[All the User needs to do is make contact with the Spirit of the Crystal, the blessing is created by a deal being made between it and an infant soul - the infant soul in most cases forgets that such a deal was made meaning that the person will have no knowledge of their powers until they grow older and are able to absorb more of the surrounding life force.]
Haley nodded upon reading this, it was surprising to him that the Crystal had a Spirit but it wasn't unexpected; if the crystal was basically the heart of a planet it was only reasonable that it could be born with its own will even if it wasn't truly 'sentient' and only acted on instinct. There was, however, one thing that bothered Haley about what 001 had said, "What sort of contract is made?" He asked curiously, it couldn't be as simple as it seemed considering the otherworldly powers that people gained from receiving the blessing of the Crystal.
001 was silent momentarily, something that Haley had become quite used to at this point, before responding - the text however was noticeably slower this time as if it was struggling to reveal what it knew to him. [That.... is... li- //Authority Insufficient!// and... serv... //Authority Insufficient!//]
Haley was momentarily stunned, it was the first time that he had seen 001 truly struggle with something, 'It seems the problem isn't that 001 isn't willing to reveal information to me just that it can't for the time being.' He thought as he looked at the black texting which slowly dissipated into nothing, he sighed and shrugged knowing there wasn't much he could do but attempt to find a way to improve his level of authority in the future - if he even could.
"Forget it, how do I make contact with the Crystal?" He asked, hoping that it wasn't another question that 001 was unable to answer, 001 didn't let him down and quickly revealed the method to make contact with the crystal. [The simplest method to make contact is to press the Crystal to the forehead and wait.] Haley was surprised, it was easier than he expected and he was tempted to simply pick up the crystal and do so immediately but he was cautious and continued to question 001.
Firstly, there was a certain chance of failure depending on his attitude when speaking to the Spirit of the Crystal; it was possible for him to die simply by speaking rudely to the Spirit which made him somewhat nervous - dealing with an extremely powerful life form who could kill him simply for being rude was more than less of an appealing situation. Secondly, it wasn't guaranteed that he would gain a strong ability from forming the contract or that he would gain any sort of 'supernatural' ability at all it was very possible that the 'blessing' he received would boost his physical or mental capabilities to an extent within human limitations which was useless to the current Haley considering he had the ability to essentially upgrade his body as long as he understood how to stimulate his body.
These were the two main points that he had been concerned about, there was of course a number of things that could potentially go wrong - 001 had informed him that it was possible that the Spirit could simply choose to ignore him and refuse to speak to him, it could even instantly kill him for its enjoyment, 001 had said that it would protect his mind but it couldn't guarantee the safety of his body once he decided to proceed with trying to gain a blessing.
Of course, this information didn't deter Haley in the slightest, he was determined to go ahead with the process even at the cost of his body it would be worth it for the chance to become a Luna. Luna's were treated with respect no matter where they went in the universe, even the weakest Class 1 Luna was more important to an organisation than a normal human - all of the higher ups in the biggest universal organisations where Class 9 and above Luna's which was a testament to how important being a Luna was to the rest of the Universe. Also, by informing Haley that it was able to save him it gave him somewhat of a bigger grasp as to how powerful 001 was.
Haley didn't hesitate any longer and in one swift motion grasped the crystal and pressed it against his forehead, in an instant he felt a surge of energy warm up his forehead as if it was threatening to melt him; his skin felt like it was burning but despite this his grip didn't loosen and he gritted his teeth and continued to hold out despite the growing pain that began to spread throughout his body as if the crystal had grown tendrils and was slowly burrowing into every inch of his skin.
"Ughhhh..." A slow drawn out moan of pain could be heard from Haley, it was quiet but audible in the silence of the laboratory. "Speak child of the stars..." Haley heard a soft yet voice yet commanding voice before his vision turned to black...
. . .
Haley opened his eyes in a paradise like scene, he found himself in a forest surrounded by trees and nature - he could hear the sounds of birds chirping in the trees as they flew, the rustling of animals as they moved within the forest completely untainted by humanity, it reminded Haley of the scenes of forests he had seen of Earth during the infancy of Humanity; "Where is this?" He muttered, looking around in confusion, the last thing he remembered was the almost unbearable pain before his mind went blank and he woke up here.
"001?" He said, unfortunately the always present AI was gone without notice. On a hunch he tried to utilise the Data Link which had become like a third limb for him yet it was as if it had disappeared from his body, his thought process was interrupted however by an answer from an enigmatic voice.
"Child of the stars, I know not of the being that shares your body but his reach does not extend here - only the purest representation of your body, your soul, is allowed in this place; now speak, what do you desire for you to contact this Goddess?" The voice questioned, he could hear the commanding yet soothing tone in her voice as she spoke. Haley looked around for a moment only to realise that the surroundings had gone silent, even the slight rustling of the trees from the wind had stopped and it was as if the entire world had gone still with her voice.
Haley realised that the voice was most likely the voice of the Spirit of the Crystal so he didn't dare delay in his answer any longer in case he angered her, just from her representation of herself as a Goddess it showed how highly she thought of herself and of her position. After a few moments more of thinking he collapsed to one knee with his head to the floor and said, "Goddess, I plead for you to grant me your blessing that I lacked as a child - I have nothing to offer you other than my willingness to sign a contract with your glorious self."
The entire world echoed silence after he finished, he didn't dare lift his head in case she saw it as a show of disrespect but the continued silence left an eerie feeling in his heart as he waited for her response, after several minutes of this somewhat uneasy atmosphere a gust of wind brushed by like the world itself was sighing at his request.
"I have gone countless years without blessing another being, my kind has all but forgotten my existence but even so my blessing is not something that can be given lightly; if you can pass the trials of my world I will grant you your wish, the trials will commence immediately." That was it, there was no room for him to object to her decision as she decided it; before Haley could even start to voice his opinion he already found himself in marble room, columns of marble stretched far into the sky supporting a globe that seemed to be a world itself, Haley could see the tides of the oceans and the movement of clouds, it was a scene that you would read of in fantasy but it was now a reality in front of him.
"Your trial is to guide this world, its rise and fall shall be decided by your decisions and your will - the outcome of your world shall determine the results of this first trial... You may now begin."
I find the indentions distracting. They also remind me of COBOL, that which facilitated the Y2K fiasco.
I'll take that into account, currently just feeling out the style for now :)
@Daoist_Aileus
I recall a schoolmate once complaining how some coders spend too much time prettifying the front end inadvertently neglecting the back end. It is like someone being proud of a flashy car with a lousy engine.
As long as you do not have Silas Marner walls of text (a paragraph that fills an entire page with said paragraph consisting of only one sentence, amazingly grammatically correct despite the length), readers would be comfortable.
@weakwithwords The indents are really just there to remind me not to text-block everything and when a new 'scene' begins haha, I'll probably end up removing them since they're a pain in the ass to edit in while writing but thanks for your input!
I'm still developing as a writer so bear with me :)
Thanks for the chapter!
Somehow I think that passing this trial will grant him increased authority