As Rune stood in the middle of the room, he reached out his hand and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Miko asked, taking a bite of the chip he had given her.
"I'm trying to figure out something that might increase our chances of surviving when we decide to leave this city."
After Rio discovered his unique skill, "One Truth," during stage 4 of the infection, he also gained a memory of another ability called "Ink and Pen." However, since they were constantly in danger of being killed by monsters in the dark forest, he didn't try to use it and focused on escaping instead.
Similar to Rune's "One Truth" ability, he gained the memory of how to acquire the new ability, "Ink and Pen." He slowly closed his eyes, seeing nothing but darkness, and began to open them again.
When Rune opened his eyes, he realized he was standing on a path with dark thorns on both sides, separating him from the abyss of darkness below. At the end of the path, there was an enormous black door covered in chains and thorns.
"Where am I? Is this supposed to happen?" Rune wondered aloud.
He walked over to the thorny side of the path and looked down, seeing the abyss of darkness below. Everything, including the sky and the surroundings, was shrouded in darkness, but he could still see the path and the large black gate at the end.
"I guess all I can do is keep moving forward," Rune said, his voice echoing through the abyss of darkness.
Before he started walking down the path, he knelt down and clasped his hands together, praying for a useful ability.
After finishing his prayer, he stood up and began walking down the thorny path towards the chained black gate.
Rune stood in front of the large gate, feeling lost and unsure of what to do. He touched the gate and heard a cracking sound. He turned around and saw the thorny path behind him crumbling.
In a panic, Rune tried pushing and pulling the gate, but it wouldn't budge. The crumbling path grew closer and closer.
Desperate, Rune banged his hand against the gate, causing it to bleed. Realizing it was useless and painful , he glanced at the crumbling path and then back at the gate. Suddenly, he spotted a shiny key.
Rune picked up the key, but couldn't find where to insert it. He searched frantically around the gate. After a thorough search, he realized there was no keyhole. Frustrated, he kicked the gate.
Feeling defeated, Rune looked around and kicked the gate again. To his surprise, the chain fell down, revealing a buried keyhole. Finally, he inserted the key, hearing a crack. The crumbling path stopped and the large chains of the door began to break and fall to the ground. The door slowly opened, revealing a broken down pantheon-like building with a book on the floor.
Confused about his whereabouts, Rune cautiously approached the book and picked it up. As he opened it, he discovered that each page was blank.
What's this?
Right after saying that, the book slammed shut on its own and started glowing, making Rune cover his eyes to shield them from the blinding light. As he slowly reopened them, he realized he was back in the room where he could see Miko fast asleep on the bed with the empty bag of chips next to her, and Nate also asleep.
Damn, that was too close. Rune said, taking a deep breath.
The reason he panicked when the path started crumbling is because when people who are partially corrupted try to get stronger or awaken their abilities, there's a chance they'll become completely corrupted and turn into a manifestation if they fail to do what they're supposed to in order to activate their ability.
Now that he finally had his power, he could activate it. But before doing so, he decided to take a seat and calm himself down after nearly turning into some kind of freaky creature.
After taking a moment to collect himself, he got back up and took a deep breath. He muttered, "Ink and Pen." And just like that, a book appeared right in front of him. It had a black cover with the word "Ink" written on it.
Please, please don't let this be another useless ability that won't help me survive in this insane world.
I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to ask the monsters if they're lying or not? They're too busy trying to kill or eat me, and to top it off, they can even talk!
With a sigh, he picked up the book from the floor and opened it. As soon as he did, an inkwell filled with ink and a quill magically appeared.
Oh no, not again. Please don't let this be useless when it comes to survival.
Unlike his other power, "One Truth," where he would receive memories on how to use it, this new ability didn't come with any instructions. So, he had no choice but to start experimenting and figure it out on his own.
He picked up the Quill from the inkwell without hesitation. Then, he attempted to draw something, hoping it would come to life. However, nothing happened. Undeterred, he decided to try writing instead, but still, nothing happened. He even attempted to write a letter, thinking it would magically reach the intended recipient, but again, nothing happened.
Frustrated, he cursed, wondering what this ability was and why it didn't come with clear instructions like his unique skill. He glared at the book, trying various methods in the hopes of achieving some result, but still, nothing happened.