Path Of War

Chapter 12: End Goal

He drew everyone's attention.

"Has anyone else felt anything off here?" he began.

Jasper perked up, asking what he meant by "off."

"The pain threshold seems... artificially high. Like a video game difficulty setting on extra hard mode."

A murmur of agreement spread. Jada answered, "Yeah, it is a little weird. When I slammed my thumb in the door earlier, it definitely hurt, more than it should have for a virtual world's standards."

Alice chimed in, "So everything feels real. What of it?"

Arthur shook his head, saying, "It's more like a hyper-realistic simulation. And the problem is, I haven't been able to log out."

Margaret then burst into laughter and said, "Log out? Arthur, this isn't some cheap VR game. This is Elysium! It's all part of the experiment."

"Experiment?" Arthur repeated. "We weren't told anything about pain being set on high."

Margaret waved him dismissively and said, "Come on, think about it! The whole thing about getting to choose your clan and jutsu—it's all about immersion. They want us to feel like we're actually living in the world of Naruto. And guess what? We can't leave until the game is over."

Margaret's explanation didn't hold true. There had been no explanation, no rules, no way to exit this bizarre trap.

Arthur glanced at Alex, searching for any sign that he was in on it. But he simply shrugged, saying, "She's right, Arthur. It's all about the experience. Worse come to worse, they'll unplug us from the pod and say that we failed."

'Bull!' Arthur thought immediately, a cold dread settling in his stomach.

This was more than just a fan's dream come true. This was something far more dangerous. He couldn't trust anyone.

None of them knew what he had gone through, nor had they felt the surreal pain that awaited them. They'd been living in a fantasy, a comfortable lifestyle, blinded by the treacherous world around them.

Who was behind this scheme? Alex surely had to be playing a role with his convenient lack of a seal and suspiciously fast learning curve. But Arthur couldn't call him or anyone out right now.

Accusations would brand him a paranoid fool, or they might think he was insane—a tactical error on his part.

What was he going to say? That Dr. Kapoor told him that he'd die for real if he died in their experiment? Alex might interject, or they would claim she was likely using psychology to make him take the game more seriously.

Arthur knew better.

The searing pain from his battle with that Leaf ninja, the raw terror of being captured by bandits—those weren't mere game mechanics. They were visceral reminders of his precarious existence in this world.

The hunger pangs, the bone-chilling nights spent in the prison cell—these weren't virtual inconveniences; his life was on the brink of death!

He forced a smile of acceptance and said, "Yeah, you're probably right, Margaret. Gotta go all in for the full experience, right?"

Inside, however, he was indifferent. The carefully orchestrated lottery win, the convenient localization of the other participants—all of it reeked of a meticulously crafted plan.

Seven strangers, handpicked from hundreds of millions, all fluent in English, of which only he was the only one not to have watched Naruto? It was a statistical impossibility bordering on a conspiracy.