Gaius looked around. The original inhabitants of Orb — or rather, their souls — had created an incredible world of their own. His understanding of the current situation had grown while he was assessing this virtual world; each and every person here was a soul encased in one of the many gems outside. Over the course of untold years, they had adapted and modified their shells, linking everyone together to form a blank world.

In a sense, it was their very own creation myth. And from how Gaius’ energy was reacting, this virtual world was no different from a real one. Living properly still required effort.

I wonder how this works. Gaius examined his body. This wasn’t his body; none of the active Abilities he had were accessible. He couldn’t even draw a sigil here; the only ones he had were a whole bunch of passive Abilities from the Engines he’d taken in. It reminded him of what Pinnacle Kolya had said earlier, when the two of them talked about Engines.

“Is it possible that the Reckoning he spoke of takes place here?” Gaius mumbled, looking at a bunch of kids run down a road, which was thankfully devoid of cars. “It’s possible that it could be outside too, since I don’t recall being able to call on my Abilities there.”

Gaius tilted his head, and then set aside that matter for a moment. It was too tiring to refer to the crystalline world he was in earlier without a name, so after thinking through some basic geography, he’d decided to call it ‘Cybral’, which was a cool name he’d come up with over the past few minutes. It wasn’t like anyone else would dispute him on this anyway; one of his side duties as the eventual Abyss Sovereign was to rule over this place, if restraining an insanity-inducing entity counted as ruling.

After feeling pleased with his naming sense, the boy began to head towards a park. He’d spent enough time to know a few things.

One, language barriers didn’t exist here. The same impossibility that had translated the Chanter of Innocents’ archaic English into decipherable words were in full force here, which meant that Gaius could yell gibberish and still get his point through.

Second, the food here was energy given substance and taste. Dying from starvation was impossible here, since one could eat the wind and drink from the heavens, although it wouldn’t be much of a fulfilling life here. Gaius wasn’t sure if dying from natural courses, or dying at all or dying at all for that matter, was even possible in this world, but this meant that living space was probably at a premium.

Lots of construction sites dotted this city’s exterior, which, for some reason, was called City No.2558, or 2558 for short. Gaius had a rather odd look on his face, but after hearing City No.48832 come up in a conversation, he understood why they stuck to numbers after a while.

A small fleet of construction vehicles zoomed past him, each of them somewhat translucent after completing a building. A moment later, a bunch of well-dressed men and women rushed towards the pile of rubble, and in a sight that made Gaius’ stomach churn, they began to chomp on bricks and whatever other junk that was left behind.

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The boy stared at the sight, despite wanting to puke out the contents of his stomach. He held it in a moment later, after the thought that these people might just lap up his vomit anyway flashed through his mind.

This energy…it isn’t anything I know. Gaius observed the men and women forcing down the rocks, and then noticed that a power, similar to the chaotic energy that had surrounded him when he went against the Demigod earlier, was strengthening their bodies. Most of them were near-transparent earlier, but those bricks had given their skin a more solid colour, literally.

He wasn’t alone in looking at them either. Some of the pedestrians nearby, who were far more solid than the ravenous crowd, were also watching them in amusement. Most of them were enjoying the impromptu show, and Gaius decided to get closer to them.

“That’s what happens if you don’t study well, Ben-Ko. You become an indulgent.” A solid-looking lady in a pink dress pointed at the crowd. “Don’t complain about having to do homework; these guys were the ones who failed their leaving exams, and indulged in senseless applications of soulforce. See for yourselves their final fate.”

“Mum, is there nothing we can do for them?” A little girl, hanging off the lady’s right hand, asked.

“There is, but they just don’t want to do it. Those construction vehicles you saw going by, they were manned by people who also failed. The indulgents, however, don’t want to work at all, nor do they want to improve their skills,” replied the lady. “They just indulge in their dreams all day long, immersing themselves in a false reality.”

Gaius felt his face cramp up. This world is also a false reality…

“Why do they do that?”

“How would I know?” the lady replied. “The city’s tried their best too, but they just don’t want to change. Remember. Work hard. It’s okay to have dreams, but you must strive to achieve them.”

“Hear, hear.”

“Well said.”

The other spectators nodded, with the kids amongst them looking particularly solemn. They stayed for a while more, watching and burning the sight of the indulgents chomping down on the dwindling pile of rocks.

Once the pile, the indulgents vanished, along with the spectators. Gaius, however, walked up to the lady who had spoken just now, who stopped for him.

“Boy, is there something wrong?”

Gaius rubbed his nose and put on his best child-like behaviour.

“Where am I?”

“Where?” The lady blinked twice. “It can’t be. Did you just…wake up?”

Gaius nodded.

“Goodness. Why is a newborn walking around alone? Where’s your parents? Where did you walk out from?”

The boy pointed mutely at the building he popped up from. “There wasn’t anyone. Then I saw people eat rocks. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

Gaius smiled inside, as he saw a hint of understanding flicker through the lady’s eyes. She was probably thinking that Gaius had approached her because she was explaining things to her daughter. The boy felt a bit bad about this, but there was nothing else he could do. He didn’t know how to survive here, to begin with, and if he was bound by the same restrictions as the others…

“Poor child.” She held his hand. “Follow me. I’ll get you some help.”

The little girl, who was clearly shorter and younger than him, blinked twice and smiled as they shuttled off.