Traumatized

As Albert Einstein famously said, time is relative. In hindsight, I should have considered that while I was dreaming. You see, the possibility always existed, that if the virus interferes with my natural brain activity, it could also affect my internal clock. Unfortunately, my internal clock is what I solely relied on to decide when to wake up.

What's the internal clock? Well, there's a region in your brain that acts as the body's biological clock. It is what allows you to feel the flow of time, maintaining your sleep-wake cycle for example. Everyday you feel hungry at around the same time, that's your body telling you what time it is.

Although I haven't exactly been living like a normal human being, following sleep patterns and such, the sense of time is still something I can feel naturally. So while I was dreaming, I made sure to not spend too much time there, and when I woke up, I was so sure that no more than 15 hours had passed. That's why I was confused about the sunset.

I admit that I was a little too optimistic in thinking that only a few hours had passed based on the sunset. Because, that's when the whole 'time is relative' concept hit me. And I was led to assume that the time relative to the simulation flowed faster than the time in the real world. It turned out it was the opposite — the time flow was in fact slower for me compared to the real world. What I thought was less than 15 hours was actually… I still had no idea how long I was asleep. 'I should ask someone that before heading back to the estate,' I thought to myself, because depending on how long it has been, my estate may not even be there anymore.

I descended further down after activating my camouflage skill, and got a better look at the structure surrounding the tree. The wide outer wall basically marked off the area within which lethal highly charged golden apples could fall and then some more. There were people waiting outside this outer wall for their turn to go inside through the roofed pathway. Further observation revealed that they were all equipped with UU enchanted robes, clearly for 'lightning resistance'. The uniformity of it all suggested that permitting visits for the citizens was being funded by an outside party. The motivation was unsurprisingly religious.

I should also mention that the wide outer wall only covered a radius of 150 meters, even though a radius of up to 3 kilometers should be deemed unfit for living conditions. Which means, citizens travelled from all parts of the kingdom to enter this uninhabited zone to witness this presumed act of God. The inner wall — connected by the roofed pathway — had room to walk around in and glass windows aimed at the trunk of the tree, through which people offered their prayers.

Anyway, the area was too crowded for me to comfortably ask how long it had been since the construction of this structure. Besides, it's supposed to be a restricted zone, so they would probably ask for some kind of permit which I don't have. I flew away in the direction of my estate hoping to find someone else to ask on the way.

Meanwhile, in a nearby town, outside the Kullu district…

A group of four in their early 20s approached a teen boy hanging out with his puppy on a playground. The boy was on the ground when the group of shadows overlapped him. Looking over his shoulder, he recognized the tanned woman in the front. She was wearing a pair of olive green leggings and a matching top similar to a sports bra. More notably, her hair was short and black, and her abs were ripped, clearly suggesting she was involved in a lot of physical training.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked, pulling up a torn poster. It read, 'beware of extortionists. Refrain from carrying valuable belongings.'

"A warning," the boy, who was half a decade younger than her, calmly responded without turning back to face her.

Another one among the group responded by jerking the boy's shoulder with his foot. He was a tall man with plenty of muscles to show, especially since he was shirtless and only wearing a pair of cotton pants. "How many times?" he rhetorically asked. "How many times do we have to kick the snot out of you for you to stop getting in our way?"

The tanned woman as well as the other two in the group giggled mockingly. Those other two, both women, also seemed physically developed and trained. One of them was a pale brunette and the other, a tanned ginger.

The boy ignored the shirtless dude's comment, and stood up. Turning around to face the woman in the front, he spoke, "Everybody is working hard to earn a living in this neighborhood. It's not fair of you guys to rob them on the streets. Also, when I said the posters are a warning, I meant for you. If you don't stop, I will report to the authorities with all the evidence I have."

The woman on the receiving end did not like to be threatened, and it was evident by the change in her expression. She looked straight into his eyes for a few seconds before saying, "You know what, Ayat? It's about time we properly deal with you. I'm not going to leave you with a couple of broken bones this time, I'll make sure you'll never walk or talk or take a shit comfortably for the rest of your life."

Instinctively, the boy named Ayat took a step back, but she grabbed him by his collar and pulled him towards her. "Akayala stop," he muttered to her. "Don't be stupid, just stop."

All of them started giggling at his words, and Akayala began humiliating him by flicking at his face. He flailed his hands over his face to defend, but he got hit through all the openings. The flicks soon became slaps, and the slaps got harder and harder.

Ayat tried to get out her grasp, but Akayala was using her mana to strengthen her body and grip. Scoffing at his helplessness, she spat on her right palm and flung it at his face. The harsh slap landed, and he let out a pained cry. Reacting to this, his puppy jumped forward and began biting the abuser's ankle.

Whack!

