Chapter 18: Ch58. Comatose - 5 (Irregular)
As Kurt ram through the events of the [MEMORY FRAGMENT], he understood where his older version went wrong and where he went right, but what shocked him more was how he couldn’t make a good use of everything he remembered from what seemed to be his previous life.
It seemed like his older version didn’t have a good memory at all, or it was just the system toying with the way he should recall past events and use them to his favor.
The younger Kurt wasn’t a cold thinker, but he still had a lot of so-called ’useless’ knowledge that he acquired from webnovels and videogames. Which allowed him to think outside the box when it came to the older Kurt’s memories.
The only problem was that, if everything older Kurt told him was true, that version of the world didn’t bear much useful knowledge for younger Kurt to thrive in his own world.
Aside from the people, that seemed pretty much the same, leading Kurt to believe that it was really just another version of his own world, many details were... Wrong.
Like Quintus and Octavius’ deaths, and who was Rodrick?
The Evellyn girl seemed very powerful, but he never saw her in his world, probably because he still hadn’t had any contact with guilds other than Guardian, his father’s guild.
Younger Kurt knew, though, that there were other guilds, such as Dark Sun, Eclipse, Walkers, Lost Raiders, and many others. He just didn’t have any information about them, because other than fighting like a Wielder, Octavius never let him learn anything about actually being a Wielder.
Older Kurt’s [MEMORY FRAGMENT] held many useful information.
The only problem was where you get Kurt would use that kind of information.
His eyes gleamed with tears as he watched the curtains closing on the older Kurt’s life and how the system mockingly waved him goodbye.
And when he opened his eyes inside the [HIDDEN ROOM] again, older Kurt wasn’t there anymore, just like he said.
Instead, there was a beep in his ears, followed by the popping up of a holographic window in front of him, just like when he received the [MEMORY FRAGMENT]. Only that this time there seemed to be a message written in the system window.
[I CAN’T BE HERE FOR MUCH LONGER, OR ELSE THE SYSTEM WILL DETECT MY PRESENCE AND COME FOR ME.]
[HOWEVER, THE - MEMORY FRAGMENT - WAS A REWARD FOR DEFEATING. FOR SHOWING HOW YOU’RE STRONGER AND SMARTER THAN I COULD EVER BE. WHAT YOU’RE ACQUIRING NOW IS A GIFT FROM ME, A SKILL THAT WILL PROVE TO BE OF MUCH USE TO YOU AS SOON AS YOU WAKE UP.]
[WILL YOU ACCEPT THIS SKILL?]
[YES] [NO]
"Do you even have to ask?" Younger Kurt’s voice echoed through the empty space of the [HIDDEN ROOM] as he touched the [YES] with his index finger.
[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED THE UNIQUE SKILL - BLEEDING EDGE]
[ACTIVE SKILL]
[DESCRIPTION]
[Bleeding Edge is a skill that allows the user:
- Recall events the user deem important or necessary by accessing a virtual space called WORLD’S MEMORY, which looks like a library that holds the entire knowledge from separate world-lines.
- Overlap world-lines’ events and situations in order to see possible outcomes and avoid unnecessary sacrifices.]
[Activation cost: None]
[OBS: Unlocks after reaching Lv10]
’Okay, at least now I have a more palpable reason to level up.’ Younger Kurt scoffed.
Before he could break into laughter, though, the darkness around the [HIDDEN ROOM] looked like it was, somehow, cracking.
As if something was trying to break through from the outside. And right after the first crack shed an ominous light inside the [HIDDEN ROOM], the beep sounded in Kurt’s ears, followed by the pop-up window with a message that didn’t sound like his older version.
[MALICIOUS ACTIVITY DETECTED!]
[INITIALIZING COUNTERMEASURES!]
[MUST PROTECT THE HOST!]
’What? I’m inside Eliminator and I’m going to fight the A-800 now? Really?’
The thought made Kurt chuckle, but what happened after that made Kurt swallow his chuckle like it was a tough pill.
One of the walls of the void structure of the [HIDDEN ROOM] shattered into countless pieces, revealing a vast, blood-red sky above it. And in the middle of that alien sky, stood a black eye with no eyelids.
It didn’t even had a white part, it just looked like a black, glowing moon, looking over an endless maze.
The only thing that differed it from a real moon was that it had a circle in a darker shade of black in the middle of it, pointed straight at Kurt.
[THE... HOST...]
[MUST... PROTECT...]
It sounded like the system’s voice but at the same time it didn’t, and it sent shivers through Kurt’s spine.
It felt like a hoarse hush. So deep that it penetrated his bones.
Kurt felt a primitive fear growing inside of him, the urge to fight or flight, to step in or back out.
***
In Kurt’s new room, at the hospital’s C-wing, two weeks had passed since Dr. Lee had started the procedures of the new treatment.
Kurt’s brain had shown some activity, making Octavius and Nina happy to see that their son was finally showing signs of waking up.
However, he was still releasing enormous bursts of mana that made it very difficult for the doctors and nurses to work in that wing.
And every time the mana bursts would grow larger and more powerful.
To the extent of the director of the hospital himself walking to the C-wing to check on what was going on.
But at the end of the second week, Edmund Roosevelt walked into Kurt’s room, where Dr. Lee was running another round of electromagnetic pulses into Kurt’s brain.
"Dr. Lee..." The director’s voice sounded in almost a hush, his grave tone giving away how annoyed the man was.
His brown eyes scanned the room like scalpels as he ran his fingers through the gray hair.
He barely fit his white coat, so muscular that was.
"Director Roosevelt." Dr. Lee saluted him, but the man didn’t smile.
"You better tell me something good, or I’ll have to call the Association to check on this... Incident. You can’t just use Massachusets General Hospital like your little playground to toy around with your experiments and think you’re going to get away with it."
Dr. Lee didn’t turn around to look at the director. Her blood-shot eyes were glued to the mana reader and the other devices that she used for the treatment and for her analysis.
When Dr. Lee spoke, though, her voice was a bit tired, but coated with joy.
"Dr. Roosevelt... Have you ever heard of the term Irregular?"
