Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship! Chapter 99 99: Synced Senses

When I woke up, before my brain could even start functioning, Eva's barrage of questions hit like a missile.

I wasn't sure why she was suddenly so fixated on nas, but aside from rcy and Glenda, I couldn't recall the others she ntioned.

No, it wasn't because I was still half-asleep—I genuinely didn't know them.

Anyway, after hearing my answer, Eva's expression finally softened…

Seeing her angry face while she was in my body was honestly nerve-wracking. It felt like she was about to strangle to death, and let tell you, that wasn't a pleasant thought at all.

With that out of the way—or at least I hoped it was—it was ti to focus on our real problem. How were we supposed to switch back to our original bodies?

Judging from how long I had been out, there was barely one galactic day left before the Grand Prix began.

We needed to swap back, resu training, and finalize every other preparation within that limited tifra—but aside from the first task, the rest were at least doable.

"Seriously, how do we return?" I sighed, feeling utterly helpless.

Honestly, we were grasping at straws here. Even if we could swap back in the next instant, Cassandra's lap ti was still around six minutes. That was fast—way ahead of the others—but still more than twice our target.

There was just no way we could cut that down to half in only a day's worth of training.

As I was spiraling into despair, Eva's casual question yanked right back to reality.

"Wouldn't this situation actually favor us instead? I an, from everyone else's perspective, you're Cassandra right now."

"... Ah."

Right! I was currently Cassandra, which ant that if we stayed like this, I would be the one piloting in the Aegis Grand Prix Finals!

"How the hell did I miss that detail?"

I groaned, frustrated beyond belief that Eva had to be the one to point it out to . It wasn't even so complex concept—it should've been obvious! And that just made it all the more irritating.

But regardless of my wounded pride, we had a breakthrough.

If I was the pilot, I could easily break the three-minute mark and complete the race in under 150 minutes.

The situation had improved significantly—but that didn't an all my worries were gone. There was still one critical issue that haunted :

What if our bodies switched back in the middle of the race?

If that happened, then without piloting—and with Cassandra's limited stamina—our loss would be all but guaranteed. That ant I needed to prepare Cassandra to take over in the worst-case scenario.

Well…

Desperate tis called for desperate asures. There was no room to hold back.

---

When Cassandra's eting finally ended, she arrived at the dock where Eva and I were waiting. It was ti for practice.

But before anything else, I handed her a small briefcase and explained,

"Cassandra, put these on while we practice."

Inside was a spacesuit—but not just any ordinary model. It was a cutting-edge 9th Gen Full-Sensory Haptic Suit, developed by Wieze Ltd.

This suit could emulate sensations as if the wearer were experiencing them firsthand. Normally, it was used for playing minigas inside TSO, acting as a bridge between the "player" and their in-ga's in-ga characters.

Of course, that wasn't how we were using it.

This one… had been modified. By yours truly.

In the ti it took Cassandra to finish her eting, I tinkered with the suit and linked its sensory feedback to another suit of the sa model.

Long story short, I turned it into an "external nerve system," allowing the wearer to experience what I was feeling in real ti, with almost no delay.

The way I moved my eyes, the pressure in my fingertips, the precise timing of pedal presses—everything. I wanted Cassandra to feel it all firsthand.

Of course, this was incredibly dangerous.

Flooding soone's brain with foreign sensations could cause serious confusion, possibly even long-term damage. That was why I had never intended to use this thod.

But as luck would have it, Cassandra was in Eva's body—a female body—which significantly reduced the risk of sensory incongruencies. If we had been in our original bodies, this would have been a complete disaster.

"...So I just need to morize how you pilot the ship?" Cassandra asked, her voice ladylike, calm and composed—but coming from Eva's body, it felt oddly out of place.

"Yes," I nodded. "But as I told you before, if you start feeling weird, just shout [Terminate] to imdiately stop the sensory link. Do not try to endure it—it could cause permanent damage to your synapses."

"G-Got it..."

Cassandra sounded a little shaken, but she still went ahead and changed into the suit.

When she returned, she was already wearing the tight haptic suit. Naturally, I was suited up as well. How did I change into mine? Well, let's just say, with Eva around, you can imagine how that went.

With everything set, the three of us boarded Eva's Hunter Frigate and headed to an open space nearby—the sa location where Cassandra had been practicing before.

