12. A: Resist

Can you imagine it? An Endless darkness, and an unlimited loneliness...

Can you imagine it? A distorted world, and a corrupted perception...

Well... That’s how it felt...

At that moment, when trying to disconnect from Observer’s mental enhancement...

It was....., it was like trying to pass a thin black membrane of water, but then at the moment of passing it...

The world itself is distorted...

Or is it maybe I, that was distorted?

The answer is unknown, but nevertheless what is known is what happened at that moment...

With me, trying to take but a simple single step, and failing to do so...

As if that one step, is never ending...

As if that one moment, was forever stretching...

And as if my stretched hand, was never meant to reach the end...

And as if my stretched time, was forever pursuing eternity...

At that moment of time...

It felt like I was about to be lost...

Lost forever.

Still, even though all of that happened, nothing changed, and with only a single eterni- Cough... a single moment later, I was once again looking at the normal? world in front of me, as all the mental distortion of Observer, has finally disappeared. And feeling that, I...

“haaa....”

Could only sigh of relief, as all the mental load on me has finally decreased...

“now, this is better...”

Truly, better.

Thinking so, and feeling relieved at my mental and physical state finally calming down completely, I then put my hand on my neck and did some stretching...

Crack.

Stiff neck.

Oh, but it seems that even with my time perception returning to normal, my body is still a little stiff...

Sigh.

“guess some more stretching will be needed then, ha?”

Thinking so, I straighten my back, and then, I...

Do some stretching exercises.

Or to be specific, I just do some flexibility moves, testing and feeling my current physical state, while also checking Shy-Kyun’s live reports.

And well, it seems that all is fine... probably?

I mean, how am I even supposed to know? Heck, even at my time at the hospital, I have supposedly always been Healthy, a little too Healthy actually, but anyway...

My current state is like that, meaning? I feel nothing wrong. Yeah, I feel tired, and a little weak, but it’s not something new, nor is it that bad.

At most, it just feels like the aftereffect of some intense work-out, or is it close to the stiffness from hours of overwork? Well, something like that. So it’s just some physical weakness, accompanied by some feeling of satisfaction, and accomplishment.

“it’s honestly refreshing... if not for the weird feeling of annoyance at the back of my head... or the intensifying feeling of tingling on my skin....”

But all in all, I don’t think it’s something unbearable, so I will just ignore it for now...

And instead of wasting my limited time on it, I will move to what I really need to do...

First is checking my status, and second, is checking what has been bothering me for a while now...

The new game notification.

And well, that’s all for now, I think?

So anyway, my status first, right? So... so...

-Status :

Anon Zero Lv8

hp : 320

mp: 240

sp : 320

atk : 320

def : 240

agi : 280

Skills:

Observer - Stamina lv5 - Sp enhance lv5 - Advanced Physical Mastery lv3 - Attack lv5 - Defence lv3 - Health lv5 - Hp auto-recovery lv4 - Advanced Weapon Mastery lv3 - Weapon Arts Lv2 - Physical Art lv2 - Agility lv4 - Magic power lv3 - Adaptation lv3-

Soo,... Ignoring the new skill, that I don’t ever remember acquiring, but why are some skills not there anymore?

Hmm... Hmmmm...

“hmmmmmmm... is it Analyse, Thoughts Acceleration, Precision, Clear Mind, and even Memory? Weird....”

“at most, I thought it would be Thoughts Acceleration, but guess I was wrong? Oh, but I think this is actually more reasonable, maybe?”

Hmm, well I can’t really tell. And as such I will just stop here, and leave it for later. Because honestly, there’s just a lot of things to think about and understand.

So now leaving that aside, let me ask this, but.... could it be you are curious about what’s going on? Oh, so you really are curious?

Well, it’s actually simple, you see.....

The reason why some skills have disappeared while some had leveled up is all...

“because of Observer’s resistance for the Drive’s mental inference, I think....”

And for one reason or another, it seems that while all of that was going on, some skills have been integrated into Observer.

“mainly mental types skills though.... so yeah, guess that’s it for now? But hmmmm...”

Sigh.

Guess, I really can’t do much anyway right now, ha? And instead, I can only grit my teeth, ignore the annoying feeling at the back of my head, and move forward...

“at least until I understand what’s really going here....”

Until then, I can only...

Grit teeth.

“resist.”

......

Sigh.

Seriously, just how many problems will I need to deal with at once?

But anyway, back to what’s in front of me...

Thinking so, I turn to the side, and glance at Shy-Kyun cosplaying as a cloud, or is it just a camouflage? I don’t know.

“so.... what are you doing Shy-Kyun?”

“A-ah....”

Surprised.

Feeling curious at Shy-Kyun, I call out to her, but then as if she was too absorbed in her play, she quickly jumped startled, while showing her face from inside the small cloud...

“Ah, it’s Temporary Account.”

“Who else would it be then? So...”

“what are you doing?”

Saying so, I glance at Shy-Kyun, watching her expression, when with a serious expression, she answers me...

“I am hiding.... or at least, I am trying to hide and disconnect from the Obelisk, but....”

“I am failing....”

Sad loli face.

“is that so....”

Speechless.

So she is working, while also? Cosplaying? Or maybe taking a break? Or something?

How... hmmm, diligent??? Even though at most, she looks like a little girl playing around, I guess she is still an AI with a good work ethic, ha?

Thinking so, I glance at Shy-Kyun feeling speechless at her, before then quickly stopping that train of thoughts, as I return back to my previous reason for calling her.

“so, Shy-Kyun, while I was in a seizure, was this the only notification?”

“hm? Ah, yes, Account.”

Saying so, Shy-Kyun cutely exits her small cloud, and then with a serious? Childish expression, she resumes.

“after rebooting, the Drive has suddenly connected to the Obelisk, and without me even getting a chance to disconnect, that notification message appeared.”

“ah, by the way, that was approximately 10 minutes ago.”

Saying so, Shy-Kyun floated in front of me. before then moving to the corner of my vision and pulling an interface from there...

Well, a Notification Interface, that is.

-Announcement: Trial Participation-

Trial: Qualification

Time remaining: 00:49:27

-Do you participate?-

-Yes/No-