Chapter 18: Singularity

If you have ever dabbled over the fascinating side of philosophy, especially one regarding that of morality and social science, then it must be inevitable that you and your partner will come to the subject of right and wrong...a famous dilemma even in today's society. No matter how many times different individuals have debated over it

Where should I start? 

Let's arrange a hypothetical situation: You are driving a car in the middle of the night with your lights out, when suddenly the path split before you, with a thick tree trunk separating them. Due to the velocity at which you travel, it was virtually impossible for you to do anything other than risk your life by ramming your car into the tree, or you can steer to one of the two path 

So then, what is the right option to choose? It would obviously be the second one, where you choose to save yourself by drifting through one of the paths before you. Simple, right?

"Logically" speaking, under the average circumstance that would be the right choice, thus we can conclude that "the right thing can be done by making the choice that would benefit you the most"

Then come the second problem. There stood an obstacle on each of the paths. One is a little girl, and the other an old woman with a walking stick. Once you steered, it is guaranteed that you will hit them because of your velocity overdrive

Now, which of them should you run over?

Most people would choose to hit the old grandma with their car. it would only be obvious, after all. Because old people have outlived their usefulness for their society and the people around them

Logically speaking, she had lived a fulfilling life, whether of hardship or luxury, she had lived and it's all that matters. And now she's just a useless bag of blood and excrement waiting to be trampled over by the country's healthcare system and her children, thus it would be fine to just...dispatch of her

"Logically" speaking, it would be the right choice to make under any normal situation

"Morally" speaking however, it is wrong. You killed a person, an unacceptable act of murdering an innocent, and thus you are in the wrong, regardless of your intention or reasoning behind said actions

But you would argue that it's better than running over the little girl from an analytical point of view. After all, she still have a future ahead of her, one that will comes to blossom. For argument's sake, let's say that it is right. Thus the conclusion that "the right thing is done by choosing the lesser devil between the two" 

Aight, but here's another twist!

The child is actually a patient escapee from the local psychiatric ward who'd killed more than 15 people with a pencil, and the old woman is your own grandmother who introduced you to the wonderful world of anime when you were still a child, and the only person who had ever treat you kindly in your life

At this point, any person with the smallest sense of dignity would have yeet the fucking kid off the side of the road like the folk of common sense they are

So, it is not important to discuss the justice in your action, but to focus on the profit you and others could gain from it. For in the end, anything we did, no matter how we tried to justify them using a moral or logical viewpoint, can be boiled down to the fact that we did out of self-obligation. In other words, selfish intentions are the main driving force behind the actions we take

From that, we find choices are objective, but their value is subjective and may differ from various views. Hence, we can make the ultimate conclusion regarding the nature of such matters

"It is only the right thing you did when you feel like it"

*sigh* Am I monologuing again? I feel like I talked to myself too much

External factors contribute to the rightness of the situation. In that case, it is a matter of circumstances and the underlying context that is used to assess the validity of your actions, though left unsaid is the subjective opinions of the person themselves. In that case, to do the right thing all the time is quite hard, if not outright impossible in reality

Ah, yes. The point I'm trying to make is-

I was never one for moral absolutism. Fuck that bullshit

If you think being Isekai'ed into another world with a cheat-like power will give you the capability to act like a self-righteous prick and look down on others with your Shounen protagonist disposition, you are dead wrong

Hello everybody, I'm your lovable host (Y/n) (L/n) on today's show of "How the fuck did it end up like this?"

