Doomsday Wonderland

Lin Sanjiu felt that the life of the next few days was even more challenging than the fight with Irezumi alone.

Even though they were in an era of apocalypse, Magus remained persistent in living the best quality out of her life.

She wanted her bed sheet changed every day. The rug on the floor had to be cleaned and vacuumed on a daily basis. She wanted no hair in her bathroom, not even a single strand. She had a long list of requirements regarding the air freshener to be used in her room: air freshener with synthetic fragrance was off limit; only light perfume and fresh flower were allowed, and they needed to be changed every day.

It wasn’t hard to find some light perfume, but that wasn’t the case for fresh flowers. Since they were clueless of where to find some fresh flowers, Lin Sanjiu just plucked a green bristlegrass and threw it under Magus’ bed with the mind hoping that Magus wouldn’t one day bend down to look for her earring under her bed.

Aside from Magus’ room, Lin Sanjiu had to clean the other room that contained Magus’ hostages. After all, with so many people cramped inside a room without any sunlight, Lin Sanjiu was confident that their room would soon be permeated with a musty smell if she didn’t clean it. When she queried Magus why would she collect so many human specimens, the latter just lifted her chin and threw Lin Sanjiu a sidelong glance, “For you to ask this question, I can assume that you have no idea how useful they are. Anyway, if you couldn’t get yourself some living human specimen, perhaps you may collect some dead bodies? It would do the trick too.”

Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent, though she had only a hazy notion of the whole idea. Lin Sanjiu allowed her curiosity to set in as she mulled over what Magus had said. Then, she moved on to her next battlefield—the kitchen. Although Magus didn’t request them to prepare her three meals per day, she would ask them to cook her lunch or dinner now and then.

Speaking of which, Lin Sanjiu felt a little bit strange.

Truth to be told, Lin Sanjiu’s cooking skill was even worse than Ji Shanqing’s, but the silver lining was that Magus wasn’t a picky eater. It was just whenever Lin Sanjiu sent her meal into her room, Magus would return the meal to her not long after. Every time, there weren’t any noticeable reduction in the dishes. It appeared to her that Magus was playing with the foods rather than eating the meal. Nevertheless, Magus was always able to pinpoint out a few of her slip-ups she made in the kitchen such as the fish that wasn’t cooked thoroughly or that she had used too much salt.

There were too many varieties of requests and demands from Magus. Aside from cleaning the rooms, Lin Sanjiu had to manicure her nails, iron her clothes, polish her shoes, and so forth. After she had done all those errands, she realized, with great surprise, that she hadn’t had time to take care of her [School of Higher Consciousness] and that segment of foreign cells. At the same time as Lin Sanjiu was overwhelmed by all kinds of domestic drudgeries, the other three people were pretty occupied with the task in their hands as well.

“Four of a kind, bomb!” Qing Jiuliu exclaimed. He threw the cards in his hand into the ring and huffed at the slip of paper that dangled from his forehead, “Oh yeah! Finally! It’s my turn to win!”

Ji Shanqing lifted his head. He was about to speak but said nothing in the end. He returned the king on his hand back to his deck.

Qing Jiuliu blinked his eyes, as he had smelled something fishy from Magus’ smile. He turned his head to see that Lin Sanjiu was standing at his back, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her face was overcast with fury.

“… Smoking, drinking, gambling, you really know how to enjoy your life in the most hedonistic way huh.”

“Eh-he-he-he, just a mini-game to cheer up the team’s morale.”

“Cut the crap! Take the broom and clean that room,” Lin Sanjiu said as she lassoed a broom from the corner with her bone tail and stuffed it into Qing Jiuliu’s embrace. Then, she turned to look at Ji Shanqing. Her final bit of compassion and love for her grand prize had crumbled away at this moment, “You, throw on the apron, and start to prepare the meal.”

Ji Shanqing and Qing Jiuliu looked at each other. Both of them said nothing and went to do their bidding.

“Well, good riddance you’re here,” Magus drawled. She threw her deck of cards on the table and rested her chin on her palm, “…I was going to lose this round anyway. Look, all are numbers.”

“Magus,” Lin Sanjiu found herself a seat and pushed away all the cards, “When should I begin to activate my Higher Consciousness?”

Magus lit up a slim cigarette and set it in between her fingers, “Has your Evolved Ability recovered yet?”

Lin Sanjiu thought for a while before laying her palm open. She concentrated her mind and, with some struggle, a contour of a card was slowly blinking into existence on her palm. Not wanting to give up, she fed the figure with more of her Higher Consciousness, after which the card took form and finally appeared on top of her hand.

“This ability of yours is such a perfect match to cheat on a card game,” Magus’ eyes glowed. She smiled, “…Hmm, so you can use your Higher Consciousness now?”

Indeed, she could use abilities such as [Defence Forcefield] and [Higher Consciousness Scan]. But when she tried to enter her [School of Higher Consciousness], the thing that greeted her was a vast blanket of darkness. Mrs. Manas was still nowhere to be seen; even the classroom had disappeared.

