Chapter 923 - Fever dream (Patreon)

We currently all run on Level 2 thought acceleration. That means one second outside is around 16 minutes inside. At Level 3, it would be one second outside and three hours inside.

Of course, these are not exact numbers. This is our own experimentation with many variables we failed to take into consideration, along with a lot of people participating, but that is the main gist of it. That also means Vega’s 10-minute communication token should stretch to seven or so days in here, and that is what I base all my planning around.

It unnerves me a bit that the others do not seem to mind and trust me and Sophie so much. Even Tess, whom I look up to sometimes because of her high level in the extrovert skill tree. Also, where did she get that Japanese katana from? And why did Nerdthaniel agree to her using it instead of just covering her fist in mana and punching the tree?

Though, we have mostly moved on to punching jets parked in this forest at this point. It has been three days since we started, and I am honestly enjoying intentionally punching the missiles hanging below the jets' wings instead of the sides of the planes. It always makes a satisfying sound, and I can see how much it pisses off some of the Group 4 members, who shudder after every hit as if they expect them to explode.

It is not all just this place, either, as we travel to the school for lessons from Magi Elian. Weirdly, Nerdthaniel joins us often too, and it seems he has become Elian’s prized student, the true professor’s pet. With Elian teaching mana theory that I recognize as part of my own knowledge, Nerdthaniel should already know it too, but the guy seems to genuinely enjoy having it explained to him.

Surprisingly, just these three days have been enough for me to kind of enjoy this sort of school life. Even while doing my own thing, I just act like someone else, just a student following those annoying rules the school has that I used to hate so much.

We go to class and leave at the first bell. We complain about homework while we gather outside to eat food or train on the school grounds. Sometimes it is hand-to-hand combat where we help each other out. In other cases, it is football played by us with restrictions so we do not move like superhumans.

The restriction seems to apply to everyone, putting us all at a similar or perhaps even identical base level. That means only the effort we put into training differentiates us from the rest. In a context like that, even a silly thing like who can run the fastest turns into… fun. That is the best word for it.

I wonder if I would be smiling a lot right now if I had a face.

I also wonder what expression I would have had when I saw my father’s face a day ago, appearing in the crowd only to vanish just as quickly.

At first, Vega did not seem to enjoy it all that much. Although acting cutesy and cheery is her thing, I know it is often just a mask. I mean, she would act like that genuinely in front of me, but with the others, she is still far too careful. She acts the part, but it is missing real honesty. However, since she knew Group 4 from before, she is reminded of who they used to be, and gradually that mask is weakening a bit.

This is especially true when she plays around with Sneaky. She trains with us, too.

No matter how much she keeps reminding everyone that, even if she is half-demon, she is still 90% demon and 50% human, according to her logic. She also says that her kinetic primordial energy is all she would ever need, if not for her love for me as her master, as if that were the only reason she trains her mana.

But I’ve seen her training "after hours," wet hair sticking to her forehead as she concentrates deeply. Or that time she secretly found Nerdthaniel and asked him to explain a few things.

It hurts me a bit that she did not ask me, but at the same time, I think she wants to surprise me, to amaze me with out-of-nowhere progress.

Even so, things feel a bit different now, especially as I listen to her talk about her friends. There are things she has learned about them, feelings of camaraderie, and that thinly veiled pretense that she does not care much and that they are only her pawns.

It makes me happy for her, but also a little bit sad. Is it selfish of me to expect her to look up only to me? To not want to share that bright light she keeps inside her with anyone else? Out of nowhere, her group members feel like thieves.

I do realize how cliché and silly all these thoughts are. It was scientifically proven that minions do not grow, that they stay small and cute as they are, attached forever to their master. Yet, here is Vega, growing taller, and instead of just fearfully hanging around me, she examines all these new things and has fun with the others too.

A few more days pass, and we join the school festival organized by someone Sophie says used to be a teacher she liked.

New people, twisted by our subconsciousness, begin to appear. There is Luan in traditional Slavic clothes, and Tyven, who apparently is our class's sickly student with a guide dog that happens to be a black Labrador with spider eyes and seven legs. He greets Min-Jae as if they were old friends, and I can see the Korean boy does not know how to react to this three-armed thylarin.

There are games, maid cafes, competitions, and even fireworks during the festival that damage the school and set the nearby forest on fire.

Through it all, plenty of lynthari show up in expensive hiking gear with sunglasses glued to their faces, alongside crowds of mora in straight-up Harry Potter wizard robes.

If there’s a vyssari present, they always have a long beard. Be it man or woman.

Right after the festival, on the very next day, there is an invasion of higher-up classmates: a gang of delinquents led by Morwag, who is second-in-command. The third in command is Weslin, who is widely rumored to have the nicest hair of everyone in the school, but always has to ask his girlfriend Malika if he can go out with the gang.

There is a rumor that their leader, Nyssa, was imprisoned in a volcano for bullying teachers.

There is also an adult feylith woman with big angel wings. Though clearly an adult, she acts like a 14-year-old girl and walks around in a school uniform with her phone constantly pointed at her face, streaming to her "chat." She also always carries a wyvern plushie with her.

And there are many more.

The longer it goes on, the more unstable our mental space becomes and the faster the thought acceleration increases. Vega’s planned seven days here stretch even further, as a single second outside is now much more than 16 minutes inside.

There are plenty of reasons to worry about that, and by observing the control mechanisms, I monitor the pressure it puts on everyone’s minds. Vega is the only one who shows no strain at all, but the others are beginning to show early signs of it, even if they try to hide it sometimes.

Yet, for a while, just for that little bit, and while being confident I can handle the consequences, I allow myself to be selfish. As much as this feels like a fever dream, I enjoy it.

