Chapter 12 - If you give this mage a ride… - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG

On their first night in their new home, Liora remained on the bridge while the others went to retrieve their belongings from the aircar and prepare to sleep in the passenger section. Silas and Petra were exhausted and brought only their cubes. They peeled off a protective film from the never-used, schrogae-sized couches made of a dark navy blue velvet that felt incredibly comfortable. Even after millennia, one could still feel the lingering trace of a gentle, minty fragrance as they lay down. Frank, meanwhile, practically carried everything from the car up to the room. By the time he finished, Silas and Petra were already competing to see who snored louder.

Frank, unable to sleep and wrestling with his anxieties, decided to visit Liora on the bridge. Opening the door, he found her energized and focused on operating several video terminals simultaneously. Frank watched for a few seconds before saying, "That's the archmage's dirty stuff, right? I'm a nervous wreck and not going to get any sleep. If I can help…"

Liora replied, “Hey, Frank! Thank you. Actually, you can help. I need some of my devices from the aircar. I'm sorting everything out here. It’s a bomb!”

Frank smiled, exited the bridge, and reappeared a few seconds later with what Liora had requested. "Wow, you're faster than I am," Liora commented. “Thanks!”

“I'd already brought everything from the cargo compartment up, just in case the door we closed yesterday wouldn't survive the night," Frank confessed, noticing Liora pause. "Am I bothering you? Please don't mind me!"

"Of course not. You had a great idea at the right time. Silas is going to take a while to recover, and I've just found something important that makes everything we've been through so far worthwhile," Liora explained. “I was expecting something like this, but it's so disturbing. I would really appreciate an outsider's view."

"If I can help, yes. I'm even a little envious of your drive, Liora. I lost that desire that motivates people a long time ago, and this emptiness bothers me. But I don't even understand how your world works properly to make plans. When all this is over, and we get back to the city, this will be the world where I will live out the rest of my days," Frank said with a degree of perplexity.

"I can tell you about the situation in this world, but you'll have to listen with a grain of salt because what I've seen in these videos right now is biasing my thoughts. What's troubling me is that I can't understand what went on in Dukliasse's mind. I don’t know what motivated him. It's straightforward to assume that he has psychopathic tendencies and is simply after power, but it can't be just that. Anyway, what do you think if we start talking about the Old Metropolis?" Liora suggests.

"I'm all ears, but are you sure I won't be a bother?" Frank asked, getting ready for a long night.

Liora smiled as she finished connecting a device to the video material. "Don't worry, Frank, it'll be about 20 minutes. I've just prepared the upload of an image-to-text model for an agent system that we used in the Seneca project, and it'll take roughly that long to train with the new data."

Frank let a bemused smile slip. "Ramirez summarized the Old Metropolis. He said it was a place where we could do anything we wanted or do just nothing and enjoy life, and then he said that was before, and now it's the opposite."

Liora smirked. "At least it's a consensus that things have gotten worse. The Old Metropolis was never free from problems. Thinking it was a detached utopia is the easiest narrative because they sell us the idea that we're paying for what they did wrong, but that's a fallacy. What existed was a great appreciation for every rational individual. Every person was celebrated as equally important, and the power to decide what to do was much greater than it is now, respecting the laws of society, mainly to guarantee the freedom of others and equal opportunities. But nowadays, that's become empty phrases. People are classified as allies and enemies; only the freedom of allies is respected, and the opportunities that arise depend on the stereotype that society has chosen for you, whether you like it or not."

"But what you describe about Old Metropolis was practically a utopia, or maybe a dystopia. How many problems weren't swept under the rug? Let's start with something simple. This ship here is a luxury and should be used by half a dozen privileged individuals. And that was right after the cataclysm, while months ago, we were living in the middle of trash like everyone else in Rocatrista. It's hard to blame all that difference on the cataclysm."

"Society before the cataclysm was never perfected. Luckily, it was in constant change. With great effort and time, people managed to reach a level of development sufficient to guarantee a fabulous quality of life. After that, there was no significant cost or effort for society to keep everyone living well in places that were much more structured than our ship here in terms of resources and technology. And that was really for everyone. So, the issue of inequality was addressed. Thus, resource availability hasn’t changed at all today because people haven’t forgotten the solutions. After a few years, everything that was destroyed in the cataclysm was put back on its feet. Despite that, your observation is obviously true. Today, everyone can live in a resource paradise, but that's not happening. Why?”

“Wait a minute, you're telling me that for the Old Metropolis society, it didn't matter if one person lived a completely alienated life and another worked their butt off to work and produce? It’s impossible!" Frank exclaimed in astonishment.

