Completely Mad: Isekai-Fantasy Route
Many thanks to Mabbo, Cool Nicknames Have to be Long, and anyone else on Discord who helped with the translation of this chapter. You guys are awesome!
Notes: This is a one-shot gag chapter to celebrate the decision to publish vol 2 of the LN. It starts after the MC graduates college (around the middle/end of ch. 2). May contain SPOILERS!
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The days passed quickly after I graduated and became a member of society. Hellish rookie training. Job duties that greatly differed from what I was told. Work starts at 8, but it's compulsory to arrive at 7. Unpaid overtime as if that was the most natural thing in the world. Repeated off day duties (non-salaried). Phone calls to return to work as soon as I arrived home. Unreasonable customer complaints. Forced responsibilities. Low salaries that didn't cut it at all. Some little misses that made the customers leave and jeopardized hard-earned promotions.
Bitter. It was bitter, but humans thrive in regards to adaptation. One year into it and I already got used to my work, I knew when to cut some slack and skip out work. When our juniors came, the seniors' harassment addressees changed from us to them.
Two years passed, and somehow I returned to a normal life.
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The day was like usual; I reached the cheap apartment complex I call home late at night, then pulled a cold one from the fridge with my psychokinesis while unfastening my tie. I dropped myself onto the sofa and turned on the TV. What greeted me was a midnight anime show. A fantasy show. The protagonist was Japanese boy who got reincarnated as a Beast Tamer, and along with a beautiful girl who was wearing revealing garments, he delved into the deepest part of an ancient ruin then shouted "Impossible…! This world was the future Earth all this time!?". It was sci-fi hiding behind fantasy, a stereotypical development that everyone from a planet of monkeys can predict. However, it was vexing that even this kind of archetypal transparent plot twist was amusing.
How enviable…
I crumpled the empty beer can into the size of a golf ball then scored it into the trash bin on my back. Just what was the difference between me and that beta protagonist? Even I, you see. I want to reincarnate into an another world. No, it doesn't have to be reincarnation. Now, look at that. The heroine was riding a giant robot to fight a dragon. For a dumbass like me though, robot or dragon or what-have-you, all of them would be nothing but a pushover.
But, how enviable…
I want to taste such a youth too.
What's with me, getting sad alone in the middle of the night while watching a shitty midnight anime show? Indeed, I was the one who chose to live this way. I leaned toward my own safety and chose to not show the public my psychokinesis, fearing the price of fame. I was afraid of being conspicuous. That fear was probably a fact in reality. However, you cannot take a tiger cub without entering a tiger's den. It's also a fact that I lived a life filled with boredom because I didn't take the necessary risk.
Tears streamed down my cheek. Is my life fine like this? Is it really fine if I continue this way? A mediocre job I don't even like, being used by my boss like a tool, holding onto a seat anyone can sit onto, leading a life anyone will forget 10 years after I died, being a mere cog for society? I asked myself again and again, and I lit the fire in my heart that went out after I spent two years being a member of society. The fire becomes a raging blaze, burning the stopper for my consciousness into nothing.
There is still a way back. That's right. The me from my student days didn't think it through at all. It's time for a reversal. If the extraordinary won't come to me, then I shall make it myself.
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I shall make a new world that isn't Earth. I shall make cute and strong monsters. I shall make Elves and Dwarves, and have them live in another world. I possess the strength to do so.
I drank my second can of beer and got to my feet, accompanied by a strong resolve inside me.
WuuooooOOOOHH!!!
I've decided it!
I'll quit my job!
I shall!
This very self shall!
Make a different world!!!!
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†∼‡∼†
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Now then. I did say I'll make another world, but world creation wasn't listed in what psychokinesis could do. Thus, I will my create own private planet.
It's simple, I'll just gather and assemble it with my psychokinesis. At first, I was planning to craft the planet by gathering and fusing the asteroid belt between the Venus and Jupiter, but, apparently, the total mass of the asteroid belt could only measure up to 1/35 of the Moon's mass. And because it's too bothersome to think about the problem of gravity anyway, if I make it have the same environment as Earth, it should be fine. If I then add in the fantasy component, it may just result in a complete 'different world fantasy'.
I considered various methods, but because it became annoying, I abducted 50 world's famous astronomers and astronomy professors then confined them in a solitary island to have them work on my plan. I stole power generators, calculation devices, food ingredients, and every necessity with my psychokinesis. I provided my 'Different World Development Team' with anything they wanted, communication with the outer world was the only thing prohibited. Various incidents throughout the world, like the disappearance of many renowned scholars, thievery of supercomputers, food ingredients from chain stores going completely missing, and etc. plunged the world into disarray.
I gave no shit that the world fell into chaos. The world didn't grant me no fantasy nor science fiction. I should've washed my hands of this shitty reality. Fighting against reality? Such idiocy. Changing this reality would be a huge bother. I should give up on this dull and boring world and make another one already.
