PSYNCIN' IN THE MOUNTaiN

## Chapters

*-Reveal the Hidden Secrets-*
*"Reveal Hitomi's secret buried deep inside."*
—Somnium description
**PSYNCIN' IN THE MOUNTaiN** is a dreamworld featured in *AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES*, based on the Okutama Mountains.

It is a Somnium world created from Hitomi Sagan's dream by Psync System. ABIS investigated this Somnium to gain information about the murder of Manaka Iwai.

## Mental Locks

The location of this Somnium is located in a Dark Forest, and one of its characteristics is that the player need to find objects in the darkness. As the progress deep within, the visual range around the player will become smaller and smaller, and there will be obstacles such as tree trunks that prevent the player from moving in a straight line to the target object.

In addition, most of the options in this Somnium will not provide TIMIE to the player, and the few options that will bring the player TIMIE will not reveal the nature in advance, and most of these options are assigned to **Rocks**. Negative types are not included in randomly obtained TIMIEs, however.

### Mental Lock #1 - Light it up.

In the darkness, the only object the player can investigate in the forest is the **Flower Bud**. Inspect it and choose *Worship*, which takes 15s and does not provide TIMIE, can get Mental Lock #1 unlocked.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #1:

* *Worship* on **Flower Bud** (15s)

### Mental Lock #2 - Shake ???

After entering Mental Lock #2, three **Rocks** appeared nearby, marked as **Rock 1**, **2**, and **3** respectively. Investigate and perform one of the actions obtains a random TIMIE, but actions that only consume 5s will not bring any. The other object is **Hole in Tree 1**, performing *Stick Hand In* on it can enter **Phase 2**, the section where **Renju** appears. Following the trail composed of firefly light spots can go forward from the flower bud to find **Hole in Tree 1**.

After entering Phase 2, the player will reappear near the spot of **Rock 1** and need to find Renju. But before that, the player has to find the **Photograph**, which is located in **Hole in Tree 2** and requires the player to perform *Tackle* to obtain it. There will be a trail from **Rock 1** leading to **Renju's** location, and then this trail will connect to **Hole in Tree 2**. The player can find the correct direction to **Hole in Tree 2** according to the relative positions of themselves and **Rock 1** on the map, find **Renju** after obtaining the Photograph, perform *Show Picture* on him and Mental Lock #2 will be unlocked.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #2:

* *Stick Hand In* on **Hole in Tree 1** (15s) -> *Tackle* on **Hole in Tree 2** (15s) -> *Show Picture* on **Renju** (15s)

### Mental Lock #3 - Shake ???

After handing the Photograph to Renju, **Hole 1** will appear nearby, and there will be a trail for the player to point to its location. Perform *Jump In* to enter **Phase 3**, the section where you need to find **Hitomi** and give her an item. But this time, **Hitomi** is different from Renju in that she will keep running around the map until the player finds the required item. Firefly trails appearing on the ground are no longer clearly indicative either. Therefore, reach the newly appeared **Hole in Tree 3** after coming to Phase 3, perform *Scream* to get the **Bracelet**.

The player can spot **Hole in Tree 3** by constantly checking the mini map and identifying the location of the item name displayed in the dark distance. After performing *Scream*, **Hitomi** will stop running. Then, perform the newly-appeared option *Stick Hand In* to obtain **Bracelet**, find and reach **Hitomi**, perform *Show Bracelet* on her and Mental Lock #3 will be unlocked.

Since the player will no longer be able to investigate **Rocks** in Mental Lock #4, it is recommended to interact with them here or during Mental Lock #2 and collect TIMIE, which will help in the final move.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #3:

* *Jump In* on **Hole 1** (30s) -> *Scream* on **Hole in Tree 3** (15s) -> *Stick Hand In* on **Hole in Tree 3** (15s) -> *Show Bracelet* on **Hitomi** (15s)

A possible optimal path for better TIMIE can be:

* *Option with consuming 10 or 15s* on **Any Rock** (10s or 15s, Random) -> *Jump In* on **Hole 1** (30s) -> *Scream* on **Hole in Tree 3** (15s) -> *Stick Hand In* on **Hole in Tree 3** (15s) -> *Show Bracelet* on **Hitomi** (15s)

