Sasaki stood up, conflicted. He couldn't leave them to die, but he also couldn't take them with him. He had to make a decision.
"I can't leave you here," Sasaki whispered, his voice barely audible. "But I don't know how to take care of you."
Sasaki lifted his head and took a deep breath, sighing deeply. His mind flashed back to reflect on his actions, storming with thoughts of what he had done and the outcomes.
He started to question himself: was it right or wrong? His inner voice reminded him that without killing hobgoblins and goblins, he wouldn't have survived this long.
"What I did was the survival of the fittest," he reasoned. "It's what I needed to do to gain power." But then he questioned back, "Was it the right thing to do? Because of my actions, these infants are now alone. How will they survive?"
A revelation hit his mind amidst this inner turmoil, and his face turned to anger. It was about the system.
This system that gives power in return for a heavy cost - it was a burden on his soul. The cost was killing demons, monsters, and any other races that weren't human.
"And I am doing the same," he muttered. Sasaki realized he had become part of this massacre, this madness rooted in greed - the greed to gain more power in a short amount of time.
He questioned himself, "What is this power for? To save the world? From whom? Who is the enemy of the world?"
He mused aloud, "Are they? Am I leveling up to save the world from them?"
His scientific mind awakened within him. As a scientist making an observation, asking a question, looking for an answer often through experimentation, he thought of conducting an experiment with the hobgoblin infants. Not an experiment involving injecting fluids or dissecting bodies, but a social experiment.
"What if I raise these infants and teach them all the basic subjects I studied back in the modern world?" Sasaki thought. "Will they grow up to be monsters or well-behaved beings?"
"From now on, you three are my sons," Sasaki said with a satisfied smile and a hint of amusement. He gently lifted the three hobgoblin babies into the air, cradling them in his hands.
Determined to find out, he gently gathered the hobgoblin infants, their cries subsiding as they sensed his gentle touch.
He knew this would be a challenging and risky endeavor, but his curiosity and sense of responsibility drove him forward.
Sasaki set up a makeshift camp within the chamber, ensuring the infants were safe and comfortable. He then began to devise a plan to educate and nurture them, hoping to understand whether nature or nurture played a more significant role in their development.
Amidst his thoughts of teaching the hobgoblin infants social and fighting techniques, Sasaki's musings were abruptly interrupted. A new system screen appeared before him, black as night without moon with white text written on it. Sasaki was utterly bewildered by this unexpected development.
At the top of the screen, something was written. Sasaki read it aloud, "The One System."
Before he could comprehend what was happening, Sasaki suddenly vanished into thin air as soon as he read the title of the system.
He was teleported into a completely different dimension, lying on the ground. He felt as if he was floating over water, the coldness seeping into his skin. But he couldn't see anything. Complete darkness surrounded him. It was an all-encompassing blackness, thick and impenetrable.
Sasaki tried to move, but his body did not respond. He attempted to lift a finger, to tilt his head, but nothing worked.
It was as if his body had become a mere shell, paralyzed and unyielding. Only his conscious mind remained awake, trapped in this void.
The feeling of darkness was overwhelming. It was not just the absence of light; it was a tangible force that pressed against him from all sides. He could hear nothing, see nothing, and the cold water beneath him only heightened his sense of isolation.
Sasaki's mind raced. He felt shock and fear mixed with a strange sense of awe. The darkness was so absolute, so profound, it felt like a living entity.
He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, that something within the darkness was aware of his presence.
He floated there, his thoughts the only thing tethering him to reality. The sheer emptiness of the place was suffocating, yet there was nothing he could do but endure it. His mind screamed for answers, for an explanation, but all he received in return was silence.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely in this dark void, each second feeling like an eternity. Sasaki's mind oscillated between panic and curiosity. He wondered if this is some kind of test, another challenge from the mysterious system. But the answers eluded him, lost in the endless black.
In that moment, Sasaki felt a profound helplessness. Stripped of his physical abilities and surrounded by darkness, he realized the fragility of his existence. The power he had sought, the strength he had gained, seemed meaningless in this vast, empty space.
As he lay there, floating in the cold water of the void, Sasaki's determination began to resurface. If he was to overcome this challenge, he needed to keep his mind sharp and his will strong. The darkness might have taken his body, but it could not take his spirit.
As Sasaki tried to overcome the feeling of helplessness and loneliness in the vast pitch-black darkness, a strange voice hit his ears. "Now do you realize that you are nothing in this vast universe?" The voice was heavy, echoing in his mind, filling the emptiness with its weight.
Hearing this strange, echoing voice, Sasaki felt his senses returning. He could move again, though he still could not see in the darkness. He tried to gaze left and right, up and down, but the blackness remained impenetrable. The voice sent a shiver down his spine.
He moved his upper body, positioning himself in a half-lying, half-sitting posture. "Who? Who are you?" he called out, his voice trembling slightly.
"You already know me, don't you, Sasaki? You read my name," the unknown voice replied, its tone filled with an eerie calm.