Chapter 331: Both Ways

Starting this Monday, Book 4 chapters will be released 3 times a week at 12:00 pm CET (6:00 pm EST) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Once I write far enough ahead to have Book 4 fully completed, this will increase to 5 times a week. I will soon be uploading a new story alongside Spiteful Healer once I've had time to write it, so I hope you'll check that out too! It will be Isekai, LitRPG, and darker-themed. Without further delay, here's the next chappy!:
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That evening, Eli logged back into the simulation, his face blank. Lina took a moment to make her way back to the tent when she got the notification that Aegis had come online, but when she pulled the tent flaps open, she saw the stare.

“Was it that bad?” Lina asked while taking a seat next to him.

“Define bad.”

“Uhm…”

“I feel guilty for hating how good it is,” Aegis replied before she could. “It truly is the end-all solution for medicine. Tiny robots controlled by a hive-mind AI. It reads the DNA structure of whatever it's injected into, cross-references it with millions of other samples, and generates a digital representation of the body it is in. It then scans the body and compares the digital version to its current state, with room for errors and variations based on how the person was raised. It immediately identifies harmful anomalies, from viruses to tumors to broken bones.

“The hive mind instructs the user where to inject follow-up materials, where the nanobots retrieve the materials and repurpose them into whatever the body needs, and applies them exactly where they are needed. It all happens in a matter of seconds, whether it's anti-biotics or synthetic biomaterials for bone reconstruction.”

“I… Kind of understand all that. Isn’t that incredible, though?”

“The professor demonstrated how they could remove a deadly tumor on a brainstem in 30 seconds, without causing any harm to the host.” 

Lina’s eyes went wide. 

“I didn’t even get to the part where it can be used for cosmetic surgeries as well, so even that's out,” Aegis tilted his head back and sighed. 

The two sat quietly for a moment before Aegis realized Lina was holding back. When he turned to look at her, she avoided eye contact.

“What?” Aegis huffed.

“Nothing, it’s just… It’s been a week, and it sounds like you’ve made up your mind?”

 Aegis crossed his arms. “No, I haven’t.”

“You still want to study medicine?”

“Yup,” Aegis replied defiantly.

“Even though this technology is already this good and will only get better?”

“Uh huh.”

“But why?”

“The world will still need doctors.”

“Will it?” Lina asked curiously, but got a look from Aegis. “I mean, of course it will, but… will it need you to be a doctor?” 

“What’s that mean?”

“You are really smart, you could do anything. Isn’t it a waste to spend so much time on something that won’t matter so much soon?”

“I don’t think it’s a waste.” 

“Maybe I could understand better if you answered the question I asked the other day…” Lina shrugged.

“What question?”

“Why did you want to be a doctor in the first place?” Lina looked him in the eyes and saw as Aegis lost focus, going deep in thought. “You are very good at studying. You could apply that to anything. Look at how you used it in this game,” She smiled.

Aegis felt as though he had the answer, but it slipped away. A sense of loss and dread began building up inside of him, as suddenly he felt as if he was sinking into a void of nothingness, with no direction on how to get out of it. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted out loud.

“There had to be a reason, right?” Lina pushed.

“I said I don’t know,” Aegis dragged his voice in frustration.

“Your time in the hospital when you were little, you talked about that. Because your mom was a nurse, is it something to do with that?”

“I. Don’t. Know.” Aegis shouted upwards towards the roof of the tent.

“Why not stop studying, then? We could sp-”

“I’m not quitting!” Aegis turned to face Lina and directed his frustration at her, his voice raised. Lina pulled back, startled—having not been the target of his anger before- Aegis watched as her expression changed to that of a sad puppy. “If I quit, it means David was right. Makaroth still wins,” Aegis dipped his head.

Lina went quiet, stepping out of the tent. “So, it’s the same thing, right?” She turned and smiled weakly at him. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she spoke first. “Instead of spending more time together in here, you want to keep studying out of spite?” Her tears swelled up.

