[NR] No Possible Source - Chapter 593

Jenny shrugs, “I don’t expect the full story. Just say what you want to and leave the rest for later.”

Jason nods, “Well, we’re both at a bit of a disadvantage with this. Neither of us really knows what the other person does, beyond the most basic. Even some of the foundational stuff would be hard to take in unless you can run some likely unethical tests on people without your company finding out. On the other hand, you already suspect a bunch of things about me while knowing more hard facts. Me? I’m running in almost pure speculation that is only backed up by intuition and feelings.”

Jenny, “And this isn’t exactly the best place to go into detail in the background information. So what’s the short of it?”

Jason laughed, “I developed my past reading into a path for the future. Even went as far as to test things in NeoRealm. And a part of that? The rejection went beyond me as that which was rejected now avoids from which rejection came.”

Jenny squints at him, “Well that’s a story and a half waiting to be told. I can guess the gist of it, but we are definitely working from different directions on it. Though I have to ask, was it really those old stories that gave you the clue? You’re not the first to read them with that sort of thought in mind.”

Jason, “Oh no, no no no. While it was an interesting read, my central source is a little too delicate to bring up even here. That stuff? While certainly worth it, it didn’t hide some magical key to the universe. After all, if the literature had even a solid hint, we’d still have the original authors kicking around because you just know they didn’t put all the secrets into said books and stories.”

Jenny nodded, “That’s certainly true. Any advice?”

Jason furrows his brow and thinks for a second. “Hmm, I’m sure someone will have figured it out already, but the melange of nonsense that is out there? There is the body, mind, and spirit at play and anymore would be unbalanced. Though as long as you avoid trying to take it all in, what flows through won’t cause permanent consequences.”

Jenny, “Well, that is sufficiently cryptic.”

Jason shrugs, “Eh, I don’t fully understand it myself. In fact, I think what I just said might have helped me figure something out. Though for now, I figure we can finish up here and go walk around a bit.”

Jenny takes back the speaker off the table and the two leave the restaurant for their next designation. It isn’t really something planned, but after a meal the two always enjoyed walking around a store before having to ride around in another taxi. This is normally easier to do as most irl restaurants are placed in small shopping centers.

Though this time they end up having to walk a good ten minutes as there are certain restraints based on weight distribution and some other engineering nonsense. Still, it served the purpose of getting them walking, if a bit more than they normally preferred after a meal.

Then on the car ride home, they mostly chatted about light subjects. The important stuff had already been said and taxis are about the opposite of secure unless you’re paying the big bucks for privacy mode. And once home, they went their separate ways to relax after such a quality meal.

Well, Jason relaxed, Jenny had some pondering to do. So, she hopped into her pod and entered her very expansive second private room. It was honestly a bit scummy that she had to pay for the room herself. The company should be paying for it and her original personal room should have stayed exactly that.

And maybe if she ever goes to a new company, Jenny will be able to bargain for such a thing. As it is though, she is shackled by old contracts from when she wasn’t near the top of the food chain and that original room was used and monitored by her business. After all, a private room is only as private as you let it be and having a place to negotiate without the System listening in is worth its weight in gold.

Jenny giggles to herself. That old saying had really taken on a new life with NeoRealm. The actual metal had always been valuable, but now the actual currency had reverted to a gold standard, even if that standard was in gold from a game. She can just imagine what people in the past would think of this as to them, it would seem as if everyone had decided bills from a board game suddenly held the printed value.

Jenny shakes her head and opens up a file with frequent updates going back 18 years. It hadn’t started as anything serious, just her recording the various “firsts” that most parents delight in. Though it took a slightly different tack after a certain point.

She had always known Jason was different. Jenny had been the usual nervous first-time parent and looked up all the information she could in raising a child. Nevermind the classes in school and the required refresher course whenever someone is pregnant or with someone who has become pregnant. Because after some of the horrors of the last, society wasn’t taking any chances with unprepared parents raising a kid. Better to make sure they are prepared than to have to later take the child away. If only because in having to take a child away, it inherently means something reprehensible has already happened to the child to necessitate said removal.

And Jason wasn’t like a child. She didn’t know what to compare him to and honestly didn’t care. He was her son and that was all that mattered to Jenny. However, she had felt a need to keep track of things so if he needed help later, she would at least have somewhere to start. Which was proving prescient at the moment.

Jenny didn’t know what Jason had gotten into, but it clearly had something to do with the strangeness. So as she recorded her observations and feelings, because honestly the file was more like a diary than anything else, even if it did allow her to collate stuff, she thought over what he had said.

What did it mean to invite the strange energies in the atmosphere into oneself? There was clearly more to it as neither the classic forms of meditation worked nor methods imported from NeoRealm. Jason knew something and there was no possible source for that knowledge.