“WAKE UP!!!” Hannah cried out again, but her Summon refused to open up its sole eye.
Now dissatisfied even more, Hannah cried out again before shaking the creature in her hands up and down.
“WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!!”
Unfortunately, for Hannah, her Summon still refused to budge from its current state of being. Meanwhile, seated beside her, Lee Ping stared at the pink creature in Hannah’s hands while wondering what the creature’s exact nature was because his senses told him it was not a Nightmare, and while his Insight told him that it was the girl’s Summon, it also reminded him that it was not an actual Dream.
No, the pink creature bearing the Silver Tyrant’s Mark was something in between, and if something was in between a Dream and a Nightmare, on top of being alive, then it could only be one thing, a genuine living being, a Spirit.
Then, that begged the question of what kind of Spirit it was since his senses alerted him that it was not one he had met before.
Whatever. It is not like it matters.
With a shake of his head, Lee Ping centered his attention on the here and now.
“Why not try Scrying?”
With the advice entering her ears, Hannah ceased her useless attempts. Instead, she flexed her Insight at her Summon however that worked in the first place. Parsing through the impressions her Soul was receiving in return for her attempt, Hannah arrived at a conclusion.
“It is… sleeping?” Hannah murmured softly before quickly denying the conclusion. “No… Not sleeping, but something like it, only much deeper. Yes… That is it… My Summon is hibernating.”
“Why?” Lee Ping inquired with curiosity on the side.
Nudged once again, Hannah flexed her Soul. “I am getting a sense of emptiness. Almost as if something vital is missing. Something that usually prompts it to seek that something… Oh… I get it now… It has no energy, so it's hibernating to conserve what little it has.”
“So… Your Summon is just hungry?” Lee Ping asked before another line of thoughts reached his mind. “I see no mouth. How would you feed it? Moreover, what does it feed upon?”
“Umm… Father’s ghost mentioned a Drain Ability.” Hearing it, Lee Ping nodded his head as if that would explain the how. “As for what it should eat? Well… That one is more complicated.”
“Why?” Lee Ping asked, yet before Hannah even had a chance to answer, he voiced a conjecture. “Considering you just woke up, and that you have a Tool and a Summon, I am guessing that your current Summon was the Nightmare from your first Tribulation? Right?” Still not giving Hannah a chance to reply, Lee Ping continued laying out his reasoning. “If so? Then, that means your Summon should have a Nightmares natural ability to feed off of Fear. Right? If so? Why would that be complicated?”
Hesitating for one second, Hannah replied. “Father did not want my Summon to feed just off of Fear, as that would limit its future Evolutions or something like that. So, Father's Template for Be-hol-d should have allowed it to feed off of positive emotions, only I am not sure how to feed it that.”
“How peculiar.” Lee Ping commented while another part of his mind wondered what the girl, or better said her father, meant with Evolution. “Still… That should be easily fixable. Let me show you.” Then, just as his hand was about to touch the pink creature, specifically the left tentacular limb covered with purple markings, he stopped and glanced at the girl in question.“May I?”
Seeing the nod, Lee Ping grabbed the left protruding tentacular limb. “The trick with Drain Abilities is that every single one of them takes the same thing from a Soul, energy. However, during the draining process, one’s emotions flavor that energy as it parses through the layers of the Soul before actually leaving the Soul, thus the method and the emotions give the energy a particular property.
It's those particular properties that determine the strengths and the limits of a Drain Ability. That is why some of the strongest Drain Abilities have some of the nastiest and most debilitating effects possible. Therefore, in order to counter Drain Abilities, one has to have a very strong Will to disallow the drain from happening in the first place.
On the other hand, if you do want it to happen, you need to relax your Will and let the drain happen on its own, like in this case.” Lee Ping explained before finding a relatively positive memory, a memory of him intertwined with a particular lady before giving her the best time of her life in return for some of that juicy Experience generated during that moment of excess ecstasy.
Once he had the memory, he flavored one point of Power and let it flow down his right hand and into the left tentacular limb of the pink creature. The moment it was done, he noted the Power Point seamlessly losing his personal signature before actually being absorbed. A moment later, he noted the pink creature stirring with desire for more, only when Lee Ping expected the creature's Drain Ability to manifest, it did not.
“Strange.” Lee Ping voiced out. “It's clear that it worked when I infused it, why was there no other reaction?”
Unsure what the man with the pretty face meant, a hunch emerged from Hannah’s memories. “Ah… I remember Father’s ghost saying that he had transformed the Drain Ability into three Passives; Absorb, Digest, and Store. Could that be why?”
