151 The useless scale 1

The bad thing about a concept like an interesting future was that it is really vague and also involves a lot of waiting. Since the future covers quite a large time span, I might have to spend an uncomfortable amount of time waiting or doing other tasks that are arduous and mind-bogglingly boring.

All of this was part of life, but normally there are methods to cope with such mundane stuff. You could listen to music, talk to someone, watch an interesting movie, play some games, browse videos on the Internet, but alas I could not do any of this here to pass the time.

I was still being watched therefore I did not want to do anything too much out of the line. Starting a workout session, without knowing what awaits me would be a stupid idea. Since my vision was limited to staring at a white scale, I did not have any intention to venture out into the great unknown.

Although I was quite certain, that I could not use the scale since I could not use magic. Though this did not stop me from trying to influence it. Logically speaking a scale stands for many different concepts. It represents fairness, equality, balance and judgement.

It is fair, as the ratio between both sides is exact and correctly displayed.

It is equal, as the scale does not care who or what is on it.

It is balanced when both sides have the same "weight".

It is judgemental when there is someone holding it.

Provided that this scale shares the same ideas and values at its core, then there must be a way to utilize it. Besides its symbolic purpose, it still used the exchange of goods in a market place. Rather it used to be, scales like this are scarce nowadays.

Though the question should be how to start this exchange. Normally I would place any object on one side and a weight on the other side. Afterwards, more would be added until both sides were equal.

Although it was hard to place something tangible on something intangible. I should not think about it as a real scale, I should think of it as a metaphor for the ideals I have mentioned. Just imagining an item of my choice and placing it on the scale would be way too easy.

There has to be a deeper meaning to it, it must be a test to figure out my true understanding. The concept of balance needs to be linked with magic somehow. The origin from the scale must be related to my thought about the coexistence of bad and good.

Or this is another scheme to gauge my reactions and values. In a controlled environment, it could be seen which concepts and ideas I would treat as equal. Though even in this hypothesis, there seems to be a big crux.

How can they judge my values and actions, if there is no way for me to actually use this thing? Or they observe me on how I would approach such an object. What would be the best course of action?

There are still too many variables and unknowns involved which makes it hard for me to come to a conclusion without risks, but on the other hand, there must be a purpose for the appearance of the scale.

Gathering information should be my main focus for now. By figuring out how I can operate this contraption, I might be able to deduce the intent behind it. Should I find myself being unable to do anything with it, then this also tells me a lot.

Let us assume that this scale is indeed based on a logical principle and that magic exists as well. Magic is said to be in every lifeform and in all of the surroundings. at least that is what I was told in these made-up memories of mine.

This makes it pretty much obvious that a scale representing balance incorporates magic or mana. Which raises the question, how an entity like me, who was described as being the total opposite of mana, can get ahold of it.

Because, if the scale represents a balance, then this balance has mana at its core. Since the concept of a being not based on mana has most likely never existed in this universe. Every single lifeform supposedly has some affinity for magic, but what about an existence that is the exact opposite with none?

Let me think about this route a bit more. Did I get something like the scale, since my existence is outside of the act of balance? Is that some sort of evaluation? Something of my nature, should the claims be true, would certainly warrant a lot of attention.

Still, who was the voice inside of my head then? And how can this voice circumvent my nature and place such an object inside of my mind? Did any of my properties change that would allow something like this? Or was it all a bit hoax to let me astray? The more potential lead I found, the more confused I ended up.

As enticing as the idea of me being special was, I could not lose myself in it and had to explore different possibilities as well. If being caught in my own memories had me taught one thing, was to never see things as absolute, even if it was something fundamental.

What was real or what was something fabricated? All of this would be a lot easier if I could answer that question for myself. In order to distinguish between real or fake, I must take a look at everything and hope to spot some irregularities.

What can I say, everything boils down to just wait and see. I do not have any other options I could choose from. Which raises the question, normally there has always been a path, that would lead me to my destiny or rather to the desired results.

If this was still a simulation, what would they expect me to do or rather to accomplish? Knowing my approach to things like this, they must have prepared something, which would force me to seek conflict with others.

I doubt that they would expect me to idle my time away, simply staring in the clouds and twiddling my thumbs. Besides, I do not think that this world would even allow me the chance to actually do that.

What methods could they employ to drive me towards other players? One potential idea would be to give the players resources I would require to operate this scale. That way I would be required to actively fight for it. Since I would be involved in a lot of fights, I would rely on the scale more and more, which in return would force me to gather more and more resources.

If I were in their shoes I would follow this kind of strategy, allowing me to fully control how to gather my resources would be an unwise decision, considering what the ant army did in the name of my training.

Furthermore, I would limit the resources I can get, by the strength of the player, prompting me to seek out stronger players. Otherwise, I might be tempted to just seek out the weakest players possible to minimize the risks involved.