The dog whimpered from being kicked in the gut by the ginger who decided to assist. "A dog protecting another dog. Pathetic!" she commented. "Sis, let's take him somewhere else and—"

Ayat, who saw his dog get punted, furiously threw a punch at Akayala. But she effortlessly dodged it and countered with a sharp knee to his groin. He gasped so hard his emotions overflowed in the form of tears. He couldn't utter a sound, let alone scream in pain.

His ability to stand was no more as he hung from Akayala's grip. She dropped him with a smirk and told the shirtless man, "Take him over there," she pointed to the alleyway a few meters away on the other side of the street. "I'm going to take this nice and slow."

He obeyed her and dragged Ayat by the hair to the said area. With a swift movement, he threw him deep into the alleyway behind a metal trash can. He landed on the filthy stone floor, whacking his head against the trash can. It was a fairly secluded place, and hidden from the street's view, which limited the chance of someone coming to help. "You really pissed her off this time, Ayat," he said. "Do me a favor and try not to die, alright?"

Refusing to give up, Ayat found his strength to stand up on his feet, with blood dripping down his forehead and a slap mark across his face. Without speaking, he dug his hand into the trash beside him and flung whatever he could grab at Akayala. It was a weak attempt to distract her before he threw another punch. She didn't even bother dodging it this time, rather she grabbed his wrist in motion. And snapped it.

A painful scream started to escape his mouth, but she immediately put her other hand over it and pushed him against the wall. He couldn't stop screaming, but the sound couldn't escape past Akayala's palm either. "Every single time, you get in my way and end up like this," she muttered with her teeth clenched. "And for what? The people in this neighborhood? Are they more important to you? The only reason they treat you well is because you clean their toilets, mop their floor, do their bidding for nothing. If they can't use you for all that, all you are is what you really are — a piece of shit!"

She continued holding her hand over his mouth tightly, probably because she didn't want him to respond. But he gave her a look that she interpreted as 'you're even worse of a scum than what you claim me to be.' Enraged by her own insecurity, she punched him in his stomach with her magic enhanced fist. He collapsed. "Beat him up," she stepped back and told the others. "Break as many bones as you can without killing him." She then leaned back on the opposite wall, comfortably keeping her eyes on the bloody and bruised Ayat.

The others three were just as vicious towards him. They began kicking him on the ground, and enjoying it. It's not like they were without empathy, rather it was a very directional hate. You see, there will always be people who would want to watch a good Samaritan suffer. Because, their views are just too good to be true, and there is an inherent need to destroy that hope before it grows into something dangerous. There is not exactly a science behind this, it's purely philosophical and a matter of perspective between optimism and realism.

The grunts and the kicking sounds echoed within the alley, and then along came the bark of a puppy. Yes, that little dog got back on her feet and came to rescue Ayat. But as soon she approached his side, the ginger turned her attention to the creature. Maybe out of everyone, she was the most cruel. And by 'cruel', I mean the only one with a kink for hurting small animals. Ayat, who was still conscious, quickly crawled forward and held the puppy in his arms just as the ginger launched a kick at her. He successfully shielded her from the kick, receiving it on his buttocks instead.

The timing may seem a bit suspicious, but I just happened to pass by that area, flying with my camouflage activated. I totally did not spend 2 minutes just admiring the fact that some of Eden's citizens had physically trained themselves to fight without solely relying on magic. And another 3 minutes wondering whether they're actually citizens or not.

"Kill the dog first," Akayala interrupted the batter, still in her relaxed position against the wall. "He's too distracted by it to feel pain, get rid of it." And of course, the ginger happily stepped in to do the job.

"Pardon the intrusion," my voice suddenly echoed among the kicks, grunts, and barks. I deactivated my camouflage just before they turned in my direction. Now before you make any assumptions, I should clarify that I had no intention of saving that kid from being bullied mercilessly, or the puppy for that matter. And it was because of my lack of such intentions, I didn't bother activating my pigmentation skill. Far more important things were in my mind. "May I know how long ago the walls around the enormous tree were built?"

"Who's this clown?" the pale brunette looked at the others, confusedly frowning. The others were just as confused that they stopped hurting the poor kid for a second.

"You didn't see anything," Akayala threatened, aiming her sharp stare at me. "Now get out of here."

> Level: 187

> Mana Capacity: 15000

> Mana Control: A

> Skillset: Ice Magic (Complexity - A) ; Body Strengthening (Complexity - B+)

> Character Trait: Spiteful

> State of Mind: Irritated

Her capabilities were exceptional to the point where it surprised me. Not only is her inherent mana capacity greater than that of princess Loeya's, her level is also the highest I had ever seen in a normal human thus far. The other 3 were also well above average, but nothing compared to Akayala. It's a shame that she unknowingly disrespected me (in other words, her free trial of living has ended).

