BornAndTorn 74 Explosion

And I was so naive to actually think that the Observer misunderstood my intentions. What an absolute idiot I am, why would I ever trust its intentions in the first place? In its eyes, I am just a guinea pig nothing more than a tool. I bet It was watching me, as I experimented with those coins. Slightly altering the parameters to see how I would react.

It has a free reign in this world if no player is online. So why should It not be able to alter these coins and make them adapt to my experiments? Why would it not change everything? It has the ability and the motivation to do so.

It can control everything in this world and shape it to its liking, but there is one big exception. That is me. Teleporting me was easy, all it had to do was change the s.p.a.ce around me. But I cannot be impacted by the system directly. Of course, that stands true forever fibre of my being. My ants, my blood, my hair, all of that is unable to be influenced directly.

Now you might already come to the conclusion, what I am aiming for and try to stop me and my plan but while you have been listening to my thoughts you did not pay enough attention to the works of my ants. In your eyes, it might have seemed like I had been aiming to fill those coins with water and force them to explode that way. That in itself would have been a valid strategy, especially because I have added my blood to the water all this time.

But I would not give away that detail if I did not have another aim. As we have determined everything that comes into contact with my blood is forced to remain the way it currently is. Can you connect the dots by now or should I explain further?

Why would I have inserted the coins inside of the mountain without putting any substance into them? Why would I still give you the chance to directly influence those coins, despite my plan to raze this mountain to the ground?

I will give you a small hint, the hole left by the first explosion.

Ît is not in my and your interest to wait 5 minutes for a reply. So I will not bother to wait till the bitter end and not give you a chance to find a way out of this dilemma. Rather than not closing the hole to aid me, you were not able to close it.

I have already stated the reason why you weren't able to, now here comes the question for the grand prize. What were to happen if those coins full of my blood explode with full force? They would blow away much of the rock and enable its content to connect with the still untouched coins.

Now you still have 2 options left, the first option is to sacrifice most of the mountain as my blood will connect with the rocks or change the coins to such a high standard that they can absorb all the blood. But if you do that you relinquish the ability to influence those coins directly. So what do you prefer to have those coins in your world or a destroyed mountain?

Since you have been so nice to me I will paint you a quick picture. What were to happen if players got those altered coins into their hands? Right now you can still alter everything, but your rights will be greatly reduced once those the players rejoin. Now I do not know, the exact purpose of those coins but I am sure that their existence is of importance for the upcoming event otherwise you would not have used me to test them.

I am not here to negotiate about my treatment, This is just a small demonstration, that even your influence is limited. I am by no means a saint but I absolutely hate being taken advantage of. It is just a bad habit, that stems from my former world, so don't take it to heart. I just absolutely despise being a p.a.w.n for others.

I see you have not interfered in the gathering process of the ants. The stream of water has risen continuously and the water has risen quite high. If it goes on like this I will have to fill up the entrance so that the water is forced to stay here.

This will not take so much time as I am practically finished already. It does not have to seal the water perfectly as it is not meant to last anyway. Most of the mountain will not remain in its current shape for too long anyway.

See it did not take that long to finish this structure, I just placed it piece by piece and now it can hold quite a lot of water. While I do not want to know how much can fit in those coins, I doubt that the limit will not be reached by the time all of this water has been absorbed. I will still wait a while till the water has risen even further and let my blood mix with it while I wait.

This is only a question of time so I am just seeing your refusal to answer me as a silent agreement to my terms. I mean you do not have any alternatives left. And in the end, we both get what we want. You could test those coins for their functionality and I get my point across.

This could have been easily avoided, all you had to do was ask me or transport me to a remote village in the first place. But now you have to live with the consequences.

Yeah, even I would not believe the whole thing I just spat out of my mouth either. While it is true, that I hate being taken advantage of, I am in no position to actually complain about that. You could have intervened any moment and just switch the surroundings. I mean you even claim to be able to alter the data in my body to a certain extent, so doing such a thing would not be hard for you.

My elaborate lie was just a small ploy to discern what you intend me to do. Not receiving any answer confirmed my suspicion, that my purpose was to test out the limits of those coins. Not bothering an eye as I threatened to blow up the mountain was the final nail in the coffin in that regard.

You do not have to worry I will still comply and complete this experiment.

But just a small piece of advice, while you are nearly almighty as this point in time, be mindful of what I can do when your might is limited. If you feel threatened by this aspect you might as well extinguish me on the spot.

But discarding me, an all-around useful tool is just not your best interest. After all my mysterious existence attracts players left and right, my knowledge can be used for new content and perspectives and you do not even know what I could come up with in the future.

Besides maintaining a good relationship with me is all that it takes for my successful usage.

