Chapter 34 - Room 103, Room of Curses - 'Athanasia's Human Ranch' (3)
Chapter 34 - Room 103, Room of Curses - 'Athanasia's Human Ranch' (3)
[User: XXXXXX
Date: Day XX
Current Location: Layer 1, Room 103 (Room of Curses – Athanasia's Human Ranch)
Sage's Advice: 3]
My memories are hazy.
How long has it been since I fell into this white hell, the human ranch?
If I had been alone, I would have lived without any hope, eventually died, and the way out of Room 103 would have been closed forever.
However, from the moment I met Teacher, we could become hope for each other.
I learned countless facts I could never have known on my own,
And Teacher gained a tool that could move outside the tank.
Escape Plan
Just the word 'escape' makes my heart race.
Perhaps for over ten days, I refined the plan every day during the 1 to 2 hours I could communicate with Teacher.
The information and wisdom Teacher accumulated over the long years trapped in this facility, and the information I gathered while moving around the facility relatively freely.
The escape plan created by synthesizing all of this is, in fact, remarkably simple.
Fundamentally, it isn't much different from the farm rebellion I orchestrated with my hotel comrades in the Animal Farm.
The success or failure of the plan essentially hinges on two factors.
First, whether Teacher can buy me even a single minute of time.
Second, whether I can control the 'Various Perspectives' even just a little.
For both of these, there was actually no way to know until we tried on the day of the plan.
The first factor was Teacher's problem. Teacher seemed to think it was entirely possible, but...
The second factor was my problem. Even Teacher, who had transcended humanity, couldn't be certain of this.
Regardless, I waited and waited for Teacher's preparations to be complete.
-----------------------------------------------------------
As always, Theodus took me to the giant underground room today.
After some time passed, he and the other giants began roaming the room, operating the machinery.
How much time had passed? The voice I had waited so long to hear echoed in my mind.
"Child. It seems the time has come."
"Didn't you say you still needed more time?"
"If I gather a bit more strength, the probability will increase. However, I can feel you wearing away during the time I gather my strength. Even if I gather enough strength to buy us time, it will be meaningless if your mind, which must actually take action, has weakened. Therefore, today is the day."
My heart pounded violently. Fear welling up from the depths of my soul froze my body and mind.
But I know now. In the end, it was just a matter of the moment arriving for something I had to do someday.
I quietly stood up and looked around.
As always, the white giants were manipulating unidentified machinery with tentacles sprouting from their bodies.
Even though I stood up, no one paid me any attention.
Naturally, to them, I was merely a pet.
Who would care about every little action of a pet while working?
And the next moment -
-------------Kugugugung!!!!!!!!!!!
An immense vibration erupted from the tank where Teacher was imprisoned!
As a shockwave burst out instantly, all the giants stood up and rushed toward the machine attached to the tank.
That must be one of the control devices keeping Teacher confined.
However -
------------Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The shockwave was actually just a means to make the giants rush toward the tank.
As an indescribable, brilliantly five-colored sound filled the entire room at the same time -
An overwhelming silence descended.
The giants stopped.
Just as the world fell silent whenever the giants appeared in the Animal Farm under the name 'Dokkaebi', this time, the giants' world had stopped.
From here on, it was my role.
Catching my breath, I ran out and tore the silver bracelet off the arm of the frozen giant.
Though it was called a bracelet, that was only relative to the giant's physique. To me, it was large enough that my entire body could fit through it like a hula hoop...
As I pulled it off, the bracelet rapidly shrank down to a size small enough to fit on my arm.
Can I really control this?
Humans created guns. That doesn't mean humans have any resistance to guns.
Likewise, the Athanasias created this bracelet, but even they have no way to resist its power while in a 'stopped' state like this!
That was the core of every escape plan we had devised.
I learned the general principles and how to use it from 'Teacher' multiple times, feeling like I was sitting through some lectures... but I couldn't be sure.
Can a parrot or a dog properly use a smartphone just because they've been trained?