"Uhh...." 

and I'm confused as fuck right now

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I believe an explanation would be in order

As you probably know - or not, depending on your level of attentiveness to my inner monologue - this world I'm accidentally thrown in in is another alternate universe of the well-known fictional web series known as RWBY. In contrast to the Sci-fi futuristic theme you'd expect, the universe I landed in is quite...underdeveloped...in many, many aspects

The first is the clearly underwhelming level of technology here. While Dust have been discovered and harnessed accordingly to Canon, this process seems to be mostly primitive in nature, indicating to the early advances of firearm in feudal japan due to the Tanegashima I managed to loot from a dead body here

Speaking of Feudal Japan, comes the second one...the lack of presence regarding Western culture. The architecture, the clothing, the weapons, and the measurements and currencies are that of the early age in Imperial Japan. As if to make it weirder, there are no Aura here, instead all we have is the Breathing techniques that can be used to increase our offensive potency in combat 

Though it appears that the Meiji restoration has been initiated, there has been no proof of it until this point in time. The uses of swords are still permitted, and the old system of feudal lords are still in place, which points out that there are no definite analogy when it comes to this world, since so many elements are still in the dark from me

For example is the fall of Menagerie, enslavement of the Faunus race. Adam and Illia is killed, while Blake herself get turned into a maniac hellbent on vengeance. Summer's still alive, Yang left along with Raven to train, and Ren with Nora is currently under my care

Oh, and along with Grimm, demons and youkai exists too. Cheers to the supernatural fan I guess 

That's all I've managed to gleam out about the environment around me. From the start of day one until now, I've been trying to draw parallel between this place to any connection I can recall with the keywords in my mind. The culture is obviously similar to one on Earth, the breathing system taken from Kimetsu no Yaiba , Kekkei Genkei from Naruto and Hamon from JJBA, but the characters are definitely from RWBY

This sounds like a shitty crossover made by a dude who clearly has no idea what he's doing

But now, back to the point. Am I a good guy thus far? I mean, I saved a puppy, but I also killed a demon, loot a bunch of dead corpses, kill people and loot their corpses, killed another demon, forced a spirit into a contract with me, manipulated two children into killing other human beings, then there's the ordeal with Blade where I fan her hatred multiple times over and ruin her chance at a new life

When you think about it, the atrocity off the deeds I've done outstripped any redeeming quality I might ever have

Not sure if I should be proud about that. 

"I say it's fine, don't mention it" Sighing slightly, I brushed them off in a brisky manner "If you really want to thank me, leave now and never enter my line of sight again"

"I'm afraid that's not quite possible" The oldest of the girls whom I took out at the bandit camp shook her head, her long black hair swaying from side to side "You saved our lives, it would only be appropriate that we should at least pay you back in some way. To that end..please accept these gifts"

After my contract with the wind spirit, this is what I came back to. I don't know what Nora and Ren told them while they were gone, but apparently they want to compensate me now

My only reaction is an eyeroll

"Keep it to yourself on your journey in case you need it"

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In the corner, Yumi and her sisters shifted their feet. Indignant as they are at him, they are equally baffled by the boy's strange behavior

Meanwhile, Ren and Nora is was quiet, content to just observe from the sideline for now 

Despite the harsh tone in his voice, (Y/n) looked just as uncomfortable as the other party with this ordeal. Not exactly embarrassment, more like he wasn't used to being shown with gratitude. In fact, had he ever?

Oh...that's right

Even when he had risked his life to protect them from the demon at Kuroyori and took them under his wing, not even once had the children uttered a single thanks to their savior, not even once had they do anything worthwhile to repay him

The revelation made them uncomfortable

"No, this is not necessary" Again, the girl pushed the wrapped bundle to him "You already gave us the food you took from the bandit camp and give them to us, thus ensuring our rations for the rest of the journey. It would be in bad taste if we don't give it to you"

"Right...so what's in it?"

