168 Episode 48: My Consciousness 2 in 1 (1/2)
”Are you alright there, Kazuma? You look pale,” Blue asked me while I exit the Mercenary Building.
”I am fine. Just a little bit tired, nothing too bad after a few hours of rest, and this fatigue will disappear like nothing. Nothing too serious.”
”...You say that but your complexion tells me otherwise. You cannot just lie to me like that Kazuma. Remember that I can scan your body easily so lying about your condition is not a good thing for you. I will scold you whenever I wanted to!”
”Tch, I don't really have any idea what this is but the fatigue has accumulated too much in my body. More like I needed to sleep as soon as possible.”
Without bothering to keep bantering with Blue, I returned to the inn as quick as I can and go to the bed. Lucky for me, I managed to return to the room and reach the bed before I feel things going really bad.
”Welcome back, Kazuma. How are things?” Maple asked.
”It is fine... I got the info. However, I need to hit the sack... good night...”
”Huh? W-wait Kazuma, don't just drift off to sleep yet! You haven't eaten dinner at all! Hey!”
And that was the last thing I heard before I drifted to sleep and arrived in the land of slumber.
...
”Huh? You are back again?”
I slowly opened my eyes and once again, I found myself in the world of my consciousness. And the guy who keeps on calling himself my ”alter ego” appeared in front of me once again.
”What the hell, did I overexert myself again this time around for me to arrive back in the depths of my consciousness?!”
”You are reckless aren't ya? I don't know if I should have to praise you on that or ridicule you to some extent. This is too much even for an average person ya' know? How many screw-ups did you perform these days eh?”
”Shut up, you are a blabbermouth aren't you? Why do you keep on summoning here as always?”
”The heck? Why are you blaming me? I don't have the slightest idea why you keep on intruding on my domain. I didn't even bother you so why are you angry at me? I should be the one going to be angry at you as you have breached my property!”
I shook my head and stood upon the ground. Unlike before, I can now stand up without any difficulty.
”Oh, now you can get up and move around here without any problem. That means you have gotten stronger than before. That is commendable for someone who is a complete mess of a person.”
”You are mocking the inside of your consciousness you know?” the alter ego said grinning.
”How did you know what I was thinking?”
”Because we share the same mind. The only thing is that I can hear what you are thinking clearly while you have no similar rights to do so on hearing mine.”
”That is a little bit unfair...”
”Hahaha, that is the law of this world. If you get frustrated, you can't do sh*t about it, hahaha!”
I am close to getting pissed by this guy but I am holding it in.
”Hahaha, try and hit me and you will feel the pain I felt twice the amount. Don't worry too much, you can hit me as much as you like unless you are a masochist.”
”...”
”Now, what are you going to do? Surely, you won't be going back to reality soon since you are still here and not yet fading. How about you walk around with me? I know this place like the back of my hand. You won't worry about getting lost around here with me guiding you until you awaken. What do you think? Is that good enough? If you wanted to explore around here all alone, you will have the bigger risk of getting lost and if you got entangled to something unexpected, you might be tied up in here and you will have no more chance to return.”
”...Fine. Lead the way. Don't you dare do tricks on me or I will screw you up.”
”Hahaha, screw who? Don't you remember? If you hit me, you will feel the pain, more like screw yourself!”
There is no other choice. As much as I want to beat up this guy, if I can feel double the pain he felt, I am still screwed up. Also, even if I wanted to explore this place around all by myself, it cannot beat the one with the guide. I still wanted to return to my body rather than get stuck here.
”Shall we go?” the alter ego asked.
”Yes, lead the way.”
...
I was thinking that this place is small at first since all I ever have seen so far is the room where I ended up with. How naive I was. It is indeed small but that was only a single room. Outside is a massive place with several hallways and open spaces.
”Is this really my consciousness?” I asked as I marveled at the place.
”Yes indeed. This place is your consciousness. Although most of the places here are empty, as you grow older, this place will be filled with different things based on your experiences. Call it your memory bank.”
”Every wall of this place will be filled with different books that are all about your life. You can say that your consciousness is a massive library of knowledge and personal record of your life. Anything you encountered so far and everything you learned is immediately stored here.”
”If that is the case, how come most of the walls here are empty?” I asked.
”Naive. Do you think during that age of yours is enough to fill up a whole room of books? Your life currently is only composed of 4 books so how do you think you can fill these shelves with books if that amount barely even consume the top shelf of a normal bookshelf?”
”4 books? That little?”
”Indeed. Since human lives are long, especially if you become a magician, there is no way you can have a lot of those books at your age. Most will only have 3 or 4 books and yours are the average amount people get.”
”So, can I read them if I wanted to?”
”Your abilities are too small and too weak for you to access an akashic record like this. Since all memories of yours will be part of this massive library of books in the future, it will be treated as one of the akashic records though if it is compiled together in the shelves of the akashic records, your record will be as insignificant as a small piece of dust in the air. If you wanted to read it, be sure to increase your abilities and keep yourself worthy of accessing it. Only a few individuals gifted and blessed enough can see and read the entirety of the files the Akashic Records can give.”
So much info came into my mind that I don't think I can easily catch up with what he is saying at all.
”Don't worry too much. You will get used to it and sooner or later, you will encounter this again. It is just something I advise you to do if you don't want to get troubled in accessing it in the very future.”
”Just who are you?”
”I already told you to haven't I? I am your alter ego, your other-self. There is nothing much in there except I am just another being born from you.”
As we continue along the way, we passed by a hallway that seemed to have a glass attached which acted as windows, allowing anyone to view what is outside. On the other side of the hallway we are walking on, a wide body of water with glittering glows of different colors catches my eyes. It was so eyecatching since I never expected a place like an ocean appears in this place.
”What is that place? Why is there a body of water here?”
”Oh, that? I call that the ”Sea of consciousness”. All of the ideas, choices, and many other things that provide a sort of intelligence and decision making came here. Every wave from this sea is a single action you did. The bigger your decision is, the bigger the wave it does.”
The sea of consciousness is big. It is indeed a sea despite that it only exists in my mind. I wonder if this is part of my brain but I decided to just leave it at that.
We continue our tour but nothing is interesting much in here. There are occasional places where my alter ego pointed out some traps that shouldn't be triggered because it is troublesome to deal with. We returned to the last room I was in earlier after that.
”The tour is quite boring, isn't it? Because your consciousness is also boring and barren. There is nothing much for me to even give myself entertainment. So next time, be sure to make lots of memories, entertain me too so that I won't get bored. Maybe you can get some after your battle against that creature or whatsoever in your mission.”
I wanted to say something but then I noticed my whole body is fading.
”Oh? You are waking up so soon? Then, until the next time you arrive here. I expect new things will appear here after all right? Don't bore me out, I am not a patient person after all.”
My answer did not manage to reach the alter ego as my consciousness slowly drifted away...
...
”Aah!”
THUD!
Pain registered on my face as I realized that I fell from the sofa. I clearly remembered that I fell asleep on the bed without waiting for Maple due to fatigue but now, I am on the sofa. Did Maple carried me away from the bed and put me here on the sofa? We agreed earlier that I will be sleeping on the sofa so there are no hard feelings. However, who carried me to the sofa? There is no way for me to know since my consciousness is wandering around somewhere.
I looked into the bed and Maple is still sleeping. I can see the spirit of Masamune floating above Maple as it guards her while sleeping. He noticed my presence and he grinned at me.
”Looks like you are awake, boy. You were like a dead man last night since you did not move at all when you were being moved from the bed to the sofa.”
”You carried me to the sofa?”
”Of course. It would be unprofessional of me as familiar to let his master do the work.”