"Then, I'll be activating the training program," I warned lightly. "Cassandra, you can activate the sharing of senses now. Rember, terminate it as soon as you feel anything off."

"...Alright." Cassandra, seated behind , gave a nod of understanding. "[Sense Sharing - Activate]!"

With her words as a trigger, the tiny chanisms in her suit whirred to life. Acting like microscopic electrodes, they sent command signals through her skin, emulating the exact synaptic transmissions my body produced.

To test it, I raised my hands, and Cassandra mimicked the motion perfectly. I turned my head left and right, wiggled my hips a bit, then instinctively reached for my che—

*BAM!*

"—!"

A fist of justice crashed down on my head without rcy.

"Stop screwing around!" Eva growled, her fist poised for another strike. Her glare alone could have set on fire.

Of course, since our sensory feedback was linked, Cassandra felt the sa pain I did and reacted identically—clutching her head in agony, both hands rubbing at the sore spot.

"Alright, alright..." I sighed in surrender. "I was just checking if everything was working properly, damn it..."

Of course, the little detail about wanting to see "Eva" fondling herself was a secret I'd take to the grave.

Dropping all jokes, I activated the training program.

Within the ship's main visualizer, the visor displayed a glowing wirefra tunnel. It was an exact replica of the Aegis Grand Prix finals track—the sa one Cassandra had been grinding through for days.

I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Alright. The first lap is just a warmup. The real practice begins from the second lap all the way to the fifty-first. Cassandra, focus on every single movent I make. Let your body morize the motion on instinct. We only have two shots at a full track run, so don't waste this chance."

With Cassandra's low stamina, even if I was the one controlling her body, we'd still need at least five hours of rest between attempts.

Factoring in travel ti, two full sessions were the absolute limit.

I tightened my grip on the lever as the start signal began its countdown. The mont it flashed green, I floored the pedals, launching the ship forward at full acceleration.

My eyes darted rapidly, analyzing trap placents and timing calculations. I adjusted my movents—though a slight disconnect in reaction speed remained due to the body swap. That was exactly why the first lap was a "warmup."

Weaving through the track, dodging obstacles without slowing down, I focused entirely on my piloting. The two behind remained silent, their reactions unreadable.

Anyway, the first lap took four minutes.

"Slow..."

I had been getting used to Eva's movent range, so the ti loss was expected.

But I was a veteran of full-dive MMOs—adjusting to an unfamiliar "avatar" was second nature to .

By the second lap, I had already shaved my ti down to three minutes and ten seconds. By the tenth lap, I had fully optimized my approach, reducing my ti to two minutes and forty-five seconds per lap.

I continued tearing through the circuit, adjusting to the randomized traps and refining my responses lap after lap.

By the ti I completed the full fifty laps, the tir read: 139 minutes.

That was our final record.

Confirming the lap count, I brought the ship to a smooth halt. As I removed my helt, sweat poured down my face like a waterfall. Turning around, I flashed a grin and asked,

"So? Any comnts?"

Cassandra—in Eva's body—looked just as drenched in sweat as I was. However, unlike , she wasn't showing any signs of exhaustion. Instead, her eyes glead with unrestrained excitent.

"That was amazing!" she cried, her voice practically bursting with energy. "You went like... Whoosh! Then Bam! And just when I thought we'd hit a trap, you'd dodge it like it was nothing! Without even slowing down!!!"

I chuckled at her childlike enthusiasm.

As soone who had personally struggled through the course, she understood the difficulty of what I'd just accomplished—far better than Eva, who had only been watching.

"Well, it's nothing compared to a one-versus-a-hundred dogfight," I said with a shrug, though I couldn't help but feel a bit pleased by the praise.

anwhile, Eva had turned pale as a ghost.

She… got sick from all the rapid turns and high-speed maneuvers. It was impressive that she hadn't thrown up, honestly. If she had, the cockpit would have reeked, and that was the last thing we needed.

"...Take so anti-motion sickness ds before our next session," I advised, giving her a light pat on the shoulder. "And if you start feeling dizzy, shut off visuals imdiately."

With that, we wrapped up and took a much-needed break to recover.

As expected, pushing a ten-minute lap down to just 25% of its original duration ca with consequences. My fingers trembled from the strain, and my legs felt like jelly.

If the two of them hadn't helped walk to a resting room, I probably would've collapsed on the spot and passed out.

Still, for the first ti, we had completed all fifty laps.

It was a massive step toward securing our victory.