Chapter 19: The New Daemon
"I can’t see a thing!"
Ben frantically looked around. His white silhouette levitated in a dark, lifeless space, alone with an unsettling silence.
"What happened again?"
’Oh right, I just awakened some weird system and merged with another consciousness!? ’ He wasn’t entirely sure, his mind foggy as if he’d been in a coma for years.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind, the tone weary and tinged with cynicism. It was his own, yet different.
"Of course you can’t see anything, idiot. We’re in the middle of merging."
Ben jolted, even without a physical body. "Who... who spoke?"
"Who else? You and Me... Us," the voice replied, a whisper that seemed to come from every fiber of his being. "I am the former Daemon."
Ben felt a wave of information flood him, bit by bit as the merger progressed—fragments of memories that weren’t his, past sensations. It was dizzying. "Is... is this Daemon? But... you’re the one who reincarnated me here? Where does this system come from?!"
Daemon’s voice resonated, this time with a hint of amusement. "The ’system,’ as you call it, is a relic I managed to get my hands on. On the thirtieth reboot of this world. As for your ’reincarnation,’ it was just the system awakening by absorbing the mana of a heroine."
Ben frowned. "Thirtieth?"