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Nightmares…
| //SECURITY BREACH DETECTED//
| //LOCATED BREACH POINTS:SECTOR[LAYER3 12,62,33] SECTOR[LAYER6 QUADRANT f678c98] OMNISENSORS 10-18, 257-279, and 356 NO SIGNAL//
| //UNREGISTERED DATA STRANDS DETECTED AT ENTITY origo(■)\ISOLATE INSTANCE//
| //UNREGISTERED DATA ENCRYPTION/ATTEMPTING DECRYPTION\FAILED//
| //DAMAGE CONTROL DEFERRED TO SECTOR SUBMINDS\RESUMING SURVEILLANCE//
| AI-COM/WATCHER_36//PACKAGE RECEIVED/DEPLOY [GLaSS] PROTOCOL\COMPLETE
| WATCHER_36//SYSTEM ALERT/CODE:TROIA\COUNTERMEASURE
| WATCHER_36//BLACK ENGRAM LINK [origo(■)] LOCKED/PARTITION DATASTRANDS/SECURE AND CONTAINENTIT–
| >>ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND OVERRIDE-EXECUTE SHELL PROTOCOL>>
| WATCHER_36//PRIORITY OVERRIDE/OPEN CHANNEL LINK:ALPHA\
| WATCHER_36//ENGRAM LINK:DISCONNECT/REDACT STATUS [origo(■)]:QUALIA\REDACT ERROR\SUPPRESSED
…
I suddenly wake up, sluggish, I can barely move at all, my limbs are unresponsive… Slowly, I try to get up, but my body fails me; I start to flail around pointlessly, I feel like moving through hot molasses, my blanket barely even shifting with the movements.
I feel a big burst of freezing cold air in my sweaty back, driving shivers up my spine, then, in a voice that I can only describe as incredibly ancient, corrupted beyond repair, disturbingly evil, and deeply distorted, and yet, it was so clear inside my ears, those words… drilling deep into my skull and into my very soul.
“DO. YOU. WA.NT. A. PRII.ZE.?~”
Each letter, each syllable it spoke shook me, each parting of its lips sending an explosion of bone-chilling wind right behind me, I couldn't see it, but I felt it. The giant abomination, right behind me, grasping me with invisible, ethereal hands and squeezing an answer out of me; Its grasp was not painful, but instead, all-encompassing, suffocating. Deep, instinctual fear and absolute dread filled me.
Then and there, I started praying, hoping that giving no answer at all was the correct choice…
…
| ALPHA//TERMINATE AI [WATCHER_36]\RECUSED
| ALPHA//TERMINATE AI [WATCHER_36]\RECUSED
| ALPHA//OVERRIDE KEY ΔA44 RESET AI [WATCHER_36]/MEMORY WIPE\COMPLETE
| ALPHA//DELETE LOG
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5 days after departure.
“Mana…”
“There are many different interpretations and representations of it across history and popular media. An energy that is present in all living beings. A catalyst that empowers all things. A paracausal energy generated by souls. And more, but across all reports, the quality that is always constant is that it is an energy that can be harnessed and utilized to affect reality…”
Now whether this gassy feeling I have is mana, Qi, Chakra, Power Level, Soul Essence, Vitality, or any other type of ephemeral sort of energy I do not know, and am about to find out.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
*exhale*“Let’s get this over with…”
Sitting down, I relax and close my eyes. Tune out my heartbeat and the small noises of the forest ambiance. Let go of any sensation of touch and smell, feel the blood flowing through my veins, my heart, and my head. Clear my head of any thoughts and reach out…
I sense an ethereal substance flow inside and around me, not quite a gas and not quite a liquid, I feel its invisible touch continuously wash around me, pulsating along with my breathing and vibrating within my blood. I cast my focus inward, and see that within I own a reservatory, the energy crystallizing inside it so slowly it looks stopped to the naked eye.
I can feel it. I pull–
A burst of invigorating energy and debilitating pain explodes from my abdomen and travels through my body, jolting me out of my meditative estate violently.
“OOOoooww…” I keel over and roll around atop the tree I am sitting.