We train, and we study. Everyone gives their best, and there are days we spend covered in sweat, limbs shaking and barely able to catch a breath, at the top of the aircraft carrier and among the autumn trees.

Deep into the night, we gather around a fire Izzy starts and talk about theories and better methods, or just to share information. Sometimes, while Izzy stares into the flames, we act just as young adults would. We tease each other and tell stupid jokes that the boys laugh at and the girls roll their eyes at.

There is a cinema we sneak into late at night to watch movies pulled from our combined memories, meaning they are entirely wrong. Sometimes it is just because of our subconscious minds, other times, it is because someone intentionally alters them as we learn to influence little things like that.

I am sure Gandalf never said, “Use the Force, Frodo,” right before the hobbit did a triple somersault backward and pulled out a green lightsaber to fight the Ringwraiths.

I am also sure it was Rose who survived on the piece of the door, not Jack, after pushing her down into the cold water for her to be torn apart by sharks.

The more time passes, the more influenced some of us become by this place. It is slow, but I keep watch for it, so I notice.

Min-Jae meets one of his brothers, and after screaming at each other for a while, they go their separate ways. After that, Min-Jae acts angry, shutting down Aaron when he tries to talk to him. Later that night, he finds the blonde boy and apologizes repeatedly.

Izzy follows Aaron everywhere with a smile and a desperate expression, as if he will disappear forever if she takes her eyes off him.

Everyone but her can see it. It is her first crush, something that was bound to happen one day, and Sophie seems to trust that Aaron will handle it and reject her gently. Even though Izzy is more mature due to her time in the tutorial, her skills, and how she grew up, she is still only 13 years old, and Aaron is seven years older.

We all had very good mental manipulation training provided over time by Sophie, so I would say everyone is handling the pressure well. But in the end, there are god-like powers at work here, powers that Tariel the Undying brought into this place.

I do not think it is a literal god. Over time, I have developed a theory that it might be something connecting all the kaijus. Or maybe the kaijus are part of that entity. Or perhaps they are the key to awakening it. Maybe it is all of those things combined into one.

It might be that realization itself is accelerating the breakdown of our mental space. It could also be that our opponent is deciphering what is happening at the exact same time as Sophie and me.

I think my working as a core and splitting my mind slowed down the decay greatly. I also think using disciple communication and having Vega present helped immensely.

Sophie is also working to keep this place stable, though from the looks of it, she has a plan already and is simply hesitating to execute it. She watches over her sister, letting her have at least a taste of a normal childhood and the experience of being a silly teenager.

That little empath is enjoying all of this, not using her main skill even once, growing closer and closer to Aaron like a moth drawn to a flame. Aaron has always been like this, the gentler, calmer one of the two brothers. He is more willing to show his emotions, whether sadness, anger, pity, or friendship.

One of these days, Izzy confesses to him, to which he gives a sad smile and gently rejects her. Izzy listens with tears in her eyes, wearing a smile that is simultaneously sad and happy. Even without her skill, she must have known, and desperately kept trying to think of something to change the given outcome.

Watching Sophie cry as well, I think I understand a little of how sad, yet proud, she feels for her sister in that moment, and when Izzy runs off to hide somewhere, Sophie follows her.

The following days are awkward, and the cracks widen further.

The aunt who abused the twins appears, trying to pull them out of school and arguing with the director. New students moving through the area start picking on and trying to bully Tess. Maya spends entire days training, barely eating a thing. Sophie shudders in fear as a cold wind picks up once in a while, carrying traces of snow onto the campus and occasionally freezing the surface of the lake. Lily too becomes quieter, sometimes splitting off from the group without a reason and staying in her room. Though every time I visit her and pull her out of it, she gives a smile and turns back to her usual, far too nice self.

And every single day, I see my father’s face. Sometimes there are multiple people with his face in a crowd, and his voice echoes inside my head.

As more time passes and the thought acceleration increases, I slowly put the members of Group 4 to rest, allowing my own mind to absorb the pressure they have been enduring. It feels wrong to see so much of them, their worries, thoughts, fears, and hopes all manifested here. It feels like I am gazing into something private that I should not see, but at the same time, I am thankful for it.

I help Min-Jae destroy his brother’s homework. We also visit his parents' house that appeared here, and with some effort, we make it float high into the sky before I make him sleep first.

With the help of Magi Elian and Director Diligence Martinez, the twins and I entrap their aunt. Demons wearing SWAT uniforms arrive to imprison her in the volcano, the prison for the worst criminals.

As Dennis hugs his brother, I make them sleep next.

Sophie spends a few days with Izzy, who then goes to sleep as well.

With Lily, we watch a movie I wanted to see, just the two of us alone. We walk under the sakura trees, pass by the frozen lake, and climb to the top of the pyramid. She rests against me, and when I sense it has become too much, I let her rest.

Tess endures longer than most, outwardly, she shows none of the strain at all. Even as I approach her, she is smiling and tells me she will be ready outside, making me wonder how much she actually knows. Saying that it was the most fun she has had in a while and thanking me and Sophie for creating this experience, she also goes to sleep.

When I approach Maya, she stands covered in sweat opposite the jet she has been punching for days, the one Nerdthaniel made the most durable. Her mind endures the strain well even now, but when I get closer, she simply seems ready to leave. Before consciousness flickers out from her eyes, she gives a thankful nod.

The pressure on my mind is now far greater than before, to the point where I can physically feel it, especially without my subminds and with our opponent further degrading this space.

But I can endure it.

Accompanied by Vega, Sophie, and both Thaniels, we head toward the volcano to meet my last two subminds here.

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