Ch.351Secret (4)

“The illusion brainwashes rankers?”

“Yes. All the players I’ve observed experienced changes in their thinking due to ‘memories.'”

I had roughly guessed this when I heard about the illusion from Alshas.

What it meant to kill one’s “real-world self” or “self in this world” in the illusion.

I thought perhaps the illusion was like a leash for outsiders who came to this world. I just didn’t have clear evidence, so it remained a hypothesis.

“So you’ve seen more than just Cynthia and Alshas.”

“That’s right. When I was with Penelope and when I was under Cynthia’s control, I met several rankers. And I saw how they changed because of the ‘memories.'”

I’ve also collected information about the illusion, but I don’t know how people differ before and after seeing it. In the case of Sky Mother, her Incarnate stage increased once, but she didn’t show any notable changes.

‘That’s unexpected.’

Isabelle knew something I didn’t. Even with my perk that reads information, recognizing changes in oneself is a separate issue.

“I realized something was wrong with the ‘memories’ thanks to Penelope.”

Isabelle added an explanation after reading my question.

“You found out because of the 18th ranker? How?”

“My sister and I were close. We did everything together until she became independent. That’s why I could quickly tell that the ‘memories’ were changing her thinking.”

Space Survival is a game with players from various countries. I understand it’s rare for players to meet and maintain relationships in reality. At most, those from the same clan or country might see each other occasionally.

‘But Penelope and Isabelle are exceptions.’

They were twins in reality. Being family and close to each other, they would quickly notice changes in one another.

“We clearly experienced something together, but my sister remembered it completely differently.”

“Her memories changed?”

“Yes. After seeing the illusion, she perceived her life in the real world in a distorted way. She never did that before.”

Hearing that, I understood why she used the term ‘memories’ rather than illusion. And why she called it brainwashing.

‘For us with completely changed bodies, memory is the only means to sustain our identity.’

Childhood scars from falling, relationships with family and friends—elements that prove I am “me” don’t exist at all in this world. Only the memory of having lived in “reality” defines my existence.

‘What if memories are manipulated in that situation?’

In this world, we can’t compare memories with elements from reality. Therefore, it’s impossible to prove that I’m becoming a different being.

“How much did Penelope change?”

“She always liked this world, but after each illusion, her obsession grew stronger.”

“So that’s why she was willing to sacrifice her life to save the Coldblood slaves.”

I know that the 18th ranker Penelope is particularly fond of Space Survival. Just as I was called a Morph-freak, she was known as a Gallergorn maniac. For someone who loves the game that much, caring about the safety of her kind isn’t strange.

‘But the level was excessive, I guess.’

Looking at this, the goal of the illusion isn’t to completely change one’s personality into someone else. Rather, it’s closer to guiding toward a specific goal or direction. As Isabelle put it, it could indeed be called brainwashing.

‘But why?’

This is the problem.

What does it mean that our sense of self is forcibly altered as we get closer to the ending?

“Someone wants to change us.”

“Probably.”

“What’s the purpose? What do they want?”

“I don’t know either. But I think I know who’s behind it.”

“The being that brought us to this world?”

Instead of answering, Isabelle nodded.

I don’t think any player came to this world voluntarily. At least none among the players I’ve met.

I too woke up here after agreeing to participate in a beta service email. I don’t remember anything that happened in between.

“I understand that some unknown entity is trying to change us. But why do we see different illusions? Some seem to become their ‘self in this world,’ others their ‘self in the real world.'”

“From the information I’ve collected, it seems our lives in the real world influence it.”

“Lives in the real world, huh.”

When I asked Jason, who became a human-faced insect, he grew up in a troubled home in reality. Sky Mother was similar. Though I didn’t hear the full story, it was clear she had a difficult life.

‘The same goes for me.’

“What about you and your sister?”

When asked about how they lived in reality, she hesitated slightly before answering.

“You might have guessed when I talked about my sister earlier, but our lives weren’t very peaceful. Neither of us would have endured easily without the other.”

“I see.”

When I entered her mindscape, I already confirmed that the sisters had a good relationship. Their special twin bond, combined with their troubled home environment, seemed to have strengthened their affection for each other.

“So did both of you see the illusion as Coldbloods?”

“My sister did. I would have too if I had continued to grow.”

“What do you mean?”