I don't know. I only know that if I fail here, all possibilities will truly vanish.
-Click. Click. Click-click.
I slowly and rhythmically clicked my tongue. Next, I closed my eyes.
From here on, it was an unknown realm.
Ridiculous as it was, this repetitive motion was the only tool I had to anchor myself.
With my eyes closed, I slipped the bracelet onto my arm.
My body faintly floated up.
No, my body stayed still. It was just my consciousness floating as if rising.
The moment I quietly focused my gaze on the Athanasia in front of me and designated it as a 'target'.
A storm of incomprehensible information struck my brain.
Can a visually impaired person who has perceived the world in black and white since birth understand vibrant colors?
Can creatures in a cave ecosystem born congenitally blind understand the concept of sight?
Sharks sense the flow of faint electric currents with their Lorenzini organ. Can humans understand this?
Probably all impossible.
Then...
What would happen if you forcefully crammed a collection of such inherently incomprehensible information into a brain?
Only today did I clumsily grasp the answer.
A storm of information that couldn't even be classified, let alone understood, paralyzed my brain.
An unidentified sensation that humans could never feel or perceive.
A collection of information that only Athanasias could perceive began pouring into my head.
At some point, I saw the world in five primary colors.
At some point, I touched sounds, felt colors, and tasted them.
Amidst the sensation of my brain melting, I calmly focused my mind.
There was only one way to find myself within the storm of information.
Focus my mind on the sensations I could understand, and ignore the rest.
-Click. Click. Click. Click.
The sound of clicking my tongue.
I focused my entire mind on that sound.
And slowly, my drifting mind returned to my body.
I opened my eyes.
A bizarre sensation, an indescribable euphoria, filled my soul.
The 'Perspectives' or 'World' that Athanasias perceived.
Sprang up in one corner of my mind like a model formed from countless puzzles.
I succeeded in controlling the 'Various Perspectives'!
I approached the Athanasia standing nearby.
'Teacher', reading my intent, also slowly released the frozen time of that individual,
And the Athanasia, awakening alone in a silent world, began to move slowly in apparent confusion.
I carefully manipulated the 'Perspective' the Athanasia perceived.
As if changing a piece of a world sculpted by a creator.
I slowly inputted a single piece of information into its mind.
I gradually swapped the information regarding the restoration of the control device with information regarding its deactivation.
So that it could deactivate the control device on its own, something I couldn't control...
The next moment, the Athanasia I was controlling suddenly pulled out a tentacle and -
Pierced its own head.
?
What in the world is this?
"It noticed."
"Did I make a mistake?"
"Due to your clumsy manipulation, that one realized it was being controlled by the 'Various Perspectives'. However, even for an Athanasia, there is no way to break free from the bracelet's control on its own. So it chose death over being controlled."
"Then..."
"It was expected. Directly controlling an Athanasia would have made things easier, but didn't you plan this anticipating it wouldn't be easy from the start? There is no need to be shaken. Proceed to the next plan. I will also reserve my strength again. Today will be a very enjoyable day."
Was it because my senses became bizarrely acute while controlling the 'Various Perspectives'?
From 'Teacher', I felt something different from the usual warm and beautiful atmosphere...
I felt a very deep and dark emotion.
It wasn't strange. If one were trapped in such a place for a very long time, even a demigod-like entity would inevitably develop a dark heart.
I turned around and headed toward the wall.
The 'Various Perspectives' is not simply a tool for mental manipulation.
This tool was, to compare it to a human equivalent, much like a smartphone.
It was just that I, the user, was so unskilled that I could only utilize a mere fraction of its functions...
The tool itself was an omnipotent object that assisted in the countless actions Athanasias needed to live.
Among its functions, I was told there was also a function for 'movement' within a facility like this.
Calmly, I recalled the next destination in my mind.
Not the human ranch, nor the underground room, but an unknown space I had never been to even once until now.
The moment the 'Various Perspectives' read my intent.
I arrived at a bizarre land filled with squirming faces covering the entire world, from sky to earth.