Chapter 94: Looking Cool

"Damn, that kid really is a monster not having any effects even after getting 3 doses of the sleep inducing gas. But looking at his brain activity, It seems like he is trying to sleep. Or is really relaxed so I guess we just need to wait until he falls asleep. Then we can initiate the simulation." The old scientist said as he shrugged and walked back to a chair. He sat down and waited for Alex to fall asleep. Imani nodded and sat down as well. The two waited for Alex to sleep. 

After ten minutes of nothing, The screen in front of Imani started to flash. Imani smiled when she saw the screen and spoke, "He finally fell asleep, We can begin the simulation." She was excited. The scientist looked annoyed by having to wait for that much but he looked at the screen as well, waiting to see Alex in the simulation, "Give him a hard time for making us wait." He spoke in an annoyed tone. 

Imani laughed and nodded, "I'll try my best making it difficult for him to lose but also giving him a few chances to win. But that's for the second round as I said before. In the first round, I want him to get used to the simulation as this is his first time being in one." Imani smiled, "That and the fact that he seemed to be excited to enter a simulation that I wanted him to enjoy a bit more and savor his first minutes of being in one.' 

Alex who had fallen asleep felt a small jolt of energy enter his body. He looked around but saw nothing, it was completely dark. 

[Player in Simulated reality. No evil intents.]

Alex saw a prompt in front of him and smiled, 'Even in a simulation, it still works like normal.' Alex thought as he waited for something to happen. A voice suddenly rang around Alex, "Can you hear me, Alex?" 

Alex nodded when he heard the voice, "I can hear you loud and clear Imani." It was Imani who was talking to Alex. She continued, "Good, we didn't expect you to be resistant to such high doses of the sleep inducing gas but after some time, you just fell asleep on your own so It didn't prove to be that big of a problem. But now that we are here, All you need to continue to do is relax. The simulation is loading and it will be complete in a few minutes. Until then, You can explore around the preloaded city. But don't stray too far from where you initially loaded in." Imani slowly explained.

Alex nodded when he heard Imani's voice and waited. After a few seconds, Alex watched as a small city slowly formed around him. "They are appearing out of nothing… This also doesn't look like I'm in the same city…" Alex noted as he watched the buildings bring formed. "It indeed isn't Hanlu, The Capital of Hoji. This is within Hoji but it's another smaller scale city with older architecture of the country, thought you might like to tour around a bit with the other parts of the country that you've been in so far so I decided to use this." Imani explained. 

Alex nodded and looked around, 'The name of the countries are very similar. The country that I'm in, Hoji… And the country that I came from, Hojo. I guess what they say about parallel worlds is true, only small changes are seen.' Alex thought. The buildings seemed to be completed. Alex observed his surroundings, He wasn't in pitch black anymore, there was a sun, buildings all around him. People walking on the streets and even cars. Alex couldn't believe it. The way people looked back at him when they glanced at them. The way that they all were different and did their own unique things as they walked on the footpaths. Alex had a smile on his face when he saw all of this. "It's so realistic that it even makes me question if we might be in a simulation without even knowing it ourselves." Alex wiped the sweat from his forehead after that scary thought came into his mind. 

Imani laughed when she heard Alex, She looked back at the scientist who was laughing as well, "This kid is really funny, isn't he?" He looked at Alex. Imani looked back at the screen and spoke, "you have a few minutes, go and look around." She smiled. 

Alex nodded and walked around the streets. He watched as the simulations went on about their days as if they were real. He then explored the buildings, shops, and anything else that he found close by. After five minutes, A sudden rumble shook the streets as screams were heard. Alex quickly turned back towards the source of the screams to see smoke in the air. He ran towards the smoke as fast as he could. 

People were running away in panicked faces as a few reapers walked out of the gate. Alex arrived at the scene and took a deep breath. "This is where I loaded in initially. I guess that's why Imani told me not to stray too far from the place I loaded in…" Alex smiled and equipped his dagger.

He ran to the reapers who were chasing some civilians. 'I guess It's my fault for being so distracted but at least there doesn't seem to be many casualties. Just a lot of scared people.' Alex sighed in relief when he saw no dead bodies. 

The reapers noticed Alex and put their attention on him. Alex looked around the gate and counted the number of reapers, "1. 2 .. 3 ….11 Reapers… 3 of them seem to be long ranged and the other 8 are just short ranged ones…" Alex started to make a plan as recommended by Imani. He ran towards the reapers in a fairly slow speed until they started to run after him as well. 

[Combat Initiated] The system's voice rang in Alex's ear.

Alex smiled as the reapers started to chase him. He changed directions and matched their speed and rain the opposite direction, 'Now that they are after me but can't catch me soon, I'll just think of a plan… The long ranged reapers will be a pain. I've already learned that from that encounter the day before that if I don't take them out quickly, I'll just have arrows inside of me.' Alex rubbed his shoulder when he remembered the pain of being pierced by an arrow.

Alex smiled and lured the reapers further away from the long Ranged reaper. After they were some distance from the long ranged reapers, Alex Activated Might and ran as fast as he could towards the three long ranged reapers. Behind his the 8 short ranged reapers chased but they couldn't catch up to him at all. Alex turned to look at the three reapers in front of him and smiled. He jumped to the first reaper but a few Arrows passed by his body, making him miss the attack. "At least I'm close now." Alex smiled as he leaped to the first reaper once again. This time, the reapers couldn't do anything to prevent him from killing the first long ranged reaper. Alex stabbed the reaper in the chest and kicked it's body to the second reaper. 

The second reaper fell on the ground from the impact of being stuck from the first. Alex leaped to the second reaper to strike it down. *Swoosh!* An arrow suddenly swooshed by Alex's face. "KEKEKE" The reaper laughed creepily as a small cut formed on Alex's Nose as blood dripped from it. Alex was surprised but he knew that he couldn't stay in shock for too long. The short ranged reapers were already getting close to him so Alex had to move. He ran to the second reaper and struck it in the stomach. After the reaper fell, Alex carried it and ran towards the final long ranged reaper. 

Panicked, the final long ranged reaper short a flurry of arrows towards Alex to slow him down but Alex just threw the other reaper's body towards the arrows, using it as a body shield. 'That wasn't morally the best choice but It did the job…' Alex took a deep breath to contemplate but he shook his head and jumped. 

"Kwekh!" A dagger cut through the final Long ranged reaper just before the short ranged reapers could reach it. Alex looked at the other 8 reapers and smiled, "Now, I don't need to be worried about anything else but killing you eight."

Imani watched the screen and smiled, "Look at you, Mister Hero… Checking if anyone is dead or now… Using the body of the reaper as a shield from the flurry of arrows… And now, that final one-liner before going ham on those reapers. You could probably woo a lot of women if this all was recorded…" Imani commented as Alex fought the eight reapers. The scientist also watched Alex go through the reapers and nodded, "He may be a dumb kid, but he sure can mow through those reapers."