[51] Elaine Valburn (1/2)

⌈Jun⌋

Now, a nice moment of respite.

What happened earlier, was... abhorrent.

I had expected to face a horde, at worst.

But those things... they were zombies, right? Their appearances seemed... too hideous, too varied.

It couldn't be... that zombies were evolving too.

If that's what's happening... I should start making preparations too.

For now, I had more questions left unanswered. Like... this.

Unregistered item.

Hmm.

I held a faint expectation for them when they called these mana potions. But I guess these... don't belong to the System.

Found in a place like this too, it was too suspicious to be anything good, but it did seem to possess some type of recovery effect. In fact, the one with a transparent liquid looked almost similar to something I had in my Inventory.

Was it just my imagination, after all?

After all, my summons fell in different, random places too.

Mana... huh. 

A term so familiar, but its association felt foreign. In most games and fantasy stories, mana was understood as a form of supernatural energy, the fuel that allowed mages to cast spells and wield magic. A familiar concept, especially in games with RPG mechanics.

But I couldn't recall Cyber World Online ever having a concept of mana.

Could it be then... that...

My thoughts stirred, as I felt a gaze towards me.

The boy in bleached blonde hair... Teucer, if I remembered right. 

He was one of the individuals I had set out to understand. The rumours of those with special powers... they'd naturally reached me as I visited different shelters around the island. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the survivors had started coining the term: Awakened.

Was it a feeling of being threatened? Or was it caution of a different power at play?

I simply had to investigate. One thing led to another, and eventually, I was led to this situation.

They were just... kids.

Looking at one in the flesh, they do not seem like anything out of the ordinary. But it was true that I had seen a glimpse of what they were capable of earlier. Fire, ice, and... healing. Despite their young appearances, these teenagers truly possessed supernatural powers. Though, the man that accompanied the group didn't seem to display any sort of ability, but it's too early to tell for sure.

I checked just in case, but they clearly weren't Operators.

...It was just a small possibility. But I couldn't help but entertain it.

What if... Awakened individuals worked on adifferent type of game?

Cyber World Online was the foundation of my System. It was a game that played into the genre of science fiction. In other words, speculative technology. Sometimes bordering on impossibilities, yet, explained with pseudo-science all the same. 

I fundamentally did not believe that I was the only one who inherited special abilities. Considering so would be naive of me, when the world is already overrun by an existing impossibility: zombies. So if we played into the idea of a power from a fantasy world... What's to say that Teucer, right at this moment, wasn't using something like... a 'Status Check' on me right now?

No way, right?

My body stilled, as I considered the implications of that fact, and also... my complacency.

"Something wrong?" I probed.

What was he thinking about? What did his eyes see in me? Through these Cosmetic disguises?

AppraisalBody Projection Skin — Mass-PhantomEquipment · CosmeticUsing this mechanical spine, you can access the customisation window to change your body type from a preset or your own making. Once chosen, this item will save your final design as its designated projection![False Identity] Maintains a stable projected appearance during movement and close-range interaction, including dynamic body movements.[Operational Duration] 36 hours of use per full charge from Battery items.

AppraisalHair Projection Skin — Null-PigmentEquipment · CosmeticUsing this mechanical hair clip, you can access the customisation window to dye your hair from a preset gradient or your own making. Once chosen, this item will save your final design as its designated projection![False Identity] Maintains a stable projected appearance during movement and close-range interaction, including dynamic head movements.[Operational Duration] 72 hours of use per full charge from Battery items.

But it seemed like... he was only interested in the bottle I was holding...?

Breathing a sigh of relief internally, I waved off the conversation naturally and Teucer too, lost interest.

Hm... it's about time Elaine's done with the disturbances outside. There had been quite a number of them when we entered, but knowing her, she was probably enjoying herself with that many to beat down.

Best not to keep her waiting, though. 

I brought the group outside, and they naturally followed. Some of them still looked shaken from the earlier encounter. It had been a close call, after all. For kids their age, that must have been a nightmare. Even the man whom the kids had called "Mr Ramesh" appeared exhausted, reduced to little more than a tired shuffle as he followed from behind.

I found myself slowing my pace to match theirs as we made our way down. My attention drifted more frequently towards the surrounding corridors and stairwells, checking the corners and the spaces between the abandoned storefronts before moving on. For the time being, I was the adult responsible for getting them out of here safely. That meant I couldn't afford to let my guard down, especially after what we'd just encountered.

My thoughts drifted back to the swarm of zombies out front. These kids were reckless, but I had to admit, their courage was admirable.

