- Good morning! Is supposed to be my greeting but I believe you will find it sarcastic in a few seconds so I suppose hello will suffice.

A morning starting getting up from the ground, and being greeted by a synthetic voice, is surely going to be absurd but I never expected what happened later.

- Good morning, what do you mean by sarcastic... AAAAAHHH!

A jolt of pain, so intense to almost make me black-out, cursed through every muscles of my body. Like the time I touched a live electric wire and almost electrocuted myself, I know, I know safety first but it was supposed to be detached from the main source.

Time is relative, I always believed that, because what I think where only a couple of seconds become an hour of agony in my perception.

- What the @#$% was that!

- I believe is better to brace yourself and try to not talk or you can bite your tongue.

- What? AAAAAHHH!

This time the pain didn't make me spasm and blocking every muscles, no this time my head feel like a stump where a giant woodcutter, too eager to work, started chopping for is life. Writhing on the floor holding my head and screaming was really one moment of my life to forget.

But like everything, better or worse, the pain passed and the pounding sensation abruptly disappeared, just like it begun. I don't even want to start considering how much time passed and I think the fact that, in the end, I trashed around all the floor is proof of at least tens of seconds passed.

The muscle pain was atrocious but this "headache" was absolutely worse, not only because it seemed last much longer, but maybe because I was always weak to migraine.

I don't know how this body works, but it seems that my response to pain still is the same. A pity because the rare times I'm angry my reasoning fly off... So still breathing roughly and afraid of a third wave of pain...

- NOW YOU TELL ME WHAT THE @#$% WAS THAT! NO RIDDLE, NO !£$&[@ TALK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!

The veiled threat was going to be more effective if only I wasn't trembling...

- I heard you the first time, I was waiting for you to be in condition to listen. Now I believe I can answer your question.

- So no more pain? You sadistic @#$%?

- ??? To quote a movie from your memory "You've done that to yourself" I'm not responsible for te pain that assaulted you.

Like being doused with cold water my anger subsided and a found myself pondering... If this is really real it/them can really read all my memory, or if this is really a simulation the pain setting is to damn real and hurt like hell.

- How I'm responsible for my own pain? Did I bash my head while sleeping?

- No your sleeping habit have no connection on the pain of the upgrade. I'm sorry to say that it's how the system work and you always repeated that "everything have a price be it time or money or pain". I still don't know if you cited someone.

An idea appear and make way inside my brain at he mention of upgrade...

- Menu!

NameRaceAverageHumanHPMP102110AtkDefDexWis10101010Exp80/100

- I hope I'm not right but can you tell me if the body and head pain is connected to HP and MP? And if the second of pain are really a direct consequence of the increased value...

- Yes correct on both, your intuitions are really amazing sometimes. Why you always deny or doubt them is equally amazing.

- If you really have read my mind or my memories, you should know I feel about them and why it's like that. And also how condescending you sound...

Still if my experiment "yesterday", this always same light is destroying my internal clock, influenced the grow of health and mana, the price to pay may be to high for the plan I had in mind.

- You said the system is like that, but is the pain only a price to pay here in this room?

... ... ...

@#$%& if it didn't hung up on me. Cursing didn't really help but it's a start I suppose. Now the fear of the pain is going to be a real decisive factor of what to do.