"It's....our father's last gifts to us. He was a samurai who once served our land's lord. Soon after his passing our family fell into poverty and we have to journey to the far lands to make a living" Her face betrayed the sadness behind it "We never had the heart to tell him we don't want to pursue the mastery of the sword, as per his wish"

Sounds like some sob story you will expect in an Asian drama

"And you want to give this to me, why? You realized you could have just throw them away if they're not necessary to you"

Even though I was saying that, there's no way I can resist my curiosity and greed. As a normal human being, it would be a disgrace if you refuse a sincere gifts from someone, especially if they're giving it for free

But I'm not being rude on purpose, it's just that...I was getting a bad vibe from the bundle. Not the malevolent or evil kind, mind you. I used [Demonic Sensory] on it to no result, so that means this stuff is probably safe to touch and not cursed in any kind

I wondered if it's something akin to a weapon I can trace, though it's unlikely judging from the bulkiness of the package

My muse was cut off by the girl's answer

"Well, we believe it would be of use to you in your journey of helping people. These are better off in your hand than thrown off on a sidewalk"

Yeah..helping people...let's go with that for now. 

If they want to take a hound in place of a man, I'm not stopping them

"Don't mind if I do, then"

With a smile, I accepted the bundle and gave it to Ren, who put it down on the ground. Nora discreetly checked it for pancakes, only to whimper slightly in disappointment. There probably isn't any in there

"Where will you go after this if I ask?" Judging from the amount of food I've  given them, these people will probably last about ten days, or twelve if they knows how to limit their diet. The obvious choice would be to head to the nearest settlement here

Which would be, coincidentally, the same direction as- 

"We intend on going to Patch village "

"....."

"I see then" I give her a bright smile, one that's cracking at the seam "Good luck on your journey"

We exchanged farewells before going on our merry way. I discreetly checked behind me for anything unusual, before putting the bundled gift into my inventory, intending to check them out later

'Arashi, you there?'

A light breeze hit my face in response. I squinted my eyes, barely making out the translucent silhouette floating beside me

'Yes?'

The wind spirit I made a contract with replied. It wasn't exactly a voice made by any vocal organ, seeing that she had no real body. My best description would be that it sounds quiet and subdued, like the whisper of the wind by your ear 

'Nothing, just want to confirm something is all' A smile grazed my face 'Now that you've had a bond with me, you can freely travel wherever you like without the constraint of boundary nor territory. But I'll need to do a few tests before more can be said'

'Tests?'

'You probably don't know, but you're the first sentient thing I've ever bonded with' I sighed 'That left for much to interpret. The bonded weapons in my arsenal all received a boost of power upon establishing a connection with them, so does that mean the same can be said to you?'

'Furthermore, the one thing determining the strength of our ties all lies in one thing: A sense of identity. Each and every single one of my recreated items all have their own unique aspects, an imprint of their owner and origins that give them their power. That said, me giving you a name is also to see if it'll work the same way'

If one were to make that a distinctive name, one that carries power through individualism, the imprint of the name should be more powerful. By that logic, if I were to turn the existence of "Arashi" into a name people fear and respect, a legend...

how will it affect her? Will it simply increase her power...or will there be more than that?

'Are you saying the only reason you name me this way is only for testing?'

'Of course not. If you aren't important to me I wouldn't have given you a name in the first place'

Surprise. Embarrassment. Contemplation. Even if her voice can't be heard above the mindless mutterings, the spirit's form portrayed all those emotions with clear visual images

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20km to the Schnee territory

After walking for a good few hours, we arrived by a rural village just at the border of the land owned by the Schnee

Again, the first place we went is (much to Nora's insistence) the restaurant. Once again I browsed through the menu while ordering food for me and the children, ignoring the curious look Arashi is giving her surrounding

An indoor settlement for wanderers of this land, be they merchant or swords for hire. Wooden beams supporting the building we sit in. Sunshine seeping through small windows placed in a consistent manner, lining up the wooden wall around us

People goes in and out. The clanking of ceramic sake cups and the day's gossip concerning politics and business. In the distant, an attractive aroma of cuisines being made only served to lure in those with an empty stomach, seeing a comfortable meal after a day of traveling outside

Due to the loot gained from raiding the bandit camp, our budget isn't as tight as it was from before, so we can now at least afford some degree of luxuries in regard to our stomach

"Give me a medium-sized pork ramen with special broth and a serving of Daikon radish" I easily ordered "And as for these two, a small sized Udon with Yakitori servings...."

