"When are you coming back?" Sybil asked.
"I don't know," Lorn replied. "But I will be back as soon as possible."
"What's going to happen to your body? Should I be keeping an eye on it?"
Since Reina's letter told him to lie down somewhere then log out, he assumed the body would stay. Or, he would reappear on the same spot. Just in case, Lorn removed everything soft, so the bed wouldn't merge with his body or something when he reappeared.
"I'm not sure. If it does… just leave it alone. If it disappears, I guess make sure to not have someone sleep here."
"Alright… Have a safe trip. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on the Jabber's group."
The Hunters hadn't left yet and Sybil was feeling suspicious because of it.
"Thanks. Keep yourself safe too," Lorn said and got onto the hard wooden bed.
Closing his eyes, he muttered: "Log out."
A sudden drowsiness overcame his mind, and he felt his consciousness slipping away.
The next moment, he was gasping for air, his whole body feeling wet. His survival instincts flared up and a brief panic seized him, but he soon found his bearings. Footsteps clattered nearby, indistinct voices danced around him. He felt deeply lost, his senses unaccustomed to the real world.
"It's subject Lorn Ashin," a cold voice penetrated his confusion.
Lorn tried to get up, but when he put his hand on the ground to push up, his right hand failed him. He stumbled, awkwardly falling down on his face.
"Help him up!"
Lorn let the guards help him up, and saw Reina's beaming expression in front of him.
"Hello…" Lorn managed, though he was sure he sounded like a dying person.
"Bring him to the resting room!" Reina ordered. "Hurry!"
Lorn was brought to a comfortable room with warm air blowing from the sides. Some women dressed in service clothes wiped him down, fed him warm slush, connected an IV drop to his hand, and left him there to rest.
Through all this, Lorn realized that there was something wrong with his right hand. He couldn't feel his thumb and his ring finger and a part of his wrist plus his middle finger felt wrong. Realizing it was the spot where the wolf had bitten him, Lorn didn't know if he should laugh or cry.
Lorn then felt his body all over and found nowhere else that was paralyzed. His mind seemed clear as well.
'If that's all the damage I received… it's not too bad,' Lorn decided. 'It's a spot at the very edge of my limb, so although it'll be slightly annoying, it won't affect me too much.'
It would've been much worse if his hip or shoulders were paralyzed.
After his IV drop was finished, Lorn had to give some blood samples and do some simple mental tests. Stuff similar to the test he had to go through before he entered the One World. Though, this time he needed an assistant to fill out the answers for him, as he couldn't write with his left hand.
Thankfully, his performance didn't change too much. His score was only two points less.
Finally, he went to meet Reina.
"Welcome! Welcome!" the researcher greeted him gleefully. "I knew you were gonna do something big! Ah, to think you'd come back learning five skills in total! How did it feel? We worked really hard on the boons and the skills, you know?"
"I don't know where to start," Lorn said honestly. "I never expected the One World to be so realistic. Thank you for allowing me to experience something like this."
"Aha-ha, well, we should be the ones thanking you," Reina said. "In truth, we were a bit skeptical about people using their spirit and learning skills. We could make the subjects feel Spirit, so we knew it was theoretically possible, but they found it very hard to control them. Only the One Leader was able to use skills without issues. But with you, we can be assured that our hard work wasn't wasted."
"So he's really the One Emperor in the game?"
Lorn suddenly realized that for the One Leader to actually be in the game, he would need to go through the same dangerous process as Lorn.
"Yep, he was also the one who created the idea of spirit," Reina sighed. "Really, he keeps pulling off miracles like they're nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts flying in the air tomorrow."
Lorn felt a deep admiration towards the One Leader once again. Really, he also wouldn't be surprised if the man started flying in the air.
"Well then," Reina said. "Let's get to work."
"Mm. Can I ask a few questions before we go on?"
Reina nodded and Lorn asked for clarification on some of the things he found confusing.
First, he learned that his body disappeared when he logged out, and it reappeared in the same place if he logged back in. He also learned that the Hunters of the One World could see their Status by simply willing it, and soon, the players too would be able to do that. It was just taking some time to perfect the system.
As for what happened when he died, he learned that his body would disappear, and he would resurrect on the spot he logged in. His skill mastery would be the same, but he would lose any items he got after the login.
Reina also added that they were working hard to make changes to the death system and also the item system.
But when he asked about the AI running the hunters and the Soulblessed, Reina just told him that it was best to experience the One World without overthinking. And even if he really wanted to know the secret behind the NPCs, Reina wasn't allowed to tell him anyway.
'Perhaps you could ask the One Leader if you ever meet him,' she said, shrugging. 'The surefire way to do that is to fulfill the Grand Order.'
Anything related to the One World, its history and society, boons and skills, were also something she urged Lorn to experience and learn himself.
Lorn had no more questions, and Reina started asking her own questions.
His actions and thoughts in the One World, his feelings when working with his spirit, the difficulties of it, the feeling of being bitten by the wolf, etc. Lorn diligently answered each one of them, and Reina gladly jotted them all down.
Before he left, Reina spoke.
"I'm sorry for your hand."
During the interview, Lorn's attention constantly drifted to it, since it was just so weird for him to not be able to feel his hand. Reina noticed that. He felt it would take him at least a couple of days to get used to.
"It was just unlucky," Lorn replied with a wry smile. "Oddly, I'm not panicking so much, because of the pain I felt in the One World."
"I don't want to give you unnecessary hope, but it is possible for you to recover," Reina encouraged. "Take a break from the One World for three days and we'll do another checkup. Something might change."
"Alright."
"Ah, before you leave, go talk to Leland," Reina said as she handed Lorn a piece of paper. "The receptionist should know where he is. Tell him you're to receive a temporary house on 21st Migrant Street, with all furniture and household equipment necessary."
Lorn tilted his head.
"It's a gift from the One Country, since you're homeless and all," Reina shrugged. "The rent for it shall be deducted from your monthly, but you're getting a 30% discount. And you're also receiving a 2000-dollar bonus. You'll get it with an anonymous OnePay account with all the privileges attached," she winked at the last part.
Lorn was confused, but realized that his connection with the loan sharks must've been exposed. But since he had shown such promise, the One Country is turning a blind eye to it all. They were even giving him some bonuses.
"Thank you," Lorn said.
"Rest well and come back in top shape. You still have an Emperor to slay," Reina waved him off. "Oh, one last thing."
Reina rummaged through a drawer, brought out two metallic bracelets and put them on Lorn's hand. They tightly wrapped around his wrists.
"Have you heard of these?"
"The Full-sense monitoring device."
It was a technology invented to protect the One Country's secrets. On top of recording your voice, it could also capture your motion so you wouldn't be able to use hand gestures or write down sensitive information. By tightly clinging to the wrists and sensing the muscles and tendons beneath, it could accurately detect the movements of your hands.
"Indeed. If it detects you trying to relay information about the One World, it'll immediately tase you and send us an alarm. It will also send us a signal if it notices that you're being either threatened or if you suffer an injury. But aside from the things that it's designed to detect, it won't record any of your private life."
Lorn's eyes glistened, looking at the bracelet. "Thank you," he said, smiling.
"Pff, you're probably the only person to smile when receiving such a thing."
Of course, Lorn would be happy. With this, Elan wouldn't be able to mess with him anymore.