BXBX NOVEL Chapter 12 - The Box
Mack looked at the giant door and could not believe the size of that thing. It was monstrously giant.
In front of the door, Mack could see a pit with no end, with only one bridge traversing.
The door had the same style as the bridge, both ancient-looking, made of metal and full of carvings. In the middle of the door, a serpent eating his own tail could be seen.
\'Again an ouroboros?\'
Mack looked around to see where he was and saw that there was nothing.
He was in a completely empty space, only him, the pit, the bridge, and the door.
Behind him, the barren land stretched all the way to the horizon until he could not see anymore. .
Not a single sign of life in sight.
Mack was extremely weak but for some reason he was not that bad as earlier. The moment he heard the noises inside him he felt refreshed for a few moments but was still extremely weak.
His mind was a bit more clear, but the body was not in a good state.
Mack still could not understand how this Essence worked or what he could expect from this place or what exactly was his ancestor and what he had in mind when creating this place. But first thing first. He was starving. He desperately needed something to eat.
"Where is the food? You said I could eat when passed this test."
[I never said that]
"What? I clearly remember that."
[I have perpetual memory. You can\'t trick me with this shameless act of yours]
"Ok, and how am I supposed to continue? If I don\'t eat, i will not even be able to reach that dammed door let alone passing the next test."
[I also never told you that you would not be able to eat]
"So? what I do now? Am I supposed to try catching some worms? I don\'t even see a dammed tree in this place!"
"And how? How am I supposed to see all around me now? Wast this place full of traps?"
[I also never said that there were traps here]
"Are kidding me? Is that all some god joke or something?"
~sigh~
"I don\'t even have the energy to be angry"
Then, like magic, a box appeared in front of mack. No sound, no warning, nothing. Just appearing in front of him.
"What\'s this?"
[This is all you can have before the next trial. It was prepared beforehand and each one aiming to enter that door receives one from me]
Mack looked at the box the size of a man and for a second felt relieved. At least the box seemed to have a lot of things inside.
Mack raised his right hand to touch the box, just to feel the nice engravings on the box. But to his surprise, before he could touch, the box started to hum in a low-frequency sound, barely audible.
Mack retracted his hand, not sure if it was safe or what to do. Probably an instinctive movement.
Seeing the insecurity of Mack the Arcane Legacy felt the need to prompt him to have patience.
[Just wait a few seconds, its very old technology]
And just as said, a few seconds later the box stopped humming and became completely red. To Mack\'s surprise, the box started floating in the air.
[Now you can use. But before that let me advise you]
[This box came from a peculiar dimension and has a few functions built-in, It has a universal translator, an Essence convertor, an Essence Storage System, and a Genetic Manufacturing Machine, along with a basic intelligent system, all in one.]
[In other words, this tool can create items using Essence.]
[But be warned, his battery has a limit as also the catalog of things it can create, and the velocity in which it gathers Essence is so slow that will take probably a hundred years in your world time to recharge 1%]
"So this thing is like a 3D printing machine from Earth? How it can understand me? How do I use it? I just need to say what I want?"
[No, you need to touch and say \'start\' and a menu in your language will show up on the side that you touched, then just choose what you want.]
Mack reached the box and did as told, and not even a second later he could see a list of categories that spanned several pages. He didn\'t even care about the other categories he was starving and chose food.
A list with innumerable pages appeared, and he saw many words that he didn\'t know or he never heard before, like an \'Aabeia Amakut\'.
But he saw a search bar on the top of the box and just like a smartphone on earth, the moment he touched it, a keyboard appeared. Alas, the layout of the keyboard was way different from the ones on earth.
After a long one minute of typing the word, \'burger\' he clicked the button by the side and a list of several types of hamburgers showed.
And again, not the kind of hamburger Mack was expecting.
\'Abarliot Hamburger. doesn\'t seem to be from Earth\'
~sigh~
"Can I eat anything that shows up here? I mean will not I die from some alien ingredients?"
[All items available were selected by the creator himself to be safe for human consumption or use.]
\'or use....\' thought Mack remembering the several categories available on the previous screen, but alas, he was hungry as hell and could not wait anymore to eat something.
Dispersing his curiosity, Mack clicked on the first hamburger on the list, and a screen with an hourglass rotating showed.
"Well, I guess an hourglass is a universal symbol."
"Will this take long?"
[Depends on the item. Food normally takes more time because of the genetic complexity in each ingredient, but is extremely cheap, since all needed is to replicate DNA and simple biologic materials]
"I need to know how long. Not a scientific explanation of how it works. Oh, never mind is ready."
Said Mack, taking the burger from a cubic hole that appeared in the box.