That big guy in the outfit pretty similar to Arabian culture didn't look reliable at all. But even so, Michael still paid close attention to what he said.
'He calls himself a genie? What a strange title. But he did talk about wishes and the chosen one. I'm the chosen one? No matter how I hear it, it sounds ridiculous.'
With Michael's personality, if he really were the chosen one, he'd probably become more diligent. Even though he's always cooped up at home, he still has a bit of pride, so he'd be pretty happy if what the genie said was true.
"Stop overthinking it. Can you listen to me explain things clearly for a bit?"
Seeing Michael's face, the genie knew he was having all kinds of doubts. This was basically slandering him in his head, which he couldn't accept.
"Fine, explain clearly what you want to do."
"Ok. I'm a genie, a god who specializes in granting wishes. My job is to grant one wish for the chosen one of each world. Of course, you can't wish for more wishes."
Michael could guess that rule without being told. There's no way such a huge 'bug' could exist in this world.
"Are there any limits to the wish?"
"Nope, you can wish for whatever you want. For me, there's no such thing as a good or bad wish. So don't worry about being punished for wishing for something unreasonable."
The genie proudly boasted about his 'omnipotence'. At that moment, the word "credibility" made of smoke, actually appeared floating above his head.
Michael's eyelid twitched a few times. He didn't expect that a strange entity like a god could look this unreliable.
But you can't judge a book by its cover. Anyway, everything today was already bizarre enough, so if he could make a wish, of course he'd wish enthusiastically. First, he needed to clarify one thing.
"What do you mean by the chosen one of this world? Are you saying there are other worlds?"
"Sorry, boy. I can't answer any more of your questions because the thirty seconds of free conversation are up. If you want me to keep talking, you can use your wish. One wish, I'll answer one question."
The genie shook his head regretfully, then zipped his mouth shut with a zipper that was tightly locked.
???
Is this a joke? What the hell is thirty seconds of free conversation?
'Trade a wish just to ask one question? Damn it, do I look like an idiot to you? Now what should I even wish for.'
Michael seriously thought about what to wish for because he only had one chance. As for what the cost would be after wishing or if there were any downsides, screw it. An opportunity like this might only come once in a lifetime.
Based on what the genie said, there wasn't just one world. If he could go to so many places like that, then the genie was immortal or at least had an extremely long lifespan.
Living long, getting to see all kinds of strange worlds. At this moment, he immediately knew what his wish was.
"I want to become a genie."
As soon as the wish was spoken, space burst into light; time seemed to stop temporarily. Michael felt like an infinite source of power was boiling inside his chest. His whole body immediately turned into smoke, then replaced the genie, diving into the magic lamp.
The magic lamp floated up, and at the same time, a massive crack split open in the sky. It shot forward at a terrifying speed toward the crack like a spaceship capable of crossing countless worlds.
"My job here is done."
Seeing the magic lamp had left, the genie snapped his fingers. The entire world, along with himself, disintegrated into pixels and vanished as if none of it had ever existed.
---
Not knowing how much time had passed, Michael's head finally stopped spinning. He looked around and found this weird space extremely uncomfortable.
Inside the magic lamp was a pretty comfortable space. It had a stove, a sink, cabinets, a mirror, a bed…
But there was an extremely bad problem: everything was made of copper; everything was only one color. Besides, the light in this place was very strange.
It was clearly an enclosed space, no windows, no lamps, yet everything was as bright as being outside in the middle of the day.
"So I've become a genie now?"
He looked at himself suspiciously and saw his body still looked human. There were two main differences: he was now wearing the same type of outfit as that genie from earlier, but way better. His muscles had increased all over, making his figure look like a model now.
"Something's wrong. Why is my sense of... gone?"
Michael felt like he was walking, but the sensation was extremely vague, like being in a zero-gravity environment. His head didn't hurt; there was no dizziness. Even trying hard to think didn't give any uncomfortable feeling.
He tried pinching his arm hard, but the result was that his arm didn't turn red. He didn't even have the sensation of touching something, let alone feeling pain.
"Damn it, is this torture? A single-color space is absolute mental torture. Besides sight and hearing, everything else has no feeling."
Michael swung his arm, punching randomly. No feeling at all. Didn't feel his muscles tense, didn't feel any damage at all, and these copper things were unreasonably hard so he couldn't dent them. Plus, aside from his own voice, he couldn't hear any other sounds.
He hadn't even been in this weird space long before Michael felt like he was about to go crazy. He thrashed around aimlessly, trying to wreak havoc as much as possible in desperation.
If he'd known becoming a genie meant living like this, he'd rather die than agree to become a genie. That genie back then refusing to talk to him was definitely hiding the misery of being a genie.