At Last, the Surface (2)

"This can serve as a power source?"

"I can hardly believe it. To think science advanced this far in a mere thirty years."

The cubic object looked nothing like a power source.

For starters, it didn't look like a machine at all. It wasn't even small enough to fit inside a human-sized space.

"Seriously, how am I supposed to put this in my body? It's way too big."

"Let's just hear the rest of the explanation first."

We waited a while, and Dr. Ilena's voice continued from the recording.

Those were cryptic words. Too grand to describe a mere byproduct of an experiment.

I studied Ilena on the screen with narrowed eyes.

Though it was a hologram from the past, the image was so vivid it wouldn't have seemed strange if she were standing in the flesh. She looked like a living, breathing human being.

Kuh-luk. Kuh-luk.

Mid-sentence, her calm expression suddenly crumpled, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

It was the deep, rattling cough of the elderly. Clutching her chest as though her lungs were being wrung out, Ilena suffered through the fit for a long while before she could steady herself at last.

I didn't miss the dark reddish-black stains smeared across her palm.

BEEP—

The hologram vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

All that remained in the small chamber was the low hum of the cube radiating light into the air.

"...Can we actually trust this?"

I took a step back and crossed my arms.

Things were flowing along far too smoothly, and that alone put me on edge. She had clearly singled out Arwen by name—meaning this had been intended for her from the very beginning.

What if following the instructions ends up with my body getting hijacked?

Wasn't that exactly the kind of cliché you saw everywhere in novels and movies? Ilena's health had clearly been failing, too. For all I knew, she'd uploaded her consciousness into that cube.

But Arwen apparently saw things differently.

Despite having heard every one of my suspicious theories, she took a step forward and spoke with firm resolve.

"I trust the Doctor. She was the only one in this facility who ever treated me like a person. Ours was a parent-and-child relationship, really. Though perhaps that was just how I saw it."

"...Even if that's true, it was over thirty years ago. No one can say how a person might change in that time. For all we know, she might need an android with a Soul."

I still couldn't let go of my doubts. Arwen had such a strong, distinctive personality that she was a likely candidate for a soul awakening—maybe the Doctor had set all this up with that in mind. All to obtain a fresh body once every crisis had passed.

"No. If there really were some other scheme, there'd have been no need to stage things this elaborately. I could think of dozens of easier methods off the top of my head."

"Is that so?"

Still, Arwen held a peculiar faith in the Doctor. Well, there was a bond between them that I couldn't see. It wasn't my place to intrude on it.

"Besides, honestly, I'd half given up on the power problem. Even if we combed through every treasure in that hangar, I doubt we'd have found anything to fix me. If this is the way it can be resolved, then..."

"So in the end, this really is the best option?"

I left the final decision to Arwen. Here's hoping it all worked out.

"Whew. Then... let's give it a try."

Arwen drew in a deep breath she didn't actually need, then slowly drifted toward the cube.

It still hovered gently in place, spilling beams of light into the air above. With deliberate, unhurried movements, Arwen brought her hand to the cube's glistening surface.

Vuuuuuum...

The cube responded instantly to her touch. First, the powerful beams it had been firing skyward winked out. A sound like machinery spinning up emanated from within, and then the cube began to shake violently, as though about to burst.

"...Is this thing actually safe?"

It felt like staring at a bomb seconds before detonation. Unable to advance or retreat, I could only watch the cube with mounting anxiety.

KRA-KOOM!

Cracks spidered across the cube's outer shell, and it shattered into fragments.

I held my breath, hoping to finally glimpse its true form—but what lay inside was another cube. Moments later, that one cracked open as well, revealing an even smaller cube waiting within. The thing was built like a matryoshka doll, layers upon layers of shells.

CRACK!

Only after shedding its skin five times in all did the cube finally reveal what it had been cradling at its heart.

Something formless, milky-white, undulating gently. Its texture was unmistakably liquid, yet it squirmed like a living creature, floating in midair.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"This is..."

"An enormous amount of energy."

As if bewitched, Arwen drifted toward it.

I, on the other hand, stumbled backward.

The thing revealed inside the cube was a mass of condensed psychic energy at a density ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unlike anything I had ever experienced. Compared to it, the energy that had coiled around the Goblin Chief's claws felt like a child's plaything.

So that thing is also a product of psychonics, then? What on earth is it?

For the record, I had absolutely no desire to touch it.

But Arwen, thinking differently, reached out her hand to the milky liquid.

In an instant, the liquid surged up and engulfed her entire body.

"Arwen!"

"I'm fine. It seems to be... absorbing me."

The scene looked for all the world like some unknown alien substance swallowing its sacrificial victim whole. I rushed over in alarm, but Arwen just waved a hand and insisted she was fine.

"Absorbing you?"

"Such a strange sensation... something is flowing into me. It doesn't feel bad. It's like floating up above the clouds... drifting along~ hehehe..."

"...?"

She started out speaking normally enough, but her words grew steadily more incoherent, spilling out in a senseless ramble.

