Three months of deep and careful consideration could not prepare him for this crazy decision he was about to make.
Well, quite frankly, no amount of time could prepare a man for a fate of eternal damnation and madness.
These were the thoughts that passed through his head as he laid on his side, feeling the cold chill of the metal floor belonging to the cargo container, the one on the edge of NQSC which he had called home for a while. But even the cold could not distract him from what he held in his hand—a simple, crystalline bottle, filled to the near brim with a pale black liquid, held inside by a simple cork. Countless bubbles rose from the bottom of the flask while a soft, muffled sound of a gavel hitting a wooden surface echoed from inside, reminiscent of the inside of a court.
thud! thud! thud!
Just as another round of thumping echoed from inside the bottle, his attention shifted to the simple white label that was plastered on the container. On it were written words that seemed ancient, so ancient in fact, that all languages seemed to originate from them. Yet, Despite not knowing this language, the meaning was clear, and it told him all he needed to know about the contents of the bottle.
Sequence 9: Lawyer
Yes, this was a beyonder potion. A sequence 9 potion— the first step into the alluring path to power— was right in his hand. Of course, that wasn't the weird part here. The weird part was that he was currently in the outskirts of NQSC, in the brutal world of shadow slave, while also having the key to the power system of Lord of mysteries right in his hand.
His eyes once again shifted from the bottle in his hand to the two lines of similar bottles, each filled with liquids of various colors and effects, all holding the similar white label.
Sequence 8: Barbarian
Sequence 7: Briber
Sequence 6: Barron of Corruption
Sequence 5: Mentor of Disorder
Sequence 4: Earl of the Fallen
Sequence 3: Frenzied Mage
Sequence 2: Duke of Entropy
Sequence 1: Prince of Abolition
And...
Sequence 9: Arbiter
Sequence 8: Sheriff
Sequence 7: Interrogator
Sequence 6: Judge
Sequence 5: Disciplinary Paladin
Sequence 4: Imperative Mage
Sequence 3: Chaos Hunter
Sequence 2: Balancer
Sequence 1: Hand of Order
And at the end of each of these parade of glassy soldiers were two objects. The first could barely be called an object, considering it was literally just a black void with nothing to see. Revolving around it like planets were two other items whose existence was as hazy as mist, as if existing between reality and illusions.
These were, of course, the uniqueness of the Black Emperor pathway and the two corresponding Sequence 1 Prince of Abolition characteristics.
On the other line was a brass covered book with intricate patterns engraved upon its cover, and revolving around it were two simple wooden gavels. The uniqueness of the Justiciar pathway and the two Sequence 1 Hand of Order characteristics.
All of these various items had appeared next to him when he had transmigrated. Refusing to Interacting with anything but him, while also stalking him, always near no matter how far he ran.
This was one of the hard decisions he had to make. The first, was of course whether to take a potion or not. On this, he didn't really had much of a choice, because, he was almost certain that he had already been infected by the spell.
Back when he had just spawned into this world, and still dizzy from the aftermath of having his surroundings suddenly changed, he had heard it. The voice of the spell. he didn't remember exactly what was spoken word for word, but they were most definitely a welcome, just like when any aspirant enters their first nightmare. When things finally calmed down, he had thought that he was already in his 1st Nightmare, but that thought was eventually discarded. Not just because he was dreading such a possibility, but more so because that's not how a Nightmare—at least the first one—worked.
But this meant that he was most definitely getting thrown into the dream realm when the winter solstice arrived. That, or he was getting into his first nightmare sometime before the solstice. And he would definitely be more than happy to become a beyonder before any of that happened.
And now that the 1st decision was already made...
Hiss...
It was time for the 2nd.
Well, considering my luck as a transmigrator, I can atleast already guess where I'll be sent off to by the damn spell. That makes things a bit easier atleast.
He was most definitely about to be sent to the deadly forgotten shore, the graveyard of sleepers. So, he had picked the pathway accordingly.
And now, only the dreadful truth remained in front of him, Or rather, the potion.
Ah, yes, of course. You just had to give me the perfect mixture of brutality and cosmic horror. The best of both worlds!
If he had to choose which webnovel world was the worst to live in, he would most definitely name Lord of mysteries and shadow slave. One for the hidden unknown dangers originating from the power system itself, and the other for the brutal world itself which was constantly trying to devour you. Whoever you are that sent me to this world, count your fucking days!
With one last act of defiance, he flipped of the sky and turned his attention to the bottle once again. With a swift motion, he quickly uncorked it.
