Chapter 53: Ready to Awaken
Human instinct is to fear death. To overcome it requires extraordinary willpower. But for someone like Michael, who had only been a genie for a day, where would that extraordinary willpower come from?
Even though his talent was great, right now he was still in a state where he feared death one moment and wasn’t afraid of it the next.
Given the current situation, if the system didn’t scare him a bit, Michael really would give up on becoming a contractor.
[If you don’t become a contractor, you cannot awaken god-level talent. With that mortal strength of yours, even the weakest kind of contractor could easily snap your neck.
After you die, I’ll even give you a ticket to solitary confinement lasting a thousand years. So, you get it now, right?]
This was persuasion, but also a threat. Aside from the worst-case scenario and an even worse one, Michael had no other choice.
If he used that special knife to stab himself in the heart, he would have a chance to awaken god-level talent.
With that kind of talent, even if it wouldn’t help Leo become the king of the world, with Raphael’s support it would be enough for him to gain immense power.
If he chose to run away, then Leo and Raphael could choose to abandon him because he was too useless. Just like that, he would lose any hope on the continent where contractors held all the privileges.
"Does it have to be a self-stab? What if I don’t stab deep enough? Would I have to stab myself again?"
Michael tried to ask if there were any other special precautions because his situation was just too strange. He was afraid that carelessness would get him the maximum punishment from the system.
"Actually, there aren’t many precautions. Just stab the knife all the way into your heart. If you want to be more certain, think in your head that you’re willing to bet your life for a chance to improve."
Raphael was just saying what he himself had thought when he was twelve years old. Back then, he just took the knife and decisively stabbed it into his heart in one go, then awakened. The process was a bit painful, but after awakening, there was no problem.
"Uh, but after stabbing it in, do I need to pull it out? After pulling it out, will it bleed after awakening?"
Michael felt this point was extremely problematic. Could it be that once awakened, the wound just disappears? Looking at Raphael’s chest, it really did seem that way.
"Hmph, what the hell are you scared of? For tens of thousands of years, there hasn’t been a single case of someone following the procedure correctly and dying.
Stabbing into the heart will cause instant awakening, and furthermore, there’s no recorded case of bleeding. You won’t feel anything at that point, so I’ll stand by to pull the knife out, or your body will unconsciously pull it out itself.
Most of the time the body automatically pulls it out because this is an awakening, not the world forcing you to find a way to die."
After using a bit of force again, he looked at Leo as if to see what he thought.
"If you two want to awaken, I’ll go find the knives for you right now. If not, then piss off and stop bothering me. I’m not interested in useless wastes."
Anyone who wasn’t stupid would realize Raphael was provoking them to make up their minds to attempt the breakthrough early.
"Wait a minute, I have a question. Using the same knife like that, won’t we catch a disease or get an infection? I mean, is there any issue with getting someone else’s blood on it?"
Michael was a bit scared of this issue too. Although his body absolutely absorbed all organic matter and water, he still retained some of his thought patterns from Earth.
Raphael said there was no bleeding, but he didn’t say there would be no blood on the blade, so Michael was a bit suspicious.
???
What did he mean by asking that? Both Raphael and Leo looked at each other in confusion. They didn’t understand the concept of bloodborne diseases, so they didn’t get what Michael was talking about.
"What the hell are you babbling about? What do you mean you’re scared of just a bit of blood? And what blood would even be there? I already said the awakening process doesn’t cause injury, so no one gets ’hurt’ at all."
"Well then, I agree."
With things having come to this point, if Michael still got scared then he really would be a coward. Being such a coward, he even felt he wasn’t worthy of being a genie anymore.
"Give me one. I want to awaken too."
Leo, of course, wasn’t afraid of any risk and also wanted to awaken immediately. He had already died once, so once more wouldn’t matter.
"Then wait for me a bit."
Seeing that both agreed, Raphael happily wrapped himself up in another tattered cloth shirt along with a face covering. After preparing everything, he flew off.
"He’s... planning to go steal, right?"
Michael dumbly pointed in the direction Raphael had disappeared. A bit of doubt showed in his gaze as he looked toward Leo.
"What are you even questioning? Does he look like someone with money to buy stuff? If he’s not going to steal, what else can he do?"
Leo looked at Michael like he was an idiot. Was something this obvious even worth asking?
He himself didn’t see any problem with this. Commoners definitely wouldn’t have these things. As for stealing from nobles, that was completely normal to him. He was exactly that kind of double standard.
---
Within a few hours, Raphael returned carrying a box. He didn’t lose so much as a single hair, so naturally he hadn’t been hurt.
"Where did you steal them from? How come you went so fast, like you knew exactly where these things were?"
Michael frowned, extremely suspicious. He had thought Raphael would be gone for a whole day. He didn’t expect him to return just a little past noon.
Thinking about noon made Michael feel a bit hungry. Ever since getting this body, he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything yet.
"Is there anything to eat here? I’m feeling a bit hungry."
Michael asked Leo. Earlier, he had said they wouldn’t go hungry, so there should be something edible around here.
"There is, but wait until after awakening. Food here has never been an issue."
Leo pounded his chest and declared confidently. The food might be bad, but you’d definitely get your fill.
