Prisoners of VR

Rahu stood atop a barren patch of land and activated his Skill. All he experienced was nausea as his Brainpower and Willpower were consumed. Nothing happened though, for there was no grass in the target vicinity.

He began to walk and continued the experimentation, sighing in the end, "I need to personally be in contact with the grass that I'm using to create my Grass Stick. Otherwise, it's impossible."

There was a severe range limitation. Physical contact was a necessity. Following that, he condensed a Grass Stick and began to flail it around, slamming it on the ground from time to time.

After a few hits, the Grass Stick became battered. But with a thought from him, the damage mended, consuming one unit of Willpower. It wasn't regeneration though, but just a better rearrangement of the grass strands to maintain the Grass Stick's intended function.

A few hours of nonstop experimentation later, Rahu managed to conclude his observations, "Brainpower is necessary to create the construct. It seems that the larger and more complex the structure gets, the greater the Brainpower consumed."

"As for Willpower, it gets consumed depending on how much the source material is rearranged to form the intended item. Moreover, maintaining use or repair further expends Willpower." He muttered, "Once my Willpower gets exhausted, the structural integrity of the Grass Stick is voided."

When Rahu created a Grass Stick from a patch of short grass, he expended a unit of Willpower every twenty to thirty minutes. But if the Grass Stick was created from long grass, it expended a unit of Willpower after a couple of hours.

If the height of the grass was one metre, the same as the Grass Stick, then the created Grass Stick lasted for many hours before it expended one unit of Willpower. Also, the structural integrity varied depending on the source material.

If Rahu used healthy, thick grass, the Grass Stick was stronger. But if he used wilted grass, the Grass Stick was weaker. Therefore, the same Skill's effectiveness varied based on the available material.

He couldn't figure out how Empower played a part in this. Since Grass Stick only required one unit of Empower, Rahu couldn't determine how his 16 units of Empower affected the result. He didn't notice any difference between the Grass Stick he created and the one created by someone else. "Guess I'll find it out eventually."

"There are plenty of worrying aspects already." Sighing, Rahu logged out from Worldcraft and returned to reality. He calmly extended his hand and thought for a moment.

Induced Reality-Grass Stick!

A Grass Stick appeared in his hand. It was a healthy one that he pictured, based on what he created in Worldcraft just recently. 'The fact that I can create the Grass Stick even without possessing its 3D Model is worrisome.'

Woof currently possessed the Skill of Grass Stick. Thanks to Worldcraft, it was as if Rahu possessed all the 3D Models that the Skill of Grass Stick could create. It was akin to possessing the master key for an arsenal of weapons.

"Sir, is something the matter?" Ashok asked once he noticed Rahu waking up, "It hasn't been long since you logged in to Worldcraft."

"Ashok," Rahu stared at his Deputy Head of Security.

"Yes?" Ashok replied promptly.

"We have a garden on the premises, right?" Rahu asked.

"Yes, we do." Ashok nodded.

"Then, bring me a flower pot. Plant some grass in it." Rahu said and specified its dimensions, "The pot should be the same size as those used in offices to raise cactuses."

"What type of grass should I plant in them?" Ashok asked. He didn't mind the odd request but rather inquired about the details. "There's the decorative grass and the wild ones."

"Plant the wild one," Rahu stated, "Just a fresh lump would do."

"Give me ten minutes," Ashok stared at his watch, "The gardener is usually around at this hour. So, I'll get his assistance."

Ten minutes later, Ashok returned with a pot that was a trapezoidal cylinder. A fresh batch of grass had been planted on it and mildly watered to set them up.

At Rahu's command, Ashok set it on the table before and exited the room as commanded.

Now that he was alone, Rahu's uVR Earth shone black as he switched to its military mode. All electronic gadgets in his room were forcefully shut down. Lights, AC, and even the wall clock.

The uVR Earth shone yellow as it entered the creator mode, causing Rahu's vision to experience minor changes when perceived through Augmented Reality-it displayed electromagnetic rays. The electromagnetic rays in his room died out one after another as he diverted them, soon creating a void in the room.

Following that, his uVR Earth shone jade as Rahu inhaled a deep breath, "A visit to Worldcraft made me worried enough to attempt this."

Rahu reached the depths of his Virtual Space where locked behind hundreds of layers of security was a human brain, filled with information deemed too valuable to ever be revealed. It was the ultimate secret derived by Megasphere and split into seven fragments.

Synchro Code-I!

The brain was blue in colour; it wasn't flesh but silicon in nature. Once activated, it shone as sparks of electricity arched over it, causing a fluctuation that echoed throughout the Virtual Space.

Roar!

