MY 10,000× DIMENSIONAL SYSTEM

Change in Mindset

When Pruina pointed out how Christopher's mask had abilities similar to the being he was speaking of, it gave Christopher an idea of how to manage the curse that had been placed on him.

He wasn't too sure if it would work, but he decided he'd give it a shot.

When he felt the mask vibrate, he knew it was focused on him. Or at least, he felt like he knew. It was hard to tell considering that it didn't seem to have a consciousness.

The System explained that they'd have purposes that aligned with their nature. Since his mask seemed to be related to the erasure of memories along with dreams, he suspected that he could convince it to do something.

He walked up to Pruine who was still looking at him with curiosity, but Christopher did not indicate his thoughts as he simply stepped closer to the Paragon.

'Can you sense it? The curse?' The mask remained unmoving for a moment, and then Christopher felt it. A shred of affirmation. Good.

'Do you think you can absorb it? It should be beneficial to you don't you think?' The mask vibrated again and Christopher sensed the vague approval and desire.

He resisted a smile and looked at Pruina.

"I have a way to get rid of your curse." He said succinctly and Pruina blinked before chuckling.

"Funny, but you could have come up with a better joke than that." He said, but Christopher wasn't smiling. The Paragon's expression gradually became somber.

"You... don't seriously think you can rid me of this curse, can you?" He asked slowly and Christopher took a breath.

"I mean it. I have a way of removing the curse." He said with absolute certainty. However, Pruina wasn't convinced.

"Oh yeah? And why would you do such a thing? What's in it for you?" Hearing this, Christopher arched a brow.

"I'm doing this precisely because it benefits me. Don't get me wrong, your story is pretty depressing, but I'm not stupid, your curse caused you far too much trouble. If Azure's original self got killed simply because she could resist the effects of your curse, what do you think would happen if the being that placed it on you realized I could remove it?" Pruina snorted.

"Exactly, so how does removing the curse benefit you when you're simply putting a target on your back?" At this, Christopher sighed.

"It's simple really. I have a way to avoid the detection of some particularly powerful entities, your... 'bully' included. As for why I'm taking the risk I'm general, well, you should know just how valuable having your soul is, that Vazar guy wouldn't be so hellbent on doing it otherwise." Pruina's eyes sharpened, then they relaxed and he leaned into his seat.

"Talking about claiming ownership of someone's soul so casually. Have you no shame?" He asked without malice and Christopher shrugged.

By now, he'd grown out of his naive mindset of trying to justify his actions of taking people into his Dimension. It was just hypocritical and trying to make it seem like he was the good guy just made him seem like an idiot, which he considered himself to be in many ways.

This seemed to come out of nowhere. But the truth is that during his 'training', he wasn't just thinking about ways to improve his combat ability. He was also thinking about himself and the decisions that led up to this point.

He thought about how he'd presented an eloquent speech to the dragons and Voidwalkers of Altrea and how he kept trying to explain himself. It worked well with the Voidwalkers, but the Dragons, while loyal, and making use of the leeway he'd grabbed them, talked like they could refuse his orders.

Not that he minded, they were prideful by nature and he wasn't about to fault them for their nature as long as it didn't cause any problems. But the point was that he needed to stop trying to justify his actions, because in the end, even if he did his best to put himself in a good light and convince someone to willingly become his subordinate, there would always be people who would resist, resistance that could only be seen as pointless since in the end, the Dimension would make them loyal.

So he decided to no longer bother. If he saw someone he wanted to be his subordinate, he'd just make them his subordinate. If they didn't like that beforehand, well, too bad.

Besides, it was tiring trying to find ways to convince people to become his subordinates. After all, most of the time, they didn't have much of a choice, so even if they weren't convinced, they still agreed simply because they didn't want to die.

Then again, he'd be lying if he said he didn't believe that life in his Dimension wasn't better than most places. There were still some nuances here and there, but it was getting better.

'Let's call it... Rough Persuasion.' He thought as he stared at Pruina.

"I'll make it simple. I have a special item that will make you loyal to me. But as long as that curse is on you, there's a chance that woman can track you, which isn't good for me for obvious reasons." Hearing this, Pruina's face darkened.

"What if I refuse?" Hearing this, Christopher just shrugged.

"I honestly don't care. I wasn't asking for your opinion." He tilted his head.

"Besides, you won't be confined to this place anymore, and I could get you a new body, one fitting of your stature. Or rather this is what I will do, saying 'I could' makes it sound like I'm making you choose. Ah, I'm rambling." He sighed and Pruina rolled his eyes.

"You aren't too good at this 'I don't care and do what I want' act are you?" Christopher just shrugged again.

"Hey, we hardly ever get things on the first try." Pruina was silent for a moment and Christopher decided to wait.

'How strange, I can just go ahead and remove the curse before taking him in, yet I still wanna hear his affirmative answer. Sounds like main character syndrome if I've ever seen it.' He mused, sounding more amused by his antics than irritated. It was something he had control over and knew it would be rooted out with time.

To be clear, Christopher didn't intend to change who he was. He was still the same laid-back overpowered guy who considered himself to be a decent person. But no more of the justified nonsense, it was weird.

Finally, Pruina sighed.

"Well, you said it yourself. I don't exactly have a choice. So whatever, just get it over with." He threw his hands up, his expression one of indifference.

Christopher smiled slightly and looked at his mask.

'Do it.'

***

'... Ugh...' Vazar groaned as he finally came to, his mind buzzing. However, the moment he became aware, he was made aware of the horrific pain his body was going through, however, he couldn't speak. Not because his mouth had taken any damage, but he he was tired that moving in any way was taxing.

As such, he used his Mana to sense his surroundings, and he was startled by what he saw.

Currently, he was on his stomach, and all his clothes were gone. His body was bruised and battered, some injuries looking quite gruesome.

What was notable though, was how there were numerous lances made up of pure moonlight impaling different parts of his body. These lances were attached to chains of Aether that were coming out from numerous magic circles.

Moreover, there was a green magic circle below him. He could not tell what it did at first, but then he noticed a green bubble surrounding him, and he noticed how outside the bubble, everything was moving very quickly. Was he... in a bubble of isolated time?

Outside the bubble, Kim shifted out of her panther form and exhaled. She looked relatively unharmed besides a gash on her left thigh, but it wasn't that deep and was already closing.

Silver also returned to his humanoid form and he looked a lot worse than Kim. His left arm hung limply by his side and there was a hole in his torso where his liver was supposed to be, but he didn't seem to care all that much about it, and just like Kim, the wounds were closing at a speed visible to the naked eyes.

"Interesting. It seems like whenever we try to kill him, he enters that strange berserk state and becomes a problem." Silver muttered as he stared at the thoroughly trapped Vazar who was moving very slowly due to the time bubble Kim had placed around him.

"Yeah, but the more he stays in that state, the more his body gradually gets destroyed. I guess that's why that strange seal was surrounding his heart, it seems like without it, he'd be I'm that state perpetually until he accidentally killed himself. Kinda depressing to be honest." She hummed and turned to Silver, her eyes softening as she observed his wounds.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly and Silver blinked.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." He shrugged, not because he wanted to appease her worries,but because he genuinely didn't think his wounds were a big deal.

Kim saw this as well and sighed.

"Well, we're taking you to Lady Eidrasil." She huffed and grabbed his arm.

"But I'm fine, seriously." He protested, however, the way his grip tightened around her hand showed that he didn't mind being pulled along at all.