Underwater Yoga Blast is unique in the world of video games. It's one of the few games that was neither made by humans nor designed for humans, but was ported to human VR technology. This is strange for several reasons, chief among them being the race that originally created it. they are called v
ix, is a super-intelligent and very warlike insectoid creature. Or rather, they are what they are. For better or worse, v
ix blew themselves up to extinction before interstellar travel could be achieved. Archaeologists studying the irradiated ruins of their homeland agree that the catastrophic event was most likely an international incident triggered by a misplaced bagel.
Among the remains of their relatively advanced civilization were several technological marvels and scientific breakthroughs. The former is a highly advanced space combat simulation with unprecedented modifiability. A company called Supe
sta
Flyway Go-Go's software company purchased the rights to the ancient program and adapted it for the V-Life platform. Why they chose to name it the "Underwater Yoga Blast" is one of the many mysteries of the galaxy, since it has almost no water or even yoga. At least there are a lot of blasters.
Its extraordinary origins and misleading naming aside, Underwater Yoga Blast is best known as a genre-defining game. Even though it's 5 years old, it's still the cutting-edge leader in competitive team space combat. This is also the medium in which Joe and his four friends plan to compete, with the hope of winning prizes in the upcoming tournament. To that end, they've been working hard over the past few days brushing up on their virtual dogfighting skills. These enthusiastic amateurs had no chance of winning the championship, but they were happy with their odds of getting a lower prize in the pool.
However, their training regiment had to be interrupted because most of them had reached their limit. The human brain can only spend so long in virtual reality before it starts suffering from negative side effects and complications. That's why the V-Life service requires 8 hours of rest for every 48 real-world hours. Joe emerged from eight days of marathon training feeling exhausted but in a strangely pleasant way. Although he had no way of knowing it, the strange sense of satisfaction he experienced was close to that of an employee who had just had a hard day's work. All Joe knew was that he could sleep soundly in his cabin during his allotted rest hours.
Or at least that's what he thought, until he spotted something strange through the transparent door of the slightly odd machine. Maggie (for lack of a better word) sat cross-legged, hovering about a meter above the ground. This in itself is not surprising, as the girl was standing in the same spot, in the same pose, when Joe last saw her. The brown lump in her hand looked out of place. The man's vision was still a little blurry because he hadn't used his eyes for two days, so he couldn't see very clearly from his position. Still, he thought it would be a good idea to check it out.
The pod that Brother Longtail was attached to slid open, and Joe came out a little wobbly.
"Hey, Maggie," he greeted her. "do you miss me?"
"Your absence does inconvenience me, Joe."
It was a strangely impersonal way of saying it, but this simple man decided to accept it as a well-crafted "yes" and move on to the topic at hand.
"What did you get?"
Or rather, in the hand.
"I have claimed legal ownership of this creature during our physical separation."
She held the snake up to Joe's face in a way that suggested she was showing it off. The man stared at the snake with golden-brown patterned scales with incomprehensible wonder. He didn't even know where Maggie found it, but at least her claim of "legal ownership" meant she didn't steal it. The creature itself is of course a cute little thing, emphasis on "small". The snake was small enough to sit comfortably in her open palm, coiled loosely around itself. It's about as long as the distance between Joe's elbow and wrist, and its average circumference is about as long as his thumb.
The snake curiously raised its little head toward Joe's face, its little forked tongue actively tasting the air between them. The way it studied the man bore an endearing resemblance to its insatiable, curious owner. As soon as this pleasant thought passed, Joe began to doubt Maggie's ability to care for the little fellow. Or girls. He is not an expert on snake science and has no direct connection to the sex of snakes. He looked around the room and easily spotted the glass terrarium and large bag of food pellets in the corner next to the pods. He felt a strange sense of pride that this ancient cosmic entity had taken care of those most basic necessities.
"I gave it a name, 'Calm Azgod Kalal'." Maggie said proudly.
"Oh? Does he like it?"