“Passive, you say?” Intrigued by the possibilities, Lee Ping sent another point of Power into the pink Spirit only to observe the same as before.
The Spirit trembled but it produced no reactive Drain effect, which, under normal circumstances, was not what should have happened whether the Drain was Passive or not. Yet, it was clear that nothing further happened. Then, thinking of the possibilities, a few surfaced. “This reaction could be laid to your Summon being asleep, such that it can't initiate the Drain despite me being willing about it. Additionally, it could also be a result of your Summon’s unfamiliarity with positive emotions, hence why its reaction is so weak.”
“Regardless. Considering its size, its relative youth, and its previous reaction, it should not be long before it wakes up.” With that said, Lee Ping did not mind spending a few more points of his Power to test out his hypothesis, yet, just as he prepared to do so, different sensations reached his awareness.
Sensations of danger, inclusion, and separation.
Lee Ping knew those sensations extremely well. So well, in fact, that when they parsed through him and around him, he knew the worst-case scenario for his little courier task emerged. “Hěn fánrén!”
----------------------------------------
“Hěn fánrén!”
That was what Hannah heard echoing from the man with the pretty face, yet, even without knowing what it meant, she knew the tone portrayed annoyance. However, the very next second, that fact was ignored because, in that very same second, Hannah ceased being able to move a single muscle, not even a twitch.
Nevertheless, that was not all, right after she was unable to move, a pressure manifested all around her, seeking to pop her as if she was a giant zit that needed to be emptied, and just like a zit unloading its vile contents, Hannah felt herself exploding from the still prison that was her physical body, her Shell.
In return for being pumped out, Hannah regained awareness of her Dream Body as it superimposed itself over her Shell, yet clearly established some kind of boundaries between her Dream Body and her Shell.
Only after that was Hannah able to express herself. “W… What was that?”
“Bad luck on our part, girl.” Lee Ping answered as his black eyes observed everything inside and outside the black van, but what he found was more of the usual considering the circumstances.
Meanwhile, Hannah found herself leaving her Shell partly.
First, it was the hands, then came the shoulders and the head. Moments later, she turned around to stare at her own face, only the face she was seeing was not the face she thought it would be.
“I know seeing your Shell like that can be strange, but do not bother yourself with it.” Lee Ping advised. “It's perfectly normal.”
“It is? How?”
“Before this moment, all you ever saw yourself in was a mirror.” Lee Ping explained swiftly. “So what you were seeing was an inverted image of yourself, or better said, your Shell. However, right now there is no inverted distortion so what you are seeing is your true looks.
There are a few other facts, but they are minor in the grand scheme.
No… Ignore that. Grab your Summon and your Tool and come with me.” With that order, Lee Ping stood up from his seat and grabbed the handle for the large side door of the van. Pressing the hinge, the lock disengaged and the door opened up.
Stepping outside, Lee Ping once again observed his surroundings. “Tch… Class Three Emergence.”
“What is Class Three Emergence?” Hannah confusedly asked because, the moment she stashed her Dreamon Ball, grabbed her Summon by the head tentacle, and left the black van, she was treated to a world ceasing still, similar to her physical body and the three men in black suits inside the van. By still, that meant every vehicle and every human driving said transportation, and every person walking through the city, or this part of Oaktown City. “What is going on? Why has everything stopped?”
“You will see in a moment.” Lee Ping said before his black eyes settled on Hannah.”What's with that oversized brown jacket?”
Reminded of it, Hannah stared at it as well. “I… I am not sure.”
“Anyway. It will hinder your movements like that. Adjust it.”
“Adjust?”
“Yes… It looks like a Basic Item of Power, so it should be able to adjust itself to your proportions.” Lee Ping added. “Sense it, then imagine it cladding your upper body.”
Still somewhat confused over everything going on, Hannah did as suggested, and voila, her father’s brown jacket shrunk down until it fit her perfectly.
“Good… Now let me ask you something important and be honest when answering.” Lee Ping demanded. “Aside from facing your Nightmare during Awakening, have you ever fought before?”
Thinking for a second, Hannah was reminded of her past bullying scenario. Ultimately, however, those could not count since she never fought back. As such, Hannah simply shook her head.
“Sigh… Any form of combat training? Even if it's sports-related?”
Once again, a shake of Hannah’s head became the only response.
