Pavela slowly opened her eyes.
The alarms in the cockpit were still blaring, and the red warning lights were still flashing, but she could no longer hear them clearly.
There was a buzzing in her ears, as if soone had placed an entire brass band inside her head, playing so extrely discordant symphony.
Her vision was also a bit blurry.
She blinked.
She blinked again.
She blinked several tis.
Then her vision gradually beca clear.
She could see the indicator lights on the control panel.
Most were green.
A few were yellow.
None were red.
This ant—
The cha was basically intact.
Pavela looked down at herself again.
Her hands were still on the control sticks.
Her fingers were still there.
All ten of them.
She moved her body a bit.
A warm sensation ca from the position of the Spinal Interface, a subtle feedback of tal and nerve fitting together perfectly.
No burning.
No stinging.
The interface... was functioning normally.
The corners of Pavela's mouth curled up slightly.
Two concentric golden rings were now surfacing in her pupils.
The inner ring was small and rotated quickly.
The outer ring was large and rotated slowly.
The two rings turned at different speeds, casting flowing golden light patterns onto her pale grayish-blue irises.
She felt good.
In fact, she felt very good.
So good it felt a bit unreal.
Her mind was exceptionally clear; every thought was as distinct, precise, and organized as light refracted through a prism.
This was the sensory state of sequence iv of the Path of the Magician.
Sothing completely different from Sequence III.
It really worked.
The corners of Pavela's mouth curled up slightly.
The Gatekeeper—though it was a rather unreliable thing, after being beaten for so long, the quality of the information it spat out was quite good.
After she had grabbed its head and slamd it against the floor six tis, it finally gained a very clear understanding of 'what the truth is'.
That technique to deepen the connection to The Way Back was just an appetizer.
She had pried quite a few interesting things out of that shattered mouth.
So were about the operating laws of the ntal Space itself.
So were about the secret connections between The Way Back and the sequences that had never been recorded.
So were about the Gatekeeper itself.
And so—
Pavela temporarily sealed that information deep in her mind, not dwelling on it.
Now was not the ti to organize intelligence.
However, before coming out, she had already confird one important thing.
That technique to deepen the connection to The Way Back was safe.
--【—Spinal nerve conduction integrity monitoring restored—host consciousness signal recaptured—】--
--【You went into the ntal Space again!!!】--
Pavela felt a sharp pain in her ears.
She felt as if she were being bombarded by a hysterical voice.
--【I detected it all! The mont you pressed the Spinal Interface, the disappearance pattern of your consciousness signal was exactly the sa as when you entered the ntal Space before!! Heart rate zeroed, brainwaves interrupted, nerve signals all cut off—your soul left your body again!!】--
--【Duration: 0.07 seconds!!】--
--【Do you know what 0.07 seconds ans for a cha falling toward the ground at 24 ters per second?!!】--
--【If your consciousness had returned 0.03 seconds late—even just 0.03 seconds—you wouldn't have had ti to do anything!!】--
Pavela leaned back in her seat and rubbed her ears, not in a hurry to answer.
She began to slowly move her fingers.
Bending and stretching them one by one.
Confirming every joint was working normally.
The system didn't stop either.
--【And all your paraters changed after you ca out!! They changed completely!!】--
--The Way Back frequency changed! The sequence changed! Even your nerve conduction rate increased by 12%!!】--
--【You were Sequence III of the Path of the Magician when you went in, and you beca sequence iv when you ca out!!】--
--【What on earth did you do in there?!!】--
Pavela could feel the system's emotions.
If a system could have emotions.
It was panicking.
It was truly panicking.
This wasn't the first ti Pavela had gone in.
When the Gatekeeper had pulled her in at the underground classroom last ti, the system had experienced the sa interruption of consciousness signals.
But it couldn't see inside.
The ntal Space was a complete black box to it.
The consciousness signal disappeared, then reappeared.
What happened in between—
It knew nothing.
Pavela guessed that this was probably the greatest torture it could encounter.
“Can't you detect all my physiological indicators?”
Pavela spoke slowly.
“Then detect them.”
“See if there's anything wrong with ?”
--【...Of course I'm already detecting them! I've been detecting them since the millisecond your consciousness signal was restored!!】--
The system's tone carried a sort of 'what do you take for' irritation.
