God Vessel Online

Chapter 24: Back to Reality

"... ah."

When Erika opened her eyes, she was staring at the white ceiling in Mina's room. The last thing she remembered, was how the Dimension Vessel swallowed her whole. It was a... peculiar logout animation, yo say the least.

Erika reached toward the headgear and pushed it off. Her arms were heavy and sluggish for some reason. On the other hand, Mina quickly removed the helmet and hopped off the bed.

"... eh?"

Erika gave her legs the command to move, but they didn't listen. They remained still on the bed, like pieces of meat which had nothing to do with Erika. In fact, it wasn't only her legs. She felt numbness across her whole body.

D-did I seriously just catch Vireco?!

Erika twisted on the bed in order get her body to move. Her numb muscles returned to function after a few seconds.

Phew, that was scary.

Her fingers obediently, but stiffly, stretched when she commanded them. Rather than retaining sensations from VR, Erika felt that her brain just forgot how to control the real body for a moment. It wasn't the rare Vireco, it was simply the brain's reaction to the odd technology that was "Virtual Dive".

Erika read about first-timers who experienced similar symptoms. The Virtual Dive forced the brain to function in an unusual manner, as it remapped the brain's functions onto a whole new body: the VR avatar. The brain couldn't smoothly switch between controlling these two different "bodies".

Most people claimed, that they got used to this routine after enough Virtual Dives. In addition, some researchers suggested that the brain itself learned to adapt to these switches. Hence, Erika felt at ease about her odd experience.

"As we promised, I'm putting this away."

"Bah, okay..."

Erika snatched the two Voceans, and put them on top of the tall closet. There were now three headgears lined up in this unreachable area.

"You don't happen to have any extra Voceans, do you, Mini?"

"Nope, I only won three of 'em in the damn SoulClay tournament ."

It didn't seem that Mina lied, but Erika searched inside the closet any. She was relieved to find nothing.

Before heading home, Erika felt worried about leaving the little Mina alone.

"How is your left hand?"

"Still frozen like useless shit."

Mina lifted her dysfunctional arm, and watched how it helplessly fell downwards.

"If it doesn't heal by tomorrow, then you should see a doctor."

"Bah! Don't wanna!"

Erika sighed at the stubborn response. Going to the clinic was the reasonable thing to do, when your arm wasn't moving for a few good days. Alas, Erika couldn't force this logic on the little brat.

She was strongly rejected, no matter how she presented the topic. In the end, she had to give up for the day. There was no telling whether a prolonged Vireco was truly dangerous, and Erika, too, wanted to believe that everything will be fine.

"Try stretching your left hand every now and then, to not let the muscles weaken."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Make sure you go to school tomorrow."

"Sure, sure."

"Don't forget to lock the door, it was open when I came."

"Are ya my mom or something?"