Chapter 91: The Simple Complexity of the Brain

Mid Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

-

"Uwahh…" I let out a deep yawn as I leaned onto the edge of Oliver's bed. -The brain really is quite fascinating, isn't it…-

While waiting for the swelling to go down, I spent my time watching and studying Oliver's brain, connecting his countless neurons to countless reactions.

After enough time, I actually found myself with a relatively decent map of what actions or senses were stored where. -Its more organized than I thought it would be…-

To my surprise, it was very similar to a very intricate and efficient computer program, with different actions, senses, or memories being stored in various distinct sections while still being able to overlap and intertwine to form a web.

To put things simply, everything was connected to everything. There were few, if any, dead ends, and even if you started with the same neuron, you could achieve a plethora of different outcomes.

The only exception to this was memories.

Although Oliver was deep asleep and I couldn't exactly confirm what he was seeing each time, every time a neuron fired in the memory section of the brain, it would follow a very consistent and repeatable path until it got to a different section of the brain.

-It really is no wonder why people on Earth said the brain is infinite… Figurative or not, they weren't far off…- Slowly pulling away my focus, an incredibly detailed image of Oliver's net of neurons came to mind.

*flicker-flicker* What I assumed to be the memory and senses sections were lighting up like fireworks. -I wonder what he's dreaming about…-

I ended up watching the light show for a couple minutes after that, but as I felt my curiosity starting to build again, I finally stopped myself. -I need to stop before I touch the wrong button…-

Sitting up and pulling away most of my aura again, I did a more general scan of Oliver's head to see what his condition was.

Thankfully, things looked good. The bruising was gone, the arteries were all healed, and the swelling had lessened enough that the pieces of his skull had settled back into place. -Looks like my job is finally coming to an end…-

At that point, it had been several hours since I started the procedure on him, but at long last, he was at a point where the rest would heal naturally and as long as he didn't jerk his head, he wouldn't experience too much pain.

"Haah…" -It's about time…- It took a bit longer for the swelling to go down than expected, but I couldn't say my time was wasted. -Either way, let's finish this and go take a nap…-

Setting my hand on his head, I aligned all the shattered chunks of his skull and used the atoms from the cells in the area to create small, barbed titanium needles that would hold everything together. -Hopefully, he won't even notice them…-

Finally feeling like I was finished, I stood up and stretched before leaning down to gently wake up Ilios. *pat-pat* "Let's move downstairs, buddy…"

Seemingly waking up from a deep sleep, he took a moment to finally wake up and stretch, but once he was finally moving it looked like he had been awake for hours.

-That must have been a refreshing nap…- I was a bit jealous as I squatted down and loved on him for a moment, but that jealousy just turned into motivation to take a nap myself. "Let's get going."

Seeing Ilios happily following along as I walked to the door, I wasted no time opening it up and walking into the hall. *Click*

On the wall opposite the door, I saw Lucy sitting on the ground, asleep while wrapped in a blanket. Standing next to her was her maid, Martha, wearing a mix of emotions on her face.

-She looks stressed…- *Click* Nonchalantly closing the door behind myself, I turned and walked past Lucy and Martha toward the throne room. "He's fine now. Tell him not to jerk his head or make any sudden movements for me when he wakes up…"

Martha wore a surprised look as she watched me walk down the hall, but she never muttered a single word.

I wasn't really sure how to interpret it, but regardless, I was too tired to care.

Continuing down the hallways, I got all sorts of odd looks from the maids and occasional butlers, but none of them showed it to my face and none of them stopped me. -It's about time that everyone knows about me…-

It was honestly amazing to be able to walk around without a single interruption. At least until I got to the throne room.

*Clank-creak* Opening up the big door to the throne room, I looked inside and saw a single young maid polishing the gold trim on the stairs around the throne.

That in itself wasn't an odd sight. "Miss, I need you to step out for a moment." I spoke casually, expecting her to quickly follow my instructions like the rest of the maids, but instead, she just sat there and twitched slightly.

-Is she having a seizure or something?- *creaakk-Clank* Closing the door behind me, I started walking down the red carpet toward the throne, but that was when she moved.

*pat* Dropping the wet rag in her hands, she slowly turned and looked at me with a grin on her face. -Uh… What?- It was oddly creepy. -Is she possessed?-

"You know, each time I see you, you somehow manage to amaze me more than before." Her voice was calm and smooth.

