Dilemmas
"Haaa… huff… huff…"
Ying appeared amidst a patch of short greenery, swinging his
Ding!
[Your skill with the sword has improved greatly!]
[You have learned a new skill!]
"Hmm?" Ying raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused as he read the short string of notifications before him. Curious, he summoned his status window with an oomph.
[
<
]
[
Grade: Mortal
Requirement(s): +10 Strength; +10 Agility
Mastery: Novice
Description: Your understanding of the sword has reached the required level; continue in this vein to ascend to the peak of swordsmanship! All damage done by the sword is increased by +10%.
]
Ying was surprised. He hadn't expected to receive a skill at all, and it appeared to be a passive one that didn't require any activation. It also seemed to increase his overall sword damage.
After processing the new information, he dismissed the status window with a satisfied expression. Looking up at the sky, he was surprised to see that the sun had nearly disappeared beyond the horizon, painting the vast heavens in an ethereal golden hue.
"Hmm? Is it late evening already? If time flows the same here as in the real world, then my helmet should have sent me an alert for extended usage. After all, it's an older version with a maximum gaming span of only eight real hours," Ying thought aloud, knowing full well that there was no one around to hear him.
He pondered the time difference between the two worlds. Unfortunately, he could only find out for himself, as Climax Co. had thoroughly refused to lease any in-game manuals.
"Well, I still have some time left before the sun completely sets, so maybe I should cultivate for a bit." Ying's voice trailed off as he sat down on the soft grass. He couldn't explain why, but for some reason, this game felt a tad too exhilarating....
In fact, it was almost addictive...
Ying shook his head. Then, he retrieved one of the Monster Cores from his inventory. But just as he was about to begin the Qi absorption technique, he suddenly recalled something that had been on his mind for a while.
"Ah, that's right! Back then, why was the Qi Absorption technique so much easier for me than Qi Gathering? Is it because of my talent?" Ying contemplated, his mind racing as he reminisced about the events surrounding his first use of the
He called up the information for his first two skills and read through them multiple times, all the while carefully analyzing everything that had happened to him thus far.
This led to an unforeseen chain of thought.
Thinking about it, this game was rather peculiar...
Peculiar in the sense that, it didn't operate the way a conventional game would. In any other game, he would have been roaming around by now, accepting quests from NPCs and completing them for predetermined rewards.
But here, things were different.
Here, the world didn't seem to consist of predetermined, encoded events. Instead, it appeared to 'force' him into certain situations through sheer circumstance. For example, he had been 'forced' to deviate from his original path of hunting in the woods due to a series of unforeseen events and encounters that brought him to this moment.
It no longer felt like he was in a virtual world controlled by a bunch of predictable programs but rather in a reality filled with infinitely winding paths, flowing and intertwining with one another to birth an undeterminable number of possibilities.
"Is this what they call… fate?"
Ying wondered. It could be, maybe.
"No. The true culprits behind these changes are definitely the NPCs. Their reactions and responses to everything are perfectly human. The level of technology used here is revolutionary!" He concluded.
He did not believe in concepts like fate.
Yes, he understood that the universe was vastly complex and infinitely more comprehensible than he could fathom. But he also believed that beneath the mind-boggling jumble of complexities, there existed a a thread of logic...
There just had to be!
Logic was the backbone of common sense, so the fact that Ying, of all people, believed in it wasn't really shocking. It wasn't his intention to be dismissive; he simply viewed the world through his own understanding.
Viewing life through the lens of reason made it easier for him to navigate this world. This cruel... Cold world.
"..."
"Logic is the simplest and most viable explanation for literally everything; you'd be stupid not to adhere to it," Ying seemed quite dismissive in this regard. But really, how long could he continue to revel in this self-imposed ignorance of his?
"Huh? Just now, what was that?" Ying flinched, startled by his own thoughts. He bobbed his head, from left to right, searching for the source of this voice. But he never found it.
Of course, he wouldn't!
The voice was a manifestation of his reason! It was proof that deep down—within the critical consciousness of a world-class sceptic, he knew it. He knew this truth of his, if it could even be called that, was totally fallacious.
And the more he deliberated on this belief of his, the more his consciousness pointed out fundamental inconsistencies—dilemmas, if you will.
The first dilemma: What is logic, exactly?
Ying was perplexed when this question suddenly popped up in his mind, seemingly out of the blue. Nevertheless, he felt the inexplicable urge to answer it.
"Simple. Logic is the fundamental understanding that humans have set forth as a standard to refute that which cannot be; 'illogic' by the estimation of primary evidence. It is the infamous science of reasoning."
But an estimation made by evidence? Really?
Could logic truly be used to refute illogic when the concept itself is fundamentally based on approximations? What if a logical inconsistency suddenly appeared, what would the proponents of logic have to say?
Illogicality cannot, and therefore should not exist, after all.
Pray tell, in a world like this one—a world undoubtedly crawling with superpowers, horrible monstrosities, and ancient relics—can a world filled with such illogicalities essentially be... illogical?
