Chapter 17
Waking up in the fog wasteland, Jack began to look around. Same desolate place, same static fog.
I'm back here again, huh?
The only difference was that this time he had something red glowing inside of his foggy black body. His right hand instantly appeared on top of the red orb. The foggy hand failed to block the redness of it.
Is this?
Touching it, he found that it felt solid. The outside sealed up the inside. The pressure around him no longer felt as oppressive as before. Rather, it felt familiar — the same way it felt back in the warehouse, minus the physical pain.
But the pressure in this wasteland felt much more different. It felt more chaotic, more dangerous.
Yet for some reason it didn't conflict with Jack's coherence the same way the pressure in the warehouse did. Rather than that, it felt as if he was in some way separated yet connected from it.
Deciding to get up from the lying position, he began to attempt a new position from last time — a sitting position. Same as before, he found himself instantly in a new sitting position, sitting on air without any support. He observed himself.
Its confirmed that gravity has no effect on me..
He used his perception to locate a rock, just as before, but this time he didn't move toward it. Jack's right hand instantly appeared pointing toward the rock, palm facing up.
There is no delay between intent and finished movement. It might take a while to get used to this.. But this feels much better than the sluggish movement of a normal body.. I'm getting distracted.
Observing the rock directly, he began to attempt his experiment.
This specific rock — No! Object! This specific Object, move slightly above my palm and fall toward it.
The pressure surrounding him and the rock slowly moved around, decreasing in its pressure slightly. Jack from before was not sensitive enough to it, nor paid attention to the pressure, to observe this effect.
The rock he was observing dissipated in an instant. Immediately after, two rocks appeared. One fell on the right palm that was facing up. The other appeared and fell forward toward the left palm that was laying down and facing backwards.
Moving both his palms in front of him facing him so that he could see the rocks, he began to make assumptions.
Hmm.. Not being specific enough makes it take all possibilities? It could be that it takes the option that produces the largest amount of change possible.
The fact that it didn't fall down but got attracted toward the palm points to the fact that gravity, and by extent normal physics, may not exist normally here.
He began to observe both rocks.
These are normal rocks with nothing special to them.
Instantly, the rocks that felt slightly static became normal plain rocks that phased through Jack's palms and fell onto the ground.
Being in this form is quite useful. Remembering most of my memories is also good for planning.
His right foot now instantly sat on the left knee, leaving him sitting with only one leg in mid air.
Since I have this red orb near where the kidney should be, it means that the outside can influence the inside. Makes me wonder if the opposite is possible. But how do I test it?
This morning I clearly remembered everything that happened in this place.
His right hand was now placed at his jaw in a pondering manner.
Yet despite that, I didn't remember the reasons and knowledge behind the actions and assumptions.
So right now I may be able to remember what I did here, but I will not remember the principles of physics that I learned when I was in school.
He stopped thinking for a moment. After that, he instantly appeared crouching while facing the ground.
Let's begin by writing something I couldn't possibly fully know without perfect memory in the outside world.
Like the entire plot of Sherlock Holmes's confrontation against Moriarty!
Heh, heh.. If I somehow ever meet the Miss Teacher that I had in middle school I'll hug her for forcefully shoving those books down my throat.
Jack stopped thinking for a moment. Even though he couldn't feel emotions in this form, he still felt encouraged to act as if he had them for some reason.
.. I should have focused more on my studies, even if in the end I would have been forced to work early.
Pressing on the ground, he began the writing process. He instantly remembered all the words of the books and their sequence.
Word after word began to appear in exchange for the local pressure being quickly drained. His train of thought was simple: use the pressure to etch the shape of each word into the ground.
Eventually the place was filled with words, starting from the center going into a long spiral line.
The total word count was 65,244.
The pressure around him felt significantly alleviated. The ground that was written on was also significantly more normal compared to the rest of it.
Now sitting on the ground rather than in mid air, he began to think.
Now I wait. I'll assume that I will get out of here when I regain consciousness in the other world..
I'll put out the other experiments and focus on re-reading, engaging and making my own assumptions. If it works, then I will have the advantage of perfect memory.
.. I should also make note to explain my thoughts even more deeply so that my average normal body gets them when he remembers them.
After a while of continuously engaging with the two written novels about Sherlock, the same static that forcefully dissipated last time did the same, eventually leaving behind only a circular line of 65,244 words carved on the ground.