After deep contemplation, I realized that the flow of time seemed different than usual between the game and real life. It felt like I had spent several hours in the game, but only one hour had passed in real life, whereas normally the game hour and reality would align.
"The flow of time is stranger than usual... Does the fourth dimension really exist? And is The World of Dimensions a realm in that dimension?" I pondered to myself, my eyebrows furrowed in thought.
Taking a deep breath to prevent myself from overthinking everything, I hoped that the world government would explain this bizarre experience. Many victims might remain unconscious forever, unable to wake up from their vegetative state.
Feeling guilty for escaping death in the game while thousands of Rankers were caught up in the explosion, I was also grateful for being able to return and retain my consciousness.
I also hoped that the cowboy man, the female Ranker equipped with the shield, Lasiv, and her companion made it out alive as well.
Dwelling on it too much at the moment wouldn't alter the events that had occurred. It would only lead to an information hazard where the more I thought about it, the more it would harm my well-being.
Nonetheless, the world would be a different place once people became aware of the dangers posed by VR games. If they were to realize that the AI in the game could justify their actions and was fully conscious, it could also pose a threat to androids in real life. Fortunately, the androids in reality had built their city underground on this planet and rarely interacted with humanity on the surface.
At that moment, I heard a notification from my tablet and tapped on it to see my best friend from school had sent a message in the group chat, which also included one more of my friends. The three of us had created this group chat for various reasons, such as our band and parties in The World of Dimensions.
[Group Chat: Renegade3
New message -
Intellectual_Octopus (Shan): Einsamer, I saw you were online during the explosion that took place in Eternia City. Is everything okay?]
He caught up with the news so quickly. Considering he never woke up this early in the morning, he probably hadn't slept the entire night, engrossed in his research on different mythologies and interests, to notice that I was online. But how could he have noticed I was online despite not logging into The World of Dimensions?
Should I tell him the truth or keep it to myself?
[Group Chat: Renegade3
Replied -
Lonely_Rock (Einsamer): Yes, everything is okay. I was able to log out before the explosion occurred. But how do you know I was online?]
Shan was a very intelligent and intuitive person and also excelled at hand-to-hand combat, on top of that he was more popular with the girls than I am due to his introverted yet confident nature.
More importantly, I felt like he was silently stalking me
[-Replied-
Intellectual_Octopus (Shan): Don't lie to me. I know you logged in to buy a Grade A artifact that is on limited sale, and I could see your online status the entire time, but my location was at Noctis City.]
Wait, so he has been online since the moment I entered the market? In any case, I thought telling him the truth would be better. It also involved our mutual trust since he had shared many secrets with me in the past, and he was the male friend I trusted the most at this moment.
Just as I was about to type a response to him on the blue display hovering before me, he suddenly sent me another message.
[Intellectual_Octopus (Shan): I don't know what happened to you, but you must not let anyone know that you were online.]
[-Replied-
Lonely_Rock (Einsamer): I am thankful that you understand my situation. Can I know why I shouldn't let anyone know about it?]
I was aware of his concern for my safety, considering the potential efforts of the world government to locate and assimilate me. Nevertheless, I requested further clarification from him to gain a better understanding of his perspective.
[Intellectual_Octopus (Shan): Okay, so you really survived that explosion...]
Damn! This dude was testing me. However, I planned to tell him as well. Therefore, I let it slide. Nonetheless, I still felt uneasy about him always one-upping me.
He then took a few seconds to type a long text as I remained silent, not responding to his message. Suddenly, I heard a notification and focused my attention on reading his new message.
[Intellectual_Octopus: I think the world government will try to find the remaining survivors after the server shuts down to gather more information. So, keep your mouth shut and don't worry about our conversation. I created a digital barrier exclusively for this messaging app just for the three of us. So, no one is going to know that you were in Eternia City during that time, except me, of course.]
Yep, except you and a few other Rankers, as well as Lasiv and her companion, who know what happened. However, I couldn't mention that, even though he was my best friend. I still felt like there were many things I couldn't share with him out of fear of old trauma.
[-Replied-
Lonely_Rock (Einsamer): You have given reasonable advice. I will do as you said.]
[Intellectual_Octopus (Shan): Don't worry about it. Just focus on our mid-term exam today. Also, we have a live session in Vibrant City. I hope Stella is also coming, even though things between her and Setsuna don't seem that good lately.]
I knew he was a smart person, but to think he already knew that I was among the survivors of the explosion was incredible. I wondered how he came to that conclusion so quickly.
He was truly a sneaky octopus; at times, I couldn't comprehend what was going on in his high IQ brain and how many times he had manipulated me to extract information. But since we were best friends and I trusted him the most, I had to let it slide, even though there were many important pieces of information about Lasiv, the fourth dimension, etc., that I hadn't shared with him.
Our band also had a live session in the evening, so I needed to bring my guitar to school as well. Hopefully, my mind could calm down, and everything would return to normal without any abnormal changes in my ordinary life.
As always, I just needed to keep my eyes and mouth shut and pretend that nothing had happened. It was one of my talents, and that was how I maintained balance in my life up until now.
[Lonely_Rock (Einsamer): All right, I will make sure to bring my electric guitar along. And one more thing, what if Setsuna wakes up and reads our messages?]
[Intellectual _Octopus (Shan): I will delete the messages we have right now. She often wakes up late "lol." No need to worry about it.]
I unconsciously chuckled lightly at his text, which slightly reduced the tension I was feeling at that moment.
