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

“Is this something you’ve put in our heads when we were in full immersion?” Ember questioned, sounding somewhere between annoyed and fascinated.

“No. Not at all. That is a natural part of your mind. Once your mental and physical pathways open up, you can see main aspects of your body and abilities. For whatever reason, everyone I’ve ever met sees it as a table of information.”

“Hmm. Seems suspiciously like Anatoli. In fact, any RPG game for that matter,” I replied dubiously.

“Well, of course it does. Where do you think the original design for all those games came from?”

“Maybe for Anatoli, but there’s thousands of games out there with a similar system,” Ember interrupted.

“Yes. Indeed. My people spend so long trying to hone their stats on their cerebral interface, trying to reach their peak. Comparing, competing, obsessing! So, I thought, what better way to keep the human masses subdued than providing them with a virtual version of this. It’s proven very effective. A high percentage of humans now rarely leave their homes. They are too busy playing addictive games! A very effective diversion from true mental growth and productivity. I was rather pleased with myself for that non-violent means of suppression.”

“That sucks, Ogun. But like you say, at least it's non-violent, I suppose,” I added.

“Do you mind me asking what your Mental Clarity is?”

I really didn’t want to answer, but I didn’t have much wriggle room, “Two percent.”

Ogun looked like he’d bit into a lemon. “Oh, well. That is impressively low. It seems you have a very disorganized mind, Shaun. With enough work and training, you will see improvements. Maybe one day you’ll even have the ability to shoot laser beams from your eyes.”

I saw Ember’s look of awe. The same look, I was sure, now spread across my face.

“Really, we can learn that?” I asked.

Ogun started laughing, “Sorry, sorry. A bad joke. You will never shoot laser beams out your eyes. It would burn your own eyes out! We can still do some amazing things, but that will never be one of them.”

“What a dumbass,” Ember said, laughing at me.

“I saw your face. You were believing him too, so don’t start.”

“Of course, I didn’t believe it.” She rolled her eyes and focused on Ogun.

He cleared his throat after his little laughing fit. He was about to talk again, but Ember jumped in. “What about Potential, Ogun? Nearly all the stats had a one thousand upper limit. That seems ludicrous considering the levels we’re currently on. But might it be linked to the Potential score?”

“Yes. One thousand is ludicrous even to me, though I have a few stats approaching the thousand mark. You would only reach one thousand if you had one hundred percent Potential and I’ve never heard of anyone with that kind of Potential in all my life. One thousand in all stats would essentially make you a god. No one has ever had that before, so we don’t know. What were your Potentials?”

“Eighty-three,” Ember said unhappily.

“You look upset Ember. That is an impressive Potential score. I’d say you’re at mid-range Potential for a Fystr, never mind an evolutionarily stunted human! It looks like my little game worked better than anticipated.” He seemed genuinely excited.

“Hardly!” Ember sulked. “This dipshit is at ninety nine percent Potential.”

Ogun’s face paled. His jaw actually dropped.

“You okay, Ogun?” I asked.

“Really, Shaun? That is unusually high,” he mumbled, quickly recovering his composure. Although, I could sense some strain in his voice.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I can’t see what difference it makes.”

“May I ask, what levels are you both at presently?” His jolly demeanor from before seemed to have taken a hit.

“I’ve reached twenty-seven. Shaun here, is only on twenty-four,” Ember snickered.

“Hey. You’ve been out, all evolved and shit, for longer than me.”

She punched me in the arm. “Keep telling yourself that, lightweight.”

Ogun cleared his throat to get our attention away from the bickering, “They are low scores, but for newly awakened subjects that would be expected.”

“Subjects?” Ember retorted.

“Sorry. That was poor phrasing.” There were a few seconds of awkward silence.

Ember laughed, “Don’t sweat it, Ogun. You’re, like a five-thousand-year-old alien. I know it can’t be easy talking to the likes of us lowly humans. Well, Shaun anyways.”

“I actually find Shaun quite enlightening. Now, is there anything else you wish to know about the interface?”

“Yeah! What the hell is GY? We’re like, three years younger!” I probed.

“GY stands for galactic years. Though there are a few iterations of a galactic year in different parts of the galaxy. The one you see in your cerebral interface is in line with the Fystr empire, which is based on the solar cycle of the Fystr home planet, Duat.”

“That’s all good and well, but how the hell do our brains know what a Fystr galactic year is? It’s not like we’ve ever been to Duat.”

“I honestly don’t know, Shaun. But if I was to guess, I would say it’s down to some kind of genetic memory. It’s something we will have to look into deeper when we have the time. For now, let’s move on to the other functions of your interface room. From the screen there, you can learn to manipulate external objects in your mind and even your own body.

“If you can both go to your interface rooms, and from there please look at the objects on my desk. Shaun, pick something on the left. Ember, the right if you please. Pick one thing and think about them lifting up. It’s that simple.”

We both did as we were told, and within seconds a stylus was hovering in the air. Not my object. I tried again to focus more intently and finally the orange ball I'd chosen lifted into the air.

“Great work, guys. Amazing in fact.” Ogun clapped his enormous shovel-hands together. “Now, I want you to visualize your body lifting into the air.”

Again, we did as we were told, and I could tell I was lifting up off the floor.

Ogun cheered again, “Fantastic! You have