From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 36: Vow

I walked the obsidian stairs that were in front of me. I had way too many questions, emotions and fatigue built up to consider anything.

After a while of mindless drifting while walking up the stairs, I saw a big plaque with the number 109.

I approached and placed my hand on a silver plaque that was embedded in the door.

It swiftly opened.

When I entered the room, the door closed by itself. And for the first time in my life, a new emotion surged within me. Up until now I only knew the dormitories, and there you only had a bunk bed, there was no privacy, only constant noise and funky smells.

But here I felt weirdly comfy.

My eyes catched a glimpse of the stuff in the room, but I didn’t bother. As soon as I identified the bed I fell and sank to the bottom of the white mattress.

After many days without proper rest, this felt only natural, already half asleep I could only thank Coco for the incredible idea.

Time flowed. And then some more.

Deep in my sleep I started dreaming about moving crates. Playing with my yo-yo. Flying in the sky. Kicking some Corruptor’s ass here and there.

Then a thought formed in my subconscious, it exploded so fast, that it took me from dreamland to reality in a matter of seconds.

"Level two!" I screamed, now awake.

At that moment the blue panel that was stuck following me changed.

[The system evaluated your performance.]

[You destroyed one of the 10 calamities as your first kill.]

[The system has adapted to match with your achievements.]

’What!? One of the 10 calamities? What does that even mean?’

[You will only level up by killing a creature of the same or higher level.]

[We’ve assigned you the ’Unwritten’ rank.]

[Your first boon: ’Switch’ now consumes only one-millionth of its original charge per use.]

’That’s insane! I’ll be able to use it all day!’

[Select your vow: Forget who you are - Lose an arm - You randomly get lost.]

"Are you insane!?" I yelled. "Who would ever on his right mind pick the first two? Getting lost here and there doesn’t seem like a big problem."

And then I chose the third option.

A mistake I couldn’t even begin to comprehend at the moment. I would’ve given both arms if I knew how horrible that would be.

[If you tell someone your vow, you and that person will permanently die.]

’What... wait, what!?’ But the system didn’t wait and followed.

[You’ve received: ’Hibrem cube’ from - King Emi.]

[Open your inventory to equip it.]

’Inventory?’ I thought for a moment, and then a new blue window opened to my left.

There was a grid system where I could see the clothes I was wearing equipped. And below it there was a silver cube. I moved my finger towards it and it opened a new window.

[Hibrem cube - Equipment level 2] 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

[Description: The king of the most powerful race was betrayed by the person he trusted the most. Son of the system, infected by the Corruption the two western continents created to eradicate his kind. The only thing he managed to save from the corruption was his ability. Barrier]

’What? There’s more continents out there?’ I thought while digesting the newfound information. ’He saved his ability? And what does that have to do with this cube?’

There was more information to be read below the description.

[Bound to: Allaran.]

[The item cannot be given or lost, it will always return to the owner.]

That seemed like a lot of new information to take in. ’Yesterday at this time I didn’t even know that we could level up, just how many secrets are there?’ I thought, feeling suffocated.

Then my finger slipped towards the cube. I was just as perplexed as I was curious.

A small silver box with golden scripture fell into my hands. It hummed a low frequency, and there seemed to be a small green hue around the object.

’How does this work?’ I thought. ’It can’t be as simple as saying activate, right?’

"Activate!". I spoke the words, but nothing happened.

’Then, what about the word barrier—’

And in that moment the cube started floating. The green hue became stronger. It started to solidify, creating a small sphere around it while it floated in my palms.

’Well, I’m glad we figured that one out... and how does it grow—’

And then the sphere started growing. Steadily and controlled. It felt as if I could control how fast it expanded only by thinking about what I wanted it to do.

’Stop. This is awesome, but I don’t know how to charge it. It would be a waste to use it now.’

And just like that, the cube stopped shimmering, and I willed it back to the inventory.

’How come now that I’m stronger, a One, and a King killer, my days seem to only become more and more complex? The last 14 years of my existence all I ever did was move boxes, no thinking. I thought life was supposed to get easier after the exile.’

Yes, my lazy self appeared to be waking from his deep slumber inside me. Crawling from the vacations it had while my life was in constant danger, but now that I had a second to breathe, it seemed to be interested in working overtime.

’The reunion! I’m still not a One, I have to complete the process.’

I finally decided to get up and look around the room for food, since the only two things I knew this room had was a bed and a ceiling.

’Is that a fridge?’ I thought while hurrying towards the big silver block that had two small handles.

It opened swiftly, and I could feel the cold air hit my face. Then my eyes gleamed with an overjoy that I didn’t know my brain was able to create.

’There’s so much meat! I have only tasted it a couple of times before!’

I stuffed my mouth with as much as I could, until I heard a knocking on my door.

Knock. Knock. "Are you there Allaran? We need to go to the examination."

I opened the door while still munching on some steak I’d found and I saw Kira. Her skin looked like white marble, I had forgotten what her face looked like without grime and dirt. Probably something she couldn’t say about me, since I only slept and ate.

"What are you eating? Is that meat?" Kira said in a curious tone.

"Yes!" I yelled. "I can feel how my body was supposed to eat this everyday".

"Well, if we don’t go to the examination, you might never taste it again, so let’s get going."

"Alright..." I said as I swallowed the last piece of steak. "Let’s get going."