Ramsay turned to his boss, still looking quite pale.
"General, could it be that his LRGS is bugged?"
It was the most logical conclusion to make in the face of those absurd numbers.
"Nah, I don't think so." Wiping the tears that had formed from too much laughter, Natalie looked at Mark and grinned. "Our boy here lived with the Whispers for nine years. I'm sure his Mind stat would've been at least fifty if he Awakened right from the get go."
"Um… pardon me…" Once again, Lara raised her hand like a confused student. "I'm not sure I understand…"
The three stared at her for some time. The amusement Natalie showed turned into confusion then realization.
"Ah, yeah, you wouldn't know…" She said then turned her eyes to Mark. "I guess I should explain the LRGS now."
"Took you long enough." Mark replied. "I'm not a big fan of info dumps, but it's better than staying in the dark any longer."
"Alright, let's start with the Whispers. You know what they are, right, young miss?"
Lara's answer came right away.
"You are referring to the Voice of Primordials?"
"Primordials?" Mark asked.
"The Cthulu things I mentioned before."
Finding Natalie's answer unsatisfactory, Mark turned to Ramsay.
"They are ancient beings with unfathomable powers." The man replied. "Few meet them and live to tell the tale, but those who do described them in a similar way to the beings in Lovecraft's works."
"Oh, Eldritch horrors." Mark clicked his tongue. "Sweet."
'As if dragons weren't enough. '
"Back to the topic-" Natalie continued. "Those Whispers are in fact telepathic messages transmitted directly into one's mind. Supposedly they contain some kind of knowledge that transform the souls of sentient beings, but that transformation can lead to one of two outcomes."
"Awakening and Falling." Lara added.
"Exactly." Natalie nodded. "Those who Awaken keep their sanity and gain supernatural powers. We call them the Awakened."
"Those who fail lose their sanity due to soul corruption. They are referred to as the Fallen."
"You sure know your stuff, little miss." Natalie said.
"Those are the basics of the basics." Lara expression remained stoic. Her eyes then turned to the youth sitting in front of her. "What I fail to understand is how someone can still Awaken at the age of nineteen?"
Mark glanced at her from over his shoulder.
"Is my age that much of a problem?"
"It is, indeed."
He didn't how old she really is but the Lara Becker whose form she took was nineteen. It didn't make sense for his Awakening to be a surprise when they were about the same age.
"Her confusion is warranted." The muscular woman spoke. "In the past, only people under fifteen had a safe chance at Awakening. Those who pass the milestone have an increased chance at contracting Madness and having their souls corrupted. Considering your Mind and Soul stats, we would've been in some serious trouble if that happened to you."
A shiver ran down Mark's spine.
"You talk as if it's some kind of disease." He said.
"It is." Natalie replied. "Some even believe the Whispers are something like a computer virus."
"General," Ramsay chimed in. "The Whispers are literally defined as a psychic virus."
"Oh, yeah." Dismissing him with a wave of her hand, the boss picked her knife and fork. "Well, the Whispers are a virus and Madness is the disease. Now here is a question for you: what do we need to protect ourselves from something like that?"
Mark raised an eyebrow.
"A vaccine?"
"Exactly." Natalie stabbed her fork into her last piece of steak then raised it up. "And that's what the LRGS is."
Mark suddenly recalled the contents of the System message he got before.
[The Lower Realm Guidance System is a Psychic Program created to protect individuals from Madness as well as provide the necessary tools to survive.]
Back then, Mark didn't have the chance to ponder over what that meant, but with everything he heard so far he felt like he was finally starting to understand.
"That is… unbelievable…"
Hearing Lara's shaky voice, Mark glanced at her from over his shoulder and saw that she looked somewhat shocked.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
The silver haired girl looked at him then turned her sight to the muscular woman.
"There is… there is a way to stop Madness? But… that is impossible…"
"Clearly not." Natalie replied. "I don't really know the details, but clearly someone out there figured it out."
"But… isn't this Realm being invaded by a Fallen World?"
"I think you're misunderstanding something, Ms. Becker." Ramsay interjected. "What we have is a a vaccine, not a cure. The Lower Realm Guidance System helps people Awaken safely, but it can't cure those who have already succumbed to Madness."
"Even then… it is still unbelievable…"
"Little miss, it seems a lot has changed since you were last summoned." Said Natalie. "Your knowledge is a bit outdated."
Lara lowered her gaze in thought then replied after a while.
"It must have been a recent occurrence, then. I doubt I would've been oblivious about this had it been more widely used."
"Fair enough."
Seeing Natalie shrug, a question popped up in Mark's head.
"You know what she is?"
He expected a teasing smile and some jokes about his lack of knowledge, but Natalie only shook her head.
"We had the best Rune expert on base take a look at her, but… she had no idea. None of us meet the requirements to learn about her." Pausing for a few moments, the Head General then added. "The Peace Keepers have a few registered encounters with Awakened who have sentient summons, however none of them belong to a Lower Realm like this."