Chapter 820: Self-Reliance
The only source of information I could obtain right now was this one.
I had thought about trying to punch a hole through that wall made of flesh and escape.
But the wall was so thick that even my perception could not see what lay outside.
'It would take a considerable amount of strength just to break through it. And even if I got outside that way, there’s no guarantee I’d be able to meet another useful source of information out there.'
Statistically speaking, worlds where intelligent beings existed in the first place were probably rare.
And in the midst of that, I had encountered a being that, although a little inarticulate, was capable of conversation.
If so.
“Tell me about yourself.”
“About me?”
Talking with this one was exactly what I needed to do right now.
“Even if you say my story...... I don’t know what I’m supposed to talk about.”
“You said there isn’t much you remember, but that doesn’t mean there’s absolutely nothing, right? Anything is fine, so I’d like you to tell me something about yourself.”
“Anything is fine? Even things that are completely meaningless?”
“Yeah. They might be trivial to you, but they might not be to me.”
No matter how trivial the matter was, it was still a being from another world.
Even if I learned only one trivial episode that this being had experienced when it was young, there would be many things I could infer from it.
Rather than specifically asking for something I wanted, it seemed better to simply ask it to tell me anything at all like this.
***
“I’m worried you might be disappointed because there really isn’t much. But, sure, if even something like that is fine.”
The one that had been bewildered by my words scratched its cheek as it spoke.
“What I remember is, um...... only memories from a very long time ago.”
“Memories from a long time ago?”
“Even those are so blurry that they aren’t exact, but. I had some kind of goal...... and I was working hard to accomplish that goal.”
At those words.
I muttered with a little puzzlement.
“You were working hard toward a goal?”
“Mm? Was there something strange about that? Like I said, it’s been far too long since I last had a conversation with someone else.......”
“No, it’s not particularly strange.”
There was nothing strange about the story itself, but.
I looked at the one in front of me and thought.
'At that size?'
No matter how I looked at it, the one before me had the appearance of a newborn baby.
It was not only its form. Its size was the same as well.
It looked so small and frail that it was surprising it could even stand on two feet.
It simply felt a little strange that a being with such an appearance had been moving around with some sort of goal in mind.
“And so, I did my best, using every means available to me.”
While I was thinking that.
The one frowned and said.
“But it seems...... I ended up failing.”
“Failing?”
“I don’t know what it was, but I do remember that I failed when I had almost reached success.”
The one muttered with a very sorrowful expression.
“So I think I was very exhausted and sad. Unable to overcome that sorrow, I collapsed and slept for a very long time...... and only woke up recently.”
It was a story that was difficult to understand.
But there was one part of what it had just said that caught my attention.
“You only woke up recently?”
“Mm, the first thing I saw after waking up was this place. Honestly, I was bewildered.”
Bewildered.
Could it be.
“You’re saying the scenery here is unfamiliar to you as well?”
“Of course. A space filled with grotesque lumps like those. I even wondered what kind of unpleasant place this was.”
“.......”
That meant this space was unfamiliar even to this one.
I had wondered if that might be the case.
But when that thought actually turned out to be true, I was a little bewildered.
'If this really is a special kind of space.'
An alien space that even this one did not know.
Walls through which flowed a strange power, making it difficult even for me to see outside.
......A being that had been striving to accomplish some kind of goal.
But after failing, it came to its senses and found itself here.
'Maybe this one.'
Something about the circumstances was strange.
Perhaps this was not simply a special kind of space like the bottom of the sea or an underground tunnel.
A place even more difficult to escape than that.
'Could it have been sealed inside this space......?'
It might be the inside of some kind of sealed space.......
That thought occurred to me.
'I’m not certain.'
But when I heard its story, that was what came to mind.
That perhaps this space was the inside of some sort of seal.
And.
'If this really is a space like the inside of a seal.'
I looked at it with a somewhat strange expression.
It had the appearance of a newborn baby, but even so, its face was quite cute.
It was impossible to tell whether it was female or male, but either way, it looked as though it might become quite beautiful once it grew up.
“What happened back then.”
Although this one was answering my questions so obediently.
“Do you remember anything about it?”
What in the world had it done to end up sealed in a place like this.......
That question arose in my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything at all.”
“......I see.”
There was no falsehood in the taste I sensed in my mouth.
It genuinely could not remember its own past.
'Well, the true nature of this place is only my speculation as well.'
Perhaps there was no need to dig too deeply into that part.
In any case, it seemed the situation had become more complicated than I had expected.
I scratched my head and asked.
“You remember even less than I thought. Do you have any idea why your memories became so blurry?”
“Well...... I feel like I might have been seriously injured while trying to achieve that goal.”
“You were injured?”