"I'm yet to receive an answer to my question," I was a little more stern with my tone. "How long ago were the walls built?"

"Is it so hard for you to understand when I say 'go away'?"

'Is it so hard for you to answer my simple question?"

Oh yeah, that struck a nerve in her. I could tell by the clenched teeth behind her smirk. "A big mouth for a dumbass," she commented. And then she shouted at her friends, "Deal with this dog after you kill that one."

I didn't bother responding to that, I was just going to patiently wait for them to try me. But then I looked behind Akayala, and noticed something strange.

> Level: 1

> Mana Capacity: 20

> Mana Control: INDETERMINABLE (Error: subject does not comply with the human biology)

> Skillset:

> Character Trait: INDETERMINABLE (Error: subject does not comply with the human biology)

> State of Mind: Distressed

Is that… the puppy's status? I double checked to make sure. And confirmed that that animal had mana flowing within her. As far as I knew, there is no species other than humans capable of manifesting mana. I had heard of folktales about explorers encountering powerful beasts who possessed magical powers, but… you know, they're folktales. So, the only assumption I could derive from seeing that puppy was that someone experimented on her.

"Wait," my voice was soft, but they all still heard me. The ginger stopped right as she was about to deliver the fatal stomp to the animal's frail body, and this time, the shirtless man was holding Ayat back from protecting her. I walked up to the puppy, and stared down at her as I said, "I'm afraid I can't let you kill this dog."

The ginger looked directly at my face, and began performing a lightning based skill. 'This is me, ignoring you and doing exactly what you tell me not to,' is probably what she internally said when she shot that bolt of plasma at the puppy. Or at least, tried to. I had already released my uninstructed mana around me, and the virus nullified her skill's effects.

Although, I did find it interesting how she did not say a prayer before performing that skill. That coupled with the fact that these four had clearly undergone physical training, It was like feeding gasoline to my fire called curiosity. What the hell happened while I was asleep?

"The heck?" she looked down at her hand in confusion.

"He's wearing an enchantment," Akayala calmly and confidently made an incorrect observation. "Fine, deal with this dog first."

The shirtless guy then stepped in as the ginger stepped back. "Do you know what enchantments can't protect you against, buddy?" He implied the answer to that question by rolling his fist. And using all of his strength, he threw a right hook aimed at my face.

He clearly didn't expect me to effortlessly dodge that attack. And the next one. And the one after that. I thought translating the experiences from my lucid dream into the real world would be more tricky, but I seemed to be doing just fine. The athleticism I displayed while fighting the immortals in my dream didn't change as I repeatedly dodged this idiot.

"Tsk!" He was visibly frustrated, and it was time to do something about that. I didn't want to use magic right away, especially with my now A+ mana control. Let's just say I wanted to flex my raw fighting prowess first.

I dodged the last of his punches, and swiftly grabbed the top of his head with my right hand. I didn't even give him or anyone there a chance to react. I raised my left knee and pulled his head down towards it to deliver a nose shattering hit… at least, that's how it was supposed to go. The moment I pulled his head down, the virus detected my hostility towards the target, and produced additional force and grip strength for me to perform the action. Needless to say, it needlessly overdid it.

I kid you not, the force from the movement of my arm produced a shockwave that managed to slash cracks on the wall that were up to 15 inches wide. So, you can probably guess what happened to the person on the receiving end. His head came clean off like that of a Lego model, and the force tore apart bits of the facial skin. If that wasn't terrible enough, the brain got squished to the back of the skull, which I could feel from the weight imbalance; it also caused the blood from the brain to drip through the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The headless body, now gushing out blood fell to my side with a strong thud. I didn't like it, but I was now covered in obscene amounts of blood.

I will admit, I only then realized that the virus not only reacts to my distress, but also to my hostility. Although, not as much. There was a clear priority of defense over offense, which was further proved by the fact that the virus had never interfered in the development of offensive skills.

Regardless, "This is not good," I silently muttered as I tossed the head away to the side. A terrified scream escaped the lips of the beaten up boy who witnessed it all. The other three did not react to his scream as they were just as shocked by the brutal execution of their friend. At this point, I was just hoping that the people living in this neighborhood were either not home or completely deaf. On the off chance, I decided I should wrap this up fast before they come to see what's happening.

I stepped forth towards Akayala, but to my surprise, the pale brunette suddenly dropped down in front of me, and held on to my bare feet. "AHH! PLEASE SPARE ME!" she cried. "I will do anything, so please!"

> State of Mind: Hostile

If I hadn't noticed her hostility, I wouldn't have noticed the small needle between her fingers, possibly covered in lethal poison. I didn't stop her right away though, because it was a good attempt and she deserved a slight sense of accomplishment. She was possibly laughing internally as she pushed the needle against the skin on my ankle. Expectedly, the needle broke like a toothpick. I wanted to see the look on her face before killing her with her own poison, so I tugged my leg back slightly.

