2: Devilish Encounter!

As one can already tell, Val was born with the memory of his previous life.

He was a reincarnator!

In his previous life, he was from Earth.

Back there, he was a feared warlord, leading a vast army of mercenaries.

He was living like a king when World War 3 started.

With the onset of World War III, nations crumbled in quick succession.

Val was a ruthless and merciless man, and war times were extremely profitable for him. Yet, no matter how strong and great he was, he was still a mortal.

A casualty of a nuclear explosion, he was sent spiraling into the afterlife!

He thought, with his hands stained with the blood of both innocent and guilty lives, his eternal resting place would surely be in the deepest layer of hell.

But life, or rather the afterlife, threw him a curveball.

Instead of a descent into hell, he found himself in the warm womb of a woman, reborn as a tiny embryo.

Pushed into a new life from her sacred blossom, it took him a whole year to grasp the nature of his new reality.

Here, bloodline users were revered, while ordinary folks were treated like dirt.

Thus, after coming to this world, Val had always yearned for the status of a bloodline user, a position that would grant him control over his own destiny, but, being a Whitemore, he had to bide his time for sixteen long years to partake in the bloodline awakening ritual.

The outcome, however, was a slap in the face!

He was branded a normie, an individual incapable of gaining or awakening a bloodline, regardless of the potion used!

Following his tumble from grace, his so-called friends cut all ties with him, his envious peers kicked him while he was down, and his father turned his back on him. Now that he was seen as a normie, Val received no aid or comfort from him. Not that he cared.

On top of that, the protection he had been receiving from the clan since he was born has also been taken away.

As of now, he was completely vulnerable to the harmful elements of this strange world.

"My life might be in shambles, but I've still got a lifeline to clutch at."

He still had a way to salvage this situation!

He was seated next to a desk. There was a worn black book with a tattered cover and yellowed pages before him.

This book seemed to have endured the passage of countless years and oozed a sinister aura, enough to unsettle most. Val, however, was impervious to its eerie ambiance, as if he lacked the ability to feel fear, a result of his Unfeeling Trait.

This ancient, dilapidated black book was a parting gift from his mother before she disappeared. As it seemed like nothing was written on it, the book was dismissed as useless by all but Val.

For some inexplicable reason, only he could see and read the text inscribed within and on its cover!

Its title was "Devil's System."

The artifact claimed to endow its user with devilish powers, provided they were deemed worthy. However, to activate it, one needed to pay a steep price, which was half their sight.

Such a peculiar condition made Val question the sincerity of the book. It seemed ludicrous enough to be a joke, so he never attempted to activate it. He was unwilling to lose half his vision on a potential wild goose chase.

Now, however, the grim reaper seemed to be sharpening its scythe for him. As a normie, the protection of his family was no longer his to enjoy. This world was filled with a myriad of strange entities, and should he have the misfortune of encountering one, death was a guarantee.

Thus, he urgently needed the power to protect himself from the harmful elements of this strange world that was so different than Earth!

In the face of impending death, the choice to sacrifice half his vision to activate the artifact suddenly didn't seem too hard. So, with a calm demeanor, he reached for his own eye.

Pluck!

With a sickening squelch, he plucked it from its socket, holding the bloody eyeball between his fingers.

Blood streamed from the empty socket, but he didn't flinch, nor did he scream. His face remained serene as if he hadn't experienced anything. It was quite a horrifying and peculiar sight. In his previous life, he was known as Val the Unfeeling! He couldn't feel pain or fear because of his Unfeeling Trait. At the same time, it was more difficult for him to experience other emotions as compared to an average human because of his Emotional Impairment Trait.

These traits had carried on to his current life!

He then placed his eyeball onto the Devil's System. Immediately, a dark vortex materialized at the book's center, swallowing his eyeball whole.

As a result, the Devil's System began to morph, transforming into an eye that floated into Val's vacant socket, filling it. This new eye mirrored Val's original one, yet it was far darker and seemed to harbor an immeasurable depth. Unless someone was scrutinizing his eyes closely, this subtle change would go unnoticed.

"Ding," echoed the sound of a bell in Val's ears. Just then, a semi-transparent screen materialized before his eyes.

[Connection to Devil's System: Established.]

[Prove your worth to the Devil's System.]

[A trial has started!]

[Survive for five minutes!]

[Failure means termination of life!]

[Succeed and the Devil's System is yours!]

Just as he read the last line, the steam-powered lamp in the room, which had earlier switched off mysteriously, flickered back on, casting an uncanny light around the room.

Val's eyes instinctively moved towards the lamp, its brass foundation and glass shield gleaming under the light of the moons.

A while ago, it had turned off on its own, and now it came back to life by itself too.

Was it malfunctioning?'

Val knew that that wasn't the case.

There was something else at play here, something sinister.

His conclusion was proven true when the lamp's light started shifting towards a sinister red hue.

"Interesting," Val remarked, his tone unfazed.

His gaze roamed around the room, alert for any potential threats. He was no stranger to this world where danger could spring up unannounced, a world teeming with devils and monsters. He had to remain vigilant. Always.

Suddenly, a series of knocks on his door interrupted his thoughts - a distinct 'ratatatat!'

"Who's there?" Val called out.

The knocking persisted, becoming louder, almost demanding. His frown deepened. "Speak up now, or you won't like what follows. Who is it?"

Still no answer. Only the relentless pounding against his door, almost as if by a formidable, non-human force.

Val, unafraid, strode towards the door. Whatever awaited him, he was ready to face it head-on.

However, as his hand reached out for the handle, a grotesque scene unfurled. The door seemed to bleed, turning a horrific shade of red as though blood was seeping through its grain.

Any ordinary person would've recoiled in fear at this sight. Not Val, though. He just stepped back, not willing to stain his luxurious attire.

Interpreting his retreat as a sign of weakness, tendrils of darkness began to sneak in through the door's edges. Like a swarm of wriggling worms, they snaked into the room, then spiraled together to form a monstrous figure as tall as Val himself!