Open Finished Do data beings dream of digital SHEEPs?

Sym noticed Rhys reaction and nodded to them, before addressing the slime: "So, how much you want for it?", the slime put it away for a moment and thought. "A legendary sword! What do you think?", it asked, but seeing Sym cross his arms it then thought again briefly and requested "A crown, maybe? ... Not that? Fiiiiiine, I want the latest edition of Kingdoms and Caravans."

"That I can do...", Sym brought up a couple of text boxes once again by his side: he was altering their inventory. As the slime saw that happen, it went "Wait, how did you do that?!". "Don't ask too much. Let's see... Ah, here we go.", and didn't take long until an item was in their inventory... "Book?"

As soon as Sym took the book out, the two slimes were shocked, "Woah, did you just made it out of thin air?! You must be one skilled wizard! But, I promised... So...", and then the slime approached him, exchanging the game device for the book, "Good making business with you, see you someday.", leaving and causing the "Battle Won!" prompt to appear along with single digits of exp and gold earned from the single slime they had defeated.

"... That was weird.", he held up the gaming device, "But I did make this while waiting at the palace and- Oh they must have sneaked in and stolen when I met you."

"That can't be. See? This is just a game console.", Sym even turned it on and showed it to Rhys. What happened was a sort of inception that made Symlink jump: It showed what Rhys could see, and looking at the screen created a recursion that seemed to go on forever and ever. But what to do for now? "We can probably keep going.", Sym shut the system off and put it away.

"Hm... I dunno, I kind of want to wake up now.", Symlink thought for a bit, trying not to analyze the gaming device again out of fear of what could happen if he tried something else with it. Mostly the fear that it was a controlling device to Rhys. Of course, it wasn't, but better safer than sorry. "There's a long cave up ahead, we can Save & Quit there."

They walked on, and along the way they continued to fight more enemies, but this time nothing was out of the ordinary. They even gained a couple levels. Rhys could still play their flute surprisingly well, and he did seem to magically improve a little more after gaining those levels. But soon enough, they came close to a cavern. Bringing up the game menu, he tapped the option "Save", causing a save game prompt to appear. With a stretch, Symlink addressed Rhys: "Well, here is where I will wake up... It has been fun, though! Thanks for joining me, Rhys."

By then, Neon was awake and puzzled at Rhys suddenly popping into existence as Symlink mumbled awake. Speaking of... Sym was quick to notice... "Ah! Rhys!", he pushed himself up so suddenly he almost headbutted Neon's chin, had the fox guy not pulled his head back in time. And in surprise, the fox boy's tail suddenly projected as an exclamation mark.