In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

-I’m perfectly fine! I was only reverse-summoned because the connection became unstable!

“Reverse-summoned?”

-I am an auxiliary module directly linked to Master’s mind. So if Master’s mental state wavers or his perception flow is interrupted, I am automatically reverse-summoned!

“But even when I was sleeping, you didn’t go back and stayed out.”

-That’s because Master never fully shuts down your awareness when sleeping!

Echo dangled from my wrist with his front paws. His weight was almost negligible, so I let him be. Slowly, he began swinging side to side like a pendulum.

-Normally, a person’s perception flow cuts off when deeply asleep, but Master keeps half of your senses open even when sleeping! That’s probably why the reverse-summon condition doesn’t trigger!

“I see.”

I nodded, firmly holding Echo’s wobbly, fluffy rear with one hand.

-Kyaa?!

“Then why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

-Well, that’s… because Master only just asked now…!

I pinched his rear a few more times. His hind legs flapped, ears pressed back, and his tail wagged furiously. He clearly enjoyed the little massage.

I held Echo in one arm and perched on the bed.

“Do I always faint when doing this synchronization thing?”

-Not necessarily. Once Master’s weak, barely fed body becomes a bit stronger, it will be fine!

“Barely fed body…”

-Your lifespan is steadily increasing, but you still have a body that could collapse and die at any moment!

Not wrong.

The constant pain felt in my body, intermittent shattering headaches and nausea, and overwhelming exhaustion were all beyond what a normal human could endure.

Compared to when I viewed this world from outside, I could actually manage it. That’s why I had endured it until now.

<Shadow Adaptation: 1%>

“If I’m suffering this much for some 1% I don’t even understand, maybe I should just ignore it.”

-The more your adaptation accumulates, the less painful it will become. It literally means you’ll ‘adapt’!

So you’re saying I just have to get used to the pain?

“Do I have a choice?”

-No. It’s a matter of accepting it within an hour or being forcibly synchronized with penalties afterward.

“Unreasonable doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Truly a cursed system.

Even if I don’t know exactly what the Shadow Fragment is, a complete body reversal like this would probably rarely happen again.

Exposing myself defenseless to extreme pain was unavoidable, but next time I would at least prepare myself. If that counts as adaptation, then fine.

“You said synchronizing would restore pieces of memory, right?”

-Yes.

“Doesn’t seem different. No new memories are coming up.”

I had a little hope, but nothing surfaced. I still couldn’t remember my apostle’s face, voice, name, or our conversations. Everything remained fragmented.

At this rate, there’s no reason to endure the horrible synchronization pain in the future.

-Hmm… maybe the adaptation percentage is too low. It probably needs to be at least around 10%…! Ugh-!

I already fainted from just 1%. You want me to endure this 99 more times?

Are you kidding me?

In a fit of anger, I grabbed Echo’s face with both hands and kneaded it like dough. He clutched my hands with his plump front paws, whining, which calmed my anger a bit.

Echo seemed unable to explain clearly, so he let out a small sigh, and I released his face.

“So being contaminated by shadows means becoming undead?”

I asked, recalling the Black Lizardman Warrior.

It was definitely a dead monster. It had suffered a fatal blow to its vital points, and its skull was completely split.

The black energy fully wrapped the monster, forcibly animating it.

“Did the system do this?”

-No.

Echo, scrubbing my messy face on my thigh with his front paws, said firmly.

-The system manages the core of this world, but it doesn’t intervene in every setting.

He spoke with a serious expression, though his chubby puppy face gave away little intimidation. I didn’t bother correcting him.

-The system can’t even identify patterns for the appearance of shadow-contaminated monsters. It hasn’t figured out where, how, or under what conditions they appear.