Chapter 34: Wakey Wakey, Eggs and B-bear?
Elias opened his eyes. He had returned from the time capsule.
It was a strange sensation. While inside, it had felt like he'd spent an eternity there, but now that he was out, those twenty years of experience felt compressed into a millisecond, like a computer zipping a massive file. Though he'd spent years inside, he felt no disorientation. The memories weren't gone, they'd just been condensed. Every skill he'd practiced was now fully accessible.
He finally understood what the description meant about not increasing his mental age. He didn't feel like a 36-year-old trapped in a 16-year-old's body; he still felt like a teenager.
He glanced up at the sky and surveyed his surroundings. Nothing had changed. Chameleon was still asleep, slouched against the tree across from him.
With a flick of thought, his system panel opened, displaying the list of new or improved skills.
---
Skills:
(BRZ) Berserk Sprint Lv. 2
(UR) Mixed Martial Arts Lv. 4
(UR) Singing Lv. 3
(UR) Piano Lv. 3
(UR) Gardening Lv. 2
(UR) Tracking Lv. 1
(UR) Climbing Lv. 2
(UR) Foraging Lv. 2
(UR) Knife/Dagger Mastery Lv. 2
(UR) Bow/Arrow Mastery Lv. 1
(UR) Fishing Lv. 1
(UR) Swimming Lv. 2
[Congratulations, Host has gained +5 WIL!]
[Congratulations, Host has gained +2 DEX!]
[Congratulations, Host has gained + 2 SOUL!]
—
Elias was a little surprised by the gained stat in Soul. He wasn't sure what had triggered it, but he wasn't about to complain. As for the other two, they were clearly the result of his training inside the capsule. Dexterity had likely increased from all the precision-based practice, though it probably didn't rise much since he wasn't using his actual body. Will, on the other hand, made perfect sense. He'd just spent twenty years in isolation with nothing but the AIs for company.
Even if he wasn't feeling any mental fatigue now, the same couldn't be said while he was inside. It wasn't like those novels where characters train one skill obsessively for years without pause. He'd spent twenty years in that capsule without needing to sleep, of course he got bored or lonely sometimes.
To stay sane, he switched things up. Since he already enjoyed singing and playing piano, those hobbies naturally grew in levels during his downtime. His singing had improved to the point where he could probably debut as an amateur vocalist if he really wanted to. Gardening, surprisingly, turned out to be relaxing too. He could finally understand why his mom liked it.
Beyond that, he'd also focused on skills that might help in a forest setting—like foraging, tracking, and fishing—as well as training with the atom knife. Who knew what would happen once he managed to escape?
The most frustrating part, however, was his Berserk Sprint skill. It was the second-most practiced skill after martial arts, yet it had only gone up by one level. Since it was bronze tier, it made sense it would be harder to improve than an unranked skill, but that didn't make it any less annoying. On the bright side, it now lasted a full minute, double the original duration. The cooldown had dropped from five minutes to four.
One other oddity emerged as he trained different skills: the AI changed depending on the activity. Aside from Gramps, he had encountered four others during his time inside, each with their own distinct personality and appearance. He'd named them Rose, Jasmine, Professor, and Uncle—mostly because he wasn't particularly good at naming things.
Rose looked like the stereotypical blonde anime beauty dressed as a huntress. Despite her fierce getup, she had the gentlest personality of the group. She was always diligent in teaching, though she often seemed unused to talking and would sometimes stutter.
Jasmine had a pious, serene presence, resembling a priestess or shaman elf. Her way of speaking was the most confusing, often cryptic, like she was quoting ancient wisdom no one had asked for. But she was always the one who made him feel better during moments of loneliness inside the capsule. In a small way, she even reminded him of his mother.
He'd named the female AIs after flowers—not the most original choice, and maybe a bit stereotypical, but it was the best he could come up with. Honestly, they still fared better than the names he gave the male AIs. At least they were actual names.
About the male AIs…
Professor appeared as a crystal-bodied, alien-like figure, complete with glasses and a lab coat—though Elias wasn't sure why, since he couldn't even tell where Professor's eyes were. Maybe it was just for style. Either way, he was usually the least talkative of the AIs unless the topic involved science or technical knowledge. His responses were usually short, logical, and precise—unless he slipped into full-on nerd mode. Elias also found that Professor was the wittiest and most sarcastic of the bunch, making him surprisingly entertaining to listen to when he did speak.