“Just great… and with your Summon like that…” Not saying anything more, Lee Ping sighed with resignation at his bad luck. But then, observing the girl beside him, he noticed a peculiarity that should not have been there. “Wait a second.” With the realization of where his thoughts led, Lee Ping quickly grabbed Hannah’s left cheek with his right thumb and left forefinger before actually pinching the skin. Ignoring the pained look on the girl's face and the instant but distinct glare back at him resulting from his test, he spoke up. “You've already allocated some of your Stat Points? Which ones and how many? Did any of them reach ten points?”
Not replying instantly, Hannah first slapped the man’s hand away from her face before actually responding. “I did, and almost all of them… for… ugh… all of them, I guess.”
“Wait, what?” Briefly confused by the reply, Lee Ping clarified. “You mean? You spent all of your points on the Prime Stats and all of them reached the First Coalescent?”
“I don't know what a First Coalescent is, but all of my Stats are at ten right now.”
“Geez… Just how many points did you gain from your Awakening?”
“Umm… 41?” Hannah replied a tad hesitant about it.
“And how many of those were SAP’s?”
“41”
“Gǔnkāi…” Once again, Lee Ping cursed in his native tongue, causing Hannah to tilt her head in confusion. “Girl… What you did, is what is dubbed as ‘COLOSSAL IDIOT’ for wasting that many SAP’s when you could have saved them for better allocation. Mmm… Then again… Maybe it was not that stupid considering where we found ourselves in. That said…” Saying nothing else for a moment, Hannah watched as the man with the female face simply stared at nothing but air before actually using his hands as if manipulating something as well. “Aha… I knew I had it somewhere stashed.”
With the announcement, Hannah saw Lee Ping grab pure air before actually materializing the familiar shape of a gun in his right hand. Still, while the gun was gun-shaped, it looked nothing like a gun she was familiar with because it presented a very sleek and shiny appearance with its white-blue colored design, white more white than blue, especially around the upper part of the gun, the barrel, if Hannah remembered correctly.
“This is an NTT COLT LM10, a gun-inspired Item of Power suitable for Novices like you.” Lee Ping explained. “Basically, a Novice Training Tool for those who have no innate Ranged Abilities, plus a definitive lack of Skills to compensate for that fault. Hence why it is the perfect Item for you as you are right now.” Within the explanation, a bit of melancholy was hidden as Lee Ping had been one such unfortunate Dreamwalker after he first Awakened. Naturally, by now, he had ditched that part of his past with the COLT being the only remembrance of that past. “First, though, we need to do something much more important if you want to make use of it. Take out your D-Card.”
“Why?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Less dillydallying, and more obeying, little girl.” Lee Ping added as he stared at Hannah’s brown eyes. “Otherwise, there will be trouble for you. Not from me, as I will be fine, but from our current surroundings. So hurry it up.”
Then just as Lee Ping demanded it, a loud BANG echoed from somewhere ahead of them.
“Hear that? Best you hurry it up.”
----------------------------------------
If the loud BANG was not enough the following SCREECH became a much better motivator for Hannah to follow the instructions of the man with the pretty face. As such, Hannah quickly called for her D-Card, because that was something she could do, and it appeared in her right hand as the left one was busy holding onto the head tentacular limb of her Summon.
“Good.”
What came next was Hannah following the instructions precisely, but to prevent any mishaps, Hannah quickly dropped Behold, her Summon, on the road.
Left hand free, Hannah turned her D-Card around so that the image/picture of herself and her Summon faced her. After that, she tapped on that same image twice, similar to unlocking her D-Card. Once that part was complete, the image/picture somehow retreated to become the background for a new screen, however, there were no new icons awaiting her on that screen, better said, there was nothing else there.
“Good.” Lee Ping added. “In the future, after installing new applications on your D-Card, you will find their Icons there to interact with those applications. Right now, though? Now, as you can see, it's barebones, so ignore it. Instead, I want you to trace a circle on the screen.” Despite not understanding the purpose, Hannah did just that, and when she did, a new prompt appeared on her D-Card. “Good, now tap on that Settings line… Yes, that one. Tap it. Then scroll down… Oh, you don't know how to scroll? It's easy, just press the screen once without releasing the finger. Then, pull your finger up or down as if you're dragging something. Yes… That's it. Find Display and tap it… Good… Now do the same and find Interface… Good… One more time. Find HUD, H… U… D. Tap it once and it should present you with a few options, however, ignore everything but the Ocular one.”
Extremely curious about it, Hannah taped on Ocular, only to be presented with a pop-up screen, similar.
