My right arm twitched due to the electric shock.
It felt heavy and I couldn't move my fingers at all.
Yet, I couldn't focus on my arm at all.
I was looking at the black diary floating in the air.
The diary opened with a flap, and the pages started moving rapidly. It moved so fast that it seemed to be flipping through hundreds of pages. I watched for several minutes before I realized what was happening.
The pages were reducing!
The book was shrinking until it was about the size of my hand. Soon, the whole thing was gone, and I was holding only a spiral notebook with an old-fashioned cover.
Steeling my nerves, I opened the diary.
"Ughh.."
I felt needles poking into my head.
Poking, stabbing, piercing, and scratching – a painful headache!
I flipped straight to the first page.
Fortunately, I could read it.
======
Name: Nathan
Title: Successor of the First King, ■■■■■■■■■■■, Pseudo Ego Weapon (Cursed)
Age: 16 yrs (???)
Rank: Iota(Lvl.15)
Disposition: Chaotic-neutral
Stigma - Iridescence
*
>>Skills:
-> [Pierce [Common]]
-> [Synchronization]
-> [Golden Turtle [Unique]]
-> [Appraisal [Legendary]]
-> [Multiply [Unique]]
*
>> Arts:
[Armory of Eridu [Legacy]]
->Constellations: God Killing Spear(???)
->Understanding Lvl14: Create constellations of weapons in the soul. The more constellations the user creates, the faster new constellations are created.
->Novice Mastery:
Scan – Creates a frame of the weapon inside your soul.
Construct – Manifest your weapons in the World dimension.
->Proficient Mastery:𝗳re𝙚w𝐞𝚋n𝚘ѵ𝗲𝚕.𝑐om
Spatial Rupture – Create a tear in spear to store your constructed weapons
???
-Intermediate Mastery:
Folding – Using other constellations as the base form the pre-programmed constellations used by the First King.
(Spears Unlocked: God Killing Spear)
???
->Intermediate Mastery Requirements: The user is able to construct 50 weapons at once, Understanding Lvl30, 100 Spatial Ruptures
*
>> Quest :-
Find and kill the Monarch of Wealth, Mammon, the Sin of Greed
Reward – Pandora's Heart, ???, ???
Failure Penalty – ???
Time Remaining– 12 years: 254 days: 21 hours
**
>>Items:
Shortsword[Rare]*1, Bastard sword[Rare]*1, Shield[Common]*1, Rapier[Rare]*1, Greatsword[Common]*4, Longsword[Common]*1, Spear[Common]*4, Hammer[Common]*1, Dagger[Common]*6, Dart[Common]*1, Grimoire[Rare] (Spells: <Agility-Up>*1, <Force Shield>*2, <Water Shield>*1), Magic Wand[Common]*7, Mephistopheles Earrings[Legacy]
======
The title 'Pseudo Ego Weapon (Cursed)' meant that I was being classified as a weapon.
This was why I could use [Pierce] on my left arm, although the skill was only supposed to work with weapons.
My arts messed up stats were because of [Synchronization].
When I reached Intermediate mastery, I was able to access new information regarding my art.
At that time I was in a hurry, thus I ignored the new techniques of Proficient Mastery and Intermediate Mastery and only accessed the technique that could act as a distraction.
This was the result.
I was back in Proficient Mastery, however, the knowledge I gained didn't disappear, and thus I could use a technique from higher mastery.
But this wasn't shocking.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
I flipped the diary and counted the number of pages left.
My body shook, and I hoped that what I was thinking wasn't true.
However, my hopes were shattered mercilessly.
"Seven pages"
I plopped down on the ground.
The diary had only the last seven pages left. These were the same pages that had something written on them, but I wasn't able to read all of them.
Nothing was being written about what was happening with Leon. I channeled ether hastily, wishing for anything to happen. Anything that showed that the diary didn't lose its abilities.
Nevertheless, nothing changed.
There were no pages left to have anything written on them. The other pages, except the last seven, disappeared without a trace.
I could no longer see the future, nor could I watch Leon's present or past.
"Dammit"
I clasped my face with my arms.
Truth be told, the loss of the diary's abilities didn't worry me too much.
Instead, this proved the hypothesis going in my mind.
"Why at this time?"
What affected me was the timing of this event.
This was the worst possible timing.
With what happened in the Underworld, I painted a target on my back. One that every organization would try to get their hands on.
Losing the diary's abilities, I lost my way of getting insider information on the hunt for me.
I had been planning to use the diary and respond as the situation asked for it.
…But I lost that shortcut.
I was like a sailor stranded in the middle of a storm with no land in sight. The dairy's abilities were my guidance and without them, I was lost.
"Is there no other choice?"
A helpless smile appeared on my face.
My only choice was blindly going all in. It was dangerous.
If I messed up, death would be a mercy. However, the returns will also increase.
I sighed heavily.
If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have been so bold during the tournament.
"I can't decide if this is I should be happy or sad."
The dream I saw after [Synchronization] hinted at countless regressions. The confidence of the being inside me when he spoke about the consequences of my actions.
They sprouted seeds of doubt in me.
The conclusions I arrived at gave me an absurd answer.
"The dairy wasn't showing me the future but the past"
To be specific, it was showing the past of the previous timelines.
I didn't know if those corpses were me or someone who looked like me. But that didn't change the fact there were mountains of them.
What if the diary was the record of past timelines and, depending on my choices, showed the past chosen by one of those 'me'?
There were countless corpses. If all of them made at least one different choice, then that would've led to different results.
The dairy was a cumulation of those results.
This would explain how it could show me alternate futures, depending on my choices.
The only fact missing would be…
Why did the dairy lose its ability?