Kai lightly slapped a crystal with his palm, at the same time as he pushed a spike of his mana in the clear monster. It took less than a second before the lightning of his mana flashed through the clear crystal, and it disappeared with a pop. It was the fifth crystal Kai had defeated with such ease, and there was only one remaining. Soon enough, it too disappeared with a pop, as Arson smashed the pommel of his sword at it.
Loud cheering ensued, as Kai and arson healed the five other gladiators that had survived the first wave. One minute later, the second wave began.
Four large panther-like creatures quickly made their way in the arena. Kai tried his mana slap against one panther occupied with grabbing an axe with its mouth. The result was the panther yowling in pain, shortly before biting Kai's arm nearly in half. The resulting pain caused by the dangling arm was not one bit fun, which made Kai rather agreeable with Droozle's choice not to enter the gladiator match.
Luckily for Kai, once the large cats were defeated, Arson had enough mana to heal Kai's arm to the point of being usable, where Kai could heal himself to full health.
The third wave consisted of two wolves taller than Kai was. It was then, when Kai used half his mana climbing on top of one wolf to ride it, before stabbing at its neck. It wasn't every day when one could say they'd ridden a wild wolf. Unfortunately for Kai, the wolf didn't like a human riding on its back, and buckled until Kai was sent flying, right for the second wolf to bite at his head.
Terrifyingly long teeth were the Last thing Kai saw before finding himself lying on a bed, tended to by a healer. It had been fun, but painful. Maybe Kai should search for a skill that made him feel less pain.
A while later, Arson appeared in a bed on the opposite side of the room, leaving two gladiators to fight against the fifth and final wave.
"I liked fighting people better, but this was fun. But why'd you jump on the wolf instead of just stabbing it with shadow stride?" Arson questioned.
"Seemed fun to do, and I'm sure the audience was happy with it." Kai replied. "Huh, I just realized I didn't feel stage fright at all this time."
"Good for you, but did you check your notifications already?" Arson said, at which Kai opened his notifications.
Hit points has increased from 19 to 21. Stamina has increased from 17 to 18. Mana has increased from 32 to 34. Mana recovery has increased from 0.203 to 0.21 mana per second.
Congratulations! For learning to push your mana into another entity, Skill: mana manipulation has reached the beginner stage. Added 1n% to the strength of your mana manipulation, where n is skill level.
Skill: healing toss, novice 4, has increased to novice 6. Skill: melee combat, novice 10, has increased to novice 11.
Skill learned: Mana slap (uncommon), novice 3. Increases the ability of users' mana to penetrate into another entity by 2n%, where n is skill level, when mana is pooled through the users palm.
Once Kai read through the notifications, he was in a daze for a moment. He had reached the beginner stage with his mana, and learned a new skill. It wasn't necessarily a very useful skill, but against the living crystals it had been amazing. Perhaps there were other uses Kai was simply unaware of.
Kai of course told Arson of his new increase in stage, receiving a heartfelt congratulations. And Kai was proud, and happy the first skill he'd increased to beginner was one that had a wide use case, instead of pure combat. Not to mention Kai was curious what he'd be able to do with 'stronger' mana manipulation.
A minute later, the last gladiators appeared in the healing room, badly burnt, but soon telling a story of the enormous burning turtle they'd been fighting. In the same moment, the second gladiator quest was completed, resulting in Kai receiving 40 gold, and a nice increase in reputation.
With the quest complete, Kai and Arson left the arena. It was around 10 pm in the outside world, a good time to log out and get some sleep.
Ten minutes later,the two of them logged out, Kai for the last time in his life.
—
Falling asleep was hard. By the time morning came Kai wasn't even sure if he'd slept at all, or just spent the night in a half meditative state. Eventually, at around eight in the morning, Kai decided he wasn't getting any more sleep.
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With around an hour to spend before the ECLIPSE representative would arrive, Kai decided to watch a few episodes of his favorite TV show. The transfer of his mind would take the entirety of the day, which was why they'd start it early in the morning, as they didn't want Kai's physical brain to get tired during the transfer. Once it was done, Kai would need to sleep in the game. He would be able to feel hunger, thirst, sleep exhaustion and everything else he previously couldn't in game.