"As yet Azgod Kalal has not been able to comprehend the meaning of these words."
"That's good," he said, masking the ominous reply. "Can I touch it?" I'd never really seen that before. "
Maggie nodded in affirmation. Slowly and carefully, Joe extended a finger toward the animal and gently tapped it on the nose, a gesture sometimes called a "nose tap." He stroked its little head in the same way. The snake responded to this stimulation by lifting the upright part of its body and coiling once around Joe's finger. The man found himself admiring the strange warm and dry feeling of its skin against his. This feeling also triggers a slightly worrying thought regarding the snake's owner.
"Wait, can you take it?"
Maggie's satisfied smile instantly turned into confusion.
"Why would Azgod Kalal object to living under my control?"
"It's just that your skin feels a little weird."
Indeed, Maggie's pale body exhibits a peculiar sensation when touched. Somehow she felt warm and cool at the same time. It's by no means unpleasant, just weird. Joe was vaguely aware that snakes were cold-blooded, so he didn't know if the little guy would feel comfortable.
"Thanks for your concern, but it's not necessary. Azgod 'Kala
Make it clear that it likes to rest on my flesh, otherwise I will return it to the aquarium provided by Mr. Charles. "
As if to prove her point, the snake retracted from Joe's finger and lay lazily on Maggie's palm.
"That's indisputable. Wait, Mr. Charles? You mean the owner of Lyfe Haxx?"
"Do you know this person?" She looked surprised.
“Someone mentioned him in a community message,” he said wrongly. "Uh, sorry, boarding. His profile picture has this incredible--anyway, apparently that store is going to blow up right now."
Maggie's half-lidded eyes of amusement widened, and her gentle expression twisted into a cold, calculating rage.
"Not an explosion!" Joe responded quickly. “I mean it’s getting more popular! That’s a good thing!”
"I understand," the girl relaxed.
"Jesus, Maggie," the man sighed. "You really need to stop imagining the worst right now. Look, you scared poor little Azgodka and everything!"
In fact, the snake stands as upright as possible, baring its tiny fangs while its head spins wildly. To say the least, this is an excited little animal. Maggie stared at it blankly for a moment, then slowly reached for it with her other hand. The little snake hissed faintly at the approaching fingers, but immediately calmed down when the girl began stroking its spine.
"Wow. You're good at this," Joe said.
"The instructions provided to me were thorough and informative," she replied flatly.
"It's rare to see you angry about anything, though. You must really like that store, right?"
"Yes. This is where I bought the Az-god Kalal. I will not forgive anyone foolish enough to harm it."
"Ah. That explains a lot."
The aforementioned message board Joe browsed had a lot of information about beauties with dark eyes, dark hair, and black clothes, and she directed her customers to Lyfe Haxx. Some people participating in online discussions have even invented embarrassing titles such as "Mistress of Darkness" and "Pale Goddess." Joe wasn't the shrewdest guy, but he was now convinced they'd been talking about Maggie. This made him very curious to know what she had been doing these days. However, he decided to save the report for another day because he could tell the look on her face was one of mild pain.
"Are you okay, Maggie?" You seemed troubled. "
Luckily the girl had recently learned to express emotions appropriately, otherwise he would never have realized it. She looked at him intently for a few seconds, then relaxed her face into an expression of gentle contentment.
"Thanks for your concern, but it's not necessary."
"Don't bullshit me. We're in the same boat, aren't we? If there's anything I can do to help, just ask."
Joe's attempt to show off his dependable and manly side was met with a tight smile that seemed somewhere between amusement and derision.
"If necessary, I will try my best to do it."
"Very well," the selective man nodded. "Anyway, I'd love to spend more time with you, but I really need some rest. Take care and see you later."
He climbed back into the cabin and put it into "sleep mode." The machine made some quiet sliding and hissing sounds as it adjusted its cylindrical cavity from an almost vertical position to a completely horizontal position. Joe passes out within minutes, leaving Maggie to ponder the potentially catastrophic issues highlighted by her previous outburst. She would have liked to hear the man's opinion on the matter, but she concluded that he was terribly incompetent on that particular issue.
