Menyalakan lampu kembali bukan hal sepele seperti yang terlihat, terutama karena setiap formasi yang pernah Lex hadapi sebelumnya dihasilkan oleh sistem miliknya. Sehingga formasi-formasi itu langsung bertindak sesuai niat Lex dan dia tidak perlu repot dengan detail bagaimana formasi sebenarnya melakukan aksi yang relevan. Sekarang, di sisi lain, ada ratusan opsi untuk Lex berinteraksi dan dia tidak bisa dengan mudah menebak fungsinya.
Contoh sederhananya: ambil seekor binatang berbisa yang terbang seumur hidupnya berkat sayapnya, setiap manover dilakukan sesuka hati, lalu dudukkan di kursi pilot pesawat penumpang komersial. Dia bahkan tidak mulai memahami fungsi berbagai tombol itu.
Setelah cukup lama mencoba tanpa hasil signifikan, Lex memutuskan berhenti dan istirahat. Dia perlu merenung pertarungannya dengan pembunuh itu. Saat itu dia tidak sadar, tapi tanda-tanda pembunuh sebagai pengguna sistem semuanya ada.
Mulai dari kemampuan teleport Lex tanpa peringatan sebelumnya, itu indikator signifikan bahwa dia tidak orang biasa. Lagipula, bisa memanggil monster dan manekin secara tiba-tiba, ada manekin yang menyembuhkan dia, tiba-tiba menghilang atau teleport pergi. Sejujurnya, salah satu saja dari kemampuan itu sudah sangat kuat, dan kalau ada di tangan orang lebih kompeten, pertarungan itu akan jauh lebih sulit.
Lex tidak merendahkan diri sendiri, karena dia selamat dari tabrakan meteor, tapi dia juga harus sadar bahwa lawan punya sistem yang langsung meningkatkan kemampuan tempur. Kalau dia menghadapi lawan seperti itu lagi, dan kemungkinan dia akan menemui musuh semacam itu di masa depan sangat besar, dia harus lebih siap.
Lagipula, sekarang dia yakin sistem lain ada, dia akan terus mencari petunjuk atau clue pengguna sistem. Sama dengan ketenaran Inn yang meningkat, dia harus menduga pengguna sistem lain mungkin curiga padanya.
Dia coba merangkum kesamaan antara dia dan pembunuh yang bisa dipakai identifikasi pengguna sistem dan mencari ciri-ciri itu, sambil menyembunyikan fitur serupa di dirinya.\n
Yang paling umum adalah kemunculan acak item baru, seperti manekin. Ini buruk, karena dia sudah menunjukkan kemampuan itu berkali-kali di Inn. Berikutnya adalah kemampuan teleport. Dia juga sudah menunjukkan itu.
Soal keanehan lain miliknya, Lex curiga berkaitan banyak dengan Lucky Sutra dan bukan sistem. Dia perlu riset lebih lanjut untuk kesimpulan.
Selesai urusan itu, Lex lalu memikirkan 'keadaan overdrive' yang dia masuki saat pertarungan terakhir. Berbeda jauh dengan 'keadaan flow'-nya.
Saat 'keadaan flow', dia mencapai kejernihan mental ekstrim. Fokusnya meningkat dan dia bisa melakukan semua aksi sebaik kemampuan fisiknya berkat kontrol dan presisi ekstrim atas tubuh sendiri.
Keadaan overdrive itu semua itu dan lebih. Bukan menembus kejernihan mental atau bakat atau fokus maksimal yang bisa dicapai fisik, tapi meningkatkannya langsung untuk durasi singkat. Tapi untuk sekarang, peningkatannya terbatas di pikiran saja. Artinya dia secara teknis tidak lebih kuat dari batas fisik normalnya. Tapi, dengan pikiran berkerja jauh lebih cepat dan kontrol lebih detail atas tubuh, dia mudah menciptakan situasi untuk melampaui batasnya.
Kekurangannya, begitu keadaan overdrive berakhir, kalau dia gunakan berlebihan, dia akan kering mental total.