----------------------------------------
System Alert!!!
*
Warning!
*
User; Hannah Blackwood, you are about to activate Basic Ocular Holographic User Display.
Please confirm the resource expenditure reservation for Focus - 1 and Power - 1!
*
✅ ❌
----------------------------------------
“That's it… Confirm and don't resist.”
Not seeing any other options, Hannah confirmed and from within herself, her Soul specifically, one Focus Point and one Power Point flexed without any of her input. The Focus Point provided a form and purpose while Power Point provided the energy for said form and purpose, and said form and purpose almost immediately lit up on Hannah's sight as if something had overlaid itself over her eyes.
It took a few seconds for everything to settle down, but when it did, Hannah was privy to new things like a Health Point Counter, in the form of a black-rimmed tube filled with red bricks, like an eerie reminder of a few games from her GameBoy. The best part, however, was that, even without looking for it, she knew there were ten of those red bars as each one represented one point of her Health.
The same occurred for the Stamina Point Counter right below the Health Point Counter, only the Stamina bar was filled with yellow bricks and it too had ten bars, thereby making the bar the same length as its upper sibling.
Below the Stamina Point Counter was the Focus Point Counter. It only had five bricks, however, the last one was transparent slightly as if it was there, yet not there, as well. Seeing it, Hannah instantly understood that the transparency represented a reserved Focus Point.
With those three out of the way, Hannah focused on the upper right side of her vision.
There, she found a hollow silver-rimmed circle, yet it was not entirely hollow because, the same instant Hannah focused on the circle and its insides, she was presented with a simplified, very simplified, in truth, version of her current surroundings.
In her current case, it displayed Hannah and Lee Ping with two green dots sandwiched between an aerial view of the black van and a blue/gray pickup truck beside her. Reminded of the black van, Hannah noted that gray dots existed within the simplified black van and pickup truck, therefore, therefore, the gray dots had to represent the frozen people, or petrified, or whatever had actually occurred thanks to a Third Class Emergence.
Retreating from the overview of her surroundings was as easy as diving into it.
Still, while the map was interesting, it was the icons at the bottom of her vision that shaped her current experience as decently familiar by presenting her with the icons for Status, Ability, Skills, Inventory, Map, and Social.
“I see, everything caught your attention, but I am afraid you will have to explore the other features on your own.” Lee Ping remarked before continuing to lay out his instructions. “Now that your Basic Interface is up, you can stash your D-Card away in some pocket. Once you do that, take this COLT and pour some Power into its handle.”
Once again, doing as instructed, her D-Card was stashed into one of the bigger inner pockets of her father’s brown jacket. After that, Hannah grabbed the gun only for her to almost drop the weapon due to its unexpected size and weight despite using both hands to pick it up.
Recovering from the slight mishap, Hannah first sensed her Power. Then she instructed it to Flow down her right hand and into the white/blue handle of the firearm.
----------------------------------------
System Alert!!!
*
Item Equipping in progress!
*
NTT COLT LM 10 seeks to establish an O-HUD connection.
*
Does User; Hannah Blackwood accept?
*
✅ ❌
----------------------------------------
Not even having to press anything, the same instant Hannah thought about it, her interface reacted.
----------------------------------------
System Alert!!!
*
Item Equipping in Progress!
*
Connection approved!
*
Preferred Weapon Interface Engaged!
----------------------------------------
With those words, no more pop-up screens appeared in Hannah’s vision, but what followed was a simple gun icon manifesting below her simple Map feature on the upper right side of her vision. Then, below the simple gun icon, ten bullets appeared, and thanks to the connection between herself and the Item of Power she just interfaced with, Hannah knew much more about the NTT COLT LM 10 in question than before, as if it had always been there.
A result of that, was Hannah’s intuitive knowledge about the Morphing feature of the gun, namely its ability to adjust itself to the wielder, hence, the moment Hannah desired it, the oversized and heavy Colt in her right hand, shrunk down to a manageable size and weight.
Though, it still felt somewhat big and heavy, Hannah realized.
Regardless of the manageability of holding and pointing the gun in question, the Morphing feature was not the main feature of the COLT. On the contrary, the main feature relied on something called AutoAim, plus a few minor features attached to it like a targeting mark displaying where the weapon in question would probably hit.