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I didn't expose my face to the 'Different World Development (DWD)' team. All contact was made through psychokinesis. At first, I didn't know what to do with the development team. I told them my plans for a different world, I told them the specs of my psychokinesis, I told them to think up the itinerary for the different world, that I would release them once another world was completed, and that I would cover everything they needed. However, they were being fussy and didn't want to work on it, some chirped about ‘human rights violations’ and demanded to be brought home and what-have-you.
Some of them did their job because they were frightened I'd kill them with psychokinesis, which was wholly unexpected. I wouldn't kill them. I wasn't that narrow-minded to slaughter all those dull and pathetic excuses of a human who couldn't even use psychic abilities. One member of the research team said that he wanted to meet his family, so I abducted his family and made them meet him. After that, for some reason, there was no longer any researcher who asked to meet their family or friends. Thereafter, everyone did their work in fear, so at least that was one problem taken down.
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Some days passed, and after the research was fundamentally progressed, the DWD team unanimously complained that my psychokinesis range was insufficient. It wasn't wide enough to reach Mars. Apparently, I at least need to be able to reach Saturn in order to guarantee the necessary ingredients in order to craft the planet for my different world. So, just as I was told, I began my training to further enhance my range.
One month into the range elongation training, I was told that this time they wanted my DNA. It seemed like they wanted to see if they could make a mouse to harness supernatural power by analyzing my DNA and implanting it into animals. Just as told, I offered them my blood and hair. Some tried to sneakily transfuse it into themselves to test if they can awaken a psychic power, but I gave them no mind. Rather, they didn't need to sneak around. They should do as they like. What important was that, ultimately, the fantasy world with monsters that I desired would be completed.
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Half a year passed after the abduction. Even though I did furnish them with entertainment, clothes, and foods, apparently doing research in an insular environment gave them considerable mental burdens. I could feel how their ethics were affected. Perhaps seeing a Special Ops rescue team that came from who knows where being crushed with psychokinesis served as the final straw for them. Some became neurotic, some others started to worship me. They could worship me all they want, but I was not God. I was just a man who possessed too much power for a human.
The biologists whose ethics and morals were busted were starting to do research like cultivating my cells, trying to clone me, drawing out particular components out of me, remodeling my DNA, implanting it to different animals, making them exposed to an environment under my psychokinesis for an extended period of time consecutively, etc. Astonishingly, they managed to manufacture a mouse with psychic abilities. The psychic mouse that was named 'Argenon' was able to manipulate time. Among the observation devices within his cage such as thermometer and clock, only the clock often went amiss. Since the clock was getting more inaccurate as the days passed, it was concluded that Argenon's time manipulation ability could grow just like my psychokinesis.
It was finally getting interesting. Like I thought, they should've thrown away their ethics and morals and done these experiments from the very beginning. After one successful example came out, psychic mice were created one after another at a fast rate. The rule of awakening was completely unexplainable; even two mice who carried the same genetics, aged the same, weighed the same, and were in the same physical condition would awaken different psychic powers. Freezing ability, igniting ability, healing ability, etc., the span of abilities was widely variable.
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"I'm thinking to divide the dev team into two."
Professor St. Germain told me his idea one day while doing calculations on a tablet. I was in my own shack on the remote island, playing the game 'Life' with myself. I basically never showed my face to the dev team, but Professor St. Germain was given special permission to meet me. It was more efficient for the blood collecting, cell transplantation, and regenerating my bone marrow with a healing mouse to have one person who was in direct contact with me. By the way, Professor St. Germain was the 'mad scientist' behind the creation of Argenon. Well, I generally was 'mad' too, so I shouldn't speak badly of others. I replied to him,
"Which means?"
"We will be dividing them into Planet Creation team and Monster Creation team. It's more efficient to do so. I will be the one in charge of both teams. How does it sound?"
"It should be fine, right?"
Even if I had the brain to graduate from a national university, I couldn't possibly line up with the top heads of the worlds. If Professor St. Germain judged it would be better to do so, then that was that.
I was aware of how St. Germain used his privilege to oppressively divide and assemble the development teams. I was aware of how he sneakily smuggled out some psychic mice to his homeland, the USA. I was even aware of how he tried to rob, seal, or neutralize my psychokinesis and committed some treason. However, it was only to the extent of knowing about it. If I wanted to stop living in this boring world, I was going to have to accept the risks of being betrayed and getting captured or even dying.
St. Germain too, he probably knew that I was aware of his conducts. Though, he didn't know what I would do even if I did know.
"… Well then, I'll take care of it."
St. Germain gazed into me enigmatically before he excused himself elegantly.
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Two years passed since the formation of the dev teams.
I became a multiplex psychic ability user. By transplanting the cells of the psychic mice who carried my genes to me, and taking the source of their psychic power with my psychokinesis, I became able to harness the supernatural abilities the psychic mice once had. Along with my psychokinesis, my supernatural ability arsenal varied from time manipulation, freeze, ignition, healing, body reinforcement, sound manipulation, and over 100 other kinds of abilities. Also, I could let each and every one of those abilities grow by training them.
