PART 3

Alice Blodeuwodd Fenix.

Yggdrasil time [22:00]

Outer Regions | Arena testing 01 of Major Intersection Promus Base | LP 05 Anchor |

As Alicia scanned her body for abnormalities, she couldn't help but notice that her feet were dry, despite just leaving the Boundary. The strange membrane that had enveloped her had disappeared, and she no longer glowed as she had within the Boundary. Turning her head, Alicia was surprised to see Vanessa clinging to her back.

"Welcome back," Vanessa greeted with a smile

Alicia responded with a smile of her own, "I'm back."

Vanessa removed her hand from around Alicia and commented, "To think you also have a hat. Quite the fit."

Alicia attended to her hat, adjusting the draping veil and touching its brim. “It was designed by Dianna."

Vanessa clicked her tongue. "Oh, damn. She really has a nice taste."

Alicia looked around the vicinity, still surrounded by numerous aisles of weapon racks. Considering her newfound abilities, she decided to carefully select her weapon of choice. Taking the bell in her hand, she clipped it onto one of her belts around her waist.

"Did she also pick your avatar's weapon too?" Vanessa said, noticing the bell on Alicia’s waist.

The bell hung on one of the belts of her waist, colored in a lustrous, cold blue, shimmered in the nearby light, and was adorned with intricate patterns on its cone.

“Indeed.”

Upon hearing this, Vanessa made a strange, unknown gesture in the air, gripping her hand and shaking in excitement. "Damnn! As expected of a fashion model, Dianna has amazing taste."

While gazing at Vanessa, whose face exuded admiration, Alicia noticed an unfamiliar individual standing behind her. Unlike most Seekers in the base, they lacked wings. However, they also did not resemble Athari; rather, they were completely different in species. It was the first time Alicia had seen such a figure.

Vanessa noticed where Alicia was looking and suddenly had a realization. "Oh! Right! I heard it from Erwin about testing your ability to possess bodies, so he called Lesny to help you with it. If you can possess someone, we could be like we are possessing sisters!"

Alicia struggled to respond, feeling tongue-tied. Eventually, she managed to awkwardly reply, "Uh. Yes, indeed. Possessing sisters."

Alicia refocused her attention on the figure behind Vanessa and noticed that it had no distinct form, appearing as pure darkness, which left her curious. Cloaked in a robe and wearing a pointy, triangular hat, the figure bore numerous red glowing orbs beneath, creating the impression of being the Seekers' eyes.

While Alicia was observing the figure, the space behind her distorted for a moment before revealing Erwin. Startled, she turned around and noticed that his appearance from the Boundary had returned to normal.

Erwin noticed the shadowy figure, muttering, “Oh, it seems like Lesny is here.”

“That thing is?”

"Yes," he answered as he approached the shadowy figure.

With those words, Alicia's attention shifted back to the shadowy figure, now bowing before her. Although there wasn’t anything peculiar about the figure, Alicia felt an increasing curiosity about its race and potential abilities.

Alicia pondered aloud, "I wonder if that species has a biological identity. I'd like to record its genetic traits in my memory bank."

Vanessa shook her head, "I think that race doesn't have a biological identity, so you can't evolve into it, too bad. I believe you can only obtain it by creating an avatar with that race or evolving into it using certain items."

When Erwin stood beside the figure and extended his hand, gesturing toward the shadowy figure, "Allow me to introduce Lesny, Captain of Squad Unknown. Ah! Right, may you grant her the permission for her to speak to you telepathically?"

Contrasting with Erwin's height, similar to a young adult, Lesny appeared to be short, almost on par with Alicia, who seemed to have the appearance of a young teenager.

Alicia's eyes narrowed into a glare as she questioned, "Why should I grant her that privilege exactly?"

"W-well," Erwin stumbled over his words as he tried to explain, "Lesny is a Fiend Remnant, her kind does not have vocal organs to produce sounds. However, she compensates for this by using in-game channels or communicating telepathically."

"Yep, yep," Vanessa agreed, nodding. "Since you have yet to sign the Goddess Contract, you can't use the in-game channels. Why not bear with it until you sign the contract?"

