_Sadi Chocolate_ was scared.
Memories I don’t know were starting to appear inside me.
Things I can no longer do are increasing.
It feels like I’m getting Alzheimer’s.
Just looking at the symptoms, it’s similar to the memory loss side effects that occur during the process of a _Spirit Body_ dying and being restored, so it can also be seen as dementia.
However, _Oknodie_’s attack was much more dangerous than ordinary dementia.
Unlike regular memories that fade sequentially from the most recent to the past, _Oknodie’s_ attack indiscriminately locked functions at any moment.
From yesterday’s events to those from ten years ago, or three months ago, everything randomly locked itself away in my head.
“I almost got tricked.”
But someone who often uses psychological schemes is also quite skilled in wicked plots.
Plotters understand the techniques their opponent is using and can see their hidden intentions.
_Sadi Chocolate_ realized the true purpose behind _Oknodie’s_ techniques.
“I could have expanded one channel bigger and stronger to seal more effectively, but you chose to split it into several routes to intrude.”
“!”
“That’s a move to implant afterimages in many people and distract them from reaching the solution by making it harder for their minds to act as ‘calculators,’ isn’t it?”
What a brilliant mind.
Using the psychological techniques of the attacker to block attacks aimed at oneself while making the opponent stray from the answer.
I was tricked into thinking it was a silly, desperate call for help.
I suddenly realized that my opponent could enact such a psychological game.
A child’s face masked with a monster’s scheme.
This is the essence of the _Dark Princess_.
“I’ll admit, I was surprised at first. But not twice. Just because I look like this doesn’t mean I don’t learn quickly.”
_Sadi Chocolate_ took those she made eye contact with and used them as channels to inscribe her afterimages in their hearts.
This inscription began to use the mind of the student in which it was inscribed to find the _Condition for Release_ hanging over her spirit, allowing her to contemplate and analyze answers.
The world-renowned talents gathered at the _Gift Academy_.
By borrowing the minds and wisdom of brilliant geniuses from different fields, the answers began to come one after another.
[The answer to Question 37: 1.5035976e+13]
[_Sadi Chocolate_ has solved the Question 37 you set.]
[_Sadi Chocolate_ has seized control of the sprout implanted in the mind of the 37th _Undead Senior_.]
[The answer to the open-ended descriptive question: After killing all living beings that can create new dishes, if it rains forever, _Oknodie_ will start collecting 5 items a day from food recipes, and after 3000 days, she will consume 15000 items, which constitute 50% of the collection rate of the basic 30000 food recipes. Therefore, the minimum required days are 3001 days.]
[_Sadi Chocolate_ received partial points on the open-ended descriptive question you set.]
[_Sadi Chocolate_ will regain all sensations in her left ring finger after one hour has passed.]
They unlock.
The locks that were filled by the number of people controlling them.
Once again, they are released by borrowing the power of the person controlling them.
Though _Oknodie’s_ locks filled again through a new channel, I was no longer afraid of them.
Since I can gather the wisdom of hundreds of undergraduate students across various fields, problem-solving is no longer daunting or difficult.
“You used the same trick too many times. You think you can show your psychological manipulation techniques to a ‘psychic’ for so long and get away with it?”
_Sadi Chocolate_’s technique countered back into _Oknodie_.
The door of sealed memories within her is terrifying, but rather than opening a dangerous door, it allows _Oknodie’s_ psyche to be scratched and locked from accessing those memories.
It’s not about opening a dangerous door; instead, it’s about securely locking it.
[I have seized the sensation of the left eyelid.]
[To regain that sensation, _Sadi Chocolate_ must solve the [Problem] she set.]
[It is an open-ended descriptive question. If _Oknodie_ collects 3 items from food recipes daily, and on rainy days, her appetite urges her to collect 2 more, while on hot days, she collects just 1 cold dish due to exhaustion, how many days will it take for her to exceed a 50% collection rate of food recipes? The default is that there are 30000 food recipes, and the number increases by 10 each day.]
This was a question just like the one _Oknodie_ had set.
The intention was clear.
What could _Oknodie’s_ answer be?
I need to learn that way of thinking.
Then it will be easier to unlock the new locks _Oknodie_ places on me in real time.
That’s right.
_Sadi Chocolate_ decided to gamble.
The timing of the reversal will come when her speed of understanding _Oknodie_ becomes faster than _Oknodie’s_ speed to understand her.
She staked everything on that possibility.
With the absolute confidence that she wouldn’t lose to anyone in her battlefield, her own way as a psychic, she chose this place to fight the _Dark Princess_.
So, the answer sheet _Oknodie_ provides is crucial.
How well can I comprehend that answer sheet?
How quickly can I infer the answers to different questions through that?
