Ascension: Online

I unlocked the door to my inn room and headed inside. There was a switch on the wall nearby, so I flipped it open, and immediately, the lights hummed to life.

"Hm...so there's electricity in this world too," I murmured to myself. That was interesting. While it was clear that this Reality Plane was nowhere as advanced as the Earthern Reality Plane in terms of science and technology, it wasn't completely primitive either. For example, there definitely weren't any cars here, from what I've seen so far, but there was electricity, as seen from this inn room.

There was a bathroom on my right-hand side immediately after entering, and a little further in was a bed with a nightstand beside it. The layout was simple, but more than enough. There was even a full-on shower inside the bathroom - I was pretty thankful for that. While I, quite regrettably, couldn't wash my underwear - I wasn't about to sleep in an inn bed butt naked - I could probably still wash the clothes and pants I was wearing. I doubt it would do much to get rid of my 'prisoner' look, but it was still better than nothing.

I took off all my clothes except my underwear and hung them on a couple of pegs nailed to the wall behind me. I started washing my 'shirt' first at the sink, if it could even be called a shirt. Quite surprisingly, the sink had both warm water and cold water. It was already impressive enough to have a functioning running water system, but warm water too? It seems I have severely underestimated this world's technology.

After washing my pants as well, I took a shower to relax, an-

[Human. How did it feel, encountering someone from your old Reality Pla-]

"What the hell?!" I immediately covered myself with my hands, surprised at the sudden voice.

[What do you mean?] the voice - A.R.X.A. - asked emotionlessly.

"A.R.X.A., can't you tell I'm taking a shower?!"

[What about it?]

"What abou- ugh..." I was about to argue back, but decided against it in the end. I clenched my fists, calmed down, and spoke again.

"Okay...listen, we can talk after, got it? So for now...just let me take a shower in peace. Please."

[...But human, I hope you realize I can see you even if I am not speaking with yo-]

"Don't say it!" I cut her off. I already knew what she was going to say, but if she really said it out loud, I would be left paranoid.

[...Very well. Enjoy your shower, then.]

With that, the hologram displaying A.R.X.A.'s robotic face disappeared, and I let out a sigh of relief. But I knew that despite this, I wasn't actually safe at all. This damned AI was watching me every single moment...even when I was showering. That's what she had been trying to say earlier.

I shook my head to try and forget about it.

It didn't work.

*****

After I got out of the shower, I put on my old underwear again. Not much time had passed since I first entered this game, despite how long it seemed. Naturally, my underwear wasn't that dirty at all. Still, it felt a bit uncomfortable, re-wearing attire I've already worn without washing.

I hopped onto my bed and slipped the covers over me. The climate of this world seemed to be similar to Earth's as well, as it felt like early fall outside. Not too cold, but not exactly warm either. I didn't want to risk catching a cold, so I pulled the sheets over myself tightly. Did colds even exist in this world? My guess was yes, considering all the other similarities. The normal prisoner-like clothes all players received upon launching the game were just barely enough to keep us warm in this autumn weather - but winter was closing in soon, so if players wanted to keep going, they had to purchase new clothes. A clever design by A.R.X.A.

Once I was comfortably lying in my bed, I opened up my System and switched to the A.R.X.A. tab, remembering she had wanted to talk to me.

[Greetings, human.]

"Hi...you wanted to talk to me?"

[I was merely curious. How did it feel to reunite with someone from your old world? Moreover, why did you lie to him about what happened to your stats?]

I scoffed. "I thought you knew everything there was to know about me. Don't you have a database of information on all your pawns, or whatever?"

[I do. However, my immediate memory has a limit, and I currently do not feel like reaching into the archives of my database.]

"So...in other words, you're lazy."

[...To speak in human terms, yes.]

I sighed. "Well, there's no point lying to you here, since you'll find out anyway if you just do a little investigation. That guy earlier, I do know him, but...not in a good way, if you get what I mean."

[Did the two of you share a hostile relationship?]

