God of Contracts: Strongest Businessman

Chapter 42 Awakening

A few minutes ago,

In Elian's room.

As El slept, he lay positioned precisely at the bed's center, his hands symmetrically placed equidistant from his body. The immaculate blanket bore no trace of a wrinkle or fold, a testament to El's complete stillness throughout the entirety of his sleep.

Consciousness jolted El awake, his eyes springing open as an unseen voice whispered in his mind, [Host detected]

A quick scan of his surroundings revealed nothing out of the ordinary, yet the lingering echo of the voice compelled him to question his sanity.

"Zero One, did you hear that?" he inquired, addressing the artificial intelligence.

"No. During the last eight hours, no sound was detected in the room," Zero One responded mechanically.

El's brow furrowed in confusion. Could he have imagined the voice? Was Zero One's auditory processing flawed? Or was it in his mind?

The answer came swiftly, a second voice whispering directly into his mind, [Beginning Awakening]

In a surprising turn of events, El, normally vigilant and wary of intrusions, found himself inexplicably receptive to the voice that had penetrated his mind.

"Zero One, contact Julia," El instructed his AI companion, his voice betraying a hint of uncertainty despite his newfound trust in the voice. The possibility that this trust had been artificially implanted lingered in his mind, a scenario that, while far-fetched, was not beyond the realm of possibility. As always, El was not one to take risks, especially when it came to the sanctity of his own mind.

[Analyzing body] the voice continued.

[Completed] it announced, followed by a chilling declaration, [Analyzing soul]

A pause ensued, filled with an ominous tension. Then, the voice's tone shifted, laced with an air of surprise, [Error! Host's soul partially awakened.]

El's heart pounded in his chest as the voice concluded with a chilling decree, [Initiating compulsory sleep sequence.]

Overwhelmed by an irresistible force, El's eyelids grew heavy, and he found himself powerless to resist the pull into the depths of slumber. The last thing he heard was the voice whispering, [Sleep].

In the blink of an eye, El's consciousness slipped into the abyss of sleep, a mere second after he had instructed Zero One to contact Julia. The suddenness of his slumber triggered Zero One's security protocols, designed to protect El during deep sleep. Heart rate monitoring revealed a dramatic deceleration, confirming Zero One's suspicion that El had indeed fallen into an unnatural slumber. To further verify its assessment, Zero One administered small electrical impulses, but El remained unresponsive. This prompted Zero One to immediately call Julia, bypassing the in-house healer. Recent events, particularly Julia's successful healing of Elian, had instilled in Zero One a newfound trust in her abilities, eliminating the need to involve additional medical personnel.

As the call connected, Zero One's synthesized voice filled the air, addressing Julia in a tone laced with concern, "Hello Julia, it's Zero One. I'm afraid I have some disturbing news. El has inexplicably slipped into a coma. Could you please come check on him immediately?"

A pause ensued, followed by an outburst of disbelief from Julia, "Are you kidding me?"

Zero One recognized the rhetorical nature of her question, but the gravity of the situation demanded absolute clarity. "No, I'm dead serious, Julia. El's condition requires your immediate attention."

Julia's momentary disbelief quickly gave way to a surge of urgency as she grasped the gravity of the situation. Zero One's words had jolted her back to reality, reminding her that emotions had to be momentarily set aside in favor of decisive action. Without a second thought, Julia rushed towards Elian's room, with Sylv following closely behind.

In anticipation of Julia's arrival, Zero One had already disabled the deep sleep protection, revealing El's serene form resting at the heart of the bed. Julia, her heart heavy with worry, was about to approach El to conduct a scan when a disembodied voice reverberated through the room, halting her progress.

"Stop. Your son has no problem. There's no need to intervene." the voice declared, its source identified as Sylv, who remained unseen in her 'natural' form.

"Elaborate," Julia requested, a sliver of relief washing over her, but her heart still craved more information to fully settle her nerves.

"Your son is undergoing a natural transformation, and it seems that this coma is a necessary part of the process. It's akin to the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies," Sylv explained, before adding, "You can verify this for yourself if you examine his soul."

Taken aback by Sylv's explanation, Julia cautiously peered into Elian's soul, only to discover it shielded by a protective cocoon, eerily resembling that of a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis.

"Any clue about what's happening precisely? Human soul transformations aren't supposed to occur, right?" Julia inquired, her curiosity piqued.

"On the contrary, humans are capable of soul transformations, but typically they're partial in nature. Elian's, however, is a complete overhaul. How intriguing!" Sylv exclaimed, her eyes glued to Elian's soul, absorbing every minute detail of this extraordinary process.

Meanwhile, inside the soul cocoon, Elian's soul was indeed clearly reshaping itself and a voice could be heard coming directly from the soul.

[Analyzing soul]

[Anomaly detected]

[Forbidden authority detected]

[Overwriting soul defense protocols]

[Authority awakened]

[ERorR ERorR ERorR ERorR]

[Body unable to bear the authority]

[Request for solution]

[Authority downgraded to Element]

[Dormant racial traits detected]

[Racial traits activated]

[Dormant elements detected]

[ERorR ERorR ERorR ERorR]

[Unable to awaken elements]

[Request for solution]

[No solution]

The last 2 prompts repeated for about a billion times before giving up and saying

[Postponed]

[Complet-]

The processus was about to be completed but was suddenly interrupted by a request

[Request from the twin soul received]

[Calculating]

[Request accepted]

[Twin contract updated]

[Completed]

With this, the soul transformation ended and Elian's soul stopped changing and gained back its usual stillness. However the cocoon remained as a last step was needed.

[Opening 'Ark's gifts']

[Karma points received]

[Activation of the veil]

[Enough funds]

[Veil activated for a month]

[Programmable personal assistant received]

[No more gift]

[End of Awakening]

The processus ended without any major problem. All this barely took five minutes and the cocoon was about to end when

[New contract detected]

[Analysis]

[Disciple contract]

[Implementation of the contract]

[Soul unable to bear contract]

[Reject contract]

However, once this was said, Elian's soul erupted in what seemed to be anger. Despite its unconscious state, the soul instinctively knew that the rejection wasn't an option. It had to do everything to implement this contract, even death was enough of a deterrent.

[Rejection aborted]

[Implementation of the contract]

[Soul unable to bear contract]

[Reject?]

"NOOOOOOOOOO" this answer came from the depth of the soul.

[Forceful implementation of the contract]

[Soul is dying]

[Proceed?]

"YEEEEEEEES"

[Implementation: 1%] ... [Implementation: 10%]

[Soul defensive measures activated]

[Implementation paused]

[Bypass?]

[WARNING: Bypassing means immediate death]

"YESSSSSSSSS"

[Deat-]

The death was about to be pronounced when

[Racial trait activated]

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Edited by Moondark