Ricky began to describe the era that accompanied the launch of the Athanasia. The human leaders of that ti had decided to move the entire population into hibernating sleeping pods.
These pods were infused with VR neural-link technology, allowing billions of people to live out their lives inside the ga while their physical bodies were preserved in high-tech bunkers, shielded from the dying Earth.
However, to sustain such a massive operation, they required a stable, self-replenishing energy source. On top of the ga itself, they had fleets of machines and AIs still operating on the surface of Earth.
They were tasked with clearing the atmosphere, processing the toxic oceans, and slowly repairing the wounded planet. Those machines also required a gargantuan power supply. The answer finally ca during the initial stress tests of Athanasia.
"ntal Processing Power was the answer," Ricky said, his voice lowering as if revealing a state secret.
"In brief, MP was the solution to everything. Even when a person is in a sleeping pod, hibernating and playing the ga, their mind is still incredibly active. Their brain doesn’t stop working just because their body is still.
By salvaging this raw processing power and converting it into energy, we found a way to run the ga, power the surface machines, and save humanity from total extinction."
Hearing those words gave John the deepest shock of his life.
Since he had arrived in this era, since he had joined Athanasia travelling from the past, there had been one single currency he used, depended upon, and guarded with his life: ntal Points.
He had wondered for a long ti about his System’s obsession with it. Every ability, every hack, every question the system answered required him to pay ntal Points. He had wondered where this currency actually ca from and why it regenerated only when he was resting or out of combat.
He once wondered why it was only limited to Athanasia and wasn’t here in this apocalyptic world. Now, the grand puzzle was revealed in front of his eyes in a terrifyingly clear picture.
To him, it was ntal Points. To the rest of the world, it was ntal Processing. To both, MP was the basic form of energy that kept the entire universe functioning. And he was now sure even with different anings, the two were the sa.
John had never expected anything like this. He had never imagined that every ti he activated an ability, he was tapping into the very raw power that fueled the ga world, kept the planetary machines running, and allowed billions of humans to live peacefully inside Athanasia.
"That’s not the whole story, and you know it," Cissel said, narrowing her eyes to slits as she glared at Ricky.
The weight of her stare forced Ricky to swallow the rest of the sanitised explanation he was preparing.
"This power, this MP, isn’t just about harvesting excess and useless powers from us. Humans’ brains run exclusively using this power.
Harvesting it without giving anything back will eventually weaken humans, shorten their lifespans, and make their eventual return to live back on Earth more impossible. It should have been a communal resource provided equally for the benefit of all humans."
Cissel continued, her voice trembling with a mix of rage and disgust. "But a certain group of greedy Paragons saw a chance to benefit solely from it. The Miraculous Drug, the foundation for unlocking our innate super-powers that you bragged about?
It isn’t a natural-born gift. It cos from harvesting and concentrating the MP of the masses into a refined essence for the few. It is stolen power, Ricky. And I dare you to deny it!"
Hearing this forced John’s mind to recall the specific potion he had coded and refined during his ti in the Bug Dungeon. That entire sub-space had been a construct of Ricky’s design.
Now, the pieces were clicking into place, linking the bugs he had exploited to the high-level Paragon secrets currently being laid bare, and the very core of Athanasia.
’So that dungeon got its evolutionary properties from Ricky’s nature as a Paragon who can turn MP into Miraculous Drugs... interesting,’ John thought. He couldn’t help but steal a glance at Ricky, who now looked cornered and deeply troubled by the turn the conversation had taken.
To him, he was seeing a treasure trove, a bottomless source of making his version of the Miraculous Drug; the evolution potions like the one he gave Luke before.
"I can’t deny this," Ricky finally said, his voice strained. "Yet you know as well as I do that not all humans are biologically eligible to process the drug. On top of that, the potions take an imnse amount of ti and raw MP to synthesise.
A selection process must be implented to ensure equity; we have to pick only the most suitable candidates to receive the treatnt, otherwise, the resource is simply wasted.
As for the MP itself, what’s the point in gathering it then redistributing it again over all humans? We need to use most of it to keep everything running."
"Wrong! This is all wrong!" Cissel bellowed back, her eyes flashing with a dangerous light. "I agree that not all humans are eligible, but that’s just one half of the truth. The percentage is what truly matters here.
Our data shows that at least thirty percent of the human population has the genetic markers to unlock their potential. And yet, you and other arrogant Paragons from the Architects only pick less than one in a million to receive the drug!
You only select those who agree to side with you, those who swear to support your factions, ending up with the pathetic Sword and Shield concepts that define our social rot."
"They aren’t useless," Elena jumped in, her voice rising in defensive reflex. She had finally found a topic she recognised in the middle of these earth-shattering secrets. "We have to fight for hegemony. We have to expand the influence of our Paragons to ensure peace and stability."
"That’s right," Luke chid in, nodding firmly beside her. He felt the sa instinctive pull toward the order he had been raised in. "The Swords take the lead and wage wars to expand the factions of each Paragon, while the Shields work to protect their best interests and keep the peace within the territory. That’s how the world is structured. It’s how it survives."
"No, you are both mistaken," Cissel said, her voice dropping into a cold, hauntingly calm tone. She wasn’t fazed by the two of them siding with Ricky’s worldview.
"And the main reason you are mistaken is that you’ve forgotten the basic, foundational concept of Athanasia. Rember? The simulation was developed from scratch to keep humans safe from the dying Earth, to let them live freely and away from the very mistakes that ruined Earth in the first place.
There shouldn’t be wars. There shouldn’t be manufactured conflicts. We weren’t supposed to repeat the sa cycles of violence that ended Earth inside the safety of Athanasia."
"..."
Her logic settled over the air like a heavy shroud. Luke and Elena fell into a stunned silence, their mouths slightly agape as they looked at the world through a lens they had never been allowed to use. John remained silent as well, listening, watching, and absorbing everything.
To him, this was the mont of true awakening. For the first ti, he was discovering the reality of Athanasia, the truth behind human society, and the cold nature of the entire world.
"So," John said, breaking the silence before the discussion could drift too far from the important stuff, "the Evolutionists and Architects... what exactly is their standing in all of this?"
Even after this heated debate, no one had explicitly defined what those two entities represented in the current ecosystem of Athanasia. John could already infer the basics: these factions were the modern manifestations of the fundantal split between the original Paragons.
"Architects, like myself, believe in the solution our ancestors agreed upon a long ti ago," Ricky said slowly, grateful for the chance to stop the relentless barrage from Cissel.
"We try our best to maintain the world order as it is. We believe the system, while imperfect, is the only thing preventing total collapse and our race’s annihilation. As for the Evolutionists, like Cissel, they try to rewrite the rules entirely.
They want to give every eligible human a chance to take the drug and unlock their potential, even if doing this will endanger the stability of the system by consuming way more MPs than what we intended initially to."
Ricky paused, his expression turning grim. "And there is a third, most sinister faction, one that neither of us likes. One that terrifies both sides of the aisle."
He turned to Cissel, and her face changed slightly, a flicker of genuine discomfort and a tinge of fear, yet she didn’t say a single word to argue against what he was about to say.
"They are called the Nihilists," Ricky continued, his voice barely a whisper. "They want to destroy Athanasia entirely. They want to forcibly release all humans from the ga and let us return to live on Earth, regardless of whether the planet can sustain us or not.
They are the most dangerous radicals in the Paragon circle, and every other faction sees them as enemy number one. They don’t want to fix the ga, John. They want to burn it to the ground, without caring if humanity will survive or perish."
Reviews
All reviews (0)