Not long after Keith left, Byrne went to bed and quickly drifted off to sleep. Since his first time entering the white mist space, he had hoped to return every time he closed his eyes. But six days had passed without success.
To his surprise, he truly found himself back in the white mist space tonight.
Does this mean I can only come here once every seven days? Byrne pondered, forming a preliminary theory.
He looked around. The familiar white mist swirled about him, and before he had walked far, the large round table and the twelve high-backed stone chairs materialized. A quick glance confirmed that the versions of himself present were the same as before; no new members had joined.
"Yo, Warhammer-world me, you're here." Seeing Warhammer Byrne approach, the boy in the school uniform waved with a smile.
Warhammer Byrne walked quickly to the round table, greeted the two, and pulled out his previous chair. "You two beat me here again," he grumbled. "Waiting seven days between meetings is way too slow."
The other two Byrnes spoke in unison: "It's been seven days for you?"
Warhammer Byrne looked at them, confused. "What's with those faces? It hasn't been seven days for you?"
Schoolboy Byrne shook his head first. "No, I got back in on my second night of sleep. By that count, it's only been one day."
As he finished, the Caucasian Byrne added, "Following his logic, I'm different too. Only two days have passed for me."
The waiting time for the three of them was completely different. Now it was Warhammer Byrne's turn to be stunned.
Schoolboy Byrne asked, "That's strange. Since we're meeting at the same moment, why is the gap in time so massive?"
Warhammer Byrne lowered his head in thought before answering, "I don't think the issue is this space. It's the worlds we inhabit."
"The worlds we inhabit?" Schoolboy Byrne tilted his head, looking like a giant question mark.
Caucasian Byrne thought for a moment, then seemed to catch on. He clapped his hands. "I get it! You're saying the discrepancy in waiting time is caused by the different flow of time in our respective worlds."
Warhammer Byrne nodded. "Exactly."
Schoolboy Byrne frowned. "But what's the logic? It can't be random."
"In my opinion," Warhammer Byrne explained, "it's likely determined by the 'level of fantasy' in each world. The higher the fantasy elements, the faster time flows. For instance, the Warhammer world has a much higher concentration of fantasy than yours, so my waiting time is longer."
Schoolboy Byrne raised a doubt: "If it's based on fantasy levels, I'm in the world of Doraemon. That should definitely outrank Limitless, yet Old Man Byrne's time gap is longer than mine. That's not scientific."
At this, Caucasian Byrne raised his hand. "Sorry, I should clarify something. I didn't actually transmigrate into the world of Limitless."
Warhammer Byrne froze. Wait, what? If he hadn't transmigrated into Limitless, then how was Warhammer Byrne able to manifest NZT-48?
"Not Limitless? Then where did you end up?" Schoolboy Byrne asked urgently.
"Well, it's like this..."
Caucasian Byrne then recounted his recent experiences within the dream-scape.
Schoolboy Byrne looked disappointed. "What a shame. I thought you actually lived in the Limitless world, but it turns out it was just a dream experience."
Caucasian Byrne shook his head. "It's not a total loss. At least I found my 'Cheat'."
Schoolboy Byrne leaned in, curious. "What cheat?"
Caucasian Byrne smirked. "I can bring the NZT-48 I experienced in the dream into reality."
Bring it into reality? Warhammer Byrne's brow furrowed. From the description, this power sounded very similar to his own. He asked, "Interesting. How do you do it?"
Caucasian Byrne replied casually, "Nothing to it, really. When I got home, I just felt a bit of regret that I could only have NZT-48 in dreams. I thought, 'it would be great if I could bring it to reality,' and the moment that thought surfaced, a pill appeared in my hand."
"Just like that?" Schoolboy Byrne's eyes went wide with disbelief.
"Yeah. I was startled at first, but the effects of the pill don't lie."
"Man, I'm so jealous," the boy sighed. "You found your power, but nothing has changed for me." He turned to Warhammer Byrne. "What about you?"
Warhammer Byrne thought for a second and decided to give a socially-graceful answer: "Same as you. No cheats here."
Schoolboy Byrne let out a quiet sigh of relief. "I see. I guess we're both unlucky then."
Seeing the boy's low mood, Caucasian Byrne comforted him, "Don't be so down. Maybe yours just hasn't awakened yet. Just wait a bit longer."
The boy curled his lip. "Heh, I hope so, but after all this time, I'm not holding my breath."
Warhammer Byrne interjected, "By the way, besides NZT-48, have you tried manifesting anything else?"
Caucasian Byrne shrugged. "Yeah, I tried thinking of other things from the dream—the cash in Vernon's apartment, the black address book, I even tried a 'Bamboo Copter'."
"And?"
Caucasian Byrne shook his head. "Total failure. I don't know why, but for now, nothing works except the NZT-48."
So the method looks the same, but my cheat is superior. Heh, not bad.
The next morning, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, falling on Byrne's confused face.
Logically, waking up the next day after the drug wore off, he should be feeling the side effects like Eddie Morra—fatigue, brain fog, and blurred memory.
But as Byrne sat up and rubbed his temples, there was no grogginess. On the contrary, he felt full of energy and incredibly clear-headed. All the knowledge he'd memorized for the exam was carved into his mind with perfect clarity; he could even mentally replicate complex tax conversion formulas instantly.
What's going on? Did my 'protagonist aura' kick in and delete the side effects? Or was the duration of the drug extended because of the world change?
Whatever the reason, no side effects was a good thing.
Today was the big day. Byrne checked the time, washed up, had a quick breakfast, and headed out. Of course, just in case, he manifested a fresh NZT-48 pill before leaving.