Little Green, Ed's symbiote, was not really angry either, and soon began reciting the contents of the hide. After all, even if Ed could not read, he could still understand this world's language.
The first passage read:
"My mutation has reached its limit. Remaining sane has become a luxury... this world is beyond saving. Everything is broken, everything is in chaos... Keith, Holt, I'll be joining you soon... March 14, Kingdom Year 858. The final words of the last Baron Tuer."
The second passage read:
"Fuck the mana tide! Fuck the kingdom! Fuck the Tree Worship Church!"
After Little Green finished reading the hide, Ed fell into thought.
Although most of what this so-called last Baron Tuer had written was clearly an outpouring of emotion, there was no denying that it also contained a great deal of valuable information.
First, he could establish that the two decapitated bodies in the castle hall were probably the Keith and Holt mentioned by the baron.
Considering the signs of mutation on those two bodies, one large and one small, and how their heads had ended up separated from them, it was hard not to suspect that Baron Tuer had killed them himself after reality drove him to a breakdown.
And according to Tur's last words, the political entity called the kingdom had not yet collapsed at the time of his death. But since Ed did not know what year the current calendar had reached, it was hard to say what the world was like now.
As for the organization called the "Tree Worship Church" that appeared at the end of the final message, the instant Ed heard the term, he felt a shudder from deep within his soul. It came from the half of his soul that belonged to this world.
Unfortunately, because the original owner had been treated as an experimental subject since childhood, his personality could hardly be called sound. All Ed could feel now was that endless pain and bone-deep hatred.
Good. At least one enemy had shown itself now.
After confirming that he had missed nothing, Ed finally turned his gaze to the small table in front of the baron's remains. Besides the final message and candlestick, there was a small wooden box on it, and a bead was flashing continuously inside the open box.
That was his real objective on this trip: the vessel for this territory's secret contract.
"Little Green!"
Ed shouted confidently in his mind, sounding less like he was calling Little Green and more like he was calling Deep Blue.
The next moment, information about the secret contract vessel unfolded across Ed's vision in pale green, translucent text:
[Item: Territory Secret Contract Vessel Rarity: green Current status: unclaimed (50 years, 4 months, 15 days, 22 hours, 36 minutes, 5 seconds) Item description: the secret contract vessel of a barony, currently unclaimed. This is not uncommon in the kingdom.]
So it was July 30, Kingdom Year 908 now?
Ed committed the date to memory, casually tossing the glowing bead up and down in his hand. In the end, he decided to hold a democratic vote with his symbiote:
"Do it?"
"Do it."
Little Green seemed particularly interested.
"How do we make the secret contract?"
"Normally, a blood contract is the simplest method."
"So, drip blood on it to claim ownership?"
"What an apt description."
Little Green offered sincere praise, while Ed sank into thought, the corners of his mouth curling up involuntarily:
"You said before that we're symbiotes, sharing weal and woe, right?"
"Right. Is there a problem?"
The green canopy on his head swayed, somehow feeling that something was off.
"Then if I sign, that means you've signed too?"
"Of course."
Having received confirmation, Ed nodded, then plucked a leaf from the verdant crown on the left half of his head with lightning speed.
"Oww~ what are you doing?"
Little Green's cry immediately rang out in his mind.
"Nothing. Anyway... it makes no difference which of us signs, right?"
As Ed spoke, he pressed the leaf against the secret contract vessel.
This world was a little too bizarre. Ed did not particularly want to bleed just yet.
Since they were symbiotes, Little Green would just have to put up with a little inconvenience.
The edges of the glowing bead seemed to blur and soften slightly, allowing the green leaf to sink into its very center. Then the whole bead solidified again, coming to resemble the glass marbles with petals inside that Ed had played with as a child in his previous life.
The vessel's glow gradually drew inward, the secret contract was formally established, and the bead's description changed to:
[Item: Territory Secret Contract Vessel Rarity: green Current status: blood contract (Ed Adrian) Item description: the secret contract vessel of a barony, currently contracted. It remains permanently valid until the contractor's bloodline dies out. This is not uncommon in the kingdom.]
The Territory Secret Pact's information box closed, and another change appeared:
[Otherworldly Half: detected that you now possess a territory. The Soul Webway has been successfully established. Prepare a suitable body and obtain the summoned individual's consent to perform Otherworldly Soul Summoning.]
Ed fell silent. He did not know whether Little Green had done it deliberately, but he kept feeling that the name displayed on the panel was rather inauspicious. It seemed he would have to watch out for those Psionic Energy users in the future, and take fewer phone calls too.
Ed reached out and touched the bead. The next moment, a map of the barony slowly unfolded before him. It was a circular territory centered on the castle, with three villages along its eastern and northern edges. Across the river to the west and south lay a dense forest. Inside, separated from it by a river, were the castle and the surrounding wilderness; across the river were trees that liked eating meat.
Looking at those trees so well nourished by flesh and blood, Ed made a mental note of the debt.
He pocketed the glass bead and found somewhere to sit, then closed his eyes and activated his ability. Sure enough, he discovered that his consciousness had successfully returned home... to its internet.
He had to admit, this felt right.
Ed nodded inwardly in his soul form. Spirits were not allowed to awaken after the nation's founding. If he did not behave himself and stick to being a cyber ghost now, he would learn to behave once he got hammered.
And since he could enter the internet, the means of performing Otherworldly Soul Summoning became very simple indeed.
According to Ed's observations, the two worlds seemed to have a twelve-hour time difference. Although the other world was gray and murky now, it still counted as daytime, while back home it was well past midnight.
The only problem was that the timeline did not quite match up, because he saw immersive games and head-mounted brain-computer terminals online.
The appearance of these things had not squeezed computers out of their niche too much, allowing Ed to quickly accept everything before him, but...
A half-day time difference, immersive games, headsets entering households everywhere... everything had laid the groundwork for Ed's next move. Yet he was not as happy as he had imagined he would be, because he thought of the alma mater renovation law he had seen in his previous life:
"I've only been dead for half a day. How did the tech tree jump straight to Sword Art Online?"
After a brief moment of melancholy, Ed's soul began building a homepage on his home world's internet. Under the control of his thoughts, a website soon began to take shape.
The game's concept images all came from Little Green's on-site photography and fragments of the original owner's memories. They were bizarre enough without a single filter, while the game introduction briefly explained that this was a fantasy post-apocalyptic world, and that minors were strictly forbidden from playing, or would bear the consequences themselves.
After setting up the webpage, Ed suddenly realized that he had not named the game yet. He thought for a moment, and the first phrase that popped into his head was actually "Kingdom of Disorder."
But first, he could not overstep too far, and second, Ed felt that this world probably contained more than the blasted kingdom he was in. After much thought, he finally entered "World of Disorder" in the game title field.
Then he used his soul ability to slip his game onto the world's largest gaming platform.
Cheating felt great!