After the first Adam's death, I continued watching the simulation despite my discomfort.
No matter how I felt, that wasn’t a reason to turn away from the truth.
As expected, the second and third Adams also perished within a day, accomplishing nothing.
The second was dropped in the middle of a war and died instantly.
The third was mauled to death by a roaming beast.
A world without civilization was an incredibly dangerous place.
A regular person—one who lacked combat skills and weaponry—wouldn’t last a single day.
And so, after tens of thousands of years, the fourth Adam arrived.
He successfully spread knowledge of the alphabet and Arabic nurals.
But beyond that, he achieved little before dying.
"I see. I think I understand now."
After witnessing the deaths of four clones and the passage of hundreds of thousands of years, I finally realized why there was such a long gap between the appearances of Adams.
From the very beginning—
Adam wasn’t ant to be deployed so many tis.
At most, only once or twice.
A contingency plan—an ergency intervention for when Terra’s humanity failed to find its way.
Had everything gone according to the Earthlings’ original plans, Terra’s civilization would have reached the dieval era within ten thousand years.
If Adam had arrived then, the second Adam would have been born into a society not so different from Earth’s.
And by that point, humanity would have had the ans to prevent the appearance of additional Adams altogether.
But reality wasn’t so simple.
This world was unpredictable, chaotic.
And humans—wild, unrestrained humans—were impossible to forecast, even with Earth’s advanced technology.
"Honestly, I’m more amazed that these primitive bastards managed to build a civilization at all."
The fifth Adam introduced the foundations of science and mathematics.
But the humans of this world didn’t take it seriously.
Mathematics was an invention born from the necessity of agriculture.
These supernatural hunter-gatherers, who never had to worry about food, had no need for such a thing.
The sixth Adam, realizing that humanity needed to be reset, attempted to make them more intelligent.
It was a difficult task, but by applying every psychological technique from Earth, he sohow managed to succeed.
The seventh Adam—
He tried to advise the newly civilized humans—only to be killed.
Which was understandable.
After all, these damn monkeys weren’t farming—
...I didn’t even want to talk about it.
"—So, that ans I’m..."
Finally—
At Terra’s 2.56-million-year mark,
Humanity had blossod into a machine civilization.
And a graduate student fell from the sky.
An Akashic Record who would rapidly advance Terra’s technological growth.
After watching all of this unfold, I finally understood both the nature of my existence and my duty.
I was a designed being, created specifically for Terra.
My life was artificial.
But I also realized—being artificial wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
I hadn’t been made as a re plaything, nor was I so tool for destruction.
"I was... born for you."
The simulation neared its end.
Shifting my perspective, I looked down upon the planet.
A tiny blue dot fit perfectly within my field of vision.
Long ago, astronauts claid that witnessing this sight had profoundly changed them.
But to soone like —who lived far beyond their ti—
It didn’t stir anything in .
What set my heart racing wasn’t the sight of this small planet in its entirety.
It was the fact that I now understood my purpose—
And what I had to do.
"For you... and for Earth."
Adam’s duty.
It was to develop Terra into a second Earth.
And from now on—
That was my task as well.
Returning from the simulation, I imdiately found myself face-to-face with three won, all staring at in silence.
They wore grim expressions, as if they had been waiting for to wake up.
Sensing the tension in the air, I carefully broke the silence.
"...What’s wrong?"
"Eight-tan. I have sothing to ask you."
Leviathan’s usual playful tone was gone.
Her voice was steady.
Her expression—serious.
She stared straight at and spoke.
"—Did you sleep with Vira?"
Next to her, Aile was nodding furiously in agreent.
And caught between them, Vira looked more than a little sheepish—her awkward smile practically screaming Sorry, man, I fucked up.
Judging by this situation...
It was clear that Aile had dragged the full confession out of her.
Which made sense.
Vira knew Aile’s # Nоvеlight # feelings well.
Aile had never been good at hiding them—she still clung to the innocence of a young girl.
Even soone as dense as had picked up on it.
So, for another woman like Vira, Aile’s emotions must have been painfully obvious.
"...Yeah."
"You told Vira wasn’t your type. You said you liked big boobs."
