Chapter 159

Chapter 159

After some hesitation, Alice decided to ask Ethan what to do about the potentially unstable laws of physics. In some ways, telling anyone was a terrible idea, because it would help destabilize the laws of reality. At least, if her theory was correct.

But Alice also didnt have the information network she needed to verify her theory. She couldnt do everything on her own, as evidenced by Cecilias [Enchanter] team. She needed information to verify her theory, and she trusted Ethan. If it was possible to verify her theory, he could help her and he would also be able to prevent her theory from unravelling reality.

But Alice resolved not to tell Cecilia unless Ethan said it was okay. As much as Alice didnt like the idea of keeping information from Cecilia, this was an infohazard that could end the world by accident. She didnt want to end the world by accident.

So Alice made her way back to Ethans office, and told Ethan about her theory. Part of her was hoping that Ethan could somehow disprove her guess that reality was more stable than Alice gave it credit for being. Instead, Ethan fell into thought after Alice finished speaking.

After two minutes of silence, Alice couldnt bear it any longer.

Do you think its correct, or not? asked Alice. I feel like I'm grasping at ideas here, but

I have no idea, he said. Your theory could be true or it could be wrong. Im going to be honest and say that I just dont have the information I would need to verify it. It seems plausible, but I also dont know if we have enough evidence to verify it yet. I will get my information network to look into interesting occurrences. But the fact that I cant tell them exactly what to look out for makes it harder to get information. And youre a better researcher than I am. Ethan gave Alice a careful look. I will say that a lot of Achievements seem to be based on what other people perceive to be true, but that could also be some quirk of how the System works. Do you think this theory is correct?

Alice nodded. Its more of a sneaking suspicion on my part but it seems to line up with other things Ive observed. I still need more information, though.

Lets keep an eye out for other information, and act as if spreading this theory could make the planet implode, said Ethan, frowning. Either way, our priority remains the same either fix the System, or replace it. We just need to keep a closer eye on public opinion than expected. Which is something I can handle on my end.

Alice felt relieved that controlling public opinion wouldnt fall on her. She had enough on her plate already without trying to figure out how to manage yet another ticking time bomb. She already had enough of those to worry about.

Is there anything else you need to talk about?

I also had a rather troubling encounter with a new type of mana, said Alice. She went on to describe the newly discovered Alice mana, and how it might influence her.

Ethan actually seemed quite worried when Alice mentioned that. Do you have a way to stave off the influence of Alice mana? If you were to lose yourself, that would be very troubling.

Alice sighed. Im actually pretty confident that Ill find a solution. But when we get back to Metsel, do you mind if I study you a bit more? This is obviously a problem that all Immortals should have to deal with but you dont seem very influenced by other peoples perception of you. After all, most people think youre some sort of amazing master of magic, and yet according to Elder Sujia, you accidentally blew up your training facility when you were first teaching her. It seems to be evidence that your personality remains your own, rather than becoming an amalgamation of other people's perception.

Ethans eyebrows rose in surprise. She told you that story?

Alice nodded. The first time I met her. When we were gathering [Soldiers] to rescue Samantha.

Ethan actually snorted, before he nodded. Then you think the System solved this problem somehow for other Immortals?

Alice nodded.

Then when we get back to Metsel, you can take a look and see if you can figure anything out. Its best to wait until then, though. We have half a week left before we reach Metsel, and were down a lot of [Guards] and combatants on the ship. I dont think that Emilia will make a second attempt, since she was willing to flee from battle. But she is an [Assassin], so theres a chance that shes trying to get our guard down, said Ethan.

Sounds good, said Alice. While it will eventually become a problem, right now I can stave off the effects of Alice mana pretty easily.

Just be careful, said Ethan. And let me know the moment you run into a problem whether that problem is Alice-mana related or Emilia-related.

With that, Alice left Ethans cabin.

* * *

The Society and Sigmusi didnt try again before the group returned to Metsel. Alice didnt encounter any issues from the Alice-mana in her brain either. She kept a close eye on their surroundings for the four days it took to reach the capital, and even frequently scanned the surroundings to see if the [Guards] missed something. But Emilia apparently valued her own life too much to try again. While Alice felt sure that the Society would try again, it seemed like they needed more time to put together the next attack.

As the boat pulled up to the dock in the fishing village near Metsel, Alice breathed a sigh of relief. At the docks, she could see a fresh group of [Guards] ready to replace the old ones. This group had about a hundred people in it ten of whom were level 75. Alice was happy to see the higher level [Guards] after what had happened during the trip. Higher level combatants may be killable with enough numbers on their side, but they were still nightmares to contend with until they ran out of mana and Perks. Having more on her side wouldnt hurt if things went wrong again.

This particular class variant is only offered to those who have made exceptional contributions to the field of studying and healing the human body, despite their low level.

