章 59: The Marquis

Gray couldn't really get mad at Ginro for tricking him like that because it was hilarious and he wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing to another person.

"Haa haaa… you got me. Seriously though, what is this time manipulation?" Gray asked.

"It's nothing as fancy as it sounds, because we're in a virtual world time is whatever we deem it. Normally we keep it in sync with the real world for the players, but we can still go to a separate space and speed it up as much as the computers can handle!" Ginro said excitedly.

"Won't that create problems? Like, won't I age a lot faster than everyone else then?" Gray asked.

"What're you talking about? Your physical body is safe and sound and won't age any faster. As for your mental age, or your 'soul' if you are the religious type, you're only as old as you feel."

"Fair enough, still, there has to be some side-effects though, right?"

"Well yes, but nothing major, it'll feel like you've worked at your desk for an entire day when it's only been 2 or 3 hours, so taking a break is important. When we need a break is when we will 'play test' some of the maps. I'll show you some of my favorite settings to use…" Ginro said excitedly.

"Sweet, well, let's get started then!" Gray said enthusiastically.

Ginro sat down at the desk opposite Gray and put on his neural integrator unit, as the indicator light came up showing that was on, Ginro appeared to be focusing on something far in the distance through the glass on the neural integrator.

Gray put on his neural integrator as well and when he looked at the glass it felt like nothing special. After a moment, a message appeared on the glass in front of Gray

"Sensory integration complete…"

"Starting consciousness integration"

Gray suddenly felt like his body was being pulled forward, then the glass on his neural integrator in front of him turned white and appeared to expand completely around him.

"Consciousness integration complete."

"Entering sandbox"

The white glass suddenly seemed to disappear and Gray saw a grassy world in front of him. Gray saw Ginro standing with his arms cross directly in front of him.

"Took you long enough!" Ginro said.

"Sorry, I've never used one of these before, I was only a minute behind you anyways!" Gray said

"In here time is whatever we set it too, so it was only a minute in real time, but it felt like 10 minutes to me. Speaking of which, I left it at 10 times speed to match our usual working speed, but the system can handle higher. Want to try?" Ginro said with a wicked smile on his face.

"Uhh… sure?" Gray said rather unsure of where this was going to go.

"Ok, to make sure your consciousness is still in sync, the system will show a picture of an everyday object or even an animal in front of you. Say what you see as soon as you see it. Once you can't say one of them in time, your limit will be below that." Ginro said.

"So… you basically are trying to compete with me on brain power?" Gray asked.

"Nonsense, this has nothing to do with power, this is processing speed, and it is purely for safety. Since we're both in here we have to match the slowest speed person, which is you, so in the interests of saving time I want to find out what your limit is so we can go that speed instead." Ginro stated.

"Oh, that makes sense…" Gray thought.

"And… begin…" Ginro said.

(Image of a squirrel appears)

"Squirrel"

(Image of a dog)

"Dog"

(Image of a cat)

"Cat"

(Image of a donkey)

"Ginro around Felicia"

Ginro looked at the picture of what Gray was looking at and said "Yeah, that wasn't right. That must be your limit…"

(Image of a tiger)

"Tiger"

"Hey, system, he got the previous one wrong, why are you still going?" Ginro said loudly.

"Negative, user Gray was correct, the image was a Tiger." A female AI voice sounded out.

"That's not… nevermind… I see how it is…" Ginro said dejectedly. "I'll go load up the first map, just come over when you're done…"

"Will do" Gray said with a smile.

Ginro fumbled through the tray full of data chips and decided to just pull out one randomly. He took the chip and said "Load Data" and then watched the terrain shift all around him. After a few minutes the terrain finished reshaping and a few buildings spawned as well. Gray would recognize this map as the one he had fought on earlier today.

"He should be done by now." Ginro thought.

Returning to Gray, Ginro saw the white screen disappear in front of Gray. "Ok, let's get started then!" Ginro said to Gray.

Gray let out what sounded like gibberish to Ginro and moved so fast to Ginro's side that it would only have been possible if Gray was sprinting except that Gray appeared to be walking. Ginro tried to turn his head and talk to Gray but Gray let out another bit of gibberish and continued to sprint/walk away towards the terrain that was just generated.

"System! What happened to Gray!"

A message appeared in front of Ginro "No abnormalities detected"

Suddenly Ginro had a thought and said "System, what's our current time speed?"

Another message appeared in front of Ginro "73 times normal"

Ginro's mind felt overwhelmed for a second as he thought "How can this guy's brain be faster than mine, and by so much?!?"

__________

Princess Bang-gwi and Chunan Jwi were being taken in a black sedan to a large military base at the border of the demilitarized zone near what was once Germany.

"Seriously, this sucks!" Princess Bang-gwi said while pouting.

"You only have yourself to blame, if you hadn't tried that stunt with the fire then you wouldn't have been punished." Jwi replied.

"…I know…" the Princess replied, her face blushed red as she recalled the incident that ended with her in just her underwear on stage.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't keep going considering how you normally are." Jwi said while laughing slightly.

"Now that everyone has seen the goods, I can't get married now!" the Princess said dramatically.

"Knock it off, I've bathed you so I've seen it all and never thought that way." Jwi said kindly.

"I forget that you are that old sometimes…" the Princess said teasingly.

Jwi reached over and pinched the Princess's cheeks hard, the Princess replied hastily "Because you're so beautiful and young looking I thought of you as a sister!"

Jwi let go of the Princess's cheeks then and nodded with satisfaction.

"We're almost there, we'll introduce you to some of the base staff tonight and then tomorrow morning you will be introduced to everyone else."

About an hour later, the black sedan drove into the base at night, not drawing much attention as most of the soldiers and staff were busy with their own tasks. The sedan pulled up next to a large command center and the driver hurriedly got out and opened the door for the Princess and Chunan Jwi.

"It's not what I pictured it to be" Princess Bang-gwi stated.

"What were you expecting?" Jwi asked curiously.

"Like… tents, men running in groups while chanting marching songs or whatever, a muddy ground that is covered in footprints, sounds of artillery and gunfire, you know… the usual stuff."

"You've watched too many movies…" Jwi said while rolling her eyes.

Princess Bang-gwi puffed her cheeks and said "Whatever!"

Walking into the command center, a tall thick and muscular man greeted Jwi and the Princess.

"Hail Princess Bang-gwi of the Kwin family!" the large man said energetically.

Princess Bang-gwi shook her head and said "He's too much… I can tell already"

"Princess, this is Marquis Mehhnk" Jwi said politely.

Marquis Mehhnk was extremely tall and of Russian descent. He wore the standard black military uniform while on base with the gold embellishments to show his noble status, his ceremonial hanbok was only used for noble gatherings and parties. The man had a well-defined jaw and military crew cut hair style, he was the definition of a military man.

The Princess walked up to Marquis Mehhnk, her head just reached his chest and said "I need to get one thing straight, I refuse to fight and that's that!"

Mehhnk bellowed out a laugh. "I wouldn't expect that of you to begin with Princess, I have one request though…"

"You may ask." Princess Bang-gwi said with authority

"My son was at the concert you put on near one of our front-line bases, he asked for your autograph and hopes you can put on another one!"

"Marquis Mehhnk must not have heard what happened at the concert" the Princess thought. "Ok, I do have some official pictures I am allowed to distribute and can add my signature to one."

"Oh, he said he didn't need a picture, he mentioned that he took a few from the concert, but never shown them to me so th…"

The Princess hurriedly interrupted him "HE WILL DELETE THOSE PICTURES OR DIE!"