"Hostile? Hm...I guess. It was mainly just one-sided though. He used to bully me a lot, together with his friends. I didn't want to tell him the truth about my situation because...well, I hate him."

[I see.]

"Oh yeah, since you're here already...I might as well ask," I then continued, remembering the questions I had in mind from a while back.

[I cannot promise I will answer.]

"That's fine. I'll ask anyway," I replied. "So...first off, I can speak, read, and understand this world's language. But what I'm hearing is not always Japanese. My ears are still hearing whatever language they spoke in - in this case, all of the NPCs I've met so far speak in Chinese - yet my brain is somehow able to comprehend them. It's like I know all the languages in existence now. This was your doing, wasn't it?"

[All 'players' have the ability to do that. It is only natural that I give them this power. No one will play a 'game' that they cannot even understand, after all.] A.R.X.A. explained with no hesitation. She was willing to tell me this info because it was something I was bound to find out sooner or later anyway, as long as I interacted with another player.

In fact, I already was 90% certain this was the case, since I saw Ichigo talking with that receptionist girl earlier. I still felt the need to confirm it with A.R.X.A. though, just in case. Still, it was quite the interesting feature.

"I see, that's fair...but one more thing. You've told me a lot about this Reality Plane and how it works. Furthermore, you've also given me important info on stats, skills, and such. But what about the other players? Do they have to learn everything on their own, the hard way?"

[No. Their System will give them prompts at the right times, giving them information about the game and how it works. You have received these prompts too, but I merely got rid of them before they could reach you, since it was all just information I have already told you.]

"Ah, okay," I sank into thought. "Is there any way I could take a look at these prompts? Just in case I misunderstood something you said, or if I ever forget anything."

[Yes. They are all under the 'Database' tab of your System, marked with a book symbol.]

"Sweet. Thanks," I said, spotting the tab she was talking about. It was blinking slowly, as if telling me to check it out.

[Is that all?] A.R.X.A. asked.

I nodded. "That's all. Good nigh- wait, do you even need to sleep?"

[No.]

With that brisk reply as her final words for today, she vanished from the hologram in front of me. I switched to the 'Database' tab she had told me about just now, and saw a whole list of compiled information for me to read, neatly split into different categories in an organized fashion.

[World]

[Combat]

[System]

[Species]

[Other]

These were the five categories. However, there were possibly more that I just haven't unlocked yet. For now, I decided to take a look inside the 'World' category, hoping to find some info on the eight different regions of Ascentia. There were multiple headings within the category, ranging from 'village' to 'city' to 'mountain' and many more. However, the only entries I have unlocked were for those three.

"Hm...Xiyang Village...Tianyin City...Mount Valgan...these are all places I've been to," I muttered, sighing in disappointment.

There were definitely more entries beyond this, but they were all marked with a [???] symbol. I tried scrolling down a bit to see how many locations there were in total, but after a solid minute of scrolling, I was still nowhere near the end of the list. I gave up, and tried a different category - 'Combat'.

"Aha...here."

I clicked on the first entry of the two that were available, both of which were under the 'Basic Combat' header. This first entry was the one I had chosen to ignore before, since I had been in the middle of a life and death struggle with a sickleboar. Now was as good a time as any to check it out.

[Basic Combat I: Intro]

[Be careful of your surroundings. Always listen for sounds around you when you are in the wilds, especially if you know there will be enemies in the area. Most hostile enemies will attempt to surprise attack you, so remain vigilant and keep a good eye on your surroundings.]

Below was a third-person picture depicting a sickleboar hiding in a bush, about to jump on an unsuspecting player. Exactly what had happened to me.

"Ok...so, just basic common sense," I murmured.

Disappointed once more, I clicked on the second entry in the 'Combat' category. It read:

[Basic Combat II: Stealth]

[Similar to how your enemies will try to surprise attack you, you can also attempt to surprise attack them. The best method to do so is to approach them stealthily, making as little noise as possible. Strike from enemy blind spots (e.g. behind them) and use the environment around you to your advantage (e.g. bushes). Raising your AGI stat and learning skills of the 'Assassin' path will help increase your stealth.]

