[connecting...]
Sol drew in his breaths deeply, eagerly. He was thirsty for cold air, sweating a little, his eyes wide open. He looked around carefully and found the blue girl sitting beside him, holding her injured hand.
Her face was truly a mess. That smooth blue skin was completely dirtied with black, cold soil, with traces of dried tear rivers spreading across her cheeks, along with touches of azure blood scattered everywhere on her.
The look on her face was completely fixed—expressions of surprise and wonder covering her entirely—before changing with the first flow of tears from her black eyes with sapphire-blue irises. The tears streamed quickly down her cheeks, that will add to the traces of dried tears.
The girl let out a small whimper before jumping quickly toward Sol, completely ignoring her injuries, and hugged him tightly with her good arm. Then she burst into loud sobs while gripping Sol's clothes firmly, as if afraid he might move away from her—holding him in place with her hand.
Sol looked at the crying girl clinging to him with surprised eyes. He really wanted to push her away, but didn't. Instead, he slowly raised his hand toward her back, intending to pat it—but his hand stopped a few inches before reaching her. It froze there for a moment, that look fixed on his hand—a look threatening to cut off that hand if it continued—before he pulled it back down again.
"Alright... cry as much as you want this time."
Suddenly, Sol heard a notification sound whisper in his ear, before those black glass shards appeared and formed that screen with celestial bodies, containing other words shimmering in beautiful gold.
[Connection established]
[Notification]
[Loading system...]
"there's more after all that.."
Sol asked himself in surprise, but was interrupted by the voice in his ear again as the words on the black screen changed.
[System loaded]
[Notification]
[Connecting with heir...]
"Heir?.. That word again! I heard those things talking about some kind of heir."
Sol was interrupted by a sound again—but this time it was loud, an annoying warning sound, as the words on the screen changed.
[Warning]
[Failed to connect with heir]
[Notification]
[Connecting with heir...]
"Wait, did it just say 'failed'?.."
[Warning]
[Failed to connect with heir]
Sol was interrupted again by the same loud, annoying sound.
"This thing is really annoying..."
[Notification]
"Now, it's going to try again... Is this thing stupid?.."
Sol thought sarcastically.
[There are issues connecting with heir]
"Well, not completely stupid then."
[A series of connection attempts will be performed]
"wait, Don't do that! Stop—"
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
[Connecting with heir...]
Sol sighed in annoyance, his expression darkening.
"Damn you..."
[Warning]
[Failed to connect with heir]
[Warning]
[Failed to connect with heir]
[Warning]
[Failed to connect with heir]
"I think it will last a long time..."
And so the annoying notifications kept echoing in his ear, along with the sound of the girl crying loudly. Sol really wanted to curse everything.
After a few seconds, the girl stopped crying and went back to sitting in her place, while the system continued sending annoying notifications. Then suddenly—they stopped.
He heard a different sound, and new words appeared on the black screen.
[Cannot connect with heir]
[Connecting with heir's consciousness...]
"I thought you were going to do something different this time... You're really stupid after all."
Sol said in annoyance—but his irritation shifted when he heard the system and read the words on the screen.
[Connected with heir's consciousness]
Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation sweep through his skull. like A fresh breeze of air blew inside his skull, caressing his exhausted brain and giving it a little rest.
Is that what the feeling of fucking my mind feels like?"
Sol only thought that this sensation was somewhat disgusting.
[Please select Arche]
It was written in gold, then shards appeared beside the window and formed a black circle with gold edges, containing the word Arche inside.
Sol looked at it for a few seconds before raising his hand—the one that had been inside the monster's mouth earlier, covered in Sol's crimson blood. He pressed that strange circle.
[Arche selected]
[Preparing Arche path...]
The black circle lit up before drawing the blood on his hand into it, then entered the black screen beside it.
[Preparation complete]
[Arranging data...]
[Data arranged]
[Loading primary system...]
"Well, seems it's fast now."
[Primary system loaded]
A crimson color crept into the system screen with crimson stars and crimson celestial bodies, flashing before him.
