What constitutes life? And what constitutes death?
Not existentially, I'm talking about the game mechanic in Avalesk.
Normally Levi doesn't particularly dig deep with this mechanic for the vr games he play but ever since summoning his first Skeleton Warrior, he had been racking his brain as to what distinguishes state A to state B.
Simply put, how is a Skeletal structure when 'reanimated' by [Summon Skeleton Warrior] or any reanimation/life granting skill could now be defined as an Entity, or a living?
Continuing that line of thought, if an Entity can exist even with just 'bare' bones then why do living things in the game even die when they still have the capacity to function as an entity?
And no, in order to grasp realism better vr games have long abandoned using floats and doubles to distinguish life and death between entities. Parts of it is still quantifiable yes, but it now leans more on certain conditions all needing to be flagged off before successfully declaring an entity as 'dead'.
Levi initially had always described this as: consciousness leaving its body, but the skill option 'Repurpose Sentience' had made him think otherwise.
If it wasn't consciousness giving life to his [Summon Skeleton Warrior]s then what is?
A clue lied in another skill of his [Skeletal Reanimation]. Is it because it uses Repurpose Sentience as a base?
No. Even though the living and the Skeletal version of the reanimated boss of the Shallows was structurally similar, they both show inherent difference from one another.
The skill was able to recreate a rendition of the boss' abilities and characteristics but in the end it was a completely different entity.
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It's sentience wasn't tampered with or 'repurposed'. It just didn't share the same experiences. It didn't bear it's memories. It didn't bear it's back story.
The reanimation was another existence altogether.
Then Levi learned the skill [Deny Death. Deny Life.].
Both his visual perspective as well as surrounding senses started picking up shapes that he couldn't see before.
It was a familiar yet foreign concept for him. As if the shapes begged recognition.
The soul...
Levi's heart thumped as he knew it wasn't the end of it. He finally gained the fundamental knowledge that determined the living and the dead but somehow he felt that was only the half of it.
Other than life, what is it that fades when the body dies?
If the soul determined the life and death of an entity, then what about his summons?
What connected them to him? And why are they 'Lifeless'?
Something with the instinct to obey and but only that.
They weren't 'beings'. It was like he instinctively knew that they were more like 'limbs'...
Something which partially supports how he could send commands and how could the skeletons to execute them virtually instantly.
But why?
...
Levi then glanced at the shape of the souls. He studied, familiarized himself to each nearby soul's distinctions...
Comparing one against the other.
The soul of his skeletons against the reanimated ones...
Then against him...
Why does the shape and color of his soul look eerily the same with the tiny shapes representing the soul embedded in the core of his Skeleton warriors?
Dugun!
Why can he command... No, control them as if they were his... Limbs...
Dugun, Dugun!
What does the reanimated ones have that his summons didn't?
He paused for a very long time then it hit him.
Ah...
There it was.
A tiny spec of something abstract...
Not as part of the soul, but as part of the whole entity itself.
One which fades as the soul leaves the body.
Dugun, Dugun, Dugun!
One which completes the definition of life, and defines individuality.
Dugun... Dugun...
Dugun...
...
'Identity.'
Levi whispered as notifications flooded in front of him before a searing pain rushed through his head.
That was then the emergency system kicked in knocking him to sleep and then out of the game.
...
... ...
To be continued.