CHAPTER 67: CALL ME MEDICI

"It’s a shame I can’t kill you now."

’Victor’ looked at the chains wrapped around his body. They extended into nothingness, but even a being like him couldn’t break free.

It protected me. The system protected me.

The thought naturally brought forth another.

’Could he be the reason why the system wants me dead as well?’

It was a rather high possibility. I couldn’t remember doing anything to offend it, yet this guy seemed to have some sort of beef with it. It was containing him in turn.

I tried comforting my raging thoughts with that knowledge.

’This man can currently do nothing to me.’

If he could, then I’d have long been dead already.

When I finally emerged from my daze, I saw him resting a hand on his chin while giving me a look of amusement.

He let out a light chuckle.

"You’re finally back to your senses. Did I scare you too much?"

I sidestepped his provocation, asking once again.

"Who are you, stranger?"

He had been avoiding that question since the beginning.

"Please, call me ’Medici’. The name is not mine, but I’ve grown to rather like it. As for who I actually am, I’ve already given you quite the hint. I am you. What’s the fun in giving you any more?"

"Then what’s your plan here, killing me, killing the system?"

Medici fiddled with the chains, habitually pulling at them. He looked back at me with a light smile still on his face.

"That’s for me to know, and for you to find out. But don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough."

His voice came out much fainter and distorted, like it was blending into the background noise. The imposter held his throat, his forehead wrinkling in mild annoyance.

"It seems I’ve overexerted myself already. It’ll be a headache getting all that energy back, but that’s fine."

The chains suddenly jerked, pulling him toward the nothingness that they faded into.

"How impatient."

His voice came out even worse, yet he resolutely turned to face me.

"Well then, Leon. I’m afraid we must part ways here. It might be a while before we see each other again. But I’m always watching, so do make your hapless struggle entertaining, little worm. I get bored rather easily."

The chains tightened around Medici before yanking him backward and off the swing. The man in question didn’t resist and just continued enjoying himself until he was dragged back into the nothingness, leaving behind an empty swing.

I stood there staring at it blankly.

’My transmigration doesn’t seem as simple as I thought.’

It was something I already had suspicions about earlier, especially the system’s threat when I’d first opened it. Seeing this confirmed all my suspicions.

But in doing so only left me with more questions.

’Does Song experience this as well? Why am I the only one with no memories of this world? Why am I branded a worm by both of these guys?’

Questions that led to more questions with no concrete answers only fueled a cycle of pointless speculation. I made sure to shut it down.

There were two things I could currently do regarding this issue. The first would be interrogating Song to find out if I was truly isolated in this.

The next was rather simple, growing stronger.

Be it the system or Medici, as long as I could grow strong enough, then they couldn’t dream of actively messing with me. With my current potential, that was certainly something within the realms of achievability.

As for what time frame I had to actually do so, I already possessed a rough estimate. Currently Medici was chained by the system, so there was nothing he could do to me.

Unfortunately, the strength of the system would start dropping merely three years into the future, mainly due to the Harbingers and the outer god they followed.

Medici seemed to have knowledge of that as well. It was probably why he looked so patient. From what I felt from him, I had no doubts that he was at the very least an Angel.

Going from Rank E to Rank S in a mere three years would be a daunting task for anyone, regardless of potential.

At least I had a direction forward. Besides, things weren’t yet as dire as they seemed. Even though the system would start weakening at the end of the third year, it wasn’t like it would just collapse completely.

So I still had a bit more time to play catch-up with the bastard.

Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more unanticipated changes.

’Yeah, right.’

I sighed, rubbing my face in frustration before heading toward the withered tree. There I noticed something that had skipped my attention when Medici was still here.

Hanging like an ornament off one of the tree’s nine branches was a pair of rather familiar-looking glasses. The moment I thought of holding them, they immediately appeared in my hands.

I fiddled with the frame a bit before flipping them open.

’It’s probably safe to test it here.’

I imagined it activating, and immediately felt a strong pull on the hill of static I stood on. The glasses began dragging out streams of it and voraciously devouring them, reducing the size of the hill in real time.

Mentally, I could feel my essence draining rapidly.

’As expected of a D-rank artifact.’

There were no immediate effects. The world around kept shifting at constant speeds, and I felt no effect on my body as well.

’Is it a—’

I slapped my forehead in realization. I deactivated the glasses immediately, stopping the drain.

’Of course, it wouldn’t work. I’m standing in my inner world, for God’s sake.’

It was basically part of my soul, or a representation of it. I forgot which lazy explanation I’d given in the novel. It only made sense that I could still move at my normal speeds here.

I thought of dismissing the glasses. Immediately, it was hanging off the tree once again like an ornament.

With that done, I approached the swing Medici had been sitting on. For some reason it scratched a strange part of my brain. I was very certain I’d seen it somewhere before, yet all attempts at recall left me empty-handed.

’How strange.’

Carefully, I sat on it, placing a hand on each chain connecting it to the branch. I felt an odd sense of comfort at the position. Impulsively I pushed, sending myself into a light swing.

’Very strange indeed.’

I closed my eyes to savour the feeling, when I noticed the white noise gently retreating like a tide. Midway through my next swing, it faded entirely and I found myself resting on an impossibly soft mattress.

I was back in the real world.