Chapter 7 Gakes «1» Getting Kidnapped, The New Mind
⟨To clarify the communication concept between them:
When something is in normal () parentheses, Elliott "talks" as if no one can listen to him while the minds can always hear him. But they choose to ignore his rantings. Mostly out of courtesy.⟩
1400 words
—"Everyone, don't make a move unless we are in a lot of risk ok. The last thing we need is exposing our identity."
~In a robotic voice, "Observing, possible threat detected. Want me to launch the missiles?"
°"Can you stop being so childish for a while. This is a life and death scenario."
+(Deep down am I really care-free like that, ugh. I used to be a lot more mature when I was in the age that most countries would identify me as a child. After 5 years, I am this cringy guy, who tries to do meaningless jokes all the time...)
~"He produced a bag, I think he really is going to take us with him."
°"That is the most probable."
(They grabbed me and put me in a skin covered hand-made looking pouch. Hmm, they probably don't have means of mass production. Even with magic, they really are primitive huh...
We, ahem, "I" could see the outside of the bag. Probably something that has to do with my Byakugan ability. It seems that if something covers me tightly, I can see past that just with the downside of having a bit of a blurry vision. Without a cost of pretty much anything. Hm, is that how it is supposed to be though?
By now, I am pretty sure this world is working with a fantasy world principle, from back home. There are a lot of different fantasy settings that I have come across but, the content creators usually add the ability to heighten; physical abilities and condition, senses, health-wise recovery speed and in some of them, ahem, sexual vitality... To, I think mostly, explain the many abilities the habitants of the fictional world have the upper hand on, compared to humans and animals of Earth. Even though there is no distinct ability they have, that could result in those abilities of them. Thus, they decide to make it so that they can heighten their specs by infusing Mana or something similar.
Well, I don't think that it is an inherently bad thing but the way some of them don't explain the principles behind it had been kind of annoying to me. And I haven't gotten any single idea about how does any of these magic in this world work, and honestly it's bit frustrating.
Don't get me wrong, I was a nerd or an otaku in modern terminology, but the authors just making fantasy elements seem mysterious, or describing them as "unexplainable, it could only be felt" have really left like lazy writing to me, even though I loved the other parts of most of those works. I mean, you could at least do some anologies, even if they are far from perfect... )
+«If only I could go back to the time where I had lots of time to goof around...»
—"He says, while wasting his time when we are in the middle of a life and death scenario..."
(Completely ignoring him)
+«Oh, you are probably wondering why am I wasting my time right now, talking to myself. Well, my other "selfs" are working on our plan. In a sense I am kind of their boss, right. So unless it is an emergency I want to be like a boss!»
~"It hurts our 'ears' when you shout y'know."
∆"And you've got to be wrong in the head if you are thinking, this current predicement is not an emergency."
+«A new one?»
∆"Yeah dumbass. The split thinking skill have increased in level, so I came to be!"
+(~ is sometimes childish but this guy is bit annoying. I might disable him but I am kind of scared about that "merging with the user upon being disabled" thing.)
+«Hmm, he doesn't seem like a very reasonable one, he doesn't understand his situation! I shall teach him his place!!»
°"Urgh… You are the one that's annoying here…
(Still ignoring them...)
+«A direct threat shall work in taming him.»
+(In a delinquent voice) «Oi, I am the boss here. So watcha tongue!»
∆"You really are stupid aren't you? While we are in the middle of a crisis, you don't focus on planning a damn plan, BUT you have all the time in the world to focus on a criticism. THAT'S DONE BY YOUR SELF TO YOURSELF!"
+«Umm, ok. You know what. You are absolutely right. I got blinded by power and authority. I shall redeem my self! Hey "—" I'll give you full authority on us. You are the most strategic one out of all of us.»
—"I am pretty sure I had that from the start..."
~"Your sudden behaviour changes surprise even me..."
+(completely ignoring —,) «And I shall vow to not abuse my authority and to work more diligently than ever. For our people!»
∆"Whatever man... Just don't make us kick the bucket by your impulsive tendencies, like a certain someone almost did..."
°"Then, he commences the 'presidential talk'..."
+*⟨STILL IGNORING THEM.⟩*
—"Ok I have a few ideas sorted out but I'd like to hear your thoughts on them too."
°"Let us begin the meeting then!"
Since there actually was not much we could do, if we didn't want to get caught, we waited while discussing how to respond in certain circumstances we could find ourselves in. It was kind of a long conversation —or from the outside a monologue, but in general we will:
Run; if there is no one looking, they figure out our identity, they intend to harm us. Of course while prioritizing concealment.
And for the other types of actions, well... First off we don't know how to fight and we have neither any experience or ability that's really combat oriented. And even if somehow we can fight our way out, they'll learn of our existence. It's not like we can annihilate soldiers that are probably numbering over hundreds…
( I haven't asked Diablo for specifics but probably either the intelligent rocks are non-existent or very rare in this world. Even the Status is not compatible with my existence. For example Hardness skill doubles HP but reduces(not consumes) Stamina Points to half. And there is the skill Focus that doubles mental efficiency and reaction time that uses 1 whole Stamina Points per second, aside from 1 HP per 10 seconds. The Gakes had somewhere around 30 Stamina Points and had only 3-5 of them used, for running around over dozens of minutes. So using Focus for 30 seconds consumes as much Stamina as running for hours...
A fantasy world for you, doesn't make much sense... Oh well, if it weren't for all this nonsensical stuff perhaps I'd have died for real. Though I am grateful for that, now I don't have any aim or purpose. Of course, except for avoiding my imminent demise.)
(Hmm, my only goal was to have a high score from SAT, go to a well-known college and have degrees in medicine and engineering. Well, thankfully I've been studying really hard in the recent past before dying and have a lot of knowledge from the researchs that were independent from our curriculum that I have done.)
( If I can become more human-like, I can put them into usage. Even though I don't remember 100% of them. And if this world's structure is too different from mine... Well, my only other major advantage would be the debt Diablo owes to me though I don't know how much he will help. It's kind of weird that he is insisting upon having a debt to me, while he was going to use me as a pawn to create chaos, without telling me the terms of our agreement anyways…)
(Aside from that, perhaps the biggest weakness or strength I have is being a rock. If I am one-of-a-kind and hard to spot or recognize, the fact of me being a rock would certainly be great. And if it is quite the opposite and if I get attacked for being an intelligent rock, I don't know how I can win. The targeters would probably be very influenceal individuals or organizations, or perhaps even governments... My mind is settled! I'll not expose myself unless I become very strong and can conceal myself, or—)
—"Hey, something's going on."
~"Are those—
«Hey there it's the author. I know, I used the forbidden cliff-hanger technique but I need a bit more time to think about what exactly should I do with the Gakes; MC's motives and goals.»