Excessive Immersion

As Yue Jingxui and Zhang Yin stepped out of the tent and the tent's flap closed, suddenly, a hunched figure wearing a monster's skin appeared beside them.

Zhang Yin yelped.

Yue Jingxui rolled his eyes internally and wondered. 'How is it that she could fight monsters much more grotesque and hostile, but would be frightened every time these people suddenly appear? Could it be that being able to see these people's appearances and not seeing the monsters' appearances makes so much difference?'

Not showing any signs that his thoughts were actually a thousand miles away, Yue Jingxui let out his characteristic smile and asked. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

In reply, all Yue Jingxui could perceive was the sound of air being displaced by movements.

He frowned.

It seems that this person doesn't communicate verbally, which was extremely inconvenient for a blind person like him. It's not like he can force them to give a signal every time they wanted to speak just so that he would have time to activate his ability. With this in mind, he also wouldn't know when he was being "talked" to or what they said unless he was able to physically touch them while they were conveying their message.

Internally, he sighed and once again complained about the inconveniences of blindness. 'It's about time for an experiment.'

Unlike the times where Yue Jingxui was just trying to direct the activation or focus of his ability, this experiment would be more complicated.

Based on his understanding of his ability after using it multiple times, the ability appeared straightforward. It either allowed the ability user to peer several seconds into the future or an unknown amount of time into the past.

However, is this really the case?

Time itself is a concept that is hard to grasp or define, and according to what Messiah explained, [Authorities] are not something simple. Therefore, it is necessary to ask: "What is hidden under its simple appearance?"

To answer this question, Yue Jingxui thoroughly examined the cause and effect of his ability.

Excluding the "past" aspect of his ability due to his lack of information and control, the "future" aspect can be divided into three steps: "Action", "Prediction", and "Result".

From Yue Jingxui's previous experience of his ability activating while he was exploring the caverns, he took the "action" of continuing to walk and his ability "predicted" that he would hurt himself, causing the "result" of him avoiding the potential hazard.

However, what if the first step of the ability is not "Action", but "Intention"?

Similarly, in the same situation, Yue Jingxui could have had the "intent" to continue walking, which made his ability give the same "prediction" and "result".

This is supported by fact that, when he used his ability to determine the perfect time to assist Smoke Without Fire, the prediction showed him letting go of the stalactite, yet his real body was still hanging onto the stalactite.

If his real body had already let go of the stalactite, or had even been in the process of letting go, then Yue Jingxui would have been much more unsure whether the first step is "Action" or "Intention". But since the ability was still able to predict what would happen if he let go of the stalactite without him actually letting go, he determined that "intent" was much more important than "action" in the initiating step of his ability.

Thinking about the implications of this more deeply, theoretically, the prediction shown by his ability would change based on the intent. And, the biggest difference between action and intention is that action involves the body but intention only involves the mind. It is much easier concealing and changing intent than action, and the consequences of actions are much bigger than just intention.

Perhaps Yue Jingxui's hypothesis is wrong, but it is still worth a try. He wanted to conceal as much of his weakness as possible even though they were temporary allies.

He thought of the figure and and created an intent in his mind. 'I will ask them to repeat what they just did.'

With this, he then activated his ability and felt a familiar throbbing sensation in his head.

[In a dimly lit cave, there were three people. One person was carrying a woman on his back while another person stood beside them.

With the perspective looking over his shoulder, the Yue Jingxui in the vision spoke with a slightly apologetic tone. "I'm sorry, could you repeat your actions? I didn't manage to understand your meaning."

The figure slumped and, with an attitude of resignation which demonstrated how often this figure was misunderstood, they first pointed to the tent, then to Yue Jingxui and Zhang Yin, then at themself. Using their clawed fingers, they imitated a walking motion before pointing at themself again and to a gap between the tents.]

At this time, the vision ended.

'Success!'

Using the information provided through his vision, he quickly interpreted the figure's actions and asked after a long pause.

"Do you mean to say that Messiah sent you to guide us? And that we should follow you in that direction?"

The figure nodded their head.

Yue Jingxui suddenly realized that an average prisoner wouldn't be able to know where the "Southern Entrance" is in these directionless caverns.

Even though he had an [Authority], it doesn't mean that he should be familiar with the layout of the prison.

He immediately wanted to hit himself.

'How could I make such a stupid mistake? I almost revealed that I knew more than I let on!'

'Wait, how is that possible? My spirit rank is S class!'

In the current society, humans had already long mastered the secrets of biology. Almost everyone had already perfected their genes, and genetic diseases and negative predispositions have become a thing of the past.

In a world where everyone had the same hypothetical potential to be smart, beautiful, and athletic, many things that helped establish the innate hierarchy of humanity vanished.

However, humans always find new ways to classify and segregate themselves. To establish a new hierarchy, in addition to wealth and status, spirit rank was discovered.

Intricately linked to the body and mind, but not either, the inventor of the concept of spirit rank said. "Essentially, spirit rank is the potential of the soul."

At that time, everyone was in disbelief. After all, what kind of self respecting scientist would believe something as supernatural and unobservable as the soul?

Yet, the inventor directly proved the existence of the soul by creating the Divenet.

Before disappearing, using what they knew of the soul, the inventor miraculously allowed humans to use their soul to access a special space through machinery! With the help of a special communication method, also created by the inventor, people can create "objects" within this space and let others access it through their own souls.

The scientists and researchers of that era: ???

All information about the inventor is confidential, including their name, gender, and age. Everything related to them is a mystery, and this has been a topic discussed by the public often.

