The shattered black ceiling started to close up. The cracks resealing themselves as Ode and Six struggled to stand up.

Before the roof fully sealed, Four and I fell through hitting the hard platform.

“Ow…”

Four sat up and shook his head trying to regain focus.

Ode got up using the control console as a support.

“You really did that… One? That was completely uncalled for.”

I stood up, wobbling a little due to the impact from falling.

“How was it uncalled for? Esther was going to be killed-”

“Do you not realize what you did? You released all of them.”

“All of what? I feel like the only one in the dark over here!”

Ode turned toward Six.

“He doesn’t know?”

“Nope.”

“Why…?”

“Tired.”

Ode facepalmed and turned toward me.

“Listen. You just released almost a thousand versions of us out into the world. Some of them will try coming back, and some will try living on their own. Which also involves all of their delusional hobbies.”

“Versions of us?”

“Yes. Us. Everyone here in this space is a variant of each other.”

“I need a full explanation here, stop with just bits and pieces. Explain everything.”

Six decided to step in and explain in place of Ode.

“You are a Regulus monster of the Slime species. Your unique skill is [Variant Break] which in terms of abilities, creates alternate realities to pull new versions of that person into the main line. Each of these variants has a unique bound personality that represents them. Ode here being the smart ass-”

“That was uncalled for.”

“Yeah yeah. The point is that the system is controlling all of our lives and its shitty plan was to have you do setup quests to unlock us and our abilities. However, that was just ruined because of the ‘Rupture’ you caused.”

“The ‘Rupture’?”

Ode decided to step in again to finish the explanation.

“The ‘Rupture’ is when no variant is in control, forcing our subconscious to shatter and release everything inside. Which is why we are now the only four variants still here. All the others escaped and are spread across the world now. You still follow?”

…

“No…-”

Ode stared at me like he was about to kill me.

“I mean yes. I understood everything perfectly fine.”

“Give me a summary then.”

“Seriously…?”

I turned toward Six for backup, but he was already back on the couch reading manga. I then turned to Four but he was sleeping- wait sleeping?! Now?!

“Um- so from what I got; there are a bunch of versions of me that are from alternate realities the system made and we’re all connected through this place. I absorbed myself along with Four causing this ‘Rupture’ that released all of the variants making it so that they are spread across the world.”

“Good, close enough.”

“Don’t you guys hate the system though?”

“Now the system’s plans being ruined isn’t our problem. All of us are quite fond of that, the problem is that we lost all of the other variants. Pretty much you just fucked yourself in a sense.”

A chair suddenly formed out of the ground and Ode sat on it and sighed. Then I did what any reasonable person would try doing in this situation…

Try leaving.

||MIND’S EYE||

A shock erupted in my body and I fell to the ground.

“What-”

||NOTICE: DUE TO THE ‘RUPTURE’ ALL VARIANTS INSIDE OF THE LACUNA ARE ON LOCK DOWN FOR THIRTY-THREE HOURS.||

The notice appeared above the holographic screen and had a digital clock counting down the time.

“Great. We’re going to be stuck with each other for almost a day and a half.”

Ode was sounding very enthusiastic! Good for him!

The silence was almost unbearable. Ode wasn’t talking he just sat there… and Six was reading his manga. Then we had Four who was fucking sleeping on the floor. 

“So… this place is called the Lacuna?”

“Hm? Yeah, it’s pretty much our subconscious. You can do almost anything here and it won’t have any effect on the real world. It’s similar to a lucid dream.”

“You sure know a lot… Ode? That’s what Six called you right?”

“Yeah. It’s my other name.”

“So what’s your actual name?”

“Four hundred forty four.”

Ah-

I think I know why Six was calling him Ode now…

“Wait, you said you have two names?”

Ode looked at me and sighed.

“All of the variants have two names. One name which is their number, and another which is based on their personality.”

He paused for a second to think.

“Take Six for example. His number is ‘06’ so his first name is Six, but then his second name is Specter. Since his personality is based around an edgelord, so the darkness or shadows.”

“Alright… so my first name is One right? Then my second is Cynical?”

“Yeah.”

So his number is ‘444’ and his other name is Ode… so what's his personality then- wait didn’t Six mention it… he called him a smart ass. So his intelligence? Maybe… but I shouldn’t jump to anything. The names seem to be loosely based around their personality not entirely based on it. 

“Ode. What’s your personality then?”

“That’s a good question. Think of me as… an information broker for the variants. I get and deliver intel so everyone can work more efficiently.”

