When Lucien had finished being the ideal housewife, he sat back down on the couch and two cans of soda appeared on the coffee table. He took one and elegantly opened it before taking a sip, his eyes widening in surprise and delight. "My, why was I born in such a dump?", he mused, elegantly mimicking an American accent.
Alrick gave him a look, "Focus. I need answers, remember?!"
"Yes yes, miss 'centre of attention'. Anyways, what were they again?", Lucien said as he took the soda he had given Alrick earlier and opened it to have a taste.
Alrick ran a hand over his face, his mental strength feeling like it had received a critical attack. "Lucien… I want to know what my purpose and that of many others is for being in this world. What are we here to accomplish? Who is the lord? What peak are we supposed to reach? And what are all of these stupid tasks that are trying to end my life?"
"Ah yes… To tell you the truth, I am unaware of the final goal of you and many others sentience being transported into this world. After my death, my sentience was trapped here in my body, my soul gone. The lord that you speak about, I believe you are referring to the being that put me in this position."
"The task I was assigned to, with really no choice in the matter, was to guide you and make sure you reach the peak. With any means necessary…", Lucien said before downing the last of whatever was in the can.
"I see… What is the peak? And why were those… those androids from my world so fixated on something from another world? How could they even open a path here?", Alrick asked.
"Hmm… from what I can get from the codex and what I see in your memories, that group of people had somehow managed to reach the peak.
"... So people have ascended the peak before? So one can return back to my world?", the expectation in his voice rising again.
"It seems so… You'll have to reach the peak first though to confirm it", Lucien replied lazily.
That answer was enough for Alrick.
"But… might I just add, from what I've learnt since merging with your codex. The success rate of reaching the peak is… less than five percent.", his words felt like a bucket of cold water had been dunked on Alrick's head.
"Less than what?!", he stood up in a rage, "What the… is this a scam? A game? How am I supposed to beat this with a success rate of less than five percent?! Not to mention the crappy situation I'm in right now!"
"Well it's not my fault, I'm just the messenger", Lucien leaned back after opening the recliner on the couch and getting cozy.
Alrick knew he was right, all he had to do now was suck it up and find a way to get to the damned peak that he kept on hearing about.
"Okay then, what is the criteria for beating this?", it was as if his question was of some interest to Lucien, because when he had asked the elegantly lazy prince sat up and folded his legs.
"Now I'll begin with a proper introduction.", As he said that, a holographic screen appeared between them both.
It resembled a character stat window that one would see in video games, "This is currently you"
*Name: Lucien Aurellen.
Class: Chosen Sub Class: NIL
Current Role: 15th Prince of Aetherion Empire
Status: Mudblood
Level: 0 (0/50)
Traits: Blindness, Physical amplification, soul displacement, abnormal Aether accumulation.
Skills: Aether vision(Innate; dormant), ???, ???*
+++++
*'Chosen' Rank: Nil
Mental Health: 95%
Body Health(Alrick): Nil*
No. of yellow pills: 30 (tradeable)*
Ascension Progression: 0.523%
"These are your stats. As horrible as they are, they can be upgraded, all this is possible by completing tasks and getting rewards", Lucien explained.
He looked it over and everything seemed to align with his current situation but there were still some things that confused him. "What is Aether vision?"
"Ah! That apparently was my innate skill. Innate skills are extremely rare here, everyone is just born with the ability to use Aether or not. Those that use it can therefore make their own skills in whatever they specialize in. But innate skills are what one learns even from birth, something they cannot survive without. It can't be canceled and is always activated."
"I see… so if I'm guessing right, that was what was helping you see?", Alrick said in realization.
"Exactly… but might I just add that you are officially the first person I'm telling this to", Lucien added. Alrick was confused as to why Lucien didn't want to tell others but that wasn't important right now.
"So why can't I currently see anything while I'm out there?", Alrick asked, "Does it have something to do with the dormant tag behind it?"
"It does actually, but I'm not sure why you aren't able to use it yet. Maybe it has something to do with the displacement of the original soul? My soul", he explained.
"Aren't you supposed to know at least this?", Alrick complained.
"I've only been your codex the same amount of time you've been Lucien, give me a break", he bit back. Soon the two were silent, brooding over the troubling problem.
"Oh wait, if it really has to do with the soul displacement then it might come back if my sentience gets settled in this body", Alrick's suggestion seemed like it made a lot of sense.
"That seems about right, then we shall wait until then", he said this and was about to continue the run down of everything else when Alrick suddenly asked.
"Oh yeah… could you tell me why my original body's stats aren't showing?"
"Oh that's easy, if that's the case then that means your physical body no longer exists"
Pindrop silence followed after the revelation that he had just casually dropped.
"What do you mean by my body no longer exists?", he tried to stay calm and better understand what he meant.
"By that I mean it's gone, or better yet it has been destroyed", Lucien answered as he casually materialized a few more cans of soda on the coffee table, making sure they were chill enough before he popped one open.
"How?!", Alrick had completely lost his cool and was up on his feet again.
"Well you directly fell into the 'link', it would be insane if a part of you still remained", Lucien's words somehow enlightened him. No wonder the people Tracy had taken were stored in those capsules instead of going directly through the link, it was even a sort of reassurance that someone can return back to their bodies.
But now he didn't have his!
He could feel his head throbbing as he clutched it, the space around them beginning to crumble.
Lucien was stunned out of his mind and he could feel an indescribable pain shoot through his body.
The level of Alrick's mental tenacity on the stat window began to plummet at an alarming speed, the room around them merging back with the dense fog of his mindscape
He gritted his teeth and quickly identified the problem, Alrick!
He grabbed on to Alrick's hands that clutched his head, "Hey! Calm down! If you keep on with this, you'll go mad and die!", Lucien said but he didn't seem to be getting to him.
He shouldn't have been careless with his words, and now he might seize to exist because of it. Just when he was thinking of what to do, he suddenly remembered something.
The pills!
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a yellow pill appeared in the palm of his hands. Without being polite, he shoved the pill into Alrick's mouth.
The effects seemed to be instantaneous, the quaking mindscape seemed to become tranquil once again. The pain they both felt vanished almost immediately, a look of relief appearing on Lucien's face.
"What just happened?", Alrick asked, whatever he just experienced felt like he would have actually lost his mind. His body still shivered from the feeling.
"That my friend, is what you call Insanity", Lucien said as he materialized a couch and plopped down on it, too tired to materialize the hangout spot from before. "And that is why those yellow pills are important, one's sentience might become overwhelmed when not in its original habitat. The frustration might build up or be suddenly triggered, what ever the case can cause one to enter insanity."
"The yellow pills work as a sort of soothing drug, it usually helps keep the mind and original body in a stable state but in your case it's just your sentience"