Upon returning home, Son Gohan noticed that his master was nowhere to be found.
"Jarvis, what time is it?" he asked casually while walking.
"Central City Time: 10:46 AM." Jarvis's voice echoed from the floor beneath Gohan's feet. He was already used to it and thought to himself, Dinner at Mistress's place is always at 11:30. I came back a little early today… I wonder if Master will mind.
Just then, Jarvis spoke again. "Son Gohan, Master Taro asked me to notify you to go to him. He is currently waiting for you in Room 4 on the third floor."
"For me?"
Gohan was momentarily stunned. At that moment, the phoenix let out a shrill cry from behind as it flew toward him. Gohan motioned for it to quiet down. Normally, after beating the phoenix in a race, he would gloat a little (though he knew the bird had gone easy on him). But now that his master was looking for him, he had no time for such antics.
After sending the phoenix off to amuse itself, Gohan followed Jarvis's instructions and arrived at a specific room on the third floor. Like the rest of the house, the door was made of a material resembling crystal walls. However, under Jarvis's control, it was opaque from the outside, preventing anyone from seeing inside.
Gohan pushed the door, and sure enough, it opened.
As soon as he stepped in, it felt as if he had entered another world.
The room was a bizarre space, with complex streams of data flowing across the ceiling and floor. Gohan carefully stepped forward, his attention drawn to the center of the room, where his master stood beside Jarvis, engaged in conversation.
"Mas… Master?" Gohan greeted as he approached, but he immediately sensed something was off. Both Taro and Jarvis looked… different. They were too big.
His master was usually around 1.8 meters tall, but the figure before him had to be at least 2.3 or 2.4 meters!
Gohan reached out and waved his hand in front of them—his hand passed right through their bodies. Meanwhile, the Jarvis he had "touched" turned to look at him. Gohan, however, was unfazed. After living in his master's house for so long, nothing really surprised him anymore.
"This way." Taro's voice came from the corner of the room.
Gohan turned and saw his master sitting there, looking at him calmly. Beside Taro was a rectangular structure standing at an angle… a glass-covered container large enough for a person to lie inside?
Probably something Fabeli, Mistress, or Jarvis has been researching…
With that thought, Gohan walked over and respectfully greeted his master. "Master…"
Taro waved a hand, interrupting him. Then, he patted the chamber beside him, pressing what seemed to be a switch. With a soft hiss, the glass cover slowly opened.
"Get in," Taro instructed.
Gohan found it odd but didn't question it. If his master told him to do something, he would do it.
He lay inside the chamber, and the glass cover slowly sealed shut.
A faint mechanical hum reached his ears—"Bzzt… bzzt…"—but gradually, the sounds became indistinct as he drifted into a sleep-like state.
"Neural connection… Status: stable… 50%… 60%… 80%… 98%! Connection depth has reached the preset maximum value! … Transferring to main neural virtual network…"
---
The entire Room 4 on the third floor was now immersed in a real-time, naked-eye 3D projection.
The projected space was the virtual Earth network Jarvis had been constructing, though it was far from complete. It was the same digital realm where Taro had first met Jarvis.
The technology behind Jarvis's creation incorporated certain biomimetic principles—details that Taro didn't fully understand. What he did know was that Jarvis was the result of Fabeli and Hathaway repeatedly dissecting and refining his research on psychic magic—thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of times over.
Taro sat casually in the corner of the room, right next to the neural link pod where Gohan was lying.
This was the latest creation of Fabeli and Hathaway—a specialized device capable of connecting an ordinary person's mind to Jarvis' main system. As soon as Gohan lay down, the pod's protective cover closed over him.
At the center of the room were the two projections that Gohan had seen when he first entered—one of Taro and the other of Jarvis, who had taken on the form of a refined middle-aged man.
At that moment, a dark green stream of data surged beside Jarvis, gradually condensing into a humanoid figure that was noticeably shorter.
Gohan looked at his own hands in shock, then at the middle-aged man next to him, then at his master beside the man. He kept turning his head, trying to take in the strange world around him.
He recognized it—it was exactly the same as the scene he had seen upon entering the room.
Yet, as he looked around, he couldn't find the door to the room, the corner where his master had been sitting, or even the pod beside him.
Where was he?
Gohan was momentarily confused.
Seeing his disciple's confusion, Taro explained, "Right now, you're connected to the mental world constructed by Jarvis through that device you just lay down in."
Gohan nodded, only half-understanding.
Not that it mattered. Truth be told, even Taro didn't fully understand the technical principles behind it. He had simply provided the general concept and the final requirements—everything else had been handled by Hathaway and Fabeli.
"Jarvis, switch to Virtual Earth—Jam City," Taro instructed.
"Understood, sir," Jarvis responded in his deep, magnetic voice.
Jam… City?
Just as Gohan was puzzling over it, the world around him shifted.
In an instant, he, Taro, and Jarvis found themselves in a completely different place…
What was this? There were flowers, trees, artificial mountains, ponds, elegant pavilions, and winding corridors. The way everything was arranged, blending naturally with its surroundings, gave it a profound, harmonious beauty.
The three of them were now inside a small pavilion.
Taro and Jarvis sat across from each other at a stone table, while Gohan tried to use his Bukujutsu to fly—only to realize that he couldn't.
It was as if his ki had disappeared entirely.
"Jarvis, give him access," Taro said with a glance at Gohan, immediately understanding the situation.
After all, in this world, they were merely consciousness—more precisely, data.
How could there be ki in a situation like this?
Of course, that also meant he couldn't use Bukujutsu.
"As you wish, Mr. Taro," Jarvis said, the green data streams in his eyes flowing as he executed the command.
Gohan suddenly felt a change in his body—specifically, it was as if he had "returned to himself" in an instant.
Taro explained, "Jarvis has simulated your physical state, including your 'ki'. You can now do anything here that you would be able to do in the real world."