After somehow convincing a shuttle to bring the mother and son over to district 13, Ronin set them up with an apartment, then returned to the factory. Thinking back on that fight, he'd let the barrier in his mind slip. He'd screwed up. Well, no more...

  “As you can see, the fluid is very viscous.” The liaison said as the gaming capsule was filled.

  “And this liquid actually has all the nutrients the body needs?” Ronin asked. “I won’t even have to eat while I'm in this?”

  Despite having read about this on the “Real-world-gaming” website earlier, Ronin still found it hard to believe. This beast of a machine had required a 10 by 10 meters area of free space and had cost a whopping 5 million credits. It looked more like a big chamber than a VR-capsule. Heck, it was kitted out with so much gear, it even had a gravitic generator installed.

  “Indeed,” replied the liaison. “Inside this chamber, your body will passively absorb almost everything it needs through skin contact. Though cough, certain nutrients will require a bit more of an active approach.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, the nanites in the fluid, does more than facilitate the man-machine connection. In addition to letting you interface with the game world, they also help transfer a few critical nutrients into your body.”

  “So... what you're saying is that those small machines will be entering my body?” Ronin was not liking where this was going! “Where do the nanites go? Do they travel into my brain as well? Is that why the neural resonance affinity is so high?”

  “No no no, I assure you, they only travel into the areas in your body responsible for absorbing and processing critical nutrients. They do not travel into the brain,” the liaison hastily defended. “The reason this product gives such an immersive gaming experience is not the nanites. I am sure you've read this before but let me reassure you. This chamber simulates what happens to you in virtual reality. It's what makes the game feel real.”

  The company liaison pointed towards the gravitic generator. “For instance, the action of jumping, falling and crashing is well simulated by this device here. Within safety limits, your body will experience the same amount of pressure you'd feel in the game. On the other hand,” the liaison next pointed towards a mask off to the side. “The difficulty you’d feel breathing whilst running in the game, is simulated by this cardio breather over here. It is also this device that makes it possible for you to breathe when fully submerged in the chamber. Now, if you would just sign these papers, confirming you’ve received the product—”

  “Alright, alright, I'll sign it,” Ronin said, nudging his implant.

  In a normal gaming capsule, one would lay down, place a helmet over one's head then enter the game world. In this large chamber, however, you'd have full mobility. The way Ronin saw it, he didn’t have much of a choice when it came to this machine. It was the closest thing out there to reality and he was desperate.

  Those ruddles earlier, had proven that the battle soul technique wasn't enough. There were also those words spoken by his implant doctor, Dr. Leyana Firnesse:

  “Who knows what might happen if these values continue to increase! You could even suddenly explode! Imagine that! BOOM!“

  Yeah… Compared to my own death, or the deaths of others, my worries about some nanites entering my brain... are nothing.

  As the viscous fluid filled the tank, the liaison helped Ronin through the instruction manual: “This switch down here,” the man pointed towards a control panel, “can further limit the air intake from the cardio breather.”

  “I understand,” Ronin said, nodding along. “But why does the machine only allow me to experience 50% of the pain I'd feel in real life?”

  The liaison looked back at him, confused. “Due to the danger it poses to the user of course. Imagine dying in the game. The overwhelming pain you’d feel would not only severely corrode your psyche, but it would damage the brain. Why would you ask me this? Nobody in their right mind would want to feel 100% of the pain they'd feel in real life.”

  “Is there any way to change that and set the maximum degree of pain felt to 100%?”

  The man was stunned. “Don—, don’t tell me you actually want that!?” He stammered.

  “Just tell me. Is it possible or not?”

  Ronin had to know. If feeling 50% of what he could feel wasn't enough, he'd need the option of turning it up, regardless of the danger.

  I will not become a monster.

  “I mean, it’s illegal to do so but there is a safety filter we’re required to install. As a baseline when these capsules or chambers are made, they're all set to have their users feel everything. We deliberately install these filters to mute this aspect due to the risk—”

  “Where is it?” Ronin cut him off.

