Chapter 27: Sensory Overload

Chapter 27: Sensory Overload

“Life has become a state of sensory overload.”

Joseph Curiale

I was found the next morning still curled up in the foetal position on the floor in the main room. When they woke me, the light was blindingly bright whilst also showing more detail than I had ever seen before. Their soft arms as they lifted me up, to change me, felt as if they would leave bruises behind with their strength, yet left not a single mark. A stroke to comfort, made my skin feel as if it was on fire and left me flinching. Their questions of concern left me confused. I knew not, whether to cover my eyes from the painful brilliance of the light, or my ears from the deafening booming of their voices.

"Are you okay, Kai?" they asked as I hid my face from the light. I kept my eyes closed. Staying as still as I could and curled up into a ball whenever possible.

Finally, as they emptied the bedpan outside, the instant it passed through the main room, the stench alone was enough to make me retch and the sudden taste of it in my mouth had me throwing up all over the floor.

As they tidied up the mess and me, still worried and concerned, “What’s wrong?” they asked. But how could I explain it? How could I explain the level to which I was sensing and feeling without giving the game away? Was it even worth trying to hide it if they could give me a solution to my pain?

“Light hurts,” I replied with my meagre vocabulary covering my head with the newly abrasive cloth of my tunic.

I flinched away as they pulled it down to check my temperature but it was no higher than normal or any different from my core temperature.

“Does it hurt here?” They worriedly asked, prodding gently, concerned by my startled movements.

“Skin sore,” I explained as I feel their vice-like grip leave my head and abdomen.

“Bedpan smells bad.” I tried to explain why I threw up.

“Yes, it does. But it is not too bad. Try not to think too much about it and you will soon feel better. Imagine a nice sweet to suck on instead.” Mother replied. It would be nice to say that she did so calmly but she was clearly concerned. Father stayed home for the first time in my life and they even sent Aleera alone to fetch someone I’ve never heard of to come and look at me. The town healer or midwife I believe.

They think I’m sick with a fever or flu and hope to fetch someone to help.

. . .

The only positive to my position and that was stretching the definition of a silver lining was

. . .

Ding! Pain Tolerance (Lv 7)

. . .

That took barely 10 minutes of pain but it gave me a level. So either those ten minutes were highly effective or being in my particular predicament is somehow boosting my experience gain for certain skills.

However, in terms of my perception of those ten minutes, it certainly felt like an hour or two. So can experience be compounded by pain or perception and increased alongside how long it felt to have taken or the stress that accompanied them.

No pain, no gain?

Who cares?

I don't!

At least not right now!

. . .The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

Curled up on the floor, I was drowning in an endless sea of sensations. The only break from my 5 senses was when I left my body completely. Either by passing out or by hiding myself away in my Mind Fortress. But even here things were no longer the same. It was not simply my five senses that were benefitting from the new trait Super Senses, every single sensory skill was also suddenly enhanced and I had several of them.

Time Sense suddenly felt as if I could feel the microseconds between each second. I could certainly now count a decisecond not verbally in time but I could see them flickering through on my internal clocks. It felt as if I might even be able to sense a millisecond as well. But another wave of sensation broke my concentration.

Listening levelled almost as soon as I focused on it. But at least in my mind fortress, I was able to turn the sound down to a barely acceptable level. Sight, Scent, Detect and Taste all levelled from my most recent trauma without having to even look at an internal monitor, smell a flower, touch a wall, or taste a dessert within my mind.

Using Eavesdrop I could hear every single conversation within our house without difficulty and when I pushed my senses I discovered that I could hear the conversations from the house next door as well!

When Echolocation pinged, I could not only hear my neighbours but see them as well! It too levelled up to represent the sudden increase in clarity, depth and distance it now went.

Inside my mind fortress, I was able to dial down the level of light on my windows to the world. I could dampen the sound of my parent's breath until it was a comfortable white noise rather than loud enough to cover the pounding of my racing heart which felt as if it was ready to beat its way out of my chest. Divorced from my sense of touch, taste and smell I realised that I should add them to my mind fortress in the future but for now, I simply enjoyed their absence. Along with the absence of senses, I had never noticed before.

Thermoception seemed to be making me acutely aware of the temperature all over my body I could feel the heat of one hand with the other from a foot apart instead of an inch. The mildest of breezes sent the temperature fluctuating wildly up and down. It was the most overwhelming on my head where even though they had never cut my hair I could feel the subtlest breezes passing along my scalp and sending my temperature there up and down

True Status

Level: 10 Name: Kai

Experience: 50,600/ 204,800

Age: 13 months, 1 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours

Health: 1100/1100 Stamina: 513/513 Mana: 1000/1000 Psi: 1070/1070

Trait: Long Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana,

Vitality: 110

Endurance: 22

Strength: 22

Dexterity: 22

Senses: 109

Mind: 107

Clarity: 38

Magic: 100

Free Points: 20

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 22) Listening (LV 26) Meditation (LV 31) Swimming (LV 23)

Humming (Lv 20) Sneak (Lv 21) Whistling (Lv 20) Singing (Lv 20) and Drumming (Lv 20)

Running (Lv 10), Acting (15), English (Lv 15), Spanish (Lv 15), Japanese (Lv 15),

German (Lv 10), French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 1) Breath Control (Lv 1) Sight (Lv 11)

Scent (Lv 11) Detect (Lv 11) Taste (Lv 11) Bulosa (Lv 1) Draw (Lv 1)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 29) Eavesdrop (LV 22) Memorisation (LV 20) Composition (Lv 20)

Recall (Lv20) Pain tolerance (Lv 8) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20), Trombone (Lv 20),

Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 15) Translation (Lv 15) Stealth (Lv 10)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 22) Expel Mana (Lv 29) Absorb Mana (Lv 29)

Mana Manipulation (Lv 11) Ignite (Lv 11) Freeze (Lv 2)

Tier 4: Mana Drain (Lv 20) Multiple Minds (Lv 10)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 15)

Skill experience: 3300

Origin experience: 0

Combat experience: 0

Crafting experience: 0