“No, Lina. I’m sorry, it’s not like that…” Aegis got up out of the tent and took a few steps towards her, but she continued away from him by backing up. 

“It’s ok. I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have pushed. I know it’s not an easy choice to make,” she avoided eye contact and took a few steps backward. “I’ll go gather some more materials.” She Shadow-stepped away before he could answer. 

He didn’t bother shouting after her; he knew how far away she could get in a matter of seconds. He also knew he could message her in his friends' interface, but he honestly didn’t know what to say. 

He let out a roar of anger towards the skies that echoed down the mountains, being heard by only himself and the NPC who was moving about the ruins.

“Don’t be so loud, you might cause an avalanche up here,” Danton scolded him. “Are you almost done with that building yet?”

“I’m workin’ on it,” Aegis snapped back, stomping towards the project while drawing his tools out of his inventory.

Blocks first. He set them into position carefully to recreate the frame and foundation of the structure. Some of the ruins that remained were good enough that he could repair them to a presentable state. Others needed to be replaced entirely.

The upper floors were tricky; he’d never built an observatory-like structure before. It took a lot of willpower for him to resist the urge to look up how to do it in the real world, as he knew the one depicted in the tablet was too unique to copy modern techniques. 

Second floor, third floor, and interior walls and stairwells were next. He used high-quality stone and wood. The tablet vaguely showed a glimpse of the interior staircase. He had very little to work with and had to guess the rest based on the structure's shape and size.

Following that, furniture and furnishings. Most of the color on the tablet had faded, leaving behind only changed shades in the stone it was etched into. He was really pushed to his limits using the stone's shades to figure out what color various objects on the interior and exterior were.

Lastly, the observation lens and roof. The iron and glass came into play and needed to be placed with great care. The mechanisms for using the observatory on the upper floor, he worried, he’d never figure out. Luckily, during the repair of old foundation parts, he found broken metal pieces of the original observatory.

He puzzled them together to loosely surmise how it all had worked at some point and time, and did his best with that. When it was all done, he had a hard time being proud of his work. It’d taken until Saturday evening, excluding his Friday classes, and he hadn’t yet slept. All the while, he’d hardly spoken to Lina. She was still around, checking in on him and helping out whenever he needed, but no other words were said.

The longer it took for Aegis to come to an answer, the more difficult it felt for him to face her. He ultimately decided to focus on the quest first, and hoped that he’d know what to say by the time he finished it.

But now he was on the last step. Preparing the meals and setting the table. He had to assume it was made with locally harvested meat and spices and worked from there to prepare the best soup possible to fill the bowls, as they were on the tablet. 

When he’d finished, he felt a complete lack of confidence. Both in himself, for making a decision about his future, and for what he’d built.

“It looks good. Is that all of it? Should I fetch Dantor?” Lina asked.

Aegis shrugged. “I think so.”

She nodded, headed off, and returned with the NPC.

“Fascinating…” Dantor approached with widened eyes. “The tablet?” He held his hand out to Aegis expectantly. Aegis took the tablet from his inventory and passed it over. Dantor repeatedly looked between the tablet and Aegis’ creation, walking closer.

He reached the walls and ran his hands over them, the door, its frame, and walked inside. He sniffed the food on the table, pulled out a chair, sat down, and took it all in. Books on the shelves, with pages. Aegis hadn’t filled them out, but he wrote on the spines the text that was in the tablet, using his advanced scribing skill. 

A few seconds passed before Dantor stood up and went deeper into the building, letting out gasps and awes, audible by Lina and Aegis outside.

“Sorry,” They both said in unison. After a pause, they chuckled awkwardly.

“I want to answer earnestly about what I want, but the truth is, I don’t know. I’ve been so set on this path for so long that I hadn’t considered any alternatives. Now, it feels like it’s being ripped away, and I don’t know what to do. I promise, it has nothing to do with how I feel about you,” Aegis explained.