The countless Ligers living in his Virtual Space trembled in fear and roared in fright. They huddled in caves, jumped into the water, plunged under piles of clothes, etc. The Ligers fled in all directions, entering anywhere in the Virtual Space they could to escape from the emission.

But nowhere was safe, for the fluctuation encompassed the entire virtual space. And from there, through the Neural Connector, electric signals were transmitted into his brain.

The brain generated signals in response to the uVR Earth, creating an environmental fluctuation in the Virtual Space that was absorbed by the silicon brain. A moment later, it transmitted another wave of fluctuations.

There were transmissions to and fro between Rahu's Brain and the silicon brain, causing faint sounds to be heard in the room. The sounds increased in intensity, akin to static electricity on a woollen fabric being generated by rubbing in winter.

In the dark room, Rahu's hair stood up to resemble spikes; each strand of hair glowed faintly. Tiny arcs of electricity sparked from one strand of hair to another, lighting up the surroundings for a brief instant.

From one spark per second, the intensity spiked as soon enough, hundreds of flashes occurred in a second, brightening up the room faintly.

Induced Reality-Grass Stick!

Rahu extended his hand and gently touched a blade of grass in the pot. Electric arcs flashed from the hair on his head and coursed through the hair on his right arm before it flowed out.

A flicker flashed out from his index finger and touched the blade of grass. In his Augmented Reality perception, Rahu was currently like a microcosmos, unleashing cosmic rays in a variety of forms.

Electromagnetic radiation, gravity, electrostatic forces, Vander Waals forces, Electron affinity, etc. Every single force of nature that existed, whether or not discovered by humans was currently being unleashed by Rahu.

And the target was the blade of grass.

He fell under a hallucination, his vision flickering between reality and Induced Reality. The Grass Stick was held by his hands in Induced Reality, fluctuating in and out with reality.

"Huff...Hufff...HUFF...!" His breathing became laboured as blood dripped out of his nose, turning his shirt bloody. His eyes were bloodshot while veins were clearly visible on his forehead. He was sweating buckets.

There was a noticeable difference in his facial features. His cheeks had become slightly sunken. His skin became dry. His lips cracked and turned reddish.

And if one weighed him currently, they would notice his body losing mass at a consistent pace every second. Even though it was on the level of grams, it still was an additive reduction of mass.

The flickering of electric arcs among the hair on his head continued to increase in frequency. Hundred per second, two hundred per second, three hundred...it continued to increase. And with it, so did the brightness in the dark room.

It was sheerly being illuminated by the arching electricity.

Fully focused on the blade of grass, a solemn feeling enveloped Rahu as he mentally prayed for this to fail and for the rebound to knock him unconscious or even hospitalise him.

Too much was at stake here and he hoped to never open the Pandora's Box. Humanity wasn't ready to handle it. So, he really, really, very dearly hoped to fail.

In one instant, it was reality; his hand was empty while touching the blade of grass. In another instant, he was clutching the Grass Stick over the barren pot, a product of his Induced Reality, with the target being himself.

He could feel his brain being overclocked. An intense sense of exhaustion enveloped him, making him wish he could sleep. The greater the sensation, the more relieved Rahu felt. After all, if even he, with his tremendous reservoir of Brainpower, was incapable of succeeding, then none could, even among the rest of the seven that possessed a Synchro Code.

The reality and Induced Reality continued to alternate at a faster and faster pace, causing his body to heat up. His head became so hot his sweat perforated faster. Faint steam began to rise as the sounds of electric currents became louder and louder.

Soon, the sounds were loud enough to be equivalent to sparks generated by loosely connected wires on a transformer.

The flesh brain and the silicon brain intensified the transmission rates. Soon, the frequency of electric flickering became high enough to no longer appear janky to the human eye. It became a consistent stream, lighting up the room.

Just as Rahu sighed in relief and intended to stop, the fluctuating images between reality and Induced Reality blurred intensely. A foreboding sensation exploded in his heart as the blur disappeared. The two alternate realities, one real, and one unreal synchronised into a union, causing a spark of energy on the flower pot, "No..."

The strands of grass became alive as they coiled into his grip and elongated into a stick shape, horrifying him, "No! No! NO! This can't be happening!"

Induced Reality (Synchro Code)-Grass Stick!

...

..

.

Synchronised Reality-Grass Stick!

Followed by the energy spark, Rahu stared at the twenty-centimetre-long Grass Stick in his hand, aghast. The ends were incomplete; there was insufficient grass for completion.

It didn't even exist for a second before crumbling into strands of grass that wilted.

His uVR Earth turned dull to the extreme as his brain activity ceased to the bare minimum necessary to remain alive.

Rahu collapsed, losing consciousness. The last he witnessed was the flower pot exploding as the soil within it spilled all over the room.