Keuntungan terbesar, setidaknya buat Lex, dia bisa merasakan cara memasuki keadaan itu. Awalnya dipicu rasa bangga kuat. Dia merasa, dengan sedikit usaha, dia bisa masuk keadaan itu lagi.
Dia memejamkan mata dan fokus, konsentrasi pada kebanggaannya. Dia bangga apa? Bukan sesuatu yang muncul dari nowhere. Bahkan kalau dia buang semua yang diberikan sistem dan kesuksesan dengan Inn, kesuksesan dan pencapaian berulangnya di alam Kristal pasti miliknya sendiri.
Hanya fakta orang gila Vernan mau merekrut dia ke kelas aneh dan semua orang mengira dia lahir dari keturunan bangsawan sudah banyak bicara. Heck, dia sendirian menguasai berbagai alam minor saat orang seperti Cwenhild butuh kelompok. Dia bukan lagi Lex Williams, programmer sederhana dari New York. Dia kultivator asli yang mengukir jalannya sendiri di alam semesta.
Saat dia mengembang dengan pikiran itu, keadaan overdrive terpicu. Kali ini karena tidak dikuasai perasaan ingin membunuh, dia bisa sempat menikmati semua perubahan.
Dia merasa bagaimana otaknya memengaruhi emosinya. Dia merasa bagaimana setiap detak jantung memengaruhi setiap langkah. Dia merasa setiap napas memberi nutrisi pada tubuh. Dia merasa lengannya... tunggu sebentar.
Lex menoleh ke lengan kirinya dan sangat terkejut menemui dirinya memakai gelang emas, tapi lebih dari itu, dia terkejut gelang itu menyatu dengan lengannya!
Alarm berbunyi di kepalanya saat dia menganalisis apa yang terjadi, dan sadar bahwa, bahkan tanpa sadar, dia sudah mengalirkan energi spirit lewat lengannya ke gelang. Saat dia memutus energi, penggabungan berhenti dan, setelah beberapa momen menyiksa, gelang lepas dari tangannya dan jatuh ke lantai.
Dia tidak berani mengangkatnya dan mengecek kondisi tubuhnya berulang kali. Semuanya terlihat baik, dan instingnya tidak memberi peringatan apa pun baik atau buruk. Seolah tubuhnya gagal mengenali ini selain perhiasan biasa.
Dia tidak tahu itu baik atau buruk, tapi dia pakai formasi ruang untuk mengamankan gelang untuk saat ini. Dia tidak berani main-main dengannya lagi sebelum sistem kembali. Mungkin nanti dia bisa scan item ini pakai sesuatu.
Faktanya, kalau dipikirkan, sangat beruntung dia sempat coba keadaan overdrive baru ini. Kalau dia tunda beberapa jam lagi, gelang mungkin sudah menyatu sepenuhnya dengannya. Dia tidak tahu apa yang akan terjadi kalau begitu, tapi dia tidak mau tahu dengan bereksperimen pada diri sendiri.
Lex keluar dari keadaan overdrive dan kembali ke bar. Dia butuh minuman.
Seperti biasa, aula sesibuk mungkin. Kebanyakan orang memaksakan diri ke keadaan escapism dengan main game board dan minum sepanjang hari dan malam, dan dengan tavern melebihi kapasitas, hampir tidak ada ruang.
Akan terasa sangat sesak kalau semua orang tidak berkooperasi dengan baik dan bersikap sopan. Tentu, kontrol ketat Lex atas ruang di tavern, dan tekanannya pada menjaga tata tertib sangat membantu juga.
"Kamu biasanya tidak minum," kata Roland, pengusaha muda yang giat yang sedang minum cokelat panas sambil duduk di bar. Dia terlihat kekurangan tidur dan lesu, dengan lingkaran hitam tebal di bawah matanya.
Lex tidak tahu banyak soal kehidupan pribadinya, meski menghabiskan banyak waktu bersama, tapi dia paham anak itu cukup untuk sadar dia dewasa melebihi usianya. Sayangnya, dengan kedewasaan itu datang stres dan kecemasan yang tidak semua orang tahu kelola.
