Chapter 10 - Scepticism

There was also the aspect of the old voice he heard.

Confirming that the library did indeed seem to work with a time moving around 10 times faster than the real world did seem to put some more weight behind his claims.

However, it was foolish to assume that just because one thing he said seemed to be true, everything else was true as well.

He could very well have hidden some insidious lies in the middle of several truths to make his whole speech more convincing. Trying to gain his trust by feeding him several verifiable truths and getting him to follow his words with no second thought. Then, when his guard is down, the lie the voice had hidden in the middle of his speech would catch him completely by surprise.

He was simply not going to trust that voice.

He knew he was probably being too cautious. From what the voice told him, there didn't seem to be any real reason for it to lie or endanger him. It would fundamentally go against its own objectives, after all.

The voice itself didn't try to force him to go down a certain path or make certain decisions. It didn't even give him any limitations at all. If it had any nefarious intent, the voice would probably try to create a situation in which he, due to lack of knowledge, would be forced to act in a specified manner.

Like, for example, he would die unless he did what the voice told him. With no way to verify if that was true or not, he would be forced to follow said path whether he liked it or not.

Yes, this could still be a ploy to get him to lower his guard, but in this situation, it seemed like being more direct and forceful would be the best approach. Doing things in such a roundabout way seemed counterproductive and had very high chances of failing.

So, if you thought about it logically, it didn't make much sense to doubt the voice to that extent.

And that was the crux of the issue. If you thought about it 'logically'.

First of all, there was no guarantee that whoever that voice belonged to thought logically. He could have been a complete maniac, for which, trying to find logic in his actions would only lead to his suffering.

Second of all, this was a matter of principle. He knew from his past life that one of the main points behind a lot of tragedies was people basing their assumptions on limited and sometimes wrong knowledge.

Sometimes you get so caught up in your own thoughts and trying to tie things together that you end up constructing a narrative that, while seems logical to you, is completely detached from reality.

In your own mind, you make assumptions and reach conclusions that have your own personal biases in them. You input, subconsciously, your own opinions, views, and experiences into your thought process, which ends up creating a narrative that makes sense for you specifically but that couldn't very well be wrong, since the world doesn't always work as you believe it does.

You get so caught up in your own interpretations of things that you forget that, firstly, nobody acts exactly the same way. You assuming someone would act in a certain manner simply because that's what you would do in their situation or because that's the behavior you've come to expect based on your experiences stems from your conceit. Conceit that you could ever fully understand human nature in its entirety.

Getting caught up in these generalizations that you made for society at large from your own experiences may be fine as a way to help you understand the manner in which you should respond to certain situations. However, they are not absolutes, and getting lost in this way of thinking may get you killed in the process. There are certain things which you simply cannot predict, especially in a topic so profound as human interactions.

Secondly, even if your theory ends up being confirmed, it doesn't mean the next one will go so well for you. You can have your theory proven right once, twice, three times, twenty times, or a thousand times. This, however, doesn't mean it will be right forever. There may come a time where it's wrong.

Under regular circumstances, a theory that only fails 1 in a thousand times might as well work all the time. However, in this world, that one time it fails is the time you die. There are no second chances here.

You getting your theory proven right will only embolden your sense of conceit, as if you already figured everything out. As you see the same result over and over again, you will start getting complacent. Everything has to fit into your theory in the end.

This arrogance will only lead you to an early grave.

And so, Arthur made a decision as soon as he got the memories from Lao. He would never allow himself to get caught up like that. It would be a shame if he ended up dying without even knowing why.

He decided to trust nobody. He would only trust facts he could verify himself. He would not act based on assumptions unless it was absolutely necessary.

If he had to be a complete skeptic, obsessing about everything and everyone, so be it. As someone from another world, he started his journey at a massive disadvantage from the onset. He had to make use of everything he could to bridge that gap and level the playing field.

He gets up, his body somewhat sore from all the time he stood there motionless.

He stretches himself, like a beast waking up from a long slumber, ready to start a great hunt.

He looks around the cave, trying to see if anything of value had been left behind by Lao. After a quick overview, he gives up. From his memories, he knew that the only possession Lao had were his clothes.

With this, he turns towards the exit of the cave. Rays of light enter the cave without any hesitation, as if they were invited to a party, lighting up every nook and cranny of the place.

He starts walking towards it.

He still had a lot of things to consider, mainly what his course of action moving forward would be. However, he was getting tired of the cave's stuffy ambiance. He wanted to get some fresh air from the outside to bring some vitality to his ideas and clear up his thoughts.

As he emerges from the entrance of the cave, a bright light shines on his face. It takes him a while to adjust to this sharp change in brightness.

After a while, he finally settles into his new reality.

He looks at the sky. It was perfectly clear. Not a single cloud could be seen. Only a bright circle of yellow embedded the blue canvas, shining down gentle light onto all the realm below.

"It looks fairly similar to --"

Before he could finish his sentence, he drops to the floor, clutching his face, an agonizing pain materializing in his eye.