18 Chapter 18: Bombing his Rear

Kane expertly maneuvered the fighter jet through the blank airspace, tracing a random path in the cloudless skies. He no longer felt strange or out of touch in this futuristic machine. His body had changed considerably after absorbing more than a thousand alternate selves. But the physical changes weren't the most freakish addition. It was the memories. The countless memories of a thousand lifetimes stuffed inside his mind. And while he did not remember each and every bit just like he did not remember stuff from his own daily life, right now, if he came across any problem, his brain had an answer to it.

It was all there, somewhere among the thousand lives he had assimilated. And this knowledge bank was only going to grow greater as he continued to merge with every alternate version of him in the universe.

The benefit and use of the merger finally settled on him, as he looked forward to the merger. He felt like he was evolving thousands of years as his body became used to the aftereffects of merging. He could tell that his physical strength had greatly increased, making him superhuman just like comic characters from marvel. It almost felt like he was cruising through a beginner level while having the stats of a late game character right now.

The most astonishing fact was that nothing felt like a chaotic influx within. He was still himself and the merged selves did not change him into someone else. His mind still belonged to him, and the memories and knowledge he had gained existed like a library he was accessing at all times passively. He had been strengthened in all aspects which also enhanced his thought process and analytical abilities.

'What would it feel like to absorb all the countless versions of me out there, then? Wouldn't I become a GOD?'

This thought struck him loud as he handled the jet to wander the skies in a strange pattern. 

As he guided the jet, Kane's appearance ears subtly changed. His ears had elongated and taken on a distinctively pointed shape, akin to the elves of folklore. This was another perk of his recent evolution. Not only could he access the knowledge and memories of the versions he had absorbed, but even physical traits and mutations were available. He could change his physical body at a molecular level, like character customization. And his options were literally thousands to choose from.

Kane's elongated ears possessed the extraordinary ability to listen to gravitational waves. A power which seemed almost magical. It was an evolutionary trait from a version of himself that lived in a world where eyes had not evolved in humans. Instead, they had evolved these almost magical ears that let them see the world around them in absolute clarity. 

As he closed his eyes, focusing his elf ears to perceive the world around him, a different image appeared in his mind. It was strange to look at the world with his eyes closed, almost unnerving, but the view in front of him immediately made him react in time. The clear blue and empty sky had disappeared

He had been roaming in a strange pattern to ensure that the illusion surrounding him would not guide him into colliding with something. But even still, he had come close to crashing into a mountain peak.

The surrounding vision no longer showed the empty airspace with no clouds and all blue sky. Instead, he seemed to be approaching a mountain range.

He understood that whatever device was responsible for the powerful illusion he was in earlier was guiding him to crash into the tall peaks. But his timely use of his newfound powers had saved him. Then he turned his jet around, trying to find the source of all his troubles. But nothing came in his view. He changed his direction and flew around to search for anything that would offer a clue, but nothing appeared in his vision that would explain the illusion that had trapped him.

He tried checking the direct feed from his cameras, but the view it offered was the reflected illusion he had been stuck in. This further confirmed that something was manipulating his senses and his surveillance tech earlier. 

Right now, although Kane had seen through the illusion, unless he could find its source, he was still physically stuck inside it. He could not send out a message to the ground station to finish his assignment. Unless he could escape it, or turn it off or destroy it, this dilemma would not end. 

Kane controlled the jet to weave around in circles, observing the view in his cameras to notice all changes that occurred in the illusion. After a few laps, he was sure of his guess, as he stopped the machine and let it hover in the air.

The illusion was manipulating the surroundings in a magical way that made it impossible for him to tell up from down if he viewed it with eyes. Only because he was using his elf ears, he was capable of telling the difference. But after observing the changes in the illusion from his camera feed while comparing the real view his ears observed, he was finally able to tell the vantage point from where the illusion seemed to originate. 

He accessed the control panel and started messing around with the buttons to figure out a way to perform the trick he had in his mind.

The jet he was in was a highly futuristic design, capable of insane feats he would normally think were not possible. And he had not explored through all of them. So it took him a while to comb through the numerous functions and utilities that were available on this machine, surprised even at some of them. There was something called the party mode? He had no intentions of finding out what that did. But soon he found what he was looking for.

'I bet whoever is controlling the illusion did not expect this.'

He smirked widely as he played with the buttons and then carefully controlled a joystick.

What he was doing was to release all area affecting weapons he had on board all at once. But it had to be instantaneous. 

Controlling the joystick, he aimed at the tail of the jet. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button.

**BOOOOOM**

A great explosion pushed the jet away, making it loose control. Red alarms immediately bombarded Kane as he judged the damage done to the rear of his jet. But he wasn't panicking, as he calmly dialed the ground station and waited for the office to pick up.

Even as the jet struggled to maintain flight, he just stared out of the window. With his eyes open now, as his ears had reverted back to normal. 

The illusion had fallenthe source had been literally bombed by him. Soon enough, his call was picked by the officer from before, who wore a very stressed expression, which Kane could guess was due to him disappearing from their radar for two complete days. But he had good news for them finally.

It took him five minutes to explain the situation, covering up his disappearance and blaming it all on the illusion that he was trapped in which was kinda true. He explained his suspicions and how he had managed to close down the device that was causing the illusion to be located somewhere in the rear area of the jet. The reason why he bombarded his behinds with all he had.

Even as the jet spiraled out of control, Kane explained they could still salvage the debris of the device if they acted immediately. After he was dismissed, he calmly pressed on the eject button and watched the burning jet crash to it doom, while floating in his seat. Waiting for the GUIDE to brisk him away from this dream. And he didn't have to wait long, as soon a window popped up in front of him.

|*Congratulations Resident Kane, for clearing the dream stage. You will return at once in five seconds. Rewards will be delivered once you're back in your reality. Continue to challenge more stages to grow stronger. May you survive the merger*|

It was strangely eerie for the GUIDE to cheer him like that, but Kane accepted it. Smiling at the message, he closed his eyes, as he was whisked away from this strange dream.