Then it threw out the results, every line of text looking as if it were squeezed out from between gritted teeth.
--host Vital Signs Comprehensive Report:】--
--【Heart Rate: 142 bpm—High, but within acceptable range】--
--【Blood Pressure: 135/88—Slightly elevated, consistent with current stress state】--
--【Spinal Nerve Conduction Integrity: 98.7%—Exceptionally excellent under interface connection status】--
--【Body Temperature: 36.8°C—Normal】--
--【Blood Oxygen Saturation: 97%—Normal】--
--【Way Back Status: Path of the Magician--
--【Current sequence: IV】--
--【Increased by one level compared to previous record】--
--ntal contamination level: No significant change observed.】--
--main personality Stability: Even slightly improved compared to before.】--
--erosion Amplification Assessnt: Approximately 3%-5%, within controllable range.】--
The system paused here.
It paused for a long ti.
So long that even Pavela could feel its internal conflict.
--【...All indicators are normal.】--
--【Even better than normal.】--
--【I can't find any abnormalities.】--
“Then that's that.”
Pavela stretched.
“The result is good; the process isn't important.”
--【The process is very important!!!】--
--【I know you entered the ntal Space, but I don't know what you did in there!! You were in for 0.07 seconds; according to the ti dilation ratio calculated last ti, you were in there for at least ten minutes!! Ten minutes!! What did you do with those ten minutes that could make your sequence jump a whole level?!!】--
--【Last ti you ca out of the ntal Space, erosion skyrocketed, ntal contamination surged, and you almost lost control!!】--
--【But this ti you co out and nothing is wrong, you're even in a better state than before you went in?!! It's illogical!! Completely illogical!!】--
Pavela could tell that what it truly feared wasn't 'what she did'.
But 'what she did that it completely didn't know about'.
The consequences of the last trip to the ntal Space were catastrophic—a void realm eruption, the underground classroom was blown through, and half of the main teaching building collapsed.
It couldn't observe the interior of the ntal Space, which ant it couldn't warn, couldn't intervene, and couldn't activate any ergency protocols when the worst-case scenario occurred.
“Alright, alright.”
Pavela interrupted its screaming.
“This ti I did it voluntarily.”
“I used a safe thod.”
“I confird it; it's safe.”
--【...You confird it.】--
“Mm-hmm.”
--【By what ans did you confirm it?】--
Pavela thought for a mont.
“I used a very persuasive thod of interrogation.”
--【...】--
--【You beat it?】--
“I choose not to answer that question.”
--【Your knuckle microcirculation data shows that your hands experienced a large amount of high-intensity impact in the past few minutes. Although injuries in the ntal Space don't leave physical marks, residual fluctuations at the neural mory level can be detected.】--
--【So, yes, you beat it. And you beat it more than once.】--
Pavela decided to underestimate this system's reasoning abilities less in the future.
--【But this still fails to explain the chanism of the sequence advancent. In my understanding, there is no known ans that can achieve a sequence leap in such a short ti and with such a low cost of erosion. You either used a completely new technology, or—】--
“Or?”
--【Or you obtained sothing from it that I don't understand.】--
Pavela thought for a bit, then spoke with a sincere voice.
“Maybe it's because I'm quite cute, so The Way Back decided to approach on its own?”
--【...】--
--【You're ssing with .】--
“How could I ss with you?”
Pavela's voice beca even more sincere.
Sincere to the point ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) of hypocrisy.
“I'm clearly just a frightened little girl who just fell from the sky.”
“You know, when people are frightened, they generally don't tell lies.”
--【Your heart rate dropped from 142 to 138 when you said that.】--
--【A truly frightened person's heart rate doesn't drop when they're "frightened".】--
“That shows I'm comforting myself. After saying it, I'm not as afraid. It's quite logical, right?”
--【...】--
The system was silent for a full two seconds.
--【So you don't intend to tell ?】--
“Yep.”
Pavela admitted it without hiding anything.
“Not for now.”
--【Why?】--
“Because teasing you like this is fun.”
--【...】--
--【I'll rember you.】--
--【Also: Additional Assessnt—host's current ntal state: Asking for a beating.】--
Pavela let out a laugh.
The soft laughter began to echo in the cockpit.
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