Three Rules

The young man was filled with anticipation, eager to know what motives a being such as the one before him would have.

"Simple, I wanted to get away from my previous... owner."

Blurting out those words, again, Noah's curiosity, instead of being satiated, increased, with the young man not taking long to communicate this to the entity.

"With owner, are you talking about the Crooked-"

"Stop."

At that moment, sensing that Noah was about to start something it really wanted no part of, the entity spoke in a voice that while no louder, emitted a much stronger pressure. So much even that it managed to silence the young man before he began to chatter on and on.

"You are here not for conversation, but because I have things to inform you... and something to offer you."

Crack!

Quickly, when it finished talking, the atmosphere also began to change, the trees in the surrounding area breaking and beginning to wither, leaving behind broken and dry trunks.

Inside each of these, a dark, viscous liquid was beginning to ooze out, falling to the ground and releasing burning sounds as it made contact with the bushes and vegetation of what was left of the previous forest.

It was a sight that Noah did not like at all, and that for some reason, began to warm his body noticeably, as if he had a fever.

"I'll be brief, what you see around you and it makes you so uncomfortable is nothing more than your own body being infested by the chaos, the black liquid that manifested as black veins in your body."

"Wh-"

"When I cured you, the chaos took the opportunity to further infiltrate your body. I'm sorry to say, but there is no cure to eliminate the chaos and nothing you can do about it, at most, you have a week to live."

That way, the entity had dropped a bombshell on Noah, who just when he thought he had gotten out of a jam, it turns out he had gotten himself into a bigger one.

As for the idea of blaming the entity for this, it didn't even cross his mind, because it was thanks to the entity that he was still alive in the first place.

If he was told whether he would rather have a hole in his chest and die or get an incurable infection and die within a week, he would still choose the latter, if only to say goodbye to his family.

It would also be a lie to say that he did not know about the existence of the chaos in his body, as the system had warned him about that some time ago.

However, what was a surprise was the fact that said chaos was not something beneficial to him as Noah first thought, but something even worse than the Putrid Curse, as the latter at least had a clear cure.

The way he saw it, the culprit was no one else but him, since by losing to the Faceless Wrath, and not knowing his body correctly, he had already sealed his fate.

Tsss!

"Argh!"

At that moment, his chest began to burn, quickly catching up to the sensation he had when he faced the Faceless Wrath, his arms filling with black veins and the system showing him a warning.

__________________________

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Body] is being affected by the [Chaos].]

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Body] is resisting the influence of [Chaos].]

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Body] is resisting the influence of [Chaos].]

__________________________

Clutching his chest and unable to read the rest of the messages, Noah tried to relieve the pain in any way he could, either by scratching or rubbing hard, but even when he had torn his shirt, not only could he see nothing on his chest, but the pain did not stop.

Swoosh!

A stream of wind suddenly slammed into the young man, freezing him for a moment before his body temperature returned to normal at the same time as the pain stopped.

What had happened was unexpected, but it was enormously welcome.

__________________________

[Notice: The "Host" has received the [Conditional Grace: Lesser Protection] thanks to the "???? of the Roses"].

[Notice: The [Host: Mortal Body] has successfully withstood the [Chaos].]

__________________________

"...Argh..."

"Over time, those events will only get worse, until finally, your death will come. However, since this is partly my fault, I will help you."

Hearing the entity's words, Noah's eyes could not help but light up, although they also expressed slight confusion.

"Didn't you say that there was nothing to do...?"

"I said that there is nothing you can do about it, I never said anything about me."

Without questioning or giving much more thought to how easily the entity had the ability to cause such drastic changes in his emotions, the young man asked another question.

"What should I do then?"

Shar!

In the distance, Noah could hear a sound that greatly resembled that of a sheet of paper being torn off.

"You have to follow three rules, so that the chaos within you cannot thrive.

-No matter the situation, do not take me away from you for more than an hour.

-Once a month, you must spend a whole day in the mirror world.

-You must follow the diet I impose on you, without skipping a single day.

If you follow these three rules, I assure you that you will survive the chaos."

They were three simple rules, which Noah seemed to be able to abide by without much difficulty, and while it could not be said that he fully trusted the entity, he really had no choice.

"Tell me then, human, do you accept my help... do you accept these rules?" The voice said in a much softer tone than normal, as if it didn't want to pressure Noah.

"I accept."

"Well said, then-"

Before it could continue, the young man spoke again, this time looking directly at the flower bed, or rather, at the empty space above it.

"But first, I want to see you, I want to know the appearance of the one who saved me."

"..."

"Please."

For a few seconds, the entity was completely silent, but not because the question had been a surprise, after all, while Noah waited for an answer, a huge smile was drawn on the not yet visible face of the entity.

"I would indeed like to accede to your request... but I'm afraid that won't be possible." The entity replied, its voice having softened much more than before, reaching a point where it could even be considered as caring.

