Chapter 376: Learning to Walk.
The world went dark for a couple of seconds, then it gradually brightened. Dante found himself standing at the entrance to a vast courtyard. He looked left, then right, then down at his own body. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, cargo pants with a camouflage pattern, and dark brown boots.
He noticed that his hands had the same scars in the real world, which made him wonder what he looked like.
[Your avatar is a recreation of your real body.] Came Larry’s voice, answering a question Dante thought of but never voiced. [The training program seems to have been created for military purposes, hence your clothes.]
"I see..."
Since it was meant to be a tutorial to help one get used to the implants, it only made sense that the avatar would be a close copy of the original. Dante could tell it wasn’t as detailed as his own body, but strangely enough, when he tapped his arms and chest, he felt it each time.
[Your SRE has sensory input as well.] Once again, Larry explained as if he had read his mind. [The feed from your body had been cut and replaced with that of the avatar. Try moving around.]
For a moment there, Dante stood in stunned confusion, almost as if he had forgotten how to move around. What should have been like a natural instinct felt foreign to him, almost like trying to breathe manually.
[Don’t overthink it. Just walk.]
The doctor’s instructions didn’t really help, and Dante found himself rooted in place.
’Just walk.’ He thought to himself. ’How difficult can that be?’
Breathing in, Dante tried lifting his right foot, then placed it a short distance from its original position. He then did the same with his left foot, then repeated the process. As simple as it looked, the motion felt unfamiliar. There was no way to count how many miles he had walked in his life, so one could say he had plenty of experience walking. Despite that, each step he took registered as the first in his mind, as if he were performing the action for the first time.
His movements appeared weird, too. Comically weird. As if he were purposefully exaggerating, like a clown during a performance.
"This is... weird..."
[The signals from your brain are directed through the SRE now.] Said Larry. [Everything is amplified, so your body will move the instant the thought appears in your mind.]
"You’re... you’re saying I’m moving fast?"
[More like you’re stumping the ground. Just keep going. You’ll eventually get used to it.]
As frustrating as it was, Dante had no choice but to do as his doctor said. He wondered if it would be more efficient to go through all of this in his real body. After all, muscle memory contributed greatly to most of the repetitive actions people take. It didn’t take long for him to understand why VR was a necessity.
"Wha-"
The frustration from his movement remained, quickly shaving away at his patience. He decided to accelerate his movements, hoping that increasing the length of his strides would help him adapt faster. The result was the world spinning around him as his face plunged into the dirt.
[Why am I not surprised?] The sigh Larry let out was full of disappointment and exasperation. [I just told you that your body reacts to your thoughts almost instantly, right?]
"What... happened?"
[You tried to run.]
"Yeah, yeah. I know that much, damn it! Why the hell did I fall!!?]
[The sudden increase in your speed did not match your perception.] This time, it was Volcan who offered his input. [You must focus first]
’He can’t hear you, right?’
[Indeed.] The AI replied.
Sighing, Dante pushed himself up, but didn’t move right away.
"Is this really the tutorial?" He asked. "I thought it was supposed to help me learn to use this thing."
A virtual courtyard could hardly be counted as a tutorial. There were no instructions or hints. Not even an explanation of how each implant works.
[I’m guessing they aren’t supposed to be tested solo.] Said Larry. [There will be some challenges and hurdles for you to go through, but there is no point if you’re still unable to walk properly.]
"Damn it..."
Clicking his tongue, Dante went back to practice. For several hours, all he did was walk, one leg at a time. He fell more than once, making him wonder if there was a problem with the program or if his implants were bugged. Eventually, his movements straightened, gradually returning to the way they’re supposed to be.
[Huh, you actually got there in just three hours.] Larry said. [That’s quite impressive.]
"It’s three hours," Dante said. "Nothing impressive about that."
Dante didn’t really know how to describe it, but it felt like his brain had finally adjusted its output so his body wouldn’t snap into movement the moment a thought occurred to him. Having finally washed away the clown makeup, it was time to move on to the next step.
[Before you start running around, you need to learn how to control your perception.] Said Larry.
"And how do I do that?"
[Walk to the center of the courtyard and stand in the circle.]
Doing as he was told, Dante quickly found the circle. No sooner had he stepped in front of it than a screen popped up in front of him.
[
Begin Simulation No. 01
>YES. NO.
]
"Don’t tell me I could’ve done this a while back."
[It wouldn’t have activated.] Larry replied.
For some reason, Dante doubted that was the truth. He gave the YES a mental tap, and the screen blinked before disappearing, another one taking its place. He was about to ask what he was supposed to do when he saw something pass in front of him. It was a small card with the letter A on it. Another one followed, and on it was the letter B.
[You have to type the letters as they pass in front of you.]
"Oooh."
When he studied it once more, he noticed that the screen had small empty boxes. Just as he was about to fill the first one, the screen suddenly turned red, and a moment later, it reverted to the one from before.
[You failed on your first try?] The Doctor asked.
"Oh shut up."
Dante tapped the YES once more and stared at the flying cards. Whenever one of them passed, he entered the letter on it into the second screen. Once he entered the last letter, another screen popped up in front of him with the message [Stage one: Cleared.]
The second batch of cards was faster, but Dante had no trouble catching all of them. The third was even faster, and this time, Dante was unable to catch the letters just by looking, causing him to fail the stage. When he tried again the second time, he put all his focus into seeing what was on the card and waited, but after a few seconds, the card never appeared.
Confused, he was about to look in the direction the cards were coming from. All five flashed in front of him the next moment. Apparently, he was analyzing his sensory data at such a speed that the cards appeared to slow down to a crowd. He gave it another go, and little by little, he began to get the hang of it.
The purpose of the tutorial was to exercise the controls with which he changes the speed of his data processing. The whole thing was like a knob that is turned to in one direction to slow down a video, and in the opposite direction to speed it up.
Slowing things down made anything he looked at extremely vivid. He guessed that was his brain processing every detail he caught sight of, making him aware of things that normally would have gone unnoticed.
The speed at which the cards came flying varied, then the same happened with the direction. A timer was then added, limiting how much he had to enter the letters. He had to learn when to heighten his perception so time would appear to slow down, and lower it so he would move faster, alternating between them until he could do it without thinking much. Before he knew it, another six hours passed, and he was left mentally exhausted.
[That’s enough for the day.] Said Larry. [Pull up the control menu and eject]
It only took a thought to do it. Exhausted a he was, Dante didn’t stop to look at the other entries on the menu and tapped the eject button. The world around him went dark, and he felt a subtle change in his body.
A second later, he realized that he was able to move his real body once more. Reaching up, he took the headset off and sat up.
"Go ahead and pull the cables off." Said the Doctor.
Dante glanced at him and grimaced then reached for the back of his neck. Feeling around, he grasped all five cables at the same time, and before hesitation could stop him, he pulled them off all at once.