Nora looked at me, to which I looked back

"...And pancakes for this girl, lot of them"

She cheered

3,100 Lien has been deducted from your account!

2,000 Lien has been deducted from your account!

I could feel my stomach bleed at the excessive spending I've just committed

Sighing, I took out the wrapped bundle from my inventory and started unknotting them. Might as well see what they see fit to give that would help me in my journey. Judging from the weight and the bulk, it's probably books, the subject of which was still unknown to me

The knot loosened, allowing me to tire it off. I peered through the hole from above, seeing stacks upon stacks of manuscript and...yep, they're all books

Curiously, I took one of them out and inspect the title, hoping to take a gleam of their content inside

Only to almost drop it in shock

'...' I decided to check the title again just to be sure. Goddamn thing still looks the same no matter how I inspect it

I'm confused as fuck right now. I know I shouldn't, but still, this almost felt unreal

[The Book Of Five Rings]

Skill Book (Kenjutsu)

Rarity: B+

There's no mistaking it, it's a familiar title for those who studied Japanese literature. While it is not a work of art in any kind, at least not to the normal conception of the word, many individuals still regard this as being a manuscript that have the most significant impact on the history of Japanese's martial swordsmanship, as well as one that detailed the necessary virtue of living one's life to the fullest

The book of five rings...written by Miyamoto Musashi

So you finally figured it out

I stayed silent with my eyes narrowed. I don't understand it, but the fact that a person from Earth's original history was here can have different implication. Some of them bad, some of them good, and some can be troublesome if given the context

The problem is that if this...Musashi...isn't the same one as that on Earth, then I'd probably get more than what I bargained for

Tsundere system, what does this mean?

If the System is capable of showing emotion, it would be similar to that of annoyance

Good grief, what a lazy human you are. Use your non-functioning brain a little, will you?

Right, so what's the big deal with this? It's obviously not the first time I've seen some semblance of this world connected with Earth's property. From mainstream media fiction to popular legend, they all appeared here in a cacophony of chaotic mixture, like a blot of dense mass resulting from you trying to dump too many things together at once. 

In theory, this world should exist. But in actuality, it should not. The thing I perceived as the "right" history never happened here

A Singularity

But this is different, it's an anomaly when you considered this to be an alternate universe of RWBY, a sci-fi show with mythological aspects in it, and then there's an appearance of something you know was real from your world. One that was crafted in your world's history, widely known through your world's history, and accepted by your world's history as a part of it's imprint

Now you know there exists multiple world with the same historical essence, you can't help but feels fascinated with it. An existence is not necessarily unique when there are an infinite number of realities out there, all with endless possibilities of occurrence. Countless deaths and becoming, like that of the Infinite Monkey Theorem

If you left a monkey in front of a typewriter for it to produce an infinite number of sequences of numbers and letters in return for a banana, it will one day able to recreate Shakespeare's finest work after a number of infinitely long time. There are no purpose nor conscious desires from the monkey's part, only the arbitrary machination of different events happening and affecting each other in a molecular level too little for observation, such is the almost non-linear nature of causality 

After all, human are just made out of organic matters. They are unique in the sense of their genes and upcoming, the egg that fertilized and the environment they grow up in. Purely biologically and psychologically, they are the main factors to which that shaped their identity and the person they are. So what are the chances of quantum movement forming from a sequence of events can perfectly replicate an individual from another universe? 