With this statement, the young man did not understand what the entity was referring to, but before he could express his doubts, the latter continued.

"You see, it's not that I don't want to show myself, but rather that you are not able to see me."

After saying that, another stream of wind came from the center of the flower bed, directly impacting Noah's face.

The next moment, new visions appeared in his head, information he had never seen before showing him things he had no idea he didn't even know about.

At that moment it became clear to him what the entity meant by it was he who could not see it. For there were simply things that his human body was not meant to witness, things and beings beyond his comprehension and that normally, a human would never come into contact with.

With this new information, Noah could confirm that while he had encountered several inhabitants of the mirror world, this was just the tip of the iceberg of what this mysterious and terrifying world was.

Putting his thoughts in order after the sphere of information moved everything out of place, Noah then apologized to the entity for asking for something that while it seemed easy at first glance, was anything but that.

"I didn't say it couldn't be done, just that as you are now, it's not possible. I can sense that you are especially sensitive to things in this world, even being able to notice me, but sensing and seeing are a world away."

For some reason, as ir finished saying this, Noah felt an uneasy feeling began to grow within him, even though in the surroundings there was no apparent change, .

Perhaps it was because the entity seemed to have scanned him from head to toe, even making him doubt whether it had detected the system.

However, no message had reached him from the system confirming this suspicion of his, so Noah felt a certain grade of reassurance.

"This is where my offer takes place, to change the way you are now, to quench the thirst for knowledge within you, I offer you an exchange."

Hearing these words, Noah couldn't help but make a confused expression, not understanding what a being like the one in front of him could want from him.

Swoosh!

The wind rampaged again, but this time it was not in Noah's direction, but to the side of the rose bed, spinning so fast that it prevented him from seeing inside.

After a few seconds, the wind died down slightly, revealing what appeared to be a seven-sided amorphous symbol with several words constantly changing inside.

"I know what you want, I know about the fervent curiosity within you that yearns for knowledge about the.... mirror world. You desire to know its inhabitants, you desire to know its secrets, you desire to know the truth about this world, and the truth about you. You long for knowledge."

Filled with an incredibly sweet melody to Noah's ears, the entity's voice seemed to have struck a chord with the young man.

Despite not having known him for very long, it had already discovered one of the key parts of Noah's personality, his sometimes beneficial, sometimes dangerous, but ever present, curiosity.

An aspect of his that always went unnoticed even by the young man himself and that, since he had met the mirror world, had only increased.

Leading him not only to study strange symbols with unknown and potentially dangerous effects, but even overcoming his innate fear of the unknown in order to learn more.

When the entity mentioned what Noah wanted so badly, the fact that he paid utmost attention was a given.

"My time in that world has been too much, much more than I expected, but because of that, my knowledge has reached a point that I am quite proud of." Said the entity with a certain tone of pride in its voice.

With every word he heard, Noah's anticipation for what the entity was about to offer him only grew.

"I cannot give you everything I know because of your human limitations, but what I can do is give you some of my knowledge, with what I call, the Earthly Codex."

Swoosh!

The symbol next to it, as if responding to the call of its creator, changed shape again, now taking the form of a thick leather book that was as large as Noah's torso.

With just a glance, the young man could tell how a strong mysticism surrounded this book, one that reminded him slightly of the feeling he got from the symbols that made up the [Ritual: Mirror Gate].

"This book contains my knowledge of everything that physically exists in the mirror world, be it the inhabitants, the locations, objects, everything that has a presence on the earthly plane is here."

As if to give more weight to the entity's words, the system also appeared.

__________________________

[Notice: The "Host" is in front of the [Spiritual Artifact: Earthly Codex]. It is highly recommended to secure the artifact as soon as possible].

__________________________

Noah's eyes widened as he heard the description along with the urgency even of the system, with him wanting nothing more than to grab the book and begin reading its contents, a fervent and almost even unknown curiosity for him overflowing.

However, even though he really wanted to accept the deal, in an unexpected moment of reason and determination, reminding him that he was dealing not with a merchant, but with an unknown entity, he thought better of it.

After all, while the codex sounded incredibly tempting, the detail was in something the entity hadn't mentioned so far.

The next moment, Noah asked a question.

"What do I have to give you for the codex?"

It had not escaped his notice that the entity had said an exchange, meaning that what he would receive was the Earthly Codex, but for this artifact, there was something he was to deliver.

"...To give up something that has taken me part of my life to get, it only makes sense that you give me the same." Added the entity, "I want a piece of you, Noah Winters. Give me a quarter of your life and the Earthly Codex will be yours."

Having taken a much more serious tone, the entity had set its terms, surprising Noah, who realizing what this implied, understood why it was that the entity was offering something as valuable as the Terrestrial Codex.

Or rather, so valuable to Noah, so much so as to make the young man for a moment doubt whether his life could truly buy knowledge that felt almost forbidden.

Knowledge not only of the mirror world, but also, in the words of the entity, of himself.