"No, not really. Such things are commonplace here, so it's not illogical," he mused. "But then, that would imply their bandwidth of logic is much broader than that of us humans. This means that logic, by definition, is flexible and subject to change with the general idea of normalcy."
Ying paused momentarily, slowly coming to an epiphany.
"If that's the case, then how could something so fleeting serve as a standard? Isn't it wrong, even more so, to refute other things?" he wondered.
If the concept of Logic could be changed with perspective, then is Illogic not then also subject to such changes? So then, which is which, and which can actually be trusted as a valid explanation?
Of course, his claims could easily be refuted by the presumed fact that this world does not exist. But just because it presumably does not exist, does not mean that it cannot exist... does it?
Hold on.
What does it even mean to "exist" in the first place?
A second dilemma.
Ying frowned.
Why was he even thinking about these things? He couldn't understand any of it. Yet, despite that confusion, his mind spun in pensive analysis.
He sought answers—or at least, the faintest glimpse of an answer to the eternal mystery that had sent countless philosophers of old to their graves.
What exactly is the standard of an existence's actuality? How do I know that I really, by definition, exist?
In the real world... In the real world, such philosophically impossible questions had long since been deemed irrelevant, as they were of no use in furthering scientific advancements. The men of science had no use for such dreamy idealisms.
But then, they say the secret to understanding others is to first understand oneself. If this was so, then wasn't the first step towards real evolution the understanding and comprehension of humanity's innate, intrusive fundamentalities?
How utterly hypocritical could mankind be?!
"…!!"
After long minutes of deep thought, Ying finally managed to come up with what he had deemed a passable answer.
It was something he had found in a book that focused on the history and cultures of the past ages. Then, it was a particularly famous quote. Now, it's nothing but a relic of ancient redundancy—
'For the fact that I think, then, I am.' He proclaimed. But after a while, he realized that he hadn't actually answered the question. Instead, he'd just evaded it in a very roundabout way...
"How can I really be sure of my being, when I don't really and truly understand what it means to 'be'? Is thinking even to be considered a characteristic of an 'existence'?"
I think, thus I am.
What even am I exactly?
A human, yes, but that is only at the surface level. Even after all those years, humanity had still not been able to crack the code of immortality. And although people do actually live longer now, they still can't live forever.
In a sense, a person could actually be referred to as 'in-existence', because the only thing that we all truly have in common.... is the inescapable promise of death.
'Actually, is existence even a state of being? Is it even possible to really exist? Take 'time' for example. It was originally invented for the sake of explaining the day turning into night, as well as the ageing of the human body over long periods,' he paused for a bit, then—
'It might have been created for the mere purpose of conventionality, who is to say the same thing can't be said about us? For all we know, our entire reality might just all be a means to an end to some other.... unfathomable entities. I mean, who's to say otherwise?' He mentally shuddered.
"..."
'Sigh, It's the same thing with that whole conundrum of Logicality… Are things really that messed up, or am I just over thinking it?' Ying suddenly asked.
A long silence hung in the air, the birds chirped, and a refreshingly calm evening breeze blew by. It was then, that the human finally burst out… Laughing?
"HAHAHAHAHA! Really Vincent? Over thinking things? Ha! Damn right you are, just one problem though— you crossed AND crushed that threshold a long time ago!" Ying fell on the cool grass all the while gripping his stomach.
His unconventional question amused him, for some reason.
"Haaa… it's seems this game really is starting to mess with my mind, hasn't even been a full day yet. But I guess it's not all that bad, after all, a little bit of insanity every once in a while can't hurt anybody."
Ying said to no one in particular as he picked himself up from the floor, and wiped his eyes clean of the tears at their edges.
It was only after doing this that Ying finally looked up to see the night sky, as well as the moon, radiating beautiful incandescent light from its oval surface.
He suddenly realized how much time had flown by. He was so caught up with inner reflections that he had forgotten the reason he sat down in the first place!
While others had been busy Cultivating and developing themselves, he had gotten himself entangled in mind boggling Dilemmas that had no real use to him.
With a defeated sigh, Ying sent the Beast Core right back to his inventory before standing right up.
'Well whatever, I have to log out soon anyway. Out of excitement, I forgot to set a reminder for dinner, and I don't even really know how much time has passed on the outside. But, if I had to summarize everything I wasted my time on tonight then it'd be like this...'
Ying's thoughts trailed off as he struggled to find the right words to simply express what he understood.... or at least *thought* he understood.
He elevated his head at a 45 degree angle and tapped his front jaw in deep thought. After a while, he spoke.
"Reality does not have any metric or relation, it's all encompassing. What is is, and what is not probably is too....I think. Is that even right? Sigh, the 'world' is big.... too big, honestly, and even after all this time, there is still so much left to be discovered."
In all honesty, Ying's evaluation wasn't exactly the most insightful delivery. But to him, it carried a profound sense of completion. Almost like an epiphany. He sighed again.
'Oh well, I did my best. I should probably log out no— huh?'
Ying did not even complete his thoughts when a sharp noise rang in his head.
It was the system. And behind the monotonous ringing sound was a message which Ying could have never expected.
Ding!
…