ACC Chapter 11 Interlude; Dark Forest, Livia

Space was silent. Everything outside this station didn't produce even the slightest sound.

This was something I loved about this place. Even though I was alone, with just one AI and automations, I didn't find it bothersome. Instead, there was this tranquility that made it so that I could cultivate in peace, contemplating the creation of a deity art.

I leaned back within the chair, one which was composed of programmable matter, that could be controlled with just a thought. The comfort within was heavenly to the point that for those of us that could afford, it was our go-to cultivation chair, one that every single person going into a lengthy secluded cultivation session couldn't live without.

My gaze pierced through the glass, and into the sea of stars, disregarding the planets in our star system.

The universe was an interesting place, akin to a dark forest, where each star system with intelligent life was searching for others like them.

Even with our advanced technology, only two civilisations had been discovered... With only one possessing the capability of establishing contact with us. They too, were at the same threshold as us, without a Deity Transformation cultivator, and close to achieving warp travel.

Honestly, my passion was to be an explorer, an adventurer! The Solar system had already lost all its glamour in my eyes the moment I had witnessed the first contact between our civilisation, and one, countless lightyears away.

That's why I had voluntarily chosen to be posted here, where I was far from political manueverings and petty conflicts. Yes, even the muted conflict between the Federation and the Sects was something irrelevant to me.

Here, all I had to do was simple. Wait for warp to be invented. No matter what concessions I had to give, as long as there were no stringent oaths...I was going to step onto the first vessel out of here!

But for now, I was bored. The creation of a deity art wasn't a simple endeavor for those of us with minds that took long to think outside the box. I had long contemplated the difference between myself and those geniuses. The reason was simply because those kinds of people were capable of thinking and implementing things we wouldn't even consider in the first place.

For example, if someone suggested trying to open a box without touching it, a genius would simply launch an attack towards it in such a manner that only the lid would be destroyed, while I would still be searching for a conventional idea.

That's how prodigies were. It was something I had managed to get used to now that I had become older. During my younger days, I had been envious of them, making it so that I had failed to acknowledge my own hardwork and effort.

The darkened room lit up as particles coalesced from the tiny vents, congregating towards one place, where they proceeded to arrange themselves, creating a skeletal frame, glinting with a silvery hue, with everything after that mimicking the very anatomy of a human, yet they weren't flesh and blood. Just some metals and fluids combined to create a humanoid body capable of housing an AI.

Since I had been bored, I had taken the liberty to speed up my cognitive functions, allowing myself to take in the entire process, which only lasted a single second.

"So, what is it?"

Jeffrey had already been warned to never disturb me, unless something out of his control happened. Most AIs could handle complex decision making, but there were those decisions that had political implications... And those, were things that required the human touch.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Energy signatures of two Nascent Souls have been detected, 53,821 km to the left of the station. And it seems that they are engaged in battle."

Before Jeffrey could even tell me their names, I had already figured out which category at least one of them belonged to, the genius category. They were the ones energetic enough to still have the thought of battling it out while those like me always tried to run away from resorting to violence at the first sign of disagreement.

"Mr Mumaso Reed is battling with the new Lion Demon king, Simba."

The names caused my heart to skip a beat. A demon in human territory? How had that happened? And as far as I could remember, there had not been any irreconcilable issues between those two.

With a thought, I galvanised my divine sense, melding it with the entire station, making it a part of me in an intimate way, akin to my own body.

Through its outside plating, covered in sensors, I felt the dense bombardment of stray wood and flame spiritual energy particles. What made it so that a demon could be distinguished from a human, was the fact that any spiritual energy that they absorbed, adopted a different signature from that of normal spiritual energy. There was this disgusting taint, as if you were smelling the lair of a beast.

"Are there any platform farms in danger?"

"No, they are far away from them."

"Forward this to the president. I don't want to get involved."

With that order, the constructed artificial body collapsed back into a deluge of particles that were once again reabsorbed by the vents in the walls. They would be kept in an electrical field, waiting for when Jeffrey needed to construct another body.

There were rumors that the demons had achieved warp. If they had been humans, I would have given up on this job already.

Their society revolved around conflict and battle. If they had managed to really succeed, then those civilisations we had detected needed to be warned.

"We are about to achieve the means of traversing the dark forest. But, we the rational ones aren't going to be the first to achieve it, but the crazy ones. Is this going to be the first interstellar war?"

-----

"To what do I owe the pleasure of an audience, Mr. President?"

"Livia... I will cut to the chase. Your obssessive admirer has broken the rules and attacked Reed. Right now, my hands are tied. We can't afford to antagonise the demons at this critical point. So, find a way to stop him!"

With that, communications were cut off. But the few words had already caused my face to become cold. The stalker! That trash... I had never liked his cunning nature, coupled with that barely masked ruthlessness.

And the most important reason why I was furious was because of the fact that I had been interrupted during my important experiment.

"Photon!"

With a command, beams of pure white light flew out of the walls, converging onto me, to enclose my body with a pure white armor that radiated with white light. When my light attributed spiritual energy synced with the armor, my power experienced a leap, making me feel as if I was ten times stronger, faster and capable of processing even more information than my nascent soul could normally allow without igniting it.

Another command, mentally transmitted to Kronos caused the roof of my lab to open up, with the two parts sliding away from each other.

I stomped lightly upon the floor, floated towards the opening, before accelerating to speeds that surpassed any known vessel ever created up to this point.

Through the armor, and with the President's cooperation, I synced with the different AIs closer to the battle, triangulating the position of the two, and then plotting the fastest route.

(45 seconds)

"Thank you, Photon."

The President had hinted that the Federation couldn't afford to antagonize the Demon Empire... But I, Livia, had already ran out of patience with Simba. By law, I couldn't attack those in a stage lower than mine, so I had held back.

But now that the little lion had achieved Nascent Soul, I wasn't going to hold back. He had to be taught an unforgettable lesson!

Everything within my eyes was a blur. I had long left navigation to Photon, as she knew what to do. After all, the speed we were traveling at had already surpassed the Nascent Soul stage. Even releasing my divine sense would cause it to instantly collapse!

But, it didn't matter. It had taken over 100 years of research, yet the birth of Photon had filled me with joy. The 100% synchronicity with my core, the ability to travel at a fraction of the speed of light, and most of all, the joy brought about from having created an armor tailored exactly to my preferances!

And now, she was going to experience her very first battle. Just that one thought caused my rage to temporarily be pushed aside, with excitement taking its place.

(3 seconds)

That reminder caused me to collect myself, removing all other thoughts, leaving only the will to battle. I actually disliked battle, but the thought of getting revenge, coupled with the fact that the armor had to be tested had already gotten rid of any hesitation on my side.