Cookie sat dumbfounded in her office, the footage of Alec's escape replayed a hundred times in her mind. "How?" she mumbled, unable to reconcile his feat with reality. "What could have given him the strength? That weird glow? None of this made sense."
The remnants of the destroyed door, analyzed for weaknesses and alterations, sat in front of her. It was, as far as she could tell, nearly solid titanium. Alec had crushed it like it was nothing. There had to be something she was missing. She started the footage again. This time, reviewing the footage meticulously, she noticed something new: a faint twitch in Alec's eye and a quick pulse in his chest. Almost like his heart beat through his ribs ever so slightly right before he began to glow red. Rewinding and slowing it down, she saw it again. The eye twitch and the chest pulse coincided perfectly with the red glow emanating from his hands. He'd sat down to meditate, then erupted into a rage.
Determined to understand, Cookie decided to mimic his movements. Meditation, a practice that always put her to sleep in yoga, felt different this time. Driven by purpose, she focused on replicating his actions.
Five minutes into stillness, she began to let go. The stress, the responsibilities, the demands – all normally crashing down on her - started to fade. This was her burden to bear, to save her brother and herself; failure wasn't an option. But then, for a fleeting moment, she felt a shift. The blurry events of Alec’s escape crystallized into a vivid picture in her mind. Eager to delve deeper, she strained to see the cause, the ability, but an invisible wall blocked her way. She could tell there was more to see but couldn’t go deeper. A mental construct but at the same time, so solid.
She pushed, relentlessly, but the wall held firm. Giving in wasn't her style. So, she changed tactics. She was not familiar with force; she used her mind to solve problems. Logic, manipulation, fear, seduction - she had used them all to achieve her goals. She ran her hand along the barrier. It felt real, undeniably solid and smooth. Then, just as suddenly, a tiny imperfection emerged. Delicately, she traced it, afraid it would vanish with the slightest pressure. As she moved further, it disappeared. She started to panic but forced herself to stop. Control, she thought. You’re in control.
She started over, slowly caressing, examining everything, and found it again. She focused harder, pushing gently. The spot yielded, not much, but enough. She tried again. It expanded, like a coin-sized dent. Emboldened, she pressed again, this time with more focus, more willpower. It gave way further, fueling a surge of excitement. This was like any other obstacle – solvable with determination. She balled her fist, ready to strike a final blow, but the moment her fist made contact, the wall solidified. The imperfection was gone.
Frustrated, she started over again, her touch lighter, slower, until she felt it – the yielding point. This time, instead of force, she focused on the memory of her triumphs using intellect instead of attempting her brother's propensity for brute force. Patience and cunning were her weapons. With unwavering focus, a mantra echoed in her mind: Break… Break... BREAK!
With each repetition of the mantra, the imperfection grew. Slowly, a crack began to form, spreading outwards like spider veins on glass. The sensation was strange, as if she was simultaneously inside her mind and physically touching something tangible. She could feel the resistance, the give, and the ultimate collapse of the barrier.
Finally, with a soft mental pop, the wall shattered. Cookie gasped, feeling a rush of energy flood her body. Her heart pounded, not from fear, but from exhilaration. She had done it. She had broken through.
In the newfound clarity, she saw a vision of Alec, not as he had been in the footage, but in a serene state, harnessing the red glow with precision and control. She understood now. This was not about raw power; it was about mastering the energy within. She had the key. Now, she needed to use it.
The wall shattered, and a torrent of visions flooded Cookie’s mind. She saw the events unfold as if she were there. Alec, his body coursing with power, lines pulsing with a strange energy source – a spinning cylinder with glowing red symbols where his heart should be, accelerating and radiating a reddish glow. His muscles bulged, visibly strengthening. The light, getting brighter and brighter.
Looking down at herself, she saw a similar sight, though not physical. A spherical object materialized within her, intricate lines forming complex patterns unlike anything she'd ever seen. When they were complete, a blinding explosion erupted within her. Energy surged through her body, connecting every inch – muscles, nerves, organs, bones – to this core. A white light began to emanate, growing brighter, burning with an intensity that threatened to melt her from the inside out. Two marble-size objects formed, embedded in her palms. They looked like miniature versions of the sphere in her center. Power rushed to them, and they started to glow, brighter and brighter.
Suddenly, her vision exploded in white light. She saw the entire building, not just the cell, but everything. The walls were like glass, flickering in and out of existence. She could move freely; there were no more barriers. She felt emotions. She could hear thoughts. Everything anyone within range was feeling or thinking was like an open book to her now. The guards' fear as they tried to subdue Alec, his own mind overtaken by the red glow, a primal rage in control.
The vision shifted again, expanding for miles. She sensed the wildlife, a nearby fox desperately seeking food for its starving cubs. She saw their den, felt their hunger. Then, her father materialized in the distance, a detailed snapshot from weeks ago, blurry compared to her immediate surroundings. She could hear his voice but he was blocked. No emotions, no thoughts, everything seemed inaccessible. Besides him, the image was crystal clear.
Suddenly, everything became a vortex. Her vision rocketed back towards the compound at incredible speeds. The blinding light intensified, everything was overwhelming, her head started to pound, then everything all at once slammed into her like a ton of bricks. Then there was only Darkness.
