CHAPTER 215: CHAPTER 215: [MORIA’S WEAVE] [2]

So staring at my reflection from the mirror hung in tge bathroom wall, there was a wide and intricately detailed tatto spread across my lower bank like a canvas.

Damn...i gritted my teeth, hissing at the sight and silently cursing out the universe.

I didn’t really have the chance to think much about it before, but this was what the System meant by branding?

There was a wide and complex tattoo spread across my lower back. It comprised of complex and intricate lines, arcs and symbols, forming a broader and even complex image that somehow felt dizzying to look at.

The skin around the wide area of the tattoo across my lower back was still red, and i could still vividly recall the simmering and hot pain from a few minutes ago.

I thought perhaps i was seeing this or imagining things, but the hot sensation of something carving across my back was still clear in my mind. The wide and complex tattoo even stretched along with my skin as i turned and flexed my back at various angles to get a better look.

Was this the Stigma the System was talking about...i thought with a frown.

My eyes flickered, the systems blue interface screen flickering to life along with it and a few words and points now stood out to me.

[Moria’s Weave].

And...

"...The Architect."

It was the same name from before. I was filled with a sense of foreboding and apprehension as i stared at it.

Huuu... okay, let’s be smart about this.

I exhaled a deep breath, calming my thoughts and organising my mind. A thousand questions and assumptions played ball inside my head, but i had to first of all arrange together what it was i knew.

I could ask Meta or the System, but based on numerous past experiences, i had enough reason to know that i might not get a satisfying answer. And probably only more questions. So before then, i had to put somethings together.

When i decided to, it wasn’t that hard to maintain composure.

I swiped my hands fleetingly through the air and the system prompt flickered and changed. I could summon some of the previous notifications and messages, and so that’s what i did and went through them while still standing with my back against the bathroom mirror.

Occasionally I’d mumble something to myself and my face would fold in frowns. My eyes narrowed, darting all around the various different tabs as i went through what each one said.

And then eventually...

"...I see."

I managed to get some ideas.

I dismissed the system tabs silently and leaned back, pinching my chin in thought.

Hmm...how do I put all this. I found myself at a dilemma to properly explain.

So... apparently, there was an additional, unexpected reward i got, aside from the other three. This one was sudden and came out from nowhere.

The system words said i had caught the attention of... something... someone? Or...

’Something?’

’It called it a Patron...’

’The Architect’ was its name, and by the way the System referred to this with ’Him’, He’ and ’His’ — it definitely did not sound like a name that was to be taken lightly.

After thinking through all this, i felt a lump clench in my throat as a winter cold chill seemed to make my body shudder.

This Patron that the System spoke about — this...’Architect’...was it some kind of Higher being?

A ’god’... perhaps?

"Ah..."

My lips parted and froze, all of a sudden, and for some reason, my mouth felt dry and i felt sweat slowly gathering over my forehead.

Wiping my face and taking in a stiffled breath, i held on to my composure as i turned my head around, twisting my neck over to face back the mirror surface.

I stared at the wide and complex pattern carved onto my lower back like an intricate tattoo drawn over an empty canvas, unease crawled into my heart and mind as i did so, my instincts gnawing at me from inside.

"So...i caught the attention of some peculiar Existence?" I muttered to myself, perhaps, i thought, saying it aloud would make me realise just how crazy and unbelievable that sounded.

But.

[Affirmative.]

A familiar synthetic voice i hadn’t heard in a while buzzed in my head, as if to debunk whatever meager hope i desperately held.

"Haa... So you’re there after all. I thought I’d already heard the last of you." I rolled my eyes sarcastically as i listened to Meta’s voice.

Meta hadn’t directly spoken to me in a while, ever since yesterday when i tried peeking at the System with the [Eyes of Discerning]. Of course, i had also stylishly tried to speak with Meta again after that, but i had been blatantly ignored.

Meta continued, ignoring my comment, affirming to the conjecture i reached myself.

[Rejoice, there actually seems to be some existence out there that takes pity on your pitiful life.]

"You’re pitiful."

This bastard ai...

I gritted my teeth, suppressing the throbbing that cane from a vein pooping over my forehead.

I exhaled, choosing to let Meta’s rude comment slide and focused on her affirmation.

So indeed, something out there, in the universe, perhaps, was responsible for the abomination on my lower back. Oi, doesn’t that mean I caught the attention of something weird again?

My face paled at the realisation, i could read the despair in my eyes from my mirror reflection.

’There’s still a lot of things that don’t make sense...’ silently, to myself, away from where Meta could pry, i thought.

I still had a hundred more different questions rummaging through my mind for an answer. Just as i had expected, Meta’s response was as unsatisfactory as it mostly ever always was.

"What exactly have I done to draw the attention of a possible ’god’?" I mused openly.

The system called it a Patron. Wasn’t that, like, another name for ’Sponsor’?

’So i somehow got a Sponsor now?’

Temporary Sponsor, more accurately.

Judging from the system words, it didn’t seem like this was permanent. Of at all, if i really have managed to draw the attention of a higher existence, it seems more like the whim of a god to pick me for now.

But this Patron... ’The Architect’, who was ’He’?

I didn’t think i could be watched by some godlike beings monitoring my whole li— wait, no.

Scratch that.

I, actually, have suspected something similar a few times. That i was a pawn in a much bigger game. And it might not have been the system pulling the strings...but the one behind the system.

My eyes settled quietly, my gaze stilling.

Could it be?

This ’Architect’, could that be the existence behind the System? The one responsible for my Transmigration?