Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Klein suddenly woke up and sat up from the ground.

He finally came to the real world.

The first thing he did after coming to his senses was to take out Melissa's pocket watch from his pocket. This was a new habit that Klein had developed since waking up in the Sixth Epoch: whenever he thought he had escaped from the illusion, the first thing he did was to check the illusion compass to confirm whether there were still any illusions in his current perception.

The hands of the pocket watch pointed steadily to twelve o'clock. Not moving.

This means that he has completely left the illusion.

Like a fluttering feather slowly falling to the ground, Klein felt that his chaotic and runaway thoughts in the illusion were gradually gathering and settling down, and his familiar rationality was slowly returning.

...My reaction just now was a bit too much...

A severe headache and dizziness came over him as he regained consciousness. Klein sat on the ground and rubbed his nose.

The scene and conversation that just happened in the illusion are still lingering in Klein's mind. Now it seems that his reaction at that time was indeed a bit irrational, which may be due to the influence of the illusion.

But the content of the illusion still made Klein worried. After calming down, he began to think, if this illusion really happened in the past, then what did Melissa go through to become a phantom that wandered for a thousand years? And why did the liar Is so deliberately approach Melissa? What role did he play in Melissa's disappearance?

Thinking of this, his brain, which had just recovered a little, began to hurt again, and Klein couldn't help but retching, as if the insects that made up the brain were protesting the body's bad behavior of forcibly exploiting the insect workers even though it knew that the damage and pollution had not completely subsided. He had no choice but to change the question and continue analyzing the current situation.

Klein noticed that every time these illusory illusions appeared, they would cause temporary confusion and interference to his mental state, thinking logic, and even judgment ability, and it would take a certain amount of time to recover after the illusion disappeared.

Not only that, after these strange hallucinations have ravaged his senses, they will also cause serious damage to his physical ability to move. Dizziness, nausea, limb asymmetry, sensory confusion, and even loss of sense of direction, the intensity of these sequelae will increase as the time spent in the illusion increases.

With the previous experience as a lesson, Klein did not rush to stand up this time. Instead, he sat quietly on the ground and observed the situation.

As his perception gradually recovered, Klein realized that all contact with the marionettes on the surface had been cut off.

...Where on earth have we ended up...

...We are now beyond the control range of the puppet...

A thick and dense touch mixed with some rough granular sensations gradually gathered in Klein's numb palms. He gently shook his fingers, and there were many cold and delicate little bugs crawling onto his fingertips.

We were in a long-abandoned underground city, in a dusty "room".

The surroundings were pitch black, and no light could be detected. Klein subconsciously raised his hand to create a spark for illumination, but found that nothing happened after he snapped his fingers.

My extraordinary ability... is suppressed?

No... even my spiritual intuition can't sense the things around here... even the gray fog...

This is really bad news.

Klein took out his lighter, and the small light illuminated the old tiles under his hands, but it could not reach further. After shining a circle around, he extinguished the flame. The lighter has limited fuel, so it is better to use it sparingly when the situation is unclear.

After feeling around, Klein confirmed that his surroundings were safe. At least the place he was in was relatively open. After thinking for a moment, Klein stood up shakily and tried to take two steps forward.

Then in the third step, his left foot stepped on his right foot and he fell straight down.

As the saying goes, you should lie down where you fall. Since no one could see him here, Klein immediately decided not to be brave anymore and crawled on the ground, using a very steady and safe way to move forward.

So he crawled up in the darkness.

"Klein, are you over there?"

Leonard's voice came from a certain direction. His voice seemed very ethereal in the air, and even had a slight echo.

It looks like this is a very large and empty place.

"Yes, it's me. Don't move, I'm coming over now."

Klein groped his way forward, deliberately pounding the ground to make some moderate noises to tell Leonard that he was moving forward.

The hand that was exploring forward touched something scattered on the ground, which seemed to be a pile of miscellaneous items.

Fortunately, Klein found a craft that looked like a vintage lantern. There were also a few pieces of broken candles inside, most of which seemed to have gone bad.

No matter, it's better to have something than nothing. Klein lit up the lighter, took out all the candles from the lantern, picked out the ones that could be used and put them in his pocket, and left one in the lantern and lit it with the lighter.

The bright and hopeful flame finally illuminated Klein again.

The light became more abundant, allowing Klein to begin exploring the surrounding environment. The pile of debris he had just touched was a collection of odds and ends, with tags still attached to them, including the lantern in his hand.

This used to be a... hypermarket?

It seems that this building should have been on the surface, but due to various mundane disasters or extraordinary forces, it sank here and became an underground city that will never see the light of day.

Klein found a wooden stick from the pile of junk. When he pulled it out, he realized that it was actually a broken table leg with a small piece of tabletop still remaining at the end. Rather than a table leg, it looked more like a hoe that was not afraid of worldly eyes. It could barely be used as a crutch, but at least it allowed Klein to evolve from a reptile to walking upright.

Be content. It doesn’t matter if the table legs are broken. As long as they can be used, it’s fine. At least they are not a toilet plunger.

Klein complained in his mind as he limped forward.

Finally, the faint light of the fire illuminated Leonard's face.

Leonard looked a little strange at this moment. He was sitting on a plastic chair with a serious and deep expression on his face, bending over and resting his elbows on his knees, and supporting his chin and mouth with his hands crossed.

The design of this white plastic chair was also very unique, and it always reminded Klein of the old days when he could see chairs at food stalls everywhere in his hometown. The two of them were surrounded by chaos, with all kinds of broken and damaged items scattered around, but this chair was the only one that stood.

Leonard sat on a white plastic chair like a philosopher sitting on a rock.

"Why are you sitting here?" Klein asked.

"Because I saw this chair, so I sat on it."

Leonard answered seriously, as if he was answering some ultimate question of life.

"Because it was there, I sat on it. It had nothing to do with whether I found it or not. Whether I saw it or not, it was there. The existence of this plastic chair would not become more valuable because of my presence, nor would it become worthless because of my presence."

"?" Klein felt something strange. "Have you seen Fors?"

"No, I didn't. I didn't see Fors. I woke up here, lying next to this chair. If you want to ask me why, I don't know. But I think this question is a difficult one to answer. Why did we arrive at this land under our feet, and why did we meet each other? Maybe we can think about this question from multiple angles."

"…So what are you doing now?"

"Yes, what am I doing? What am I doing? If you are wondering about my mouth and my eyes, I can tell you that I am talking, I am breathing, and I am looking at the floor tiles. But can this really satisfy your doubts? In other words, can these really summarize all the contents of this question? I am communicating with my mouth, and I am observing the world with my eyes... But even so, have we really answered this question thoroughly? What am I doing? This is a very important question. So now no matter what, we have to face a very embarrassing fact, that is, solving the problem of what I am doing is very, very important..."

Klein held the lamp and walked silently around Leonard, who was lost in thought, for a few circles. Then he stood solemnly behind Leonard and carefully observed the surrounding environment.

Finally, Klein couldn't stand it anymore and kicked Leonard over with the chair.