"Finally… I got it."
His efforts had paid off.
The pain and exhaustion he'd endured weren't in vain.
He picked up the grimoire and sat down at the table.
It was black, with a crimson crystal embedded in its center.
It was about the size of his head.
The grimoire was spotless, not a speck of dust on it.
"The design is exquisite."
He'd originally planned to design it like an old book.
But he'd changed his mind after a reader suggested a more aesthetically pleasing design.
Suddenly, the crimson crystal glowed intensely.
"...? What's happening?"
"Is the grimoire malfunctioning?"
Slowly, the light dimmed, then vanished completely.
The grimoire opened by itself, revealing runes etched into each page.
"Why are there runes? I never wrote anything like this into the novel…"
He flipped to the next page.
"What does this mean?"
"Is this connected to the story changing?"
In the novel, this had never happened.
Because he'd never written anything like this.
But…
Why now?
He touched the runes.
"This—"
Suddenly, the runes glowed a deep blue.
"Ugh!"
Hastora tossed the grimoire away.
The moment the blue light touched him, he was somewhere else.
He flinched, then looked around with a confused expression.
"Where am I…?"
He rose to his feet.
"What is this place?"
Nothing. No ground. No clouds.
Violet energy flowed across the ceiling.
Reality itself seemed fractured like shattered glass.
The flow of time ceased, the laws of physics didn't apply.
Besides the emptiness, it was utterly chaotic.
"...This is…"
There was no mistake.
"Nihility Collapse."
"That blue light…"
He had no idea how the blue light had brought him here.
It was so bizarre.
Again, things unrelated to the story were happening.
In the novel, to enter the Nihility Collapse, one only needed to swipe the crimson crystal on the grimoire across its pages.
This was vastly different from what was happening now.
"Has the story truly changed?"
He couldn't be certain.
But he couldn't deny it either.
Many things he'd experienced proved the story had changed.
Starting with the Nonconformity, the runes on the grimoire, and the blue light from the grimoire, none of which were mentioned in the novel.
It was all clear.
But he still couldn't accept it.
"Maybe… it's just a coincidence."
For now, he'd assume as much.
He needed to confirm a few things after getting out of here.
"!!!"
Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming surge of energy in his body.
His thin frame vanished.
Veins bulged across his arms.
His muscles tightened, he could feel eight distinct packs on his abdomen.
His body was enveloped in dark red and pitch-black energy.
"...!!!"
His mana was leaking…
His body couldn't contain this much power.
But he didn't give up.
"I can't waste this opportunity."
He closed his eyes.
"I have to stop the mana leak."
Focusing, he tried to understand the flow of energy entering his body.
"This…"
The flow was incredibly complex.
He couldn't clearly understand the energy flowing into him.
His mana continued to leak because of it.
This was bad.
Very bad.
If this continued…
"No! I can do this!"
His bones felt like they were shattering.
His veins felt like they were being severed.
Pain shot through his entire body.
It felt like he was being flayed alive.
This… was excruciating.
"I'll die if this continues."
Enduring the pain, he again tried to understand the energy flow.
"Ugh…"
His body screamed in agony, but he didn't stop.
"That… "
He was beginning to understand the flow.
It wasn't as complicated as he'd thought.
He'd failed before simply because he lacked focus.
"Just a little more."
Slowly, his mana stopped leaking, the energy flowing into his body stabilized until it finally ended.
"I… I did it…"
He collapsed, gasping for breath.
His breath was heavy, but he'd stabilized the incoming energy.
His mana began to increase rapidly.
Now, all he needed to do was lie down and let the energy flow into his body.
"I thought I was going to die."
That had been truly agonizing.
He'd never experienced such terrifying pain.
If he'd stopped trying, he might be dead now.
The energy in the Nihility Collapse was truly chaotic.
It was only natural that his body felt such excruciating pain as the energy flowed into him.
Humans weren't meant to enter this place.
Ordinary humans would instantly die and be utterly destroyed if they couldn't stabilize the incoming energy.
Only he could enter this dimension safely.
No one else.
No one.
He knew this was extremely dangerous, but to become stronger, he had to do this.
Suddenly, he realized something, sitting up with a confused expression.
"Wait, why can I breathe?"
This place had no air, so how could he breathe here?
Was it because he was a Nonconformity?
He ran a hand across his chin, lost in thought.
"If that's true, then—"
Suddenly, a crack appeared before him.
A creature emerged as the crack shattered like glass.
"Who are you?"
To be continued in the next chapter…
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A/N:
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Over and out, Zalario