Happiness is a lie. Life is horror. The light is always dying, all across the universe. The last star will flicker out soday. When it does, all that remains... shadow. And I will be its king.
—Shadow King
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"Whoo..."
Letting out a deep breath, Raymond collapsed onto the bed, feeling sore all over.
Just as he had guessed, switching to his alternate personality wasn't without limits. After several tests, he finally figured out the limits of this state.
First, the duration of his alternate personality depended on how much energy he used after switching. The more intense the activity, the shorter the ti he could maintain it.
For example, fighting consud the most energy. After initial tests, he estimated that if he engaged in combat, he could only stay in the alternate personality for about 10 to 15 minutes. After that, he would have to rest.
On the other hand, if he just sat still, he could easily maintain the state for several hours without any issues.
Of course, he wasn't sure how long he could last without moving at all since he didn't have the ti to test that yet.
Kuro, his alternate personality, was willing to help with the test as he would go into a dormant state whenever he was switched back and had nothing else to do.
But for now, Raymond wasn't interested in further testing.
It was enough to confirm that the duration was linked to his energy consumption.
During more tests, Raymond also discovered another small feature of the system [Equipnt Materialization].
According to his understanding, this function could create the weapons and equipnt of his alternate personality, but it required a certain amount of universal points and probably had a ti limit.
However, he didn't have any extra Universal Points at the mont, so even if he wanted to try it, he couldn't.
He decided to try it when he gained more points in the future.
Rumble~~~ Rumble~~~
Just then, his stomach let out a loud growl
Glancing at the digital clock on the wall, Raymond realized he had been so focused on testing that he had completely missed dinner. It was already dark outside.
"Forget it, I'll just sleep."
Feeling sore all over after just moving a little, he quickly decided to rest instead. A little hunger wouldn't kill him—he could eat in the morning.
…
The next day, Raymond woke up naturally at sunrise.
The pain in his body was completely gone, but his hunger was even worse than the night before.
When he checked the ti, he saw that it was after 6:40. The hospital cafeteria should be open by now. So, after a quick wash, Raymond headed straight there.
Not long after he sat down with his al, David ca over with his breakfast and greeted him.
"Good morning, Raymond."
"Morning." Seeing that it was David, Raymond couldn't help but feel a little tense.
But with his composure, even if he couldn't completely hide his emotions, he was able to mask his nervousness well enough that David wouldn't notice anything unusual.
"Did you sleep well last night?" David asked with a smile.
"Of course, I slept for over ten hours straight. It would be hard not to feel rested." Raymond shrugged.
"I saw you didn't co down for dinner, so I figured you were still asleep and didn't want to disturb you," David said as he spread jam on his bread with a hospital-issued plastic butter knife.
"I was exhausted. When I woke up in the middle of the night, it was already dark, so I just went back to sleep."
"I see," David nodded in understanding. "You looked really out of it yesterday. Your face was pale too. Haven't been resting well lately?"
You really don't know why my face looked bad yesterday?
Who wouldn't be startled after unexpectedly running into a world-ending lunatic like you?
Resisting the urge to complain, Raymond casually replied, "Probably just haven't been getting enough sleep lately. But after a good rest I feel much better today."
"That's good." David sighed in relief. "I was afraid they gave you so new dication or sothing."
Raymond could tell that David really cared about him, but he wasn't the original owner of this body and didn't want to dwell too much on the subject. So he changed the subject.
"What about you? You've been doing well lately—no relapses. Are you thinking about applying for release?"
"Of course I am. But you know how hard that is. Even a psychology expert like you couldn't get out. What hope do I have?" David said helplessly.
"That's not necessarily true. I'm stuck because of so special circumstances. That doesn't an you are," Raymond shook his head. "How about this—after breakfast, I'll run a simulation test for you. If you can pass my evaluation, you'll probably pass the hospital's test as well. What do you think?"
"Really? That'd be great!" David's face lit up with excitent.
Having known Raymond for a long ti, he knew that before his illness, Raymond was a renowned psychologist—far more professional than the hospital's resident doctors.
As Raymond said, if he could pass Raymond's test, he'd probably pass the hospital's test as well.
He had actually considered asking for help before but didn't want to trouble Raymond. He had planned to wait until Raymond was about to be discharged before bringing it up.
But now Raymond had offered to help on his own, and that made him ecstatic.
"Thank you, Raymond!" David said, visibly moved.
"It's nothing. We're friends, no need to be so formal," Raymond replied with a casual smile.
"Yeah!"
David nodded repeatedly, but his excitent was clear in his eyes.
Seeing David's reaction, Raymond felt a little guilty because he had his own motives for doing this.
Right now, it was almost impossible for him to leave the hospital through normal channels.
After what happened with the "Chinese Private Investigator" and the "Rosenhan Experint," Dr. Beth had completely lost trust in his recovery. She would never approve his discharge.
Sure, if he switched to his alternate personality, Kuro, it would be easy to escape.
But unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to take such a reckless approach.
This was the 21st century—surveillance caras were everywhere, facial recognition technology was highly advanced, and the last thing he wanted was to be labeled as an escaped ntal patient, constantly on the run.
Besides, unlike his previous world, this one had organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. running around. Who knew what kind of trouble he'd attract if he just disappeared?
Taking everything into account, Raymond decided it was best to stay put and be patient.
But spending every day around David—soone with the potential to destroy the world—wasn't exactly comforting.
So he ca up with another plan.
If he couldn't leave any ti soon, why not help David get out instead?
After all, in the original tiline, David would have left the hospital eventually, even without his interference. He was just helping speed up the process.
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