System vs Rebirth

"…" Anna's eyebrows twitched as she never expected Noel to be this shameless. Noel's change was too much and too fast. However, she had offered it, so she could only accept her fate. "Fine. Ask anything. However, we need to make a Spirit Oath first."

"Spirit Oath?"

"Spirit never lies. I'm sure you've heard about this, right?"

"Yes."

"With the Spirit Oath, it will force you into that situation. In other words, the Spirit Oath will prevent you from lying."

"A good reason to torture someone." Noel narrowed his eyes, making a small remark.

Anna looked away as the torture was indeed used to make them swear a Spirit Oath. This way, they could dig information.

"In that case, where is your Spirit Seal?"

"Spirit Seal?"

"You don't know about that too? It's the mark of your spirit… You should have a tattoo in your body, right?" Anna sighed and slightly pulled her shirt, showing a yellow zig-zag line like that of a lightning on her waist. "We're going to have them connect to each other so that we can't lie. This is one of the primary uses of the Spirit Oath and Spirit Seal."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Just put the two seals together."

"That sounds annoying." Noel had an annoyed expression. There were so many things that could go wrong in this process.

"Haha, certainly. What if you have a mark on your private areas? You obviously can't show that." Anna shrugged. "Well, you hate me so much that you can only see me as an evil witch, so I am not that embarrassed."

"Heh…" Noel narrowed his eyes.

Anna's eyes became cold as she stated with killing intent, "Sexually harass me and you'll die."

Noel shrugged and took off his glove. The reason why she suggested the Spirit Oath was because she had seen this Spirit Seal when Noel dove to the water.

"Just have them touch each other. That's enough." Anna held her shirt.

Noel hesitated for a moment but still placed the back of his hand where Ardagan's seal was on Anna's waist so that the two Spirit Seals touched each other.

Suddenly, his body trembled as a sharp pain somehow jolted his mind, followed by lightning that electrocuted his body.

"This is…" Noel was surprised by this feeling, but he knew that something had truly happened. He also thought, 'It seems that I need to go to a library or something to learn about Spirits. If this ritual actually made me in a disadvantageous position simply because I didn't know about it, I would have regretted that decision.'

While he was in his thought, he could feel Anna's body had an increase in temperature. It seemed Ardagan's flame had affected her.

"The Spirit Oath is done. Let's finish this as soon as possible."

Noel nodded. Ardagan could easily connect to him, so if this was a dangerous ritual, he would have created a mission for him to reject this. Since Ardagan didn't do anything, it meant she had been telling the truth. That was the only reason why Noel dared to do it despite having no knowledge about the Spirit Oath.

After Anna confirmed it, Noel uttered his first question. "What do you know about the lines you have found underneath the lake?"

"Those lines are called Rune. It's a kind of Spirit Technique that utilize the Spiritual Energy more effectively. And this particular rune is called Sealing Rune. Like the name implies, it seals something inside." Anna paused for a moment. "Then, it's my turn. What do you know about Rune?"

Noel wanted to test it first, so he tried to lie. Surprisingly, his mouth couldn't open at that time. He even felt a jolt straight to his brain as if warning him not to lie.

He tried to pull his hand but couldn't do it as if his hand had been attached to her.

'It seems that the only way to stop this is to fulfill the Spirit Oath. No wonder this technique is used for interrogation after a torture.' Noel thought before answering Anna's question. "I don't know anything about runes. I haven't even learned about it."

Anna frowned. Because of the Spirit Oath, he was indeed not lying.

On the contrary, Noel could feel that the restriction in his hand was gone. If he pulled away right now, the Spirit Oath would be broken since both sides had asked and answered one question.

Still, Noel had another question in his mind. He asked, "Where do you learn about Rune?"

"…" Anna paused for a moment and answered. "From a book called Basic Rune."

Anna obviously couldn't say it was from him since it would cause more trouble. So, she told him about the book that he wrote. This was the loophole of a Spirit Oath. She might not be able to lie, but it didn't mean she needed to tell the whole truth.

"My turn. From my observation, it doesn't look like the rune is damaged even though you've got the Ice Pearl. But… How long will the rune break?" Anna asked with a serious expression.

"!!!" Noel's heart skipped a beat. He realized he had been trapped in that last question. If he said the time limit, it would make her suspicious because it didn't match his lack of knowledge.

On the other hand, he had no way to lie. He wanted to use the fact that it was a sensitive question, but Anna truly took advantage of the loophole.

'How do I escape this?' Noel panicked. 'I can't lie, but I can't really tell her the truth. She will suspect me after that. But what should I do?'

Noel was racking his brain as the electricity shook his brain a few times because he had been trying to lie.

Anna smirked as if saying, "You're sweating, Noel. It seems that you're hiding something."

Noel gritted his teeth. It was clear that in this situation, they couldn't say anything but he somehow understood what she was saying in her heart. He also wanted to shout, "Shut up. You're hiding something as well."

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't do it. In fact, could he even escape this situation?