As I set my constraints, I thought with a chuckle:
What if I lost my sight, taste, and smell, couldn’t talk, and had to live on borrowed time? I might just drop dead!
Seriously, how could one live like that? No YouTube, no delicious food, no sniffing flowers. Maybe just comfortably getting euthanized would be happier.
Yeah. Just a joke.
But what if a game character were me? A trivial fantasy I hardly considered as something real. I never really thought it would come to this.
Yet, here I am.
I entered a game world.
If you ask why I think that, I’d have only one answer: I just knew. The moment I woke up, it felt like a bizarre conviction, completely unfounded… but I was sure I was in a game world.
Even with my eyes open, there was nothing to see. My body didn’t feel like mine and it was like I had no strength. Around me were flowing shapes of something intangible.
And then…
“Aaaaaah!!”
The unbearable pain that I had never experienced before, far worse than any headache I’d ever had.
It felt like molten metal was poured into my skull, consuming my brain.
I hadn’t been the healthiest person, but my life wasn’t so miserable that I’d warrant this kind of suffering.
This pain was beyond toleration. I thrashed on the bed, my mouth automatically opened, and a scream tore out.
“What the hell…!”
I could see myself writhing. The bed I lay on, the table beside me, the different desk and monitor, the insides of the computer, the cement walls…
The steel frames and wires within the walls, the view beyond the wall into the neighbor’s house.
Flashing traffic lights, sunlight reflecting off windows, the gentle sway of tree leaves, people walking on the road.
Inside people, their skeletons, muscle bundles, organs, veins stretching out…
“Ahhh!”
Details of a circular area around me were drilled directly into my brain.
I had never known such sensations. Having lived my life absorbing information through my eyes, I had never experienced anything like this even once.
With every wave of countless information hitting my brain, it felt like needles were stabbing at my head.
“Aaaah—!”
Nothing came out. My mouth opened. I was definitely trying to scream. But each time, my throat would tighten, and the pain only intensified.
“Why, why is this happening? Why does it hurt so much?”
Even as I writhed in pain, my thoughts kept flowing.
The answer came quickly.
Something spherical stretched out around me… I could perceive everything within that space.
This was spatial perception granted by an ability.
It matched the description I saw in the game about spatial perception.
The explanation stated that I possessed overwhelming spatial awareness.
From the perspective of a mere human with two eyes, getting all the information directly from the sphere surrounding me was an immense advantage.
Especially in a frontline where close combat was prevalent.
But the problem was that my brain wasn’t superior enough to process the information gained from that spatial awareness.
Simply put, there was too much information bombarding my brain, and it was sending signals that it was in danger.
Moreover, there were vague, intangible things flowing in and out, gathering and dispersing from somewhere—it was definitely magical energy.
This was my first time sensing such an aura and information. The agony intensified as it entered the spatial perception range.
But since this was my first time dealing with this kind of information, my brain didn’t know how to filter it out. Hence, the repeated cycle of continuous pain persisted.
“Damn it…!!”
This wasn’t all.
I wasn’t some extraordinary individual who could handle the scraping pain within my brain, so my mouth should’ve automatically screamed out in agony, but I also had another constraint besides “spatial perception” and “magic affinity.”
“The Curse of Silence.”
An explanation that simply stated I would have difficulties speaking… A trivial limitation suggesting decreased interaction.
Screams couldn’t escape. A scream was a sound produced by my mouth, after all.
The Curse of Silence forced everything I wanted to say to stop just before it left my lips.
The problem was that it didn’t just stop neatly.
It inflicted pain on my throat to “force” it to stop.
It felt like my throat was being cut with a knife.
As if my head wasn’t enough, I felt the pain clawing at my neck too.
In other words.
I accepted information through spatial perception.
My brain suffered from an overload of excessive information.
But my rookie brain in spatial perception didn’t know how to filter it, leading to ongoing pain.
Due to the pain, my screams emerged.
Because of the Curse of Silence, the pain was inflicted on my throat.
This state persisted. Pain kept repeating. My swallowed screams couldn’t escape.
“I’m going to die.”
If this continued, I really might just die from shock. With this much pain, I should’ve fainted by now, yet oddly, I didn’t.
Before I knew it, I was crawling on the floor, writhing like a bug, pleading for relief from the agony.
“I’m going to die.”
With no voice to call for help. If I could at least scream, maybe someone would come to help me.
My cellphone? I couldn’t see one inside the house. Right now, I couldn’t even move properly; all I could do was squirm on the floor.
“I’m going to… die.”
The debate over euthanasia isn’t just talk. Being alive could be suffering too. So one might wish for death.
My situation was precisely that. It hadn’t even been five minutes, but my brain felt like it was about to fry. The pain in my neck felt like it was falling apart.
Above my neck, it felt as if I was being ripped apart. If only it would just tear and I could die…
If I could just die…
…
“I don’t want that.”
I was in so much pain that dying seemed appealing. But when it came down to it, I didn’t want to die.
There was still so much I wanted to do.
I hadn’t even lived a fraction of my hundred years.
“Let’s think.”
Pain in my neck. I screamed because of the activation of the “Curse of Silence.”
I screamed because my brain felt like it was on fire with pain.
My brain was in pain because of the overwhelming amount of information from spatial perception.
“That’s it.”
Spatial perception was the issue. If I could somehow solve this, I’d eliminate the start of the chain reaction.
How should I deal with spatial perception? Either reduce the range drastically or flush out the information.
I focused.
Wishing to reduce spatial perception, for it to vanish, and let the information spill over.
Hoping not to perceive trivial dust in the corner, the spatial perception shook unsteadily.
Before I knew it, the perfectly spherical spatial perception twisted like crumpled paper, folding and unfolding in all directions.