  The real-world-gaming liaison stared at Ronin suspiciously, but then eventually shook his head in exasperation.

  “You will have to pry open a few panels to get to it, but if you look here,” the man then slid his finger towards a particular spot on the instruction manual. “This cable connects to the filter. All you need to do is to remove it and you'll feel everything. But you do realize that you could die if you do this, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Ronin said, nodding his head up and down, still fully occupied by the manual.

  Most likely having given up on convincing Ronin, the liaison shook his head.

  “Every year I do this,” he sighed, “there's always one.”

  “...”

  As the gaming company man left, Ronin just stood in front of the VR-chamber, looking at it. He generally never felt nervous over things he could control. Be it jumping from tall heights, balancing along beams or climbing steep walls. If he slipped up and ended up injured, it was all on him. Giving himself completely over to a technology though? Now that was something different.

  This chamber was exactly that. Once he entered, what happened next, would entirely depend on this machine — not him.

  Enough. He smacked himself on the chest, forcing away the anxiety. He then put on the cardio breather, took the plunge and began sinking. Like living sludge, the nanites began settling along his body, and soon, almost every part of his skin was covered. He then heard a voice. It seemingly came from everywhere and nowhere at once:

  [Initializing integration… 3…2…1]

  His surroundings changed as the liquid around him turned into a carpeted stone floor, akin to something from the pre-interstellar era. Walls and corridors of stone rose up, then windows appeared, showing a flowing green meadow outside. Finally, a red velvet chair emerged from within the floor, right next to a lit fireplace. This whole place had a gothic feel to it.

  He walked over to the chair, feeling a cozy increase in temperature from the fire as he approached. He sat down and a dark-blue screen appeared in front of him:

  [Welcome new user. Please set username.]

  “Hm, so this is how it works…” Ronin mumbled. He thought it over. “Inevitability,” he finally said. The name fit. Both in terms of what was happening to him, and for what he hoped for his confidence to be in spite of it.

  [Congratulations! Name has been set to: “Inevitability.” Access to shop granted.]

  A range of games then began appearing on screen: From games with dragons and magic, games with starships and laser-fire, to games with projectile weapons.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Ronin, however, chose none of them.

  [Purchase “Glory in the Arena” for 500 000 credits? Yes/no]

  “Yes,” he said.

  This was a game for pure combat. Based on its description, you could either pick battles involving cold-weapons or bare-knuckles where your only weapon was your own body. What truly set this game apart though, was the incredibly high accuracy ratings it had for simulating the real world. It should work perfectly for what he had in mind.

  He entered the game and picked the bare-knuckles mode as the castle around him disappeared. Next, the red velvet chair sank into the floor and everything around him turned to sand. Large monoliths then rose up as a stadium began materializing.

  [Player now in queue, ranked matchmaking in progress… Match found! Enter match now?] A dark melodic voice asked.

  “Yes,” he answered in nervous anticipation. The smell of sweat and blood tickled his nostrils as he felt the heat from the mid-sky sun. He looked down at his hands and wrists, now bound tightly in place with hand wraps as another person began to spawn into the arena.

  [Combatants prepare,] the game voice said. [3. 2. 1… Combatants fight!]

  As the timer hit zero, Ronin ran towards the opponent.

  I guess I’m moving at what the game deems normal human speeds now, he thought.

  His new virtual body felt sluggish. Fortunately, his reaction speed remained the same. He easily dodged the wild haymaker the other man threw, letting it smoothly slip past him as he threw a counter punch straight to the man's chin. As the man wobbled, Ronin seized the initiative, pummeling the man two more times before the man's guard went up and a knee strike forced Ronin away. As Ronin moved in again though, the slower speed of his virtual body started becoming a problem. His mind moved before his body did and one of his strikes missed.