Maggie realized she knew almost nothing about fear. At least that's how it seemed to her. She realized how emotions play a role in chemical reactions in the brain and their physiological effects on the human body. She also has a rough grasp of what kinds of stimuli can cause or weaken these reactions. Maggie, however, has never experienced fear herself, and not just because her true self technically doesn't have a brain.
In its maddeningly long existence, the Observer Malaslak has never found its existence seriously threatened. Although it has had several conflicts with the elders of its homeworld, its immortal nature allows its consciousness to rebuild itself even after it was seemingly destroyed. This, coupled with its fondness for observation, study, and experimentation, shapes its emotionally stunted personality.
This has been changing steadily since Maraslak became the Magi. Life as a half-human had taught her many things that she hadn't even considered exploring before. Concepts like joy, love, sadness, and anger were completely foreign to her past self, and trying to fully understand them was an incredibly enlightening endeavor. She now understood why her past attempts to interact with the physical world had been so utterly ineffective.
The main problem is that the cosmic entities evoke inherent fears in the minds of the little beings they encounter. These meetings stirred up a powerful instinct of self-preservation and a fear of the unknown that overrode all logic and reason. While some of Maggie's peers reveled in the vague sense of power and control gained from intimidating rational thought, that was not the case at The Observer. If anything, it disdains the irrational behavior that comes with fear. This is why interstellar entities have such a strong interest in Joe Mulligan. This strange man is the only one who has come face to face with the majestic presence of Mahraslak without immediately succumbing to raw emotion.
However, this is precisely why, despite his intentions, he cannot help Maggie in her current predicament. Although her understanding of the concept of fear had greatly improved, she felt she would never truly understand it until she experienced it herself. She believes this is possible because she has experienced a state of mind bordering on fear. For example, she worries about Joe's health and worries that causing an incident will jeopardize her presence in his real life, but neither of those is the "real deal."
The biggest problem is that Maggie isn't sure how to rectify the situation. There is no serious threat to her survival, and there are no consequences to losing her body shell, so she cannot fear extermination or mutilation. Furthermore, she welcomes the unknown with open arms, so that form of terror is equally beyond her capabilities. With the most obvious candidate out of the question, Maggie considers a few seemingly minor options.
First, humans have a deep anxiety about anything that infringes on their sense of control, autonomy, or free will. It's just another component of the emotional cocktail that makes them scream when they're faced with an entity from beyond the veil of reality. Maggie wasn't sure she was capable of experiencing that special feeling. The thought of submitting to the infallible will of one's elders is certainly unpleasant, but it is more infuriating than terrifying.
The next possible reason is fear of loss, not of yourself, but of others. This is what Maggie experienced when she accidentally let Joe watch that potentially fatal soap opera. However, due to excessive indulgence in theatrical entertainment, her thoughts at that time were contaminated and unstable. Furthermore, this was largely due to her anger at the thought of breaking her obligation to Joe. Therefore, Maggie was unable to classify what she was experiencing as pure and real fear. On the other hand, the soap opera incident shows that this is a potentially viable place for self-study. The only problem is finding a suitable subject to threaten extinction with, and it's not Joe.
She glanced at the pod where the long-tailed goths were infested, but immediately concluded that this was not the right place. While she loves her pet project, she wouldn't be that bothered if it ceased to exist. She might feel a little disappointed that all the time and effort she invested was wasted, but that's about it. If her understanding is correct, stimulating her fear of loss requires the use of a conscious being in whom she is emotionally invested. Shogoth definitely doesn't qualify as it has no sentimental value to Maggie.
Her mind wandered to her right, where her new acquisition lay lazily in a small ball of golden-brown scales. Azgodkara seemed to notice her gaze, and it turned its head as if to greet her, its little tongue lazily moving back and forth in its mouth. By all accounts, it was an innocent, insignificant creature whose practical usefulness to this otherworldly entity was ultimately negligible. If it hadn't been for an innocuous whim, Maggie wouldn't have cared about it at all.
