After a few hours spent in bed, Sol didn't stay there anymore.
Time for action. Action. ACTION! he thought.
Perhaps it was the confluence of two lives, but in one body, he seemed to entirely ignore the other body's routine life.
As in, Sol did not notice Franz's life much and Franz did not notice Sol's life much. They shared one consciousness, but that consciousness was experiencing the two bodies like a a computer with two Monitors. Unless the mouse enters the second monitor, it just remains untouched.
That was rather comforting for Sol, helping him stay alive without overwhelming him.
At the same time, he could feel both the bodies whenever he felt like it.
What was the most strange however was the time difference between the two bodies. The other body seemed to be experiencing life in a faster track.
It was hard to experience both bodies clearly when the time difference was so much.
Perhaps that's why I can't access two perspectives all the time.
But in retrospect, he felt like he had lived both lives.
Maybe it would take being in a similar time scale to experience normal perception?
Sol shook his head and focused on his current life.
The last simulation was a lesson. Procrastination had reduced his chances of survival by a large percentage, and he needed to take meaningful action with every second possible. His Life Simulator gave him endless confidence, but confidence wouldn't save him by itself.
He needed to take action.
He needed to save himself first and then do things to help his other body as well.
Calm down, just think about the current moment for now.
First thing on the list: find Simulation Shards.
And that was easy.
Beginning his scroll through the palace, Sol held Mirin's hand as they passed through one corridor after another. She never asked where they were headed—sometimes glancing around with idle curiosity, other times showing no interest at all.
He didn't talk either.
The palace itself was an absurdly vast architecture. Too vast. Too many corridors branching into nowhere, too many secluded halls and hidden spaces, each hinting that far more was happening within these walls than anyone could fully grasp.
They passed a mall, a gym, a library, and a horse-raising ground. Even a stage where a musical was being performed.
They didn't stop at any of it, continuing forward until Sol finally reached his destination.
The walk took nearly twenty minutes.
At the edge of a forgotten corridor stood a simple, abandoned storeroom.
Only then did Sol see what he had come for.
A faint golden light flickered on the door.
A Location Shard.
Other than Life Shards he could collect from people, the Simulation system could also work based on Location Shards collected from unique locations.
This place was one such location.
Without hesitation, he touched the door.
[White Location Shard collected]
This location isn't anything special, why did one appear here? Curiosity tugged at him. He opened the storeroom and peered inside.
As expected—nothing special.
Cobwebs clung to the corners. Broken musical instruments lay scattered across the floor, warped and abandoned, remnants of something forgotten. He wandered inside for a short while, then left, having found nothing worth his attention.
At the same time, the palace map within his mind shifted.
One of its dark regions filled in with color, clean and complete.
Seeing that, Sol nodded to himself.
He looked at Mirin and said: "Let's go back and cuddle."
Mirin glanced at him, visibly puzzled.
She was an exceedingly quiet woman. True to that stereotype, she said nothing—only walking curiously behind him.
Unlike Liora, she never really was the noisy type.
But deep in her eyes, Sol saw curiosity. She was intelligent enough to understand Sol was doing something, and she was also intelligent enough not to ask about it.
He didn't talk about it either.
Soon, they were back in his bedroom, Mirin in his arms as he looked at his system. And of course, his hand was caressing the smooth curve on her back, making her blush.
And she, feeling the novel sensation, remained stock still and silent.
Sol focused on the system.
With the simulation system and my Sculpted Gift, I am a real anomalous existence. I can grow stronger at a pace that would be impossible for others.
Not to mention my two bodies situation.
Things were looking complicated yet simple now.
For now, I will try to understand everything while growing as strong as I can on both sides. That's the best I can do.
Begin a new simulation!
His eyes glowed. He couldn't wait to see what he could do now that he had a new talent and more information.
Can he escape his fate in this simulation?
[One White Location Shard consumed]
[Ding! Life Simulation Begins]
[Input Directional Plan]
Sol didn't know the difference between higher quality simulation shards and a mere White Shard, but he wondered if a higher quality simulation would somehow be very different. Anyway, for now he already had a plan.