"Good morning Kai," Dr. Olivia Mercer walked in the room, with a well dressed man following her. "How are you feeling?"
"Excited, anxious."
"Hello Kai. I am Sebastian. I'll be monitoring you during the transfer. Just tell me when you're ready to start." The well dressed man said.
Kai decided to wait for his dad to arrive before they started. When he eventually did, he gave Kai a tight hug, though Kai couldn't feel it. Soon thereafter, they started the process.
Sebastian opened a suitcase he had with him, inside which there was a laptop, and four vials of a silvery fluid. Sebastian typed Something on the laptop, before one of the vials flashed with light. "Alright Dr. Mercer, just slowly inject this in his bloodstream." Sebastian said, handing the vial to the doctor.
Over the course of a couple minutes, the deed was done. As the seconds passed, Kai's entire nervous system was mapped, being shown on the laptop. "Alright Kai, we have mapped your brain completely, and it's being continuously monitored. Are you ready to leave this world behind?"
"Yeah, sure." Kai said.
For a moment, everything went dark. Kai opened the eyes of his avatar. He was in the same inn he and Arson had logged out of, but something seemed off. The world around Kai seemed crisper. It was more clear to his eyes, not Just 20/20 vision, but as if his eyes could see with a higher quality, a higher resolution than his old eyes. His thoughts felt more fluid, Kai could feel the smallest tickles of his hairs in the wind currents. He could feel the slight moisture of sweat on his feet, the wetness of his eyes, the freshness of air in his lungs. Kai could feel more than everything. Even his mana felt more tangible.
A notification made itself known before Kai opened it.
Congratulations. You have made the brilliant choice of uploading yourself into this world. Because every single one of your brain cells are connected, your increased characteristics of perception (15), intelligence (16) and wisdom (13) will have more effect. Each extra sense and neuron simulated, is now a part of your brain and mind, allowing you to process up to error more data. As your brain is transferred (current progress: 0.1362%), this will become more apparent as the speed of your internet will limit you less. Know and celebrate the fact that there no longer are limits to your existence!
It was more than Kai had expected. Kai had known of the possibility of the game literally making him smarter, but additional senses? And actual numbers that showed his stats? Soon after reading the notification, a second one made itself known. It was a call from dad, which Kai immediately answered.
"Hay Kai, where are you? I logged in, so let's meet."
Kai quickly agreed upon a meeting spot with his dad, a nearby area in the city with multiple restaurants.
The two of them spent much of the day together, enjoying the city both in and out. They visited the library, a few intricate temples and other buildings, fought against a few froglins, and more. Eventually, Kai's dad logged out, glad with the fact that his son was still himself.
Soon after his dad logged out, Kai met up with Droozle and Arson. They asked questions about Kai's transfer, which by then was around 30% complete. Kai had explained how everything in the game felt more real that b they had before, as Kai's senses were stronger, clearer and better in every way imaginable.
When Kai's transfer was around 50%, Kai had been surprised to find himself staring at a new color. It wasn't just a color Kai hadn't seen before, like a new shade of orange or some such. It was a color that had previously been unimaginable to Kai, something he had literally been incapable of seeing. Describing the color would've been as pointless as describing what something sounds like, to someone who'd never heard anything in their lives.
The days of the transfer passed, with Kai spending his time in the library and gladiator arena, occasionally noticing a new part of his senses. The first time Kai felt the need to sleep was when the transfer was at 72%, which was when Kai decided to sleep in a room of an inn, even though it was midday.
Eventually, the transfer neared 99.99%, and Kai felt no different. He was himself, fully aware of his own thoughts and actions.
While Kai was walking in the streets to meet with Droozle in the library, Kai suddenly felt a stab of hunger in his empty stomach, and immense thirst. He really should have eaten something before he could feel the hunger of his avatar. A new notification caught Kai's attention.
You are now fully uploaded in ECLIPSE. Your mind has been disconnected from your former body. With no physical body outside of ECLIPSE, your hunger will now be that of your avatar's. Your thirst will now be that of your avatar's. You will now need to eat, sleep and drink with your avatar. Enjoy your new life!
50,000 gold transferred to your account.
Al wishes to talk to you. Accept: Y / Y.
That… did not sound good. Talking with the singularity? Kai thought, before Kai's sight filled with white light.