“Yes, I can use my ability, but I still can’t open my [School of Higher Consciousness].” She opened her eyes and said, but her voice was laced with disappointment.

“Oh? That’s weird.” Magus replied as she exhaled a ring of smoke from her mouth.

As the white smoke twirled around her face, she narrowed her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her pewter irises. Her aged face wasn’t flawless, yet the very air around her that exuded her true feminine charm had a mysterious power that had Lin Sanjiu glued her eyes on her. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t tear her gaze away from her.

“Hey,” Magus snapped her finger, cutting into Lin Sanjiu’s thought. She jerked up and sat as stiff as a ramrod.

“Your Higher Consciousness is weak.” She slumped into the chair, using her slender body to create a graceful curve. “It’s such a miracle that you can escape from the astral plane.”

“Why? What makes you say that?”

“I have to start from the foundation,” Magus gathered up her golden hair behind her ear and said nonchalantly. “Do you know the reason why there are so many posthuman, yet only a few of them have Higher Consciousness?”

Lin Sanjiu shook her head. She didn’t know why.

“The Potential Growth Value is what constitutes a posthuman. And all posthuman needed Potential Growth Value to further develop their abilities. You should know that, right?”

Lin Sanjiu nodded.

“Great, so I don’t have to start from zero. That’ll save us an eon of time,” Magus said. “Just like building a house on top of a substructure, the development of an Evolved Ability is premised on the Potential Growth Value. However, it isn’t the same for Higher Consciousness. In other quarters, Higher Consciousness is not an Evolved Ability.”

“It isn’t?” Lin Sanjiu asked, her mouth gaped wide in surprise like a giant black hole.

“Close your mouth, that makes you look less like an idiot. Higher Consciousness has realized the Potential Growth Value, making it into a power that draws energy from your willpower, your psyche, and your mind. Although both Higher Consciousness and Evolved Ability feed on the same source, the former is a whole new system,” Magus said, keeping her frown, “For instance, you plan to build a house on a foundation, then somebody comes along and took away the foundation you have made and used the rebar to make something else… Of course, it’s not going to bear any fruitful outcome. Hence, posthuman with low Potential Growth Value can never develop Higher Consciousness.”

“In other words, it’s easier for growth type posthuman to form Higher Consciousness?”

“That’s right; you’re a pretty quick learner. Although the growth of Potential Growth Value in growth type posthuman is rather sluggish, it’s still growing anyway. Hence, all growth type posthuman will and must be able to develop Higher Consciousness in the end. It’s just a matter of time. But there is this rare group of growth type, as scarce as hen’s teeth, that are loved by God. They are naturally born with a limitless amount of Potential Growth Value. For example, me.”

“Limitless? What do you mean by limitless?”

“1,972,” Magus retained her level-headedness even though she was swanking about, “… It’s considered a rare specimen for an ordinary posthuman to start with 150 Potential Growth Value.”

“1,972?! Well, somebody is even more gifted than you, Luther,”  Lin Sanjiu gasped as the face of Luther swam into her mind.

“Although it’s hard to quantify how much Potential Growth Value a growth type can gain over time, in general, the number should be hovering around seven or eight,” Magus said as she lifted her chin, “… Once you have gotten the first drop of your Higher Consciousness, you can multiply it through various ways. Do you have any experience of this before?”

Lin Sanjiu thought for a while and nodded. She had accumulated quite a lot of Higher Consciousness by compressing her Higher Consciousness when she was at the Kisaragi Train Station world.

“Fantastic. Now there are two attributions of Higher Consciousness. One is ‘quantity,’ and the other is ‘quality,'” Magus was a great lecturer. Even though she had an air of insouciance about her, the way she gave her lecture was straight to the point. “One can increase his or her ‘quantity’ through training. So now, back to your question, you asked what is the benefit of having a large mass of Higher Consciousness, right?

“The amount of your Higher Consciousness determines what kind of ability you can develop.

“To facilitate your understanding, I’ll use numbers as an example here. Let’s say you have 100 points of Higher Consciousness now. When you have depleted your Higher Consciousness, it can be regenerated to 100 over time. Hence, the maximum consumption rate of the ability generated by your [School of Higher Consciousness] will be capped at 100 points.”

Magus stopped at this point and looked at Lin Sanjiu. Only to find that there’s a blank expression on the latter’s face.

“…You still couldn’t get the gist?” She sighed, “Look; if your [Defence Forcefield] consumed 50 points of Higher Consciousness, it could be successfully enacted since you have enough point for it. However, says if one of your ability cost around 120 points of Higher Consciousness. Will you be able to cast that ability? No, right? So here’s the thing: the higher the cost, the more powerful is an ability. If you didn’t have enough point to cast the ability, it wouldn’t produce any effect.”

Blinking her eyes, Lin Sanjiu nodded woodenly. Then, she quickly asked, “Then how about ‘quality’?”

