Lucid Space

Typing up his draft went pretty quickly, at which point he sent it to Mr. Maddox's email address with his thanks. The library was pretty quiet, so he went to retrieve some books. He didn't have time to scan them now, and he didn't want to lug them around all afternoon, so he instead searched for books on the various aspects of the Regional Games. Top of mind to him was Running. Unfortunately, the results were disappointing.

"To think the school library only has a couple of books on Running. I'll have to make a trip to the city library at some point," Michael resolved. He decided to take a step back and also search up some books on the human physique, muscle development, and kinesiology. He made notes of the titles and locations for retrieval after school. Afterwards, he said farewell to Mr. Maddox, thanked him again for reviewing his essay, and made his way to Chemistry.

Chemistry class passed rather uneventfully. The unspoken arrangement Michael had with Mr. Celeus continued, as he passed up all of his work, including the supplementary work, and received the returned sheets from his previous assignment. At the top, all that was written was "Nice Work". Michael smiled and focused on class. When the bell rang, he quickly scarfed down a snack and raced to the computer lab.

His Computers class also went by rather quickly, and they spent most of the time on their project. Michael dutifully researched and recorded data related to the history and growth of the empire after the rise of Empress Julia the Eternal, including the successful repulsion of the Goths, the execution of King Alaric, and the subjugation of the Vandals. This period of time also included the abolition of slavery and the introduction of the Eternal City's Exercitus Eternum, so Michael had a lot to write about. As Michael was writing about this, the System triggered an update to his Extra Credit mission.

<<[Extra Credit: History of the World]

Description: Read 10 books related to the reign of Julia the Eternal, and the Exercitus Eternum

Reward: Sensory Enhancement Package (LVL 1), Basic Enhancement Module.>>

Michael's eyes lit up at the rewards. He'd seen the advantage the Basic Enhancement Module, and looked forward to the next one. This did lead him to another question, though.

"System, if I were to get another Basic Enhancement Module right now, would it be the same list of available modules?"

<<Affirmative. In order to unlock additional modules, Subject needs to improve physical and mental capabilities.>>

Michael frowned. "How do I go about that?"

<<System recommends Subject continue to complete missions related to physique development.>>

"Got it. What's next, after the Healthy Body mission, by the way?"

<<System will be generating appropriate missions in the near future.>>

Michael shrugged a bit helplessly at this, and continued to work on his project for the remainder of class.

After class, he made his away over to the Library and completed the shelving. There wasn't much, so he was able to finish it in about 15 minutes, and then went over to the front desk to learn how to use the Library's management interface. To Mr. Maddox's shock, Michael picked it up very quickly.

"Have you used this before?", the librarian asked suspiciously.

Michael shrugged. "No, but it's a pretty basic interface. I've written more complex ones for some of my clients." Technically, they were his parents' clients, but Michael didn't mind stretching the truth a little bit here in order to increase his value.

Mr. Maddox was impressed regardless. "I didn't expect you to be a computer enthusiast on top of being a bibliophile. Well, you'll be responsible for this as well as shelving in the future. This will free me up to deal with more of the higher-level administrative tasks, and assist students with their schoolwork. Speaking of which, I have an essay draft to review for one eager student. You can examine the shelves for any misplaced books, and I'll be leaving at 5pm." Saying this, he made his way to his office with a smile.

Michael quickly pulled out the books he had looked up over lunch, brought them over to one of the tables, and started to scan them. With no-one around to see him, he wasn't worried about picking up the pace, letting his eyes barely rest on the page before hearing the System's confirmation and moving to the next. He only slowed down a bit when he was worried about tearing the pages out of one of the more cheaply made books.

Soon he had scanned books on running, muscle development, endurance development, different muscle fibers, the rules and history of the regional games, as well as the various events of the pentathlon. He also pulled out a few books from the foundational reading list and officially signed them out. He stopped around a quarter to 5 so that he could re-shelve all of the other books properly, before Mr. Maddox came out of his office and let him know that he'd be closing up for the evening.

Michael nodded, thanked him again for the opportunity, and headed out of the library, newly-laden backpack in tow.

---

Michael walked home at a steady pace, enough to get him breathing heavily. The extra books in his bag added some extra weight, and he felt like it was a mild amount of exercise that wouldn't interfere too much with his other efforts. He wondered what the new physical mission from the system would look like. He also wondered what his basement would look like after the first day of construction.

He arrived home shortly before 6pm to his parents cooking in the kitchen. He greeted them and brought his bag down to the basement. In the area where the bathroom would soon be, he noticed that the flooring was already in place, and the pipework had extend from the walls to the eventual locations. "This kind of speed is really impressive," he murmured as he set his bag down. He then went upstairs to help his parents prepare dinner as well as make his own.

Soon everyone was sitting around the table. The girls gushed about their first day in class, meeting up with old friends and making new ones, and their teachers, while his parents talked about how their projects were going. They also informed Michael that they'd sent him the requirements document for his aspect of the project, and he said that he'd take a look at it after dinner. He told the family about his new position as librarian's assistant, and how it would impact his schedule. His parents checked in about his workload and the project he'd undertaken, but he assured them that it wouldn't be a problem.

After dinner, he went downstairs and fired up his computer to review the requirements documents. Once he'd completely 'scanned' the document, he typed and printed out the outline for his English paper, and spent the rest of his time 'scanning' the rest of the books he'd brought back from the library, as well as the supplementary books for his various other subjects. Soon he'd spent almost two hours scanning and storing information - he was really looking forward to testing out his Lucid Space, and was hoping that it would work the way that he expected it to.

After getting assurances from the System that the update to unlock the Lucid Space wouldn't impact the amount of sleep he would need to get, Michael got ready for bed and lay down just before 10pm. He then had the System proceed with the process.

---

Michael opened his eyes and looked around at his room. The quiet was almost thick, as though he was in a soundproof room. He looked at his clock, only to see that the digital readout was garbled and incomprehensible.

"System, is this..."

<<Affirmative. Welcome to your Lucid Space. Default location and layout is synchronized with Subject's view at time of rest. The current external time is 02:00, September 9th. Subject will be resting for another two hours.>>

Michael got up from his bed, but it felt almost like he was floating - he saw his body rise as it normally would, but he couldn't actually feel anything.

"Why can't I feel my body?"

<<Subject is currently unconscious. System could simulate tactile sensations, but this would generate additional resource expenditures. Therefore, System has limited sensory data generated to strictly visual.>>

"Can we create some sound? This quiet is oppressive."

Suddenly, the sound of rain falling and the occasional rumbling of a soft thunderstorm could be heard. It was muffled and random enough that it lifted the overbearing quiet without being distracting. Michael nodded, satisfied.

"That works. Thanks, System. Now, how do I look at the books that I've scanned?"

<<Subject can interact with the environment within the Lucid Space. If simulating the appropriate response is within acceptable parameters, the System will respond accordingly.>>

Michael walked over to his desk and flipped open one of his textbooks. The contents were completely legible - it was a perfect copy. Then, he decided to push his luck and walked over to his computer. He tried turning it on, but there was no reaction.

<<Simulating a complex piece of equipment such as Subject's personal computer is outside the scope of the Subject's current Lucid Space. Please upgrade associated capabilities in order to improve the capabilities of the space.>>

Expecting these results, Michael shrugged and went back to his desk. He sat down, paused, and then asked the System another question.

"Can you generate a paper copy of the requirements document from my parents?"

<<Affirmative.>>

Suddenly, a stack of papers materialized in front of him on the desk. It was the document he had 'scanned' earlier, but never printed out. Michael grinned at this and started reading again in earnest.