okay, let's plan our escape now"
Immediately afterwards though, Irwiz got out of his stupor and replied "Right, right"
"So, what do you suggest? We have no feed here so it is obvious we can't be staying here forever" Rera analysed.
"Yes. Actually, I think we should get to the plan as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we delay, I fear something bad might happen" Irwiz seriously said to Rera after reading the contents of the system.
"Like what?" Rera's interest was piqued.
"Like becoming the puppets of those cultists and having to spend the rest of eternity trapped in a body we can't control, doing things we don't want to" in return, Irwiz made up something scary to threaten the little girl.
He had constructed this scary image from the many rumors he had heard about cults from the streets and whatnot.
As expected, the tactic worked brilliantly as Rera's face straight away showed expressions of disgust and fear. Soon however, it turned into resolution.
It was just as if saying 'I would rather do anything else than become that.'
Seeing her response, Irwiz knew he had gotten to her.
Sigh
'It is so easy to fool a little girl' you just had to present things as black and white, as bad and good, and they will immediately jump into the good at first sight, avoiding the bad at all costs.
Too bad, not a thing in this world was fully evil or righteous.
Well, to a person though, damaging themselves would obviously be considered bad. To Irwiz too, it was a comparably bad thing.
However, if it meant that he progressed towards his goal, Irwiz didn't mind hurting himself. Even amputating an arm or two wasn't a problem.
In his previous life, his whole existence had been dedicated to finding the meaning of life. However, the impermanence of things had greatly let him down.
Thus, he sought comfort and ideal in searching for the unknown, the impossible. Unfortunately, it wasn't there no matter how much he searched for it.
In the end, he had been forced to discard that side of his, eventually resulting in his indifference to all life.
Yet, in this world, the exact thing he had sought for so long existed, and right now, was even in front of him, waiting for him to just grasp it.
At this moment, Irwiz, with the entirety of his consciousness, fully wanted to fulfill the second mission that had appeared.
He wanted to 'awaken' !
There was one tiny exception though.
That one line on the panel that read [Warning: **********].
It was the only thing stopping him from immediately tearing a page and shoving it into his mouth was this.
However, when he inquired, it consistently replied that it needed 5 Fate Points. Since he had none right now, he needed to borrow.
Fortunately, he had plenty of allowed loan limit to borrow from. So immediately, he did that.
[You have borrowed 5 Fate Points. Reminder that keeping a negative Fate Point will result in misfortune to befall you.]
[Warning: During awakening, consuming a thumb-sized portion orally is recommended. Also, if the catalyst used is not close in alignment with the person, there is a high chance of failure and consequently, fatal side-effects.]
'Hmm' Irwiz fell into contemplation after reading the newfound information.
Turns out, he can't also force Rera to eat a piece of paper too so that their survival is more possible.
From what he read, it was likely that Rera would die from his doing, or, even worse, come to bite him in the ass.
So, although Irwiz didn't know if Rera's alignment also closely matched with the material and the energy of the paper, he decided to not be curious.
'Curiosity killed the cat' Irwiz remembered.
"Rera, I need to tell you something"
"Yes?" Rera replied.
"I will now go through a process like the one before. During this time, I don't know what will happen so I want you to stay away from me." Irwiz was dead serious as he said.
"What? Like before? Why?" Rera was confused.
"Just once it is over safely, I will tell you the word apple, okay? I don't want you to freak out like before and go missing" he explained.
"I think with this, our chance of survival will increase" Irwiz added.
"Okay then" Rera said and stepped back, closer to the tunnel.
"I'll begin now" Irwiz grabbed the book and opened its middle pages, before tearing off a small part of it.
He compared it with his thumb, and it was just the same size.
Afterwards, he placed the book on the ground and sat down.
Then, Irwiz tore the book paper into several small parts before placing it all on his mouth.
After flooding his mouth his saliva and ensuring all of the paper parts were covered by it, he swallowed.
Gulp
Several seconds passed as Irwiz felt the bunch of paper pieces along with his saliva passing down his throat. Eventually, they entered his stomach and he felt as his stomach rumbled, and the acid started breaking the paper down.
Up till now, everything was fine.
But soon Irwiz could feel the change happening inside his body. As the paper disintegrated inside his stomach, there was a violent upheaval. It was as if something was cutting his stomach up from the inside!
Biting his lips, Irwiz endured the pain to avoid screaming in pain.
However, the scratching didn't stop. Instead it only grew more violent; it even started spreading to his whole body.
From him stomach, through his chest, to his upper body, to the tips of his fingers.
Then through his abdomen to his legs to his toes, even the toenails.
Eventually, it also spread upward and went through his neck, to his head...
That was when the pain intensified.
It felt just like countless insects and bugs were spreading through his body, spreading havoc everywhere.
Not only was it invading his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, it also got to his brain.
A sharp and violent pain!
It was not alone, but was accompanied by mad roars that seemed both quiet but loud. These roars were really strange, it wasn't just purely chaotic roaring, it also felt like many chants overlapped at once.
Listening carefully, it seemed to be saying "Tear þu to þe dæle þing, þær mæg no manne gewunian... Tear þu to þe dæle þing, þær mæg no manne gewunian."
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
After hearing those chants, Irwiz could no longer bear the pain anymore, his eyes rolling backwards.
His mind was filled with the throes of madness.
However, just as if to save him, a special symbol materialised inside his mind before lighting up in a light silver color. The symbol was the runic drawing he had etched into his mind.
It seemed to ease his pain greatly, and what Irwiz felt wasn't just purely pain anymore, it also accompanied with a pleasant numbing sensation.
Still, the pain persisted, just like an undying cockroach.
But this, Irwiz could tolerate. He no longer screamed, nor cried out. He didn't even spit a muffle.
A while after, everything inside his body calmed down.
Ding, ding, ding
[Mission: "Eat the paper of Records of Mysticism and Journey Into the Abyss" completed.]
[Servant LCEF-707 has awakened to the Abyss Pathway in world WERTY1 - Slumbering God's Sanctuary. You have become eligible for new privileges.]
[World Storyline unlocked. First Storyline Mission: Destroy the City of Evelyn.]