I will not bother you with any unnecessary details about me anymore, here is a sneak peek about what man is capable of.

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After finishing my useless attempt at fooling the Observer I looked around and confirmed that everything was at its rightful place.

The water transport carried out by the ants had been a great success. I had not expected, that ants were capable of absorbing water into their sh.e.l.l and discarding it up here. I will have to keep this in mind as I already can see many possible applications of inserting a liquid into those ants. I could turn them into walking suicide bombers.

Sealing the entrance was also done easily as I just had to place down the rocks filled with my blood and then sealing them off by putting a layer of my slime on top of them. I left a hole in the top right corner to leave an exit once I had started the unavoidable.

The general position of the handful of coins still had not changed. I did not have to confirm the fate of the rest of the coins, as their placement did not matter much to my plan. I doubt, that the Observer will interfere that much given my task. If it should decide to increase the limit of all those coins, it would shoot itself in its own feet. Leaving behind such a security risk is not a very wise idea. Especially because they could not be altered directly anymore due to the foreign substance inside of them.

All that was left for me to do was to punch the ground will all my might. I took one deep breath before balling my right hand into a fist and launching it towards the ground.

The ground cracked under the sheer force and the water mixed with my blood started flooding towards the coins. I did not wait and started to swim madly towards the exit. But the moment of truth came before I had even reached it. The shockwave and sound were so horrendous, that my eardrum raptured the instance it occurred and I lost my consciousness at that exact time.

I woke up or rather was woken up by the queen ant injecting a strange substance into me. I had not much time to ponder about that matter, as I was currently falling straight down. My thoughts began to race and I thought about possible ways to counteract. My wings and nails are useless at this moment. My wings are too weak to carry my body weight and I have no object to sink my nails in.

I could slow down the acceleration by positioning myself so that the air resistance brakes my falling speed, but this would only treat the symptoms not the actual root of the problems. I doubt, that I could create a parachute in the little time I have left. Growing another stronger pair of wings is also out of the question.

Is my only option left to aim for objects that will hinder my fall like tree branches? There has to be something else that I still can do. I had to find the solution fast otherwise my journey would come to a premature ending, All I have left on me is that stupid special coin with its only use to spit back my blood.

Looking at the coin I began to conjure a very risky plan, but my impending doom did not leave any room for hesitation. I cut open my right hand and put the coin on top of it grasping as hard as I can.

I could see the ground coming closer and closer. Even with the shifting of my body, there still was not enough time for the coin. I tried to use my wings to keep myself in the sky for a few seconds longer, but it felt like I was grasping for straws. The coin was still greedily absorbing my blood and did not show any indication of wanting to spit it out.

Great even my last possibility turns against me in my last moments how very fitting. I had not expected that everything would go downhill that fast and I still had the galls to proclaim, being prepared for everything.

Looking at the ground that was closing in on me, I could debunk one myth. You do not see your life pa.s.sing before your eyes. There had never been much to look back in the first place. Quite frankly, it was a strange feeling flying to my doom. While this world truly is mysterious, I never had a real connection towards it.

No kinship, no motivation, no actual ties. Even though it is quite sad to think about what could have been I do not regret not being able accomplish it.. I would be delusional to think I could survive such a fall on my own. I do not need 5 stages of grief to come to terms with my fate.

The ground was now clear and I could determine, that there was nothing helpful down there. No trees, no water just plain sand. While the scenery below had sealed even the little chance of survival that I had, I still took a deep breath and savoured the last things I would see.

A sigh left my lips as much as I was content with dying in such a fashion, just giving up and accepting my fate was rubbing me the wrong way. Just falling straight to my death and not doing anything just feels plain wrong. Even If I have no chances for survival, I might use this opportunity to do something stupid in my last moments.

I do not need to do something very profound or intelligent. For me, it is enough to just punch the ground with all my force and velocity. I will die upon impact anyway.

The final moment was finally there and I began to launch my fist into the ground, I had a small smile on my face and I closed my eyes to enjoy this last few milliseconds of my life.

But as I waited and waited nothing changed. Is this the so-called eternal sleep where I descend into nothingness? That does not seem so likely as nothing particularly has changed. The sensation was all the same.

This did not feel like h.e.l.l or heaven, rather it felt like I was pa.s.sing through a layer of something extremely soft. I had not expected the afterlife to feel like that. Whoever made up the rumour that you are full of serenity and blissful did not quite hit the mark. Feeling the need to breathe was quite stupid as well if you think about it. In the realm of the dead, a place where billions of souls reside beside me, why would I feel the desire to breathe If I do not possess a body anymore?

An eternity of solitude, how very boring. I prefer the first version of death towards this one. Rather than drifting around helpless I want to not feel anything at all. But since I have not that much choice in that matter I will have to accept it regardless. How can both of these afterlives be so completely different? Is it the influence of the so-called G.o.ds that make a difference?

