Of all my unique skills, [Fantasy Adaptation] is the one I tend to forget. It's different from [Luxuriae Interminabilis], which has a common use, and [King of Awakening], which hasn't had its time to shine yet. However, that doesn't mean it's ineffective.
[Fantasy Adaptation] allows me to use skills and spells from a variety of power systems, while my mana pool adheres solely to the metaphysics and rules of [Hell Difficulty Tutorial]. There are certainly many nuances I could explore since it functions based on my own interpretation of how the skill works. In fact, it probably operates on a deeper level than I can comprehend, but that's a problem for another time.
My current issue stems from my lack of knowledge about those nuances, which has led me to suffer from one. I now have a migraine—a power-induced one.
While acting like a marauder, I realized I hadn't attempted to use the main pathway skill of [Theft]. I went on a stealing spree, picking up small items within a five-meter radius. One upside of this scenario is that in LOTM, the world is a Victorian steampunk fantasy with dark, horror themes (though not many on Reddit seem to agree on that classification). The fantasy element is rooted in spiritualism. Because of this, even though [Theft] could be considered an 'Active Skill', I ignored those details and found it had a low Spirituality cost.
That's why I recklessly spammed it, even as subtle warnings appeared. I dismissed the voices, shadows, and apparitions, thinking, "It's just paranoia," and continued using the skill. My sanity dropped below 80%, yet I persisted even as I began to feel exhausted. Now I'm lying on my bed with a pounding head, my eyes closed, and the whispers growing louder.
Thanks to my [Fantasy Adaptation], I've adapted to LOTM's laws, but I didn't realize this sooner. Now, I find myself suffering from the status condition [Soul Body Exhaustion], which indicates I stressed out what functions as the LOTM version of the soul. I shudder to think about the repercussions on the other non-physical aspects of me.
Damn, I hope this pain disappears by tomorrow.
---
Unfortunately, the status effect lingered for five days, though the migraine began to lessen after two. The additional Wisdom point I gained certainly wasn't worth the suffering!
Kyoya, bless his soul, and the others who just returned helped me, making sure not to disturb me more than necessary. Nanako even congratulated me, noting that in the five—and now almost six—years we've been together, I had never experienced a health issue: no fever, no stomachache, no cold. She explicitly told me, "Congratulations! You've become human now!"
I leveled up [Poker Face] twice just to resist laughing. In the future, when I finally reveal the supernatural aspects of our current world, I'll chuckle when I confess that I suffered from the aftereffects of soul distress due to non-human ability usage.
Yuki was a bit annoyed because, with such a headache, I didn't want to use my phone, and we didn't text for two days. Fortunately, she will be the first person I share my secrets with. After reminding her of our promise from ten years ago and apologizing for being late by five years, I finally managed to placate her.
That, along with a promise of plenty of delicious, spicy food, motivated me to get back to training my LOTM skills. As a true LOTM fan, the first thing I wanted to try was learning cogitation.
Fun fact: cogitation is meditation in the LOTM world. Not-so-fun fact: [Cogitation] is not the same as [Meditation]. See what I did there? While they are not identical, the similarities helped me grasp the concept.
Cuttlefish was a genius. In the LOTM novel, the steps for cogitation are clearly outlined, and through Old Neil's few words, [Cogitation] was added to my LOTM skill tree. For my practice, I visualized a crystalline structure that folded and unfolded in multiple dimensions, formed by swirling white particles. I thought this was fitting; something unreal that evoked memories I couldn't fully grasp.
I immersed myself in my mind's eye, watching the crystalline structure as its edges warped, avoiding any single curve while the white particles inside continued to shift. After what felt like an unquantifiable amount of time, something clicked into place. The particles, once chaotic, became more organized, just as I desired.
The chaotic movements persisted, but this time, I felt in control. When I decided I had practiced enough for the day, I stopped my cogitation. As soon as another image floated into my mind's eye, I returned to the real world, greeted by the warm orange glow of the sun and a few notifications in the corner of my vision. I chose to ignore them for the moment and proceeded to focus on acquiring the second skill I wanted.
Closing my eyes, I raised my hands and placed them in front of my face, keeping my index fingers facing each other but not touching. I focused my gaze beyond them and began to move my hands. After about two minutes, I noticed a faint color appearing—the red of my aura.
I continued this exercise until I suddenly saw someone standing in front of my door. It was just a hallucination, but it indicated I needed to stop my spirit vision since it was taxing on my Soul Body. I didn't want a repeat of what had happened before. Remembering Klein's instructions for exiting the state, I entered cogitation again while commanding my spirituality to cease. I tapped my glabella twice for good measure.
As expected, I successfully exited the spirit vision state. Though I felt physically exhausted, I checked my log for my new skills.
[Cogitation Lv.24]
[Spirituality Lv.6]
[Spirit Vision Lv.2]
Tired but happy, I hopped down to cook, as I promised my friends I would prepare a sumptuous dinner to show my appreciation for their care and effort.
I slept soundly that night, weary but content. I enjoy my life.