Ultima sat down at his desk as he usually did after his ten forced laps, opting to rest by sitting down. His entire body ached, but it wasn't as bad now that the initial wave of suppressed pain was over. He received this mission when Gareth gave him the order, deliberately holding back until the man gave him orders to take it seriously to really showcase the difference between him trying and not. He hoped it would make the rewards a bit better, he was not a person who knew everything that was going to happen, nor was he a minmaxer gamer who understood systems. He had to go with his instinct, and instinct said to fight hard, loud, and dramatically.

He submitted the mission while he stared at the empty wall, trying to restrict the amount of things he was taking in and thinking about. His broken mind had proved to also be useful in that fight, although it was more useful when he was processing everything in that 'enraged' state, throwing all the thoughts that didn't have to do with the opponent out of his head. Now it was back to being mostly a burden that gave him a non-stop headache.

He suppressed a smile with the camera watching, seeing that he earned a biography. A form of information was always welcome to him. It could also be from maxing out his gauge, but the extra favorability with that doctor was definitely not stated. They must've loved the show then. He let out a tired sigh, before continuing to look at the reward page for a moment and focusing on the name.

It wasn't much at first glance, but he still enjoyed having just this extra bit of information, it didn't mean much to him as he wouldn't be forming any drastic plans soon. He didn't plan to make a break for it, not while he was still under hypnosis, and being treated marginally well.

It didn’t escape his notice that Gareth had been a part of the nation since its birth, leading him to question exactly how old this place was. Gareth appeared maybe in his 30s, but he was also tough as nails and for sure had the vibes of a veteran general.

Ultima slowly stood up from the desk and lied down on his bed, checking one final thing before he would close his eyes, that being the updated relationships page

It seemed he ranked up, that was a good thing to note, as well as the fact that the gauge reset. He yawned and slowly shut his eyes, closing the menu before doing so.

After his battle with Gareth, Ultima sat at his desk for one hour before finally laying down to rest. Reviewing the footage has revealed that his eyes underwent a noticeable change in both color and temperament, and tomorrow he will be personally questioned to the best of our ability in order to understand what happened to him. 

-Head of Ultima Project R&D, Doctor Arron Cross

A few hours quickly passed over the facility, and the next morning, doctor Arron awoke early and headed right to the monitoring room, where Ultima was already up and finishing his daily ten laps around the room. Showing he was just on time. He had never actually interacted or talked to Ultima on his own. He psyched himself up before going to talk to his own personal creation.

Ultima sat up at his desk as he heard the handle turn to his room, quietly continuing to stare ahead as someone walked in. Based on the footfalls it was the doctor, much too light and timid to be the tall and booming Gareth.

"Ultima, um, hello there. How are you this morning?" Arron asked, pulling out the video recordings from yesterday as he sat down on Ultima's bed. It was hard, but at the very least it wasn't a brick.

Ultima turned to him, his cloudy and unfocused eyes slowly moving over him examining Arron. There was not a single word from his mouth, after he was done looking him over he turned back to stare at the wall.

"Well uh, that's good, to hear?" Arron didn't quite know what to say, but he coughed to ease the tension in the room "I can get your breakfast brought in soon, I want to ask you some questions" he said while straightening up and trying to be more confident.

Ultima didn’t turn to look at him, staring at the wall ahead quietly and in total silence. 

“Um, what if I said, Gareth ordered you to talk with me and answer my questions?” He tried. Wondering if it really was that he wouldn’t listen or go beyond acknowledging anyone that wasn’t his commanding officer.

That got Ultima’s attention, his eyes snapped over and bore straight into Arron’s own, as if making sure he wasn’t trying to lie. Before turning and facing him. Ultima was aware it was a lie but went along with letting Arron think that worked.

"Well let's start with what you did yesterday against Gareth, you remember? Can you explain what that is if you even can? Also, can you maybe please speak into this mike" he said, handing him a recorder with a microphone on it.

