After reading the message, an orange mist started swirling in front of me. It transformed to form a portal that would lead me to the room with the Phoenix.
Without wasting any time, I went near Ana. I gently lifted her from the ground and carried her towards the portal.
The moment I stepped into the portal, the castle behind me vanished and I stepped inside a meadow. Vibrant flowers were present in every direction my eyes went in.
"The egg…"
I turned back and saw a huge oak tree standing a few feet away from my location. The oak tree was massive and went high up in the sky.
Its branches were spread outwards, providing shade from the bright rays of sunlight falling on the meadow.
At the base of the oak tree, a red egg the size of two combined watermelons faintly pulsated with an orange light.
+
Name: Egg of the Vermilion Bird(Unhatched)
Tier: Unique
Description: This is the 1000th egg of the Vermilion bird born after its death. A phoenix will hatch from this egg depending on the energy provided to it for hatching.
Current energy:
- Pure energy: 40%
- Evil energy: 15%
Once the energy reaches a hundred percent, the bird will shift towards either the evil or the good side depending on the majority percentage of the energy provided.
+
This was the main thing required to clear the first part of the second scenario. It was a complicated scenario created to challenge the mentality of the human race.
If the awoken bird belonged to the evil side, all those who chose the killer's path would receive rewards for clearing the scenario and the bird would kill all those who chose the alternate method.
The opposite would happen if the awoken bird turned out to be good in nature. It was a fucked up scenario that essentially forced everyone to make a stand in this new world.
You either upheld your morals or forsake them.
I walked towards the egg and placed Ana slightly away from the egg. I then sat down beside the egg and took a deep breath.
'Blue, I have a plan.'
***
Ten minutes later…
I laid on the ground with a tired expression on my face. Every muscle in my body ached from pain and my breath was getting heavier.
In front of my face, a white document was present.
|| Another way to awaken the bird through the alternate method was to directly provide energy to the egg. Mana is a pure form of energy and using it would ensure that the awakened bird would be good in nature. ||
These were the simple sentences I added to the novel instead of rewriting anything. Writing two sentences semi-paralyzed me and made me unable to move.
< After recovering a bit, try the method. >
'I know…'
I closed my eyes and let my body rest.
Time passed by and when I woke up, the sun was starting to settle down. A cold breeze was blowing throughout the meadow, reminding me of the place where I met Blue.
'How much time passed?'
< I don't know. Time flows differently here. >
'Let me check the scenario window. It will contain the time.'
+
[ Scenario #2: A Question Of Trust ]
Part 1: Rebirth of the Phoenix.
Objective: Show the worth of sacrifice.
Each person participating in the scenario has to do either of the following two things:
1. Kill 5 people a day until enough energy has been gathered to revive the bird.
2. Revive the bird using alternate method.
Rewards: A skill from the revived bird.
Consequence: Failure
Time Limit: 8 days
+
Two days passed since the beginning of the first part of the scenario. I slowly sat up and looked at Ana.
The young girl's eyes remained closed and her body was in the same position I placed her down in. A sigh escaped my lips after seeing this.
Activating [Author's Eyes], I took a glance at her body's condition.
A coat of mana surrounded her body and occasional black sparks flickered around her body from time to time.
Now that I thought about it, the concept of good and evil is related to the two types of energies present in the universe.
Mana was the universal energy present throughout the universe. Mana allowed every being to use skills and everything magic-related.
In the universe, everything in existed in pair. Light and dark, good and evil, yin and yang, etc. Mana too had its counterpart.
I never gave it a specific name but the black sparks of mana flickering around Ana's body were generally used to represent demonic energy.
The same demonic mana was used by the C women as well as the snake they summoned. This mana was linked with a rather impure form of mana which allowed one to use destructive power.
The only downside of using black mana was that the users gradually lose control over themselves and turn into emotionless psychopaths.
< Does Michael know if black mana has an evil origin or not? >
'I never went into much detail about black mana and its origin. The story was way too dead for me to think about it this much. A lot of foreshadowing was never revealed.'
I felt sad now that I remembered all the foreshadowing and hints I dropped throughout the novel. Though my mind forget what I wanted them to turn into, I planned a lot of things I wanted to write in the novel.
"I hope you recover from this, Ana."
I turned my gaze towards the egg beside me. The pulsating became more frequent and the egg shone slightly.
+
Current energy:
- Pure energy: 35%
- Evil energy: 25%
+
The pure energy dropped by 5% in my absence whereas the evil energy rose. This meant that numerous killings happened in my absence and not many people managed to do a different kind of sacrifice.
Oh well, I accepted this to happen.
I slightly moved forward and placed my hand on the egg, opening a window in front of me.
[ Would you like to provide energy to the unborn Phoenix egg?
Yes / No ]
I pressed the yes option and immediately felt a pull in my gut. My mana slowly started leaving my body and moved towards the egg.
Due to my vision ability, I was able to see a chain of sorts linking the egg with me. My mana traveled from my body towards the egg through the particular chain.
"Well this is going to be boring…"
I sighed before remembering that I still needed to check the messages that Inari prevented me from reading.
I tried conjuring those messages and soon enough, dozens of messages appeared in front of me.
[ The Viewers are cheering you on! ]
[ Many Viewers want to send you a gift. ]
[ Many Viewers are liking Entertainer Inari's channel due to your presence. ]
[ Viewer 'Velstad The Bro' wants you to defeat your enemies in style. ]
[ Viewer 'Cuttlefish That Loves Diving' is clapping at your performance. ]
[ You have been gifted 2000 Glens. ]
The messages continued on like this but most of them were useless. Overall, a majority of the viewers liked me after my fight with the C women and the snake.
I cleared all the messages and sighed again. Waking the Phoenix would take some time and with nothing to do, I was definitely going to be bored.
Vin had not replied to my message either. I was a little worried that she might have entered one of her vision states and was currently stuck somewhere.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it.
[ Evil energy has risen by 1% ]
Oh? This was the first time I saw this type of window. Looking down at the chain connecting me with the egg, I felt a part of me connecting with the egg.
Any fluctaution in evil or good energy was directly felt by me due to my connection with the egg.
[ Evil energy has risen by 1% ]
[ Evil energy has risen by 1% ]
A frown appeared on my face when two more messages popped up. I immediately opened the total energy window to check the distribution of energy present in the egg.
+
Current energy:
- Pure energy: 37%
- Evil energy: 28%
+
I only provided a 2% increase in good energy whereas the evil one rose by 3%.
[ Evil energy has risen by 2% ]
"The fuck?"
Such a rise in evil energy was not normal. Only a large number of killings could make this possible.
"You unintentionally caused this, Michael." A tired voice entered my ears.
"What do you mean, Inari?"
Inari the Entertainer was hovering a few inches away from me. She had suddenly appeared without warning. A tired expression was visible on her face.
"Those five women are doing everything in their power to turn the nature of the bird to evil. They are trying to kill any person they see." Inari explained.
"Even if they are doing that, it isn't possible to provide this much evil energy." I argued as two more message popped up.
[ Evil energy has risen by 1% ]
[ Pure energy has risen by 1% ]
This time I received a message regarding increase in pure energy as well.
"Well… I think you should look at her." Inari pointed behind towards the place where Ana's body was resting.
"Huh?"
I turned around with a confused expression but the moment I saw her body, my confusion turned into shock.
"Damn it…"