Trenchcoat dilemma

Frederick thought for a long moment after reading the clauses closely. After what seemed to be forever, he took out his dagger and signed the contract using his blood. This contract was extraordinarily inflexible, and even Frederick couldn't find a way to locate a loophole in it. But he still chose to sign it.

The reason that Frederick accepted was that the clauses were not that constraining. He only had to not talk about anything he would learn here. It was all the contract did.

But if Frederick breached this contract, It would decrease all his attributes by 2 points. Fortunately, this contract also had limits and was temporary. Whether Frederick violated the contract or not, all effects would disappear within a year. It was likely a restriction of the authority used to create this contract. It also meant he could reveal everything he discovered here after a year without any risk.

The instant Frederick's blood touched the paper, the paper lit itself in a red flame and soon faded away as if it had never even existed. There was no trace or any proof that the contract was ever signed.

Frederick looked back at the woman, waiting for her to start explaining, but she remained silent momentarily with a perplexed expression. There was no need to use his own blood to sign it since she had a pen with her…

Eris paused a little as she observed him as if contemplating a way to explain it simply for Frederick and eventually spoke.

"Yes. If you succeed, you will earn attribute points on your status, and all your body functions will be strengthened. It will increase not only your height but also your overall physical condition as well as your body's potential. The attributes given are mostly unknown. If we take those who survived as a comparison, they received 3-6 points distributed in their overall attributes. It could be more or less."

"I see. Then could you explain to me what exactly this purification process is?" asked Frederick with a questioning look.

"The purification process is mainly based on my authorities and a technology we partially 'obtained' as a support. I will use my authority to gather all impurities from your body into your blood system and eject them out at the end while keeping you alive using my second authority. Then, those tools will keep you alive afterward. I was not supposed to tell you this, but you deserve to know since you'll suffer if you go through it." 

 'She has multiple authorities? Did she convince Talia to forge another for her? Or is there another Authority Smith around?' After some thought, Frederick did not bother to ask further since he knew he wouldn't have an answer. He also wanted to know her authority, but nothing good would come out of angering her. Revealing the abilities or curse of your authority was considered a big taboo.

Seeing Frederick looking at her without any expression, she continued. "You must undergo four cleansing cycles to purify your body completely. The first cycle is skeletal purification. As I remove impurities from your bone marrow, you will feel all your bones slowly cracking inside yourself.

The second is the purification of muscle. You will feel like all your muscles are torn to shreds bit by bit, and you will have a feeling of being eaten alive by insects that somehow end up in your body.

After that comes the purification of organs and nerves; you will feel like you are burning alive as you struggle to breathe. It is pretty similar to drowning in your own body, and your heart will feel like exploding. Each beat would be like a sharp stab. You will feel all your organs are trying to rebel against you in the most painful manner possible.

...And the fourth purification and most deadly phase. Your blood vessels, blackened by wastes, will contain all the impurities accumulated in the previous purification. Your whole existence will shatter. The very fiber of your being will feel like it is being ripped apart as some blood vessel on your body will explode in an attempt to release all accumulated waste out of the body. If your body fails to bear the pressure of any of the purification, you will die."

For the first time, the voice of the woman was grave. It was so deep and dark that it sounded as if she were about to kill a person with her bare hands, which is probably close to the truth.

Frederick looked at the woman with an odd expression. This process sounded painful. But simultaneously, his eyes held an inexplicable emptiness and calmness.

'So that was why the bodies of those who failed were this appalling. Their body probably exploded inside out. It then formed that disgusting layer of flesh that seemingly only wished to escape their body.'

"Can't you guys use painkillers or drugs? It could- No... Your organism will probably reject it along with impurities, right?" he asked, looking at the woman.

"You are a smart one. Yes, you cannot even fall unconscious during the process, so you will be in pain, and you can't do anything about it. And if we stop midway, all your impurities will kill you too quickly for us to do anything about," Eris responded solemnly. 

Frederick's mind was calm like an ocean. He didn't react much to what seemed like a description of the most painful way to die and continued with his questions. "What about the success rate then?"

Eris was a bit surprised by Frederick's non-chalent reaction. She half expected Frederick to give up on the process. It was not too late. Truthfully, she did not have to tell any of this. It would even benefit her not to tell Frederick since she would get experience points by killing him. But, ultimately, she decided it would be more human to tell him. She would give Frederick a choice and not force anything. It would be a lie to say she did not want more experience. But she didn't like to have blood on her hands.

It was perhaps hypocritical, but she did not care.

"...Sinclair probably told you some things already, but you should not trust her. I won't lie about it. I am only helping Aegis because they can provide me with a good environment for gaining experience since I know that surviving the process is extremely difficult. The real success rate is about 5%. Out of 40 people who underwent it, only two outlasted every cycle..." she spoke calmly and tried once again to dissuade him. There was still time to back up from the deal.