...Come to think of it, a relative amount of time had passed since the outbreak, yet the number of zombies never seemed to go down. Zombies come from the infected, right? So where were all these corpses coming from? I had done my fair share of culling its population since the outbreak, but it always seemed like they were turning up somewhere. 

There were plenty of infected that had been incapacitated, defeated, or reduced to chunks by the EDF. Surely those wouldn't be reanimated, right? Even that was a difficult assumption to make. Three months had given people enough time to establish organised movements, including efforts to prevent the spread of disease by leaving corpses out in the open to decompose. Especially in a humid country like Eden, decomposition should have been relatively quick.

There were communities that handled the clearing and disposal of corpses, one of them being particularly prominent. Green something... Green Garden? I couldn't quite remember the name. They weren't just involved in clearing corpses either. From what I'd heard, they helped out with all sorts of things within the communities they operated in, lending a hand wherever they were needed. In some places, they were apparently doing more for people than even the EDF, much less the government...

I frowned slightly as I recalled the nationwide message that had been broadcast to survivors. After that, there hadn't been much else. No organised rescue, no clear instructions, nothing that gave people much choice but to fend for themselves.

Either way, they were the sort of people who quietly did the thankless work no one else wanted to touch, simply because someone had to do it. Some of them were elderly too. If anyone truly wanted to see society restored, it was probably people like them, doing what they could to make that possible.

After learning about them, I imparted the same mindset to my Operators. This was the world they would be inheriting too. If we wanted anything resembling a society left when all of this was over, simply defeating the infected wasn't enough. We had to make sure the places we passed through were left safer than we found them.

For Elaine, however... I wasn't quite sure yet. I had only summoned her recently, and she was still in what I had mentally labelled her adjustment period. Her tendencies left much to be desired, but Yoru had been much the same when she first arrived, practically behaving like a beast. If Yoru could change, there was no reason Elaine couldn't. Well, at least she's taking it much better than I expected. From her Personal Episodes, I had a pretty good idea why.

Back to my point though.

So if people were already taking care of the corpses, where were all these new zombies coming from?

Maybe there were simply more infected than I realised.

My thoughts trailed off as I reached the bottom of the escalator. Norn had made herself comfortable between the two sides, carrying herself with such effortless poise that, at a glance, I might have mistaken her for some celebrity waiting for a photoshoot.

...Though, perhaps that isn't too far from the truth.

Norn... no.

Elaine Valburn. A genuine aristocrat from the world she came from, raised as a proud descendant of one of the Five Great Families of Dissidia, with the upbringing and stature to match.

Elaine valburnLevel: 17★★★★★ ─ ✧✧✧HP3620/3700ER90/100SAN60/100AFF30/100➤ View Combat StatsPassive Berserker's HeartPassive Noblesse ObligeActive Disarm / CounterActive Charged HaymakerEElaine's Pair BreakersRare · Weapon, EquipmentA pair of reinforced combat knuckles designed for close-quarters fighting. Their compact frames conceal high-density impact mechanisms that amplify the force of each strike, turning Elaine's natural strength into devastating blows.EquippedATK: 300Tap or hover an item to see its details

And she'd even gone out of her way to change her clothes. The Mass-Phantom and Null-Pigment that I'd given her as well, had already altered her appearance into that of a younger girl, and now she had chosen a school uniform to match it. This woman was really leaning into the disguise.

...Seems like she's really enjoying her new life.

"How do I look?"

She posed the question as though she were asking a suitor who had accompanied her on a shopping trip.

Elaine was undeniably beautiful, even beneath the younger appearance created by the Cosmetics. But unlike Yoru, I wasn't particularly comfortable being too close to her unless there was a reason for it. We weren't at that point yet. For now, I was still trying to turn our relationship into one where we could work together without friction.

Still, she was clearly expecting an answer.

So... what else was I supposed to say?

"Great."

I said it without much thought, my voice carrying little more than a flat acknowledgement.

But perhaps it was simply her mood that made her take it as more than that, a familiar notification appeared before me.

Elaine Valburn's Affinity has been raised by 1.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, a faint smile tugging at her lips, as though she'd just found another small source of happiness.

It was a side of Elaine I hadn't expected to see. Until now, most of the genuine enjoyment I'd seen from this woman had come from fighting.

But the Elaine that stood before me was a slightly different woman from the one I remembered.

Yeah. Operators could change in this world. 

And perhaps, it was for the best.

As I mused over what Elaine Valburn might eventually become in this world, I couldn't help but feel a little curious about where this new life would take her. And if I had any say in it, I'd make sure she had every chance to become someone better.