11 Doubts

Utilizing his experience in crafting tools from the survival games he played, Vin created two stone daggers holstered in his snake leather holster. A stone sword, a rope made of twine, and a waterskin. A complete contrast to Nathan, who only brought a backpack and a waterskin.

The lack of fine needles for sewing forced Vin to wear primitive clothing just to cover his sensitive parts.

After checking his gear twice, Vin set out.

At first, just like Nathan, the very first white orb forced Vin's mind to accept the place as the world after the end. However, for the following days, he noticed some peculiar things that did not make sense, such as the orbs themselves.

From his observation, it can give knowledge, change one's current mentality, even make a person trust someone. If this is a new world, why is there such a thing?

God? In his future, humanity left all the religions back on Earth to start entirely anew. Since the westerners were the first to succeed in the project, English became the actual universal language. The white house rejoiced and even used it as a propaganda tool, forgetting the fact that the origins of English are actually from the British.

A new kind of cyberwar even happened. Aware of the cultural invasion that the westerners are good at, Hackers from various nations wanted to inject their language along with English. It lasted until the day of the launch, and China's Mandarin and Spain's Spanish got in, the top three most used language during that time.

Even then, those who are in the outer space left their identity as a citizen of their nation. Due to the greatness of the universe, all kinds of cultural invasion failed. The lack of time for entertainment due to work, the difference in time before the establishment of the universal clock, various reasons kept popping up that forced the colonizers to build their own culture from the ground up. The lack of the faithful drove away the last bits of Earth culture after the second generation.

Vin's planet was a part of the fourth generation colonialization. If the first and second generation only focused on survival, with the advancement of technology, the third and everything else that came were prioritized for experiments.

To summarize the experiment on Hirlin in one sentence, it's "To create a man that is an island." A self-sustaining person without social needs. Due to the fragmentation in culture for every colonialization, a group of people accepted and embraced it.

Whether the experiment succeeded or not, Vin can never know. His time ended early and has been transmigrated into this seemingly new universe. But his developed habits made him doubt this fact to the point that if those white orbs have consciousness, they'll be feeling helpless.

But, seeing Nathan earlier, Vin felt a jolt in his mind. He became unsure if his accepting of Nathan has been due to the influence of the orbs or him being himself. As to liking him? He doesn't even know. Homophobia died long ago, and the concept of being "straight" became less and less as more ways of conceiving children were born.

So last night, Vin decided to go out and follow Nathan without telling him. Whether he's a real or a digital character, it doesn't matter. Loneliness can never be solved, so the experiment gave him characters that he can alter or multiply to his heart's content. Wise AIs were really no different from real humans anyways.

If those AIs were really no different from real humans, did they transmigrate here too? Vin would love to know.

Enough of contemplating, it's time to move.

Vin set out and followed Nathan with his [Arcane Track]. Blue wisps of smoke came out of his eyes as his head turns to the direction that Nathan went.

Surprise in his eyes shone, seeing as how chaotic the mana tracks were.

"Was he intentionally swerving? Vin thought, multiple theories appearing in his mind as he doubts his only, supposedly, real friend.

//Nathan moved in a straight line, but his powerful mana dispersed further before resetting to normal.

Following along the general direction of the tracks, Vin's got even more astonished. Looking at the ground for footprints, he realized that each step covered more than 1 meter and a half.

Vin immediately tried to imagine how Nathan was moving. "For each step to be this long, did his legs grew longer when he got taller? But this kind of walking is too... weird... and tiring."

As he kept on trudging on, Vin found himself in a predicament as not only were the tracks more chaotic, Nathan's speed also improved by leaps and bounds.

"This... is he using a spell?" He surmised.

As he tried to recall his first few days in the new world, he realized that the first ten days are getting hazy. Besides the things they recorded, everything else is getting hard to remember.

Vin broke into a cold sweat, as much as he tried to be reasonable, everything that has ever happened has been making him paranoid. He's already forgetting the first day but is able to recall his past life. This contradiction... It doesn't make sense.

Vin immediately changed his tempo once he saw the mana tracks becoming clearer. "It seems like Nathan is close," he thought.

A few more meters forward, he finally sees Nathan picking some berry-like fruit that they called Red Berries. It looked like red olives, but the taste is sweet. Another effect they found is that these berries can reduce fatigue.

Vin climbed a tree that was around 30 meters away from where Nathan is currently foraging. When Nathan resumed his travel, Vin noticed the green glow underneath Nathan's feet.

It was [Wind Steps].

[Wind Steps]

Wind Element Invocation Spell. Every step borrows the momentum of the last step to increase the distance per step and reduce air resistance. It has no incantations.

"Was this an oversight? How did I overlook this spell?" self-deprecating thoughts spawned in Vin's mind as he began to doubt his existence even more. "Am I being manipulated?" came across his mind multiple times.

Instead of losing his minds, he got more determined to stalk Nathan. Seeing as how a branch of a tree is close enough to leap, he went for it.

When he landed on the next tree, it shook and ruffled the leaves. Realizing jumping on the trees won't be as quiet as he hoped, he jumped down.

After activating [Wind Steps], Vin's mana consumption doubled. If Nathan didn't scrutinize each area he passed through, Vin would have been left behind long ago.

Hardly keeping up with Nathan, Vin began to process everything he has seen so far.

"It didn't seem like he has a goal to where he's going."

"Is he tricking me? Judging from our lifestyle these past few days, it should be impossible for him to explore around this far out from the cave."

"If only I could convince him to stay until I broke through, I could've scouted ahead."

"This kind of exploring is too inefficient, does he even know how to this sort of stuff?"

Various thoughts and emotions surfaced as he observed the unaware Nathan from afar. However, so far, besides from reprimanding him in his mind, Nathan has done nothing suspicious.

Vin really wants to shout: "Why are you so primitive! That's not how you handle this! Idiot!" towards Nathan, but he held himself back, still aware that he's stalking his friend.

Then, Vin began to realize something. He's far more experienced in surviving compared to Nathan, yes. But, ultimately, his experience was just simulations, and in his subconscious, the thought that he wouldn't die has always been present.

The goal of the experiment was to reform someone like him, not to select the ones who already could. It might have been cruel, but these people are still the colonizers for the new solar system.

Dusk grew closer, and Vin's thought became less and less. To him, he finally stopped doubting Nathan. "He's just too primitive, he thought."

A profound calmness entered his heart as his doubts disappeared.

And then his steps ceased. Vin felt his mind clearing up, and his breathes got deeper and more forceful. His surroundings began to distort as mana became visible.

"Shit! I'm breaking through!" a horrified Vin screamed.