!!!

And half her body was suddenly gone, exploded due to the force of me pulling my leg back. "Okay, this is starting to piss me off," I silently muttered referring to the virus' reaction to my hostility. I didn't even care about the time, I just spontaneously started working on a solution for it — a simple magic skill that would determine the force and power of my physical action based on the mana input. Basically, it meant turning my raw physical attacks into a magic based skill, so that the virus won't interfere.

Although I was occupied with this, I wasn't distracted enough to miss the ginger attempting to run away. Without any hostile intentions, I immediately pounced in the direction she was trying to escape, and stopped her on her tracks. The genuine fear for life made her bawl and drop to the floor. Unlike the dead brunette, she was genuinely begging for mercy and she also stayed away from my legs. But I couldn't care enough to pay attention.

I took another 15 seconds or so to finally finish developing the new skill, and proceeded to test it out right away. I initiated the skill and internally released a very tiny amount of mana in the back of my foot.

> Skillset: … Physical Action Enhancement (Complexity - B) …

Looking down at the ginger who was lying on the ground before me, I lifted up my mana enhanced foot and stepped on the back of her head with hostility. Her skull touched the ground, but it didn't even put a scratch on her. At least not physically, because she was whimpering like a dog under my foot which may have suggested some emotional pain. I then released even more mana into my foot, and stepped on her again in the same way. Her head exploded this time, chunks of brain tissues and bones laid on the ground and stuck to the walls.

I concluded that the skill was working fine. But the part that I was the most satisfied with was my mana control. the A+ grade mana control felt like an absolute treat, as I was able to perfectly determine the amount of mana to release. For some perspective, with an F grade mana control, if I wanted to release 200 units of mana, the mana actually released could range anywhere between 200 and 1350 (without the virus' interference). But with A+ grade, my body would release exactly 200 units.

If I'm being honest though, I did not expect my mana control to improve as much as it did even while I was dreaming. Sure, I expected it to improve nonetheless, but you have to understand that a leap from F to A+ is way too wide to be achieved in a 15 hour lucid dreaming session. The best explanation that I could think of is that it had something to do with my status in the dream. If you remember, my capabilities were all maxed out in there, including my mana control which was 'POSITIVE'. Positive control basically means full control over my limitless strength. So, I guess it was not just a matter of how long I trained for, but also at what capacity I trained at.

Anyway, the sun rays were almost completely gone. It was mostly just the moonlight that remained and reflected the blood on my clothes and face. Describing it like that, you may picture me as a psychotic serial killer. But let me remind you that I'm a peaceful man who was provoked by these ignorant humans.

"I applaud you for not attempting to run away," I said to Akayala, who was pushed against the wall, clearly frightened. I approached her with quiet footsteps squishing against the blood and gore laying on the floor. Once I got closer to her, she mustered up the courage to talk, as if she had accepted her fate.

"You're not going to get away with this." There was not a shred of regret in her voice. I did not find that normal, and I did not like that. "We are all part of a powerful syndicate, and I am one of their top and valuable battle trainees. They're going to know about what happened to us, and they're going to come for your head. Our instructor will personally hunt you down and make you suffer for what you've done. Go ahead and kill me, dumbass. It doesn't even matter, because you fucked up."

Immediately upon hearing that I realized something. Something that made me internally go, 'Oh shit.' I was too afraid to confirm it, but I had to and I did. "What's the name of your instructor?" I asked with a frown.

She giggled at that question. "So, you're coming to terms with your own demise. That's good. Her name is Edith, engrave it in your soul for she will be the last person you meet in this world."

I couldn't help but bring my palm across my face. I should have realized when I saw their fighting skills and the lack of praying before performing magic. These ignorant morons were my own followers. I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with Akayala anymore. "Just go," I sighed. "Just leave. Don't say anything, just leave."

It was a good opportunity for her to escape, especially so that she could relay information about me to my own companions. So, she ran off without making any snarky remarks. I remained standing, facepalmed and regretting what I had done. In the middle of regretting, I realized that I also forgot to get my question about the walls answered. Yes, I forgot. I wasn't preoccupied with killing so much that I forgot my primary object. I just forgot, don't question it.

Anyway, there was still one person alive on the scene. I turned around and saw Ayat shivering in fear, sitting by the trash can. The puppy was licking his fingers and barking to get his attention, but he did not respond. "Child," I attempted to call out to him. "Tell me how long ago were those walls built."

He didn't respond. He still had his eyes shut and mind trying to forget everything he had seen. No wonder he stopped screaming after I killed the shirtless guy. I unintentionally traumatized the poor kid.