“It did make a difference, of course. If a person exerted themselves and contributed to society, they would be amply rewarded. But if they decided not to do anything and take care of their own life, they would still have more than enough resources. Frank, no one dies in Gate. Resources are more than enough to put every rational individual who once set foot in the multiverse into luxury cubes, millions of times the necessary amount, actually. They stopped counting when that per capita resource index exceeded a billion times, and that was long before the cataclysm. Even so, resources are not infinite but infinitely renewable both with magic and technology."

“So I don't know what the problem is. Was it capitalism? Or laziness? People who are able to do whatever they want with no impediment don’t have the motivation to strive; they're going to live forever in a paradise of entertainment, is that it?” Frank ventured.

"Capitalism isn’t the culprit. In the Old Metropolis, the concepts of property and private rights were similar to those of your time. What changed are the more robust means of production that only make sense in Gate because, in a society where production has infinite potential, it becomes easy to maintain businesses as effective economic agents. The rules of the market and competition were clear in Metropolis. Everyone was inserted into the consumer market. The labor market was very different from your time. If a person dedicated time to economic activity, commercial or not, they were rewarded without surprise with resources allocated by the private sector but weighed by the public sphere on rare cases where the private alone could not suffice. This liberal approach was feasible because the economy worked differently for each niche according to optimized data, goals, and indexes, reinforcing the guarantees of rights and property. This open economy allows all agents a high degree of freedom of consumption and consciousness while simultaneously delivering some benefits of a planned economy. However, this system will never be perfect because it’s dynamic by its premises and requires continuous effort, both in sociopolitical orientation and in heuristic optimizations within each niche; those are the main concepts that keep changing. But perhaps you’re referring to a peculiarity of your time, an idiosyncrasy about some concepts of Earth capitalism. Let me try to make a parallel with a particular example from your era. During your time on Earth, people maintained the illusion that resources were infinite when it came to the environment. At the same time, the owners of the means of production remembered that the resource was not infinite when it came time to distribute it to those who transformed or produced it. Result: While Earth’s resources were being exhausted, the majority of the people who contributed to society didn’t have guaranteed minimal resources to survive. On a larger scale, the same is true for companies whose activities would be important for the economy but were made unviable. This supposed behavior is a type of information asymmetry that corroborates with crisis scenarios because that doesn’t always force people and companies to produce more to survive. Instead, it forces people and companies to do anything to get the minimum needed to survive, no matter if it includes spoiling the people or the resources. Unfortunately, the people of Seneca were all gone before they solved those issues; at least on the original Earth, humans found a solution, but It took a very long time."

"I was thinking in simpler terms, greed or laziness." Frank summarized.

“In the Old Metropolis, there were only rules for control when the accumulation of resources put other people or groups at risk, but effectively that was never used. The city had a contingency plan in case the inaction of people was one day a threat to the necessary volume of resources. There were some periods of uncontrolled resources right at the beginning of the city, but then the reserves never dropped. In the first case, greed-related issues are always discussed in Metropolis. Much of the political debate revolves around control and the size of the state, businesses, and individuals. As for laziness, that's a curious question. It was a controlled risk, but there is an area between sociology and psychology exclusive to Gate that studies this. Things change because of a much longer lifespan than the biological one and the enormous mixture of cultures and species with very diverse experiences. There's a pattern, however. When people are revived, they think exactly about this: taking full advantage of life, to which they've given the name "infancy of rebirth" or "re-infancy." After that period, which lasts between two and three biological lifespans, people tend to question their place in the world. Sometimes, it takes a little longer, but on average, that’s the case. What's curious is that this average time relation is observed in almost all cultures, with no one entirely sure why. Maybe it’s some phenomenon of reason or some effect of magic or Gate. Whatever it is, from that age onward, individuals become much more productive. And that’s far more effective than other pragmatic forms of persuasion. In the last millennium before the cataclysm, the percentage of individuals with no economic activity in Gate was around 0.0021 to 0.0022%. What might be a surprise to you is the proportion between the niches of activity when compared with Earth's economy of your time. In the same period, the economy linked to cultural activities was around 71%, and for academic research, it was around 26%."

“Liora, what you’re telling me is that a minimal number of people with powers or professions that were usual on Earth can keep Gate functioning? I need to think better about all of this, but first, answer one thing: how long ago did people live on the original Earth? And how long has it been since people began to be revived in Gate?” Frank asked, trying to process the information.