  Seizing the opportunity, the man grabbed Ronin by the arm, then threw him to the ground, pinning him in a leg lock. Ronin, despite being able to both see more and think faster was powerless to stop it. And as the man held his leg tight, he began to squeeze.

  At this rate, my knee will snap! Ronin yelled in his head. He might only be feeling 50% of the pain he'd feel in real life, but this was still agonizing.

  “I yield, I yield!” he shouted, and the match was over.

  [Defeat!]

  “...”

  Back in the lobby, Ronin immediately rejoined the matchmaking queue. The next match ended just the same. He had a clear advantage in the beginning but eventually lost later due to a grappling move. He queued up again, this time landing a few good shots to the man's lower chin, knocking him out.

  This should probably be enough.

  Ronin exited the game, returning to the cloudy liquid back in his VR-chamber. He let himself float up, then climbed out onto the surrounding grates.

  Let's see... he thought, entering his mind palace. The barrier was still there, holding back the alien flood. There's... there's no difference at all!

  His fights in the game hadn't changed anything.

  Ronin shuddered. Seems removing the safety filter is the only option I have left.

  This was exactly what he'd feared. He dried himself off, then made his way into the machine and unplugged the cable. Steeling himself, Ronin walked back in front of the cloudy liquid. He would be feeling everything now. Dying in the game would feel just like dying in real life. He put on the mask, then plopped in...

  [Player now in queue, ranked matchmaking in progress… Match found! Enter match now?]

  The implications behind that question, now held a very different meaning.

  “Yes,” Ronin answered shakily, failing to keep his nerves at bay.

  He spawned into the arena. The smell of sweat and blood, the hot sun, and the sound of the quiet wind now felt so real, it was almost impossible to distinguish from reality.

  Then, the opponent spawned in, and the countdown began:

  [Combatants prepare...3. 2. 1… Combatants fight!]

  Ronin and the other man closed in on each other and the man threw a punch. To Ronin's surprise though, the punch slowed down.

  The near-death sight?

  It hadn’t worked before, but now with nothing limiting his senses, it seemed that his techniques could activate!

  Leaning on one foot, Ronin let the punch slip him by and with calculated precision advanced forward. Quickly grabbing the man by the head, he then kicked a knee deep into the man's stomach. The guy tried to distance himself, but Ronin swept him off his feet with a low kick, then mounted him. Right as Ronin was about to hammer down though, through some sort of infernal maneuver, the man managed to flip the situation around, locking Ronin's neck in between his legs.

  “I yiii, I yiaaa,” Ronin croaked out, attempting to end the match. Unfortunately, his words came out wrong, so the game didn't recognize it.

  Blackness began to surround the edge of his vision as Ronin felt death closing in. He tried to tap the man's leg in the faint hope that he would stop, but he didn't. Finally, the world turned black — and Ronin ceased to be.

  [Defeat!] The deep game voice announced.

  Ronin spawned back in the lobby, gasping for breath. His whole body shook in terror. That was horrible! That was absolutely horrible!

  He immediately exited the game, returning to reality. He desperately swum up and out of the liquid chamber, then sat down on the grates.

  He'd... died. He'd really died. That black pit of absolute nothingness... that feeling of dissolving, of losing everything he was. It was... Ronin balked over, dry heaving as he relived the experience. He remembered it in perfect detail. He forced the image out of his head, then just sat there as he stared into the air. He didn't think of anything anymore, he didn't dare to.

  Time passed as he continued to sit, not moving a muscle as he allowed for his mind to settle. Then, at some point, when he began to regain himself, he tentatively went back to the memory. With these sorts of things, he'd learned that it was important to revisit the experience, to normalize it, to take ownership over, and to master it. But... why did his head hurt?

  What was I doing? Ronin wondered. His head? Wasn't there something important related to that? Oh, right, I need to inspect my mind for the alien energy.