So that’s what he is, it kinda makes sense now. Plus his attire matches as well. I don’t really think glasses are necessary though… It's probably just a style choice then.

How much time has gone by-

Gek-

O-only… Five minutes?!

Th-this is going to take a while…

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

Esther folded her wand up, and walked over to pick my slime body up.

What am I supposed to do with him?

He turned into some sort of sphere… 

Why’s he so soft… and what's this orb in the center?

Esther reached in and tapped it, making the entire slime get shocked with some sort of electrical current. It looked painful so she quickly pulled her hand back.

“Sorry Cyn~…”

She turned around facing toward the giant once green plains, now covered in craters and fire. She started walking through it. Slowly making her way back to the town.

Once she got back she noticed something was off. There were hundreds of people in the streets and they all seemed to have some degree of panic. Esther used her cloak to hide my body and rushed through the city trying to find out what happened while she was gone. Once she got to the town center she heard the knight captain giving a speech…

“Recently we discovered that our noble lord, Percide Oxenbull. Has been killed.”

The crowd started to chatter asking what could have happened.

“Now. Even though this loss is significant. It wouldn’t have been a major issue if not for one factor…”

Everyone suddenly gained an eerie unsettling feeling. People were shifting back and forth worried about what the captain would say next.

“Percide Oxenbull. Was killed by a Regulus Monster and it’s been using his identity since the bandit attacks two weeks ago.”

Screams could be heard across the crowd as a bunch of people began panicking.

“Stay calm! The monster is relatively new, but if we leave it be it will grow stronger. For now we humbly ask all of the citizens to evacuate and within the next day we will apprehend and execute this monster. It is identifiable by a yellow ‘01’ in its left eye.”

Before the crowd started splitting away Esther swiftly used [Teleport] to get to her house. She looked around and went inside.

She sighed heavily while leaning against her door.

“Cyn what did you do…”

She went to her room and placed the spherical slime onto her bed. 

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

“Everyone follow an orderly evacuation, our knights will guide you safely!”

A knight approached the captain.

“Sir, how should we go about checking for the monster? What if he is trying to escape?”

“Have the guards check everyone’s left eye. If there is a number there, have them detained.”

“Yes sir!”

The knight ran off as the captain watched.

“We’ll catch him… and we’ll make him pay for what he did to Percide.”

“Hey Goldwill, looking smooth.”

It was the Adventurer’s Guild Master.

“What do you want, Silas?”

“Ahh… well you see… you said that the monster had a yellow, maybe goldish color ‘01’ in his left eye, correct…?”

“Yeah I did, why?”

“Haha… well the thing is. Um. He registered at my guild…”

“What?!”

Goldwill quickly grabbed the front of Silas’s vest roughly. 

“When?”

Silas looked a little shocked for a second. 

“He registered last week, but completed his first commission a few days ago.”

“What was it? He was given F-Rank, so something weak right?”

Silas’s expression sank a little.

“Well… uh- funny story-”

“Spit it out already.”

“A-alright! He took the SS-Rank Ancient Dragon quest and completed it within half an hour! There I said it!”

“What- SS-RANK?!”

After a few minutes of Goldwill nearly pummeling Silas to death, he straightened out.

“Phew… uh- um… so am I free to go now-”

“No. You’re staying right here.”

“B-but…”

“You’re staying.”

Silas sat down on the fountain’s ledge and sighed.

“Does he have any connections? Anyone that he might turn to?”

“Well the one who got him registered was the Mage Empress.”

“Seriously…?”

“Yeah. He was busy killing one of my adventurers when she showed up. He immediately stopped and tried jumping onto her.”

Silas shrugged as he talked like it was something casual.

“Silas. How are you this idiotic.”

“No comment.”

“Do you have his guild card?”

Silas paused and looked up for a second. He thought long and hard before answering.

“Probably.”

“Then show me it. I’ll also need a profile on what he looks like.”

“It’s at the guild if we do have one. I’m pretty sure his status was really messed up though…”

“It doesn’t matter, show me it.”

Silas and Goldwill started walking over to the guild hall. After Silas checked his desk for a minute digging through a bunch of drawers, he found it.

“Right here-”

Goldwill looked at the card to see that nearly everything was corrupted. The only skills showing were [Sword Bolt], [Fireball], and [Storage]. He made a sour face.

“We’ll be cutting this close Silas. There’s no doubt he definitely has at least fifteen skills by now. On top of that the fact that he has four passives means we have a big problem on our hands…”

Silas sat down looking exhausted.

Goldwill looked at the card again.

“Cynical… huh?”