But her words didn't affect Frederick much. The latter looked back at Eris. He was more focused on his chances of survival. The death chance was very high, almost impossible, but it was also an opportunity he couldn't miss. After all, if Frederick succeeded, he could attain more power, which was a valid reason for all hardships.

 At worst, he would suffer a terrible death and restart everything again. It was not like he was unfamiliar with this feeling.

"Why did you put the bodies of those who failed into tubs?"

This question truly surprised her. After knowing all of that, he still wants to learn more. Did he already give up, and is he just trying to obtain more information about the process? Without much thought, she answered truthfully.

"...Those tubs were a reward we obtained after completing a side story. I was thinking of putting them in a better place, but since I had nowhere to store them, they had to remain there until I found a solution. Those tubs are being used as giant fridges for now. Weirdly enough, the technology in the whole city is absurdly high in some aspects and deficient in others. "

"Probably because of the interactions with diverse realms. What about the time the process takes? Any long-term consequences?" Frederick asked again.

"It will take about 5 hours. If the process takes any longer than that, the success rate will plummet. As for long-term consequences... Those who survived were significantly weakened to the extreme and would lose about 1/3 of their initial weight but would regain it quickly." she said as she pointed out the medical equipment near the iron table.

"More importantly... we observed an extreme mental trauma. We still don't have much data, but both survivors were insane after the process. The pain was probably too much for them to bear. But luckily, we have someone who has authority over mental health, so it should not have any sequel. Any other questions?"

Frederick did not dwell on it anymore. Instead, he wanted to know everything he could before undergoing the procedure and did not hesitate to ask Eris a series of questions. It was a never-ending sequence. It could range from questions about the process to the true meaning of attributes.

The gorgeous woman did not seem to mind. If anything, she looked happy to share what she had learned. Candidates were not stupid and tried to discover as much as possible about the Chronicles.

As they discussed the teleportation operation between realms when someone entered a side story, the door suddenly opened, and Thomas entered the room perplexedly.

"Thomas? What are you doing here?" asked Eris with a confused expression.

"I would also know why... The friend in front of you asked for me." Thomas answered with an even more perplexed expression.

"I was waiting for you. Hello again, Thomas. Please stay a bit. You will surely be interested." Frederick said very kindly and pleasantly as he smiled very brightly.

"Uh? What do you mean by that?" Thomas looked at Frederick with an even more confused face.

Ignoring Thomas, Frederick looked at the gorgeous woman standing next to him. "When can I start the process?" Frederick asked, still with a smile.

"Right now. But you know the main story is coming up in less than a week, right? You probably won't have enough time to recover fully. If you survive that it." she warned Frederick.

"I will take my chances," answered Frederick while his face still showed a courteous smile.

With a sigh, she did not try to convince Frederick, who seemed highly determined. She turned toward Thomas inquiringly, then glanced back at Frederick before nodding in affirmation.

"Let's start. Take off all your clothes and lay on the table. I will begin the procedure immediately."

Frederick did not say anything and stood unmoving. He did not remove his clothes but stared at her without blinking.

"...Are you perhaps embarrassed? Eh. Don't worry about it. The amount of 'meat' that I have seen and manipulated in my youth is enough for several lifetimes," said Eris without any shame.

Thomas, who had been silent since he entered the room, finally couldn't help but comment on her previous remarks. "Eris ... I hope that was a metaphor."

"Eh. Thomas... Stop being jealous about my exes. I was referring to my old job as a medic." Eris responded calmly.

"... You know I can detect lies, right?" Thomas couldn't help but say that with a sigh. 

"You say like you never had any partner before me," said Eris with a smile.

Frederick had heard them but did not comment. He was too focused on something else. He did not remove his clothes earlier, not because he was embarrassed. He did not care about that at all. 

He couldn't remove his clothes for a simple reason: his trenchcoat. The moment he removed his coat, they would be able to see its status, meaning they would find out that he had an item.

The existence of an item is already scarce since there was no item smith in the Haven, meaning you can only obtain one as a reward for completing a side-story. But even so, items obtained were not necessarily forged using good authority. So the fact that it was made out of not one but two convenient authorities made this coat extremely valuable.

'For now, they think that Dark Veil is my main authority, which is good for me. But the moment I remove it...'

Frederick knew that the user's attribute protected an item's status. It means that if someone's perception attribute were twice as high as Frederick's mind attribute, they would be able to see his status and the status of all his items.

'But simultaneously, it would be suspicious not to remove my clothes.'

This seemingly little request was something that put him in a difficult spot. If he removes his coat, they will find out about his item. If he didn't remove his clothes, he wouldn't be able to start the process, and they would be suspicious. What would happen if they forcefully removed it when he is weakened?