Healing System

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I couldn't care if you were a monster or not—I've long since passed discriminating against them." Michael let out a chuckle. "But I do want to know, so will you satisfy my curiosity?"

"I am not a full-fledged eldritch monster; however, you can categorize me as a part of their race, I suppose," the eye replied before adding, "I'm young, so I've yet to achieve my true form, but I'm going to be like a Cthulhu."

"Like that massive eye thingy?" Michael mused, finding it pretty easy to converse with this strange being.

"Yes. You humans—or I guess you are not human—but nonetheless, they refer to us eldritch as one entity, the common Cthulhu. But there are thousands of other races that rule over the cosmos as well," the eye remarked. "What about you? What are you?"

"Not sure, if I'm being honest. I don't know the answer to that myself." Michael chuckled in response, and soon, they arrived before some sort of field of dark green flowers.

However, before he could even step near the flowers, the eye stopped him.

"Those flowers are called Pixie killers. They trap people inside, and, well, kill them slowly and gruesomely." The eye turned to the right. "Look, someone's dying over there."

At its words, Michael immediately glanced to the side, noticing one of the flowers expand greatly in size, covering an unsuspecting civilian.

Yet before he could even step in to help, a wave of blood gushed out from inside the flower, soon dyeing it red.

However, the moment its color changed to red, the surrounding green flowers immediately expanded and began seemingly eating the red flower until, eventually, it was completely gone.

The person Michael had seen in the last moment was nowhere in sight either.

"Say, are those humans?" Michael asked. "He looked human, but his strength was off the charts."

"They are hybrids between humans and eldritch beings—mostly the byproducts of contracts. There are many of them in this realm, and each serves their own purpose," the eye explained.

Michael tilted his head. "So since they are a halfling, is it possible for them to turn into an actual eldritch monster?"

"Yes, but it would take them twice as long since they have the blood of humans running through their veins," the eye replied with disgust.

He took notice of that. "Do you have something against humans?"

"No. They are just an inferior species that should not have existed in the first place. They take up many worlds and provide no benefit to the universes. Their only use to us is the contracts we make with them, but that is all."

"Isn't that still great though? I mean, don't you beings thrive off the contracts?" Michael commented.

"If we make contracts with anyone under Tier 10 in power, we don't gain anything. In exchange, we merely lose the time we already don't have. It's unfortunate, but if we don't do contracts, we are bound to die," the eye went into more depth. "Each eldritch being is bound by an oath to complete a few contracts every single year, and if we don't follow that, we die."

"Even the strongest?" Michael asked.

"Even a Tier 20 can die upon breaking the oath. It is inevitable. Hence why everyone upholds their contracts, even I do, and I'm not even a full-fledged eldritch monster yet."

"I see..." Michael trailed off, as they soon passed by the field of green flowers, heading toward what appeared to be a small city.

But the moment he got near the city, a certain repulsive force pushed him back.

"Hmm... the angel detector is going haywire on you," the eye noted before zapping a green beam at the city, specifically at the barrier surrounding it. "Try now."

At the eye's words, Michael stepped forward but was met with the same repulsive result.

"Demon barrier is flagging you too..." The eye grew glum and sent out another green beam. "Again."

He tried it yet again, and unsurprisingly, he was sent back.

"Okay, can't you just fucking turn all of them off for a moment?" Michael exclaimed with frustration.

"You were flagged as a dragon too. Just what kind of chimera are you?" The eye asked in amazement and sent out one last green beam. "I disabled all of them now, so go inside."

"Thank you." Michael nodded and finally went inside, the people around him flashing strange looks at him.

Upon closer notice, he was able to see that each and every person looked eerily similar.

Their hair and eyes were the same color, and their height was practically identical too.

However, he could tell that it was just a mere coincidence and likely the influence of those contracts the eldritch monster mentioned.

"Hey, what could I get if I wanted to sign a contract with you?" Michael suddenly asked.

"With me? I could grant you the strength of a Tier 10 in exchange for your soul, perhaps," the eye replied with a bit of amusement.@@novelbin@@

"That seems like a shit offer. Do I keep the Tier 10 power, or does it go away after a bit? Like, what's the catch?"

"You get to keep the Tier 10 power; however, your strength will never be able to increase beyond that point," the eye said with a chuckle. "Still, a surprising amount of people take that deal and only then do they realize how important their soul is. But then again, it's a bit too late at that point."

"I see. Well, care to treat me to dinner or something? I don't have any eldritch currency, you see." Michael remarked.

But the eye grew even more amused. "You still think of food even at your tier? Can't you nourish yourself with mana?"

"So what?" Michael shrugged. "Mana can't beat how delicious food can be."

"It can, but I'll comply, come." The eye said, and began leading him through the streets.

The city was not exactly modern but not medieval either—a mix between the two.

There were TVs mounted on walls, but they were still riding skeleton horses and carriages.

Unless it was some stylistic choice, Michael simply assumed the people were a bit slow.

Nonetheless, after a couple of minutes of walking and earning several strange looks from the others, he finally arrived at some inn.

The eye floated inside and seemingly plopped down near the bar before glancing over at Michael. "Fish-eye stew?"

"What? No? Give me a steak or something."

"Very well." The eye turned toward the bartender and soon began speaking some strange language Michael could not understand.

Obviously, if the system were still with him, it would make his life much easier.

But even after so long, he had not even gotten a single hint as to where the system could be.

In the midst of his thoughts, a plate was dropped before him, and on it was some green meat, oozing off a surprisingly captivating aroma.

"It might not look very appetizing, but I can assure you—never mind," the eye stopped speaking once it noticed Michael was actively gobbling down the food.

This is actually good... What the fuck? He couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

It was some of the best meat he had ever had.

The one and only downside, however, was that it looked like absolute shit on a plate, as if someone had vomited.

Nonetheless, if he looked past that and thought of it as some peculiar vegan sauce, it was easy to eat.

"Hey, what's your name, by the way?" Michael suddenly asked. "You don't just refer to yourself as an eye, right?"

"Xylotharax," the eye replied.

"The what now? I'll just call you Xylo, how's that?" Michael said and returned to his food. "I'm Michael, by the way."

"Peculiar, Michael. Do you really enjoy this food so much? You should see the delicacies back in the inner realm." Xylo chuckled when, all of a sudden, it froze. "Scratch that, forget you heard about it."

"How can I? What's the inner realm?" Michael asked.

If he had to guess, it was just some inner hideout for the strongest of the eldritch beings. But even then, for someone to not be an eldritch being and have access to the inner realm meant that it was something else entirely.

"It's just a realm mirroring this one. You can enter it once your strength reaches a certain threshold," Xylo vaguely explained. "You are nowhere near strong enough, by the way."

"But if you are my guide, and I'm technically allowed to be here, can't I visit it?" Michael pushed, but was met with a swift dismissal.

"No. As much as I value promises, I won't break oaths regarding realm restrictions, else they would eat me alive."

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"By they, you mean the other eldritch beings?" Michael mused. "Couldn't you just, I don't know, run away?"

"No. Any attempts to do so will have my existence obliterated. Also, it's not the other eldritch beings I'm worried about," Xylo replied with a slight shiver.

"Watchers?" Michael brought up, but Xylo merely shook its eye.

"The Seraphim," it said, making Michael's eyes widen.

"They've gone rogue."