"I'm talking about economic activity, Frank, not exactly professions. Only some mages or engineers actively participate in economic activities outside these two main niches. The Seneca Project is set up as academic research, for example. But training powers isn’t common. I mean, almost everyone trains something, but the average rarely reaches ten years of training per person and at a much slower pace than our training. In two or three weeks, we were already more powerful than the Gate average. But that obviously doesn't mean that there isn’t anyone stronger than us in Gate. We’re not even close to that. As for your question of time, it’s not easy to answer because we're not sure about the location of the ancient Milky Way, and it seems it’s no longer in the observable universe of Gate. So, it's necessary to use a space-warp telescope to try to find it. They believe that the time elapsed for Earth's year zero is between 110 and 130 trillion years, based on cross-referencing data from different civilizations. Considering the first species to set foot in Gate, the Nailia, Gate’s year zero is almost 18 million years old. But this place was maintained as an isolated reserve without cities for most of the time. Now, if we consider the founding of the Old Metropolis as year zero, then we'd be in the year 6,981,055 of Gate, which means that civilization lived in the Old Metropolis for less than 7 million years.”

"Interesting! Thanks, Liora, for your patience. I didn't find these things in the Seneca database," Frank said, looking at the blinking terminal. “I think your model has finished training, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it's finished right now. But let's keep going a little longer!" Liora suggested.

"We’ve strayed a little from our focus, haven’t we?" Frank scratched his head, realizing the path of their conversation had gone wild.

"We started trying to understand this." Liora pointed at the reports on the terminal, being generated by the models from the videos. "You were questioning why our economic conditions were so unfavorable in a world where resources are practically infinite, but do you really think we're so far off? With what we've discussed now, how do you think a tyrant would prepare a coup d’etat after a crisis?" Liora provoked.

"Well, a confrontation would be a huge risk in Gate. Initially, I thought that the utopia fell entirely on its own, but if I rule that out, then divide and conquer seems like a second option, to weaken a society before you overthrow it," Frank pondered.

“Exactly, in the Old Metropolis, society was united, and there was space for differences. It didn't matter where you came from, what your species was, not even your political choices or social conditions. Because of fear, society was convinced that it was an enemy of itself. At the same time, society faces a crisis of political identity regarding the old solutions, which were not able to predict nor prevent the cataclysm. And this was long before Biggus became Emperor. It was a slow power project that’s culminating now. Silas and I were born into this era, already inside the crisis. He came from a village where everyone literally fought to survive, and he always had a vocation to be an engineer and study. And I was discarded because I was useless, and the only proposition that remained for me was to take an engineering course exclusively because I’m an oioi. This need to point fingers at someone and to find a culprit to blame for the cataclysm has no factual basis since no one may be truly responsible. The social and economic abyss between regions of Gate has grown more and more since the cataclysm because we practically have an all-out, veiled war against ourselves. And I still have some difficulty in understanding the real motivations of the people who carried out this proposal."

“For the proposal they had long before about selecting the strongest, as you told me, Liora, I don’t doubt it’s a lust for political power. I think they intended to become tyrants before. They were waiting, and this was the opportunity.”

"Then, Frank, I thought the same thing at first. But right now, I think Dukliasse lost his sanity in that place. This sanity loss is so strong that his actions cruelty makes no sense at all. The most extreme example occurred just a few months before his death. The Buklise couple’s parents were all nailia, just like Dukliasse. Apparently, only after much insistence they managed to get a private video call with him. All four of the Buklise parents were on the call, and we have the complete audio. Dukliasse even started the call by apologizing and justifying that he was serving the MBSI and didn’t have the schedule to speak to them before. The parents were desperate because they had no information about their children and couldn’t even revive anyone from the city. They had sent people there, but none of them had returned. They just wanted Dukliasse to go to their house at the guard post and get some information.” Liora commented, pausing often and troubled.

“Right, given that Dukliasse had political ambitions, if he solved this, it would be great propaganda for him, or am I wrong? But wait a minute, did he already have a position in the MBSI at that time?” Frank asked, already noticing something wrong.

"Both Dukliasse and Biggus were small fish in the MBSI back then. There was a third person from the extermination mage group, Mose, who was a director of the MBSI during the cataclysm. The three of them participated in a very long mission in Southern Gate. They returned alive a few years later after the cataclysm and quickly climbed the ranks because they were among the few survivors. Even so, it took a very long time for Biggus to take the lead in the MBSI. And when he became mayor of New Metropolis, Mose became the new head of the agency. Resolving this issue with the Buklises would be an excellent move. At that time, the extermination mage guild’s plebiscites didn’t even reach a 0.1% margin of error on our democracy. He talked to the Buklise parents diplomatically and promised to personally go to the couple´s house immediately. He said he was going to switch cameras to a private one, and they could accompany him to his children's home."

“Makes sense…” Frank mused.

