[NR] Maybe A Bit Crazy - Chapter 586 (Patreon)

In fact, as Jason takes a closer look at the returned lines, he finds that it goes even further than just returning them to what they were like before he died. The lines had expanded. Not by much and mostly in the pinky he had damaged so long ago. Still, it showed the System, at least passively, fought back against players escaping its control.

If this held true for all deaths, then it wouldn’t be surprising if most level capped players were well and truly stuck in NeoRealm. Though, from what Courtney had said in the past, Jason is certain some managed to get out. The question was, what did they get? Because it was clear those at the top of society craved more people like that.

Well, that would be the question if Jason didn’t already plan on getting there. Besides, while the lines had grown, it was on a scale that would require tens of deaths before it became hard for him to complete his current task. Maybe they’ll grow more with future deaths, but Jason doubted it. This was clearly a mechanic meant to slowly trap the players that hadn’t been in the original design. It would have been much more effective to make the lines better from the start or increase them with each breakthrough.

Jason shakes his head and focuses on something more important than a creeping danger for the future. Because if he can’t figure this one point out? He was going to need to find a way to live without lines entirely.

Such a simple thing that Jason had looked over. How did the lines stay in place? Not that they did completely. They might not have been relocating themselves, but the lines certainly had a little wiggle room and used it to do just that. Even the end points weren’t set in stone.

So how did they stay in his body? There had to be something to it or else his own Energy lines would have worked. There just had to be! And so he delved deeper and deeper.

It had been a while since Jason tried to see as deeply as possible and in-between, his abilities had grown. Except there wasn’t anything. But there had to be!

Jason would not allow his vision to be clouded. He would not allow the System to hide the truth from him. His body is a void and so any amount of existence in it should stand out, should be easy to detect.

So, if he couldn’t see it directly, Jason would go from the opposite direction. Once again, he would use his pinky, though the one from his opposite hand this time. While Jason was sure another death like the last wouldn’t change things, who knows what effect it would have if the same area kept getting messed with and reinforced?

Not that anything should happen as Jason was just trying to see. However, he needed to be ready in case the System had some sort of trick up its sleeve. After all, it was clearly hiding this from him already. Who knows what was underneath?

And yes! Jason sounded a bit crazy and he admitted it to himself. However, he also realized where the feeling was coming from. Some might dismiss it as just intuition, as intuition wasn’t entirely valid to begin with. Even if you might need to be careful with it.

No, this wasn’t intuition, at least not in the way people meant. As a cultivator, Jason had a deep connection with his body. While the System is doing something, he could still, on some level, feel something is there. It was like someone had covered your hand in a cloth. Not only would you still know your hand was there, you’d feel the cloth.

This was, of course, trickier. As if in the above example, your arm had fallen asleep or anesthetized and was just getting the feeling back. Still, it was something and gave Jason something to work with. Tomorrow.

It had taken him a while and dinner sounded like a good idea right about now. Plus, he really should go around and check up on everything. Rosha and Courtney’s house should be fine since the letter didn’t mention anything, but all the other stuff was very much his responsibility.

And good thing he did take a look. It wasn’t a big problem. However, Jason had set up the original building before getting the construction skill and without that to smooth the rough edges it was more vulnerable. This time in particular, a section of the roof had started to leak. Easy enough to fix, especially with the skill and how the System low key warped reality to make things fit better. However, it could have been quite a disaster if left alone for too long.

Satisfied with his work, Jason headed off to bed. Though only for four hours. As his stiff muscles irl had given testament to, he had been neglecting that side of things. And so Jason was going to try and get an hour irl going forward. That did mean spending nine hours a night in NeoRealm doing nothing. But compared to everyone else, at least he was doing something with the time.

Not that he wasn’t up bright and early to continue his investigation from yesterday. The System wasn’t going to block him for long. However, it was hiding a part of him, or rather a part that wasn’t him, Jason had its number.

Back in his underground cultivation chamber, Jason dives into himself and focuses on the pinky. Everything looks as it should, but he knows it isn’t true. So, he picks at the edge, starting where everything felt normal, even to his intuition.

In theory, there should be a point where it transitions from feeling right and turns wrong. Except the System wasn’t dumb. It had smoothed out the edges, creating a gradual gradient between there and not. The fact Jason could feel anything at all meant, well it meant something. Any guess on Jason’s part would be purely guesswork and honestly a bit self-serving. Whether it was him using Energy, his sensitivity trained in his last life, or whatever else. While the circumstances that got him there might be unique, the actual abilities shouldn’t be.