Alicia paused, silently pondering, before responding, "Very well. I will allow it this one time. Should you contact me without my permission, I will consider you as my enemy."

Lesny’s quivering shadow loomed and shrank, trembling in terror at Alicia’s menacing words. Witnessing the fear, Vanessa couldn't bear it and rushed to envelop the trembling figure. She shot a disapproving look at her sister, and with a slight hint of irritation, questioned, "Must you be so harsh with your words?"

“No?” Alicia responded nonchalantly, “However, might I remind you that within this simulation world, Mind Networking is restricted?”

Vanessa spoke, still glaring at her sister, "How does that have anything to do with this?"

Approaching Vanessa slowly and steadily, Alicia explained, "Telepathy outside the usage of Mind Networking is considered a Psychic attack, Vanessa. Such attacks are illegal in the empire. Although we are in a simulation world where only the Protocol’s laws are in effect, you cannot deny my ‘will’ to object to being attacked by psychic means."

As Alicia gave her sister the details, a growing sense of intimidation as the distance became close. Confronting her with an empty smile, Alicia looked down at her sister and questioned, "Did you not learn this at school? VA. NE. SSA?"

“HII!!” Vanessa shrieked, “I-I did! I just momentarily forgot! I can recall it! I have recalled it! I remember being told to recall it to explain it!”

“Hohh?” Alica lets out an exaggerated noise, “Then tell me exactly why it is illegal?”

“W-Well,” Vanessa fumbled over her words, “I think… I think it's because mind networking is considered the safest way to communicate information to other people."

Alicia appeared unamused by her sister’s response, letting out a sigh, “Mind networking is regulated, protected, and adheres to official safety standards. Unlike other illegal actions, sending information through unregulated channels may result in detrimental effects on the recipient's brain.”

“Ohh, yes, yes! I remember!” Vanessa smiled, wryly.

‘She clearly does not.’ Alicia thought.

Despite this, Alicia continued, "The restriction of Mind Networking means that the protection it provides against psychic attacks is also offline, at least here within the simulation world. While Conscious Augment does offer a secondary level of protection, it's not as effective as Mind Networking. Do you understand why I dislike it?"

“Yes! I do!” Vanessa nodded in agreement.

Alicia let out a sigh. She wanted to teach her sister, but worried about straining their relationship. Anxious about being perceived as a nag, Alicia decided to let it go instead of making a big deal, as she always does.

Alicia shifted her attention to the shadowy figure with an inscrutable expression. "You claim that you are Lesny? I will grant you the privilege to telepathically message me, but solely for the duration of this session. Do you understand?"

Lesny nodded vigorously, causing her pointy, triangular hat to wobble.

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Alicia waited for a moment, bracing herself for telepathic signals when suddenly she felt a wave of discomfort wash over her. It was an inexplicable sensation, leaving her bewildered and unable to pinpoint its source, lingering persistently in her emotions. Her heart raced and her mind instinctively prepared for combat, heightening her senses and making her acutely aware of her surroundings.

Her conscious augment alerted her to the presence of powerful psychic signals invading her mind. With the Augment’s strong self-preservation instinct, the augment strengthened itself, filling her thinking capacity to protect the mind. After all, if her mind was destroyed, so would her consciousness.

‘I will never come to terms with this feeling. Augment, decipher the signal.’

Immediately after, the augment decoded a message, (It is an honor, your Divineness,) which Alicia received.

There was no expression or tonality in the voice, but it sounded like Alicia's own. She thought, 'Augment, reduce the effort needed to defend against psychic signals, and allocate more capacity to decipher them.'

One major issue with relying solely on augment for protection against psychic attacks, at least for Alicia, is that conscious augments defend a person's mind by consuming the overall capacity of what they could potentially do.

Unlike Mind networking being online, Aetherian citizens will never even feel an attack from psychic actions, allowing their Augment to remain stable for use.

"While I acknowledge your informality, I shall permit you to instruct me on how to use Remnant possession."

(Absolutely an honor.) Lesny transmitted a reply, albeit without a tone, (For this testing session, we can try it on Erwin.)