For example, we know the typewriter the monkey used have 50 keys, and it's objective is to successfully type the word "banana". Due to it's lack of literature knowledge, the letters appear only as meaningless shape with an equal chance of hitting the jackpot. To that, presuming the chance of it hitting one key is equal to it hitting the others and not being influenced by psychological factor, we have a 1/50 chance of it typing in the letter "b"- the correct letter

b.a.n.a.n.a. The correct sequence require the monkey to punch in six different key out of fifty in quick succession. As the number of letters increased, so is the monkey's chance at busting it. After all, if each decisions are made unreliable upon their previous ones, we can say that the chances of him hitting the right key each time will not change. To that end, the probability of the monkey making the right choice repeatedly will be divided by square root for each time

Assuming X is the chance in which an event is likely occur given the initial conditions, k is the constant indicating the correlation between them, and n is the number of statistically independent factors (n1 for determined time of event, and n2 for actual probability to which it is likely to occur) that made up that event, and assuming they are not infinite, we can use some basic maths to calculate the equation behind them

We have (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) = (1/50)^6 = 1/15,625,000,000,

So, the general equation for this problem should be contained with at least two unit of variables

Using some fourth grade mathematics learned in elementary school, we have the formula of Xn= (1/k^n1)^n2

So far it's still simple, but remember that this has been reduced and tone down as far as it could. Eliminating all minor factors will leave you with a short and elegant equation, sure, but it also means the reliability of such a formula is also decreased for any components being deducted from there. This line, while pretty easy to understand, is also symbolic and theoretical in nature 

For simplicity's sake, let's discard the chaos theory and say each variables are independent to the universal change made by other inconsequential events at a different space and time, the theoretical probability of them happening is equal to the product of the probabilities of each one happening independently. If we were to reverse the value of this equation, it will decrease not additionally, not multiplicatively, but exponentially for every confirmed factor contributing to the number of possibilities involved, no matter how small they are

By making n large enough, Xn can be made as small as is desired. The same argument being applied to your example shows why at least one of infinitely many monkeys will produce a text as quickly as it would be produced by a perfectly accurate human typist copying it from the original. In this case Xn = (1 − (1/50)^6)^n where Xn represents the probability that none of the first n monkeys types "banana" correctly on their first try. When we consider 100 billion monkeys, the probability falls to 0.17%, and as the number of monkeys n increases, the value of Xn – the probability of the monkeys failing to reproduce the given text – approaches zero arbitrarily closely. The limit, for n going to infinity, is zero. So the probability of the word "banana" appearing at some point in an infinite sequence of keystrokes is equal to one.

As if reading my thought, the System throws in it's two cent to help me have a greater understanding of the problem

In that case, anything is possible. It is possible, not just applicable for Musashi, but to virtually any human being that had graced the Earth, and perhaps even fictional one to appear in the plane of existence I'm in - not as the manifestation of their legend on earth or the individual themselves, but a physical copy, down to the narrowest details, reproduced through means of causality due to invariable changes throughout the course of time and temporal changes

I could feel a headache building up

Oh god, this is starting to sounds like Grand Order again...Next thing you tell me, Musashi's gonna be a woman

Well...

Figured, there's no way that's gonna be the case. The chance of that happening is equal to me encountering him in person. But judging from the worn out cover of this book, Miyamoto would be dead by now

Well...

And even if that happens, I'm sure there would be absolutely nothing bad happening to me. 

After all, I'm just a normal dude with shitty luck. Nobody would take an interest in someone like that

.....

The system don't know if it should be impressed or disturbed

"Here you go Customer-sama" A bowl of ramen being placed in front of me managed to snap me out of my inner monologue. Blinking, I inhaled the smell of steaming broth soup from inside. My stomach grumbled in response at the delicious scent it's giving off, prompting me to split my chopstick and begin stirring the noodles 

Multiversal problem and invalid mathematical paradox aside, Ramen would always be delicious

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Author's Note: What have I done?

Admittedly, making a crossover between the Fate franchise and another series is considered a death sentence for basically every writer. One small mistakes and we get the whole Nasu fandom hounding on our asses, and that is me speaking from experience

I ain't no Russian Reversal, but I'll try my best with this