Choice - 2

Choice - 2

I didn't know how long I stayed in the sea of light. A second An eternity

Slowly, however, I was able to pin down that the time wasn't passing just as fast, but it was a feeling of drunkenness. It was strong, stronger than any drink I had tasted, enough to enrapture me if it wasn't for the combined effects of the adrenaline rush and the pain of my wounds.

Interestingly, the moment I stepped into the light the sensation of rejection disappeared. It disappeared completely, almost as if it didn't exist in the first place and I had imagined it. I should have felt fascinated by the dancing colors around me, much more impressive than the best fireworks show I had ever seen, but a lifetime of practicality forced me to focus on more practical aspects.

Like how I managed to end up in the tunnel of light.

Whoever or whatever was responsible for the portal was not omnipotent. If they had been, they could have done something more effective to keep me away than trying to play with my thoughts or emotions to get me to make such a decision.

However, even as I processed this, I turned my attention to the other significant detail. Two lines of text that appeared in my sight, immediately after the first line about the Class Awakening disappeared.

[Class: Hero

Level: 0]

I had no idea what that text meant or required any kind of action from me. I might have tried to decipher it, but I had a more urgent issue to deal with.

My wounds, still bleeding.

I started ripping off my shirt, as quickly as I could manage in my current condition, trying to fashion out some bandages to stem the blood. It would be ironic if the blood loss ended me as I continued to float through the magical tunnel.

Yet, even as I tore the first bandage, I realized that something was wrong. The shirt was made of mixture of a silk and cotton blend, and while it was not impossible to tear such a fabric, it required a considerable amount of strength. Yet, it offered less resistance to my tugging than paper.

I lifted the fabric, only to find that it was thin and frayed as if it was a twenty-year-old shirt used in heavy-duty rather than a new one. In a panic, I raised my hand, looking at my fingers, afraid that the tunnel was somehow rejecting me.

It was still the same old, wrinkled skin, with no sign of weakening not beyond the effect of the constant blood loss.

I had something else to check. I turned my attention to my gun and my watch, only to see both had lost their luster and gained a dull, dusty look, almost soft. I grabbed the gun and squeezed it, only for it to shatter like foam in my palm.

It was an interesting concept, especially as I noticed that certain parts of my suit had already disintegrated completely. But I was too practical to miss the implications for my wounds, desperately pressing one hand to my shoulder, and the other to my thigh.

If everything else disintegrated, so would the bullets, and the bullets buried there were helping to plug the wounds they had caused. Their disappearance would only mean faster blood flow

And just like that, I found myself floating in some kind of trippy river of light, desperately hoping to reach the destination before the blood loss killed me.

I didn't pay any attention to the burning letters in front of me as I turned my eyes to my surroundings, hoping to find something to distract me from the desire to fall asleep. As the adrenaline rush slowly disappeared, it left exhaustion behind, compounded by the exhaustion of the blood loss.

Adding the drug-like effect of the tunnel to my already ragged state turned the simple task of staying awake into one of the most difficult challenges of my life.

I ignored everything else and focused on the singular task of staying alive. I had grown up as an orphan during the war, I had overcome betrayal, I had survived starvation, I had fought and bled until I had built an empire of shadows from nothing

Sleep was just another enemy to be defeated.

As I struggled, a small line popped up in front of me.

[Stat Potential Awakened: Resilience

Accept / Reject]

Another line of text appeared in my field of vision.

[+1836 Experience]

At the same time, I felt some kind of bath salts under my nose, stronger and more disgusting than anything else I had ever smelled, enough to wake me up even if I had been asleep.

"Level up," he had ordered me, his tone carrying a dismissive order, still annoyingly nasal. I had worked with many people during my life, sometimes leading, sometimes following. Yet very rarely I had heard such a casual, horrible tone when giving an order.

Yet, maybe he didn't need to use a commanding tone, because, suddenly, my mind was filled with a desire to follow his order. A flash of desire, one that was similar to the urge I had felt at the portal, though much stronger.

Or I was too weak, fighting on the brink of death.

I focused on leveling up. That was all I was able to do, the desire filling my head like an instinctive feeling, difficult to resist. Maybe even impossible.

[-100 Experience]

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

Another set of text that I could not understand, but before I could think about them, another order arrived, snotty and nasal, yet impossible to resist. "Allocate your stat points!"

I thought about that, and three other lines appeared.

[-Stat Points - 10]

[+5 Vitality]

[+5 Resilience]

And, along with that, a feeling of warmth spread through my body, one that I had not felt for a long time. A feeling of stirring, and some kind of absence of pain. Not from my wounds though they diminished considerably but from all the Little aches that had filled my body, accumulated over a long life of struggle.

A miracle, but that was nothing compared to what followed when he poured a small bottle of liquid down my throat.

Another line appeared.

[+1 Health]

"Heal yourself," came another command, once again with a mental weight. Yet, there was something different at this time. Earlier, whenever he gave an order, it echoed deep within my soul, filling me with a forceful kind of desire to follow it.

This time, the same weight still came, but not so directly, as if there was some kind of barrier between me and the weight that accompanied the order.

Still, I followed it.

[-1 Health]

And just like that, I felt a stirring in my wounds, all the intensity of one bandaged for two weeks, concentrated into one second.

The most annoying yet amazing feeling I had ever experienced