Chapter 216: Testing the Virtual Space

"What is this? A metal coffin?"

Fleur circled around the capsule and put her hand on it. Trying to understand what's the use of the capsules.

"It's a simulation device. It will send your consciousness into a virtual space. That will be the place where we can spar without holding anything back."

The two tilted their heads in confusion. Virtual Space is a foreign term for them so I had to revise my explanation to fit this world's setting.

An imaginary space wherein the Spells they can cast will be replicated perfectly. Also, the time spent inside can be sped up.

Something like that, I guess.

Luckily, the two took that explanation albeit still a little confused. To really show them what's happening. I entered the Virtual Space first and talked to them from the inside.

Their gazes kept on alternating between my body laying inside the capsule and the one they're talking with. Fleur even thought that my soul got sunk inside.

Due to that, she was already about to dash over and take me out of the capsule. I immediately ejected out of the Virtual Space to show her that I'm fine.

I could only facepalm after calming her down. She understood the concept of Consciousness Travel that we were using to meet the World's Will but the concept of fulldiving that's almost the same as that temporary skill eluded her.

Is she a natural airhead? With our few interactions, I'm starting to find her interesting.

Well, maybe it's also my fault, if I started my explanation about the Consciousness Travel, they'll probably not be as confused as they are now.

Arland who was watching at the side could only shake his head while sighing silently. As for where that sigh was directed, I don't know.

Hikari who simply has a profound interest in anything sci-fi related took notice of the capsule as well as the commotion that happened.

She stood up and broke her meditation due to her excitement as she walked over to us and asked me about the capsules which she easily understood.

Afterwards, she took over me to clearly explain the concept of Virtual Space and Simulation to the two Transcendents much better than how I did it.

She's already here for 3 years so explaining it in their own terms was something she easily accomplished.

Thanks to that, Fleur finally calmed down and stuck her tongue as she apologized to me about her act earlier.

For a Transcendent to act like that being the oldest one here... I guess that's just her true nature.

To compensate Hikari for helping with her explanation, I had the enthusiastic girl enter the Virtual Space instead of me to show Fleur and Arland how it is done.

Hikari didn't waste any second as she happily hopped in one of the capsules to dive inside the Virtual Space.

"I get it now. It's a bit dangerous to pull you out while you're still inside, right? These metal coffins were the medium to send your consciousness inside an artificial dimension."

It's not that it's truly dangerous. I'll just suffer a slight headache, I guess?

"Yes. That's it. You don't need to be bothered by it anymore. It's also somewhat my fault for not explaining it clearly."

When Hikari appeared inside, she also talked to us for a bit before I configured the Virtual Space to put her in a set of simulated scenarios.

Since she's already there, It's a waste to not let her go through my planned training for them inside the Virtual Space.

Though its resources were all based in World of Meta, it can generate something out of the user's memory. The same as how the Virtual Space generates the body, taken from the user's memory. Afterwards, everything about them will also be generated so even if they're using Elemental Energy, it will also be replicated inside.

"In there, though it will not really affect us physically, our mind will be trained and we can take out the experience and emulate it here in the real world. There's also the option of speeding up the time inside up to 10 times."

I explained to the two who were watching Hikari from the display screen. Arland nodded with little interest while Fleur's ears perked up. She's truly interested in it now.

The first scenario which I put Hikari into was when a merchant caravan was ambushed. It's a scenario where she has to survive the attack as well as protect the caravan as one of the guards.

The enemies will be randomly generated. From both of our memories, the resource of Virtual Space has now included those who were also treading the Elemental Pathway.

And someone like that already showed up along the first wave. One of the attackers drew a staff and started casting a spell aimed at her. From a number of nodes which appeared when he's forming the spell, it's a 6-nodes Earth Elemental Spell. It took him around 8 seconds before completing it and when he did, a smouldering boulder came hurtling towards Hikari's spot.

Upon seeing that, Hikari spun the staff in her hand. It glowed with a blinding light before a Spell Nucleus appeared in front of her. After 2 seconds, the Elemental Nodes appeared and another 2 seconds later, a 6-nodes Light Elemental Spell was unleashed from her position.

Zoom!

Six rays of light easily passed through the smouldering boulder, unhindered. After passing through it, the rays of light gathered on one spot before covering the boulder completely like a thin cloth, slicing it into pieces before even reaching the range of her staff.

After that, a single ray of light was shot from Hikari which traversed the distance between her and the attacker in an instant. As if it's a sharp blade, the light drilled into the attacker's chest before sending him backwards, his fate unknown.

Hikari didn't relax after it since it's just the beginning of the ambush. Her struggle has just started. From all sides, more and more attackers continued showing up that the simulated allies of hers started to be put in a disadvantageous position.

Upon seeing that, Hikari opened the Miniature Domain of Valor which instantly powered up those near her. By then, it became her turn to get in the offensive, shooting out various Light Elemental Spells and sometimes her spell will also exude a hint of other elements.

Arland who was watching his student nodded approvingly at what the girl was showing. Through his influence, Hikari's spells mostly consist of additional Earth Elements which made her Light Element heavy enough to crush her enemies.

Due to the limitation of not having a Secondary Core, Hikari could only superficially add another Element. At most, only 1 or 2 Elemental Nodes if it's a 6-nodes Elemental Spell.

Time passed as we watched her struggling inside and pushed to her limits with the simulation at a normal speed. When the last of the merchant caravan apart from her died under the enemy, the scenario ended as a failure.

By the time that scenario ended, those fighting my clones had already switched 2 times, improving bit by bit wherein their glaring weakpoint had started to be mended.

"Daisuke, can I try it now? It looks exciting."

Fleur asked after taking her eyes off the screen. She was clearly excited ever since I brought up the thought of sparring. Now that she saw the capability of the capsules, she's even more eager than ever to unleash her full power inside. Also, the earlier mishaps by both of us were already put at the back of her mind

"Sure. You can lie down here, I'll set it up for you. What about you, Arland?"

I directed her to a capsule near us and helped her lie down comfortably inside. There's that unusual glint in her eyes as if a kid who was trying a new toy.

I guess she can treat this day as a vacation from the tension they were constantly in. Due to their vigilance against the Noxians' attacks, the two of them couldn't find the time to truly relax.

"Go ahead. I'll keep a lookout here."

Arland answered. He's still hesitant to leave his body vulnerable, eh?

"I will speed up the time inside. I needed to go out to make more clones after all."

"I see. It's fine. I'll watch over their training."

"You're always like this, Arland. Come with us inside, I'll show you my new spells. If you're still hesitant, leave a clone out."

Fleur sighed, a bit weary as she urged Arland to enter the Virtual Space with her.

However, that was still met with his rejection. He really couldn't relax.

"I'm sorry, Daisuke. It's not that I don't trust you yet. I just can't seem to relax when the enemies are silent. We might be caught unaware."

From how he avoided looking at me, I guess something similar happened before. I know. There's more to these Transcendents than what they told me. They lived longer than me and saw how this world turned into this state.

"I see. It's understandable. I'll spar with you after Fleur. I still wanted to see what you're capable of after all."

With our repeated urgings, Arland eventually nodded albeit reluctantly. Though it won't be as easy as analyzing those still at the Mortal Rank, by using my sensitivity to energy, I'm confident at pointing out those that could be considered as their weak point.

Before entering the Virtual Space with Fleur, I renewed the clones and switched Elmer and Almira to the two who already exhausted their Energy. Since I'll be diving inside, the Energy Zone will be halted for a while.

With 10 times the speed than normal, an hour inside will be equivalent to 6 minutes. I guess that's enough time to finish.