Eighteen Days
[After walking for some time, you rest in place for an hour…
Once you recover, you continue traveling, resting intermittently…
Night falls, and you hide in a partially concealed place, behind bushes. You lack the security of the simulation and are scared of the unknown. You fall asleep with some difficulty…]
[Day 2: You feel weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…
While walking, you encounter a wolf, but it runs away immediately…
You eat from your rations and fall asleep…]
[Day 3: You feel weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…
While walking, you encounter a tree with claw marks on it and grow scared. You wonder whether you should turn around, but you know that you will die if you do not find a new opportunity. You press forward, facing your fear…
You hear rustling in the brush, and stop in your tracks. Two rabbits run off in front of you, causing you to feel some relief…
You eat from your rations and fall asleep…]
…
[Day 6: You feel weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…
While walking, you encounter a bush with berries. You grow excited, but you quickly realize that they are all ordinary. You eat a few of them, and pick the rest, putting them with your rations…
You eat from your rations and fall asleep…]
…
[Day 7: You feel significantly weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…
You worry for the health of your mind and the fact that you are on the brink of dying…
After another fruitless day of walking, you eat from your rations and fall asleep…]
…
[Day 10: Your mind has become impaired due to lack of vitality…]
…
[Day 12: …You see a swathe of broken trees and furrows in the ground, and you suspect that it was left by a large beast which passed through the area.]
Lem had been growing worried for the state of his mind for some time.
As he came upon the scene of crushed trees, he half wished for the beast to finish him off.
From the way that the simulation was going, he did not expect for any more progress to be made.
Out of nowhere, his body had an intense reaction to the furrows.
It began as fear and then turned into hilarity.
Lem found that he had begun laughing uncontrollably, and he shivered internally.
[You laugh at the deep gouges without knowing why. Vaguely, you feel that your mind is being affected by the evil power within you…
You are running dangerously low on rations…]
…
[Day 16: …You have not eaten for three days. You are beginning to hallucinate from hunger and weakness. Everywhere you walk, you see the signs that giant beasts are roaming, and you feel paranoid, not trusting yourself.]
[Day 17: As you wake up, you realize that you lack the strength to walk. You chose to stay in place rather than crawl away…
You feel as though you are fighting a great battle with the evil power within you. You hallucinate fighting a dark, shadowy figure as you slip in and out of consciousness…]
[Day 18: You lack the strength to move. Your senses are heavily impaired, and you are only occasionally aware of your surroundings. You are consumed by the evil power within you and die.]
[Simulation ends.]
Lem felt the rush as the memories from the simulation poured into his mind.
He felt ambivalent about the results.
[Choose one of three rewards:
Option 1: peak cultivation from lifetime (Day 1 cultivation)
Option 2: comprehension from lifetime
Option 3: one ordinary berry]
Option 1, Lem thought with intent.
His body instantly felt more alert and slightly more energetic.
He looked over at the fox, which had yet to react.
Lem felt worried. He now realized how lucky he had been to find a spiritual berry in the first simulation.
He had yet to encounter any other spiritual plants.
However, there were many other positives that he kept in mind.
There were still many other directions he had yet to travel, and plenty of time remaining before he was in serious trouble.
The last simulation he had died on the eighteenth day, which was the longest he had managed to survive yet.
He knew that the best course of action was to remain calm and choose a different direction.