“After discussing with my sister, we decided to avoid getting closer to the ending. To uncover the secret of the ‘memories,’ one of us needed to remain in a normal state.”

“Huh? Then how did you summon the ‘Ring of Agony’?”

Just being a Coldblood doesn’t mean you can summon Voltex One anytime. You need to continuously make contracts and pay the price to borrow stronger power.

Directly summoning Voltex One is a high-level contract, if not the highest. It’s impossible to skip the previous stages and summon it directly.

Except for one method.

“Did Penelope create a tool to summon Voltex One?”

“That’s right. The curved blade I used for summoning was made by my sister. Of course, I had to prepare the price for using it myself.”

When you have a friendly relationship with Voltex One, you can imbue tools with the Power of Demon.

Of course, they’re difficult to make, and even when completed, they might break after just a few uses depending on luck. Isabelle’s curved blade from Penelope is no longer usable.

Anyway, the sisters chose a method where one of them gave up on the ending to avoid the brainwashing of the illusion. It’s true that this weakened the twins’ power, but it couldn’t be helped. Without doing so, they wouldn’t have been able to clearly understand the dangers of the illusion.

“Proving the danger of the illusion is a significant gain. Without you two, I wouldn’t have been certain.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s summarize. First, there’s an entity that summoned the players. It wants us to move along a specific route.”

“That’s right.”

“The player factions are the intended result of this entity.”

“At least the Dominance and Return factions share the same form of ‘memories.'”

“Good. The question is how to solve this…”

The conversation returned to the starting point.

After all, the reason I aimed for Ascension in the first place was to discover the secrets of this world and the entity that summoned me.

‘I don’t know what will happen to me later either.’

I didn’t kill “the real me” in the illusion. But I don’t know what will happen when I see another illusion later. Like others, I might be consumed by the illusion and become something that isn’t me.

‘But I can’t just avoid it.’

In my case, I also see illusions when synthesizing unique characteristics with the transcendence system. If I want to avoid them, I’d have to give up on evolution methods.

‘But I can’t do that.’

There are many who target me now. Those aiming for the ending would want to kill me, the only adult AMorph, and those seeking to dominate the universe would consider me a significant threat.

‘I need power to face my enemies.’

I should probably tell the truth. Someone who has encountered more rankers than I have might be able to provide helpful information.

“When we first met, I told you that I only glimpsed past memories without making a choice.”

“I remember that.”

“Actually, that was a lie. I neither killed ‘the real me’ nor ‘the me in this world.'”

At first, she seemed not to understand what I said. After a moment, realizing that I had chosen not to kill either self, her eyes widened.

“You mean you avoided the brainwashing of the ‘memories’?”

“Well, I can’t be sure about that either. All I can say for certain is that I made an unusual choice.”

“…”

“Among those you’ve seen, has anyone made the same choice as me?”

She thought for a moment and then shook her head.

“No. I’ve seen those who postponed their choice, but none who decided ‘not to kill’ like AMorph.”

“Among those who postponed their choice, has anyone experienced this? The illusion continuing to appear later to change their sense of self?”

“I think… you’ll be fine.”

It was a question I asked her because I couldn’t judge for myself. I thought it would be difficult for her to answer, but surprisingly, she responded quickly.

“As you might have guessed, the entity manipulating the ‘memories’ isn’t omnipotent. An omnipotent being wouldn’t need to control us through such cumbersome methods.”

“That’s true.”

“It has limitations, which is why it uses these methods. So I think AMorph won’t face the same strong pressure as before.”

“You mean since I made a choice, it will move to the next stage instead of pressuring me?”

“Yes. That’s highly likely.”

Come to think of it, Alshas said something similar.

According to Bumho and the 4th ranker, leaders of the Return faction, they saw illusions about returning to reality and adapting. Given their goal of returning, their illusion stage must have progressed as well.

‘I’ll need to see the next illusion to be sure.’

At this point, there’s only one way for me to see an illusion.

That’s raising my cosmic monster type level.

If I gather material characteristics to create four unique characteristics, I’ll advance to level 3. Since I saw illusions when advancing to levels 1 and 2, level 3 should be the same.

Even apart from the illusion, I would have needed to raise my type level eventually. To survive in a situation where both the Dominance and Return factions are hostile to me, I need to become stronger.

‘First, I should create a unique characteristic using demon machine as material.’

With this, my next goal is set.