"Not considering them as human? What do you mean?” Lexar asks with a worried voice.
“Same human as us, I insist. The people in this world is called “Human”, sure. But at the same time, they are a different sort of human from us, a different kind of creatures from us.” Makoto corrects.
Yuuko opens her mouth trying to say something, but then stops and looks at Makoto with a complicated feeling.
“But probably I am trying to make this complicated on purpose. I mean, even if they are not the same human as us, they are still humans. Is it okay to leave them alone like that? There is also a benefit for saving them." Makoto questions herself again "But then why should we care about them? Even if they are called humans, they are just complete strangers to us, the outsiders. There is no business between us and them.” Makoto scratches her head agitatedly “Argh, what am I even trying to say?”.
“So you also want to help those captured out but your mind argues that you should not do it, and the inclination not to go is stronger, which makes you want to find more excuses to cover for your guilty feeling. Is it correct?” Lexar says.
Makoto turns to Lexar with a surprised look then makes a smile “Hahaha, as expected of my cat, you really understand me quite well.” Then her smile becomes awkward “You are right. It’s probably just me trying to find excuses not to go and save people. I am a really selfish person, am I? Not saving people in help, but staying here making excuse not to save them”
“You are wrong, Makoto.” Lexar jumps on Makoto’s lap and looks at her eyes directly “It’s not being selfish, but getting the priority correct. Our first priority is to survive and get back to our world. There is Hinami, your friends, your family, and your home over there. You all have done many courageous and great deeds, and saved so many people, back there at school, at the hospital. Even in this strange different world, you girls are still thinking about other people before yourselves. You are already kinder than most of the people out there. Don’t call yourself being selfish.”
Makoto slightly blushes for being praised so straightforwardly like that. She immediately hugs the cat and rubs his head.
“What a cheesy cat. Your owner is not some weak girls in the manga that easily get touched just being complimented.” She presses her chin on his forehead “But thank you. Even I know myself that much, it feels much more comfortable by hearing it from someone else”
“Makoto, he was a human before, you know. And probably a guy, too.” Yuuko teases at their intimate act.
“Whatever he is. His human identity is already dead, and now he is a cat. It’s not like I or you care about the gender of such cute pet.” Makoto says while happily pressing the cat on her chest.
Even though he enjoys the soft feeling of a girl’s chest, Lexar still gets off from her arms and says with a concerned voice “I think reading the memory of the goblin caused some impact on you. Let us find a place to rest, calm down and think about this together. You are putting too many things inside your head. Try to slow down and share it to everyone. That way you don’t have to burden yourself too much with the thinking.”
Makoto has done too much mind draining tasks today: from analyzing the system, investigating the secret of the world, to thinking up new ideas, reading the goblin’s memory. Those are very exhaustive works that can bring madness to anyone. It’s actually very amazing how Makoto can perform so many tasks in her head at the same time, but she is still a teenager girl, and there is a limit of overworking.
After learning from the memory that the nearest human settlement more than 50 kilometers away, the trio decides to make a camping site far away from the lake. The blood from the battle will attract the wild animals or monsters, so it’s the best to stay out of that place.
Near the campfire, the two girls both hold a bowl of rabbit and potato soup each. The taste is now much better than the breakfast thanks to the ingredients taken from the goblin riders. It is no doubt that goblin is a very intelligent species in this world as they also have developed a culture of using spice.
“Let us start with how the bit affects the monster. So far, we have learnt that the bit is a body component that enhances the strength of every being in this world, right?” Makoto gets into professor mode while holding the bowl.
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With everyone’s nodd, she continues her lesson “So question time. What is the basic level for a new born creature in this world?”
“Should it be level 1? Considering that’s the level we started in this world.” Yuuko answers.
“Un. That’s partly correct. The right answer is level pseudo 1, or level 0.5 for easy reference.” Makoto comments.
“Level 0.5?”
“Different from us who are not the native citizen of this world and only have the body modified, the beings here are all born with the program. In other words, both the body and “soul”, I guess, are one with the program.”
“That soul part must be emphasized on purpose.”