  In a moment of clarity, Ronin closed his eyes, then entered his mind palace. He made himself appear on the bridge of the mental spaceship, then had a few of the battle soul guardians come over. When he merged with them though and saw the alien energy... he didn't know what to feel.

  Do I really have to go through this over and over again?

  The energy had reduced, but it would take several more fights before it was gone. And if he got rid of it for now, it would probably only be a matter of time before it built up again. Just how many times would he have to feel himself die from now on?

  “Fuck it,” he spat, then reluctantly made his way back into the chamber.

  “...”

  Time passed as Ronin continued queuing up. Every time his opponent did a takedown and began to grapple; he lost the match. He was quick to yield as well. He did not want to die again if he could help it. Nevertheless, despite his frequent losses, as his initial 4 battles turned into 10 battles and those 10 turned into 20, Ronin began to learn.

  Every grappling move his opponents made, he memorized. Every mistake he made while trying to defend himself, as well as every success, he took note of. Everything was stored and organized, ready to be deployed the moment he ended up in a situation akin to the one he'd lost in. And as Ronin began to adapt, each new opponent had a new way to deal with him. But… there was only so many moves out there… Slowly but surely, he was making progress. By the time he was on his 40th match, the few seconds it took to make him give up, had turned into half a minute.

  Now though? On his 43rd match?

  Ronin laughed in triumph. He might have gotten lucky with this opponent but that didn't make this any less glorious. He leaned back, his legs over the opponent's torso as he held the man's outstretched arm.

  Ronin was just about to win his first match purely by grappling. The feeling was incredible! He was finally starting to get it! As the opponent was about to tap out, however, a piercing headache broke Ronin out of his glee. This pain didn't come from the game.

  He finished the match then exited VR as the headache amplified. It felt like someone had hit his head with a sledgehammer.

  That's enough for now, he thought. No wonder the guy from the gaming company warned about this.

  Ronin nudged his implant, then looked up the information on virtual reality neural damage. So, this type of injury can be permanent unless you're treated swiftly.

  Fortunately, the form this damage took was much milder than what had been done to him when the government blasted his eye with radiation. He should be able to heal from this on his own.

  Ronin next did a quick inspection of his mindscape, which revealed that the alien energy was gone. He also had a new mental guardian. It was faint and extremely weak, but based on the image it represented, this one was truly his. The guardian had two arms and currently looked to be in the middle of holding onto someone in an attempt to choke them out.

  The guardian must be based on my grappling technique!

  Ronin shook at the implication! The battle soul, in a way, represented his mind and now... he'd just changed it. He could literally do anything in VR. In the future, how much would he be able to transform the battle soul technique, and by extension, the Potentia Panorama? This might very well be his first step into changing the legacy!

  A sting of pain brought Ronin out of his wonder. Hopefully this void damn injury to his head would heal soon.

  And on that note, he thought. There was the Kalvrakian embrace. It was time to test it.

  He walked out from the grates, then positioned his legs in a deep squat as he spread his arms.

  Now that he'd returned from Exodon, eating more food had indeed improved his rate of progress, but not by much. It would now take him roughly 30 days to reach the 9th stance.

  Ronin moved through the stances, reaching the 8th stance shortly. He held it as the dense energy filled his body, then inevitably plopped down to the ground again as he reached his limit. He checked his progress:

  I've gotten 4% further in only one session!? At this speed, I'll reach the 9th stance in less than four days!

  It would appear that the Kalvrakian embrace did indeed require him to break down his body. Though eating more food had helped, it clearly wasn't enough. Shaking his head, Ronin looked out over the numerous machines crowding the factory. He might have to deal with the artifact, he might have to deal with death, he might have to deal with tons of extra homework, but he owned a void damn factory now, and he needed a break!

  With everything that's been happening lately, it's about high time I did this, Ronin thought.

  He put on some new clothes, brought up the relevant documents, then walked up to the 3-D printer. Ronin then loaded up one of the free blueprints into the machine and began to work. It was time to build a spaceship!