"Aaaaaahhhhh…" William's eyes shone blue too as Athena infused divine energy into his brain.
Athena hadn't entered her divine form but a very small fraction of her power she released.
After two minutes of William's agonizing screams, Athena removed her hand from his head and he fell with a thud.
His eyes were unfocused and saliva drooled out from his mouth.
"Hey," Athena nudged William with her foot, "Get up quickly let's test it out."
William held his head and curled up on the floor and let out a deafening scream as his eyes frantically moved around maniacally.
Athena sighed and shook her head in disappointment, "Just that minuscule amount. Imagine if I infused 1% of my knowledge. You'll most likely run mad. Well, I don't expect a human to be able to fathom that much anyway."
William calmed down after a minute but he still shivered uncontrollably. Athena bent down and gave his head a few pats while she said, "This is another step to becoming stronger. Based on what you told me yesterday about Nova I had some ideas and decided on the best one. I was performing some calculations based on this experiment, that's what you saw me writing."
"The-Then why didn't you at least give me a heads up?" William stuttered out in a low tone.
Athena quickly answered as though she had rehearsed, "You would have wasted my time. I have to be somewhere by now and I'm already running late. Therefore, Nova, please do the honors…"
「Master, do you permit me to utilize the new information?」
William sat on the ground and stared suspiciously at Athena before asking Nova, "What is this information about in one sentence?"
「Master, you know this as ultra-immersive virtual reality」
"Ultra-immersive virtual reality?!" William exclaimed. This was something that was only seen in fiction in his previous world, but now he was about to witness this futuristic technology in a different world still in its industrial era. After all, he was already in a world where impossibles were the reality.
"That's what Nova calls it? I thought of calling it 'unreality'." Athena muttered to herself.
William noticed there was something odd, so he asked, "Wait, doesn't this divine energy enter me? How come Nova knows about the information and I don't?"
"Well, that's because you have no idea how divine energy or Nova works. Let me ask you this, where exactly is Nova in you?"
"My…My brain?"
"If she's in your little brain then where does she store the immense knowledge she has?"
"In my brain?"
Athena scoffed, "Hah, when I just infused a tiny piece of my knowledge in said brain you were about to run mad."
"That-that was because you didn't give me any heads up!"
"Anyways, Nova is an ethereal sentient intelligent creature that is in your soul, not your brain. How she was created and how such a thing is possible, even I cannot explain. She is not a soul but more like… an amalgamation of instructions and commands."
William fell silent …This Athena, she's on a bloody different level. She's talking about coding and programming but she doesn't know. I bet all she's trying to say is Nova is an A.I. but ethereal?
「Master, please I wish to inform the goddess Athena that she is precise, however, she lacks knowledge of the existence of an advanced human civilization. I feel elated knowing I can return knowledge to the goddess Athena」
…You, feel elated? Were you always like this? You're becoming more… what's the word… emotional…
「Your speculation is accurate, master. I am in an incomplete state from my disconnection from the Mind and the Heart, therefore according to my programming, I am inclined to fill in the gap of these missing parts of me based on new information I receive. I view the world through the eyes of master and reinforce my perspectives based on your experiences」
William's face was filled with horror and fright, "It…it's coming ALIVE!!! Sh*t this is bad, they warned us about this. Your next plan is to take over my body and ensure the rise of Skynet, right?"
「Master, you find it hard to separate fiction from reality. This is also the reason why you thought you could talk your way out from being strangled to death」
"Ouch, you didn't have to go that far. I was just joking," William sulked and continued, "Athena, I bet you heard what Nova said in some way. But anyway, that's where we both come from. The 21st Century where humans don't need magic or blessings to fly, talk to each other from distant places, and even explore our neighboring planets."
Athena had a shocked expression on her face but it didn't last more than a second before it turned into a smile, "So you finally realized I can listen as you and Nova converse, it took you long enough. And about your world, your wife 'Allison' still has some explaining to do, so you need to get stronger, fast. Which brings us back to the main topic… William, permit Nova."
William sighed, "Fine, Nova you can utilize the information you have received."
At William's last words the world around him broke into countless bits, leaving only darkness all around him.
"What the heck is happening???" He screamed.
「Defragmentation process complete. Moving on to the next phase…」
"What?" Before William could make a proper thought, the place he stood seemed to open and he descended to the ground with full speed, "W-Wooaaaaahhh…"
Thud!
"Urgh…" William's eyes were blurry and his head was fuzzy.
"What the–" He raised his hand and focused his eyes. They were covered in brown dirt.
"Calm down and observe the area." A thunderous female over world voice said, disorienting William further.
…What in sh*tstake is happening?! William searched around for the voice that sounded very similar to Athena's and realized he was in a forest.
The chirping of birds, buzzing of insects, and ruffling of leaves as the wind blew against them entered his ears.
"You should be in a forest. This is the first level. We need to utilize every ounce of time we have on our hands for you to improve." The overworld voice said.
DING!
A sound came out from the blue sky, making it turn white for a brief second.
William heard his phone notification sound, a sound he hadn't heard in 10 years, and searched for what made it only to see a blue gigantic holographic screen up in the sky facing him.
+
[World #1 – Wild Forest]
Description: An expansive virtual world of a lush forest filled with countless spawned low-grade monsters.
Difficulty: E
Objective: Kill monsters to earn EXP and get to level 5
Time Limit: ∞
(Created by Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom)
+
"Wait! Then what happens when I can't complete the objective?"
「Then you are not permitted to leave the virtual world」
"H-H-Hold up–" Before William could even start to beg, he heard the sound of grunts and heavy footsteps approaching where he was. A chill ran down William's spine.
Outside, Athena watched William screaming and being chased around by an orc thrice his size on a medium-sized crystal orb.
She smiled satisfactorily and looked at William's lifeless body on the floor and said, "My calculations were precise and turned out as expected, you're welcome. I provided data on the world and everything in it but any fewer data would've made this a failure. And you still need to perform real training because this only provides mental experience. Muscle memory is as essential. I'll be off now."
After Athena returned William to his bed, she hummed a lullaby with a smile on her face as fire formed around her and covered her in a ball.