And Uncle? He looked like a bearded, shady traveling merchant. He was by far the chattiest—but also the least helpful. Most of what he said was rambling nonsense, bizarre sales pitches, or questionable stories about adventures that probably never happened.
As for Gramps, the longer Elias interacted with him, the more he realized this AI would only do exactly what he was told to do and say only what was absolutely necessary. His advice was always literal and painfully straightforward.
Each AI showed up when he practiced specific skills, though Elias hadn't quite figured out the pattern yet. He often wondered who designed them and why there wasn't just one unified AI for everything. When he asked, they always responded the same way:
"You are not currently permitted to know."
His time in the capsule had left him with more questions than answers. The system felt far too elaborate to exist without a purpose—but what that purpose was, or why he had been chosen, he still didn't know. And now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
The ache of the ropes biting into his wrists and ankles, combined with the open, starry sky above, served as a painful reminder that he was still at someone else's mercy.
He glanced at the sleeping Chameleon again, trying to come up with a plan. Even with the atom knife, there was a risk Chameleon might hear him cutting through the ropes. His hands and legs were bound, and he was wrapped in a sleeping bag with rope tightly wound around it. He wasn't confident he could get free before being caught.
Even though he had leveled up his mixed martial arts skill, it wouldn't matter if he was still tangled up. And judging by Chameleon's movements, Elias had a strong feeling the man's martial arts were at least the equivalent of Level 5.
It was too risky to try anything now. Maybe in the morning.
So Elias closed his eyes, snuggled into the sleeping bag, and waited for dawn.
Unbeknownst to him, once his breathing settled, Chameleon cracked one eye open and glanced his way. He squinted in suspicion, then shut his eye and went back to sleep.
—-
The next morning, Elias received a slightly violent awakening. More precisely, Chameleon had dragged him up from his sleep. The sudden lift left him disoriented. He blinked up at a smiling Chameleon, who watched him with a mocking raised brow, like he'd just heard a great joke.
"It's already nine. Still want to sleep? I can wake you up in a few minutes if you'd like," Chameleon teased, using a female voice.
Specifically, his mother's voice.
A confused anger surged through Elias as he clenched his teeth at the tasteless imitation.
"Don't ever use that voice again," he said coldly.
The sound twisted a knot in his chest, one he'd been trying to suppress ever since his parents disappeared. He hadn't heard his mother's voice in over a month, and hearing it now—especially from Chameleon—filled him with a mix of longing and fury. He hated how easily it reopened that wound.
He missed her voice, but not like this.
Not from him.
"Oh, I think that's the scariest voice I've heard from you yet," Chameleon said sarcastically. But Elias noticed he wasn't fully paying attention to him, his gaze was fixed on the spot Elias had just been dragged from.
Elias turned his head and froze.
A bear stood only a few feet away, sniffing the ground and staring directly at them. His breath hitched.
"Heh, feeling a bit more awake now, kid?" Chameleon said with a ridiculing sneer. "Now that you're up, I'll put you aside so I can take care of this."
To Elias's surprise, instead of dropping him to the ground, Chameleon jumped and lifted him into a tree and set him there gently. Once he secured Elias in a position where he wouldn't fall, he jumped down to confront the bear.
The bear snarled, bearing its teeth as it approached him.
Chameleon crouched low and drew a large knife from the sheath at the back of his pants. The bear stepped closer, growling at him, its dark, beady eyes locked onto him as it began to circle. But Chameleon circled with it, maintaining eye contact with a smile that sent a chill down Elias's spine.
Then, in a blur, Chameleon lunged to the bear's side, narrowly dodging a swipe. He closed in quickly and slashed at its neck. His red hair flowed behind him, adding a strange elegance to a scene that was as beautiful as it was horrifying. The bear roared and struck again, but Chameleon slipped to the opposite side and sliced the other side of its throat. Blood sprayed in twin arcs, some of it splattering across him—though he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
When the bear made one final lunge, Chameleon weaved to the side and slid under its belly, dragging his knife across its stomach before reappearing on the other side.
The bear stumbled. It had lost too much blood.
It collapsed, a dark pool forming beneath it as life drained from its body, letting out one final gurgled growl before going still. Chameleon snorted and flicked the blood off his knife before sliding it back into its sheath. The sharp scent of iron filled the air.
The forest returned to a chilling silence.
Elias had watched the whole thing, his head and stomach swirling with nausea as he registered the animal's gruesome death—feeling it almost as if it were his own. He had known Chameleon was dangerous, but he hadn't expected him to kill a full-grown bear in under twenty seconds.
