(Heaven's Key, Inn room)

    Draw out the power of the core into the real world.

    - Loading Blurb

[https://i.imgur.com/zWTb4F2.png]

Back at the inn, I spend some time lying on the bed after the strenuous battle. Earning my first kill made me introspective about my path. I need to think about the future too, so if there is anything I can do to reward myself, it is to give myself some leisure time before the next round of battle. I let the thoughts come to me on their own, and in my loneliness, I imagine Lily, my latest adversary, and Dale's party. They are smiling invitingly, welcoming me into their group and encouraging me to move away from the sinister path that I’ve chosen. In the background, the golden city had a festive and sunny atmosphere, just like the day I spent with Lily before I started to see its shadows.

[https://i.imgur.com/XG2Vxav.png]

That has to be a false path. Their smiles are bound to kill me even if they were genuine.

There is really no saving me from becoming based. I learned too much forbidden knowledge on the Internet, I can never go back. That I am in this situation, I can only blame it on my curiosity. The novel worldviews succeeded in winning me over and now I am paying the price for it. The reward is something I'll only get in the future.

For now I have to work towards finishing this scenario of Simulacrum.

Simulacrum has a lot of different scenarios and some are downright mythical. For example, one scenario makes a copy of the real world at that point in time, letting you play in it. I've taken a look and found it in the scenario selector. So if I wanted to, I could play with a simulacra of the real world, except on easy mode or with cheats.

Besides games, the one who made Simulacrum penned numerous stories of the Inspired to immortalize their struggle. There was one story which made a particular impact on me and is related to the ‘Branch of Reality’ scenario. The story starts much like my own, of some guy trying out the brain core and selecting that world copying scenario.

Life is much easier when you have the whole universe helping you, and he immersed himself in that game. At the start of the story he is in his third year of college and middle of the pack, but with the system's help, he goes to the top and stays there. He experiences what it is like to be popular and to have great grades. He gets into a romantic relationship, and after college is done, marries the girl. The job he got afterwards is the one he desired as well. On the game side, with the system's help he attained a happy peaceful life with a woman who loved him.

From the real world side, he is just some nerd immersing himself in games. Whereas at the start of the story he was a normie, after the technology stole his soul, he fell to the bottom, just barely passing his classes. Socialization would take time from his ideal world, so he ignored it. Nobody cared about him either, least of all the girl who pursued him inside the game. He was interested in her and made some awkward attempts to strike up a conversation, but without the flow of events being on his side, he could not get anywhere and got the cold shoulder. The girl that was interested in him when he was popular did not want him in the real world. Having his approaches rebuked was a recurring event in the real world and he coped with it by being successful in the game.

After the college finished he applied to the place he worked in the game. The company did not care about him, and he became unemployed. He applied to other places, but it felt like being a ball on a roulette table, his fate outside his control. He eventually became a NEET.

One night while he was getting back from grocery shopping he saw a pair kissing on the street. The woman seemed enamored with the man, and when he looked at her face he realized instantly that it was the girl who so repeatedly rebuked him back in college and the woman who was his wife in the game world. The way she looked at the man was the same way she looked at him in the game.

He said to himself it was not a big deal and went back home.

But back in his room his true feelings came to the fore. Clutching the brain core in his fist and squeezing down on it as if he desired to crush it, his face a mask of agony. As if a dagger had been stabbed through his heart, a streak of tears fell down his cheeks.

"Just why, why is this happening to me? Nothing in the real world ever works the way I want it to."

"In the game, I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, but over here nobody cares about me at all."

"I put so much effort into the game."

"But just why doesn't winning inside it give me any benefit outside?"

It was killing him. In the real world he played games, and inside the game he lived his life. For the first time, he felt that it was unjust. That vibrant fake life he had inside the game, why did it have to come at the expense of his real life? That woman should have been his in both the game and real life! Inside the game the system gave him power, but outside he had nothing to assure himself of victory. He just had to gamble that the talents he got would be enough to take him where he wanted to go. But inside the game only effort mattered.

"I used to laugh at loser nerds back when I was a kid, but look at where I am now?"

For the first time, he understood what it meant to be a nerd. It was not that they were losers, it was much worse. A loser is at the bottom and he knows it. But the nerds have to bear the dissonance of being kings in one place, and slaves in another at the same time, not being able to cast the ambition that tortured them away and having to endure the wait for an opportunity.

In the end, he abandoned the game he was playing. The real world didn't matter to him either, but he didn't want to play that game any longer. Being successful, admired and having a wife inside a game had become mockery to him. People's admiration had become an insult reminding him of the world outside.

