153 Hear (1/2)

'It must have been a dream…'

”Junior, how are you feeling right now?”

Smoke Demon… whoops, Mai Houjou was in front of him.

”I had a really long and strange dream, and I still feel like I’m in a daze,” Seiji replied.

”That wasn’t a dream; you entered the Spirit Realm while Visualizing, which is the best state you can possibly achieve during Visualization,” Mai explained.

”'Spirit Realm?'”

”It means that you Visualized wholeheartedly enough to enter an entirely different mental realm.”

”Then, what I experienced there… Is everything in the Spirit Realm the product of a dream?”

”Yes, that's one way of putting it. What each person sees in their individual Spirit Realm is unique. Some will witness old memories, and others will experience a modern-day situation. However, a fantastical or chaotic sequence of events is more common, much like a real dream.”

It was similar to a dream, yet it wasn’t a dream.

Seiji recalled the time when his awareness entered Shika’s soul. That was also similar to a dream, yet it wasn't a dream.

Seji assumed anything related to Mana and the soul probably functioned this way.

”If I’m in the Spirit Realm and meet with misfortune there—say, for example, I die—what would happen?”

”You’ll end up harmed in some way, but it’s difficult to predict the severity of your injuries. If you're lucky, you’ll only be left with the memory of a frightening experience when you wake up. In a less fortunate scenario, your soul would sustain damage. This is one of the risks associated with Visualization.”

Mai looked at Seiji. ”Judging by how calm you seem, you must have woken up naturally. Are you feeling fine?”

”I’m fine… but I almost met with some trouble.” Seiji recalled the difficult battle he faced in his Spirit Realm.

”Was it dangerous?”

”A little.”

”Although it's risky to encounter a dangerous situation in your own Spirit Realm, your Spiritual Power will improve at a faster rate as a result. There are upsides and downsides,” Mai explained before blinking. ”At any rate, it’s good that you’re okay.”

”Yeah… Senpai, how long did I Visualize for?” he finally asked.

Mai looked at him searchingly. ”You’ve been Visualizing for an entire night,” she stated calmly. ”It’s already 6:30 A.M. now.”

Seiji paused in surprise.

”That long!?”

He searched his memory and attempted to calculate approximately how long he had spent in his Spirit Realm. After a while, he came to the conclusion that Mai's figure actually seemed reasonable.

It was almost as if he had lived a second life.

Or should it be said that it was similar to an overly realistic VR game?

Hey, if he thought about it like that, Visualization actually seemed rather fun!?

It was rather embarrassing that all his friends and acquaintances were his retainers, but at least nobody knew about it. As long as he was having fun, everything…

Suddenly, Seiji froze as he came to a sudden realization.

He had accidentally trodden upon a subject which he'd forbidden himself from thinking.

Visualization was akin to living another life in a different reality.

But what about the current ‘reality?’

In this world where he could even save and load, what evidence was there that this wasn’t all a dream, or… an amazingly high-tech virtual reality game as well?

The answer was that there was none.

His current situation bore resemblance to the ”brain in a jar” theory, which was a famous hypothetical situation from his previous world. The hypothesis stated: how would one know that he or she wasn’t simply a ”brain in a jar?”

The answer was that they couldn’t… That’s right, there was no method at all!

Seiji’s current situation was the same; it could also be stated that any person in ‘reality’ faced the same dilemma as well.

Nobody could provide evidence that the world they were currently living in was the so-called ‘reality.’

Absolute reality was a concept that was inherently unprovable.

In the end, whether or not one perceived their world as ‘reality’ relied on oneself.