He stared at the microphone as if it was a forigen object, looking at it dumbly before tapping on it. Giving some feedback, before finally setting it aside. He put a finger up to his throat, shaking his head. 

Arron paused and watched him, finally coming to a conclusion that he was hoping he wouldn’t reach. As it was a flaw with his creation, but it was one he expected so far. “You’re really mute aren’t you?” he mutters, sighing and moving to pull out a notebook.

“Here, can you write down what that was then, explain it as best you can?” Aaron handed the soldier the notebook, watching as Ultima took the pencil in his hand. 

After staring at the paper with a blank and unreadable look, he finally began to write. His letters were stilted and slow, not at all bad. Yet also lacked anything other than straight lines and perfect circles. He actually even erased mistakes, rewriting words that didn’t fit or remaking letters that didn’t fit perfection.

Finally after a period of what felt like a long five minutes, he was finally given the notebook back. Which contained fewer sentences than the doctor hoped he would get. "Let go of my killing restraint, making my body feel considerably better, as well as my head. Also felt unreasonable seething anger, however, still understood when to stop attacking" he explained. 

The doctor nodded and stood up, sighing a bit but seeming pleased somewhat "Thank you for answering, that's it for now. I'll tell them to hurry up with your breakfast Ultima" he leaves, shutting the door behind him.

Ultima took a deep breath after interacting with Arron, checking his relationship to him after. It was now up to 25/100, it seemed the doctor liked knowing more about him and seeing him perform admirably. It was likely that his decision to remain mute dragged down the possible points for that interaction, but he wasn’t going to break character just yet. Good to know for later plans, but he had other worries.

He once again opens the grayed out Server, where he can see the countdown still slowly ticking down. He needed to know what his stance would truly be when the player's came. Was it going to be open beta, a full release, could reality get bugs if he really was in a game? How many would even choose his planet? They could choose entire planets. Plus it relied on them choosing an evil faction spawn, which meant there would then be mostly evil players or chaotic ones. There were always the ones who joined the evil side to just see the other side though, so he decided to find those people.

If he even could or needed to that is. He would deal and make a plan when it actually came to the countdown reaching zero. For the time being he had an even bigger problem, that being the next mission in this 'origin series' which was, unhelpful to say the least. It appeared this morning, and he was processing and thinking about it when Arron came in.

He already went through everyone that those eight were, Arron, Gareth, his usual escorts, and the other various scientists who kept an eye on him. He had directly interacted with them in some way, be that complying with instructions or simply just walking alongside them. The problem was how to interact more, it didn't seem that hard on screen, but he was a totally silent and obedient subject who didn't ask for anything at all. 

He sat at the desk as he thought about this for a while, his head hurting as he went through a bunch of different scenarios. Before getting a rough idea. He just needed to do something that Arron would interpret in his own way, manipulating the doctor a bit by not truly doing anything wrong. Yes, if he could make the doctor help him, and didn't mess up remaining neutral with his expressions. It would work. 

He stood up slowly, pushing his chair into the desk before standing in the middle of his small room. He began to shadow box, dodging and weaving while throwing out jabs. Working his kicks into the routine as well. While doing this in front of a camera, he also heard some dings, which turned out to be that Arron's relationship was going up as well while he practiced. Just one point at a time, about every five or so minutes. Arron seemed to like him pushing himself or showing off his capabilities despite his lack of emotion, it was perfect for his idea.

After sitting down for a long time, and about thirty minutes before breakfast arrived, Ultima began to furiously shadow box and work out in his room. When brought his food he ate it only to subside his hunger before returning to his workout, which also ended up including push ups and squats. After about two hours of intense workout, he laid down sweating until lunch arrived, at which point he ate. He then relaxed the rest of the day. Before sleeping though he did fifty sit ups in his bed before closing his eyes. It seems something has somehow motivated him, this shouldn't be possible, but I for one am excited by this prospect!

-Head of Ultima Project R&D, Doctor Arron Cross