NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Ch 4: The Blessing Of Threads
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"A large price, you have asked for, so what do you offer in return?" It continued with a slight shift in tone, "You haven't come empty handed, have you?"
"Well I indeed have come empty handed, but I can offer you something that none can." He waved politely.
"And what might be that?" Nexus' voice was filled with curiosity.
There was only one thing which Nexus wanted the most and that was-
"Freedom." Noir said with a smile, raising both hands in front of him, palms open and facing upward—an offering, as if he were presenting freedom itself.
Nexus felt like he was being mocked at, after all unsealing him was equal to defying the spell of the great mage 'Archious'.
"Are you implying that you are able to undo the seal?"
"You could indeed say that." Noir smiled faintly as he continued, "Don't take it as a promise but rather as a 'hope', since I am but a humble human."
From the moment Noir uncovered the spell, he had set himself apart. To find what was meant to remain hidden was no small feat.
And yet, what unsettled Nexus was not the discovery itself—but the certainty in Noir's actions. He moved as if he already knew how events would unfold, as if he were merely following a script only he could read.
A rare kind of man. Perhaps, even, a worthy ally.
"…Very well. I shall bestow upon you the blessing of threads."
Nexus' voice carried a hint of reluctance, yet refusal was never an option.
Threads, pale as moonlight, surged forth, coiling around Noir in an endless weave. Yet, they did not strangle, nor did they bind. Instead, they embraced—welcoming him into their grasp.
'It's so calm.. I could spirit away.'
The threads embraced him—calm, warm, almost lulling him to sleep.
Then—SNAP
His body lurched. Gravity returned. CRACK.
Noir's back hit the cold floor. His vision blurred. A sharp sting flared on his forehead but the phantom grip of silver threads still lingered.
"Sheesh." Noir stood up and tried to rub off the dust on his clothes, however there wasn't any dust as it was the room of a noble after all.
'Being rich feels good, but what is this ache-like feeling on my forehead?'
He tried touching it, it felt like the fabric of an incomplete piece of cloth. Turning his head left he looked at the mirror and was flabbergasted.
"White threads on the left-front of my forehead?"
Slowly the threads finished weaving themselves and turned into sort of a white piece of cloth on the forehead.
He looked at the edge of the table and saw blood, "So I crashed onto the table…but-"
By now the white patch of cloth on his forehead had already turned into human skin.
It didn't take long for him to realize that it was the healing effect which comes along with the blessing. However what left him shocked for the most part wasn't the healing effect but the fact that-
"-the healing effect can only be used after one surpasses the Compréhension phase."
The count of 'Steps' wasn't very reliable and was hard to catch on since minor differences in power was for the most part hard to observe thus 'Phases' were introduced by 'Theodore' in his book "99 Steps" the book contained significant information on progression on the négatif path along with knowledge on each phases.
The ranking went as follows:
1-20 steps ( Réveil )
21-40 steps ( Descente )
41-60 steps ( Compréhension )
61-80 steps ( Perspicacité )
81-99 steps ( Réflexion )
The name of the last phase wasn't written by Theodore as he stated, 'It isn't a phase its the result.'
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According to his insight on Noir's physical appearance, it was crystal clear that Noir shouldn't have surpassed 60 steps, so what had changed? Like a shadow creeping in Noir was faced with a thought,
'Was it I who surpassed the Compréhension phase? Not the body, but the soul? Hah… How foolish of me to think flesh held any meaning.'
Though he wasn't sure exactly how many steps he was at. One thing was clear, he had far surpassed the original Noir.
Suddenly a cold touch of breeze brushed against his skin. That was when he looked towards the window, "It's still night... Well, before I sleep, I might as well try it out first."
Noir was referring to the blessing of threads and its first ability, the-
"First Weave." Noir spoke, thin white threads released from the tip of his fingers, however he wasn't able to control those and thus they crashed into the wall, the threads were fragile and the speed wasn't much either so there was little to no damage done.
"Of course, just having the ability doesn't necessarily mean you have full control over it." he sighed, face-palming himself.
Noir attempted it once again, this time he was able to change its route slightly but couldn't fully manipulate it.
He went at it again and again with each attempt refining his control, until he finally had complete mastery of its movements. What should have taken days, weeks, came to him in mere hours.
Of course, using such an ability over and over again had made him completely exhausted as well as consumed a lot of Noctis.
"Uh, a last time." Noir whispered, "First Weave." This time the threads were released in a blink, wrapped themselves around the handle of the drawer and pulled the drawer open.
"Fu*k, this is exhausting." He retrieved the threads and jumped on the soft comfy bed.
'I managed to get two blessings within such a short period of time, now the only thing left is for me to escape from this place.'
His plan was simple—pretend to be kidnapped, all the while slipping away to the neighboring kingdom, far from the eyes of those who might seek harm and trouble to him.
"With Aren's ability to fly, escape should be easy... but for most of the part nothing ever goes as planned, does it?"
There were many advantages to 'not' residing in 'The Kingdom Of Wereshia', firstly he could do whatever he wanted, without being watched by countless eyes. Not to mention, the king 'Ivan Wereshia' was paranoid so every move had a chance of being seen as plotting against him even if it wasn't and here was Noir who 'indeed' was plotting against the king.
"Transmigrating as a countryside noble might have been better if the novel wasn't 'The Kind World'." he whispered.
A novel where you might sleep tonight but not make it to tomorrow, the most ironic part? You won't even be surprised if it happened.
As Noir fell asleep, he couldn't help but feel nervous regarding his plan. As it was fragile and brittle, a single mistake could lead to him getting in deep danger.
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