“Hmm! Since you have a special privilege, Vik, you have access to the information.

The pod you are using right now is not meant for ordinary users. It is special hardware meant to be only employed with certain security sanctions by the top brass of the Oasis Corp.”

Vik had stressed lines on his face when he heard Axela speak up to this point. Even with special privileges, he wouldn’t be able to do much if the functions of these pods were locked. But he put his worries to rest when he heard the ASI’s further explanation.

“Don’t worry though. The pods you are using would only need your consent to tap into their full functionality. We can say that they are stray variants.

Pods like these don’t only use cutting-edge technologies. They rely on mana. But since you are a non-Meta, my explanations won’t be helpful to you. So let’s keep that aside for now.

This series of pods isn’t freely available. And only a few units are available at any given time. The series is known as Lazarus.

So what I meant by that statement was that you can use this Oasis pod to create an Osho persona of yourself and stay within the Oasis forever.”

Vik felt like a bomb had been detonated inside his head. His blank expressions and wide-opened eyes didn’t stop Axela from continuing her explanation.

“It would be like your soul getting captured by the Oasis forever. But be warned, once you use this device to create an Osho of yourself, you will die in your real world. This would be the same as discarding your mortal shell forever.

The first generation of meta-pods was used to make Oshos of loads of people in one go. That’s why I said these meta-pods are similar in functionality to the most primitive devices that were invented for Oasis.”

Vik was confused at first.

Then realization dawned upon him.

And then his eyes and mouth, already open in surprise, somehow managed to express the additional shock he felt. He also started piecing together why they were hunted to this degree by Raquel and her dogs.

‘Fu*k my life! That’s why that bitch has started manhunting us. No wonder. No wonder.

Shit. Shit Shit. Fucking baldy. What did you get us into? This is a global conspiracy. How are we still alive?’

Vik spoke to himself as he started pacing around in a void space. In normal circumstances, he would remain suspended in the void. But Axela had allowed him to imitate the act of pacing around to relieve him of his apparent stress.

Vik clenched his fists while having a variety of thoughts in his head.

‘This will blow the Oasis Corp to smithereens if the news is leaked out. Wait. This is too big of a secret for the corporation alone to handle itself. Are there governments involved? Or at least the independent city-states? And how many?

Shit! What a bunch of stupid fu*king sons of bitches Raquel and her cronies are. They could have used dummy Oasis pods if all they wanted to do was shift the blame for Remington’s death on us in a supposed heist.

Why did they use these top-secret Oasis pods as baits to lure small fishes like us? Something is wrong with their brains.

Vik found relief in cursing Raquel and whoever her accomplices were. But it wasn’t enough. So he cursed them some more before having another thought.

‘Wait, Vik. They can’t be that stupid. I refuse to believe that they’d use these pods as baits and let their fish get away with it.

That means there was something wrong for them in that operation as well. I just don’t know what that is.

I guess those shadows who pulled us into this mess must be feeling like they’ve eaten turds instead of hot dogs after finding out we ran with their original goods. Hehe! Fucking bitches. Serves you right.’

Vik felt proud of himself that his planning had outwitted the players that had set a conspiracy of this level in motion. Then another realization dawned on him, making him lament his luck.

‘Having these Oasis pods is also the reason for our doom. Things wouldn’t have blown out of proportion if they were not in our possessions.’

Vik sighed and his shoulders dropped. He looked up and sighed before coming to his final line of thoughts.

‘What’s done is done. I’ll see how I can make the right use of this Oasis pod with my special privilege active.

This… still feels unbelievable. So Oshos in the Oasis… they are real people. No, wait. That’s not right. They were real when they were alive. But not anymore.

And I can make Osho of myself using these pods?

Hehe! Frankly, the option doesn’t seem that terrible considering the kind of soup we’ve landed ourselves in.’

Vik was used to getting lost in the spiral of his thoughts. Fortunately for him, someone else reminded him to come out of his active imagination.

“Um… Vik? Are you okay?”

Vik’s thoughts were interrupted by Axela. And he was glad she did. Because those thoughts had muddled his brain because of the sheer immensity of possibilities they foretold.

Vik was scared and intrigued at the same time. He felt like he was standing in front of a divine beast who could devour him whole. Or a pit so deep that he would fall to eternity if and when he took one step forward.

But at the other end of the step lies a way to escape their mess. It was a coward’s way. Vik did not deny that.

Vik knew himself best. He wasn’t as expressive with his emotions as Tory was. He was just a man who was trying his best to survive in this shitty world.

If being turned into an Osho could ensure his survival, if it could even be called survival in the first place, then he was not averse to it. In fact, he would welcome this change with open arms.

However, Vik shook his head and concluded.

‘No, Vik. You are thinking things in the wrong way. You’ve seen Oshos. They are free inside the Oasis. But they are not completely free. They are still controlled by Axela, and in turn, the Oasis Corp, even if that control seems to be limited.

That means we would be turned into their puppet without them having to do anything. Sooner or later, they’ll find out that we’ve been turned into Oshos. It would be easy for them to destroy us in the metaspace once that happens.

No, I shouldn’t make things easy for them in my quest to find an easy way out. I need to follow my brother no matter how crazy our current plan is.’

Vik finally made up his mind. He would keep the option of being turned into an Osho as his last resort. For now, he would enter the Oasis using his special privileges.

It might look like Vik had taken his time in coming to a decision. But in reality, it had only been a few moments since he had entered the welcome space. His taming of such wild thoughts so early was quite impressive, coming from an OCD brain like his.

“Axela, can you overwrite the trap they’ve set for me and my friend and teleport us somewhere else?”

Vik asked with his voice coated in hope. Axela chuckled once again before answering his question.

“Hehe! I think they weren’t expecting you to figure out the status of your special privileges that come with the Lazarus pods. Yes, I can overwrite your fixed transportation assigned to your avatar and send you to your desired location on earth’s rendition of the metaspace.

Tell me, where do you want to go?”

Vik smiled wickedly after confirming he and Tory could dodge the trap that was set for them. Tory had already been given the right to choose their destination to Vik.

“Send us to the nearest spawn zone from the Battery Point Bar.”

Vik gave Axela his desired location. And the ASI obliged.

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