----------------------------------------
Sensing and seeing the handle and the barrel of the COLT light up with blue lines, Lee Ping knew that the preparation was done. Thankfully, it had only taken a few moments for the girl to accomplish what she needed to do, but even those few moments could mean lost time and initiative because, ever since the first BANG and first SCREECH, his sensitive ears have been feeding him information about the ongoing combat in the distance.
As such, knowing he needed to hurry it up some more, Lee Ping addressed his sole companion beside him.
“Listen… The AutoAim Feature is not absolute as it seems.” Lee Ping said. “It has its faults, hence to make the best of it, one needs proper firearm handling Skills, but since you have none of those, your best choice of action when confronted with possible Nightmares is to simply shoot dead center.
The AimMark you see in your vision should help with hitting your targets. Still, let me give you a quick rundown.” With that declared, Lee Ping had Hannah take on a basic firing stance with her right hand on the handle and her left hand below the handle to support the gun.
After that, was a very brief explanation of firing and what to expect.
However, Lee Ping was extremely explicit about Hannah not firing just yet as it could potentially lure Nightmares their way. Perhaps nothing would happen, but Lee Ping did not want to take the chances, hence why he only gave verbal instructions instead of particulate ones.
Still, with the girls' increased Prime Stats, even his verbal instructions would sink in extremely fast, with the practical ones following just as fast after the girl fired her very first shot.
“OK… That is enough.” Lee Ping added. “Unfortunately your Summon is useless right now… Actually… Maybe, not totally. Listen, girl. If you feel like you're in danger, throw your Summon at your enemy in order to distract them so you can shoot them. Alright?”
“What? But…”
“Girl.” Lee Ping interrupted. “You mentioned your Tool being a capturing type. Right?” Seeing the small nod, Lee Ping continued his persuasion attempt, though it took very little skill on his part. ”Then that means you can get another Summon if the need arises. Meaning your Summon is replicable, ergo, it's also the perfect sacrifice to keep your life. Right?”
“I… Guess.” Hannah replied, but after a few seconds of pondering on the Logic, she glanced at her Behold, her Summon, and fully agreed with the reasoning. However, in the back of her mind, Hannah made a condition for herself to only do so if in extreme danger as she had invested quite a bit in her current Summon, so it would be a huge waste to lose it just after getting it. “I… Will do that, Mr. Lee. Hold on… What if you wake it up?”
Staying silent and considering the option, Lee Ping considered his Power Point Pool before actually denying the option altogether. “Earlier, I did not mind spending a bit out of curiosity, but now that we are here, I can't waste any more energy on your pet. Even one Power Point could make the difference between us surviving and living long enough to tell the tale of this unexpected encounter.”
Still, somewhat reluctant, Hannah nodded and repeated her previous statement of affirmation.
“Good.” Lee Ping said. “Let me close this door and let's go see what and who we are up against.”
----------------------------------------
Once the large side door of the van was closed, Lee Ping made his way towards the origin of the sounds. Hannah, on the other hand, switched her gaze between the man and the van in which her mother lay.
After her third switch, she grabbed Behold by the head tentacular limb and trekked after the man with the pretty face.
“Will Mother be fine?” Hannah inquired.
“She will, don't worry.” Lee Ping answered without looking back as he sweated around the many road vehicles between him and the sidewalk. “Once a Shroud is invoked over an area, almost nothing can hurt those caught within it. Unfortunately, the same protection does not include you and me, as I am sure you have noticed in how eagerly you got squeezed from your Shell.”
“Shroud?” Hannah again asked as there was nothing to do but inquire about her lacking knowledge.
Ceasing for a second, Lee Ping turned around and pointed at the road from which they had come. “You see that flowing silvery fire-like shimmer?” Turning back as well, Hannah nodded. “That is the boundary of this Shroud. Think of a Shroud as a bubble. That makes the fiery shimmer you see, the inner side of said bubble as it covers a huge area around us.
Beyond that point, lies the ordinary world you are used to, at least, as ordinary as you knew it before Awakening. Naturally, there is more to it, but that can wait until after surviving this place.
Anyway, even if you tried to cross that fiery shimmer, you would not be able to return to that world because the fiery shimmer would incinerate any Non-Mortal crossing it, and since you have Awakened, you no longer count as one.
I am sure you noticed that fact after checking your Status. Right?”
“I did… It said that I am a Spirit now.” Hannah responded.
“Good, and what is the first difference you noticed between yourself and every other person you saw during our ride?” Lee Ping posited before actually returning to his trek towards the ever louder gunfire in the distance.