I did not have to mince any words or hide my thoughts on this matter because even if they were able to understand my words, the conclusion I reach will be the same they arrived at. That much was to be expected, at those capable of confining me to that space inside of my mind.

Though I do look forward to how this scale is supposed to help me. Using solely my body strength was not enough when confronted with magic. I might be able to gain victory by use of trickery, but that will not help me once these magicians were to gang up on me.

I have said it once and I will say it again, magic is inherently unfair. Although asking for fairness in a world which is based on unfairness might be a bit too unrealistic. But as far as I can tell, the restrictions placed on magic seem very lax, which does not make it any easier for me to deal with them.

I should focus on the main aspect again, instead of letting my thoughts drift away. Complaining about the flawed world could wait for another time. Technically speaking I did not have any urgency to think about this matter, albeit staying on the topic would still be better for me.

The last point I raised was the prevention of my trying to take the easiest way and avoid confrontation with the strongest players. This would either lead to let the players seek me out instead, a repetition of the events in my mind so to speak or to generate an object of common interest, which I could not do without.

It is easy to generate conflicts when interests do not align.

Hmm, I do wonder what kind of enemies I might face. Facing magicians makes the most sense because most of my fights were against them. Disregarding the occasional battle against monsters, I learned a lot about their battle strategies and their nature.

Would they have predicted, that I would think of it as such? I might even interpret the time I was trapped in my head, as some sort of training to adapt to this cruel world. That all of this was just a quick survival course in order to prepare me for is quite hard for me to believe.

Let us assume they would predict my previous doubts about the legitimacy off my current world. How would they make sure, that I have no doubts left about it? The answer would be to give me opponents that are quite unlike the ones I thought against.

It is actually rather simple, by playing alongside my expectations, they would only increase the severity of my doubts and my concerns. Especially if I am wary about every minute detail. By choosing something which seems entirely unrelated to their current strategy, I will find it hard to connect the dots.

The less logical it appeared to be the more secure it was. That way they make it harder for me to predict what their intention truly is. This is truly an interesting game of lies and deceit. Still, even with their best preparations, there will still be a loophole I will make use of. Because once emotions are involved, rational thinking is not supported anymore.

If they think I am the one dancing in the palms of their hand, then I will do that, as long as everyone else is dancing in mine. It is an impossible matter to predict the movements and actions of every single player. Regardless of their choices, this weakness would be the one I would aim for and exploit it.

They could easily avoid it by not using players, but that would defeat the entire purpose of it all. With the choice of enemies set and the method to force me into action also planned out, I still need to ponder on how the scale might help me in that scenario.

Sooner or later I will have to rely on it, that is the goal of all of their plans. This means, that the role should take up a passive role, only it can fulfil. if it could create a weapon for me, I could use to fight the enemies with then I would gladly do so.

The downside to that idea is the missing consumable nature of said weapons. It is certainly not supposed to be a one time offer. All of this would either mean, that the weapon easily breaks In order to force me to create another one or to create the need for me to create a stronger weapon.

Though I do wonder how they plan to achieve this matter, as they have no idea on the kind of weapon I might produce. Or rather do they follow this kind of strategy knowing of the weapons I might create?

That would be quite a novel way, to find out more about the tools of war the humans use. I do have to pay credit where it is due if all of this is part of their schemes, then I will have to admit that it is truly a magnificent display of their intelligence.

With the motive, strategy, enemy out of the way, I do need to figure out they are trying to achieve with the current tests. Because it seems to be a bit counterproductive, to give me this much time to ponder on these issues.

The most feasible option would them using the chance to figure out English in order to spy on my thoughts. Nah, that can not be it, why should they risk giving themselves away if that is their only aim? Or is this, in fact, another ruse to keep me second-guessing?

All of this under the guise of a training? Seems a bit excessive even for them. Giving away, the information that they are capable of reading my thoughts was also something which seemed fishy to me.

I do not see any benefit for them to let me know about their abilities. Their aim should not lie to intimidate me, that much seems obvious, so what result would it yield to share that kind of secret with me.

It all does not make any sense to me, to divulge something like this to someone you plan on observing. The good old "We come in peace strategy" from aliens? Do they want to keep me tense about the fact, that they can hear my every word? Or do they want me to be careful and just think too much on every matter?

I would deduce that likely it was not a sole goal they tried to achieve. Some of the issues I just mentioned might have been their desired results. Oh, well there is nothing I can do about that detail either way.

It is time for me to finally figure out how this scale actually works, instead of making theory after theory about my purpose in all of this. Just as always I was certain, that things would develop in a manner I would not have predicted either way. At this point in time, I would say that was the natural course.

\u003cspan style="font-size: calc(var(--rem) * 1px * 1.0625); letter-spacing: 0px;"\u003eWait a minute... Did the scale just smile at me? \u003c/span\u003e