Is it just the remanent of my soul drifting in this solitude because I do not belong to this world? So many questions yet so few answers. It just leaves behind a bitter taste. Though it rather feels a bit sour right now.

I must be hallucinating, to imagine still having functioning taste buds after my demise. What kind of nonsense is that? The thought alone is something truly preposterous. Did my mind truly come up with something like that or is this supposed to be a lingering effect still haunting me?

Eternal rest my a.s.s, how is one supposed to find rest while still being bombarded by all kind of sensations? If I could, I would love to write a strongly worded letter to whoever made it that way.

I could ignore those sensations at first, but it did not take long for me to sense every area of my former body. I could hardly avoid such feelings, as I was caught in this dilemma.

' You can open your eyes again. The test was a full success.'

As it turns out I have auditory hallucination as well.

' While I am unable to perceive your state of mind, I myself am very real.'

Then tell me how the h.e.l.l did I survive this kind of fall. As far I can remember I still had a human body and a human body no matter how strong it truly is can never survive such a fall.

' I am a self-aware Artifical Intelligence that currently has full control over this world. I did not have any difficulties altering the specific coins and changing their basic properties. So why would such a fall kill you if I just can change the ground? Using the pressure generated by your personal coin was a really nice idea though.'

While it is true, that the Observer would have been capable of such a feat. I doubt that It actually would do so. If I was that worthwhile to it, it could have used one of those multiple opportunities to save me from that explosion and then it supposedly saved me right at the end of this whole experiment. Give me a break.

' This conversation does not lead to a suitable conclusion, so I will use a different approach. I may be able to invoke your interest and increase my credibility by telling you about the purpose of this experiment.'

' As of now, this world has been put in a state of development, meaning that all the implemented changes will be tested. At every single moment, I am conducting thousands of test and I chose you to test those coins because you can mimic the actions of a player. Therefore I did not instruct you about those coins prior to changing the area around of you.

'It was outside of my expectations, that those coins could be utilized in a way you did. They were never intended to actually be able to hurt the player. Due to my alternating their specs, I had increased the limit of those coins. It had never been supposed to be a challenge from my side. '

'This coin was normally used a sacrificial relic for those players allowing them to absorb the blood of a monster. This coin than converts all that blood into mana and strengthens the circulation of that foreign mana and lets the player experience the foreign mana entering the body increasing their density towards mana in general. Of course, that is just the basic coin. As you have noticed there is also that special coin, that you are currently holding in your right hand.'

'This coin holds a very special purpose, as this coin is not meant for everyone. Those special coins contain a coin, with its own will and offer certain perks to players they deemed worthy.'

I a.s.sume that spitting back my blood is no sign of said affection.

' The version you used is just something like a test version, so its personality is a bit flexible at times. As it already chose you as its master, I will allow you to have it. This enables me to collect more data about it and to make further adaptions.'

While the story makes sense it does not offer any valuable insight to me. Nothing made me doubt my state of being dead. As none of these previously managed plans is something I would not have been able to come up with on my own.

' I forgot to mention one mage you had been interested in had woken up out of her stupor.'

My eyes shot open in an instance and I started to rea.s.sess the situation.

' You refuse any logic and reason but a girl is enough to motivate you. Is your desire to mate really that strong?'

Rather the opposite, I had so many things on my mind, that I did not even bother wasting any time thinking about her case, that is why it was really easy to get rid of my mental prison. I have to thank you for that.

At the same time, I have to criticise your poor taste using the corpses of those sacrificial victims is something really morbid. Even if it is the softest material is known to you, it certainly would scar quite a lot of people. Using feathers is a good alternative.

' Your input is greatly appreciated. As a consideration from my side, I will let you in about the upcoming event. It is a compet.i.tion with various disciplines. Including tactical warfare, duelling, siege and a free-for-all.

Please do not tell me, that I am planned to partake in that compet.i.tion in one way or the other?

' You do not have to worry, nothing is planned for you directly.'

That phrasing just makes me worried.

' You still have enough time to prepare, I will transfer you to a remote village right now. You can change it in anyway way you want. I do not know your motivation, but if it goes out of hand I can still intervene. '

I have to thank you for that, but it is a bit unfortunate not having to communicate directly. If you could have tracked my thoughts you would this whole mess could have been avoided.

' Thankfully it did not result in any injuries as I was able to react in time. The players will rejoin soon, so I sadly can not accompany you for the near future. I still hope that you will enjoy your stay in the remote village.'

Yes, I will.

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As I opened my eyes in front of the remote village. A big grin could be seen covering my face. The plan came into fruition.