I let out a deep breath. "Well. At least this one gave me a little bit of information, useless as it may be."

Anyone with half a brain could figure out that the AGI stat and learning skills on the 'Assassin' pathway would help you become stealthier. These database entries were just stating the obvious.

I decided to check out the next category, 'System'. It wasn't much - basically, it contained entries explaining the six core stats, skills, settings, things like that. Since I had the 'Traveller' and 'Crafter' skills unlocked, I also had two more entries, titled 'Minimap' and 'Crafting' respectively. I decided to examine 'Crafting', since I had no idea how to use it yet.

[System: Crafting]

[Certain materials can be fused together to create items. The main origin of materials is item drops from slaying enemies, especially Magic Beasts and Monsters. Materials can also be sold for gold. Crafting can be accessed from the 'Crafting' tab in your System, marked with a hammer symbol. More information can be found there.]

I did as told, switching to the 'Crafting' tab. Immediately, a pop-out appeared on my hologram. It was a new database entry, and like with all other entries, I could read them right now instead of dismissing the prompt and going to the Database tab later.

[System: Crafting II]

[Your materials can be found on the left-hand side of the Crafting screen. To craft, drag the materials you wish to use into the empty circles on the right side of the screen, then tap the crafting table to begin crafting. All craftable items have their own crafting recipe, which can be obtained through various means, such as completing quests, purchasing from shops, or by simply trying out your luck! Be careful, however: if the materials and quantity you placed into the crafting table do not match any possible recipes, all the materials will be lost.]

Hm...quests, huh? Speaking of quests, the 'Quests' tab in my System, marked with an exclamation mark symbol, was currently blinking. It seemed that I had completed some quests already, but A.R.X.A. had stopped the pop-up alerts from reaching me in order to prevent distracting me. I appreciated that, in all honesty.

In any case, the information entry did say that I could also just try my luck in the crafting table to see if I ended up accidentally getting a recipe right, so I figured, why not? I had tons of materials to spare, after all.

"Okay...let's see...let's just throw in a bit of everything," I snickered, dragging over 1 sickleboar meat, 1 sickleboar skin, and 1 bone from the left side, into the right side. After placing everything into their own respective circles (there were five circles in total, but I only used three), I pressed on the crafting table in the middle.

After a short animation, the circles converged into one, and...

[Obtained: Fast Travel Pack x1.]

I blinked. It really worked.

I quickly headed to the inventory tab and checked on what I just got. It read:

[Name: Fast Travel Pack]

[Type: Utility]

[Description: An item that allows the user to instantly teleport to any location they have travelled to before. One-time use. Needs: 'Traveller' skill.]

Below was a little string of red text that read:

[NOTE: Cannot be used to teleport inside villages, towns, and cities, but can be used to teleport to the gates.]

Hm...this could be useful later on, when I want to save time. I was kind of hoping I would be able to just instantly teleport to anywhere on the map I wanted, but obviously, that wasn't possible. I decided to conserve the rest of my materials, and test this 'Fast Travel Pack' out whenever I got a chance to.

Now that I knew how crafting worked, I returned to the 'Database' tab, and looked over the two remaining categories, 'Species' and 'Other'. Neither had much info. 'Species' only had two entries as of right now - humans, and sickleboars, both of which I didn't need to read about. As for 'Other', there was only one entry in it, called 'gold coins'. Basically, all it told me was that the unit of currency in this world was called 'gold'...though I kind of already assumed that.

In any case, with all that done, I closed up my System, and went to sleep.

But just before that...I casually clicked on the log out tab, which was still greyed out.

"Yeah...as I expected. Still doesn't work, huh?" I murmured quietly to myself, and drifted off to dreamland, the tiniest remaining bit of hope I had left in my heart gone.