CHAPTER 68: PHYSIQUE

I found myself staring at the immaculate ceiling of my new room once again. Numerous notifications from the system lingered at the corner of my vision, yet I willfully ignored them.

Instead, I imagined myself sinking again.

Just like that, the white noise returned and I was sitting on a wooden swing once again.

’It’s just like in the novel.’

I could access it at any time. I closed my eyes once again, returning to the softness of my bed.

It was then I finally checked the system notifications.

[Noble hunter, you have injected the blood of a Cursed Nymph.]

[Scanning for physique... No physiques detected... Fusing Heartblood with gift.]

[Congratulations, Noble hunter. You have attained the physique: [Nameless Larva]]

[Physique: Nameless Larva]

[Description: It is said that all it takes to change the course of history sometimes are the smallest actions. The most insignificant, worthless being may change the world just by being at the right place at the right time. Yet as it often is, such weaklings are doomed to be forgotten by history. You are one such being, one such nameless herald of change beyond your comprehension.]

[Traits: Fading trail]

[Fading trail: Your actions leave much less obvious imprints on the physical world.]

Before I could properly process them, the messages blinked away, with new ones appearing in its place.

[Loading status...]

[Status]

[Name: Victor]

[Rank: E-]

[Potential: SSS]

[Gift: Error]

[Abilities: Error Sense]

[Error Sense: Nothing is truly perfect. Even the word itself is not, as its meaning changes with context and setting. By setting a baseline and definition of perfection, the user is able to detect flaws in objects they are in contact with.]

[Artifacts(1/1): Eyes of eternity.]

[Eyes of eternity(D+): Where shall man not go in search of knowledge? Where shall man not go in search eternity? Where shall man not fail? This is merely one result of such failures. A miserable attempt by a long dead scholar to walk that same path. A result of mankind’s endless hubris.]

[Abilities: Eternity.]

[Eternity: Slowdown your perception of time. Duration depends entirely on essence.]

[Physique: Nameless Larva]

[Traits: Fading trail]

[Stats]

[Force(E-)]

[Control(E)]

[Vitality(E-)]

[Mind(E-)]

[Essence(E)]

[Burden]

[Cleansing: This world rejects the user, for they should never have been. They are an anomaly, an error, a virus and bug that shall surely be cleansed. This cleansing manifests as an incurable disease in the user. Current effects: Nausea, fever and weakness.]

My status looked much better now, besides that useless burden of course, but I had much better things to do than focus on that.

Mainly, my attention lay squarely on the physique.

’Nameless Larva.’

Each person’s physique was unique, regardless of whether they used the same monster to achieve it or not. The only rare occasion that the same physique could occur would be if they had the same gifts to begin with.

After all, upon injection, the heartblood interacted with a hunter’s gift and in doing so, it produced a unique physique.

Although I hadn’t been expecting everything displayed there, I still felt rather satisfied at the results. Not completely though.

Especially the traits. They were passive effects that came with physiques. I’d been hoping for one that could further increase my Essence. But Fading trail looked pretty interesting too.

’A stealth skill?’

At least, that’s what I could tell from the vague description. Though knowing the system, there was bound to be something more to it.

Besides that, my stat distribution was exactly what I wanted. It had been one of the main reasons I’d chosen the Nymph in the first place.

The stats in this world were much less rigid than other similar books back then, a symptom of my obsession with being ’different’.

They weren’t clear cut and often overlapped with each other, something that had given me no small amounts of headaches in the later arcs.

Take for example a person’s strength. It could be largely categorized under Force, as it was the amount of force they could exert from their bodies. But to an extent, it was also largely dependent on Vitality, the body’s condition, and Control, a person’s control of their body.

It was the same thing with things like speed as well. I’d come to regret ever designing the system much later, but by then I was long past the point of rewrites.

Still, with that useless burden hindering me, the only obvious way of doubling down was going in on Essence and Control. Mind might have been nice too, but the Cursed Nymph unfortunately couldn’t provide that.

They were rather weak-minded creatures.

"All in all, a success."

My plans with the simulation trial had been a success. While not everything had gone exactly as I wanted, the results weren’t bad in the end.

A strange sense of refreshment surged through me as I sat up. My body felt strangely looser than before, like a million little strings winding around my muscles and joints had been slackened.

I’d never felt such wonder at the mere act of closing and opening my palms.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though. My body felt strangely oversaturated, if I could even call it that. It was something I’d noticed when I woke up, but it hadn’t really come into focus until now. Almost as though my blood had suddenly grown thicker, heavier, and sluggish in its movement.

Of course, it wasn’t actually so. No, what I was feeling now was rather simple. It was the side effects of the heartblood injections.

I couldn’t take another shot until I got rid of this feeling completely. How quickly that happened was entirely dependent on potential.

So, I reckoned it would be rather soon. Perhaps in a month. That was the only estimate I could currently make, using Rowan’s speed in the novel.

But that was a problem for future me.

Right now though, I couldn’t stop myself from smirking as I stared through the large window of the room.

’Think of the devil...’

Trudging through the winding grassy road leading to the apartment was a familiar silver-haired, dark-skinned boy. Draped in the academy’s hospital gown, he looked around in an almost embarrassingly familiar hillbilly fashion.

Still, I felt oddly satisfied upon seeing the hospital gown.

’The Predator must’ve bullied him too.’

Misery always loves company.