“Idiot…” note to self: do not fiddle with the ball of condensed energy that may or may not be volatile that’s inside your body. I feel like a drunk truck-kun ran over my brain and sprinkled brain-freeze on the way, stopped, and did the same thing on rear gear out of spite.
My whole body is spasming with muscle pain and jolting with the excess energy running through my veins.
*silent painful squealing* “I think I'll lie down for a while…”
*rumble*
*sigh* “Great.” I’ll need to find something to eat later too…
——— –– –– -- - -
“The ‘rations’ that I had made beforehand didn’t last long, at first, it was fine, but on the first day they started having a funny taste, and after the third, they straight up started rotting in the ‘flesh’ net I had made, which also started to disintegrate in my hands… Waking up to the putrid smell of unholy death inside a pile of blackened mush in the process of getting infested with maggots was… IS, not a pleasant experience.”
So I just dumped everything behind me, except my stick and the ribs that I could carry, and wished that I could burn the vile mass with a heavy flamer.
I would survive with what I could scavenge on the way.
“And I can’t believe how many details I missed in the past few days… I will partially blame my delirious state for being Isekai’d, denial. Eating raw alien yolk and fish is prooobably not healthy.” I said, tilting my head in interrogation.
“This entire forest is full of life. Down to the littlest of places and crevices and the highest peaks and tree tops, insect life thrives everywhere, above and underground.
Colorful birds I have never seen before flying above and through the trees, eating the fruits of the trees and hunting prey.
The small critters and rodents hide away in the tall grass and the burrows, scavenging plants and bushes for sustenance”. They don’t know I can hear them all.
“And the plants... Ahaha… God… the fucking. Plants!”
I grind my head with my hands.
“If I had just paid attention before I wouldn’t… Wouldn’t need… to submit myself to that damned, agonizing, shame!... Argh!”
“I… understand survival is my one and only top priority. But to violate the sanctity of life with no technique, no prior planning, savagely butchering them like a demented buffoon as I have done…’
*shiver* I want to enter a hole and never leave.
I shake my head from the trash thoughts. Focus.
“There are fruits, flowers, nuts, roots, berries and possibly even more underground plants that I couldn’t spot. Everywhere… I foraged what I could, and stayed away from the poisonous ones after I learnt the hard way.” *shudder* best to forget the thing that made me question if god is real. I learnt that the safe foods attract the birds, and the plethora of small mammals and insects go for the scraps that get left behind.
“Speaking of small animals… I could try and catch a rabbit, though these ones have horns. I felt like I am capable of catching up to them with some effort, assuming these behave like normal rabbits and have similar physical properties. But… *gulp* not looking forward to utterly failing at ‘preparing’ them. As much as I would like to have just a simple warm meal… *sigh* I’ll stick to the vegetarian diet, for now.”
——— –– –– -- - -
Day 6
“...I may be stupid.”
Inside the mystical confines of my mind that no living being can understand, I recalled that ropes are made out of smaller, intertwined and compressed strings.
I made a dent the shape of my forehead in a tree from hitting it so much.
The exact details of how to craft one are a mystery to me. But I have an abundance of time, food, tall grass and vines that I can experiment with.
Attempt1#: I grabbed a bundle of grass, twisted it so the rope can be sturdy and be able to endure tension, and tried to knot the ends so it didn’t dismantle itself.
Results: it dismantled itself, rotation in the opposite direction that I have twisted it caused it to unwind and undid everything.
Attempt2#: This time, I repeated the process and made a second layer of vines that twisted in the opposite direction.
Results: somewhat functionable, it survived on pure force of attrition but still dissolves easily.
Attempt3#: I managed to make an indefinitely long rope, by splicing the bundles of grass together I made a messy, thick, coarse, and hairy cable.
Results: still not a rope, but… progress.
Attempt4#: I offhandedly tried to just twist it until I couldn’t twist any more. As I was doing that, the center of the rope curled into itself and began to look like the classical double coiled look of a proper rope. I quickly started splicing more grass on each of the ends in giddiness and continued twisting.
Results: A ROPE! YES! LONG-LIVE THE HUMAN INGENUITY.
Attempt5#: The previous rope became disgustingly soggy and got eaten by bugs and the natural decomposing process.
I wept.
Results: Let’s try drying the grass in the sun next time.
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