The moment the question was asked, she felt her body had tilted to one side, then a sense of weightlessness deluged her. Before she could comprehend what had transpired, she was flung, along with her chair, by an invisible force and connected with a meaty smack at the other side of the room. The impact was too huge that even the drawing on the wall shook.

And, Magus didn’t even flick a single of her fingers.

When Lin Sanjiu finally had gotten back to her feet from the ground, she asked, with an obvious mark of excitement in her tone, “…How did you manage to do that? What kind of ability was that?”

Magus did not remark on that question; she merely rolled her eyes. When her gaze fixed on the curtain behind Lin Sanjiu, the curtain was suddenly closed, blocking the spears of sunlight from shooting in.

“That is ‘quality,'” Magus threw Lin Sanjiu a grin. “When the ‘quality’ has upgraded, your Higher Consciousness becomes stronger and more powerful. Your quality is bad and your quantity barely exceeds the borderline of normal. What did you do with your Higher Consciousness when you’re not using your abilities such as the [Defence Forcefield]?”

“I… just let it be,” Lin Sanjiu answered; her voice was thick with embarrassment.

It seemed that Magus wasn’t prepared for this kind of answer as well. Slack-jawed, Magus needed some time to process in her brain before saying, “What a waste.”

“So I…”

“That’s Higher Consciousness! That’s what I used to fling you around!” Magus shook her head and heaved, “When your ‘quality’ has improved, you can do a lot more things with your Higher Consciousness. Legend has even said that those who have reached the pinnacle of the Higher Consciousness can bring unreal things into existence. Besides, stronger Higher Consciousness can nullify the effect of some abilities that could fiddle with your mind.”

Lin Sanjiu suddenly thought of the cat doctor and the souls.

“Quantity and quality would never achieve equilibrium. In another way, you can’t have it both way. When you reached a certain point in your development, you have to decide which one of the two you want to specialize—Anyway, it’s still a little bit too early for your current level,” Magus tapped on the table with her fingernails colored in red. Then, she rose to her feet.

“Then? What should I do next?” Lin Sanjiu exclaimed with an exaggerated exhilaration. She wanted more than enough to train her Higher Consciousness now, “Mrs. Manas is still in her slumber…”

“Simmer down. Although the knowledge I told you is of the essence in Higher Consciousness, it has nothing to do with arousing Mrs. Manas from slumber,” Magus said. She stopped in front of Lin Sanjiu and stared straight into the latter’s eyes with her pewter irises.

“Ah?” Lin Sanjiu froze.

“The more you understand your Higher Consciousness,” her words and laughter were bordered at the edge of a whisper as she placed her finger on top of Lin Sanjiu’s wrist, “When I attack you in the most intense way, the more likely you can find the correct path to follow me.”

“Wha—”

Lin Sanjiu couldn’t finish her words as a pang of intense pain struck her brain and her vision became complete darkness. If Lin Sanjiu had to explain the differences between Nüwa’s and Magus’ attack, the former invaded her Higher Consciousness furtively while the latter was completely the opposite. Magus’ attack was strong, fast, and fierce. She instantly overwhelmed Lin Sanjiu with her prodigious amount of Higher Consciousness, leaving Lin Sanjiu with barely any room to put up an effective countermeasure.

Just like a turtle that had lost its shell, Lin Sanjiu’s psyche and soul were exposed under Magus’ relentless attack. The pained growl that she subconsciously let out penetrated even the floor. The two people from downstairs could hear her scream clearly.

Exchanging glances, Ji Shanqing and Qing Jiuliu saw the same ugly expressions from each other. However, neither of them were willing to go upstairs to check on Lin Sanjiu’s condition because Magus had forbidden them to do so when they were playing the cards.

“Hey,” Although they had come to this floor for a long period, Qing Jiuliu still had the broom in his hand, “…Why both of them said you aren’t human?”

Ji Shanqing knew he was simply finding a topic to while away the time. It was natural that he wouldn’t tell somebody he had just acquainted with a few hours ago his true nature. He shrugged off Qing Jiuliu’s accusation with a mumble of his own answer, “Cut it out. You’re the only one who isn’t human.”

“Lucky you that my stans are not around,” Qing Jiuliu yawned.

Ji Shanqing didn’t reply. He walked into the kitchen and took out a frozen fish from the fridge. That fish was caught by Lin Sanjiu this morning from a lake nearby. He threw the fish onto a cutting board and said gloomily to the man behind him, “You can come in but don’t touch anything.”

“I won’t touch even if you ask me so,” Qing Jiuliu slouched against the door, folding his arms in front of his chest.

Perhaps Ji Shanqing was upset because he couldn’t help Lin Sanjiu, but he chopped off the fish head in one swipe of his knife and bared his fangs at Qing Jiuliu, “… Can you please stop whistling?!”

Qing Jiuliu was dumbfounded. He straightened up but did not respond to Ji Shanqing’s blame at once. Then, he said under his breath, “It wasn’t me.”