"...This will do." She decided coldly.
A suitable experiment immediately formed itself in her formidable logical mind, and she wasted no time in making her design a reality. Maggie left Joe's apartment and took the nearest elevator, the higher the better. Once on the 90th floor of the skyscraper, she found a large window and walked over, holding an unsuspecting snake in her hand. She pressed her free palm against the giant piece of shatterproof glass, bending the glass molecules as she pleased, creating a life-size opening in the glass. An icy gust of wind roared in through the gap, forcing little Azgod Kalal to hide in Maggie's long sleeves. The girl was not intimidated by the wind at all and walked out, remembering to close the "door" when she went out.
Then this incredible creature wearing human skin starts walking along the side of the building, as if gravity were just a hint. The fierce wind whipped her clothes and hair, but otherwise did nothing to disturb her vertical gait. After walking up for more than thirty meters, Maggie came to the roof of the skyscraper. She hasn't reached the highest point yet, as the flat ground is dotted with countless satellite dishes, cell towers, lightning rods, backup generators and other maintenance-oriented machinery. However, there was no need to climb any higher, as Maggie's current height was high enough for her to conduct her experiments.
This girl lives up to her name and carefully observes her surroundings. There was about 15 meters between the rooftop deck where she was sitting and the skyscraper opposite. Despite various countermeasures during construction, accurate measurements were difficult to come by as the massive structures swayed in the relentless high-altitude winds. Looking at the layers of streets and air traffic lanes below, Maggie estimated that she was at an altitude of 816 meters, only a fraction higher than the top road. This way she still had 270 meters of room to maneuver, which was more than enough for her purpose. The rather extreme wind speeds could cause some complications, but she believes they won't significantly interfere with the experiments.
Maggie decided the conditions were satisfactory, so she tucked her right hand into her left sleeve and pulled out her test subject. She gently pinched the belly of the innocent snake with her index and middle fingers and grabbed it. She stretched her arms as far as they would go, leaving the completely confused snake hanging over the edge of the cliff. Realizing the mortal danger, it wrapped desperately around Maggie's finger. However, its efforts were in vain, as its fall was considered necessary for the girl's study.
So, the Serenity Azgod Kalal was abandoned. Its body was very small, weighing only thirty grams. Gravity pulled it downwards, and it was immediately swept away by the ruthless airflow. If Maggie were a normal person, she would immediately lose sight of the monster. Of course she wasn't, so she was able to follow the plane's chaotic descent with unerring accuracy. Given its increasing speed and general helplessness, there was no doubt that her pet would be dead within seven seconds.
Despite Maggie's ruthless behavior, she does not consider herself cruel. She didn't like torturing the innocent snake. This is simply a necessary step in her growth as an individual. So what if an insignificant life had to be snuffed out in the process? While the snake's existence was brief at best, her existence was indescribably monumental. Objectively speaking, the imminent death of this stupid little creature has more meaning and purpose than its continued existence. In some weird way, we could say Maggie was doing him a favor.
This way, when the snake falls, the girl can watch completely unaffected. Her expressionless expression didn't flinch as the wind blew around her, nor wavered as the cold air numbed her. Indeed, the unsuspecting thing appeared to be dead before it splattered onto the pavement. If not, then in three seconds it will be gone forever, leaving only a damp smudge and a fleeting memory as a sign of its brief existence.
As Maggie's slender body instantly exceeded the speed of sound, a terrifying roar shook the super skyscraper. Moments later, she landed on the deserted highway with an illogical slight bump that gave the laws of acceleration, mass, and momentum a giant middle finger. Indeed, in this sudden pause, the only thing that changed was the girl's cold appearance. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was slack from hyperventilating. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and a cold bead of sweat ran down her forehead.
There, miraculously writhing in her cupped hands, was an innocent ball of golden-brown scales.