The moment the prompt came, he thought about the plan in its entirety: He would not escape, he would wait for the Emperor's return and ask for a chance at life.
Immediately, the Life Simulator used that plan as the cornerstone to build the simulation.
[Day 1.]
[Even though you had decided to wait for the Emperor, you didn't plan to sit around waiting. You wanted to live as if you were going to die!]
[You wanted to enjoy every delicacy you had ignored. You wanted to listen to all the popular musicals. You wanted to have fun. Yes, you had given up much hope in survival. If you were going to die, you wanted to spend your last days in bliss with the woman you love.]
Sol sighed.
Indeed, if he knew he might die, that would be his choice as well.
Anyway, why not enjoy life while learning everything he can on the side?
[Feeling like a shackle had been removed from you, you spend the entire day walking around the palace with Mirin.]
[You ate every unhealthy but tasty snack. You let go of your hold on anger. Whenever you were mad, you exploded with abandon. Slapping servant men for merely looking at Mirin, coldly running your mouth at bad chefs.]
[The day continued with all sorts of wanton, arrogant behavior.]
[But after this happened a few times, you had to stop when Mirin cried telling you were behaving weirdly. She begged you to not become like the other heartless princes, and understanding you had slipped, you nodded.]
[After that small event, you two grew much closer. You spent the night hugging her, and Mirin, in turn complained about her life. She complained and complained about every bad thing in the palace but you loved hearing her talk about these mundane things. How the maids were treating commoners coldly as if they had become nobles, how the palace looked gloomier, and so on.]
[She had a lot of thoughts about how things should be. And you were quite fascinated by how modern her thinking was. Feminism, equality, right to speak, she was quite the free thinker.]
[Amidst your heartfelt admiration, Mirin herself was also overwhelmes. After all, you had rarely understood her modern viewpoints as deeply as you did now!]
[Amidst thriving connection, the day ended in cuddles.]
[Day 2. Even though you had spend the last day in unhealthy hobbies, you felt healthier than the day before. Since you had followed your heart, even eating unhealthy things seemed to make you healthier, though only a tiny bit. This was the power of your new talent, Unbound Instinct.]
[Understanding that, you didn't hesitate to splurge on all the alcohol available in the Royal Palace.]
[Mirin was scared at first, but then seemed to think of something and relented.]
[You both hated alcohol at first, but soon, you began to love it. You and Mirin kept drinking until Mirin ended up falling unconscious in the bath tub.]
[You soon followed her into the unconscious.]
[Day 3. You felt even healthier than yesterday, but at the same time, you felt as if you had forgotten something.]
[But finding yourself entangled with Mirin in your own bed, you concluded that such wanton seeking of pleasure was making you feel weird. You shouldn't have forgotten anything. Probably, the fact that your death was soon was weighing on your subconscious.]
[After breakfast, you and Mirin walked around again and heard shocking news.]
[Someone had murdered a butler near the throne rooms.]
[You were shocked]
[Your first thought was that the murderer was yourself! Maybe I murdered someone after I got drunk? Did I forget that? Was that what I forgot? Did the First make me forget it?]
[You had developed a trauma about forgetting things for some reason.]
[But then, you calmed yourself down. You were under Oaths: Do not break the law, Do not try to find loopholes. If you were the one who killed the butler, you would already be dead!]
[Not caring about the matter, you and Mirin spent the day swimming in the royal pool alone. Even though you couldn't stop thinking about the murder, you were far too captivated by the woman beside you to think about it for too long.]
[At the end of the day, you stripped the girl naked and gave her the most intense work down there with your tongue. Your dragon might not fly, but your tongue could dig!]
Sol was speechless.
Wow, neither me or the current Mirin would have the face to do this!
In just three days, alcohol had brought both of them that close.
Alcohol really is a good thing.
And that made Sol fantasize about doing that to the pretty lass in his arms. The current girl looked so shy and reserved, would she really let his head in between her thighs?
He couldn't help but think it was beyond hot. Super hot!
The innocent Mirin looked up at him, curious.
He said: "You really are a silent woman."
That seemed to make her look away again.