Lesny exchanged glances with Erwin, with him nodding at the end of the silent exchange. He proceeded to kneel down in front of them with his eyes closed.

The shadows stirred as numerous red balls began to move, slowly turning to face Alicia as if locking eyes with her. Meanwhile, Lesney continued to transmit information, (Most of the avatars' abilities in this world can be activated through a person's augment or command of the conscious. However, using an Avatar's ability would consume our augment's processors. Your Divineness, try commanding your augment to use your Remnant possession with Erwin as the target. Once you do, I will meet you there.)

‘Meet you there?’

Alicia was puzzled by those last words, but she was also curious about how the ability works. However, there were parts of the explanation that Alicia wanted to refute, such as using an Avatar's ability would fill a part of their augment's capabilities to process, which the game had already limited from the start.

'The protocol has already limited our use of Augments, and now it seeks to impose further limitations?' Alicia sighed internally. 'How unscrupulous of them. Augment, initiate Remnant Possession on Erwin.'

Before she knew it, her surroundings had shifted into a vast, pure white space. Unlike the previous location, which had been lively and bustling, this place was devoid of noise or contours, with no signs of life—no horizon, no wind, just a lifeless world.

‘Could this place be… The mind inside of Erwin?’ Alicia wondered, ‘How empty…’

As Alicia pondered, she noticed an object in the vast emptiness, just a few meters away from her. It was a spherical golden glowing object, standing out distinctly against the empty white space. It seemed to be floating in the air from her perspective. Curious what it was, she tried approaching it.

As Alicia cautiously approached the mysterious object, a shadowy figure suddenly materialized beside her. Startled, she jumped back into a defensive stance. Despite recognizing the figure against the white background, its appearance was still disconcerting. Alicia remained on guard, unwilling to let her guard down.

"It's me, Lesny!" The shadowy figure exclaimed in panic, their voice now sounding like a man's, an uncanny replication of Erwin's voice.

Upon hearing this, Alicia's suspicion grew stronger, her gaze becoming even more intense than before.

"I may sound like Erwin because I'm inside him," Lesny explained hurriedly. "Since I don't have a physical voice, my telepathic voice takes on the characteristics of the host I'm communicating with. And as we are inside Erwin's mind, my voice sounds like his when I transmit signals to your head. Just as when I transmitted signals to your head, it is similar to yours! Therefore, it would be the same as Erwin’s!”

‘Was there such a thing?’ Alicia thought.

“Very well,” Alicia said, as she lowered her stance. “I will believe you for now.”

“T-thank you,” Lesny stammered, letting out a sigh of relief.

“However, how did you manage to enter?” Alicia inquired, adjusting her imperial uniform.

"I have the same ability as you, remnant Possession," Lesny claimed. "That's why I was able to invade his Mind too."

“That makes sense.” Alicia approached Lesny, “Are we inside of his head?”

"Yes!" Lesny confirmed, "We are currently in a part of his mind known as Paracelsus. Here, we must break through the barrier that protects his mind, typically guarded by consciousness or Augment, to access the innermost part of his mind.”

Alicia nodded while trying to understand the Simulation world’s concept of the mind.

"As we know, the mind, consciousness, and Augments are distinct aspects. We must gain control of the mind to eliminate Erwin's consciousness and Augments," Lesny explained. She scanned the area and then approached the floating golden orb, pointing to the only object in the space. "That golden sphere is known as the Mindsphere. Touching it will transport you to where you can take over Erwin's mind or destroy his consciousness."

Alicia hummed in wonder, resting her chin in her hands, deep in thought.

"Paracelsus is always shielded by our augments, and the structure of this place is unique to almost every Athari. However, for the purpose of this test, Erwin has restricted the way his augment protects his mind from Psychic attacks, so not all mindsphere are accessible," Lesny explained.

Lesny took one of her glowing red orbs from within her shadowy form and hurled it towards the Mindsphere. However, before it could reach its destination, the red orb splattered against an invisible wall, and an explosion of fire followed.

"Most of the time, seekers have different layouts in their Paracelsus. It depends on how much mental processing power of augments people allocate to protect themselves from psychic attacks."