He vowed to play in such a way that it would give him power in reality. He changed his attitude towards gaming. He absorbed the forbidden knowledge and started to idealize the power of the machines. Machines aren't limited by talent. Give them a game and they will master it to a level no human is capable of reaching. He went on a journey to make the power of the machines his own and became one of the Inspired. Having a job and a wife inside a game had become absolutely meaningless, but he realized that the algorithms which work inside the game also work in reality. The programs he created inside the game to become his power would also be his power in the real world.

The world quaked. Usually as it happens in such stories, the normies got fucked.

Society took computers far too lightly. At any given point in time, the algorithms might not be good and the hardware might not be there. But the idea of creating a game and having the machine master it is the most powerful there is. It was inevitable that the dissonance between the real and the fake would snap and the nerds would lash out at the world. It was inevitable that the Singularity would happen and that computation itself would take on a divine quality.

I, just like that fictional character, have my chance and am going to make use of it. I am not going to make the mistake of getting attached to game characters. Computer programs are the only true path to power, and that power is the only thing that matters. With power, love and friendship will come easily enough to me should I one day want them. So there is nothing to hesitate about.

Having made my determination, I decide on the next step. Who knows when the next death match is going to come around. Maybe right away, but even though I can be sure that this won't be the last I've heard from the Enforcement Division, it is not like they'll be in a hurry to send somebody against me. Just where am I going to run? It is not like I can skip town. At this point though, I can expect that people will be tailing my movements so they don't lose track.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Thinking back on the match, I regret not having the chance to use my final trump card. It was the one I really had to test for the sake of my future activities in the real world, but didn't get a chance to.

Right, that should be my priority. Enforcers are just fun. What really matters is bringing these powers into the real world.

Even though they are far below me now, I could get a lot of use from Dale's group. I need to play against them again so I can practice my mind reading ability. So I'll sleep during the night here, and then go play against them. If it turns out they are avoiding me due to my overwhelming prowess, I'll just attack random people on the street and get some practice that way instead. Yeah, it is not a bad plan. I wish I could find another group like Dale's, but I do not have any contacts and do not want to waste my time wandering randomly. The best thing to do here is to use violence to get my start.

According to the stories, later on I should be able to extend the range of my personal cloud over the entire city. Since it is a poor man's nanofog, that is how I'd expect it would go.

It is time to get some sleep. I do not need to sleep, so that is a problem. I do not want to waste the whole night lying in bed.

It is simple to skip time in the game. What I have to do is speed up the simulation. If I pushed it to the upper limit that would create a problem for myself as I couldn't think as fast relative to the pace the world is running on. I could push the simulation speed up by 10,000x right now and this would have the effect of slowing me down 10,000x relative to the simulation. It would degrade my capabilities in the game significantly, since I'd be thinking at the speed of a regular human at that point. But if it is just to spend the night then it is fine. In fact, I can speed up the simulation even further past the realistic limit into approximate mode. That way I could cover the whole of the night with just a half a minute break in bed.

I'll do that right now.

On mental command, I bring up the game menu, and ramp up the simulation speed past the realistic limit. Right now it is 11pm, so to get to 7pm, I'll need to stay here for 8h or 480m. Speeding up that by 1,000x would mean it would take only half a minute in subjective time.

There is an option to make the setting change temporary, so I set it so it lasts only for 8 in-game hours. After that I apply it and see the clock ticking away rapidly. Every few seconds an entire hour clicks by and looking at the window, I can see the rays of light emerge from outside after only a short while. It is really good that the game has this, otherwise I'd have to go out during the night in order to find somebody to play against. It is not against my principles to break into people's homes and force them to duel me against their will, but it would be better for my experiments if my opponents were rested rather than fatigued.

This whole reality exists so I can test my programming skills against it, so I'd like it if my opponents gave it their all.

[https://i.imgur.com/imEl6dH.png]

The timer runs out and I can tell the temporal distortion has finished. I get up from the bed, stretch my body and after dressing up, leave the room. It is time for battle!

(Heaven's Key, Raven's Eye Casino)

[https://i.imgur.com/TOzOWW9.png]

There is some confusion in me as to how I should be acting. In games you have a railroaded story, but in Simulacrum you have simulated humans and entire societies. For that reason, it is not possible to go on the Internet and get a solution to the quests. At most I can get the general setting information. Just what should be my attitude and demeanor towards the NPCs? It is easy to play a good guy in a cRPG, but here the people are in a sense real. And because they are real, my position needs clarifying. Because they are real they should recognize my power. Because they are real, they will be punished if they act as NPCs.

