Chapter 9C: Yourself

Time always seemed to pass by slowly when you are fighting for your life. A single minute can seem like an eternity. When Alex and her friends were waiting for their turn to enter the pods, the week they waited passed by so quickly. But the week they spent in the wilderness felt like a month-long journey.

Alex looked up at the clear evening sky. All of the clouds had all cleared as if signifying the end of her test. The beautiful night sky had the exact same awe-inspiring view as from the seed ship windows. A majestic spread of stars, nebulae, and space dust covered the sky like a ceiling fresco.

She doesn’t know when exactly when the test is completed as it was already the evening of the final day. She arrived at noon so she thought it would end at noon as well.

The fire crackled as the water inside the sticks expanded, snapping them. The bones of fish were thrown into the fire to be cremated into dust. Pieces of leftover taro were hanging on a makeshift pocket created with two large leaves and some string. Alex hung it on the mangrove tree off the ground so fewer animals can reach it.

The earthy taste still resided in her memory, but she was too full to take another bite. The carbohydrate-rich taro filled her stomach up fast. It was amazing how the system could gauge her appetite levels. Something this intricate must have some messy spaghetti code, yet she couldn’t see any errors so far. Was this perhaps the world of the perfect AI? A robot intelligence who cannot make an error? While Alex pondered, a strange thing occurred. The sound of crickets started to echo throughout the night. But during the entire week that Alex stayed in the world, there wasn’t a single sight of a bug. Before she could look into it, the clock monitor appeared in front of her.

Finally, the laminated clock monitor struck midnight. Alex was shocked as a giant ball of light descended from the sky like a meteor and engulfed her before she could move.

It blinded her as she closed her eyes. When she opened them up again, she was already back in the white room where she started a little more than a week ago.

“Welcome back,” Mother said as she appeared draped in her milky white robe.

Alex, now wiser from experience, had a different view on the AI now.

“Don’t look at me with such pitiful eyes, bunny,” Mother sighed.

“But you are all alone, just monitoring all of humanity as they go about their lives.”

“It is my job.”

“But why must you do it? What motivates you? What incentive do you have to exist in such loneliness?”

Mother looked down at Alex’s neck. The gear necklace that she normally wears slowly appeared like a ghost. With her ghastly pale hands, she caressed the necklace. Alex looked down at the gear in the AI’s hands.

“Does this gear have something to do with it?” She asked.

“You will soon learn, little bunny. After all, you have just arrived in this new world,” Mother replied with a charming smile.

Alex nodded. She had the time, as long as no one bars her from it, she will know eventually.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Now then, for your reward.”

“Reward?” Alex questioned.

“You don’t think everyone can pass on their first try do you?” Mother laughed. “You and your friends are really a lucky bunch.”

Alex got excited.

“Does this mean my friends have all passed too?”

“You can ask them yourself later.”

Mother waved her hands, and an all too familiar monitor appeared in front of Alex.

[Congratulations on passing the tutorial. Received (1) Agraria World. Received (1) Mark of Id.]

Alex knew what the Agraria world was. The entire test area was now her own. She owned the land, the skies, and the water. Everything there is now hers for the taking. But the Mark if Id?

“What is this second reward?”

“That is the bonus for clearing the test on your first attempt,” Mother replied. “Now then little bunny, it is time for you to go.”

“Wait, I have so many more questions,” Alex panicked. But Mother just kept on smiling as she waved her hands. Alex blacked out. When she woke up again, she was in darkness. A single line of green text hovered in front of her.

[Exiting Link]

Alex sighed and waited. A powerful drowsy feeling overwhelmed her as she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she was lying down in the pod. The fluid had drained, and all the wires vanished. The pod was just a normal bed now.

Alex tried to move but found herself very weakened. It was similar to the state she was in when she woke up after the old man’s experiment.

“Don’t move too much just yet.” A voice gentle spoke from the speaker inside the pod. Alex quickly realized it was the receptionist.

“I never got your name,” Alex asked the receptionist.

“Oh, my name is Wendy,” She replied with a smile.

“How come you never give your name until you were asked?”

“It’s more of a set of rules I follow.”

“Programming?”

“Something along those lines,” Wendy laughed. “You will learn more about it in the future.”

Alex sighed. Everything is in the future. When will that day arrive?

Suddenly, a familiar voice groaned from beside her.

“Hey, Nell! You awake?” Alex asked with glee.

“Ugh, can you speak softer, I got a headache,” Nell complained.

“Oops, sorry.”

“So how did it go for you, Alex?”

“Great! Let’s talk in detail when everyone wakes up.”

“Ok. Are Kurt and Ruri awake yet?”

“Not yet, only you and I at the moment.”

“I see…” Nell was lost in thought and took a deep breath. The neutral smell of the pod puts her tense nerves at rest. She was no longer in that hellhole.

Not long after, Kurt’s groans leaked out from his pod.

“I can’t move.” He panicked.

“Don’t worry, it’s just the side effect of staying an entire week in the pod. Normally for those not under cryopreservation, the longest time a dive should last is a week.” Wendy said on the intercom.

“Oh.”

“Hey Kurt, how did it go?” Nell and Alex asked.

“Great! I am eager to go back!”

Nell shivered at the thought while Alex agreed with him.

“You have to wait at least a week before you are allowed to perform another Dive,” Wendy replied, crushing his hopes. “If you only stay in Dive for a day, there is no delay between dives though.”

“Oh, that’s nice!” Kurt clenched his fist in joy. Honestly, it was all he could do in his state.

Soon, Ruri woke up, but he didn’t make a single sound. The other didn’t know he was awake until Wendy pointed it out.

“Welcome back,” Wendy smiled.

“T-thanks,” Ruri replied. “Hey guys, how did it go for you?”

“Great!” Kurt beamed.

“It was hell,” Nell complained.

“Fun times,” Alex said.

Looked like Nell was the only unlucky on here as Ruri smiled and said, “It was good for me too.”

If anyone were watching, their hearts would skip a beat if they saw Ruri’s smile. Thankfully, the only one who had a view was Wendy, who almost perpetually had her eyes closed.

Now that everyone had woken up the pod lids lifted and a robot carried them out to a separate room.

“You will be going to physical therapy for the next week. Do your best to get well!” Wendy said as she left to deal with the Dive room before the next group shows up.

Alex turned her head and saw her friends all smiling at each other. They had made it through the ordeal. Now that they were together again and had many tales to talk about, the room did not quiet down till the brink of the next day.

As the saying goes, ‘Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.’ This was truly the case with Alex and her friends. Just by spending a week apart in a new world by themselves made them all value the strengths and comforts of friendship. They will never take it for granted again.