Lina smiled at him. “I know. In the back of my mind, I’m still worried about how famous you are and how the whole world likes you. But I know how honest you are. I,” she bonked herself on her head, “need to be more confident, and not so scared.” 

Aegis walked over to her, pulled her into her arms, and squeezed her tight.

“Whatever I end up doing, I’m sure I want to do it with you, okay?” 

She let out a muffled ‘mhm’, plunging her face into his chest. They remained in each other's embrace for a few minutes, until Dantor returned from the interior with an impressed look on his face.

“We’ll never be completely certain if what you’ve constructed here is an authentic recreation or not, but from what I’ve studied of these people, you’ve done an incredible job. Through your work, I can infer much about their way of life. Thank you,”

Quest Complete! 

Congratulations! You have advanced from Crafting Mastery(Intermediate): 150 to Crafting Mastery(Advanced): 152. You may now level this skill up to a maximum of 300.

WORLD NOTIFICATION

The player [Aegis - Level 155] has become the first player in the world to reach advanced in every crafting skill.

Aegis released Lina and took a step back, waving off the notification with a smug grin on his face. “Let’s see them say I’m retired now.” 

Lina giggled.

Aegis waved his right hand, casting his Avatar of Eirene skill, causing his wings to expand out of his back. He held his hand out towards Lina. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

He scooped her up in his arms, flapped his wings of light, and took off into the afternoon sky, soaring across the Kalmoore landscape back to the village of Rene.

Rather than aim for the tower, Aegis landed gently in the streets in front of the tavern. Before he’d set Lina down, cheers erupted from the players nearby. All manner of things were shouted at him.

“Are you back?”

“Advanced in everything is insane!”

“Is he gonna start streaming again now?”

Aegis and Lina stepped into the tavern to see Erikson behind the bar, staring towards the livestream player of the building nearby. The cheering from outside provided a strong juxtaposition to the silence in the building. The bards who were usually playing music had their eyes on the stream, along with every other player inside.

Aegis and Lina lost their jovial expressions, replaced with curiosity as their eyes wandered to the broadcast that everyone was staring at in silence.

“It’s a massacre, completely one-sided.”

“They should’ve known better than to challenge the high-level players of VGN openly.” 

Two VGN news casters were talking in front of Feng’s footage. A fleet of dozens of airships surrounded Mikael’s tiny island, where he’d been hosting the Aegis coalition. The airships were bombarding the isle with all forms of magical attacks, blasting it to smithereens along with the airships of the coalition, killing every player and destroying every vehicle in sight. 

“What brutal timing, too. The members of the coalition must’ve missed the world notification from Aegis. It doesn’t seem like he was even aware of what they were up to,” The casters continued. 

Aegis let out a deep breath, lowered his head, and shook it towards his feet. He walked up to the tavern bar and, taking a seat, snapped Erikson’s attention away from the broadcast.

Erikson motioned towards it. “Crazy, huh?”

“I didn’t tell them to do that,” Aegis said.

Erikson nodded. “Oh yeah, we know. Mikael was the one getting everyone fired up. Crazy guy,” he chuckled. 

“Any idea what’ll happen to them when they respawn?” 

Erikson scratched his head for a moment. “I believe Lilya claimed the territory before the attack. They’ll all be imprisoned in Savringuard for insurrection and inciting a rebellion. That’s where they’ll respawn.”

“For how long?” Lina asked, seated next to Aegis.

“That crime? It’s typically two in-game weeks. But…” Erikson hesitated, avoiding Lina and Aegis’ eyes. “The Allied Kingdom’s guild leader representatives are able to push forth votes to alter the lengths of punishments for some crimes, and since all Kingdoms but Kalmoore are run by those jerks…”

“They wouldn’t, would they?” Lina gasped. “That’d ruin the fun of the game completely!”

Erikson shrugged.

Aegis listened in silence, tapping his fingers on the wooden bar.