“Because the “soul” in this world and our world are completely different in nature. In addition, I am not an expert on the soul field, so I don’t have a suitable term to replace it.” Makoto takes out the goblin memory again “What do you think this really is?”
“You mean this is not simply memory, but a soul?” Yuuko is shocked by the content of conversation.
“Correct. This is what I refer to as the “soul” in this world. Can you see how simple this is?” Makoto says while fidgeting around with the “soul”.
“I have no idea how you can refer such mysterious thing as simple? I don’t know how a soul really looks like, and now you tell me to judge how simple it is. This is too much of a hurdle.” Yuuko holds both her hands up to signal a give up.
In contrast, Lexar stares at the “soul” intensely. With the potential eye, he had observed many lights in the people’s heart. He has no idea what it is, but it is definitely related to soul. Comparing to this tiny jumble strings of white, the light in the heart of people’s heart in Makoto’s world is much more grandiose and have more presence.
Perhaps it is because this is a soul of a low class monster that it looks like that. However, Lexar has a feeling that even if it is the soul of human or high class monster from this world, it will not give him the same feeling with the heart of people’s heart in Makoto’s world.
Thinking back about the battle, Lexar used the potential eye to see the creatures of this world, including the goblins. There was no heart light seen anywhere, nor positive and negative energy. At first, he dismissed it as something normal as he also could not see the light in animals in the previous world. However, after understanding how smart the goblins in this world is, they can be classified as a race with intelligence. Though it is just only a speculation, their soul can have the same potential as human, and for a small chance, they should also contain the light in their heart.
Lexar shakes his head to dismiss the idea. It is ridiculous to compare a human and a goblin together. A human is different from monster. Their souls should not even have the same nature in the first place.
“There is one simple way to know about our souls. Try to remember the 1st time when we conversed with ourselves.” Makoto suggests to Yuuko and also does it.
A museum full of breaking through inventions in human history. A dojo turning into a workshop for a sacrifice ritual to make a weapon. The image of those room appears vividly in the two girls’ mind.
“Now, try to imagine yourself being in that place again.” Makoto says.
As Yuuko concentrates, a sense of dizziness approaches and her consciousness starts drifting away.
When Yuuko opens her eyes again, she finds herself being a familiar Japanese dojo, the same one as the one she was when she first awoke her power. This time, without any urgency to come back to real life, she finally has a chance tp look around and have feelng about everything here.
Wooden floor is cleanly polished without a speck of dust, despite lack of human presence. Wall is painted with a light green color, giving a feeling of harmony with nature. There is no light source in the room, but it is still lit brightly under white light.
At the end of the dojo, there stands a red blood color samurai armor sitting on the chair. Next to it is a stand for the katana.
Seeing the armor, Yuuko checks her attire again and notices that she is now wearing a white dougi with blue hakama. It is not her family’s dougi uniform, but she strangely feels it more pleasant than her usual one.
Approaching the armor, Yuuko notices that there is more added to it than what she knows.
There are some extra gadgets that fit tightly on the armor, but they only appear as blue air models instead of concrete things. For example, under the helmet, there is an oni mask but Yuuko’s hand passes through into the armor when trying to grab it.
On the other hand, the katana does not show anything extraordinary. No, if there is anything unordinary, it is that the presence of her other self is not in there anymore.
Panicked, Yuuko tries to search around the room, but does not find anything else. A strange sense of emptiness fills her heart as she notices how empty the room is. This room, this dojo is not supposed to be empty like this.
Yuuko runs to the door and checks outside, and the new scenery stuns her immediately.
Supporting a dojo is a grey white stone platform floating in mid air. Connecting to it is a very long stone stair that seems to extend endlessly to the horizon. Aside from those two, everything else is an empty dark blue space. Looking down from the platform, Yuuko does not detect any ground area, just like a bottomless pit.
“Yuuko, it is time to return to the real world.” Makoto’s voice reaches Yuuko’s ears.
A feeling of dizziness comes again and Yuuko finds herself next to the campfire in the forest.
“See how much of a difference it is?” Makoto says “Our souls are not just simply spiritual presences that contain the character, memory, knowledge, and so on, but entirely different worlds that contain every thing about us. And this is all possible thanks to Lexar's power.”