Chapter 100: Exhaustion
Amid the darkness, inside a room barely illuminated by candlelight, Rios’s body lay face down on the floor in the middle of a pool of crimson blood...
His own blood.
At that moment, Rios’s fingers twitched slightly.
As time passed, his limbs gradually began to move, then his entire body started trembling.
After several minutes of faint movement, Rios finally opened his eyes and spoke with great difficulty, his voice broken and weak.
"W... What...
Ha... happened...
To... me...?"
With immense effort, Rios forced his body to move, pushing himself backward until he was lying on his back instead of his stomach.
He stared blankly at the ceiling, barely visible through the darkness.
"Why...
Do I...
Feel...
This weak...?"
Rios struggled to breathe, but the dried blood around his nose made every breath even more difficult.
"S... System...
Convert...
Points...
Into...
Energy..."
He barely managed to utter those words, feeling that speaking any further would cause him to lose consciousness again.
[Beginning point-to-energy conversion.]
[1,000 points will be deducted to restore Energy.]
[Remaining Points: 37M]
The System’s voice echoed inside Rios’s mind.
An endless stream of Energy surged through his body toward his Energy Core.
Ten minutes later, the Core—which had been completely drained—was once again filled to the brim with Energy.
After confirming that it was full, Rios immediately activated Pulse of Life, using it to heal both his body and his internal injuries.
Within a single minute...
Rios was already sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Opening them once more, he frowned as he looked at the blood covering both the floor and his clothes.
A trace of anger welled up inside him.
It wasn’t enough that he had been gravely injured for no apparent reason...
Those strange doubts and voices had also returned...
Stronger than ever.
You are weak!
Coward!
Dominate!
Subjugate!
Destroy!
Everything around you is a conspiracy!
A scheme!
Lies!
Everyone wants you to fall!
To die!
To be destroyed!
Trust no one!
Everyone is suspicious!
Broken walls!
Rivers of blood!
The wailing of souls!
Knives in your back!
...
...
...
Those words flooded Rios’s mind one after another, accompanied by dozens...
Then hundreds...
Of similar whispers.
If they had merely been words, Rios wouldn’t have cared.
He could have ignored them without difficulty.
But every whispered phrase carried with it an overwhelming surge of emotion.
Envy.
Rage.
Hatred.
Pride.
Arrogance.
Greed.
And countless other negative emotions.
Gritting his teeth, Rios poured massive amounts of Life Energy into his mind, attempting to cleanse it of those distracting thoughts.
After continuously using Life Energy to calm himself and disperse those chaotic emotions, he finally managed to suppress them to a certain extent.
"Haa..."
Rios let out a long sigh before crawling backward until he leaned against the wall.
Only then did he allow himself to relax slightly, utterly exhausted from the immense mental strain.
"System...
Do you know why I suffered those injuries and suddenly became so weak?"
Rios asked, hoping for an answer.
His strength had vanished without warning.
For a moment...
He had truly believed he was going to die.
He already had his own suspicions.
He simply wanted confirmation from the System.
[It was foolish of you, Host, to use the Fate Gem before breaking through to Wis (4).]
[Your body is far too weak to use something like that.]
[The Fate Gem is a treasure created through the fusion of numerous Basic and Cosmic Laws to produce such a miracle.]
[Unless you reach the Fourth Level and your body is reconstructed to withstand such concentrated pressure from those Laws, using it while you’re still only at the Third Level is nothing short of madness.]
[You were fortunate to suffer only severe injuries instead of losing your life.]
The System’s mocking voice echoed through Rios’s mind as it warned him.
[So the next time you purchase something without understanding its risks... ask first.]
Just as Rios had expected...
He had initially suspected that the backlash came from the Fate Gem.
He simply hadn’t imagined it would be this severe.
"Thank you for the advice.
But do you know anything about these emotions, thoughts, and suspicions that have been haunting me lately?"
Rios nodded in gratitude before asking about what truly concerned him the most.
[.....]
As always...
Sometimes the System answered his questions and acted like a wonderful supporter.
Other times...
It ignored him completely, as though it knew nothing.
Seeing that response, Rios clenched his teeth in frustration before speaking again, trying his best to remain calm.
"Can’t you see that I’m in serious trouble?
I need your help here."
Exactly as he expected...
The System behaved as though it didn’t exist.
[...]
"Damn you.
Forget it.
I’m the idiot for relying on you in the first place."
Rios gritted his teeth once again and slammed his fist into the wall behind him, shattering it.
He was certain the System knew part of the truth.
It was simply hiding it for some reason.
With great difficulty, Rios rose to his feet and staggered toward the exit.
As he walked, the vision of his fate resurfaced in his mind.
The enormous sea of blood...
The countless corpses floating upon it...
The innumerable races...
And above all...
That ancient black coffin.
The most mysterious object in the entire vision.
What did it represent?
Why was it sealed?
Why did the gray chain seek to destroy it more desperately than any of the others?
What did all those chains symbolize?
And to whom did the imprisoned soul within that black coffin belong?
One question after another filled Rios’s thoughts.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, he finally emerged from the underground chamber.
He now stood beneath the bright moon hanging in the sky, surrounded by the darkness of the Royal Garden.
Rios forcibly cast all those unnecessary thoughts aside.
He no longer wished to overthink anything.
With slow, weary steps, he headed toward the central area of the Royal Garden, where the Immortal Tree of Life stood.
Anyone who looked at Rios’s face at this moment would immediately notice the overwhelming mental exhaustion written across it.
Seeking relief from that fatigue, he walked toward one corner of the garden.
There...
A small waterfall flowed into a tranquil pool.
Rios removed his clothes and stepped into the water, sitting directly beneath the cascading stream.
After some time...
His body finally relaxed.
And he slowly closed his eyes.