By now, I no longer had the need to eat nor breathe, and neither poison nor suspension of time or even spatial distortions could affect me. I might have become a being who transcended humanity, but, for better or worse, my soul was still of a human. It would be more comfortable for me if I lost my sanity altogether. Even if I had lost all my brakes, even if I had gone completely mad, I was still a human.
That was why, even if I had become the incarnation of paranormality and harnessed enough power to be misrepresented as God, my thirst for a different world, for the extraordinary, still couldn't be quenched.
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With the dev team's plan as a foundation, the range of my psychokinesis now covered the whole Milky Way. I squeezed Mars and collected water from there; I gathered together the necessary rock minerals and gas vapors from the asteroid belt; fused together Venus and Jupiter; and then finally I created a new planet that orbited opposite to Earth with the sun as the intermediary.
I fast forward and cooled down the scorching red planet with time manipulation. Millions of years passed in a blink of the eye. I supervised the new blue ocean planet with my psychokinesis; after I observed that algae, lichens, simple vegetation, and even germs had all emerged and let loose, I fast forward time again. From time to time, I obliterated events that threatened the balance of nature with my psychokinesis; like an unexpected explosion of breeding in some animals; and I also thinned out some creatures that brought harm or annihilated them, while some I made prosper.
On Earth, the accumulation of paranormal events such as the crushed Mars, the missing Venus, the disappearance of the asteroid belt, and the formation of a new planet had caused turmoil that well went beyond any turmoil in history. Only the US government, who had been receiving information from Professor St. Germain, could remain relatively calm. Accordingly, they would establish a research team for the New Planet as soon as possible and hastily build a spacecraft to go there.
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In the third year, the dev teams were moved from the isolated island on the sea to the stable planet. As it was now easier to work in the field, since the daily occurrence of missiles, bombs, and negotiation teams had disappeared, I could finally shift into high gear.
On the beautiful new planet with blue seas and lush greenery, the dev team released our psychic mutants. Birds with flaming wings, enormous whales with islands on their backs, elastic bears, deer with golden antlers… they would adapt to their habitat, compete for survival, and create an ecosystem along with the original organisms of this planet. The dev teams had calculated so everything would go smoothly, and if things went south, I would fix the problem.
I watched as a dragon that was created with a Komodo dragon as its base and a huge inorganic life form made of iron fought for territory immediately after they encountered each other, and was deeply moved. On this day, the sight I dreamed of had become the reality. If you really try, you can succeed.
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After the creation of the new planet, another two years passed by. After fast forwarding several times and hundreds of psychokinetic interventions, the fantasy ecosystem had stabilized and reached its final phase.
The two moons.
The continents above the clouds.
The dragons dancing high in the skies.
No matter who saw it, there could be no doubt that this world was a different world.
As promised, I released the dev team members after their job was finished. Ninety percent of them were glad to be returned to their homelands, and the rest wanted to stay on the new planet for their own individual reasons. I allowed them. Side benefits to that degree should be fine. This world might be a paradise for monsters, but mankind should be okay to be here as well.
I also released prof St. Germain, but he for some reason returned to my side to be my secretary.
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On a prairie of the largest continent of the new planet, I had prepared a log house built by cutting trees that were tougher than titanium alloy. As I was gazing into the sunset, leaning on the terrace's handrail, Professor St. Germain came next to me in his white lab coat while holding a cup of coffee. Ahead of our gaze, there were a handful of people heading to us with the setting sun as the backdrop.
"If things went differently…"
After St. Germain moistened his throat with his coffee, which had now gone cold, he murmured,
"If things had gone differently, I would not be standing next to you right now."
"Possibly. If things had gone differently, I may have been rendered powerless by you, professor, an would be a guinea pig in a lab in America right now."
The professor didn't deny it.
"Have you heard of Stockholm Syndrome?" he asked.
"Umm… It's that, right? The hostage, who was confined, loses their survival instinct after a period of time, and they start to sympathize with their captors or something, right?"
"That's right. I don't know if the good will I feel towards you is unrelated to that, or if fell victim to it despite being aware of the possibility of that happening, but…"
Professor St. Germain cut off his words there.
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I teleported, taking the professor with me, so that I was standing in front of the group wearing spacesuits that was approaching the loghouse. The professor said,
"As I thought, it's a pleasure for me to see that the first to arrive to this new planet is the research team from my home country."
The members of the research team exchange glances with us who have teleported to face them. After a little while, one of them took some steps forward and took off their spacesuit helmet. A beautiful woman with long black hair and a breathtakingly beautiful smile offered me her hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the representative for the NASA team that will be doing the advance investigation of the 0th planet of the solar system, 'Apollo'. My name is Kaburagi Shiori."