Chapter 279 - 278: Deepest Truth Of The World
The money was tempting... no, intoxicating. But his instincts screamed otherwise. Money could be made. Money could be stolen. But truth? Real truth? That was rarer than anything. If the system was offering him knowledge instead of material goods, it meant one thing: whatever this was, it would be hella worth it.
[You have chosen: Information.]
Initiating transmission... Brace yourself.
Just as he selected the information, the world around him seemed to glitch, before it cracked, like a porcelain mask spiderwebbing under pressure. The light bent unnaturally, colors bled into each other, and then everything swirled violently... his surroundings folding inward like a dying star.
And he was once again pulled into the system space. His ears buzzed with high pitched static, and a sharp pressure spiked behind his eyes. It felt like someone was unzipping the fabric of reality.
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the world he knew. He stood barefoot on a glasslike surface that mirrored him perfectly. Around him stretched an infinite white void: blank, cold, vast... older than time itself. It felt like a place untouched by human memory, something primordial. He knew it wasn’t real... not physically... it was just his soul, his consciousness, or whatever part of him was being processed, it still felt deeply unnatural and didn’t stop the weight of it pressing down on his chest. Even as a mere projection of his mind, it felt more solid than anything he’d ever known.
In front of him, the air shimmered. A ripple formed in the space like a pebble dropped into water. Then a screen glitched into existence, flickering with faint static before stabilizing into the familiar interface of the System.
"You have chosen to forgo material gain in pursuit of truth."
"The veil shall now be lifted."
"What follows is not just mere knowledge—
—it is revelation. It is Truth."
The system’s voice, typically calm and robotic, now carried an eerie reverence. It felt less like a machine and more like a priest before a sermon not meant for mortal ears.