It made me raise my guard immediately. "I'm not sure you could have purposefully sounded creepier…" -She's not the young maid usually around here, is she…-

"Haha, well, sorry. With how weak you are currently, this is the only way I can say hi~." She was oozing confidence but didn't have an ounce of hostility coming from her.

-Weak?- Although I knew I was far from being truly strong, I was confident that I wasn't weak by any means. "Who are you…" I gave her a threatening glare, but she didn't shy away at all.

"Hm?" She just looked confused. "I guess having fuzzy memories is to be expected…"

-What?- "Fuzzy memories?" -Wait.. now that she mentions it…-

"Don't worry about it… Anyways, I just wanted to say hello~. I look forward to seeing your growth~!" She casually waved to me with a smile on her face as her calm confidence faded into nothingness.

It only took another moment for her look to turn disheveled, anxious, and worried as she hastily lowered her hand, picked up her things, and darted out a side entrance. *Click-Click*

As she closed the door behind herself, I was just left with a mix of worry and confusion in my gut, but thankfully, Ilios nudged me on the leg to snap me out of it. -Huh? Oh…- "Thanks Ilios…"

As I continued up to the throne, I kept my eye on the door the maid came out of with only a single thought resonating in my mind. -Why did her mannerisms feel so.. familiar…-

The next several minutes were wrapped in silence as I finally walked behind the throne and down into the shelter.

Once I eventually got to the bottom of the lift, I walked out into the shelter to see that everything looked like it had the life sucked out of it.

The ground was brittle and cracked, and the storage area looked similarly damaged, but above all else, every artifact I could see was either broken or barely functioning. -I guess my dragon sleep did more damage than I thought…-

I took several seconds to think about what to do after that but eventually decided that I would just fix it after I woke up from my nap. "Uwaah…" -I should also think about whether I want to make another weapon for myself as well…-

Although I loved the way it felt to swing the sword I got from the vault, I wasn't exactly sure whether I wanted a real weapon at all.

"Haah… Whatever…" -I'll just think about it later…- Quickly turning and walking to the hot spring, I changed into my dragon form and dropped myself into the water. *SPLASH*

Quickly sinking into the water, I let myself get completely submerged before spreading my wings to float weightlessly.

The water wasn't exactly warm, but it felt quite comfortable and embracing. -It honestly reminds me of when I was still in the egg…-

Thinking back to my first moments in this world, I tried not to let my mind wander, but couldn't stop it once it started drifting.

Eventually, I started asking myself countless what-ifs about things I could have done differently, but it just led to a rabbit hole. -Where would I be if I never touched that tesseract... Would I still be alive?-

Looking at Krystallo, I could assume what kind of limits I would have, but it was quite pitiful. -If I came to Kaelallan with her level of strength I would have definitely died… But at the same time, I wonder if I would have had more compassion for humans if I was that weak…-

As I slowly opened my eyes and noticed I was on the verge of sleep, I finally made my way back up to the surface and closed out my train of thought. -I should ask Father why he became an adventurer even though he's a dragon at some point…-

*Blub* Finally coming to the surface of the water, I looked towards the shallow end to see Ilios laying on his back, half underwater.

His look of pure satisfaction and joy caused the memory of when I first met him to surface in my mind again.

As I floated over to him, I took a moment to relive the memory, but eventually, he rolled back over and shook himself off. *shake-shake-shake*

His pure, untainted joy quickly spread to me as he happily hopped out of the spring. "Haha…" My smile turned warm immediately. -He really is just so adorable…-

Following him, I got out of the spring, dried myself off, and made my way over to the cushions to lie down.

*Puff* As I curled up on one of the cushions, I looked over to see Ilios giving me a look of expectation. -Hm?- "What's up, buddy? You don't want to sleep on one of the other cushions?" I looked over to see the several other giant cushions that were empty and untouched.

But Ilios confidently shook his head.

I took a moment to think about it before eventually just setting my head back down and closing my eyes. *puff* "In that case, I guess you can sleep wherever you want…"

But as I started slowly drifting to sleep, I felt something big and fluffy curl up next to me so my body was wrapped around it.

A lethargic and warm smile immediately came to my face, but before I could think much about it, I fell into a much-needed deep sleep.

-------------

Chapter end