The completion rewards from my earlier task had come.
I opened the message.
[-Integrated Trial of Beauty-
Congratulations on completing the First Task.
Enna Kimura's safety has been confirmed.
The following Rewards have been granted:
10% increase in physical stats
Passive skill: Lady killer
Please await for further information regarding next Task.]
The rewards were disappointing. They weren't bad but not nearly as good as what I got before.
I looked at the new skill.
[Lady Killer: Enhances the user's ability to visualize and exploit weaknesses present on the target.
Lvl: 1
Cost:Nil]
The skill description was acceptable but the name was questionable.
What is this? Some sex skill?
"Ray, there's also an encrypted attached message", Lianne said.
"What does it say?"
"It's not good... apparently your actions have attracted alot of divine attention. The next Trial will not be easy."
"I already know that."
"Also, it seems that Lord Fate asked Lord Destiny to make a few changes."
Are Fate and Destiny different?
"Changes?", I looked at Lianne with a confused expression.
"Since Enna Kimura's destined death was changed, her new fate has been rewritten."
I knew the next few words that she'll utter will not sound pleasant.
Lianne hesitated before speaking.
"She is fated to be attacked and assaulted multiple times by different people at different points of her life until she eventually succumbs to her death after living a long empty life full of trauma."
"What...do you mean by that?"
"It's written that she'll start having trouble in her school. And after graduating, she'll eventually marry someone who'll fall prey to the gangs and her life will be full of misery."
"...", I silently thought about it.
"Ray, her future will not be kind to her."
The fact that this Goddess told me about this meant that she wanted me to change it. Her Trial was probably a ruse to keep in touch with me. If I technically thought about it, her obsession was more for Enna than for me. If all this really was a trick that she was playing to save Enna, she probably didn't care about how difficult the Tasks would become for me.
"Is there a way to save her?"
"It's her fate written in the Wheel of Fate. It is not her final destiny. The Gods after seeing your previous actions have jointly agreed and set Reji city as the main focal point of the Trial of Destiny in this Round. Sacrilegious actions committed inside Reji city against Lord Fate and Lord Destiny will be allowed. So you as a contender in this Round of Games have the right to change her fate by active intervention. However, this does not apply to other Gods and they may act as per their own discretion."
This was an excellent ploy to give me reason to not quit this Trial. The Gods were sadists.
"We'll save her. I'll figure out something like last time", I informed Lianne about my decision.
Lianne nodded and offered her advice, "You should enroll in her academy. Things will be easier if you're somewhere close to her."
I nodded back.
Having decided on our future course of action, I looked around.
We were in some unfamiliar place. Again.
I could see Reji city from the roof I was standing on.
The sky was grey and the air felt thickly weird.
There were no birds flying around or the sound of people living.
It felt barren and deserted.
I scratched my head and asked, "Why is there such a miasma covering everything?"
Lianne answered my question.
"Ray, this is not the real world. We are currently inside the soulframe network."
"Didn't I just come out of there?"
"No. That was a deeply isolated space inside your soulframe called limbo. People who get trapped there rarely manage to escape.
The place we're in currently is what humans call the dream world."
I was astonished.
"So we're inside my dream?"
"It's more like a place where everybody dreams. This place is a shared space. In here, you can see what people are dreaming. Since it is a vast network, I can materialize here as you can see by my current shape."
This was absolutely insane. If that was the case, then I could access all sorts of information from here. It also gave me a chance to make tangible contact with Lianne who I always thought was just a figment of my imagination.
"So that's why I feel no pain here." I cracked a joke.
Pain has become a constant for me now.
Lianne looked at me. Her eyes lacked distinct features but I could tell that she was looking at me with a sorrowful expression.
She then said, "Since you hadn't set how you wanted to receive the penalty pain, the brunt of it hit you at once."
I remembered my unique skill. Lianne had explained it to me, back when I first received it. If Lianne had the ability to generate RP by inflicting pain like a money printer, this skill was like a bank. It offered credit and then collected debt later. I could always pay early but who in the world would do that?
"Ray, when you wake up, you'll feel pain again."
"Ah, the forced autoheal penalty..."
I had been a burden to Lianne. She was my system but I felt that my actions were unfair.
"I'll set it in a way so that you feel milder pain, but for a longer time. It'll take me a while to adjust the settings so I'll start right now."
Lianne was trying to help me in her own way.
She could make changes in my body as she saw fit.
This gave her power over me.
"Yes. That'll be better."
If I were to go into shock again, would I return to that nightmare?
Suddenly, I felt a strong sense of ambition. I asked her, "Why does this place exist? Isn't a person's dream an individual experience?"
Lianne replied with a question,"Have you ever heard of shared dreams?"
"I have. Is it where two people, after waking up, say they had the same dream?"
"Yes, Ray. That kind of experience happens here. Normally a soulframe processes its dreams in its own sphere but it's not unlikely that sometimes it forms a connection with another soulframe giving a shared experience."
"Wow... that is...amazing"
This kind of information would excite anyone, child or adult. "So do the higher beings live in this place?"
"No Ray. This is only a passage to the Lands of the Gods."
All of this was exciting but I felt a tug at my heart strings.
"So, to go back to my world...I have to ascend and go to a higher dimension?"
"Yes, Ray...that is how it is."
I...
"Lianne...can I tell you something?"
"Yes, Ray, what is it?"
"I'll clear this Trial."
"?", Lianne was perplexed.
"There is someone I want to meet. I need to go back to my world. So...I'll complete all these Tasks and transcend dimensions."
The face of the girl I saw flashed inside my mind.
"I don't know why I was brought here. I don't know where I'll be going next. "
That girl...she called me...
"But I do know that I have no desire to play God. I'll destroy these Trials. All of it. "
I need to know...why...
"Anything that stands in my way, man or devil, I'll demolish them. I'll raze my path clear and aim to win."
If that is what I need to do to go back...
"I'll do my duty without question."
She...who is she?
I don't know...but I feel like I have to... I need to...
"My only wish is to meet her again."
Booooooom
A sonic wave came rushing towards us. I grabbed the nearest support I could find. The wave nearly flew me away.
I looked into the distance. A huge flying monster was approaching us.