Worried, I looked her over closely and found her condition rather off. Her eyes had lost all focus, her mouth hanging slightly open.

She's got the expression of someone who just took hard drugs. Is it really okay to just leave her like this?

But there was nothing I could do. If I interfered and something went wrong, that would be far worse. In the end, I plopped down on the spot and simply waited for Arwen to wake up safely.

...

"She's late."

By my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠internal clock, about an hour had passed, and the milky liquid had long since been absorbed without a trace.

Yet Arwen showed no sign of waking. Even so, the flushed, drugged-out expression she'd worn at first had settled back to normal, so nothing seemed to be actually wrong. Apparently it hadn't been a trap after all.

Well, that's a relief... but I've got absolutely nothing to do.

The taut vigilance I'd been holding lasted only so long. Waiting around empty-handed made my whole body itch with restlessness.

"Might as well unlock another talent while I'm at it."

My boredom-racked brain, as if on cue, manufactured a new interest. Talent unlock—not a bad idea, really. Since there was no telling what awaited us once we left the facility, best to handle these things while we had the time.

I opened my status window.

Let's unlock one of the 500-point talents ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this time.

I studied the strings of broken script spilling down the status window, deliberating over which talent to pick.

It was a total lottery. Not a single fragment of a description—there was no way to know which talent might suit me best.

"What. Shall. I. Choose~"

Since deliberating was pointless, I decided to just close my eyes and pick. Humming a nonsense tune, I twirled my finger this way and that until—stop.

Three... two... one. Stop.

"This one, then."

When I opened my eyes, my finger had landed roughly a third of the way down the talent list. Without further ado, I moved to pay the points and unlock it—and then I froze.

Huh? Why did the required points go up?

The second talent demanded 550 points. Fifty more than before. Thinking maybe only my chosen talent had changed, I checked the others, but nothing was different. Even the cheapest talent on the list asked for 550.

So every time I pick a talent, the price of the next one climbs?

Come to think of it, it wasn't a strange rule at all. The more talents you crammed into a limited vessel, the harder each addition became—that much was only natural.

...Not that there was anyone I could lodge a complaint with. I paid the points and unlocked the talent.

The points drained away in an instant, and the corrupted script restored itself. And then the transformation of my body began.

I steeled myself for the pain that was sure to follow.

"Ugh... this feels weird."

The first thing to change was my vision. As if a telescope had been bolted onto my eyes, my field of view zoomed in and out at its own whims.

The second was touch. The rough weave of the fabric clothes I wore suddenly became maddeningly abrasive against my skin. I had no choice but to tear my clothes off, unable to bear the itching.

The third, the fourth, the fifth... every one of my five senses swelled and shrank in turn. It was fairly unpleasant, but bearable—nowhere near the searing agony that had come with choosing the Inner Heart. The only rough moment was when a bizarre sensation like a feather tickling my brain washed over me at the end.

"Whew... okay, I'm fine now."

After a few minutes, the senses that had been running wild finally settled down. I snuck a glance at the still-unconscious Arwen as I hastily scooped up my discarded clothes and put them back on.

Ugh. So scratchy.

True to its name, Beast's Senses had granted me senses far too acute for comfort. The problem was that this sensitivity interfered with everyday life. Worst case, I could even expose a weakness mid-combat because of it. Still, it seemed the senses were gradually being tuned to my will in real time, which was something.

It'll get better with time. But man... this feels genuinely bizarre.

After gaining her Soul, hadn't Arwen said she felt like a completely different being? Now I understood exactly how she'd felt. It was as if I'd become a new species of humanity altogether.

"He-yap!"

I kicked up into a handstand. Then, keeping that position, I pressed one hand against my waist and began peeling the fingers of my grounded hand off the floor, one by one.

"Whoa, this actually works. Not even a little bit hard."

In the end, I was standing on a single thumb of my right hand. The balance was perfect. I even did push-ups like that, and my body didn't waver in the slightest.

I'd always had decent control of my body, but nothing like this.

No aura, and I can pull this off on pure bodily balance alone? This isn't just amplified five senses—this is something else.

Animals don't actually surpass humans in all five senses. At best, one or two are dramatically superior. Which meant that a being with every sense amplified was, arguably, a creature without precedent. Or—given the way my brain had tingled at the end—maybe I'd sprouted a sixth sense entirely.

At this level of performance, 550 points was money well spent. Excellent. But there's a problem...

After unlocking my second talent, the cost of the next unlock had climbed yet again. This time the cheapest talents on the list demanded 650 points. A full hundred-point jump in one go. Would it rise by two hundred next time? Yet another reason to keep hoarding points had just been added to the pile.

Tzzt—

I was busy cursing the crooked-salesman of a system and testing out my upgraded body when a strange feeling crept over me. How should I put it... the air itself had changed?

An ever-so-subtle tremor in the breeze made the fine hairs on my skin stand on end. Something in this space had definitely shifted. And the only thing in here capable of changing was...

Looks like she's finally waking up.