“Probably. On top of that, after failing like that, I was trapped here and couldn’t do anything. I think that might have had some effect...... but I’m not sure.”
And.
Hearing those words, I thought.
'Mm, I already had all sorts of questions about this one.'
The problem was that there was no way to resolve those questions.
There was a lot of information I needed to learn about this world, but with my only collaborator in this state, things were difficult for me in many ways.
“The injury is the cause.”
......That was what I had been thinking, but.
“So that’s what it is?”
“......?”
I grinned as I looked at it.
This troublesome problem.
It seemed that the way to solve it...... would not be all that difficult.
***
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well, just wait.”
With those words.
I sat down on the ground and thrust my hand into my shadow.
“I’ll show you a taste you could never have imagined while trapped in a place like this.”
“......?”
Unfortunately, I had not been able to bring any of the other unit members with me inside my shadow.
The battle that was probably taking place on Earth right now was extremely important as well.
But I always kept my cooking tools inside my shadow.
And.
FWAAAAASH.
Using the cooking tools I took out like that.
The cooking began.
And...... as I lit the fire in the stove, I looked at the one with the appearance of a newborn baby.
'I’m not an idiot either.'
There was something strange about this space.
And this one was sitting here all alone in a place like that.
On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a young child, to the point that I had felt a sense of incongruity when I heard that such a child had been moving around with some kind of goal.
'But the presence I can sense from it...... is completely different.'
Its power was not great.
The sheer amount of power I could sense from it did not exceed the level of a newborn baby.
But, how should I put it.......
I had an intuition that the very nature of that power itself was something that could never be taken lightly.
'There’s definitely something about this one.'
A being that did not know its own name and could not remember anything about its past.
It would not necessarily be a bad idea to leave this one behind, try to escape this space, and gather other information outside.
But to simply move on like that.......
I was far too curious about this one’s identity.
And so.
Ssssh.......
As I looked at the flames of the stove.
I closed my eyes and observed the inside of my own body.
'My connection to the System is gone.'
The System had been created from the flesh of the old god remaining on Earth and the intelligent beings connected to it.
I had ended up far away from its main body.
So there was no helping the fact that my connection to the System had been severed.
Most of the awakened beings’ power originated from that System.
Each individual skill and trait was not an ability belonging to the awakened being themself, but something manifested with the System’s assistance.
The same was true for me.
Now that my connection to the System had been severed, I had lost many of the skills and traits I possessed.
During my past battle with that Church as well, I had been forced to become absurdly weak under circumstances like these.
'So.'
Now.
The circumstances were different from back then.
'Remember.'
I closed my eyes and focused inward.
The System originated from the flesh of the old god.
Its essence must have been nothing more than a mass of pure power itself.
I did not know why it had been able to allow us to use skills and traits.
But there was no way those skills and traits were authorities permitted only to the System.
[Martial Arts] was proof of that.
[Martial Arts] had been registered in the System, and now my connection to the System had been severed.
But back then during the incident with the Church, and even now.
The knowledge of martial arts still remained inside me.
If I wanted to, there would be no problem at all with using it right now.
Because martial arts had not originated from the System, but were techniques I had learned from the beastkin martial artists.
The method of using martial arts had not originated from the System. I myself understood it and knew how to handle it.
And...... if I turned that around.
'If I only know how to use it.'
Even now, without the System’s assistance.
Reproducing it using only the power I possessed...... would by no means be impossible.
'Remember...... how the System has been handling power until now.'
The skills and traits I had used until now.
I recalled how they were used.
Until now, they had been techniques that the System had manifested on my behalf.
But that manifestation had unquestionably taken place within my body.
The System had carried out every process on behalf of the awakened so that they could use advanced techniques without understanding complicated concepts.......
But the process by which those techniques were actually realized was something the awakened could freely feel and observe.
......Well, I suppose you could call it a kind of muscle memory.
My body had become far more advanced than before after achieving [Body Reformation].
And within that body remained the memories of the routes along which mana had moved when the System used skills and traits, the movements of the muscles, those minute tremors and directions.
The memories of those techniques requiring advanced knowledge remained exactly as they had been used.
'Mana...... did it move like this?'
I moved the mana inside my body.
Mana moved along complex trajectories that would not have made it strange for an ordinary human’s brain to simply melt if they tried to perform them, while also moving at different speeds and vibrations each time.
But I was no longer an ordinary human.
FWAAAAAAASH!!!
The pot heated by the flames of the stove.
Inside that pot...... an enormous amount of mana began to condense.
“......What are you doing?”
And.
Looking at it, I smiled lightly and muttered.
“Cooking.”
The trait called [Demigod-Level Cooking Proficiency].
It was the moment it activated through my own will, without the System’s assistance.