Alicia responded with an amused smile. "I see. It's fascinating to think something like this was conceptualized, and it is somewhat similar to the real world."

“I agree, it's quite amazing!” Lesny said, but a cheerful Erwin’s voice echoed instead.

Alicia pondered out loud, “Considering our ability to invade the mind. I wonder if we can directly invade a Seeker’s consciousness or their augment.”

"Maybe. I'm still not quite sure. I don't recall other Seekers reporting such a thing,” Lesny replied with a carefree tone, "Given that possession's ability is limited to controlling the mind and taking over the body, it may be possible in the future?"

Alicia paused in deep thought for a moment before Lesny interrupted her. "Your Divineness, before you attempt to touch the mindsphere, try destroying the invisible wall protecting it. I have some explanations to share before you do so."

Alicia nodded in response, her gaze fixated on one of her belts as she reached for her Qliphoth ruin bell. 'This will be the first time I will be using this weapon,' she thought. 'Will it even work? Dianna mentioned it's a sound-based weapon, but didn't say anything about affecting something inside of consciousness.'

As she walked towards the golden sphere, she stopped next to Lesny and raised the bell, chiming it. The sound echoed around her, causing the world to slow down. The choppy sounds of the bell reached her ears as her augment requested selection from her mind.

[Hex, Blindness, poison]

These were the selections provided by her augment in the slow-moving world. Her consciousness instantly chose poison, targeting it towards the barrier. As she did so, the world returned to normal and the continuous sounds returned to her.

'Hmm. This bears a striking resemblance to my experience with the Last Ark.' Alicia drew an impression. 'If I had delayed my decision then, the weapon would likely have failed.'

Without warning, a dark green sphere materialized around the golden ball, crackling ominously. The poison inflicted by her weapon slowly corroded the barrier. However, as swiftly as it appeared, it vanished, leaving no trace of the cracks.

"Maybe, try a bit harder?" Lesny quipped, wryly smiling.

Even though she appeared as Lesny in both form and identity, hearing Erwin's voice echoing through her stirred an unexpected irritation within Alicia. With a swift motion, she summoned a burst of fire a few feet away from them and directed it toward the invisible sphere.

Alicia paused, considering the potential outcomes as she chimed the bell once more. She thought, 'Let us see what effect this hex may have,'

Shortly after, the shield turned black, revealing the invisible cracks that had developed. In just a matter of seconds, it shattered, resonating like broken glass throughout the surroundings. Alicia quickly ceased the flames before they could reach the golden orb.

As she turned to face Lesny, Alicia flicked her hair, smiling as she asked, "Now what?"

Lesny walked forward and said, "Nice. Now, let's go towards it."

Alicia followed behind the nonchalant Lesny. The barrier had broken from the combined forces of her fire ability and hex, but the debris simply vanished into the emptiness of this space. The heat disappeared as if there had never been any fire to begin with. The mind is a mysterious place, and Alicia continued forward.

Upon reaching the golden orb, Lesny placed her hands on her waist and spoke, "Okay, so, once you touch this, you'll be transported to a different location. I can't say what the new location will look like, but there are two important things to note."

Alicia glanced at Lesny, urging her to speak. "What is it?"

"There will be numerous, perhaps hundreds of entities in the location you'll be transported to, all resembling you or Erwin. In this space, Erwin can take the appearance of either you or himself, and your task is to identify the original Erwin. If you kill the wrong one, all the fakes will become aggressive and attack you. You must choose wisely. If successful, you will end Erwin's consciousness, and his body will become yours. If not, you will be repressed back to your body with strained augments that will take at least several minutes to recover."

Alicia nodded to her words, “Got it. And the other one?”

"If you can't find Erwin, you could search for a similar object to the mindsphere called the mindcore. You have two options: destroy it or place your hand on it. Destroying it will kill the mind of the avatar, causing you to return to your original body. If you touch it, you will gain control of the body. However, Erwin's will still be present, but in the Paracelsus area, attempting to do something similar to you in order to regain his body."

“How fascinating,” Alicia remarked.

“It is. Good luck.”