Infinity Is My Affinity?!? Chapter 199: Here Is My First Offering

-Ding!

{And what do you want in exchange?}

"What do I want, huh..."

Nico tilted his head back slightly while looking through the tangled canopy overhead, at the sunlight filtering through the leaves in scattered beams, while a laugh escaped him.

"Man, you sound suspicious as hell."

-Ding!

{I am.}

That got a snort out of him.

"At least you’re honest about it."

The western forest stretched endlessly around him while his boots continued crunching over fallen leaves and exposed roots.

"What do I want..." Nico repeated thoughtfully. "Honestly, I don’t really want anything specific."

"It could literally be anything..." he chuckled, waving his hand vaguely through the air.

-Ding!

{Host, that answer inspires little confidence.}

"It shouldn’t..." Nico chuckled softly. "I’d be happy with a magic that makes everyone within fifty ters laugh until they incapacitate themselves."

-Ding!

{That spell exists.}

Nico nearly tripped over a root.

"Wait, seriously?"

-Ding!

{Yes.}

"What in the world...?"

-Ding!

{The world is significantly stranger than you currently realize.}

"Fair enough." He stepped around a fallen log before continuing.

"My point is that it doesn’t matter. It could be a spell that makes people poo themselves... ."

-Ding!

{That spell also exists.}

Nico stopped walking entirely.

"You’re making that one up."

-Ding!

{I am not.}

A long silence followed.

"You know what, we’re moving on."

The System wisely refrained from elaborating.

And Nico continued walking for several more minutes while the forest shifted around him in shades of green and gold, until eventually his expression softened and his pace slowed.

"This is trusting you, System." He said, and stopped walking altogether.

Closing his eye, Nico took a slow breath and simply stood there, and the last ti he had done this flashed through his mind.

The last ti he gave the System complete control over the steering wheel, it got him Nature and tal Affinities, and Manifestation for both.

Back then, the System had asked for trust.

And Nico had given it.

Looking back now, that single decision had fundantally altered the course of his skill set.

Thanks to that, today, Nico was more than just a Mage who could cast massive volleys of magic.

Slowly, his eye opened again.

"But I want you to start trusting too." His voice was quiet yet carried all his sincerity. "Give sothing that you think will make sure we’re enough when Pantheon or Entropy finally co knocking."

-Ding!

{Are you certain you wish to select the-}

"Look, dude..." Nico cut the System off imdiately. "I said it once... I’ll say it again. It was never about power. If I wanted power for power’s sake, I would’ve... well, you know. So it really doesn’t matter what you give ."

Nico shrugged as he continued, "So long as it helps make sure I’m enough."

For several long seconds, the System remained silent before-

-Ding!

{Understood.}

Another notification imdiately followed.

-Ding!

{Host, I will not squander your trust.

And I hope you will not squander mine either.}

A small smile appeared on Nico’s face.

"Deal."

And with that, the conversation ended.

For now.

The System fell silent, picking out the perfect magic for Nico, while he spotted a large tree whose roots rose high enough to make a decent backrest.

"Good enough."

Carefully lowering himself down, he settled against the trunk and imdiately felt his entire body complain.

Particularly his leg.

Or rather...

The place where his leg used to be.

"Right..."

Wincing slightly, Nico cut the mana feed sustaining Ice Reinforcent, and almost imdiately-

-CRACK!

-FSSSH!

The artificial limb destabilized.

Ice shattered apart, frost collapsed, and the temporary leg dissolved into glittering fragnts across the forest floor.

"Still sucks every single ti." Nico hissed softly as cold air brushed against the exposed stump imdiately.

Looking down, he couldn’t help but grimace.

The wound had opened again.

A thin trickle of blood stained the bandages beneath the ice residue while angry red flesh peeked through underneath.

Tiny beads of sweat covered skin that should never have been sweating in the first place.

But the Tier Nine curse made sure of that.

The wound would forever remain trapped at the worst possible stage of recovery.

Just healed enough to survive but never healed enough to be comfortable.

Pulling a small first-aid kit from Inventory, Nico began cleaning the wound, no complaints, no self-pity.

Just maintenance.

He knew from the beginning of that night that he wasn’t coming out of it unscathed, especially not if he wanted everyone to survive.

Once finished, he uncorked two Grade Eight healing potions and drank both, and the warmth imdiately began spreading through his torso.

The relief wasn’t complete. It never was.

But the pain dulled slightly, and that was enough for now.

And just then-

-Ding!

Nico blinked, while a grin slowly spread across his face.

"Oh?"

{

Here is my first offering in exchange for dissolving Ferrum Knight’s charging ability.

Temporal Entanglent {Legendary}

Description:

Establishes a 30-ter Domain of suspended Ti centered on the Host.

All matter, energy, mana, and entities within the domain are placed into temporal stasis.

The stasis effect further propagates through active observation.

Any entity observing the Host at activation becos an Observer Node and is likewise frozen in ti.

Each Observer Node establishes its own 30-ter Temporal Domain.

Notes:

Temporal Entanglent does not stop universal ti.

Only entangled observer nodes/networks are affected.

Selected entities can be spared from the temporal stasis.

Duration must be purchased upfront.

MP Consumption:

10 MP for every second of temporal suspension.

Cooldown: 1 minute per second of temporal suspension.

}

Nico read the description once. Then read it again.

Then did it again for a third ti.

And by the end of the third reading, his eye had widened noticeably.

"Holy shit, dude..."

Then reread the magic again.

"Holy shit. That’s like the holy grail of Ti Powers."

-Ding!

{Indeed.}

Nico slowly lowered the interface.

"From my perspective..." Nico breathed. "I’ve basically stopped ti."

-Ding!

{Ti will be suspended for everything that matters.}

A Pantheon entrapnt instantly appeared in his mind, and along with it ca all the things he could do with Temporal Entaglnt.

He himself may not be able to do much within the six seconds he would be able to use it in one go, but the sa didn’t go for Peko and Nom-Nom.

For several seconds, Nico simply stared with his heart hamring in his chest, his back was suddenly drenched in sweat, and his mind was sprinting like a madman.

[All I need now is a sword that can cut through anything...]

Slowly, that grin began to widen across his face.

"Alright, System," he said, sitting up straighter. "Deal."

-Ding!

{Very well. Here is my second offering in exchange for dissolving the charging ability of all future Conjuration Magic.

This is Unquantifiable in rarity.}

"Boy oh boy..."

And then the System displayed a Magic whose very first line made his jaw drop.