[Name: Nameless]
[Essence: Dormant]
[Crucible: 3/500]
[Arche: 0/100]
[Abilities]
[Repository]
∆ [Bloodsense]
Sol looked carefully at the screen before him. The blue girl was also looking in the same direction Sol was currently staring, with some confusion. Sol noticed her and turned his gaze to the girl, then pointed at the screen in front of him. He looked at her again—nothing changed, confusion still on her face. He said calmly:
"I'm the only one who sees this thing."
[Of course you're the only one who sees it]
Suddenly, Sol heard a female voice speaking to him. With a surprised look, he glanced around—but there was no one.
"I thought I heard someone speaking just now."
Sol said in a surprised tone, before the same voice replied—cheerful, joking, and lively.
[Yeah, that's me talking. Are you deaf or something?]
Sol looked around again—but this time with a fierce, dangerous look. He found nothing. The girl was starting to get worried too, looking around fearfully, before the voice replied again.
[Whoa there, calm down, fierce one. I'm not out there.]
Sol stopped searching and said threateningly:
"Who are you?!... And where are you?!"
The voice sighed before answering in a sharp, serious tone:
[I'm a metaphysical being. I have unlimited power and knowledge, and I exist in the hidden dimension far from mortal sight.]
Sol was surprised and remembered those terrifying entities he'd seen earlier. He swallowed and said with awe, remembering that disgusting feeling:
"Are you one of those entities?!.."
A very long silence fell—long enough to make Sol relive that horrific experience from earlier over and over. He sweated heavily and swallowed, while the blue girl watched worriedly, not understanding what was happening to Sol. After only a few seconds, the female voice burst into intense laughter.
[Hahaha, no, I'm just joking.]
Sol frowned in anger before the voice continued.
[relax wild boy am not gonna harm you, I'm the Core System, and I'm responsible for guiding you or something like that. And I'm inside you.]
"What core?.."
Sol cut off his question when he remembered something. Then he changed his question and asked instead:
"Guide me to what?"
The system didn't take even a second to answer.
[I will guide you to... to...]
The system voice paused for a moment before continuing in a slightly cold tone:
[Wait, what was I supposed to guide you to again?...]
Sol wanted to mock and complain, but noticed the girl holding her hand. He grabbed her injured hand and examined it.
"Just a small wound, but it needs cleaning..."
Sol took the girl and headed to a river near their location—one he usually fetched water from. He wanted to clean the wound and wash himself too.
When Sol passed by the corpse of the scale-beast, he stopped briefly. Then he leaned toward the dead beast's jaw and shoved his entire arm inside again, pulling out the dagger from within, making tearing sounds from the beast's internal fibers.
"Hard and Rough on the outside, but its weak point is soft on the inside..."
Sol said with a tired, serious look on his face, staring at the obsidian dagger with azure veins, soaked in warm, sticky dark blue blood.
[Is that some kind of deep talking?... Are you Philosopher or something like that.?]
The system asked in a lively, innocent tone.
Sol ignored her and continued with the girl toward the river. After a few minutes of walking, they both arrived and sat near the river water.
Sol cut a piece of cloth from his clothes, dipped it in the cold, pure water, then slowly placed it on the wound. The girl flinched and pulled her hand back as a reflex—but Sol had faster reflexes, so he grabbed her hand before she could pull all away.
"You have to put up with it. Just a little and the pain will end."
Sol remembered the girl didn't understand him, so he leaned toward her hand and blew on the wound while wiping it. Then he said in a tired tone:
"the pain will be moreless now.."
[You're kind too... Philosopher and kind..what a good mix.]
Sol didn't reply—he decided to ignore her again. He continued, wiping the blood and dirt off himself. When he looked at the torn parts, he said in a slightly disappointed tone:
"My only clothes are ruined..."
[oh, now he ignoring me]
He sighed before adding in the same disappointed tone:
"How do I fix it now?."
While Sol was rubbing his hands, he remembered what the entities had said, then spoke in a serious, dark tone:
"Those two things mentioned the word 'Imitation '?... they know the truth about me. ."
"They know I'm not real."