A frosty breath escaped his mouth as Kai opened his eyes.
The warning notification was still flashing red, but his HP was slowly regenerating. He tried to lift his finger. Finding that he could, he brought out his strength to move his wrist. With the slightest motion, a book appeared by his side.
"Sel…" Kai uttered half the name. The Ghost Serpent slithered out from his blindside.
Kai's eyes shook, seeing her state. Before, she was as smooth as milk, being covered in smoother white scales. Now, all of her scales were overlapping each other, giving the Ghost Serpent a distinct draconian appeal, like dragons. When she slithered, rings of alternate black and yellow color seemed to travel along her length from head to tail.
Even her eyes had changed, becoming pupilless.
Her left eye was just a mass of turbid yellow, like the color of the enormous door from his Blood Prophecy that made Kai tremble upon recalling it. Her right eye was pitch black, the color of utmost darkness. When focused, he felt an illusion as if hundreds of tiny black tendrils were wriggling inside that darkness, like worms.
The most conspicuous change about her was the vertical gash on her forehead.
It seemed like someone had tried to open her head by cutting it down, but then changed their mind and closed the wound hastily.
Hisss!
-Save- she hissed.
-Save him- she cried.
-Save him. He must not die- she roared.
When the waterfall of notifications appeared in between him and the serpent, Kai knew his entire life had gone some momentous change in the last few hours.
…
[
Elementary Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+30%)
The Elementary Snake Language is leveled up to become Advance Snake Language
…
Advance Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+100%)
The Advance Snake Language is leveled up to become Master Snake Language
…
Master Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+100%)
The Master Snake Language is leveled up to become an Elite Ability
…
Elite Ability: Parseltongue
…
Contestant Kai Stormborn, you have become the fastest Contestant to level up an Elementary Ability to an Elite Ability.
Reward:
1. Access to the Primordial Tower Trade Market
2. Market Access Fee: 0 (-100%)
…
Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn…
You have achieved a Milestone
…
Milestone: Get your first Elite Ability
Milestone Rewards: Worth +50
]
…
Kai couldn't help but gawk at the notifications with raw disbelief. What just happened?
No Power had ever come to him without a cost. Now, Kai wondered what kind of price he had paid for this Power unknowingly.
Then his eyes snapped to look at Selene as she approached the book.
A deep sense of guilt and remorse took over his heart.
Kai smothered those emotions brutally. His mouth parted, and he hissed as if all his life he had known this language. The strange twists of his muscles that had made him vomit blood before now only lingered like phantom pain.
Hisss!
-Selene, open the Book- he told her.
The Ghost Serpent paused momentarily as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.
-Master, you spoke?!- she said joyously, like a baby pet running to the owner after a long day.
-The book- Kai insisted.
The serpent hissed, slithering out her forked tongue.
Kai noticed her head moving in random directions. She can't see, he realized, his eyes widening at the fact. What the hell happened to her?
Selene found the book and used her tail to pry it open from the middle. It wasn't on the specific page, but Kai thought it should be enough.
-Primordial Theater- He hissed out the words, and when he saw Petyr coming out of the smoky veil, he let out a relieved sigh.
"… Time," Kai said, struggling. It was as if he was speaking in a foreign language.
Petyr looked at Kai, then at the snake, and finally somewhere up at the clock. "Not the time for dinner," he said, smiling. "But you two already seemed full, my lord."
Kai neither had the time nor the strength to snap at Petyr. His HP needed healing, and he couldn't afford for Meg to find him like this. He looked at the Character and pointed his chin toward the bed.
Petyr did as he was told. Giving a wide berth to the blind serpent, he brought Kai to the bed.
-Relentless Love!- Kai hissed. The moment Petyr's blurry figure entered him, he activated the Titan's buff. A bronze spartan helmet covered his head, buffing his Stamina the most. His HP regeneration rate shot up instantly.
Kai took a deep breath.
As color returned to his pale cheeks, Kai recalled the scenes from the Blood Prophecy.
Face hard, and eyes harder, Kai forced himself to go through everything again and again. There wasn't much to find out, to begin with. The only thing he could tell for sure was his future actions had somehow affected his past.
The Blood Prophecy is much more perilous than I have given it the credit for, he reflected. What was that door, and that strip of tattered cloth? What was that color?
But no matter how many times he asked himself, he couldn't find anything.
It was reasonable for him to not know about it, as it was something that had yet to happen. It was nothing but a distortion of time and events. All he had analyzed was that something had invaded his Blood World, using the connection between his future self and his current awareness.
The only thing that he remembered was the words.
Kai's teeth clattered, thinking about what could have happened if the Blood Ocean hadn't shattered at the right time.
Then he remembered another thing.
The Primordial Tower Trade Market, Kai brought out the notification. Market… Let's ask Chaos.
…
[
The Primordial Tower Trade Market is a privilege available to all Contestants above 3rd Set and having a Worth above 25.
You can upload and trade Items, Information, etc., using Mission Credits.
Once uploaded, the Systems convert their values in Mission Credits, which can be used by the Contestants for accurate and precise comparison before trading.
]
…
The first word that came to Kai's mind after going through the notification was… Sabers.
Hmm… Kai thought, reflecting. I must have a pair of Sabers. The only issue is Mission Credits… but I also need to kill quite a many 4th-floor Contestants, too. So, its best to invest in Sabers and then hoard the Mission Credits after killing the Contestants.
One more thing he noticed was that the notification only briefly described the Market.
Perhaps Meg would know about it… Kai thought, but doubted his own words. She was a mere 1st Set Contestant. Still… there's something odd about her. She's also a member of 7th floor Organization, which is from 3rd Set. Let's see…
It was then Kai's gaze fell upon the silver magical creature.
-Selene, come to me- Kai hissed the command.
A mass of pure silver mist rose from the ground and slithered up to his chest, solidifying into the Ghost Serpent. Her mist form is still as silver as before, Kai noticed. Then why has her body changed? What happened to her eyes?
Kai looked at her, and at the gash between her blind eyes.
She seemed weak and helpless, coiled over his chest like a dying animal. She said nothing to him. Neither was she avoiding the region around his chest anymore like before.
Now Kai realized the truth with a heavy heart.
A Price had indeed been exacted for this sudden, massive growth in his Ability.
And the one who paid the price wasn't him, but Selene.