“Yeah…” Liora said, looking down. “What happened next is inferred only from the audio. There's the sound of him getting up from his chair, and you can hear the beep of his camera and microphone turning off. Immediately, he vocalizes four times a syllable of the extermination magic and then shouts at the top of his lungs in an altered voice, 'I will, sure! Nailia always helps each other, don’t they? I'll help you like you helped me in my plebiscite.' After a few moments, panting, he recovers and turns his camera and microphone back on. He ignores the panic on the other end, calmly speaking as if he didn't notice anything, 'Everything okay there? I’m ready. Can we start? What’s going on?’. After that, someone on the other end says they're going to disconnect because the Buklises have just been attacked.”

Frank put his trembling hands to his mouth. “My God, Liora! I remember what Silas said about that ghost having some mental power. Could it be that?"

“I don’t know, Frank, and now I’m thinking about what to do with this information. I think we have to pass this on and try to ask for help, but I still don’t know how to do that or who the right person to contact might be,” Liora said, sharing her distress.

"I imagine that's difficult. You and Silas have ties to this world, but if you involve your friends, it could be dangerous for them. It would be better to contact someone from this region. The Buklises weren't the only ones who tried to help their families. The people that lost their lives in the valley came from Paradiso and Rocatrista."

Liora leaned back, pulling away from the terminals. Looking up, she said, “That’s it, Frank. We're thrown into this crap world, and we're groping in the dark. Maybe send this material to the public contacts of the Seneca Project and let the circus begin…” She closed her eyes, distant.

Frank thought for a few moments and said in an uneasy voice: “I disagree with your idea that we’re thrown into the world, and we have to accept things because of that. It seems to me that this line of thinking will lead us down a dangerous path. Let's think carefully about what to do. We're part of this world now, and throwing in the towel wouldn’t be lowering our heads to Biggus's ideas after all?”

Liora woke up and stared at Frank, thinking for a long time. Her super-speed could not help. Finally, she smiled and said, “How sharp! You may be right, Frank, but I didn't even realize it. Now, I owe you much. Thank you!”

“Liora, I wasn’t planning on sleeping early tonight anyway, and now I couldn't even if I tried. I was thinking about reading the introduction to the Vabala. Is that a good idea?” Frank remembered after another brief pause to think.

"We're going to need it sooner than later. It's a good idea, but you must consider the consequences. Take it easy because I won’t be able to help you much with magic. However, if you want to bring it here, maybe that's best," Liora said as she returned to work on her terminals.

“Okay, I'm going to get it, and we'll hang out here for a while if you don't mind." Frank and Liora exchanged smiles, and almost immediately, he returned with the enormous nailia tome in stone and paper.

The rest of the night went well. Liora was able to stay calmer with a friend’s presence, while Frank occasionally raised questions about the nailia and their magic. Liora was able to help more than she thought she could. Both of them passed the night in a blink of an eye. When they realized it, they heard Petra open the door. As always, she stretched in the morning and looked at Frank with a funny smile.

"Hi, I stayed up all night with Liora. I didn't even realize it was dawn! Good morning, Petra!" Frank said excitedly.

“Good morning, Frank! What did you do to your hair? It looks much better!"

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"..."

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Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 32+1 / 2 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Super-Energy Magnitude 4 Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1 Super-Technique Magnitude 11 Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2 Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 12 Natural Combined Armor (ebex) - Know it all (party) - Skills Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 9167 Equipment Superior safety clothes (AC 3) Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized Silas´ Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) Other 3 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube) Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech) Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)

Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship,

life support +4,

capacity +1/+7,

maneuver +7,

speed up +1/+7,

flight (.01c normal tech),

space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech),

stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000),

inertial stabilizer +4,

gravity engine +1/+7,

Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100),

Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+)

Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200),

2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500),

Structures (superior tech, 1/2000 HP, 2000/2000),

2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000),

Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400),

long-range scan +2(superior tech, 1000/1000),

short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100),

*berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]

Name: Liora “Stardust” Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 31+1 / 2 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Super-Energy Magnitude 3 Super-Dexterity Magnitude 25 Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1 Superior Technology Network (oioioi) - Structural (oioioi) - Know it all (party) - Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 8612 Equipment Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) Other Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety 2 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)

Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 30+1 / 2 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 5 Super-Strength Magnitude 1 Super-Resistance Magnitude 15 Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5 Super-Constitution Magnitude 3 Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4 Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 5281 Equipment Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense) Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)

Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 30+1 / 2 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 2 Super-Mana Magnitude 1 Super-Willpower Magnitude 1 Super-Strength Magnitude 12 Super-Dexterity Magnitude 8 Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3 Super-Constitution Magnitude 1 Spellcasting Magnitude 1 Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4 Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +0 0/100 - Essence: Balance +4 Days: 5001 Equipment Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube) Vabala, complete, open Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x Trained Magic - Spell Complements -

Superior Technology projects People on development Silas 12 research/day People on prototyping Silas 23 research/day People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 24 research/day Blueprints Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research Prototype Silas´ Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research Production Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research