Godfather's System

Choice - 19

The moment I was forced to accept the promotion, a feeling of pulling appeared, emanating from me. The blue stones that were floating around me were iimmediately affected by this change. Glowing strings appeared on them and connected with me, far faster than I could even attempt to dodge, but even as the glow began to flow into my body, there was no feel of wound.

I tried to stand up, but my body didn't listen to me.

That was not the only energy that flowing into my body. A second later, another bolt of red energy slammed against the top side of the vehicle, but rather than corroding the metal as I had expected, it turned into a red mist, one that flooded toward me. It was slower than the blue strings of energy.

But I failed to dodge it, lacking the ability to move in the first place.

I prepared myself for a disaster, one that could develop into an intense explosion of pain, one that might prove my end.

The red energy obediently entered my body.

[Archery of Destruction (3/X)]

[Archery of Destruction (4/X)]

[Archery of Destruction (5/X)]

I desperately tried to assign more points to resilience, hoping that it would give me the ability to reject the call, but I wasn't even able to send mental commands.

The world lost its color

And I found myself floating in emptiness, with nothing around me including my body. I was in a soul state, a dream yet not a dream, still a sense of separation between me and the world, barely enough to make me remember what had just happened before.

No matter how much the whispers filled my mind wanted to forget.

I was floating, the sense of time and space disappearing. I might have been there just an instant, or for years, with no real way of distinguishing which was the case. But soon, I realized that I wasn't alone.

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A glow surrounded me; a crimson glow, whispering to me to embrace it, embrace the truth, promising me wealth, power, freedom, immortality Anything I wanted. I just needed to accept its touch.

I would have laughed if I actually had a mouth to show such a reaction. I might not be sure about where I was, what was going on, or even if it was a dream

But I had lived long enough to know that such lofty promises were never true. I had seen that many times, since I was a young man, trying to carve myself a place in the merciless world. Many friends, allies, or enemies had chosen to follow the promises of the others, believing them when they were promised riches and power

Only to end up in an early grave.

And, if believing an old mafia boss about unsubstantial promises was a poor idea, what did it say about listening to the promises of an eldritch being promising eternal life

I rejected his call, even when the energy drifted closer and closer, begging for me to touch, the voice getting louder and louder. However, I realized one thing. No matter how strong and loud was the voice, there was no compulsion in that tone, forcing me to make a choice.

Why that was important, I was having trouble remembering, but it was important

Somehow.

I resolutely rejected its call, waiting

And waiting

And waiting

Soon, other whispers joined the first one, asking me not to choose the crimson light, that there was only destruction and danger in that direction. On that, I had no problem listening to those voices.

The same didn't apply to their other words, asking me to choose them instead. With the number of whispers increasing, so did the promises.

Some promised me justice, shining and fair but I had lived on the edge of the law enough to know how much of a joke that idea of true justice was. It was only an excuse for the powerful to oppress the rest.

Some promised me knowledge, limitless and true

Some promised me martial power

Some promised me eternal ecstasy

I rejected all, waiting, even as some kind of energy filled my soul, giving me a sense of potential, one that I failed to direct

I waited

And waited

[Promotion Complete

Alignment: Unaligned

Reward: Ability (Elevated Life - Basic - Human)]

It was the first thing I had seen once I found myself in my body. A fascinating set of writing. Even more fascinating was a sense of power filling to my body. It felt similar to what I had experienced while I had been assigning stats, but it was more comprehensive.

I might have paid more attention to it, if it wasn't for another shake, reminding me where I was.

Still in the same vehicle, still falling Which confirmed one thing. Not much time had passed, at least in the real world.

The ceiling was covered with that same crimson energy, corroding the metal, leaving only rust behind, giving me another reason to abandon it as soon as possible.

Especially since a glance through the open door could confirm that I was not too far away from the ultimate destination

The ground

I glanced around rapidly, trying to see something that I could pick. I saw a discarded sword, and nothing more, and desperately grabbed its hilt the tingling sensation showing it to be one of the magical weapons before grabbing the blanket once more.

And jumped out, hoping that I wouldn't be greeted by another crimson blast.

That turned out not to be the case, I looked as I jumped, barely five hundred feet away from the ground. I glanced up a moment, confirming the floating castle was far away enough not to target me once more and it was, about to disappear into the clouds before I focused on my landing.

I focused on it, because I was experienced enough to know that five hundred feet were already far below what was recommended for a safe landing and that was with an actual parachute, and not just a few connected blankets and I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to anything else.

Health was there to reduce the damage, so even a bad landing might not kill me, but I was about to enter a wilderness, one that was very likely filled with monsters, and didn't have the luxury of wasting even one more Health point than necessary.

Especially before finding out how to replenish them. The food I had consumed during the feast did so, but maybe cooking required a special ability or process another experiment for a future date.

Instead, I tightened my grip on the blankets, desperately trying to control my direction as I tried to direct myself, bleeding as much momentum as possible even as I checked my landing spot.

A dense forest, with no possible landing spot, but the number of branches gave me an opportunity as much as danger. I tried to direct myself toward the softest-looking tree with the most branches.

Before landing, I wanted to increase my chances of a safe landing as much as possible. And, the best way to do that was to spend my unassigned stat points I didn't want to replicate my mistake when I had jumped down from the fortress.

Not to mention, with the promotion done, I felt the barrier to blocking my leveling was gone, making saving even less of a priority.

[-30 Stat Points]

[+5 Strength]

[+5 Agility]

[+5 Perception]

[+5 Vitality]

[+10 Resilience]

Technically, assigning some to Resilience was not the smartest move, but the voice in mind, forcing me to accept the promotion was still clear. I didn't want to experience that again.

The flight was already much easier after the improvement granted by Elevated Life ability, and the additions to other stats helped it to reach a point where I could call it almost comfortable. Strength helped me to grab the blankets much easier, and Agility helped me to balance myself and direct, Perception allowing me to see much more accurately than I ever thought it to be possible even in the darkness of the nighttime.

Before I could reach the forest, an explosion happened nearby. I didn't need to turn to see that it was the flying vehicle hitting the ground, the flames already high enough to add a little brightness to the dark forest although the excessively crimson tone of that brightness was not good news, I assumed.

I ignored when I was concentrating on my landing. I directed myself to the tallest tree, twisting my body near, kicking myself to bleed the momentum the hit on the tree hard enough to leave a deep crack before shifting the direction, repeating it.

Without dropping the dagger or the magical sword.

On the third attempt, I twisted the blankets and turned them into a lasso, letting it wrap against a thick branch, moving still fast enough to crack it, but the damage was enough to slow me down. I loosened my grip on the blanket, and safely landed on the ground

I was safe well, safeish...