"Mike," Sim said urgently, "another bloodline has activated. Your daughter. Somehow, she created her own mana pathways and formed a white core. She's unconscious in her office."
Panic surged through me. "What? How is that possible?" I asked, trying to process the sudden turn of events.
Sim's voice was steady but urgent. "Her genetic markers must have responded to the presence of mana in a unique way, similar to Alec's. This suggests that your bloodline carries the potential for multiple types of cores."
I didn’t have time to waste. In an instant, I teleported to Cookie's office. The sight of her lying on the floor, her body radiating a faint white glow, filled me with a mix of awe and fear. Her face was serene, almost peaceful, despite the chaos that must have been raging within her.
Her hair, once a vibrant almost shimmering brown, was now a stark white. Time had blurred since I'd last seen her. I had no idea of her recent exploits. Was this a new style, or a consequence of the core and mana?
"Sim, what do I do?" I asked, kneeling beside her and placing a hand on her forehead. The warmth of her energy pulsed under my fingers.
"You need to stabilize her core," Sim instructed. "Guide the energy flow, connect it to her natural mana pathways. It's similar to what you did for Alec, but you must be gentle. Her core is different, it’s based on peace and light, not rage."
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused. I visualized the energy within Cookie, seeing the intricate patterns that connected her core to her entire being. Slowly, I began to channel my own mana into her, feeling the currents merge and stabilize.
Minutes felt like hours as I worked, but gradually, the glow around Cookie began to fade. Her breathing evened out, and the tension left her body.
I lifted her gently and in an instant, we were in my bedroom. Her brother remained unconscious in the guest room. More than a week had already gone by. I put her in my bed and willed the blankets to tuck her in.
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My enhanced body no longer required sleep, so the bed had not been used. Mana now sustained me entirely. I could still eat for enjoyment, and occasionally did, but it was a mere self-indulgence at this point.
"Sim," I said, my voice cracking, "How did she create her own channels?"
"Her exposure to mana along with an extreme mental event seems to have triggered her bloodline activation," Sim replied. "There's a trace of origin mana in the area where she fell unconscious. She was likely exposed and she unwittingly used the mana to activate the bloodline.
The activation formed a core, and incredibly, she built pathways at a level that should be impossible without a convergence event. Her core produces white mana, indicating a mental or psychic focus like I surmised. Her potential is immense – currently, her pathways are at 61.45% of potential. Nearly double what I managed with Alec.She could achieve unbelievable levels once trained and leveled up.
We need to introduce origin mana soon, or her pathways will solidify without the ability to process it. This might cause discomfort and delay her stabilization, but inaction will permanently stunt her growth and prevent her future integration into the system."
"Are you sure it won't kill her?" I asked, fear crawling up my throat.
"If we act now, she'll be fine. Eventually."
"Do it," I said, my voice hoarse but resolute.
In the days to come, I checked on them both quite frequently. At one point, Sim had to remind me that I didn’t need to stay around the house. She would notify me of any changes, and I could just teleport back in an instant.
I decided to check on Chris’s progress. He had hit level 8 in Analysis a couple of days ago. His progress seemed slow, but Sim assured me that it was by design and that Chris’s advancement was actually quite fast compared to what most would achieve when the system is active.
He had been compiling a list of people he wanted to adjust stats for, but he needed to hit level 10 before the adjustment skill would be accessible.I found Chris in his office at home. He was typing a list on his computer. I was going to try and get him hyped up about his progress. “You’re getting close dude. Just a little bit more and you can start adjusting stats for people.”
“Dammit. Quit just popping upright behind me. That’s like the 10th time you’ve done that.” Chris said while picking up the chair he had just fallen out of.
“I’ve been meaning to ask about that anyway. What’s the point of adjusting stats now if everyone’s gonna have to start over when the system goes active?” he asked.
I was still laughing under my breath when I responded. “People still have to live a lot of years before we’ll be ready. When you adjust their stats, Sim will help adjust every aspect of them pertaining to that stat. For example, if you increase someone’s strength by a couple of points, you could be doubling their strength depending on where they started. Imagine a 15-year-old who has always been the weakest at sports. He always gets teased and bullied because, you know, teenagers suck. Then you increase his strength, agility, speed, and let’s say intellect by two points each. He’s now the strongest, fastest, and one of the smartest kids in the school. Imagine what he could do with his life. What kind of person will he choose to be once the system goes online versus who he would have chosen if you didn’t adjust his stats. We have to pay attention to the morality stat though. We don’t want to make a ton of supervillains, or worse, more politicians.
Don't forget, I can always make it a sort of test. If they use the stats properly, maybe we make them start with more unallocated stats when the system starts up.
I also have a crap ton of normal cash. If you find someone deserving, and you want to better their current lives, just let me know. We’ll use the charity Sim set up to give ‘em a little boost.”
“Good point. I keep thinking of after the system activates and not for the next 10 years or whatever.” Chris said.
“I’m close to finalizing my decision about the sick kids. I just want to figure out which variation to do.
