Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Sinclair, Kevin (black female authors txt) 📗

my uniform on, giving a quick smell to the armpit area. Surprisingly, there was no smell. I mean, I wasn’t as sweaty as I used to be, and the ship's temperature seemed to be perfectly ambient. But no smell at all? Weird. There were also no fresh underpants to wear, so against my better judgement, I used the same ones again.

When I left my room, I quizzed Ember, “Hey, how do I get more underwear and a change of clothes and where do we even wash stuff?”

Ember chuckled, “Weird, isn’t it? I totally forgot to mention. It’s all self-cleaning. Try sleeping in your uniform. It stays clean, and wrinkle free. I’ve had this one on since leaving immersion over a couple of weeks ago. It’s even self-repairing and grows or shrinks in size if you do. It’s unbelievable. I tested it out by cutting my sleeve off. Two hours later it was as good as new!”

“That’s bloody amazing!” I replied.

“Yeah, it is. Now, come on. We’re gonna be late.”

I didn’t know if we were late or not, but Ogun was sitting in his office waiting for us.

“Good day to you both. I must admit that I was surprised I hadn’t received a call last night for another transcendence mishap,” he said as soon as we came in.

Ember collected herself, and answered, “Oh, yeah. I transcended and made it back safely. So, you weren’t needed after all. I have to say though, what a totally awesome place. And we’ve so many questions.”

Ogun’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Your mind didn’t get thrown out of your body? I… I don’t understand. That should not be possible!”

“Shaun here, guided me to the Mindscape. He held my hand and brought me through. When... what I think was... my consciousness tried to break free and I started to lose myself. He held onto me and that seemed to ground me, then pop! I was somehow through, into the Mindscape, and I’m fine.”

“It’s a rare skill to guide someone through in such a way and there are reasons why it takes so long to learn to pass. But you two peculiar subjects are just full of surprises.”

“Well, Shaun is. He regularly surprises himself. It's like watching a dog fart,” Ember snickered.

Ogun chuckled and replied, “Very good, Ember. It’s such a shame the Fystr keep our descendants down rather than embracing them. Imagine the developments and discoveries we could make together, if only we accepted you and allowed you to develop. Humans are so industrious and drive change, much as the Fystr used to be. Now, although powerful, we are a stagnant race. Anyway, I’m talking too much again. Another strange power Shaun has. I forever seem to ramble on to him.”

“It’s on account of him needing everything explained very clearly,” Ember offered unhelpfully, with a friendly nudge to my arm.

Ogun laughed again, which didn’t make me feel any better.

“Okay. What questions do you have for me? I’m afraid we must move quickly. We will be reaching the supply station later today and I have much to prepare. Consequently, I have little time to train you. I would have liked not to put you both in danger so soon after your emergence from Anatolia. But this is where we are, and I have trust in you both.”

“This Mindscape. We’ve seen it and it’s pretty amazing. Is there any way to stop people entering?” I asked.

“There most certainly is. And like nearly everything else relating to successful use, it is dependent upon your processing speed, or Mental Clarity. You must find your Cognition Room. It is probably filled with all kinds of things scattered everywhere, as it will never have been systematically organized before.”

“Yeah, saw that room. Total shithole,” I said grimly.

“You need to file everything away, then itemize it. Only then, will you be able to secure your mind competently. I’m sorry that I don’t have a quick solution for you, but if you want to excel with any of your new powers, this is the root of everything. The nearest thing I can compare it to is an old computer with a badly fragmented hard drive. Until you’ve defragment the hard drive, your cognitive abilities are going to be severely impaired.”

“God that's gonna to take forever. There’s a mountain of random crap,” I sighed. “But at least we know what we're supposed to do with the place now. There’s also this room that totally creeped me out. My whole body screamed not to go inside. Do you know why?”

“We all possess such a room. I’ve never been inside mine for it means death.”

“Wha! How?” I cried, in shock from the revelation.

“Every human has a self-destructive side. A side which wants to face the infinite darkness. The same feeling that pulls you off the cliff’s edge. That part of your soul is contained in that room. Let it out, and it will consume you, leading to an untimely demise.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about that yesterday?” Ember said angrily. “I’ve been egging him on to go inside.” She really didn’t give a shit that she was talking to a supremely, powerful alien.

Ogun appeared stunned. “You both walked Shaun’s corridors?”

“Yeah. I’ve had a grand old time in his nerve center,” she chuckled.

“It is rare to invite others into your Mindscape and rarer still to allow them explore! The Fystr have a long lifespan with plenty of opportunities to fall out, so we don’t give others unfettered access like you have done. It is potentially dangerous.”

“Meh, we’re good, we’ve got the trust,” Ember said happily.

“Well for me, there is no way that door is ever getting opened and no way Ember’s getting back inside by head.”

“You know you’ll let me back in again,” she said smiling sweetly.

Ogun laughed, “Well that is something you can sort out in your own time. Now, next question?”

“We found a room with a giant screen displaying our stats, just like in Anatoli,” I stated.

Ogun started to laugh, “Oh, yes!” He clapped. “I wondered when you’d