Chapter 38: New Member

As Shiro left the room, he went back to his normal state. Seeing that there's no one in the house except Kal'tsit, he immediately asked her help to test something.

"What is it?"

"You know of my charm, right? I got something to conceal it."

"...You've tried it before."

Every time Shiro went out with his face exposed, he had to beat up at least a dozen Tiacuhs who expressed their interest to him. Men and women alike, they always get attracted to him.

Even though it's troublesome, he didn't wear his oversized black robe--something that he decided not to do since there's nothing wrong about it. However, he tried wearing masks and the likes.

In the end, they didn't work. Zumama's workshop had been turned into a mess due to his first appearance. If not for the fact that he's close to Zumama, they'd ask for his personal info more.

"This might, no, this WILL work."

"If that's what you believe."

Taking out the "Concealment Mask (SS)", he placed it in his face. It's a plain white mask with two holes for the eyes. Although it looked normal, the mask held some kind of mystery.

[Concealment Mask (SS)]

Details: A mask specifically created by someone that transcended the limit of his charm attribute. It has a limit on concealing its user's charm, but the creator of it rejoiced for days upon its creation. Unfortunately, it became obsolete after he accidentally broke through a higher realm, leaving him with tears for eons.

Effect 1: Conceals the user's presence

Effect 2: Conceals the user's mana and aura

Effect 3: Conceals the user's soul and mental power

Effect 4: Once concealed, the damage inflicted by the user increases by 50% (Karmic)

Effect 5: Charm attribute will be decreased by 50%

Effect 6: Strength, Agility, and Wisdom attributes will be increased by 50%

Effect 7: Luck attribute will be increased by 5%

It automatically attached itself to his face with some kind of magic. The moment it did so, his presence became less noticeable. His charm that made him very conspicuous lessened by a huge amount.

His max level charm must still be there, but it'll be much harder for people to be reeled by it while wearing this mask.

"It works..." She was surprised that something could even conceal that absurd charm of his. He explained this before to her, but a person would have a higher favorability with someone that has higher charm.

Couple that with his antics, Shiro is someone whom people would like to be with. That is, except his enemies.

[Ding!]

[Blue-eyed Sharpshooter joined the Chat Group.]

A sudden notification took all of the member's attention at the same time. This is the only instance when their time ratios aligned for a moment.

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "A chat room? Strange, I haven't heard of this..."

Romani: "Welcome to the Chat Group!"

Shiro: "Welcome~!"

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "Hello. So what does this chat room do? It suddenly popped up as a system interface here."

Shiro: "System interface?"

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "I'm inside a medicuboid right now."

"Medicuboid? What's that?"

"...I don't know either." Kal'tsit replied in slight confusion. She added, "You should ask the new member."

Before Shiro could do so, someone beat him to it--Kouzuki.

Kouzuki: "Medicuboid?"

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "Ah, you don't know? It's a recently developed full dive gear for medical purposes."

Kouzuki: "Full dive gear? So your world has advanced technology, I see..."

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "My world?"

The Chat Group went silent for a while before someone replied to her.

Romani: "Well... Shiro, please explain it to her."

Shiro: "Got it."

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "Explain what?"

Shiro: "Hello, Blue-eyed Sharpshooter. This Chat Group is connected to multiple parallel worlds. Magic, superpowers, they exist. There are several functions of it, but I would like to explain it later after you've digested this information."

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "...Excuse me?"

*****

Inside the generated space of the medicuboid, Shino Asada is extremely perplexed right now.

"Parallel worlds? Magic? Did these people play too much games?"

Thinking that she accidentally joined a group of Chuunibyous, she was about to close the interface when she couldn't find the "Close" button.

Shiro: "If you don't believe this, you can check out the Chat Group panel in reality."

"In reality?" She muttered out in slight confusion before she understood it.

In the end, she didn't care about the floating window and continued on her treatment. She continued on exploring the virtual worlds, something that she has to do as a tester of the Medicuboid. Data would be sent back in reality during this exploration, which will help the patient as well as the production of mass produced Medicuboid.

Meanwhile, the Chat Group became noisy.

Kuroneko: "Finally, a newcomer!"

Touka: "Someone's happy that she's no longer the weakest."

Kuroneko: "Grrr...."

Kouzuki: "A full dive gear? Perhaps it is similar to Virtual Reality..."

Romani: "It looks like a lower version of a simulation room. My hunch is that it utilizes something to manipulate the nerves to make it real."

Shiro: "Fooling the user's five senses, huh. The creator of it is probably a genius."

The conversation continued on until Shino logged out. After removing the helmet, the first thing that she noticed is the virtual panel of the Chat Group. It continued floating there as more messages appeared.

'I-it's real..?'

"-sada-san, Asada-san."

"Y-yes?" Shino's attention went towards the woman in white coat, the psychiatrist assigned to her after she became a tester.

"We received your data here, but I still need to ask you some questions."

"Alright."

Regaining her composure, she sat in the hospital bed while her psychiatrist started asking questions.

"For the first part..."

The questioning went on for more than a dozen minutes before she left the hospital, her hands still shaking slightly due to one of her psychiatrist's questions.

'Guns...' She thought of what happened two years ago. To survive, she wrestled for the pistol and pulled the trigger against the robber. However, it is proven that a child cannot carry a burden like this, unless they are a psychopath.

Since then, she developed immense trauma to it. She had many panic attacks whenever she holds a gun, even if it's a toy gun. The same happens whenever someone points out a gun at her.

Hoping that she would heal from this, Shino signed up as a tester of Medicuboid. People still has a trauma with full dive gears due to the Sword Art Online incident, thus she easily found a slot and signed up as one.

Her attention was once again taken by the virtual panel floating within her sights as she went home. Sighing, she said, "So it's real... I should not be hallucinating."

Blue-eyed Sharpshooter: "This is real."

Shiro: "You've verified it? Nice. Then again, welcome to the Chat Group~!"