“Hey Sim, run a couple of simulations for me. If I were to cure every child in the world of all the incurable diseases, how many would end up having a morality stat above 4 and how many wouldn’t? No other changes. Just that.
Also run one where I cure all the terminally ill kids… Actually every kid under the age of 18. Not just terminally ill, let’s give kids the best chance at having a great life. Cure every illness, every broken bone, every sprain, every cough, just everything. In this simulation, I also sent out a message explaining the system and approximately when it will be activated. Don’t say anything about the current mana in the world. I don’t want people trying to find it but tell them what’s gonna happen with the system. Let's also explain the morality attribute and kill all the number 1’s and 2’s in this scenario.”
Sim took a few seconds to calculate the data requested. Her response time had slowed down a little due to the system creation process but I wasn’t going to complain. I’m sure she was doing more in one second than I could do in a thousand lifetimes.
“Scenario one would result in 0.681% of the children having a morality stat of less than 5.
“Scenario two, where all illnesses are cured and a message about the system is sent out, would result in 0.00032% of the children having a morality stat of less than 5. However, in this scenario, the number of children with a morality stat of 3 or 4 would be reduced to almost zero due to the message's impact and the immediate removal of the lowest morality individuals.”
Chris looked at me, eyes wide. “So curing all the kids would pretty much ensure we don’t end up with a bunch of bad seeds?”
“This is what’s so hard about this,” I told Chris. “Overall they may die when the system goes online anyway, but that doesn’t have anything to do with now. I’ve never been directly responsible for anyone’s death before. What if the message I send out causes a mass panic? What if it kills more people than I save? What if people over the age of 18 freak out because I’m not curing them?”
“I’ve also thought about doing a mass announcement throughout the world telling everyone about the morality stat and that I have the power to cure the kids but only if they do better.”
“Who knows, the only way to find out is to do it. Simulations can only get you so far,” Chris said.
I looked at Chris with a dissatisfied expression. “I really hate how humans always let their emotions control their decisions. We need both logic and empathy. Emotions have a time and place but humans use them to justify all sorts of stupid decisions.”
“If I’m going to do a mass announcement, I’m also going to have Sim just kill everyone with a 1 or 2. Might as well get that out of the way now and deal with the aftermath. Can’t be worse than how things are now anyway. Things may just get a lot better.”
“We had to already adjust the morality stat. People truly believed they were doing good by killing in the name of their god so it messed up the numbers. It’s now strictly based on my morality.”
Chris was very adamant about what he thought was the right move. “I say do it. Cure all the kids of everything, then make a big announcement to the world about everything. Even if some end up bad, or some people get jealous, it’s still better than the current people we have running everything.”
“Don’t tell them about mana but tell them about the upcoming system. About the morality stat and that it’s unacceptable to be a worthless waste of skin who takes advantage of everyone only caring about themselves. Tell them what we talked about. That they don’t have to help others but they can’t hurt people just for personal gain. Let them know what the world is going to experience. What did you call it? A Culling, and then just have everyone with a low stat drop dead or explode or something.”
My reply was almost instantaneous. “I’ve always followed my gut and it’s worked well for the most part. But this is a tough one. I think we’re on the same page. I know there’s something I’m not considering but I’ll just do damage control if I need to. The longer I wait, the more kids die while I’m trying to decide what to do.
“Okay, Sim, you know what, let’s just do it. I want you to cure every child under the age of 18 of every ailment. Also, cure adults of their incurable crap like cancer. I was going to say add mana channels but that’s a lot of kids and we still have a ton of work to do. I don’t want to accidentally use too much before you’re done with the system. I still have dungeon cores to make as well as a few master tier territories to fit millions of people in. I will come up with an announcement to make and we will have it broadcast as a display in everyone’s vision and on every device across the planet later tonight. Well, if you do it in their vision, it might cause accidents. Make sure to account for that and don’t let anyone get hurt because of the message. Don’t kill the 1’s and 2’s yet. I want that to happen after the message tonight and then I want a 3-second timer to appear in front of each of them.”
It took Sim a few seconds before I heard the response. “It’s done”
“Alright, now to figure out the message. By the way, is Peaches ready to come back yet? I asked.
“I know you said she wanted to surprise me when you checked on her last, but I really miss her. I would love to see her progress.”
“She told me to tell you to give her another week. She understands time and how it works now. That’s how long she said she needed to complete her goal before coming back,” Sim reassured me.
“I really wish you would at least tell me what skills you gave her. I know I told you to help her and create whatever skills she could use or wanted to add, but the suspense is killing me.” I said.
“I told her I wouldn’t tell you anything. She made me create a physical hand and do a pinky to paw promise. It was a new experience. She said if this promise is broken then I would explode. I know it’s not true, but in her mind, this was the most sacred form of promises I could make. So unless you force me to, I will not disclose any information.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll just work on the message to send out.,” I said defeatedly as I lowered my eyes and walked out of the room.
As I walked back to my office, I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Peaches insisting on a pinky promise with Sim. The absurdity of it was endearing, a reminder that despite all the changes and the overwhelming power I now wielded, some things remained wonderfully simple. How did she know what a pinky promise was anyway? I wondered.