Free Web NovelChapter 6: Chapter 6: Awakening Ceremony
Night opened his eyes and pushed himself up from the ruined floor with a heavy groan that felt entirely too big for his tiny seven-year-old chest before whispering, "I am alive."
The thick choking dust around him finally began to settle to reveal a massive terrifying crater that looked as if a meteor had thrown a violent temper tantrum right in the middle of the underground facility.
He stared at the charred spot where the terrifying middle-aged man had just been trying to absorb his karmic soul and let out a dry little chuckle.
"Haha, I survived. So much for being strong, a villain can never be too careful."
Looking around he saw the sheer apocalyptic devastation caused by the Ghost’s explosive attack and his brief victory high completely vanished.
He sobered up quickly as his mood plummeted back down to reality.
The pristine white facility was entirely gone and replaced by twisted burning steel and smoking ash stretching out toward the dark horizon.
Let’s leave fast before something else crops up, he thought.
He had just taken two careful steps when a sharp chime rang out.
He jumped nearly out of his skin and almost tripped over a stray bit of jagged metal as a glowing blue box materialized out of thin air to float right in front of his face.
New life detected...
Initiating Life...
Successful...
Ding!
Welcome to the System!!!
Status
Name: Night (Nightmare)
Race: Homunculus (Artificial Human)
Class: None
Level: 0
Energy Value (EV): 0
Aspect: [Nightmare]
Skills: None
Unique Skill: [Nightmare Domain] free𝑤ebnovel.com
Summons: [Eve], [Lilith], [Death]
Title: None
[Would you like to Awaken?]
[Y/N]
Wow. It really is a system, he thought.
He definitely had some strong thoughts on certain things like the glowing blue text identifying his race as a Homunculus but he decided a profound existential crisis could wait for a more convenient time.
Right now I am powerless so Awakening is a no-brainer, he concluded.
He closed his eyes and checked on his friends resting safely in his soul space before trying to create a pulling sensation in his chest. Voila.
Three swirling black portals opened around him in the settling dust and all of them stepped outside into the ruined facility.
Death, Lilith, and Eve all looked down at him and upon seeing him perfectly fine they stood there completely unbothered by the devastation to start watching the surrounding rubble for any hidden danger.
Hmm, I think they are not very conscious yet, Night mused as he watched the two terrifying eldritch mechs and the skeleton act like highly lethal security cameras.
They had the fierce protective instincts of loyal guard dogs but clearly lacked the higher cognitive functions to question why their friend was a tiny child standing in a bomb crater.
He sat cross-legged on the ground completely unbothered by his ruined surroundings and mentally shared his desire to Awaken to the System.
[Initiating Awakening]
As soon as he saw the message his entire vision shifted violently and all of them got teleported away from the apocalyptic wasteland into an endless sterile white room. In the exact middle of the room floated a pristine white ball resting on a sleek minimalist platform.
Despite the total lack of color contrast the white ball somehow seemed to stand out vividly as if the background itself was actually dark black pushing the sphere forward into reality.
[Welcome to the Awakening Ceremony]
He looked around the bizarre dimension and saw that Death, Eve, and Lilith got invited as well which was honestly very polite of the System to accommodate his friends during such a deeply personal evolutionary moment.
He asked one question that seemed very important for his immediate survival and to determine if pressing yes was a stupid decision.
"Will the outside time pass the same as the time here?" he asked because if hostile people or beasts came to check the crater while he was gone he would be in serious trouble when he returned to the real world.
[Only an Instant will pass outside regardless of the time here]
The robotic text floated above the white sphere in a crisp glowing font that felt incredibly absolute and unquestionable.
"Wow, are you a person or a system?" he wondered out loud since the immediate response felt suspiciously conversational for an automated cosmic interface.
[I am the system]
"Are you impartial?" he asked throwing out a trick question just to see how this grand cosmic entity handled a philosophical trap.
[I am fair]
Fair huh, not impartial, Night thought and decided that was deeply worrying since he would probably be stuck with this rigid bureaucratic entity for a lifetime or more.
Fairness was subjective and an apocalypse was rarely fair to a kid with a base strength stat of zero.
Impartial meant following the rules blindly like a machine but fair meant the System could make its own subjective judgments about what he deserved which sounded like a massive headache waiting to happen.
As if it was completely done with amusing him the white sphere pulsed and stated its grand purpose to move the ceremony along.
[For most of the beings in the known Universe, Awakening is the most significant part of their evolution journey]
Night immediately caught the glaring loophole in the phrasing.
"Most, not everyone? Is it related to how I was blocked from accessing the system for seven years?" Night asked as his curiosity got the best of him and he leaned forward to interrogate the glowing orb.
[...]
The system literally replied with a floating ellipsis which felt like the cosmic equivalent of a customer service representative putting him on hold or awkwardly clearing their throat to avoid answering a difficult question. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
[Note: Awakening will allow you to access the evolution path with the aid of the system, allow you to access energy, allow you to gain skills, evolution path, class and many more]
[LET THE AWAKENING BEGIN!!!]
Seriously, did it just ignore me so blatantly? Night thought.
Eve, Lilith, and Death were abruptly pulled back into his body without warning as the dimensional physics of the room shifted.
Before he could do anything to protest the surrounding space was suddenly filled with vibrant different colors that looked like brilliant colorful stars scattered across the universe.
It was a beautiful breathtaking display of cosmic power showing millions of potential magic paths and classes waiting to be claimed.
One of those floating stars that looked suspiciously like a tiny version of his own dark fog domain broke away from the majestic constellation and rushed directly towards him before slamming into his chest with a brilliant flash of light.
[Congratulations you have Awakened Aspect: Nightmare]
Night stared blankly at the glowing blue text with an entirely flat expression.
