Ignatius and Siegmund teleported into Floor 5 of the Eternal Tower…
…But it didn't exactly go as Ignatius had expected.
Usually, the teleportation process was nearly instantaneous. The old world melted away away as the new world manifested itself in a swirling mass of simulated reality.
This time was different.
Floor 4 melted away, yes. Darkness surrounded Ignatius, and Siegmund vanished with it.
But then there was only night, only a void unbroken by even the light of virtual stars.
Ignatius frowned. He looked down at his body, flexing his gauntleted hands. He could see himself as though he were perfectly lit, but there was no light around him. "What's going on?" he asked, and his voice was rendered flatly in the silence, without a hint of echo. It was not as though he was in a huge, open area, but as though he were the only thing to exist here.
The game chat opened in front of him.
GAME: Anomaly detected.
GAME: It seems that your physical body has catastrophically failed.
Ignatius's heart froze. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked aloud, knowing that the game's AI was present and could hear him.
GAME: We apologize for the confusion. The failsafe was activated at the following time…
A timestamp appeared in chat, displaying the exact moment when Ignatius had entered the code into the game's chat box and killed his physical body.
Ignatius thought quickly. The AI couldn't actually read his thoughts, not even now that he was only made of data. That's what he remembered the Chinese scientist telling him. Or did he? Was that a false memory? There were so many holes in what he could remember…
But there was nothing for Ignatius to do but act on that assumption.
"If that's the truth, then why didn't you tell me back then that I died!?" he asked, forcing anger into his voice. He needed to make it sound like he truly had no idea what was going on, just as he had when talking to that "Revenant" person who called himself Ozyrus.
GAME: We apologize for the inconvenience. Maintaining a virtual world of this scope is no easy task.
GAME: Due to the nature of task priority, we are within our legal right to only check for such catastrophic failures at what international law only calls "reasonable intervals."
GAME: Since you have entered one of the first major checkpoints of the game, we have declared this to be a "reasonable interval." Please be aware that we are operating well within the confines of international law and that a lawsuit against us will be a waste of time and money.
Ignatius paused for a long moment before answering. The AI was acting… defensive. It was sending messages that were basically pleading with Ignatius not to sue the game publisher!
That could only mean that it was afraid that he 'would' do so.
Therefore, Ignatius had some kind of leverage in this situation. Could he use it to his advantage at all? Well, he'd certainly try!
Ignatius crossed his arms and glared with pure—and very fake—fury at the chat window in front of him. "I'm standing here and you're telling me that my body's dead and that I'm trapped in this game!? I've never heard anything so insane before! I'm definitely going to sue you when I get out of here!"
Of course, that was insanity.
This far in the past, the technology to allow a brain to operate a full prosthetic robot body was very, very new. A full prosthetic body cost billions of euros, and it hardly "functioned" at all. It could awkwardly walk around and grasp things with robotic hands, but its senses were limited to the physical microphones and cameras hooked up to it, and it could only "speak" through a text-to-speech converter.
And, well, this technology still required a physical brain to exist inside the body. If the brain itself had died, there was no way for a mind to live inside a robot at all.
That was the public perception, at least.
Nobody knew of the insane experimental technology of a Chinese scientist who was researching that exact technology, a scientist whose experiments would be ready some time in the future.
Apparently, the "Revenants" knew about this technology as well.
But as far as Path of the Immortal's AI knew, Ignatius was just a regular person. A very 'poor' regular person whose bank account had been nearly empty at the moment he died. The AI would think that Ignatius had no money for a robot body, nor any knowledge of the experimental technology which allowed a mind to live on inside the game.
Therefore, its next words came as no surprise to Ignatius.
GAME: Sir, please understand. Your brain did not survive. However, our revolutionary technology has preserved your consciousness within our servers! Every effort will be made to contact your living relatives, and you will be able to meet them again in the world of Path of the Immortal.
GAME: At this time, technology has not advanced in such a manner that you can exit the world of Path of the Immortal. However, you can live on within the game, and we will make great efforts to make sure your life is comfortable here.
GAME: At any time, you can use a new chat command to talk with a game moderator. These moderators will be happy to offer you whatever support is possible, including connecting you to a licensed therapist.
GAME: Please be aware that we owe a certain duty of care to the rest of our playerbase, and to the broader world. Because all items in Path of the Immortal have real-world value, we cannot give you any free items or Essence.
Ignatius put an expression of shocked disbelief on his face. "What!? You're telling me I'm trapped here forever, and you can't even bother to give me some free stuff!? Oh, I'm definitely suing your company when I get the chance!"
GAME: Please remain calm! Currently, international law does not recognize the existence of persons with no physical body. However, our internal policy is to recognize the existence of such persons. Your family will be adequately compensated for your distress.
GAME: If you have any further questions, please contact a game moderator.
Then the world melted into existence around Ignatius once more, and he let out a deep sigh.
He was pretty sure that he'd just outsmarted the AI. Ideally, it would leave him alone for now, afraid of the possibility of Ignatius's family suing the company that owned the game if he was any more distressed.
But what would happen to him when the company realized that Ignatius 'had' no family? Nobody who would care about him, except the money they might get from his death, at least.
"I wish that Ozyrus guy was here," Ignatius muttered. "I bet he knows more about how all this works."
But, if Ozyrus's words were true, he wouldn't come find Ignatius again for three days. The same amount of time until the PvP tournament. That was going to be a busy day.
Ignatius straightened his shoulders and raised his gauntleted fists. Until that time came, he'd just keep moving forward. The next step in that direction was to fight the boss on Level 5 of the Eternal Tower.