In a hidden room under a large office building that had escaped the attacks.“What’s wrong with Rick?” a woman angrily demanded of a trembling doctor.“That’s what we’re trying to figure out right now,” the doctor said against the backdrop of humming and beeping medical equipment. The room they were in had been set up as an emergency treatment and operating room, and the doctor himself was one that normally used it for treating high-class criminals. “Every time we come up with a possible diagnosis, he exhibits a new symptom that rules it out.”“What exactly was he doing when he lost consciousness?” the doctor added. Perhaps he just needed to attack the problem from a different angle. Obviously, relying on Rick’s symptoms to diagnose his illness wasn’t working, so the doctor would consider environmental factors next.The woman, Rick’s assistant, paused to gather her thoughts as she recalled the moments leading up to the cult leader’s collapse.……Ten people were seated around a confere
Despite having been subjected to enough painkillers to choke an elephant, Rick was perfectly aware of every little thing that was happening to him. Even he had to wonder if he was suffering some divine retribution for taking the name of god as a cloak to fool others into supporting his ambitions and rage as he suffered the pain of every single cell in his body repeatedly dissolving and regrowing over and over in a cycle of creation and destruction that would render the most determined man insane.He lay there twitching and spasming in agony as his blood boiled away and recondensed, thicker and more viscous, and his muscle fibers shredded themselves from end to end and regrew, reducing his muscle mass while greatly increasing their strength and tenacity. He listened to his assistant’s recounting of the events and the doctor’s frankly stupid questions until the sound around him was drowned out by the sharp cracking of his bones breaking down and shattering into tiny splinters, unable to
Aron slowly blinked his eyes as he felt the changes to his body. He was feeling refreshed, with no soreness despite having laid perfectly still for quite a long time.He remained in a daze, though, thinking back on the brief conversation he’d had with the system’s so-called consciousness. Though the actual time they had spoken was short, the weighty information he’d received made it feel like the conversation had taken hours, rather than moments. The memory was as clear and fresh as if it had been carved directly into his mind.The pod he was in released a soft hiss as the sealed door slid aside and he sat up. He dropped his feet to the ground and stood up, slightly bouncing up and down in place to accustom his body to moving again after his long sleep.Nova greeted him with new clothes, as the clothes he was wearing when the unexpected upgrade began had been disintegrated during the process. “Welcome back, sir.”“Thanks. Did anything important happen while I was asleep?” he asked as
{I’ll keep an eye on things and let you know if anything comes up that requires your presence,} Gaia said, then went back to collating and sorting the brain data in the library. Though it was curated and maintained by the akashic librarians, she still wanted to thoroughly understand it to better perform her duties.Aron logged out of the simulation, then headed to Rina’s side and watched her through the transparent lid of the pod she was in.“Nova, increase the mana flow to her pod. The awakening process is a lot like my upgrades, so the more mana in the local environment, the process will be faster and the outcome better.” Aron sat on the edge of her pod and began sorting through the thoughts in his head. He had been through an absolute emotional rollercoaster ever since his impromptu meeting with the so-called ‘system consciousness’, or so he assumed it to be, during his latest upgrade. And he was sure that more shocks were to come as time passes, but he could only deal with one thi
Soon, the silent majority’s patience was rewarded as the imperial government released a notification on all devices informing the citizens that the emperor would be releasing a statement shortly. Included in the notification was a link that people could follow if they wanted to watch the announcement; everyone would be free to decide whether they wanted to see it or not.In a matter of seconds, more than a billion people followed the link to watch the announcement. This would be the third time the emperor had made a public appearance, and the previous two raised mixed emotions in the citizens. In his first public appearance as the emperor, he had announced the formation of the empire, and in his second, it was a response to the recent attacks. Thus, people were curious whether this would be more bad news, or simply some matters of administrivia, but considering the situation, it was more likely to be bad news.“Citizens of the Terran Empire, We come bearing good news.”A collective si
After Aron’s announcement, the silently nervous world could no longer sit still. Most people were divided into a few main categories; there were those who were excited for the future, assuming what the emperor had said was true; those who didn’t believe it at all and, in fact, actively disbelieved it; and those who couldn’t care less, as they were still mourning their dead loved ones and preparing for their funerals.……Meanwhile, Aron, having rushed his announcement to completion, had logged out of the simulation and headed to where his and Rina’s parents were. Herschel and Virginia, at least, deserved to know that Rina was safe, though she was undergoing her awakening and wouldn’t be present in the real world for a while. Sure, she could explain all that by meeting them in the simulation on her own, but they still deserved to be informed face to face and brought to the secure pod vault where they could stay beside her through the process.“And you can visit whenever you want. Your g
During the terrorist attacks, the asteroid belt.In the silence of space between Mars and Jupiter, a rocket engine had been decelerating for a few days as it neared the first marked object in the main asteroid belt of the solar system.Many such vessels had been sent, each of them targeting specific asteroids in the belt. This one in particular was approaching 4 Vesta. Its velocity had already decreased to a point where it would survive if it impacted its target, but the engine continued slowing it down as it approached for a soft landing.*Initiating anchors.... Initiated. Deploying anchors for catch maneuver,* the VI responsible for monitoring and controlling the vessel logged and reported back to the central AI.*Approaching target. Distance 600... 500... 450....* It continued reporting and logging the flight data as it approached 4 Vesta, continually updating the record as it happened.When the rangefinder reported fifty meters remaining, the deployed anchors were launched and the
Aron had found himself alone with Rina’s mother just after attending his final state funeral. He had spent 72 hours nonstop visiting the funeral locations, prompting discussion among the people about whether he was among the blessed or simply superior to “normal” humans on a genetic level.Many people easily “debunked” the possibility that Aron was among the blessed, as it was obvious that he wasn’t in a medical pod in the process of receiving a blessing. In fact, he seemed perfectly fine as he flitted here and there, attending state funerals. Even though the wave of fainting people had begun a few days prior, even those who were among the first to be blessed were still in the medical pods and showing no sign of the process being complete anytime soon.So that left the second option. It was an open secret that ARES soldiers were genetically enhanced, as they hadn’t even tried to keep their performances to mere human levels. Thus, there were thousands upon thousands of video clips show