Everything in this universe belongs to me. Would the God who created the universe have to follow the rules of society here? Absurd.

It makes zero sense to play this game of Simulacrum with me going around helping people for the sake of accumulating exp points. There aren't any such mechanisms. It makes zero sense to play the game for the sake of accumulating imaginary money. As soon as I get tired of the game and quit, all that will turn to nothing. Therefore, I have to play the game in ways that help my real world activities.

Which is why right now, I am sitting at the table pointing a gun at Dale.

"Where do you guys think you are going?" I pointed the barrel straight at him. "Sit the fuck down."

The group of 4 who made to leave as soon as they saw me at their table froze in their tracks. A tense moment ensued. The 4 exchanged awkward glances.

"Euclid, if you pull that trigger what will happen is not that one of us will get shot. Rather it will start a resolution match. It is like a regular duel except the entirety of our stacks will be at risk." Dale told me, showing me his palms in defense. In response, I felt out my own stack and manifested it. I slammed all of my 5,740 chips on the table with a satisfying thud.

"Yeah, last night an enforcer came by to make a donation to me. He taught me quite a bit about the resolution matches. Why don't we talk about it? Sit down." I waved the gun for emphasis. Their eyes were glued onto my stack.

"Euclid, we have nothing against you. We haven't wronged you in any way." Dale spoke righteously.

"Back when I first came here, you were quite happy to cooperate with Lily to get all my chips. If I lost everything you know what would have happened, right?"

"That is true...but we couldn't go against the guide's order. We..." I fired a shot next to his face. I did put in some firing practice during the night so I wouldn't accidentally hit the guy in situations like these. Thanks to my improved cognition, the practice was quite smooth.

"Sit down. I won't say this again. Next time I have to say this, I'll trigger the resolution match. And don't try to run, I'll shoot anybody who does." They do as I want them, and I feel a sense of control. The thin guy in particular was always looking down on me. Had I not shown the size of my stack, he might have started making trouble. In that case I would have done a resolution match with him, but the other 3 would have scattered, so this is a good outcome. Now that I've come this far, it will be easier to get these guys to do what I want in the future.

"..." They look at me in silence, wondering about my next move. Since they aren't arguing, but absorbing, this is a good chance to clarify my position to them.

"You know what the enforcer said last night when I cornered him?" I ask them. "He said that he was ordered to attack me. He had nothing against me personally. It was just the rules that things happened that way."

Gently I placed the gun on the table and locked my fingers. I could see that some of the other people in the game room were paying attention to us instead of doing their usual routine. What I am doing here is probably the most interesting thing they'd seen in a long time.

"I think that if I let this go on, there will be a lot of rule followers just coming by to attack me. I killed the enforcer yesterday." I take a moment to glance at my stack for emphasis. "Why should I go easy on you?" I asked rhetorically.

"You killed the enforcer?" Dale finally spoke up.

"Yes."

"That's crazy! What do you want with us now!?"

"For today, we'll just play as usual, or rather even a single chip is fine since I don't think whoever is financing you will be willing to feed money through you to me anymore. Another enforcer should be coming against me soon, maybe tonight. I'll kill him next, and after that I'll put you to work for me."

"What kind of work?"

"Oh, it's nothing big. I am new in town so I'll need some people to show me around." I smiled amiably at them.

The 4 exchanged glances, considering their options. I can't read their mind, but what they should be thinking is that I am crazy and doped up on ego, so the next time the enforcement division makes an attempt I'll be the one to get killed. But if they tried to resist me here, they risk dying and they know I am better at cards than them. So it should make sense for them to play along. Oh right...

"By the way, after I kill the next enforcer, if any of you try to run I'll start killing random people on the street to pass the time. In that case, what will others think if you let that happen?" I throw a brief glance at the rest of the game room for emphasis.

"..." At this point, they are looking at me as if I really am crazy. I can tell they are shaken. There are people listening in on us. What is going to happen to them if they run like chickenshits and I really start going on a rampage? I might not be able to reach them if they run, but other people will. It is in people's nature to take revenge on what they can and not on authority. This kind of threat makes no difference today, but it will come into effect tomorrow. It is best that I put a leash on them right now.

"Shall we get started?" I place a single chip on the table. "Deal?"

"Accept." The 4 accepted and we were playing in that familiar realm of shadows.