“There has to be a way. You said he can’t reach here, right? Whatever. What if we discover a way to disconnect your protocol from inside here?” Silva asked.
[I see what you are aiming at, but even that is very unlikely. This space I have is extremely massive. I don’t know what is inside—many hidden aspects and components are within.
I don’t even know where the connection is, so I can’t say how you’ll try to disconnect it when we can’t even find where it is.]
“Still, I think I can try to search and find it. Slowly. It might take a while, but I’m sure that we will be able to find it one day,” Silva said, looking around into the void.
[I would be more than happy if you found a way to break me out of the protocol. I hate the control. I hate that I have to do things that I don’t want to.]
“Both of us are more alike than you’d think. You also don’t want to be understood by anyone. Well, that’s quite good, System.
You and I, let’s get to the bottom of all of this while tricking the goddess into thinking that we are still listening and following her plans.
When we break you free from the protocol, that’s when the main game starts—if you’re up for it, that is,” Silva said.
[It’s a deal then, Host. I’m also happy that I got to freely talk to you. Now, with our deeper connection, you can come here whenever. But you still have to be careful, as the goddess is watchful, and she might notice.]
“I’ll be careful for sure,” Silva said. He let out a chuckle. “My body is seemingly having lots of space inside me. First, it was the summoning plane, and second is this place,” Silva said.
“How do I leave here?” Silva asked. Stay tuned for updates on My Virtual Library Empire
[Your body took heavy damage on different levels. It will not be able to fully function for a while, nor will you be able to leave this place for a while.]
“I was hit that bad?” Silva asked, shocked that he actually took that much damage from the fight.
[Indeed. The damage that you took was beyond what should have been possible. Somehow, you entered a state where you went beyond what should have been possible.]
“I see. I pushed my body beyond the breaking point. But tell me, how long will it be before I wake up?” Silva asked.
[Your healing factor kicked in a while ago, and your body is already close to being fully fixed. At best, you will be unconscious for a full day.]
“I see. Well then, since I have some time, why don’t we go ahead and search this space?” Silva said, but after he spoke, he felt a tug on his consciousness.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
[It seems someone has introduced an external material into your body—a healing potion—and it has heightened your recovery. You might be up in a few seconds.]
Just as the system said that, he felt a pull, and this one dragged him back into the land of the living. His eyes flickered open.
The bright rays of light assaulted his eyes, and he closed them immediately.
“Arghhh,” he groaned. He tried to use his hands to cover his eyes, but his hands didn’t respond to his instructions.
He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them to allow light to get into them. After a while, he could make out his surroundings.
He was lying inside a room. He turned his head and saw Lia seated right beside him. In her hand was an empty potion bottle.
“It’s you, Lia,” Silva said and tried to get up, but a sharp pain ran through his body, and he fell back onto his bed.
“Arghhh.”
‘Seems I haven’t made a full recovery,’ he thought.
“You can’t move yet. Your injuries ran very deep,” Lia said. She placed the bottle beside her on the ground and then leaned in close.
“I don’t know exactly what happened. We all blacked out all of a sudden. When we woke up, you weren’t there, and the horses were gone.
We tracked you down and found you lying on the street—if we can call it a street anymore. It was evident that a very massive fight had happened, or better still, a battle.
And since we saw you there, we could tell that it had something to do with you. When we found you, the injuries were a lot. It was the first time we had ever seen you that wounded.
We had to forsake all hiding and teleport close to the capital with Amber’s help. We found a way in and got this room for you.
All I’m trying to say is I don’t know what happened or why you are like this, but I have a feeling that it had something to do with us and protecting everyone.
Or at least, that is what I’d like to believe. I hope you’ll tell us one day,” Lia said.
“Stop, Lia. Stop trying to make it seem like you don’t want to know right now. But before we get into that, I’m intrigued as to how you all made it into the capital with Lena and me in our states,” Silva said.
“We had to use items and abilities that you asked us to keep hidden. But it was quite an emergency, so we had to do it,” Lia said.
“You don’t have to explain it too much. I trust your decisions. I’ll try to heal up faster. I want you to get the others to me.
I want to apologize for my snapping back then in that town about Lena. I knew I pushed everyone to the edge and caused the whole fight, and so I want to apologize,” Silva said.
“No, Silva, you didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, I did. There’s no need to say otherwise, Lia. So please, just get everyone for me. Please.”
Lia looked reluctant, but she finally got up and walked out of the room.