Chapter 10: Reaching A Compromise Thirteen woke up with a head-splitting headache that made him flinch. It was as if countless needles were stabbed into his brain, making his face scrunch up. "So, you're finally awake," the Laplace Demon said while casually sipping a cup of tea. "Stand up, child. The One has already made its decision regarding you." The young boy gingerly stood up while enduring the pain in his head. Since he was still alive, that meant that the two beings in front of him had decided to spare him. However, until he heard their verdict, he decided to play it safe and wait for confirmation. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮 "After careful consideration, I've decided to spare your life," The One stated. "I am rather vexed that a God has decided to take matters into his own hands and tamper with the rules of my world. But I can understand why he did it, so I will not be removing the restrictions on your body." Thirteen clenched his fists, not out of anger, but due to disappointment. He thought that the Omnipotent Being of the world would find his restrictions unjust and remove them using the authority he had over the world. However, The One's next words made Thirteen widen his eyes in surprise. "While it is true that I will not be removing the restrictions imposed upon your body, I will allow you to strengthen yourself in any way possible. However, there will be limitations. I'm sure that you still have plenty of ways to exploit loopholes, so you have to tell us all the abilities that you plan to use in this world. "Truth be told, I am very tempted to wipe your memories clean so that you will not remember anything, including the knowledge you possess. The only thing that is stopping me from doing that is my interest in seeing how you will survive with all the restrictions placed on you by the System God. "I will use you as a guinea pig to find the loopholes to the laws in my world, so I can fix them properly. For now, I will allow you to use Rune Magic up to the Intermediate Stage. Also, since I find you to be an interesting person, I've decided to bestow upon you a unique ability." As if waiting for those words, several rows of text appeared in front of Thirteen, making him arch an eyebrow. —————————— Unique Ability: Destiny Bond < Destiny Bond > — You will feel the presence of the people who have a very strong connection with you. The stronger your feelings are for a person, the stronger the connection. If your feelings for them reach a certain threshold, it is possible to pinpoint their exact location using the strings of fate that bound you to them. —————————— Name: Zion Leventis Age: 5 Years Old Race: Human Skills: None Items: None Avatars: None < Permanent Debuff > — Rank Ban — Skill Ban — Item Ban — Avatar Ban Unique Abilities: Universal Language Proficiency, Destiny Bond, Rune Magic (Intermediate). —————————— Looking at his Status Window, Thirteen felt as if a new path had opened up for him. Although the restrictions were still in place, he believed that he would be able to exploit more loopholes as he used the knowledge in his possession. "You will discuss the Unique Abilities that you plan to use in this world with Laplace Demon," The One stated. "I gave him full authority to approve or reject any of the Abilities that you plan to use. "Make sure to not hide anything because a list will be created, and a contract will be signed. If you do anything outside the conditions listed in the contract, you will immediately be erased, no questions asked." It was not only Laplace Demon who developed a bias towards Thirteen. The One didn't lie when it said that it was annoyed with the System God for tampering with Thirteen's body. Everyone whom The One had chosen to be Spirited Away would undergo a rebirth of sorts. Regardless of their disabilities, diseases, or circumstances, they would gain the perfect body once they appeared in Solterra. It was also possible for the restrictions on Thirteen's body to be purged completely due to this rebirth, but this was very unlikely to happen. A God's restriction wasn't something that anyone could remove easily because it contained a part of their Divinity. Because of this, The One decided to compromise. It believed that if Thirteen didn't have any restrictions placed on his body, it was very possible for him to become an overpowered existence, threatening to break the balance of the world. The One couldn't let this happen, so he didn't plan to remove the "safety locks" that the System God had given to Thirteen. The contract that he proposed was also a fail-safe compromise, preventing Thirteen from using the knowledge he had from other worlds and abusing it. 'I don't know if I'm making a mistake or not,' The One thought as he looked at the five-year-old, who was busy arguing with Laplace Demon about one of the abilities that he wanted to be added to the contract. After a month of arguing, the list of abilities was finally finalized. Thirteen made sure to read the clause of the contract, and he even used a magnifying glass to read the small print that the Laplace Demon had added to it. The humanoid White Rabbit wearing a black tuxedo found Thirteen's antics quite amusing. He did add clauses that were too small to notice, yet the five-year-old saw them and even asked for a magnifying glass to read them. After his Father's betrayal of not granting his wish, Thirteen was a bit paranoid when it came to contracts and fine print. The five-year-old read the hundred-page contract five times before finally signing it, sealing the deal. Laplace Demon was a tough cookie to crack, and the Demon had rejected a lot of Thirteen's proposals. He made sure that the Renegade System wouldn't become too overpowered and break the balance of the world. Although Thirteen was disappointed that some of his proposals didn't go through, he was still satisfied with the result. Since time in the Celestial Realm moved differently compared to the time in Pangea, Thirteen returned exactly an hour after the Laplace Demon had kidnapped him. The five-year-old rubbed his palms together before chuckling like a mad scientist. Now that he managed to gain the approval of the Big Boss of the world, he decided to prepare for the time when he and his siblings would be sent to the world of Solterra for their first Wandering.