Chapter 123

That night, Hiro once again stayed the night at Jacob’s abode.

Jacob, the homeowner, didn’t find it burdensome at all. Not only did he not mind, but he was also more than happy to let Hiro stay as it meant he wouldn’t be alone in the large building.

Hiro lied down on the single bed in the bedroom. He wasn’t feeling sleepy yet, but he also had no intention of grinding for EXP or LSC in the middle of the night like usual.

That day, Hiro felt exhausted due to the lack of rest, but he also didn’t intend to sleep due to the turbulence in his mind.

One by one, the anomalies related to the game he was playing were being unveiled. He tried to connect everything with his mind, but it was futile. There were still too many gaps he still couldn’t find an explanation for at the moment.

He subconsciously furrowed his brows and frowned. His brother’s death turned out to be connected to the developer company of LSO, and even the girl he loved was related to the very same game’s mystery.

Hiro deeply sighed. He desperately wanted to know what actually happened. He didn’t want to miss anything, but he was powerless.

He tried to brush off his thoughts about LSO’s mystery and focus on his initial goal of playing the game: Win the game launch event that now had 2–3 weeks until its final announcement. He got so many distractions that he was left behind by other players who were truly focused on that one goal.

“Kwak!”

Spyro, who was asleep on the wooden desk near Hiro, seemed to be having a slightly unpleasant dream. It squirmed and made some noises for a bit, but after a few moments, it quickly went back to sleep.

Hiro stroked the baby dragon’s back until it snored like a cat.

“I am so tired,” Hiro mumbled while putting his left hand on his head, still lying down and staring at the room ceiling.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten about one important thing; the item he obtained as a reward for defeating the snake woman.

[Lucifer’s Sigil]

[Description: A sigil containing an immense power from one of the most powerful demon lords, Lucifer. Once this item is activated, your soul will be sold to the demon lord without a way to retrieve it. In return, you will be rewarded with his unique power. Dare to try?]

Even though the item was classified as an accessory, when Hiro took it out, he found that it was only in the form of a tarot card with a symbol widely known as Lucifer’s sigil.

The item’s description box only had a very general description, so Hiro didn’t know what he would obtain from using the accessory. He tried to check every corner of the card as thoroughly as possible for any text, but he saw none.

Until he activated his Demon’s Eyes.

[Lucifer is the most powerful demon lord. Who knows what you will obtain when you give your soul to him.]

Still, the information he found wasn’t specific and even seemed a little too exaggerated.

“If this thing can give me a lot of strength, I better activate it.”

‘But selling my soul to Lucifer, huh?’

To tell the truth, he didn’t really mind the price even though it wasn’t a game world.

Hiro didn’t stand up and remained in his position when he decided to activate the item in his left hand.

Ding!

[Are you sure you want to activate Lucifer’s Sigil?]

[Note: Your soul will no longer be yours. Are you sure?]

He was a little puzzled as to why his HUD system would ask him twice. It was as if it was trying to keep him from getting lost in the dark world.

But of course, Hiro nodded.

“Yes, activate the sigil.”

…

Clink!

Crash!

All of a sudden, the card in Hiro’s hand glowed a shade of purple that reminded him of the Blood-Eater Vampire when its unique skill was active. A few moments after, the card broke into crystal shards that floated above his head before combining into a violet orb the size of a tennis ball.

Hiro moved his index finger to touch the orb out of curiosity. To his surprise, as his finger approached it, the orb suddenly darted away and swiftly bounced in every direction in the room as if it wanted to run away.

At a loss for what to do, he quickly stood up and tried to catch the violet orb with difficulty before it escaped from the closed room.

However, just when Hiro jumped to catch it, the orb suddenly shot into his chest right where his heart was.

Clink!

Hiro instantly felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He could feel all the blood in his body being pulled toward his heart by that thing, and in a matter of seconds, all his senses stopped working and he fell backward to the wooden floor.

Excruciating pain rushed through his body. At that moment, Hiro experienced the agonizing phenomenon of being on the border between life and death. He didn’t realize it, but the simulated pain from the phenomenon truly happened, like those who barely escaped death.

A near-death experience.

Ding!

[Removing your soul…]

Hiro could see a notification appear on a dark background, but apart from that, he couldn’t do anything. It was so painful that his entire body felt numb.

[Soul has been removed]

‘Arghhh!’

He wanted to scream his lungs out, but it was as if his body was out of his control.

Ding!

[Lucifer has accepted your soul.]

[Implanting new soul…]

‘…Huh?’

[Absolute Demon Seed has been planted]

[Downloading a new system…]

The recent notifications confused him. Coupled with the pain causing him to find it difficult to think straight, he couldn’t process what was going on.

Hiro didn’t know why the process was taking so long. He had begun to feel frustrated due to being immobile despite being completely conscious of what was happening in his body.

[New system has been downloaded]

[Synchronizing system with HUD…]

He looked back to the time when he got the GPS. The process to activate the item didn’t take this long, and it definitely wasn’t nearly as painful as this one. He couldn’t help but wonder, what was going to happen?

[Systems have been synchronized]

Ding!

[A restart is required. System will automatically restart.]

Zipp!

…

Hiro was instantly programmed to sleep for several minutes before finally, the voice of a woman woke him up.

[Pride System has been successfully implanted]