If Elvis had been drowning in despair at the thought of his future when he assumed he was blind, he now found himself dreading the grim reality of his present.
The thought of those extremely long, spiky teeth sinking into his flesh made the hair on his nape stand on end. He pinched himself, his face contorting from the pain.
’I don’t know if this is a lucid dream, a hyperreal hallucination, or reality itself—but the pain is real. I can’t let myself get eaten. Those fangs can’t sink into my flesh.’
His eyes narrowed slightly before returning to normal. His mind raced for a way out.
’Be confident. Be confident. You can talk your way out. I never knew those experiences from scamming people would be my lifeline.’
After the brief inward pep talk, Elvis finally spoke to the huge monster that had been absentminded for a few moments.
"Hello, I just heard you talk about eating the best food," Elvis said with feigned calmness.
"Yes. I’ve eaten the best beings I pulled from various worlds. I must say, the tastes were exquisite," the monster replied in its rumbling voice.
"So, who was your interplanetary chef?" Elvis asked with a smile.
"Interplanetary chef? I always ate them like that, feeling the blood running down the gaps of my teeth. Juicy meats."
Elvis shivered slightly, appalled by the vivid description of his upcoming execution, but he didn’t abort his plan. His final destination was still death even if he aborted it.
"So how is it the best food if it’s not prepared by a certified Universe-level interplanetary chef? Then you haven’t tasted the best food yet." Elvis shook his head in disappointment.
"I don’t think so." The monster’s voice sounded.
"I know you wouldn’t believe me. But exactly a year ago, I can’t forget that day. The day the Supreme Celestial graced my home world with his presence, and it was surprisingly his birthday. Many extraordinary beings descended from the sky."
Elvis wiped his stinging eyes, which he attributed to being nervous.
He continued while keenly observing the expressionless eyes of the monster, "That was the day the Universe-level interplanetary chef cooked an indescribable meal—indescribable in terms of taste and benefits. After that day, I didn’t go hungry for a month. But that wasn’t the most shocking. What shocked me was that my intelligence suddenly skyrocketed for ten days. Also—"
"Did you just say intelligence?!" The monster’s voice suddenly shot up by an octave.
’That’s it! This monster is interested in intelligence,’ thought Elvis.
"Yes! Intelligence. I couldn’t believe it. That was how I became the top scorer in my final examination before graduation. One wise sage in my world even came up with the theory that the intelligence of all those who ate the dish are constantly growing. Although it’s not proven yet," Elvis narrated with glassy eyes, as if he were reminiscing on the fateful event.
"Where is the chef?" The gigantic monster abruptly interrupted, its tone impatient.
"Let me get it." Elvis shoved his hand into his pocket but froze after touching only his pair of swindling glasses.
His lips slowly curled into a strained smile, as if his face had forgotten how smiling worked.
"Um... not that I want to deceive you, sir, but I think I lost the way to contact him after you pulled me to this world. I always leave it in my pocket. It must have fallen out," Elvis explained with a trembling voice.
The monster locked gazes with him in silence. Elvis was shivering under the weight of the lamp-like gaze in the darkness, subtly avoiding it.
’Good! Now send me back. I swear never to get close to that strange book or that nutcase daughter of misfortune. He shouldn’t be able to pull me back without the book. If he follows me, I think all those nukes and nuclear weapons on Earth should finish the job—’
"I can see you have a very high intelligence for a weakling like you, so I will change your Awakening system to one that grants you infinite power at a small cost. Then I’ll send you to the world of Axaeris with one life saving gift. When you grow, you can find that chef for me," the monster’s rumbling voice doused Elvis’s fantasizing thoughts.
’What! That’s not how it’s supposed to go. What happened to sending me back to Earth to get the communication medium?!’
Despite his loud inward protest, he nodded happily at the monster’s decision. "Yes, sir."
Just as Elvis replied, his pupils dilated to their limits as a sharp, stabbing pain erupted from the center of his back. Accompanying it was a tingling sensation, like an electric current pulsing through his body.
His body froze in place, every joint suddenly locking up. Only the faintest spasm managed to escape his rigid body.
Darkness slowly swallowed his field of vision, dimming everything until all he could see was darkness. He finally lost consciousness.
When Elvis opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in the middle of a forest, vacantly gazing at the leaves of towering, dense trees with sunlight filtering through the gaps.
But that wasn’t what grabbed his attention. What made him gasp was the translucent blue screen occupying his sight.
"Isn’t this a game panel for characters?" Elvis mumbled.
Just as he was about to peruse the writings on the panel, he felt a tug from his wrist.
Elvis rose to a sitting position. Lowering his head, he found his wrist cuffed to another person’s, their wrists bound side by side.
Raising his head, Elvis was met with a face that made him regret the day their paths had ever crossed—the pilot of his misfortune. Who else could it be but the nutcase daughter of misfortune?
Elvis’s eyes widened, his expression a mixture of horror and disbelief at Caelithia’s presence.
"Hell no..."
That was all he managed to mumble.
Perhaps from the shock, or simply from an involuntary action, the translucent blue panel vanished.
"What do you mean by ’hell no’?! Don’t tell me it didn’t work?" she snapped at him, her face looking even more haggard than before.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she spoke calmly. "I spent hours walking in darkness, but if it fixes my misfortune, then I don’t mind. Don’t worry about the handcuff. Now, can we go back? This place is eerie."
"How?!" It was Elvis’s turn to snap at her.
"Is it not with the Arcanic Codex of Destiny?" she questioned, arching an eyebrow in genuine perplexity as she waved the cheap book that had landed them in this mess right in his face.
Elvis froze at the sight.