### Mental Lock #4 - Reveal the secret.

After handing the Bracelet to Hitomi, **Hole 2** will appear nearby, and there will be a trail for the player to point to its location, just like before. Perform *Jump In* to enter **Phase 4**, the final section. Here, the only object the player can investigate is **Cluster Amaryllis**. Try to look for the text indicating the object that appeared in the distance around the place where the player is located, and go in that direction, and then perform *Dig Up* on it. After performing this, **Hole 3** will appear in front, execute *Jump In* on it to unlock Mental Lock #4. Since this option will consume 120s, the TIMIE collected before can be used here.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #4:

* *Jump In* on **Hole 2** (30s) -> *Dig Up* on **Cluster Amaryllis** (15s) -> *Jump In* on **Hole 3** (120s)

A possible optimal path for better TIMIE can be:

* *Jump In* on **Hole 2** (30s) -> *Dig Up* on **Cluster Amaryllis** (15s) -> *Jump In* on **Hole 3** (120s1/2, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/10)

## TIMIE Pool

The following are the pools of TIMIEs that spawn during PSYNCIN' IN THE MOUNTaiN. Certain choices in the Somnium will drop a random selection of TIMIE from "**Pool MOUNTaiN**". During the first 3 minutes, the 1/2 TIMIE has an almost 50% chance of dropping from the pool, followed by the 1/4, [20], 1/8, and 1/10 TIMIEs. From 3 minutes to the last 90 seconds, the 1/2 and the [20] TIMIEs are removed, with the 1/8 and 1/10 TIMIEs having higher odds than the 1/4 TIMIE. In the last 90 seconds, the odds for 1/10 increase even more, past the 50% mark. This pool offers benefitial TIMIEs from the getgo, with the best TIMIE exponentially increasing in chances over time.

## Objects of Interest

This Somnium takes place within a small forested area in the Okutama Mountains. The availability of objects changes after jumping into holes as you progress the Somnium. These will be labeled as **Phases**, wherein jumping into each hole changes the phases of the Somnium.

## Hidden Item

* The **hidden item** is located near **Rock 2**, along the edge of the Somnium. It's easiest to find after jumping from Hole 2, when the player can see the eyeball shimmering behind a rock. Turn around to investigate can easily get it.

## Gallery

A corner of the ForestMap of the Forest, though the player can only know the relative position of objects and themselves from the mapUnder one of the trees19-year-old Renju in this SomniumThe photograph for Renju19-year-old Hitomi this SomniumThe bracelet for HitomiThe lycoris flower
## Trivia

* This is the only Somnium which is based off a location that Kaname Date never visits over the course of the game.
* The dialogue used to refer to the time frame in this Somnium appears to be inconsistent, with Aiba and Date stating that Renju and Hitomi's appearances are from 20 years ago, and how Hitomi is a minor (despite being 19 years old). It's unclear why the time frame appears relatively inconsistent with the rest of the story, especially since Date and Aiba know about Manaka's disappearance happening 18 years ago instead of 20.
* When choosing "Tackle" on the **Hole in Tree 1**, Aiba states that tackling it may cause a beetle to fall off, which Date responds with "This isn't one of your animal friend video games..." This is a reference to the video game series *Animal Crossing*, in which a human villager lives among various anthropomorphic animals and can perform various actions, such as catching beetles and other bugs on trees.
* When choosing "Scream" on the **Hole in Tree 2**, Aiba yells "The emperor is naked!" into the hole. This is a reference to the short tale "The Emperor's New Clothes," where con-men trick an emperor into buying non-existent clothes and parading around naked in public. Date continues the joke onward, bringing the empress into the tale, which is not part of the original story. However, the rest of the interaction, where Date says "I don't see anything" and Aiba responds "Nor do I..." could be a reference to the emperor's reaction to seeing his "new clothes."

## Navigation

Hitomi Sagan • Mayumi Matsushita • Renju Okiura • Mama • Shoko Nadami • So Sejima • Moma Kumakura • Rohan Kumakura • Cyclops Serial Killer

## References

1. ↑ Wikipedia page for Animal Crossing
2. ↑ Wikipedia page for "The Emperor's New Clothes"