"What are you both doing here this early? And why is Jack's arm covered in bandages?" Amy asked.
"Oh, the newbie got a little too excited and arrived a little early. So he called me up and asked what he should do. I didn't want to disappoint the kid, so I rushed over."
"Wait, I thought he didn't have a phone."
"He got one." Jack said.
"I used a payphone." Arcus said at the same time.
"Doesn't explain the bandages covering your arm."
"I tripped in front of the entrance and broke a bone. Arcus here wrapped me up."
"Today is a Sunday. We don't open up till 4 pm, you should have told Arcus to go back home. Now both of you, get out of here." Amy said. As they started to walk away, Amy pulled Arcus to her side and whispered, "Arcus, get this fool to a hospital and take the day off." as she slipped a few Nummi into his pocket. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him." Arcus replied with a smile.
A few seconds later Arcus and Jack were standing outside the building. "I apologize for trying to poison you earlier. Also thank you for sparing my life."
Arcus had planned to take him to his place after he had woken up and interrogate him thoroughly. He didn't want to do it when Jack was unconscious because it would have been a problem if someone was to see him and would have definitely arisen suspicion. With his current stats, he was sure he could overpower the weakened Jack with ease if he had to fight again. But Amy had showed up at the same time Jack had woken up which led to the current situation.
"Then why did you do it in the first place?"
"Fenrir." Jack replied. Hearing which, Arcus immediately assumed a fighting stance, startling Jack in the process.
"No! Wait! I think we have a misunderstanding here. So you were aware of Fenrir's existence within you. I have something similar within me as well. It's this giant snake called Jormungandr."
"I'm aware. Continue." Arcus said, keeping up the fighting stance.
"You were? Oh... So Jeremy here, I mean Jormungandr told me that you might have come to hunt me down and there were chances you had sided with Odin. I planned to paralyze you with my venom and then interrogate you, in case you really had come to hunt me down."
"They are related alright." Arcus murmured.
"Sorry what?"
"I like this kid. He seems much more capable than someone else I know. Also, I want to talk to Jormungandr." Fenrir told.
"Hey! And what do you want me to do about it?" Arcus asked.
"I don't know, ask the kid, he might know something." Fenrir replied.
*Sigh*
"Uhh, Jack. Fenrir here wants to talk to the World Serpent and I don't think I know what to do. So can you help me out?"
"Mmm, I'm not very sure either. Maybe someone with a telepathic ability could help us out, link our heads, I guess? But-"
Suddenly the screen popped up again, this time there were two screens instead of one. One faced Arcus while the other faced Jack.
[Establish link between Fenrir's host and Jormungandr's host?]
[Y/N]
Both Arcus and Jack stood in silence with their jaws slightly opened. After a few seconds Arcus asked slowly, "Do you see it too?"
"Yeah. So you have one as well?"
"Yes." Arcus said.
They stood there in awkward silence for a few more seconds. Then the both of them spoke together in unison. "Yes."
[Link has been successfully established.]
[2/3 users of the Fate's guide are now connected.]
[Link allows its users to see each other's status and location. It also allows the users to communicate with each other telepathically.]
[The link can be closed and reopened any time.]
"So the Norns were indeed responsible for all this. I knew it. I'll go have a little chat with Jeremy now." Fenrir said before going silent. He didn't seem the least bit surprised. On the other hand, Arcus and Jack were left speechless, without the faintest idea of what had happened.
"What are you both staring at? Get going now." Amy screamed at them from inside the shop.
"Right. Ok then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Jack said.
"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow. Oh and take this. Amy wanted you to use this for your treatment." Arcus said holding out the Nummi Amy had given him.
"Hehe, so she does care. You can have it, think of it as a token of apology and maybe use that to get yourself a new phone. I don't think I'll need treatment. I'll be good as new in a few hours." Jack said with a smile as he walked off to the opposite direction from Arcus's house.
Arcus left immediately as well and as soon as he reached home, he added one more stat point to his agility, increasing it to 10. "Let's get this done with." Arcus thought before he sat down on the couch.
[Warning!]
[The host will be entering a state of hibernation for the next 12 hours. The host will not be able to exit this state any time during the process.]
[Do you still wish to continue?]
"Yes."
[The host will be put to sleep in 10 seconds.]
Arcus was extremely anxious as he would be left vulnerable and completely defenseless for a period of 12 hours. If possible, he would have done it somewhere safer or in the presence of someone he could trust but Arcus currently had neither.
As he was thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong, the screen, or the guide popped up with a new message.
[Host will now enter a state of hibernation.]
*Gulp*.
.
It was 6 o'clock in the evening. The marketplace next to Arcus's building had started to stir up. The aroma of street food covered the air. Arcus woke up feeling rejuvenated. He did a light stretch before getting up from the couch.
His body felt lighter than before, he also seemed a lot more flexible and toned. His skinny frame had considerably improved and he had grown an inch taller. All his previous body aches and the soreness in his muscles had vanished. He could also see and hear a lot better than before. Even his sense of smell had improved.
"I feel... great but where's that horrid stench coming from? Wait, is that me?" Arcus thought. That's when he noticed that his entire body was covered in a sticky yellow liquid. Arcus ran to the bathroom to wash himself, unable to bear the smell that came off the liquid.
He took a little longer than usual to come out of the bath because it took him a lot of time and effort to completely get rid of the smell that lingered from the yellow liquid. During the bath he noticed that all his scars had completely disappeared. The slight hump on the back of his neck was gone and he felt like his body had suddenly got this massive upgrade.
"Wow, it feels like I've swapped bodies with someone. I wonder if there's a way to test the capabilities of this new body." Arcus thought when suddenly his stomach rumbled loudly. With his enhanced sense of smell, he could smell the amazing food coming from the market below, which made his stomach growl even louder.
"Did the food from the market always smell this good? I guess I'll go get something to eat for now." Arcus said to himself as he proceeded to wear his clothes and headed out to visit the market.
He had lived in the same building for as long as he could remember but this was the first time he had set foot in the marketplace to buy something. Everyone there seemed familiar with each other. Residential buildings surrounded the market. The only way to enter the market was through a gap in between the building Arcus stayed in and the building beside it.
The marketplace was chaotic. In a circumference of around 2000 meters, there were around 12 shops that sold everything from stationery to food. After looking at the shops for a while, he reached the food stalls. It was basically one huge shop with multiple stalls. Arcus took his wallet out and counted the number of Nummi he had with him. Excluding the 250 Nummi Amy had given him, he had 700 Nummi in total.
After an hour of eating, he had spent 30 Nummi on food. He was starving after he had finished his transformation but the amount of food he devoured in the last one hour was not normal. The stall owners just assumed that he had not eaten for a while.
"I got to be more careful with how I spend money." Arcus thought because there were multiple times he had lived on 30 Nummi for a month, which he had now spent in one single night. The 700 Nummi were his entire savings. His new job paid him 2500 Nummi per month, so he wasn't very worried about spending money for the first time in his life.
"I'll have to buy a phone next." Arcus thought excitedly as he walked away from the marketplace. He went to a mobile store, bought a phone with the 250 Nummi Amy gave and headed home.
Arcus lay down on the couch as he played with his new phone, exploring its features. "All I've got left to do is make a bank account and I'll be set." Arcus thought after he had played enough with his phone and set it aside. "I wonder what the Norns Fenrir talked about were and what the screen meant when it said 2/3 users were connected. So there's one more person who's going through something like this? And the screen called itself the Fate's guide. A guide to what?" He soon fell asleep, drowned in an ocean of thoughts.