Breaking The Simulation

Kaleb Blair Nike

No!!!

A loud roar suddenly resounded around Cale’s psyche as he forcefully cut off the voices of doubt that were swimming through his head.

“My name is Kaleb Blair Nike, an orphan. I’m 19 years old and I am being held against my will by unknown captors. I am a prisoner trapped by evildoers and this is a trick by them to break me—I will not be broken!” Cale screamed with conviction in an attempt to use the sheer force of willpower to regain his sanity.

With that outburst, a certain shred of clarity came into Cale’s mind and he quickly regained control of his mind if only for a brief moment.

It was then that Cale realized just how close he had been to losing himself. If he hasn’t come to his senses when he did Cale didn’t know what would have happened to him. This thought terrified him but it made him even more furious.

“Damn it. Can’t believe this is happening to me. I finally managed to awaken and could finally change my fate but before I could do anything I ended up being captured and in this situation. Whoever is responsible for this, just wait until I get out then I will make sure you pay.” Cale swore vehemently.

After that bout of emotion, Cale finally focused on the matter at hand. He was still without any senses and most of his memories were suppressed, but that didn’t stop Cale from focusing on what was important—escaping.

“Ok Cale, calm down. I have to break out of here first. This is probably an illusion I'm trapped in—a very sinister one at that—I’m gonna have to forcefully break through it and there’s only one way to do that.”

“It’s time to check what powers ive awakened and hopefully it’ll be able to help me not only break the illusion but also escape from captivity.”

“I refuse to live under the mercy of others anymore.”

With that, while Cale’s consciousness was still clear, he tried to sense the source of his powers—his awakening factor.”

It was very easy—just as soon as Cale thought about his awakened powers, it came to him and Cale’s consciousness suddenly vanished from where it was.

When he became aware again, Cale found himself in a completely different world.

…

Back in reality, as Selene monitored Cale’s vitals through the various displays on the screen, a loud beeping sound suddenly emerged. Quickly, Selene turned her attention to the display where sudden spikes in the readings were observed.

Recognizing what parameters that display represented, a glint of excitement finally crossed Selene’s face.

“It’s finally begun. He’s tapping into his awakening factor to use his abilities. Now let us see what kind of power you awakened that has never been seen before.”

…

Cale appeared in a completely barren world filled with absolutely nothing but a thick gaseous cloud of mana brewing like a storm.

As soon as Cale appeared here, he felt his consciousness being invigorated like he had been injected with mind clear boosters which elevated him to a fever high of clarity. In this state, Cale felt the negative effects that lingered on his psyche as a result of the previous experience was swiftly swept away. His senses recovered and his memories gradually broke free from the suppression, rushing back into his mind like a flood.

In this state, Cale felt like he could pull off countless all-nighters for months and never get tired. This feeling amazed Cale giving him the assurance that his awakened power was definitely top notch.

“Wow, this effect is very impressive. It’s like I’ve been reborn and I've completely regained my senses in this space and I no longer have that hazy feeling of no existence anymore. This power is incredible.”

“But what kind of power is it and what is this space? Is this some kind of mindscape? Are my awakened powers an outlier that is related to the mind and psyche?”

“As great as that would be, how exactly do I use it and can it help me deal with my current predicament?”

Confusion gradually began to set in as Cale tried to explore his powers, specifically the space he was currently in. Usually, after one awakens, information about their powers comes naturally to them. It wasn’t the case for every awakened individual as some had to personally perform various tests to uncover their powers.

Clearly, this was the case with Cale as he didn’t immediately know what his powers were upon waking from unconsciousness. Probably because he had fainted during the awakening this is why he didn’t receive any inflow of knowledge regarding his powers.

But this wasn’t a problem. Without having to rely strictly on himself alone, there was a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding awakening from previous awakened in the fortress for Cale to draw from and so he began using that to determine his powers.

Cale found that he could move freely within this space just as if there were no limits to his actions within it. As there was no ground, with a single thought, Cale’s body moved as if soaring through the air.

Realizing he had absolute control inside this space, the first thing Cale did was naturally conjure something out of nothing inside the space.