"Aku merayakan," kata Lex sambil meneguk segelas Cocaina Cola dingin.
"Merayakan? Ada apa yang dirayakan?" tanya anak itu dengan suara putus asa.
"Aku punya bocoran," kata Lex, menggodakan. "Mau berita terbaru? Dari luar tavern?"
"Dari luar tavern?" dia tanya, curiga. Tidak bisa menebak apa-apa, anak itu menyerah dan tanya berita Lex.
"Masalah formasi lampu akan segera diperbaiki," bisik Lex. Roland terkejut mendengar berita itu, tapi lalu tersenyum putus asa.
"Aku bukan anak kecil, kamu tidak bisa menipuku."
Menggelengkan kepala kecewa, Roland bangun dari tempatnya dan pergi cari teman-temannya. Meski dia tahu tidak akan terjadi apa-apa pada mereka di tavern, dia tidak bisa menahan rasa khawatir.
Lex tidak bilang apa-apa dan hanya menyaksikannya pergi, tangannya main-main dengan kristal di sakunya. Setelah dia istirahat cukup, dia akan uji keadaan overdrive-nya untuk cari cara memanipulasi formasi. Seharusnya mempercepat hal.
Suara bentakan keras membangunkan Lex dari lamunannya.
Turning the lights back on was not as straightforward as it seemed, mainly because every formation Lex had ever interacted with before this was generated by his system. As such, the formations would directly act according to his intentions and Lex did not need to bother with the details of how the formation actually performed the relevant action. Now, on the other hand, there were hundreds of options for Lex to interact with and he could not easily figure out what they did.
A simple example of this is taking an avian beast that's been flying all its life with the aid of its wings, with each and every manoeuvre easily performed at a whim, and putting it in the pilot seat of a commercial airline. It could not even begin to comprehend what the various buttons did.
After a good bit of trying with no significant result, Lex decided to stop and take a break. He needed to reflect on his battle with the killer a bit. At the time, he hadn't noticed, but the signs of the killer being a system user were all there.
From the get go, being able to teleport Lex without any prior warning was a significant indicator that he was not simple. Moreover, being able to spontaneously summon monsters and mannequins, having a mannequin heal him, randomly disappearing or teleporting away. To be honest, any one of these abilities was extremely powerful, and had they been in the hands of anyone more competent, the fight would have been much harder.
Lex was not belittling himself, for he had literally survived a meteor crash, but he also needed to be aware of the fact that the opponent had a system that directly increased his battle prowess. Should he face such an opponent again, and the possibility that he would encounter such foes in the future was great, he needed to be better prepared.
After all, now that he was sure other systems existed, he would constantly be on the lookout for any hints or clues of system users. Similarly with the renown of the Inn increasing, he had to anticipate that other system users might suspect him as well.
He tried to summarize the similarity between himself and the murderer that could be used to identify a system user and be on the lookout for those attributes, while hiding the same features in himself.
The most common was the random appearance of new items, such as the mannequins. This was bad, as he had already displayed that ability multiple times at the Inn. Next was the ability to teleport. He had displayed that as well.
As for his other peculiarities, Lex suspected they had much to do with the Lucky Sutra and not the system. He would need to do more research on the matter to come to a conclusion.
With that out of the way, Lex then thought of the 'overdrive' state that he had entered during his last fight. It was significantly different from his 'flow' state.
During the 'flow' state, he would achieve extreme mental clarity. His focus would improve and he would be able to perform any and all actions to the best of his physical capabilities due to the extreme control and precision he gained over his own body.
The overdrive state was all that and more. It was not tapping into the maximum mental clarity or aptitude or focus he could physically achieve, but directly increasing it for a short duration. But, for now at least, the increase was limited to the mind only. That meant he was technically not any stronger than his normal maximum physical limit. But, with his mind working much faster and with greater and more detailed control of his body, he could easily create the necessary situation to exceed his limits.