"I see," she said, drawing a line on his chest with her forefinger.
He chuckled and continued the simulation.
After all, her silence was not new.
[Days passed like this with you spending every waking hour enjoying things you had always told yourself 'you would enjoy later.']
[Alcohol, dances under moonlight, public show of affection]
[Everything.]
[Day 93. Nearly three months of wanton abuse of health while seeking pleasure in all forms had ruined Mirin's health. You had Unbound Instinct but Mirin did not have such a divine skill. And for that reason, she had been sent to the Royal Physician to help her heal.]
[The consequence of unhealthy habits was easy to heal with the Physician's powerful healing Gift.]
[Because the female Physician was the one who destroyed your manhood years ago, you had a hatred for her, so you didn't visit with Mirin. Nor did you dare to go copy that woman's Sculpted Gift. After all, that woman never allowed any man to touch her. It won't work, you had tried!]
[But even after the day ended and night ensued, Mirin did not return. Anxious, you paced the room. But after a few hours, you could not sit around anymore and left to check.]
[Your soul left your body at the sight of Mirin's lifeless corpse hanging from the roof.]
"..."
Sol felt the color leave his face. Wh—What happened?!
[Day 93. Mirin's funeral was held quiet, but inside you, a storm raged. A silent misery with no comparison. You swore to find the killer.]
[That very same day, you confronted the Royal Physician. You didn't care about your fear of the woman, nor did you care about the past hatreds. You only wanted to know. She looked at you calmly, then said without batting an eye: "I was not the one."]
[Such an answer only stoked your fury. It made you sure that the woman knew the murderer. But she didn't care that you knew, and you could not threaten a woman as powerful as her into telling you what she didn't want to tell you.]
[You could only beg for an answer and the Physician didn't care for your begging.]
[Heart cold, you left.]
[Day 94. You investigated again and again in the murder site, but no new clues were coming. Only when you copied an investigation type Gift did you finally have a breakthrough.]
[In the place where Mirin had died, there was a lingering Gifted's presence. It had a unique Gift, something related to the Soul itself.]
[You immediately had your answer.]
[Day 95. You figured out it was the Gift of Oaths, same as the First Brother. But there was a remarkable difference in aura. It didn't seem to be the First Brother at all, but someone else. Though, you were sure the First was involved.]
[It must be someone under the First's Oath.]
[A ruthless malice coursed through your veins. The difference in power, the intimidation of that man's status. You didn't care for any of that.]
[You wanted the truth. What did your innocent Mirin do?]
[Feeling a profound wrongness in the air, you became incredibly stressed. Amidst the stress, you had a breakthrough in further investigation.]
[A few months ago, a butler had died a similar death with the culprit still unknown.]
[Were these two murders somehow related?]
[Using your investigation gift, you could receive guidance from the walls and pillars around you. And after you talked with every wall and every pillar, you finally started piecing the puzzles.]
[You investigated the details further and finally, having found the full truth, you slumped against the wall, exhausted in soul and spirit.]
[Then, you took a knife from your pocket and slit your own throat.]
[Turns out the First Brother had played a cruel game again. Just like the previous simulated dream you saw.]
[This time, the First Brother didn't tell you to forget an Oath.]
[This time, the man had asked you to have a Split Personality to fully express your dark emotions. He had also asked for you to not have any awareness of the other personality. Thus, neither of your personalities knew anything about the other personality.]
[He also asked for a condition when it came to the second personality: the second personality would be the exact opposite of the first personality. It was allowed to do any dark thing without consideration.]
[If you hated something, your other personality loved it.]
[If you loved something, he hated it.]
[As for whether a split personality was beneficial to you? Expressing dark emotions are beneficial of course. Word games, again.]
[And the one who killed your beloved Mirin?]
[It was yourself.]
[The walls and pillars mocked you.]
[Oh how much the girl had wept. Cried. Broken. as her own lover (her world) took her life and hung her on the walls.]
[Your hands fell, the bloodstained knife clanging against the palace walls.]
[Due to your death, this simulation is over]
Sol remained in profound silence, his eyes reflecting Mirin who was now kissing his adam's apple.