Chương 33: What's inside the box?

Grim raised her knife again as she took a hesitant step towards the box. There wasn't anyone around that she could see, but she still wasn't going to trust that. Something had just happened, and she wasn't sure what.

"Should I really open the ominous box?" Grim debated out loud, although she already knew the answer.

"Who am I kidding? Of course I am." She sliced the bow with her blade and nudged the lid off the box. Inside there were two things: a note and what was unmistakably a boon die. Only it was black. Boon die were not supposed to be black, and yet this one was. She was going to ignore that for now because that was almost certainly bad news. She sheathed her knife and tipped the box over onto the bench, very careful not to let it touch her.

The note fell beside it as the die rolled and tumbled out; it vibrated before it settled, inert once again. Content that she wasn't about to explode or have some other malady inflicted on her, she grabbed the note and went through it. I must apologize for my hasty exit, other matters called to me. In the meantime, as recompense for my rudeness, please take this gift from me. It shall unlock some of the options that have been hidden from you. If you survive, I look forward to seeing you again. Seir, the white snake.

PS. The fourth option gives you the best chance of surviving your current predicament.

"If only everyone who was rude to me gave me gifts," Grim complained, not that she was too serious. She wasn't sure if she could call the black dice a "gift" yet. There was a faint whirring behind her where a portal had opened up, a warm breeze flowed from it that drifted towards her. She looked between the portal and the black die, a little relieved that at least it seemed like she had a choice. Grim put her hand close to it, but the closer she got, the more sure she was that there would be no going back.

It would grab onto her as soon as she came into contact with it. That screwed up one plan, the obvious thing to do would be to decide later, or see if anyone could help her find out what Seir had done to the thing. Hell, how much more powerful could people get if they had the other upgrades? The extra boon slot was just ubiquitous with ranking up, no one really talked about the locked options. At least not publicly. No, she'd need to make up her mind.

The portal seemed to be through her eyes if she had to guess, she saw the wall of water raised in front of her and the hints of flame behind it. She hadn't been able to see before, but she was a moment away from the rest of the water evaporating. That was going to be a problem. She tried calling on Hazel again, but whatever Seir had done blocked her from responding or being summoned. This was something she'd have to decide on her own.

On the one hand it was probably safest not to take the mysterious gift from a weird creature from a Gate World. That was pretty high up there in the rules, hell, she'd almost gotten killed by Phil for it. Although that was more so because he thought Hazel was some sort of body snatcher parasite, or something. But on the other hand, she was probably going to die anyways. So what was the harm in it? Seir said one of the upgrades would help her survive, she owed it to Jeremy to try at the very least.

At least that was what she was trying to tell herself. The truth was she wanted to take it because she wanted to. She wanted to get stronger. She wanted to be a witch and even with an S Rank Boon and [CEDE] she was still weak. Incredibly useful but weak. She needed more. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She grabbed the black die, and a jolt of pain struck through her hand. Tendrils exploded outward from the die and into her skin.

Multiple drops of blood formed as their thin needle like tips burrowed into her. She tried to throw it away, but it stuck to her, forcing itself deeper into her skin. The pain hurt in an entirely new way, as if her soul was being slashed by a blade. ERROR SYSTEM MALFUNCTION UNAUTHORIZED OVERRIDE REBOOTIN — Grim's vision went black, and she felt herself fade before her consciousness was slammed back into her. Whatever process that had been about to happen had been halted.

NOTIFICATION(1) You have new upgrades available. Grim gasped, her whole body cramping from how she'd unconsciously tensed. As she exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd taken, the pain from before disappeared and was replaced by a tenderness. She couldn't say where it was physically; it felt like more her soul hurt. Which was strange for her to say, since she'd never really felt her soul before. Why would she feel like her soul hurt if the dice was only supposed to affect her system?

She tried not to dwell on that. Her system otherwise seemed normal after she checked on it, everything was as it should have been, so she opened up the notification. Please select reward. Additional Boon Slot Offensive Strandsight Ability. Booncasting. Patron of the White Snake. Her eyes widened; those had been locked off before. She hadn't really believed Seir, but it seemed like she had been telling the truth. Both abilities also seemed very useful.

She couldn't be certain of the specifics of either, there was no option to get more insight, but at the very least she knew what to call her ability to see the strands was. There were plenty of ways she could think of that an ability like that could be used offensively and most likely it was based upon sight, which would be super powerful. Booncasting was a complete mystery. If it were like some of the magic boons, that would be amazing.

Only a few of the most powerful ones were more than a one-trick fireball or something. The name suggested it also involved Boons somehow, rather than just being a casting ability itself. An additional Boon slot would also bring her up to four, which with her current powers would also be huge. The more she had, the more effective she was, doubly so with Hazel. It was maybe a boring choice, but also the safest. She'd never been one for the safe choice, so she ruled that out.

Strandsight was next on the chopping block. She needed something to attack with but that didn't matter if she was dead. Taking a gift from something intelligent in a Boon world? Becoming her patron? If she told Phil about this, there was almost a 100% chance he'd drop dead from how much his blood pressure would skyrocket. No, if she took option three she still had a good chance.

If she could hold on long enough to reach one of the dice in her bag, she might be able to either use it, or absorb it for enough energy to survive. YOU HAVE SELECTED OPTION 4. Patron of the White Snake. CONFIRM REWARD Y/N"What? No, that's not what I want," Grim tried to argue. REWARD CONFIRMED You are now a Patron of the White Snake. There was an icy chill across her neck as she read the message, "You bitch." She said. There was no reply.

She rubbed her face hard, trying to massage away just how fed up with this shit she was. This was supposed to have been simple and now what was she doing? Before if the government had found out about her she'd have been labeled a terrorist. With this as well? Were mega-terrorists a thing? Scratch that, there were some things she didn't want to know. She took one last look around and decided against exploring this alternate world.

She had a feeling there wasn't much to this place, and she really didn't want to end up getting lost. The portal was in front of her and mentally she prepared her gameplan, she'd redouble her efforts in the staff. Summon Hazel if possible, and if all else failed, maybe she could grab the Boon die from her bag and gamble on that.

"If you're listening, Seir, this is about where your bullshit choice should be helping me." Grim stepped through, and her world went dark. Pain racked through her body and close behind it was the deep-seated exhausted she had left behind. The roar of the explosion continued as it blew out what remained of her eardrums. GRIM! WHAT WAS THAT? She tried to reply, but her vision darkened again, this time deep enough that she knew she was about to fall down.

She tried to push past it, letting out another yell as she fought her own body shutting down. The heat had grown scalding, and no part of her was unharmed. Finally, the pressure was too much, and Grim felt herself fall backward, the staff drifting from her hands. Before her head hit the ground, she used her last ounce of strength to launch Hazel forward, the sacrificial play she'd fought to not use.

She knew there was no hope, the water had all but evaporated, but she wouldn't die without doing everything she could've tried to stop it. To save Jeremy. Grim's head hit the ground, and her eyes closed.