Following the man with the pretty face, Hannah quickly thought about the question. “I… Have coalesced my Spark of Life, my Ego, into a cohesive whole… so, I no longer possess Gaia’s Veil of Ignorance.”
“Ah… Looks like you do have some background knowledge.” Lee Ping added. “Good. That makes it a bit easier to explain.
You are right. Those whose Spark’s of Life have yet to coalesce are called Mortals. It does not matter how strong that Mortal gets, even if they could smash one of these buildings to ash, as long as their Consciousness has not coalesced its Spark, its Ego, he/she or them as the gender does not matter, will still be referred to as a Mortal.
Either way.
Mortals are not entirely unique to Gaia’s Womb, nevertheless, it is the number one gathering spot for them within EDIN.
Therefore, all Mortals are subjected to Gaia’s Protection, protection you now know as the Veil of Ignorance, since it shelters them from the truth that every single Mortal was and is, in truth, a slowly developing fetus within a moving and talking Shell, or better said, Shells since most Mortals take multiple lifetimes to actually Awaken to the Truth of their existence.”
Listening to the explanations, Hannah was once again reminded of an earlier remark she had made about herself and her mother. “Does that mean, I am not technically older than my mother?”
“Haha… Interesting conjecture there.” Lee Ping chuckled for a second. ”Could be, but probably not.” He added before actually slowing down his walk towards danger in favor of inching closer to a large building to hide his presence further, and since Hannah followed him, she too did the same. “You see, the crux of your problem is that you do not realize that not every individual stuck under the Veil of Ignorance is a Mortal. In fact, only about 20% of all people within Gaia’s Womb are considered Mortals. Make no mistake, that 20% is considered a huge number when taken into consideration that Gaia’s Womb has existed for a very, very long time.”
“Then who is the other eighty?”
“Spirits like you and me.” Lee Ping answered. “Spirits who have descended upon Gaia’s Womb for this or that reason to Experience everything a Mortal life generates. The good, the bad, the mediocre, and so much more. As such, the moment that life ceases one is given a choice, Stay or Leave.”
“Oh… I think I had one of those right after my Grand Dream emerged.” Hannah said before realizing her folly. “Does that mean I have died? Wait, I mean my Shell.”
“No… It would have taken many days for it to cease functioning on its own. To others, it would have appeared like you were in a coma. In fact, something like that could be said for your mother as well.” Shaking his head, Lee Ping slowed down even more as his sensitive ears began adjusting their sound volume intake. “Your mother aside. I don't think you realize the glaring problem. Why did you decide to stay around and not instantly leave for the wide cosmos?”
“Mom… I could not… Oh… Like me, everybody who had the choice to leave, chose to stay because of somebody?” Hannah posited.
“Perhaps, but most likely not for that reason.” Lee Ping corrected his young companion. “No… The reason you don't realize the glaring problem is the same reason why a lot of Spirits, or Divers as we like to call ourselves, chose to stay. And that reason has to do with the fact that Gaia’s Womb is extremely addictive because of the depth of immersion possible thanks to her Veil of Ignorance existing.”
“Depth?… Immersion?”
Stopping, Lee Ping searched for the most correct example he knew of. “Imagine that there was a game, where you were suddenly sucked into, and you could not differentiate it from the reality you had lived in previously. As time goes on, and you experience more and more of that game world, you suddenly can't tell which is your real world, the game world or the one you came from.
Now multiply that depth of immersion ten-fold for the game world and suddenly your previous world no longer looks as interesting as it used to be, hence when presented with the choice to leave, you chose to stay behind.
That is the kind of addiction I mean.
You just simply don't feel it because you are used to this Layer of the Rift.”
Then just as Lee Ping took a few steps, he stopped. ”Wait a second…” After saying that, Lee Ping felt an abstract clue click to clarity in his head, like some piece of a missing puzzle. “Ever since Gaia forbade the Reincarnation of Mortals to the same Layer of her Rift on which they had previously died, you should be aware of this addiction, at least, on some level due to your Soul experiencing the other floors as well.”
“Could it be that you did not dive into your previous incarnations through Soul Judge?”
Hearing the name, Hannah’s awareness instantly went back into that part of her Awakening/Hatching, but then, when she examined that moment, Hannah suddenly realized that she had not examined any of the memories prior to discovering the Dream Instance Creation Instructions, and everything they entailed, embedded within her memories by her father.
As such, this meant that she had close to eight years of memories unexamined, plus if something existed prior to her current life as Hannah Blackwood.
In the end, Hannah’s answer was simple.
“No!”