Not just a sphere, but triangles, squares, pentagons—shapes that defied labeling emerged, then crumpled again, unfolding.
It felt as if I could read every single cell, shifting from a perspective looking down from above to a perspective like a night vision scope.
“…! …! …!!”
With the exponentially growing amount of information to match all the changes, my consciousness finally snapped.
*
“That was ten days ago.”
Now, thinking back on it is still chilling.
I was furious at being dragged into a game world out of nowhere, and then nearly dying as soon as I got there.
Had I died like that, I surely wouldn’t have ascended peacefully.
Anyway. After fainting, I woke up three full days later.
If my ancient alarm clock hadn’t had any voice notifications, I wouldn’t have known how many days I had slept.
“Phew…”
Soothing my boiling insides, I adjusted my spatial perception. A range just barely enough to see the room. Maybe about a diameter of 5 meters.
Due to the intense pain, my memories faded, so I wasn’t sure, but I recalled that when it first blossomed, it was roughly 100 meters wide, so it shrunk to nearly 1/20th.
I guess it was a process to reduce the incoming information, whether consciously or unconsciously.
Similar to how costs get cut first when a company faces difficulties.
The problem was that the cost-cutting didn’t stop there.
Sighing inwardly, I checked the world I felt through spatial perception.
A world entirely in black. Objects were only represented by a green surface.
A color combination and shape resembling military radar from some media. They say bats perceive the world through ultrasound; maybe this is what it feels like.
Compared to the initial spatial perception that greedily absorbed all information within range, this was drastically more limited.
Back then, even micro-information like the results of the muscle cells in my body were coming in, but now it seemed like I could only see the outer surface.
Moreover, it had become fixed in this state; I couldn’t change it anymore.
I could somewhat increase or decrease the range.
But feeling spatial perception like this honestly felt like I was about to get neurosis.
“Damn it…”
The first time… no, after waking up three days later, I was so disoriented.
As soon as I woke up, my stomach was glued to my back, and I thought I was joking when I said my waist might snap.
After nearly dying from my brain threatening to explode, I nearly died again from hunger and dehydration, and thinking about it still gives me chills.
They say you can survive three days without water… I almost became a mummy.
That might sound odd.
I didn’t know where I was, but surely, there wouldn’t be a single edible item in the house.
Besides, even if there wasn’t, I could just go outside and buy something.
The problem was that I could only see outlines and couldn’t tell what was what.
I had to crawl around, with my stomach nearing my spine, feeling around and experiencing the panic of possibly starving to death or dying of dehydration.
“I think I might develop PTSD.”
I might really lose my mind…
Even now, my head was throbbing. Not as bad as ten days ago, but… if it were before, I’d surely be rolling around, screaming my head off.
I’ve built up some tolerance to this kind of pain? I’m about ready to jump off a cliff.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I glanced at the table… No, I sensed it.
On the table, a delivery box held a few pieces of paper and a device resembling a clock.
Of course, as a blind person, I couldn’t see the package. If the delivery person hadn’t told me where it came from, I wouldn’t even have known what it was.
〈Shio-ram Special Admission Notification〉
Shio-ram.
The main stage of Part 1 of the main story.
An island located in the middle of the Pacific. It’s the world’s foremost institution for superhuman training, built around the Tower of Growth located at its center.
A facility equipped with state-of-the-art technology, combining magic and science.
High-quality lectures conducted by world-class superhumans, active or retired, as professors.
There’s virtually no limit to how much you can boast about Shio-ram in terms of being the best education institution globally.
About 600 students enroll annually.
90% of those pass a legitimate exam, while 10% enroll through recommendations from powerful external forces or professors within Shio-ram.
The method of admission that doesn’t fall into either category is “special admission.”
Special admissions don’t require taking an exam. There’s no need for powerful backing. No need for recommendations from internal professors.
You just need to show up.
“Haah…”
In a game, it would be seen as merely a device for the player to enter the stage, but thinking of it as reality feels a bit grim.
The problem was my condition as an intended candidate for this special, specially important admission.
With a constantly throbbing mind from spatial perception, if I merely babbled a bit, I’d pay the price of being a mute.
At the same time, I was blind, and they said I had limited time left in ten years.
Plus, I had sealed taste and smell on top of that.
This was my pathetic state.
As it proudly claimed to be top-tier, the quality of lectures there should be the best in the world.
Before I even consider entering, the question is whether I can handle the level of those lectures.
“……”
But the answer was already set.
“I have to go.”
I don’t have any confidence in succeeding against the odds? I wasn’t that kind of person.
I was a guy whose life consisted of watching YouTube, eating tasty food, sipping drinks, and growing plants on the balcony.
No matter how many abilities I had like spatial perception, a jack of all trades, or magic affinity, fundamentally, I was still an isolated, internet-wasting nerd.
But I had to go.
Before coming to this world, I had that very thought while setting up character constraints.
If I was going to live my life without ever watching YouTube, tasting food, or smelling anything, then what’s the point of buying stuff?
That thought still holds true. I think living like that would be worse than just dying.
Yet, I don’t want to die. Why should I die?
It’s a simple question.
Living such a life is worse than dying. But that doesn’t mean I want to die.
Therefore, I want to live as I used to.
Is this just a regular world?
Though it was a game world… It’s a place where abilities like magic really exist.
There must be something. Some way to break these constraints.
It was the same in the game.
That’s why “permanent” is a term that often appears in those constraint descriptions.
As you advance through the story, as the character grows, there must be a way to shed these constraints.
The perfect place to find such methods and the best location to gain strength to find those methods is Shio-ram.
I made my decision last night.
I nodded firmly and opened the box.
.
.
.
“Now, how do I get there?”
I ran into a wall right from the start.
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