Breaking The Simulation

Cale’s Awakening Factor

Cale attempted the sensing method to determine the type of his mental power and to assess the system to which his powers belonged. If it worked, he should see results very soon.

After a while, Cale frowned.

“Something is wrong! Why is nothing happening?”

He furrowed his brow in annoyance, feeling frustrated that nothing seemed to occur despite his repeated attempts. Time after time, every attempt Cale made seemed to meet with consistent snags.

“Did I do it wrong?”

“No, that’s impossible. The sensing method is a compulsory skill in the learning center’s curriculum, and I received full marks while practicing it. I can’t be wrong now, so what exactly is the problem? Unless…”

Cale pondered deeply, his confusion stemming from a simple fact. That is, when practicing the sensing method, there would typically be clear indications of success, which had been explained previously. In one particular case, those signs would be even more pronounced.

This applies when performing the sensing method in a mindscape. Since the sensing method is simply a way of applying mental power, inside a mindscape, one could directly “see” the effects of using this method.

The mindscape, being a manifestation of the psyche, allowed one to witness exactly what was happening, thus, after using the sensing method, Cale should have been able to see the effects immediately.

Typically, this would manifest in the movement of the mana around him. If his mental power belonged to the law type, the mana should surge like an ocean; if it belonged to the order type, it would divide into columns. For body refinement, it was more subtle but since their senses were mostly introspective, when applying the sensing method all the mana should be drawn into their bodies.

These insights had been passed down through countless seniors who had practiced and perfected the sensing method over numerous generations. No matter what, the results should not deviate much from this.

Yet, nothing was happening, which could only mean…

“This is not a mindscape!” When Cale reached this conclusion, he was shocked beyond measure.

But thinking it over, everything fit perfectly; this was the only way things would make sense.

The sensing method was not working because Cale wasn’t in a mindscape, which is why he could not witness its effects. What was even more bizarre and shocking was the fact that this space seemed to completely block out any form of psychic perception.

Even though the sensing method was not revealing any effects on the space itself, Cale should still be able to sense his psyche using the method to determine the nature of the system his powers belonged to. However, this was not happening.

It was as if some force was blocking Cale’s psyche and preventing him from manifesting his mental power in this space. Yet, he could still think and move about freely, which meant his ‘will’ remained intact.

Though will and mental power are closely related, they are distinct concepts that do not have binding effects on each other. A person with a poor will could possess boundless mental power, while someone with weak mental powers might have a dauntless will.

Still, the question remained, “If this is not a mindscape, then where the hell am I?”

…

In the real world…

Selene and the others continued to monitor Cale’s vitals and collect various readings from his body.

Several aspects were under scrutiny by the team, including heart rate, blood pressure, and brain wave patterns, which are standard metrics in experiments like this. Even more critical were the readings on mental power activity and changes to Cale’s core genetic makeup—areas most affected by a power awakening.

After just a few minutes into the tests, a sudden spike in the readings drew Selene’s attention.

On the huge screen, the displayed numbers surged dramatically. These numbers represented the activity level of Cale’s psyche, and the surge indicated an increase in his consciousness activity.

Looking at the readings, Selene made a preliminary judgment. “Judging from the readings, could the subject’s consciousness be in some kind of mindscape? These numbers are consistent with previous records.”

However, as time passed and the numbers continued to increase, she furrowed her brow, realizing something was amiss. “That’s not right. The numbers keep spiking with no signs of decline at all indicating the presence of a mindscape that is shielding him from the influence of the procedure. But something is wrong about these numbers.”

“Numbers like these are consistent with highly developed mindscapes and shouldn’t appear in a fledgling, newly awakened person. Could this be a result of his unique awakening factor, leading to such a powerful mindscape upon first awakening?”

“Given the lack of records, it stands to reason that the possibilities for what kind of powers originate from such an unknown awakening factor are endless.”

While Selene was lost in thought, a sudden call from one of the researchers monitoring Cale brought her back to reality.

“Excuse me, ma’am, you need to see this. I’m receiving some abnormal readings from his DNA sequence.”

As she turned to look at the readings, another voice called out.

“Over here too, ma’am. His blood plasma levels are showing unusual activity.”

Then another voice chimed in, “The brain activity scans are also indicating elevated responses to unknown stimuli, ma’am.”

“Heart rate and pulse are erratic and inconsistent with previous readings,” another researcher added.

“Unknown parameters are detected in the prefrontal cortex region of his brain, ma’am.”

“Ma’am, this is bad! There are abnormal data signals within the subject's body, the source of which remains unidentified. It has begun to corrupt all readings on the subject, ma’am. We’ve completely lost control over the subject's samples.”

One by one, reports of anomalous data flooded the room, overwhelming Selene, who looked around in confusion, unsure of how to respond.

With the increasing number of unknown data points and the final alarming report about the corruption of Cale’s samples, Selene was at a loss for words.

Finally, with a blank expression of disbelief on her face, Selene turned to gaze at the image of Cale lying peacefully on the monitor, her mind swirling with unanswerable questions.