“If I can conjure anything from imagination inside this space, does this mean my powers fall under the law classification of power?”

…

Awakened powers are classified into two categories: law-type powers and order-type powers.

These two types of powers follow completely different systems of development and methods of utilization, each adopting various philosophies that culminate in unique schools of thought.

Generally, law-type powers operate within a mage-like system of development that emphasizes the manipulation of mana through personal and direct actions. All awakened powers manipulate mana to achieve their desired effects. Law-type awakened individuals can directly manipulate mana to create specific results using their powers.

For instance, a conjurer can manipulate mana to summon flames, ice, or other elemental and material forces and shape these forces to their will. A summoner, a subset of conjurers, can use their mana to connect with different subdimensional realms to summon creatures from those realms to do their bidding. These awakened mages succeed in their endeavors through the direct manipulation of mana. Their powers, granted by their awakening, come with different abilities tailored to the law type of power.

In contrast, order-type powers achieve their effects through the indirect manipulation of mana using external mediums and mechanisms. Typically referred to as manipulators or controllers, order-type awakened individuals display their abilities by controlling artificial constructs like guns, tanks, robots, and mechas, or more traditional artifacts like swords, spears, and blades.

Then there are the outliers—deviants—who do not strictly conform to the classification of these two power systems but include a mix of both systems. These include powers like body enhancements that directly manipulate mana to strengthen and evolve their natural bodies beyond their ordinary limits but can also manipulate various arms to enhance their strength, as well as spirit mediums who can bewilder and capture people's minds but also possess the bodies of mechas and robots to engage in direct combat.

The existence of professions arose from these classifications. Professions are narrower categories for different awakened individuals, based on the specific abilities their powers exhibit and the roles they enable them to play.

Naturally, there are ways to determine what type an awakened power falls under, which is why Cale suspected he had awakened a law-type power. One sign of a law-type power is the ability to freely manipulate mana to conjure anything, which is why Cale first tested this ability.

However, what he would conjure would depend on the specific abilities his awakened factor possessed. In this space—Cale suspected it to be some kind of mindscape—with abundant mana, conjuring something from nothing should have been easy. Unfortunately, when Cale willed his power, nothing happened. He was unable to create anything using his imagination.

This suggested he was likely not a law-type awakened individual. Nevertheless, Cale didn't give up immediately. He continued trying different methods to test for law-type powers, yet nothing happened. With increasing certainty, Cale concluded that his powers were not law-based.

“In that case, could I be an order-type awakened?” Cale pondered.

Without hesitation, Cale shifted his testing methods to those used for determining order-type powers, which were generally more challenging to test. While law-type awakened individuals simply need to attempt direct manipulation of mana, order-type individuals require a medium for their powers, making testing more complex. However, there was one method that worked almost perfectly as an initial determination technique.

This method is called the sensory method.

All awakened individuals possess some form of sensing ability, but the method of sensing varies based on the type of power and its classification. For law-type awakened individuals, their senses generally manifest as a sea like wave that surges outward from their psyche. When their senses interact with the physical world, it resembles a flood covering and submerging everything within it.

Information is what one interacts with through their senses, and anything that enters this sea of psychic energy simply vanishes like a stone sinking into a rushing river, leaving ripples that indicate the size of the information.

Meanwhile, the senses of order-type awakened individuals typically manifest as tendrils of loose psychic energy, much like the strings of a puppet. Unlike law-type awakened individuals, these tendrils possess greater maneuverability and control, allowing order-type awakened individuals to interact better with the physical environment.

In contrast, outliers, such as body-type awakened individuals, tend to possess more introspective senses, enabling them to have better awareness and control over their physical bodies. Spirit mediums and similar individuals usually boast the most profound senses among all awakened types, with the ability to infiltrate the mindscapes of others.

Ultimately, all awakened individuals have the potential to possess unique abilities and methods of sensing, shaped by the classifications of their powers.

Also, all awakened had the potential to possess mindscapes in their subconscious and conscious planes and it wasn’t exclusive to only spirit mediums and their like. This is why Cale never suspected first that his powers belonged to the spiritual kind.