To this day, no one quite knows what the soul, the space, and spirit rank is other than the inventor. Even now, scientists could only observe the effects of the soul, the space, and spirit rank with the existing technology created by the original inventor, but not create anything on their own. They could only find ways to optimize the blueprints of the original technology passed on from the original inventor.

Because of the relative mystery that surrounds the soul and how hard it is to conduct research and obtain stable results, many people have formed their own theories about the subject. An uncountable number of arguments occurred within the scientific community, and hypotheses were created and debunked every day.

But, in this atmosphere of 'I am right and they are wrong', the only thing everyone has agreed on was that spirit rank had a rough correlation to future achievements.

Take the inventor for example. After they created a machine capable of measuring spirit rank, they directly tested it on themself and showcased the prowess of S class with their achievements!

In the eyes of ordinary people, S classes are almost a miraculous existence able to create something era making from scratch.

Of course, other than the S class, there are also A, B, C, D, and E class.

Political leaders, owners of the largest conglomerates, heads of powerful families, etc., are usually within the A and B class.

Due to this trend, citizens have jokingly said that spirit rank should be a "future predictor" instead of a "soul potential predictor".

To this day, there have only been two people with confirmed S class spirit ranks. The inventor of spirit rank and Yue Jingxui.

'People used "confirmed" because it is speculated that the inventor of the floating city is also an S class. Afterall, in the era of the apocalypse where resources were scarce, that person managed to create the entire buildprint of the floating city, including new sustainable and efficient energy sources, estimated weight and population limits, and everything else that was necessary to sustain human life, all by himself. But, unfortunately, the inventor of the floating cities died before it could be confirmed.'

'Heh, thinking about it, could I be considered the shame of the S class spirit ranks? After all, I didn't invent anything miraculous nor lead humanity into a new era… No wonder they used "roughly correlated".'

Yue Jingxui shook his head and returned to the initial topic.

'Anyways, no matter how much of a disappointment I am to the S class, making such a simple mistake is still unreasonable!'

'Am I still under the effects of [Mensficedula]? I really wish the system was here with me…'

'Wait, where's my system!'

While walking with the mysterious figure, Yue Jingxui whispered under his breath.

"System."

Even though Yue Jingxui tried to be as quiet as he could, Zhang Yin still managed to hear what he said and turned to look at him. "System?"

Before answering, Yue Jingxui paid attention to the familiar "Ding" sound, but was disappointed when nothing was heard. Even though he knew that the system would have greeted him when he first woke up if it had been with him, he still hoped that this partner who had been with him for a long time would be beside him.

Yue Jingxui smiled sheepishly. "I'm just trying to think of the way the caverns are created. Do have a vague system behind them? If they do, it would be easier to memorize and could be used to predict how the unexplored area would look like."

Zhang Yin nodded.

Just as he was about to reply, he jolted when a bright light flashed across his vision. It completely consumed the entirety of his vision and almost blinded him since his eyes had adapted to the dark and dim caverns. Sound effects of fireworks popping entered his ears one after another, and he suddenly realized that someone had sent him a supernova.

He finally remembered.

'That's right, I'm streaming right now!'

Glancing at the chat that he had been ignoring for a long time, he quickly read the comments.

[Fire's #1 Fan: Hey, son, pay attention! Your father is talking to you!]

[Old Hand: The last time he interacted with us was over an hour ago… Could this be excessive immersion? But there hasn't been a case for over 10 years!]

[Bun Hit Dog: I've already informed the platform and the Dive Security of the situation. They should be arriving soon.]

[Fire's Real #1 Fan: Guys, I just went to the GameZone to join the game, but I can't find it.]

[Smoke It Up: Upstairs, that's impossible. You can't play a game that's been taken off the GameZone. If that was really the case, Fire would have been automatically kicked out!]

[Buying Soy Sauce: It's true. I just went to check, and there's no game called [Imagination] out on the GameZone.]

[Bloodfallen: Hey, aren't you the guy that promised to send a supernova if Fire could survive without an injury? I'm more concerned about if you are gonna send it or not, this might be my son's last donation!]

[Buying Soy Sauce: Ok, ok, I'll send it. It might help Fire break his immersion too.]

Zhang Yin felt cold sweat sliding down his back.

'Damn, did I really forget that I was in a game?'

However, Zhang Yin thought back to his actions so far. Including the time when he was traveling to the [Last Sanctuary] and when he was inside the tent with Messiah, he was way too reckless and casual.

As a player, he would always act more relaxed since he knew subconsciously that, no matter what, he wouldn't really die. This resulted in actions and behavior that he wouldn't really do if his life was actually threatened.

'Clearly, even though my thoughts didn't actively think in the direction that this was only a game, my subconsciousness still knew that I was safe.'

'Moreover, except for the few minutes when I just entered the game, I actually forgot about the system. Later, I also didn't remember my health bar or to check on the character descriptions for the NPCs of the [Last Sanctuary].'

'Something is extremely wrong. Anyways, my cousin should be back by now. I should first log out and return to reality before anything else.'

Many thoughts ran through his mind, but he first reassured his viewers.

Facing the screen, he made sure that the viewers knew he was addressing them directly and said. "Everyone, thank you for reminding me and trying to reach me. Especially the viewer who sent that supernova, maybe I wouldn't have been able to break out of my excessive immersion if they hadn't kept their promise. To ensure my safety, I'll be logging out of the game immediately and waiting for the police to arrive. Thank you for watching this stream."