It was beyond anything he'd imagined.
Could he even stand a chance against him?
Was Level 5 martial arts really that much stronger than Level 4?
Of course it was.
Elias had fought and trained for twenty years and still hadn't reached Level 5. Maybe it wasn't just about skill, it was about how they'd grown up. Elias was an innocent, fragile flower raised in a greenhouse, while Chameleon was a weed that had clawed his way through blood and cruelty just to survive.
Elias hadn't felt that kind of urgency, at least, not until recently. And even now, no matter how dire things became, the idea of killing someone still felt uncomfortable to him.
He'd been raised in a society where killing was rare and almost always considered wrong. Even if he could convince himself that doing so would be self-defense, the idea of taking a life was still too visceral for a teenager raised in a sheltered world governed by morals and laws. And even if Chameleon had kidnapped him, he didn't wish for his death. He didn't want to cross that line unless it was absolutely necessary.
Even after twenty years of fighting, Elias had never killed anyone in the capsule, even though his opponents were just simulated partners generated by the dojo's data. They looked and felt too much like real people.
Still, even if Elias was scared, he knew he couldn't just sit back and do nothing. If he ended up in the hands of the man backing Chameleon and Jackal, he'd be as good as dead. At least Chameleon needed him alive, so there was still a chance. Determination tightened in his chest as he closed his eyes, trying to calm his shallow breathing.
"Hmm, not really fond of bear, but I guess this is breakfast," Chameleon mused, breaking Elias's train of thought.
Elias opened his eyes to see Chameleon slicing up the bear and taking it apart. A surge rose in his throat, whatever was left of last night's dinner came up in a hot wave as he leaned over and vomited.
"Wow, you're sensitive, aren't you?" Chameleon sighed, catching Elias in the act. "You were fine with the pig last night, right?"
"A bear is different," Elias croaked, annoyed. "Can you get me down from here? Lying on this branch on my stomach isn't exactly helping."
Chameleon let out a dry, humorless laugh. "You do realize you're a hostage, right? Are you really making demands of me?" he jeered. Still, he helped Elias down and finally removed the sleeping bag wrapped around him.
He was about to return to carving the bear when Elias suddenly blurted, "I need to use the restroom!"
Chameleon furrowed his brows and glanced at the bear. He didn't like the idea of leaving a bleeding carcass out in the open. What if other animals, like wolves, were drawn by the scent?
"I need to go now!" Elias insisted, guessing from Chameleon's hesitation that he was considering staying to finish the butchering.
"Fine," Chameleon muttered, dragging Elias to a more secluded spot. He quickly retied the rope, switching Elias's bound hands from behind his back to in front, then turned his back to give him privacy.
"Get it done quickly," Chameleon grunted, waving a hand dismissively.
Elias stared at the ropes around his wrists and ankles. He took a deep breath. He'd practiced this thousands of times inside the capsule; he could do it. In the next second, the atom knife appeared in his hand. With a swift motion, he sliced through the ropes in one clean cut.
But before he could take another breath, he spun around and his knife clashed with another in a sharp, metallic chime that echoed through the air.
On the other end stood Chameleon.
Chameleon bared his teeth in a snarl. "Ha! I knew that little head of yours was brewing something stupid, but this? This is beyond even my expectations." Violence flashed in his brown eyes.
'I searched him yesterday', he thought, pressing harder against Elias's blade. 'Where did he get a knife?... It couldn't be down there… right? What kind of strange high schooler hides a knife in their underwear?' That was the only logical explanation Chameleon could think of.
He pushed upward, grinding the blades until they disengaged with a sharp clang. Then he swung again. Elias blocked it, just barely. Another piercing shriek of metal rang out.
Chameleon raised a brow and burst into laughter.
"I see… I knew you had some skill, but I didn't think it would be this impressive! You really are full of surprises, kid. But you do realize you've just made your stay a lot harder until the Boss arrives to collect you."
His grin widened into something cruel. "After all… I only have to keep you alive. Nothing more." A flicker of bloodthirsty brutality lit his eyes. He slashed, grazing Elias's cheek. Blood trickled down, but Elias didn't flinch. Chameleon flicked his blade clean and reset his stance, calm and ready. The charming captor had vanished—only the predator remained.
"I like you, kid, but don't test how far my patience goes. If this is all you've got, trust me. You're not my opponent."