The drawback was, once the overdrive state ended, if he overused it, he would be completely mentally drained.
The greatest benefit, at least as far as Lex was concerned, was that he could sense how to enter such a state. It had originally been triggered by his strong sense of pride. He could feel that, with a little effort, he could enter the state again.
He closed his eyes and focused, concentrating on his pride. What was he proud of? It was not something that appeared out of thin air. Even if he set aside everything the system gave him and his success with the Inn, his repeated success and achievements in the Crystal realm were definitely his own.
Just the fact that the crazy man Vernan wanted to recruit him into strange classes and that everyone mistook him for being born from royalty spoke volumes. Heck, he single handedly took control of various minor realms when even someone like Cwenhild went with a group. He was not just Lex Williams, a simple programmer from New York anymore. He was a genuine cultivator who was cutting out his own path in the universe.
Just as he was swelling on these thoughts, his overdrive state was triggered. This time since he was not overtaken by feelings of wanting to kill someone, he could actually take the time to appreciate all the changes.
He could feel how his brain influenced his emotions. He could feel how each heartbeat affected every step he took. He could feel each breath nourishing his body. He could feel his arm... wait a minute.
Lex turned to look at his left arm and was very seriously surprised to find himself wearing the golden bracelet, but more than that, he was surprised to find it melding with his arm!
Alarm bells rang in his head as he analyzed what was going on, and realized that, even without being conscious of it, he had been running his spirit energy through his arm and into the bracelet. The moment he cut off the energy the fusion stopped and, after a few agonizing moments, the bracelet popped free of his hand and fell to the ground.
He dared not pick it up and checked the condition of his body again and again. All seemed to be fine, and his instincts gave him no warning of anything good or bad happening. It was as if his body failed to recognize this as anything but an ordinary piece of jewelry.
He didn't know if that was a good thing or bad, but he used the space formation to seal the bracelet for now. He dared not mess with it again before the system returned. Maybe then he could use something to scan this item.
In fact, when he thought about it, it was very lucky that he even considered trying out his new overdrive state. Had he delayed the matter for a few hours more, the bracelet may have completely fused with him. He did not know what would have happened if it did, but he didn't want to find out by experimenting on himself.
Lex exited his overdrive state and went back to the bar. He needed a drink.
As usual, the hall was as crowded as could be. Most people were forcing themselves into a state of escapism by playing board games and drinking all day and night long, and with the tavern at beyond capacity, there was almost no room.
It would have felt extremely congested if everyone wasn't cooperating with each other very well and behaving appropriately. Of course, Lex's firm control over the space in the tavern, and his emphasis on maintaining decorum greatly helped as well.
"You don't normally drink," said Roland, the enterprising young businessman who was sipping hot chocolate while sitting at the bar. He looked sleep deprived and worn out, with heavy dark circles under his eyes.
Lex did not know much about his personal life, despite spending so much time together, but he understood the kid enough to realize he was mature beyond his age. Unfortunately, with that maturity came stress and anxiety that not everyone knew how to manage.
"I'm celebrating," said Lex as he took a sip of a chilled glass of Cocaina Cola.
"Celebrating? What is there to celebrate?" the kid asked in a defeated voice.
"I have a scoop," said Lex, teasingly. "Are you interested in the latest news? From beyond the tavern?"
"From beyond the tavern?" he asked, suspiciously. Unable to guess anything, the kid relented and asked Lex the news.
"The problem with the light formation is going to be fixed real soon," Lex whispered. Roland was startled upon hearing the news, but then gave Lex a defeated smile.
"I'm not a kid, you can't fool me."
Shaking his head in disappointment, Roland got off his seat and went to look for his friends. Although he knew nothing would happen to them at the tavern, he couldn't help but worry.
Lex said nothing and only watched him leave, his hand fumbling the crystal in his pocket. After he got some rest, he would test his overdrive state on figuring out how to manipulate the formation. That should speed things up.
A loud slamming sound woke Lex from his musings.
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