Chapter 13: EGO
Clicking noises, inaudible conversations, and bright light seeping into his eyes. His consciousness buzzed into awareness as Gregory's eyes slowly opened.
White. There was so much white.
Am I in a hospital?
He thought sarcastically.
"Awake already? You really do have a very tough constitution, huh? I mean, a normal person wouldn't be awake at least until the next day."
One of the researchers there commented with amusement and awe at the situation. On his chest was his name tag: Loven Cloverfield.
"Thank you…?"
"You're welcome."
Loven replied with a friendly smile. At least, a smile friendly enough to know he won't suddenly stab him in the throat.
Researcher… so I was really kidnapped and currently I am restrained.
Gregory assessed his situation, calm and composed as his gaze seemed to land on someone that had just recently entered.
His name tag was: Head Researcher Vole Beliote.
"As expected, you're awake 13 hours earlier than you were supposed to."
He commented without even a hint of surprise.
He stood at the height around 188 cm, his face covered in black smoke as if it were generated from there, the only visible part of his head was his jet black hair and one of his eyes at a time.
He wore a simple white suit under his white lab coat, his sleek black pants fastened around his waist by a black leather belt.
"You're an interesting specimen."
He said, behind the smoke some may see a smile formed.
"Returned from death, not just simple—biological death but also a soul erasure, that was a never-seen-before case yet it happened to you, that's why we the researchers of Laophonen Corps decided to have you as our subject."
He explained, as he continued his hand instinctively covered his mouth as if trying to hide his smile.
"Subject for what?"
Gregory asked, calm and curious.
"Quite a stone-faced guy, eh? Well, the experiment is about to commence anyway so it shouldn't be a problem to tell you, it might be able to stabilize you after we're done."
Vole muttered, his voice followed by the humming and the hissing of gases seeping out of the heavy machinery connected to the giant syringe filled with green liquid.
That noise…
Gregory's expression slightly tensed up as he sensed the object that slowly get closer to his neck.
Holy shit, I'm lucky that I don't have Trypanophobia.
"This experiment is called… Stimulation Overload."
Vole paused deliberately before he continued with a barely visible smile behind the smoke.
"That green liquid was a substance called Mental Strainer, when injected into a being it will cause several symptoms such as Psychological Overload, Sensory Overload, Emotional Overload and overall Mental Distress."
"To normal humans, such side-effects would cause them to die, mutate or even turn into a Producer, a mindless being that involuntarily produces a varying amount of Mental Strainer and another substance called Tarbiz, the main material for pseudo-EGO tools."
He explained with obvious glee.
I see.
Gregory digested the information and asked.
"Why don't Mental Strainers be used as a weapon?"
Vole's gaze locked onto Gregory's figure as it squinted slightly.
"Well, it was not like none of the Cities wanted to, it's just that using it outside of lab testing is very expensive and really not worth it. It doesn't work on any Anomaly or Abnormality and it has a very low effectiveness for even a bottom-class EGO user. Its only potential lethality is for normal humans."
Hearing the explanation, Gregory was satisfied and nodded along as he closed his eyes.
"Do you have any more questions?"
Just as Vole was about to command his subordinates to start with the experiment, Gregory interrupted.
"How exactly is EGO awakened?"
Vole stared at Gregory's restrained figure, his gaze as empty as a corpse, his skin was pale, the syringe needle tip was hovering just above his nape.
"Was my previous explanation insufficient? It was obviously related to the overload of sensations and psychological distress, the same thing that could cause someone to lose control and mutate would be the key when paired with enough willpower and mental resilience to awaken your EGO, your own controlled Abnormality."
Before Gregory could speak again, Vole signaled to the other researchers to start the process as the hovering syringe stabbed into Gregory's nape.
A wave of Mental Strainer was injected into his body, muscles began to twitch, his expression turned hollow as his gaze lost the last light that was present.
"Oh yeah, another thing."
Vole casually remarked. Paused. Then, explained.
"When under intense situations where any of the side-effects caused by Mental Strainer are present, that psychological turmoil will resonate with your mind, body and soul to excrete the EGO from your inner world so that it would manifest in the real world."
Behind the smoke, a huge grin formed on his face as he spoke.
"You did a great job, Soulless."
He remarked as he noticed the rapid recovery performed by Gregory.
He will probably wake up by the 3rd day, which is going to be the day after tomorrow.
Usually a successful experiment would never wake up until 2 weeks after, and that has already been considered an outlier.
He thought, his gaze drifted away to the door and called out his subordinates. He told them to get the unconscious Gregory into the private medical room to observe him for the next two days.
Inside Gregory's mind there was only emptiness.
Is this the inside of my mind?
He thought, calm and composed as his gaze landed on the small floating orb of colorless goo that appeared to be alive.
"Is this… my EGO?"
He questioned, his eyes squinted at the object as his right index finger poked into it.
It trembled every time the tip of his finger poked deep into it.
"System, any explanation?"
He finally called his trusty companion once again.
I almost forgot the system existed, I really need to stop going for the hard way.
Before his eyes, a circular-shaped, orange-colored, holographic translucent panel appeared. Inside its border was the word 'Loading…' written-in-bold.
[ Loading… ]
[ Scanning the object… ]
[ Correct, Host. This is your EGO, due to your unique existence as a Soulless being, your EGO doesn't have a reference nor outline to form based on your Soul, to compensate for your absence of the outline to form your EGO, it was made to be a formless EGO that could mimic and copy any form you'd want and due to the lack of Soul within you, it wouldn't cause any strain on your being, Host. ]
It explained.
"Copy?"
He thought, curious.
Then, a voice descended.
Ethereal, divine and otherworldly, a voice that might belong to a brilliant deity fell into his sea of consciousness, invading his mind that had just been shaken by the Mental Strainer.
He closed his eyes in anticipation. He focused his attention to his ears to listen to the ramblings.
{ Ding! }
He composed himself, he knows what it was, his memories that belong to Nathaniel hold the relevant information.
{ Congratulations! }
{ You have stabilized your EGO! }
{ You have manifested one EGO: }
— Formless EGO: Copy (EX-rank)
{ Detected the current existence is an avatar connected to the true existence. }
{ Failsafe activated-Unable to be activated due to the absence of Soul. }
{ Failsafe activated-EGO has become permanent, tied to the Consciousness as a substitute. }
{ Your
{ Your
{ Your
Gregory couldn't help but hide his surprise.
Isn't EX-rank getting a little bit too common recently?
To be continued…