307 Design Maps
Not stopping his thinking process there, however, he went on with his analysis of the remaining requirements, 'The third requirement was also met the second my consciousness was sucked into this mysterious space. I wonder why that's a requirement though… one reason might and could be because the emotional transference of knowledge is only possible within the 'Origin' itself… though I'm not certain about it. Well, there must be specific motivations and rationale behind it.'
However, when he reached the last requirement, Virus' consciousness became strangely quiet for a while. Only after some seconds had passed did he finally start his contemplation, 'Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins? What's that supposed to mean? I don't see any blood any-'
Fizzz~
But just as he was about to finish his deliberating line, it was interrupted by a soft sound that a bubble makes when it bursts apart.
At the same time, out of nowhere, a mysterious drop of dark liquid of unknown origins popped into existence right in front of his cloud of consciousness!
Startled by its abrupt appearance, Virus could only look at it with more focus. Yet this time, his amazement and sense of alarm increased even further as he looked at the enigmatic jet-black drop of liquid which was shockingly radiating a dark glow which was even darker and more shadowy than its surrounding darkness!
It felt as if this drop of glimmering inky liquid was dominating and even consuming its surrounding darkness!
'Wh-what… i-is that the so-called Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins? Is that even really a drop of blood? B-but… what kind of blood is like that? How can the blood of someone be pitch-black?' Wondered Virus to himself in incredulity and even bewilderment as he continued to stare at the forth requirement that had appeared before him all of a sudden.
After an unknown duration of time passed, eventually, Virus put aside his sense of bewilderment and started pondering, 'Sigh… so now, every requirement is fulfilled and present on the table. Now, I just need to initiate the process of [Origin Passage Creation Art].'
'But first, let's try and see if I can exit and enter this weird space of the 'Origin' at will.' As he thought of this, however, he was stuck with a particular question, 'How exactly do I try to get out of this space?'
'Exit!' He thought while imagining himself getting out of the dark space. Yet in the end, there was no reaction whatsoever.
'Leave!' Again… nothing!
'System!' Unfortunately, no… nothing again.
'Depart!'
…
After that, he attempted many things such as imagining his own departure and banishment, calling out a lot of names such as exit, menu, etc. but eventually, nothing worked.
'Well, it seems it's not manual… at least, I don't have any control on it as of yet… sigh, forget about it.' Shaking a certain part of his mass of consciousness which was supposedly his head, he let out a helpless sigh before proceeding, 'Whatever… let's get started then.'
As a strong resolve emitted from the cloud of consciousness floating in the middle of the darkness, Virus activated a certain notion within himself.
'[Origin Passage Creation Art]!'
Immediately, that drop of dark blood which was hovering in the space before him started to vibrate. But soon, it restored its own equilibrium and regained stability.
"What the… why did it stop-' Just as Virus was confused by this turn of events, his puzzlement was cast aside by the new wave of emotion knowledge which was pumped into his brain.
'Some new stuff was driven into my mind again… Alright then, let's see what they are.' Casually thinking this, he put the pieces of knowledge into the procedure of the [Emotion to English Translator] algorithm.
Soon, the translations revealed themselves…
『『Due To Insufficient Data, Translation Partially Successful!』』
『Select one of the following design options for the mapping of your Energy Pathways:』
〈1. Common Human Origin Design〉
〈2. Zenith Saint Origin Design〉
〈3. Heavenly Dragon Origin Design〉
〈4. Hegemonic ***** Origin Design〉
〈5. Prodigious Asura Origin Design〉
…
〈12. Manual Origin Design〉
『Caution: Only the twelve most suitable ones have been suggested.』
『Caution: All of the twelve mentioned selections 'almost' have identical characteristics and attributes since the same substance is going to be utilized for creating them. They mostly differ only in their designs and the way they are distributed within the body. In that regard, they are very divergent from one another, and that means each option will be suitable for certain cultivation techniques, paths, etc. as their cultivation methods and the direction of their progress will vary to some extent. 』
Seeing the list of designing options, Virus' eyes started to shimmer in great enthusiasm and elation as he thought, 'Oh my… each one sounds better than the previous one… but… isn't there some kind of description, abstract, or something similar available for me to at least grasp them to a basic level and understand what kind of thing I'm getting myself into?' In the end, he wondered to himself with a rather deep frown while waiting for more knowledge to be transmitted into his head.
However, no matter how long he waited, nothing happened. This meant that these twelve names were all that he was allowed to see. And he was being forced to choose just by looking at their names. Even worse, he couldn't fully translate the name of some of them.
'So… does 'Origin' want me to rely on luck or something in order to pick my fateful one?' Taking on a solemn expression, Virus muttered to himself.
According to the cautionary note of 'Origin', it only transmitted the name of the 'twelve most suitable' [Design Maps], denoting that a lot of other [Design Maps] better or worse in quality have been held back and prevented from being sent over. Moreover, it wasn't giving any clear descriptions of the specifics of any of the options. Both of these factors considered made a dissatisfied look appear on Virus' face while he pondered in a disapproving manner, 'I don't like to leave things to luck… and I, even more, don't like the fact that it's choosing what's best for me.'