*Ding* *New Ability unlocked!!!*
*You have unlocked the new Subconscious Ability: [Deep Dive] Lv 1. This ability will allow you to explore the depths, and new areas of your Subconscious, that you formerly could not access... *
…Wow!!!
Bob tried activating the Ability, and immediately, he found himself surrounded by a protective, glowing energy …!!!
It just went to show - he could have tried the RLSSD #3 countless times without making any progress - was this the true meaning of the saying "one step back, in order to go two steps forward?!"
In addition to the new Ability, speaking with Gigachad had also given him a clue, as to what to do…
"'Life is better connected - with everything ✨'…?"
Now newly equipped, it was time to see if he could mine the mysteries of the RLSSD #3, as well as plumb the uncharted depths of his Subconscious…!!!!
___
Bob reenters the RLSSD #3…
But now! Instead of being carried by the current, as before, the boy can now control his movements within it!!!
If his former experience was like a passive passenger, being carried and transported to a specified destination, now - encased in what appears to be an 'underwater suit' of glowing energy thanks to the [Deep Dive] ability - it was as if he had gotten off before the transportation's scheduled departure time, and was now, finally, able to step out, and explore the real world outside, as if for the first time…!
Sunlit 'skies'… dreary clouds… lush meadows, waving fields of rippling, floating golden grasses… he is currently 'standing' in a stunning 'sea' of this picturesque landscape…
He is 'floating' in the 'current', with the stunning, surreal landscapes and scenery around him, but if he wishes, he can also take steps forward, and move, as if on land.
The sensation is… unlike anything he has ever experienced… it is as if he is caught inbetween the sheer, raw feeling of being fully present in an embodied, physical reality, whilst at the same time experiencing a surreal sense of weightless freedom and limitless, energized potential - a feeling of being completely Alive, as if he were, only now, comprehending and experiencing the true, real world - in a higher resolution or dimension - than he ever had before.
Was this… what it was to be… Awake?
At the same time, the mysterious 'Shimmer' is still present, hovering where he wills it, shining and glowing with a seemingly endlessly evolving spectra of various reflected colours, hues, and luminosities…
"'Life is better connected - with everything ✨'…?"
The first thing he tries is to connect to the Shimmer…
At first, the movements are jerky and awkward, and the colours garish and out of place with the beautiful landscape around him… but gradually, he begins to get the hang of it, gaining an increasingly seamless proficiency and skill, able to increasingly influence the Shimmer, the disc or halo of light, to better reflect the subtlety and colours of the landscape…
But just when he feels like he has gotten a little more used to it, suddenly the protective glow dims…
And the boy finds himself caught and carried up again by the current, hurtling towards the waterfall-like, end-of-the-world drop…
Just as he approaches the edge... the Image again fades to White.