Chapter 030: Feeling Like You're Really There

"All we can do is try our best to reduce the chances of more conflict between the two sides, so they can live together peacefully," Fury said, leaning on the table with both hands. His face looked a bit dark. "But the doctor shouldn't have been involved in any of this. I was the one who brought him in personally."

"He's different from us."

"We chose this path years ago. No matter how hard it is, it was still our choice. But the doctor never chose any of this."

"I don't care anymore whether he's a mutant or not. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't… either way, I don't want anyone to think he is. That's my plan."

When Fury said this, his one good eye stared sharply into Hill's eyes. With a serious look, he asked, "Agent Hill, do you think this is the right way to handle things?"

Without even noticing, Fury had gone from calling her just Hill to calling her Agent Hill.

It was only one extra word, but it meant something very different.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Perfect."

Hill suddenly smiled and started clapping.

Fury, who had looked serious, suddenly burst out laughing. "Hahaha, enough of this heavy stuff. I heard there's a new sushi place on Rose Avenue. Come on, my treat!"

Raymond had no idea how Hill talked to Weaver, but after their talk, Weaver quickly agreed to let him join the Combat Division and even gave him a lot of freedom. She even promised that unless his requests were too crazy, the academy would try to meet them.

Still, Raymond wasn't someone who didn't know his limits.

Hill helping him with such a big problem was already enough. Of course, he wouldn't ask the academy for anything over the top.

After helping arrange the best teacher's apartment for Raymond, Hill left first to report back to headquarters.

And Raymond finally had his first "home" since arriving in this world.

"Whew~~~~!"

After seeing Weaver and Hill off, Raymond jumped and fell back on the bed, stretching out with a big yawn. He let out a long breath and finally relaxed.

Thinking back over the last few days, it was a hundred times more exciting than being a private detective in his past life.

Even though he had faced danger several times, he didn't feel scared when he looked back. In fact, he felt thrilled and excited!

Deep down, he was never someone who liked to stay quiet and follow the rules.

Otherwise, after finishing his military service in his last life, he wouldn't have turned down the stable job his old commander offered and opened a private detective agency instead.

Of course, being a private detective in his old country was a gray-area job, so officially, he ran a small information consulting business.

But honestly, once he got into the job, he realized it wasn't what he thought it would be.

Most of his work was about relationship issues. Getting a case about a family inheritance fight was already a rare surprise. The big, exciting cases he had hoped for were very few.

And even those big cases didn't give him the same thrill as what he'd experienced in the past few days!

A ticking time bomb like David, the dangerous fight between Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., and the creepy old man Shadow King who almost messed with his mind…

One thing after another kept coming at him, like he was riding a rollercoaster.

But after staying on edge for so many days, he was still somewhat tired.

Now, for the first time, he could finally relax—not just physically, but from the inside out.

At last, he could lie down like a salted fish, completely clear his mind, and close his eyes for a bit.

…

Half an hour later.

Raymond suddenly opened his eyes, looking helpless.

"Looks like I'm just not cut out to be a salted fish…"

He had been lying flat, trying to shut off his thoughts and rest, but instead, his mind became even more active than before. Ideas were flying around nonstop.

And the one thought that kept coming back the most?

Yes—the overall value that decided how long a sub-personality could stay active.

Last night, he didn't get the chance to read the full explanation in the "Beginner's Guide" about that value. He had been too sleepy to keep his eyes open, so he had no choice but to go to bed.

This morning, the first thing he did after waking up was read through the detailed explanation.

And only then did he realize that the system actually had some small features he had overlooked—features that could help increase that value!

Before this, aside from the general-point exchange function to get character cards, the only thing that had caught his eye was the [Equipment Materialization] function, since it clearly affected how strong his sub-personality could be in battle.

But aside from that, there was also a small feature called [Immersive Mode] that he hadn't had time to check out.

The name alone sounded a bit strange. If he hadn't read the guide, there was no way he would have guessed what it actually did.

Now he knew, at least a little. But just knowing wasn't enough—he had to try it himself to truly understand what it could do.

"Well then, let's see what this is all about… System, activate [Immersive Mode]!" Raymond said in his mind.

The next second, text from the system popped up in his mind:

<[Immersive Mode] has been activated. Please choose a scene.>

"Choose the scene where Kuro first learns basic combat."

Yes / No>

"Yes, activate now!" Raymond chose without hesitation.

As soon as he made his choice, a wave of darkness swept over his vision, and everything around him disappeared.

A moment later, he felt like he was falling, and then light returned to his eyes.

"Where am I?!"

As he looked around, he was completely shocked by what he saw.

Because he realized that he was no longer in the teacher's apartment Weaver had arranged for him—but instead, he was now on an old, slightly wobbly ship.

The salty smell in the air told him that this ship was sailing on the open sea…