"I prefer big boobs. That doesn’t an I dislike small ones."
I answered honestly, stating both facts and my personal preferences.
Leviathan tilted her head, puzzled by my composure.
I suppose my attitude must have felt off to her.
After all, I wasn’t panicked.
I wasn’t guilty.
I wasn’t making excuses.
But it couldn’t be helped.
I had just spent millions of years coming to terms with my own existence and purpose.
I had no intention of letting myself be shaken over sothing as trivial as won.
I had responsibilities far greater than this petty love drama.
"So? What did you co here to say?"
"Don't you think this is unfair?" Leviathan’s voice was unusually subdued. "You rejected my confession so coldly, but you slept with Vira just like that..."
"M-Mine too!" Aile quickly followed up, her face burning. "You turned down as well—! W-When did you beco so shaless?!"
Leviathan and Aile, their emotions running high, fired off rapid accusations.
Hearing such complaints from won who were neither my lovers, wives, nor family felt utterly absurd.
Sure, they had expressed their affection for before.
But that didn’t an we had established any kind of deep relationship.
Fortunately, I knew exactly how to shut them down.
There were psychological tactics that won absolutely hated.
"So, do you two want to do it too?"
"...What?"
"E-E-Eh—?!"
Vira and Aile froze, their faces blank with shock.
anwhile, Leviathan—who had clearly been waiting for that very invitation—imdiately started stripping off her shirt.
Only to be tackled and restrained by the other two.
Her arms pinned down, she scread like a man falsely accused of seduction.
"Eight-tan tempted first—! This is legal!"
"Get a hold of yourself, you lunatic! Aile, let’s take her out of here!"
"Y-Yes! Scientist, we’ll talk later!"
With my ultimate technique, I had successfully driven all three out.
Letting out a sigh, I stood up from the sofa and walked over to the coffee machine.
With a fresh cup in hand, I returned to the window.
The city of E sprawled beneath , its details far clearer than when viewed from space.
Turning Terra into a second Earth was important, of course.
But simply copying Earth wasn’t enough.
Earth had its own thods, and Terra had its own.
Besides, reckless developnt could sicken the planet.
And if the planet sickened, its inhabitants wouldn’t be spared either.
"I’m going to need a long lifespan for this."
A very long lifespan.
Even as normal people were born and grew old, becoming wrinkled elders, I would have to remain young and devote myself to research.
I could already see the hardship ahead.
Now I understood why Adam’s mories had been implanted with the identity of a graduate student.
Only a grad student could be dumb enough to accept this kind of workload.
I let out a self-deprecating chuckle at my own joke.
*****
After that day, Eight beca insanely busy.
His past research suddenly seed like child’s play compared to the absurd technological advancents he now released daily.
[Evilus Corporation—The Anti-Aging Drug! A formula that prevents aging until natural death!]
[Is Energy Now Infinite!? Evilus’ Room-Temperature Fusion Reactor Activated!]
[The Brain of a God—Evilus Conquers Baldness!]
At tis, he even invented things that Earth had never been able to achieve.
If this were a normal world, Evilus would have already been dismantled by governnt pressure.
With so many world-changing technologies monopolized under one company, it was only natural for the masses to believe that Evilus was plotting world domination.
Which—
To be fair—
They could actually do.
They had the capital, the power, and the military force to make it happen.
Even Regalia was one of those who suspected such things.
"...Scientist, what the hell have you made this ti?"
"Full-imrsion virtual reality. Entertainnt for the overworked masses."
"Oh, dear God."
But in truth—
It was far worse than what Regalia imagined.
Watching the mad scientist before her, she realized how many people he was about to drag into an inescapable abyss.
"—Do you have any idea what people are saying about us?"
"Hmm?"
"They think we’re torturing aliens for intel. They’re even questioning whether you’re human."
"I’m not an alien, I’m an evil scientist."
Regalia sighed. "Then they’ll probably start saying this instead—"
She recalled a joke that had been spreading among the public.
"The Evil Scientist is just too damn competent."
Hearing that, Eight let out a small chuckle.
Regalia, after a brief mont, laughed as well.
For a while, the quiet sound of their shared amusent filled the room.
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