Unlocked as a result of: Having the Student of Organic Magic class at level 25, Having the Creative Healer Achievement (or something similar), have the Legendary Healer Achievement (or something similar), have at least 2 Skills related to healing or human biology at level 20 or higher, have the [Basic Medicine] Skill.

Increases effect of [Magic] attribute by 50%. Classes related to research will get a levelling speed boost based on how often and how effectively you have used those classes for healing, with a maximum of a 50% boost to levelling speed. The Mana Conversion Ratio of all seeds is increased by 5%. All Skills related to healing or biology level up 100% faster. Your innate ability to heal the human body without accidentally causing harm is amplified considerably, making it much harder for you to make mistakes and harm or maim your patients.

Alice grinned.

This was more like it.

The fact that the class had a rarity 7 and rarity 4 Achievement as prerequisites for taking the class upgrade was already rather appealing, and the boost Alice would get for taking the Class was exceptional.

Alice usually didnt think a lot about smaller Attribute effect boosts but a 50% boost to her Magic Attribute would be huge even if she got no other bonuses. Magic was her most used attribute, and Alice really didnt think that would be changing in the future. A 50% boost would increase the effect of her Magic stat from 142% to 192%, which was a pretty substantial increase. Then, the Class also offered her a boost to skill levelling speed and mana conversion ratio for her magic seeds, and a small levelling speed boost for her research-related Classes if Alice used them for healing.

Alice was pretty sure that boost would be active most of the time, depending on what the class considered healing. A lot of the things Alice had been doing recently helped stave off the impact of the collapse of the System, and Alice thought that would probably count. Even if that part of the class evolution Achievement was unusually picky, the rest of the benefits were still amazing.

Alice checked her final Class notification to see if it topped [Legendary Organic Healer.

Regenerating Lab Rat: An Organic Mage who specializes in using organic magic to heal themselves. Unlike most researchers who delve into forbidden topics of research, rather than using others as test subjects, you have instead opted to use yourself as a test subject. This class will help you survive your own mad experiments, and perhaps undo whatever damage youve done to your body along the way.

Unlocked as a result of: Having the Student of Organic Magic class at level 25, Having the Creative Healer Achievement (or something similar), frequently use yourself as a test subject for your own experiments

Increases effect of [Magic] attribute by 30%. Increase effect of [Endurance] attribute by 20%. Your innate instincts when trying to heal even the strangest of magic-related problems is increased moderately, but only when attempting to treat yourself. You gain knowledge and retain it more quickly when using yourself as a test subject.

Alice squinted at the last class evolution option.

In a very, very weird way, it was actually a bit tempting, because Alice knew that she would probably be doing even more weird things involving the System in the future, and she was going to be testing those things on herself. The Class would probably offer Perks to help mitigate any associated risks.

On the other hand, it only helped her heal problems in her own body, and didnt provide anywhere near the bonuses of [Legendary Organic Healer]. [Legendary Organic Healer] probably also had better Perk selections later on, based on how much harder it was to meet the requirements for the class. If Alice didnt have [Legendary Organic Healer], she might have actually chosen [Regenerating Lab Rat], but it just seemed much worse than her other option.

Alice finished checking through her evolution options, and then selected [Legendary Organic Healer]. The mana in Alices surroundings seemed to swirl around, and at the same time, one of the class seeds near Alices heart burst with rainbow mana but as Alice had expected, due to the fact that there was no rainbow mana in her surroundings, the evolution of her [Student of Organic Magic] Class felt like it was missing something. She watched as the class seed tried to compensate for this, but even though Alice still didnt understand most of the fractals involved in a class seed or evolution, it felt like the resulting class seed was incomplete.

A few moments later, the seed briefly flashed with rainbow mana, just like every other magic seed Alice had seen that seemed to need some sort of activation to truly start working, but unlike the other, completed Class seeds Alice had seen, every 10 seconds, the class seed flashed with mana again.

Curious, Alice stuck a magic tendril of display mana into the seed and checked to see if there were any hidden System messages associated with the seed.

Perk Database not found. Using local, derivative Perk options

Scanning please wait.

Perk Database not found. Cannot update. Trying again in 10 seconds

After about 30 seconds, Alice realized that the same System message was just repeating, again and again.

Alice sighed, but then shrugged and nodded to herself. That was about what she had expected, honestly. She had already known that her Perk options would be messed up until the System was back online. She was relieved to know that her Class seed was constantly trying to update itself. It indicated that she could fix the class seeds Perk selections whenever she got access to the mainframe of the System again. Or whenever she replaced it.

After selecting her Class evolution, Alice and Ethan left the Church of the System. At Ethans manor, they found one of Ethans [Messengers] waiting for them.

Lady Alice, Honored Immortal Ethan, the [King] of Illvaria has requested your presence in three days, said the [Messenger].