Silas had his phone snatched by some stranger in this post apocalyptic world. Though the phone wasn't starting and he did not have any use for it, he wasn't letting anyone simply steal from him.
Initially, he had wandered down to the underground hall while looking for Sophia, but she was busy at the moment, so he decided to follow the girl instead.
He went back up to the surface, where a lot of people were working with whatever materials they had to build a boundary wall around the sole withering tree that stood in the middle.
Silas saw the girl in a dress that barely covered her sitting under the tree. He walked over, glanced at her as she was busy doing something with his phone.
The girl not only had his phone but also multiple other phones and electronic devices, some partially broken, some completely destroyed. She had a box of tools with her as she precisely worked her way to open the phone she had just stolen... or more like borrowed.
"What are you doing?" Silas asked.
"Mind ya own business."
"Excuse me, that is my phone."
"You are excused, and I did thank you for the phone, now don't disturb me and get lost."
The girl did not even bother glancing at Silas. She was immersed in her work. Silas was a little annoyed by her attitude and the way she talked, which he found really degenerate.
He was considering snatching his phone back, even though it was now in pieces. As impractical as this thought seemed, it had crossed his mind at some point. Perhaps the manalogy freak who did not understand emotions still had a sense of ego, though no one could tell if he truly understood that.
Before he could act, he saw the girl who was focused on working. He didn't quite understand what she was trying to do, but he could feel a familiar feeling, though he did not realize it. The girl had simply reminded him of Cally when she used to work on her artifacts.
Being away from his homeland, Silas should've been sad, perhaps even depressed, having gotten stuck in such a bizarre world. At such a time, being reminded of his sister could have truly broken him. However, this was Silas in question, the manalogy freak who had never felt emotions in his life.
Reminiscing about the past is a human characteristic. Silas was human despite not having emotions. But the memories did not weigh down on him; they only motivated him further to find a way back to his world. One of the advantages of not being able to understand emotions was that, unlike Caleric who would slowly start to miss his world, Silas was immune to the negativity this world had in store.
After considering the situation, Silas decided to leave the girl be. The phone wasn't of any use to him. This was also when he felt a different sensation in his brain, a ticklish feeling, something Silas would consider good in comparison to his usual perception, which felt like a headache or the sixth sense that buzzed sharply through his body.
What's this? A new feeling? It's like the body is giving me feedback... Hm... can it be that the body recognizes what I did as something the original owner, who is now Caleric, would have done?
Right, it does make sense. Instead of causing unnecessary commotion by disturbing this weird girl, which, who knows, might turn into a heated argument, Caleric would have preferred leaving her be. He is not quite the type to get involved when unnecessary.
What a monster Caleric was to have trained this body to have an awareness of itself. Scary...
Silas was sitting beside the girl, watching her work. He did not have any work at the moment. Although he could have helped the people who were working hard to construct the boundary wall, he was quite lazy, so he didn't bother doing anything unless he was asked to.
"You should cover yourself."
"Where are you looking at, you pervert?"
"How does that make me a pervert?"
"Says the boy who is staring at my body."
I don't know what your problem is, but I was saying it for your good. The temperature is high right now, but since the sunlight does not reach the surface anymore, it'll be cold very soon. Perhaps we are approaching an ice age.
By then, Sophia had returned to the surface searching for Silas. She could tell that he had questions to ask, and it was convenient for her as well, since she herself had multiple questions that Silas, or the mysterious person in Silas's body, could answer.
Silas saw Sophia and quietly backed away, leaving the girl alone. However, the girl was too focused on whatever she was doing to notice.
"I wanted to ask about what exactly is the current situation," Silas said.
"We have a lack of food and water, there are almost over a hundred people here at the moment. And we are—"
"I meant the situation of the apocalypse. The corrupted beasts, the giant monster-like thing in the lake, those mysterious human figures, and even these people who have made such progress despite the apocalypse starting only two days ago."
"I am just as uncertain as you are. Phase one of the apocalypse was marked by the meteorite shower. Phase two involved the sudden emergence of monsters in this world, along with random spatial distortions opening. Phase three has not yet begun, and its nature remains unknown. Beyond this, I cannot provide a clear explanation," Sophia said.
"Moreover, I believe you should possess better knowledge of these monsters. Why are you asking me?"
"Distortions? Anyway, it seems you people are unaware of corruption?" Silas asked.
"What's that?"
"Manacule overdosing—or corruption—is a phenomenon caused by excessive concentrations of manacules interacting with a living system. Researchers in my world discovered that any organism with a life force is susceptible to corruption.
"However, the rate of corruption here is abnormal. In my world, the process is gradual, but the emergence of such large-scale monsters in such a short span of time is unprecedented."
"Then you are saying something is accelerating the corruption?" Sophia asked.
"Yes. Also, experiments had demonstrated that corruption does not normally affect living humans. Only human corpses undergo corruption. However, during their lifetime, a human body can act as a carrier, and after death, it can transform into a corrupted corpse.
"That being said, although the probability is low, it is possible for a living human to undergo corruption. That scenario is catastrophic. In such a case, the corruption gains access to intelligence. It will attempt to deceive other humans to ensure propagation. Essentially, it behaves like a viral agent, infecting and spreading among populations.
This is precisely why I suggest that, with so many people gathered here, we should conduct screenings to detect early signs of corruption."
"And how will we do that?"
"I can identify traces of corruption," Silas replied.
"Anyway, I think you should tell me about the organization you belonged to. I would like to better understand the hidden manalogy world of Earth," Silas added.
"I was more like the outer force of the organization. I don't even know its true name. We were only given information about specific events, such as the details of the apocalypse.
"Hypersonia, the company, was a branch of the organization. As far as I know, our task was to keep everything secret, hiding it from the public, because the inner circle of Hypersonia—Incognito—was working on creating something that would aid the organization at the onset of the apocalypse. However, the apocalypse began earlier than the predicted dates. Other than that, the organization provided us with the spell index and taught us the basics of manalogy," Sophia told him.
She does not know much. Of course, she could be lying—I have no way of telling. Nor will the body signal me, since it does not recognize her as an enemy. She is, technically, my mother.
"I have one more question. The blue liquid from earlier... what exactly was that?" Silas asked.
"That... it was a secrecy potion."
"What?"
"Yes, it's—wait, can it be that you don't know about formations?"
Formations?
"So it's true that there are certain things you don't know either. You're an amateur at this too, huh?" Sophia said smugly.
Silas found her words really annoying. He was a manalogy genius, and some random woman was calling him an amateur?
"Heh, you don't have to look so offended. Fine, I'll tell you. Formations are like another layer to the normal manalogy spells. It's something hidden, not many people know of it.
"I belong to the alchemist formation, but that's all you're getting. You'll have to find out everything else on your own," Sophia said, patting his head. It was like a mother sending her curious child off on a search task.