Simulated Lover

02: Simulated Universe Gone Wrong (II)

Pretty much chapters 2 and a little bit of 3 cobbled together into one chapter.

Simulated Universe

Caelus to say the least, out of his fucking depth

For one... he had just gone colorblind, for the time being at least. All his surroundings turned from their vibrant colors to a harsh gray, aside from a floating control panel thing by the side of his bed, but that could wait for later. What was even more concerning was the fact that time just... stopped somehow for anything that he didn't touch. The sheets that he had thrown up during the mad dash to the trashcan still eerily floated in the air, remaining as stationary as ever. The mysterious yet oddly familiar voice also stopped saying anything, lending credence to his theory.

So... he did the most obvious thing he could do in this situation, and that was to approach the suspicious floating console thing that also happened to be the only colored object in the room.

And there lay the holy words.

"Welcome to SIMULATED LOVER [Where Virtual Sparks Ignite Real Emotions]. You have been chosen as the PROTAGONIST, and as such you have one goal and that is to romance these beautiful girls in this fun, doki-doki affection game! Please press [OKAY] to start the TUTORIAL PHASE"

BY PRESSING THE OKAY BUTTON, YOU ARE AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF SERVICE. THIS STEP IS MANDATORY."

Caelus stared at the text a bit.

And then stared at it even harder.

And then he laughed

"Who the hell... they have the most powerful computer in the universe, and they choose to run a dating sim on it? What in the name of Akavili is this?"

After a bout of laughter, Caelus came back to reality and realized that he was in fact, still in a rather precarious situation. To his knowledge, he was stuck inside a game and had no way to get out for now. But at the same time, he reckoned that it was part of the experience that the geniuses up above had crafted for him. They were some of the smartest people in the universe, so he was in safe hands, right?

"Well... there shouldn't be any harm in it" Caelus thought to himself "Besides..."

The young Trailblazer's thoughts wondered to the dashing figure of Seele, a person who he was beginning to spend more and more time with as of late due to his recent trips to Belobog. A light blush appeared on Caelus' cheeks as thoughts about her began rushing in

Especially... that damn smile

"It wouldn't hurt to get some experience, wouldn't it?"

After slapping himself in the face in order to rid him of his... delusions, Caelus pressed the big blue OKAY button, not like there was any button where he could refuse. Upon pressing the button color returned to the world and with it the flow of time, as evidenced by the knocking on his door which was followed by a gruff yet oddly familiar voice.

"Caelus wake up! You don't want to be late for your first day of school! Your friend, sister and mother are already down there, so out of five people, only you will pay the price!"

"Might as well see what my dad is like" Caelus said to himself. Standing up from the bed he was sitting on, he slowly walked to the entrance of his room and gently opened the door.

The Trailblazer's eyes widened, as he instinctively got into combat form and attempted to summon his bat to his side. Except... it didn't work.

Then, he tried to summon his trusty lance... except that didn't work either.

This meant that he had nothing to defend himself from the cat-apron clad figure of one of the most vicious Stellaron Hunters that he knew.

Blade

Herta Space Station

"So Screwy, are we SURE that throwing the Big Bang at it won't solve the problem?"

"Assessment: Space time defects have the tendency to be destructive and unpredictable. Conclusion: It is highly unlikely that the use of a Grand Unified Theory weapon is the optimal solution to the problem"

The Genius Society was to say the least, way out of its depth.

The most powerful computer in the entire universe was currently experiencing a malfunction. This was a computer capable of simulating a universe down to its very minute details, able to replicate everything from supermassive black holes to the rough essence of an Aeon, made with the cooperation of five of the most intelligent in the universe when it came to their field. Everything should have been under control.

And yet... the scariest part was that even with four Genius Society members in the room, they didn't know jack shit about what was going on.

"Screwllum, run a check of the universe's code, see if anything got corrupted" Herta barked "Ruan Mei, I want a catalogue of development of every single being in that simulation. And Weiss, check local U-strings for any defects in their vibration. Nothing is getting in the way of MY universe!"

Weiss couldn't help but feel sorry for Herta. He had known her for the better part of five decades, but he had never seen her this stressed. This project was pretty much her child after all, as much of worth to her as any other of their exorbitant megaprojects were to them.

In the middle of this Asta stared at the geniuses at work, with a mixture of awe in what they were doing and worry for her good friend Caelus. Despite feeling nervous in the presence of what were her superiors, she found the courage to speak up.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ruan Mei approached her, tablet in hand and a smile on her face.

"Can you understand this?"

Asta was then promptly show the most detailed breakdown of Aeonic DNA she had ever seen in her life, down to the individual strings of imaginary energy that made up thier form. Asta's open mouth expression was all that Ruan Mei needed to know, causing the genius to chuckle at Asta's bewilderment.

"Don't worry Miss Asta, not many can understand this topic. If you wish to help, then please stand outside the office and prevent anyone from entering. If you are successful in this endeavor, I can reward you with sweets afterwards."

Asta nodded and went on her merry way.

Genius Society members were a lot scarier than she thought.

To those that knew Caelus, one would know that he was a man of many eccentricities.

The nameless was oftentimes a goofball. He was a dumpster diver who was more often than not compared to a certain mammal, had some very... well interesting suggestions for the Engine of Creation project, at times seemed to have no common sense and was surprisingly flirty with women who were his type. Hidden under this quirky and mischievous attitude however was an intelligence that most people missed at first glance.

The young Trailblazer was an avid reader, all starting when he was enraptured by the history of Jarilo VI, and only getting worse as Pela asked him to beta read her writing. By the time that they had arrived at the Loufu, one of Caelus' favorite spots to visit was the Spare Time Bookshop, where he spent a lot of his free time provided that the local gambling gremlin didn't invite him to a game of Celestial Jade.

As a result... he knew quite a bit about the High Cloud Quintet. Thier stories around the Xianzhou were heavily embellished yes, but Caelus knew more than anyone that even in the ocean of myth, truth could be found if you looked beneath the surface. Combined with the morsels of information that he could gleam from Dan Heng, Jing Yuan and Silver Wolf as well as his own experiences, he knew that Blade was connected to the story somehow.

This meant that Blade was a terrifying fighter with at least seven hundred years of experience under his belt, which according to his encounter with Kafka, was also a crazed mara-struck if her Spirit Whisper wasn't holding him back. Despite the few encounters he had with the man being surprisingly cordial, he was still on edge the entire time, knowing that at any moment he could strike him down if he so wished.

So... why the hell was he his dad? And what was with that look on his face?

"Hey kiddo" he said "Are you doing alright? I hope you're feeling fine now, especially after what happened yesterday..."

What the hell happened yesterday?

"It's fine Bla- I mean Dad" Caelus replied. "I think I've recovered from... whatever happened yesterday."

"You're acting strange..." Blade replied...

Caelus gulped. Was this the end?

... before putting his hand on Caelus' shoulder "I know that you do not wish to talk about yesterday but do remember that your old man has your back. Now head downstairs, Stelle and Wolfy are waiting for you."

As Caelus exited his room an went downstairs, he had one thought on his mind.

What the hell is wrong with this place?

wahoo