The more you hesitate, the harder it'll be to control the effects.
The words of old Neil rapidly passed through his mind as he pulled the bottle to his lips with a practised motion, and with a big sip, gulped it down his throat.
The cool and sticky liquid quickly slid down his throat, causing him to gag a little, then, it slid down further, down into his stomach before getting completely absorbed by his body. Before he had the time to process this strange feeling, his mind was suddenly overrun by a strange chill, then transitioning into a light headedness that he couldn't seem to get rid off. The seconds ticked off, while a feeling of approaching doom appeared at the back of his mind.
Not the right... time for this...you dumbass.
Just as his mind was about to quickly turn into mush, a sharp, clear sound of gavel hitting wood resounded around him, piercing through the thick lightness surrounding his mind.
"Order! Order!"
These sudden words which seem to come from the void, belonging to no one, were followed by another round of wood hitting wood. he suddenly had a feeling of having been transported into the middle of an active court. The sounds of many people walking in a hurry, pages being shuffled through, the voices of people screaming over each other and the hushed whisper of the spectators. All these different noise seemed to want to dissolve his sense of self into them. But everytime he was on the verge of falling, a clear sound of a gavel hitting wood resounded around him, breaking past the thick black liquid or gas which seem to envelope his body, rapidly clearing up his mind.
Black liquid...My body...My body! What the fuck is this!?
Finally breaking past the cloud of confusion, he noticed the changes happening around his surroundings. A thick black, shadow-like liquid seemed to overlap with reality, silently covering every surface of the cargo container, and slowly crawling up his body.
The short moment of clarity finally allowed him to see, whatever fuckshow that was happening around him. The shadow like liquid was trying to crawl up to his face, failing each time as another round of wood hitting wood resounded in his mind, breaking it's advance.
Get this shit off of me!
Finally overcoming the sheer horror of witnessing such a scene, and taking control of his body once again, he quickly tried to take a step forward. The shadow slid down from his body without a single sensation at the movement. As he moved, the world around him changed as well. The darkness faded into a lighter shade while the shadow like liquid also dissolved away.
Phew...
But, just as his mind relaxed from the relief, akin to a hurtful reminder, the phantom appeared once again, this time fainter than before, yet still looming.
Fuck...
Following the queue, instructions on what to do next, which he had practised multiple times and were quite literally written infront of him, appeared in his mind. he quickly outlined a small, exquisite, and verdant-green cicada resembling crafted palm wood, featuring translucent, veined wings. Slowly, more and more details were added in his mind, like an artist slowly and methodically putting the final touches on his masterpiece.
Spring autumn cicada!
The cruel life of the outskirts, despite how short, had definitely changed him to a degree. But there were always certain aspects about a person that were more resilient than others. And that was, of course–
Save me, Fang yuan-chan!
His love for webnovels.
The strange flow in his body–which, with a lot of effort, he identified as his spirituality– quickly converged inward as he cogitated in silence.
Finally and utterly crushing the mist in his mind, he finally got a look at his surrounding and his own state. The cargo container was back in it's original state, mostly empty with only the potion bottles resting in the middle. He, on the other hand, was completely drenched in sweat, which mixed with the dirt on his skin and cloth to make a disgusting muddy texture.
"Yikes..." A Word finally broke past the prison of his silent Inner monologue. Definitely not the first words he had wanted to say after becoming a beyonder, but oh well, beggars can't be choosers.
The words that were uttered with clear disgust were followed by a huge euphoric feeling, originating from finally having achieved something one had dreamed of for a long time. In this case, it was of course, him becoming a beyonder!
"Finally, my new life begins!" The not so loud, yet cheerful celebration of this newly promoted lawyer was heard by absolutely no one. After all, the outskirts weren't really a place one would find life long companions.
Just then, as if to punish him for his recent act of defiance, a sudden cold drowsiness hit him, slowly crawling up his mind like a not-so soothing lullaby.
The symptoms of the nightmare spell had begun to show!
[A/N: I got too lazy to constantly having to switch between notepad and wn, so I'm just uploading it rn, grammar mistakes be damned. In summary, I'm not a writer, this is my first draft, I suck at writing 1st person, the chapter is still getting reviewed by my friends and I only uploaded this so they're seeing the updates in the chapters live. Oh, and did I tell you that I'm a failure as an author? Probably not, cause I'm not an author!
Also, if you haven't already figured it, "Finally, his new life begins" Is a reference to the first chapter of shadow slave: error
Edit: fuck it, I'm switching to 3rd person]