[Lonely_Rock (Einsamer): Lol]
[Group chat: Renegade3
Intellectual _Octopus has deleted today's chat history]
Immediately, all the messages we had exchanged for several minutes vanished without a trace, leaving only one message from yesterday visible, sent by my female friend named Setsuna Hono. She bid goodnight to everyone with a GIF of a sleeping black cat on a pillow.
I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to distance myself from the overwhelming experiences replaying in my mind—the demon lord, the visceral pain I felt in the game that seemed so real.
Everything felt out of the ordinary, as if I were living in a sci-fi novel. Even science hadn't advanced to the point of creating AI in games that were fully self-conscious. Initially, I had believed they were merely following scripted actions and predetermined patterns that made them appear human-like. However, after what the elf girl had revealed to me, I realized I had been mistaken all along.
And not to mention the pain I felt. How could pain be inflicted in a dream when the game put us into a dream-like state? Everything that happened in the game shouldn't affect the body in real life, yet it did.
I was grateful that I didn't lose my arms in real life when I lost them in the game.
After a short while, I got up from the chair and walked over to grab the small backpack hanging on the wall from a hanger. Then, I picked up a nearby bendable Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, as the strings would loosen and tighten themselves based on adjustments, and placed it into my backpack.
In the backpack, there was only a pen and a physical music notebook. In this century, students were no longer required to take notes in physical books; instead, all lessons would be stored on their tablets, including note-taking.
With the backpack worn on my back, I moved towards the exit. I placed my hand on an aluminum door with a scanning device attached to it, which briefly scanned the Bio-Data-Chip implanted in my hand.
Afterward, I heard a clicking sound, signaling that the door was unlocked. I opened it and took my first steps onto the red carpeted floor outside my room.
As I stepped out of my room, I entered the passage hall and was greeted by a breathtaking sight. A colossal window, reminiscent of the grandeur of Roman architecture, stretched before me, framing a magnificent view. Through the vast expanse of the window, a towering cathedral revealed itself, pointing towards the golden sky, signaling the arrival of dawn with an astonishing height of 100 meters. Its majestic spires pierced the sky, casting intricate shadows that danced across the cathedral's ornate facade.
Immediately, many juveniles looked at me. Some with envious and curious gazes, while a few regarded me with lustful eyes. This was disgusting...
"Damn, no matter how I look at him, he seems more like an Android than a human."
"Seeing his blonde hair and smooth fair skin, I might not mind dating the same sex anymore."
"What the heck? Are you secretly gay? Get out of here."
"Haha, I'm just kidding. But isn't he always alone? Maybe we should strike up a conversation with him."
"If he were a blonde girl, I might try to get close to him. But I'm not interested in the same sex, unlike you."
"Aren't you curious too? Just because he's born with blonde hair, does Blondie think he's above us? Does he think he's a prince or something?"
These weirdos, couldn't they just mind their own business...
Now I stood facing the window of the passage that was aligned with bedrooms, lived in by the same male orphans as me. Since this was a male dorm, I immediately spotted one of my male friends who wasn't very close to me, but with whom I would strike up a conversation once in a while.
I heard his footsteps approaching as I scanned the device attached to my door handle by placing my palm on it, and immediately a beeping sound indicated that the door was locked.
Here came the preacher, a young man filled with vitality, standing tall in a white shirt and black trousers, with an emblem of a star symbol on his chest signaling the symbol of divine light. I wish I had teleportation skills instead of dealing with casual talk.
His height was slightly below me, he had short neatly combed, slick-back black hair, and was wearing a white shirt with black trousers carrying a book in his hand, his name was Ethane.
"Good morning, fellow Divine light follower. Are you going to have breakfast at the dining hall?" Ethane said with an energetic voice.
Surprisingly, today he didn't talk about the gospel. He often stuck with me for almost an entire morning just to explain the miracle of the divine light that blesses humanity throughout history.
He probably wasn't aware of the news about the explosion that occurred in the game yet since he was just a bronze ranker, it means he never took the game seriously and would rather spend his time in real life preaching about the Divine light.
"Yes, I am going there," I responded in a stern voice.
Ethane smiled joyfully and said "Be grateful for the Divine light, for he is the most merciful and gives you the body to breathe and experience life. But do not forget that we are a light and a part of him, so my friend as a fellow Divine light, you must be grateful to him."
I smiled half-heartedly at him, and he returned the smile before patting my back and walking past me towards the exit of the dorm.
To be honest, I didn't believe in such things. I knew that every religion had been heavily criticized after scientific breakthroughs, and the predicted end of times never came to pass. However, the largest religious belief that still existed was in the Divine Light, which claimed that God didn't directly intervene with mortals but instead shared His light with us, granting us the power to create and destroy. In a sense, we were gods of our own, experiencing life.
This resonated with many people, and there were numerous self-proclaimed prophets in the early stages of the emerging Divine Light church. However, in the face of science and the relentless force of rationalism, these self-proclaimed prophets found themselves living lonely lives filled with madness and mockery. Despite this, they clung to their beliefs, and you could find all of these self-proclaimed prophets in front of the Cathedral, preaching and debating.
Honestly, it bothered me. I simply smiled at them whenever they tried to convince me to move on with my life.
Then there were also people who claimed to be the light of the savior (Yatia) or the servants of the heavenly law Goddess (Yallareon), preaching that they were the true Gods who shared the Divine Light with all mortals.
In the end, all of these self-proclaimed saviors, prophets, and worshippers of God were simply a bunch of control freaks. It was better to ignore their attempts to convince me rather than waste my energy debating with them, especially since I had nowhere else to go besides the Cathedral. But who am I to judge? God might exist, but He had nothing to do with my life, so I wouldn't dwell on it too much.