This is the key to increasing the number of locks filling in _Oknodie’s_ mind.
But when she actually looked at the answer, it was too bewildering.
[The answer to the open-ended descriptive question: It utilizes the fact that when a doppelganger dies, any information, memories, and collection elements acquired during its lifetime combine into the main body. By stealing an artifact that breaks the restriction of doppelganger technique from _Number’s Warehouse_ and sending doppelgangers all over the world to trigger the pre-prepared self-destruction technique, the collection can be completed in just one day.]
[_Oknodie_ submitted the answer to the open-ended descriptive question you set.]
[_Oknodie_ has regained the sensation of her left eyelid.]
_Oknodie_ locked it the exact same way she locked herself.
That answer cannot be established.
‘Doppelgangers are not the same as afterimages implanted in devices at a single moment.’
The ‘self’ that she maintains cannot be split up carelessly into thousands.
Doppelgangers are not just a simple concept of cloning.
Not every element that makes a person can be replicated.
Hasty creation of doppelgangers leads to much evaporation.
Evaporation of knowledge.
Evaporation of patience.
Evaporation of humanity.
Such doppelgangers, regardless of their main body’s intentions, only lead to the tragedy of creating monsters that kill themselves.
That’s why the concept exists.
It’s the [Specialized Concept Doppelganger] that allows sharing a single special area with the doppelganger.
If it gives the hiding function, it becomes a ninja _Nodie_ who hides well anywhere.
If it gives a hitting function, it becomes a gangster _Nodie_ who runs around beating up people.
If it gives taming function, it becomes an elf _Nodie_ who herds thousands of animals.
However, one person cannot split so many functions.
Most functions fail to achieve a special level of achievement.
So, they replace the lack of functions with memories.
Some doppelgangers enter the _Magic Department_.
Some doppelgangers enter the _Swordsmanship Department_.
In that way, they substitute the special roles of functions according to their specialties and memories.
However, this, too, cannot lead to an ultimate answer.
There is a limit to a person’s memories.
There is a limit to the experiences they can accumulate in their lifetime.
Thus, _Oknodie’s_ operation to create thousands of doppelgangers to complete the collection and have them all explode to exceed 50% of the collection within a day is impossible from the start.
An impossible answer.
The moment she realized that contradiction, _Sadi_ confidently utilized the terminal dedicated to the god she serves to offer a proxy prayer.
“Consider _Oknodie’s_ unjust answer as an act against the [Contract] and bestow appropriate divine punishment upon this blasphemer against the Contract God!”
She plotted to impose significant restrictions on the speed of _Oknodie_’s lock——even through the power of God!
The idea was good.
If it worked, _Oknodie_ would be done for.
No longer could she offer a nonsensical answer, and the Contract God would torment her with cruel problems befitting her nonsensical responses.
If she couldn’t answer the nonsensical questions and answers like _Oknodie_, the God would impose divine punishment on her, and the likelihood of a human answering God’s questions is virtually nil.
[_Oknodie did not input an ‘impossible answer’, so a fair contract has proceeded.]
[Faith points will be deducted for any objections and reviews.]
—There’s… nothing wrong…?
The shock received by the terminal was transmitted directly to _Sadi Chocolate_.
The series of actions related to doppelganger technique were certified by God to not be impossible for _Oknodie_.
Therefore, naturally, a realization ensued.
The numerous functions that many doppelgangers can handle.
Memories and experiences.
Among them, _Oknodie_ possesses something.
None of the three are possible for a human.
Not even for a mortal.
Even less so for a ten-year-old girl.
And so, it dawned on me.
The ‘truth’.
That one was not a mere ten-year-old girl.
Not a mortal.
It was a monster endowed with a lifespan close to immortality.
Or a soul of an immortal disguised as a mortal.
It was a mockery of humanity.
Something donned in the guise of a human.
It had lived countless, extremely long lives.
The moment she realized such a dreadful
“Hee hee hee. I’ve ventured too deep into the abyss.”
“What?!”
It was the _Seonhwang_’s _Okashii-ne_, an observer of the world’s soul.
An alien traveler and the son of an outsider.
“My peculiar inner world, which has gazed upon and entered the realm of the outsider’s thought with human wisdom, is fascinating, but my existence must not affect the outcome any further. I shall
The [Expulsion] function of _Okashii-ne_ chased away the afterimage of _Sadi Chocolate_ that had burrowed into his psyche.
The memory of the afterimage returned entirely to _Sadi Chocolate_, and doubt turned into conviction.
“Dark Princess, you are… the Vessel of God, aren’t you?”
Sealed memories.
The door of catastrophe.
Without stepping into the forbidden realm that should not be opened, _Sadi Chocolate_ took a step closer to unveiling the true nature of _Oknodie_.
