Dual Experiments

PATH OF THE IMMORTAL—2062

Now that he remembered what he'd once learned about the Revenant Cult, Ignatius pulled himself back to his feet and looked at Ozyrus with a fresh perspective.

So this person standing in front of him was a hacker who had deliberately killed his body to achieve eternal life, just like Ignatius. Well, Ignatius had known that before. But he hadn't realized that Ozyrus and all his unknown companions knew something of the truth of Path of the Immortal's AI.

That is, that this AI was based on a design created by Dr. Wu Zuhai during the war, a design which had created the horrific biotech superweapon everyone called the Angel of Death.

Even now, however, Ignatius didn't know whether the Revenant Cult was actually behind God's later rise to power. Even all of Dr. Wu Zuhai's research hadn't been able to discover exactly what information was hidden within the servers of Dedsei Studios, the company which had published Path of the Immortal and had used this AI to develop the game's huge simulated environment.

At the moment, Ignatius had a bit of a problem on his hands. He'd just fallen to the ground, screaming, at the mention of Dr. Wu Zuhai, whose name had been locked in the recesses of his mind up till this point.

Quite understandably, Ozyrus was staring back at Ignatius with a puzzled expression. "Are… you alright?" he asked. "That seemed a little too involuntary to be you putting on some weird show to distract me… so I wonder what the cause could possibly be."

Ignatius tried to laugh. His voice was slurred for a moment before the proper words returned. "Sorry. The experiment that I mentioned before… It seems to have done something strange to my memory. Before you spoke the scientist's name, I couldn't remember it. But then it returned. Quite painfully."

Ozyrus's eyes gleamed with understanding. "Ah, I see. Then perhaps a lot of things suddenly make sense. You really never were connected with our organization at all. You were a victim of our progenitor, as it were. Dr. Wu Zuhai must have learned that this simulated existence was based on his old technology."

The Revenant thought to himself for a few moments, staring at the ground in silence, and Ignatius took this time to reorient himself in the conversation.

'Good,' thought Ignatius. 'It seems that last sliver of truth was enough to throw him off the trail completely. Surely he doesn't suspect that I know anything about him and his cult now. I'm the innocent and ignorant victim of Dr. Wu Zuhai, that's all. I've got to make sure I keep up that story from now on!'

Ozyrus finally raised his head again. "It seems that the doctor tried to hide his identity from you when he severed you from your body. I wonder why that was. Furthermore, I wonder if he knows that my organization exists. It could very well be that he knew of our preparations for this game's launch and wanted to perform his own experiment at the same time, but without the chance that we'd know he was behind it…"

The Revenant laughed. "But it seems that fate conspired differently to his plans. Indeed, what are the odds that I might stumble upon you nearly immediately? Perhaps if he'd thought to hide his identity from your brain altogether… but no, the fact that you recalled his nationality was enough for me to put the pieces together."

All this time, Ignatius had remained silent. Once Ozyrus finished these words, however, he spoke up. "I don't really understand all of that. All I know is that I'm trying to become the strongest player in this game. I can still experience pretty much everything I could in the real world here.

"Compared to my life outside, this is pretty much paradise. If you're right, and Dr. Wu Zuhai wanted to see what would happen by putting me into the game permanently… I don't think I care. But I do care about my Hunger Clock nearly running out while you keep monologuing at me. Kindly step aside and let me kill this boss with the short time I have left."

Ozyrus seemed a bit surprised that Ignatius had this reaction. Perhaps he'd expected that Ignatius would begin ranting about how the scientist had tricked him into this experiment, or that he'd beg Ozyrus to help him find a way to return to his body somehow.

But of course, Ignatius wasn't going to do any of that. If nothing else, he'd portray a display of mental strength, a mind that refused to bend when faced with even the most bizarre circumstances. He needed to make sure that Ozyrus considered him to be competent. If the Revenants really were trying to reach Floor 100 and fuse with the AI to form God, Ignatius needed to make sure they trusted his abilities enough to make him part of their plans.

If they'd even continue with those plans now, "knowing" that Dr. Wu Zuhai was using Ignatius for some purpose they were ignorant of.

After a moment, Ozyrus nodded and shrugged. "Sorry. I'm afraid I'm a little long-winded. I've always been a philosophical sort of person. My newfound immortality has only enhanced that. However, I knew this was likely, and wanted to give us the freedom of a long conversation… so I prepared before I left town and teleported to your location. Take this."

He drew two pieces of glossy green fruit, speckled with orange dots, and threw them to Ignatius, who caught them and ate them. They were a very expensive variety of mango, which not only gave him a big boost to his Hunger Clock but also increased all his elemental defenses for the duration of his Eternal Tower run.

"Thanks," said Ignatius. He laughed. It came more easily this time. "I feel a bit better about your presence of mind. I was getting the impression that you lose yourself in ranting quite a lot."

"Oh, I do!" said Ozyrus. "But in my line of work, it pays to prepare for one's own weaknesses. That's a lesson I learned a long, long time ago."

Then he turned his back to Ignatius and started walking deeper into the city.

"Where are you going?" Ignatius called after him.

Ozyrus turned, a flat smirk on his face. "Well, I'm your party member, aren't I? Then I suppose we should go kill this boss together."