Fate stared blankly, horrified at the faintly glowing page that was supposed to be a testament to his growth, but now displayed such a negative shift in his status. 【Agility】,【Stamina】, 【Strength】, and worst of all to Fate, his【Endurance】had each taken significant hits. 

-A loss of about 22% of my 【Strength】, almost a 15% loss in 【Endurance】, 16%【Stamina】loss, and a near 20% loss of my f***ing 【Agility】!!! Seriously, my f***ing 【Endurance】!!!

If one could hear Fate’s inner thoughts, they might stop for a moment to wonder why his main gripe with his tormenting loss was with the stat that he had lost the least of. This was because of…

-If I lost that much...that means that Jacob pummeled the everloving sh*t out of me, even more than when I fought him the first time! And if I have to fight him again today, who knows what he’ll be able to do to me?! Maybe he’ll take 15% more...or 20%...or 50%...!!!

Fate slammed his fist into the stone wall in frustration, only to be forced to retract it out of the sudden attack of pain. He gritted his teeth and kneeled on the floor, cursing at his terrible luck for this awful turn of events.

-I might have suffered before when it was just Jacob becoming my teacher, but now I’ve gone and tried to kill him and that priest...and I don’t even remember doing it! Dammit, this has gotta be that doppelganger's fault, and he’s screwing with me, even after he got himself killed! 

『D..d-d...ooo...』

Suddenly, a ghostly and distorted voice rang in Fate’s ears, causing all the hairs across his body to stand up in a cold shock! Fate hurriedly looked around the room, gazing up at the barred window and the somewhat disfigured door, but he could find no one…

『D...don-n...』

The voice sounded again, this time, more coherently, but Fate still couldn’t find any signs of life. He looked and looked, but couldn’t even find a single insect…

-It’s just in your head...it’s probably like panicking when the wind sounds like a ghost screaming...it’ll pass…

Fate: “Haaaaahhh…”

Fate heaved a long sigh, before covering his ears in anticipation of any further noise, and returned to waiting for Liza to return while surveying the wreckage of his once humble room. 

 『Don’t...go...』

Fate’s eyes widened as his hands dropped to his sides, having failed to defend against the intrusion of sound. It appeared as though the words that the mysterious entity spoke were being broadcast through his mind, rather than his ears…

-What...does this house have a haunting or something?! Who the hell ordered the recreation of Luigi’s Mansion with a side of telepathy!?!

With the revelation of the entity’s preferred method of communication, Fate’s paranoia began to run out of control. Who could be responsible...a ghost haunting him, a wizard some miles away accidentally connecting to him like a wrong number, an assassin who was preparing to have him cough up his last words along with his blood?!

However, these delusions were soon dispelled by the entity’s next words…

『Don’t go...writing me off, you jackass!!!』

A frustrated, yet all too familiar voice now sounded clearly in Fate’s mind...it was the doppelganger! He...it was alive, after all!

Fate quickly began searching his thoughts, looking for his presumed dead copy, but, just as with searching his room earlier, found nothing but himself…

-H-how...how are you still…!?

『Alive? Yeah, real~ original question there, captain cliché! Better question, just...ugh...why haven’t you been looking around?!』

It spoke in an annoyed tone of voice, but it somehow seemed somewhat relieved, much to Fate’s further confusion. However, its question puzzled Fate, why would it need him to look around?

-...Is there some sort of rune that allows ghosts to talk to me in this room?

『Ugh...I can’t believe that you’re me...and don’t speak to me with that sarcastic tone, you piece of crap! Think about it, are you missing anything?』

-Are you the one who stole my stats?! Give them back you selfish little prick!!!

An irritated sigh ran through his brain like a loud breeze...

『Not those...though I might be responsible for it. Did you lose anything else…?』

Fate looked around his room, surveying the broken cot, the dish trays that hadn’t been retrieved, the shredded backside of the door, but couldn’t seem to think of anything that he thought of as necessary to retrieve...aside from the salve, which should still have been hidden.

Following this train of thought, he decided that he would at least grab the salve, just in case he needed it during his next encounter with Jacob. He now laid on the floor, grabbing the slightly dusty tin of salve, but before he could rise back up, he noticed a strange glimmer in the shadows below the dresser…

-Is there a spoon under here or something? Oh...wait...it’s two things...and one of them is pretty...sturdy, I guess?

His hands had each grabbed on to one item, as he dragged them out from the shade, carrying a small wave of dust in their wake. After brushing the dust from his hands with some irritation, he began to inspect the two objects he had retrieved. 

One item appeared to be an ornate, bronze ring with a dull red gem on it, while the other was a familiar-looking book. Looking at it in its current state, it appeared to be a simple, laurel green, bound volume that was quite worn, with some of the characters on the side being worn out to the point where Fate couldn’t understand what it was supposed to mean.

‘Maintaining One’s Earthly Paradise: Volume IV - *blurred text* Sanctified Soil’

-This book?! Who the hell put this here?! And what’s with this…?

『Hey, glad to see that you finally~ found me, dumbass!~』

The voice was now, no longer distorted and its mocking tone was quite clear. As it sounded, a small blue speck, barely the size of a quarter of a penny, flickered on the surface of the red gem, moving in unison with the syllables that were the source of newfound irritation for Fate…

...

[Chapters completed this week: 2/7]

Chapter 108 will be in a few hours from now. Also, sorry I didn't post last night, and that I got the chapter number for the last chapter wrong]