Athanasia: My Hacker System

Chapter 316: The Old History of Athanasia

"By their full consent and agreement!" Ricky countered instantly.

John could tell this topic was a flashpoint between Paragon factions for the two of them to bicker so instinctively.

"And then the born children, like myself, do everything in our power to grow stronger. We hunt, we kill other seeds, and the sole winner at the end of all this takes the seat for himself, inheriting the full power of the predecessor, his memories, his knowledge, his authority, and everything."

"It’s a brutal way to live, man," Luke muttered, his voice thick with a sudden, genuine pity for Ricky. "How can someone live their life from a young age constantly fearing for their safety, looking for every chance to kill others who share their own blood?!"

Ricky let out a long, hollow sigh. Cissel simply pointed at Luke with both arms, as if his reaction proved a point in her hidden argument against the system of reincarnation.

"That’s the way we have to live," Ricky’s tone was heavy and low, burdened with the weight of generations of sorrow.

"I didn’t ask for any of this. None of us did. We came into this world finding ourselves pinned and cornered in this situation. We don’t have a choice to make, and surely no one is going to sit back and accept someone else coming to kill them. So it’s... It’s a bitter and hellish struggle that I and the other seeds have to go through, no matter what."

"There is a choice," Cissel said calmly, her voice like ice. "It’s the same one my ancestor took a long time ago. Stop this bloody cycle. Stop spreading seeds when you reach the seat of a Paragon, and you won’t give birth to children who are destined to suffer like you and the others."

It was exactly as John had suspected; there was a deep-running, philosophical war between the different factions of Paragons regarding this very point. Yet, hearing it gave him a spark of inspiration.

In truth, John didn’t feel he had much of a say in the morality of it. He wasn’t part of this hellish struggle, nor did he come from a background that allowed him to comment on the decisions of the elite.

And yet, he didn’t like the idea of someone’s life being ruined and turned into a bloodbath simply because a Paragon, their own father, decided to set them on a predetermined, lethal track for the sake of immortality.

"Not everyone has magic powers like you, Fate Goddess Paragon," Ricky said firmly, his eyes narrowing. "Most of us have to struggle and fight to claim the privilege that comes with the Paragon seats. You know that very well. You speak from a position of luxury."

"Let me intervene here," John said, stepping between them before the argument could spiral into another useless clash or for the talk to take a sharp turn towards endless debate.

He realised that if he let these two continue, they wouldn’t move a single step forward in uncovering more secrets and facts for him. "I can promise to help you secure that Paragon seat, Ricky. But it will be on a few conditions."

"You can’t be serious!" Cissel shifted her rage from Ricky to John in a heartbeat. "This bloody cycle must come to an end! You don’t get it, John. It’s not just about those seeds; it’s about the massive amount of energy and, far more importantly, the source of the energy they used for kickstarting the reincarnation itself. It bleeds the world dry!"

"Not this again," Ricky said, rolling his eyes as the two jumped from one troublesome topic to another as swiftly as turning the pages of a book. "An Evolutionist like you doesn’t get to decide the fate of the world!"

"And an Architect like you is the reason why the world is f*cked up in the first place!" Cissel roared back.

"Easy there," John said, sensing that the heat behind this new argument was significantly higher than the previous one. He held up a hand to signal for silence. "Can someone explain first what you two are actually talking about? What are these Evolutionists and Architects?"

"That’s a very deep philosophical and structural debate between the Paragons," Cissel began, settling her breathing as she prepared to explain something that even Elena and Luke had never heard of before.

"As you know, our world, Athanasia, is a massive, hyper-realistic VR game world. All humans live inside this simulation, and there is a very specific, proper reason for that..."

She turned toward Ricky, then back toward John, her eyes reflecting a running deep story since ancient times. "The old leaders of our civilisation ended up destroying and ruining Earth," she added, her voice dropping into a low and saddened tone.

"Pollution reached a staggering point that threatened the very survival of our species. When you factor in the massive nuclear wars that erupted at the end, Earth became a hostile, radioactive graveyard. Those leaders who failed us are the Paragons, including my ancestor, and including Ricky’s. We all share the blood of that failure on our hands..."

"And yet we intervened and solved the crisis!" Ricky snapped impatiently, clearly agitated by the blanket of blame Cissel was throwing over their lineage.

"We didn’t just let them die. We created Athanasia to be the answer! A massive, unified VR world where all humans could live freely, far away from the toxic air and the fallout.

We gave them a world filled with endless possibilities and the ability to unlock super-human powers hidden deep within our genetic code!"

"It was a temporary solution, Ricky!" Cissel bellowed, her composure fraying into a nervous posture.

"A temporary patch, not a permanent home! And unlocking super-human powers? That’s hilarious! Only a selected few, the chosen ones, get to enjoy that privilege. And you know exactly the price that every other human has paid for that to happen."

"Easy there," John interrupted the two, again.

Even as the two kept coming at each other’s necks like this, the valuable information was getting buried in their emotional baggage. John was already partially aware of this history; the program that had tried to erase him in the past had mentioned fragments of this. But he needed to see the full picture.

"Can you slowly explain the full story of it? Stop fighting and start explaining everything properly."

"I’ll do it then," Ricky said, glaring at Cissel with a defiant stare. "Since a certain someone here is bound to twist the facts to fit her narrative."

Before Cissel could lunge at his throat, Ricky hurriedly took a step back, positioning John as a buffer between the two of them. He took a deep, stabilising breath.

"Building a massive VR game like Athanasia that holds all humans inside, and keeping it running for centuries, requires a staggering amount of resources. It wasn’t just about the tech challenges in doing so.

We needed maintenance, a near-infinite power source, and a way to ensure new humans born in the pods were seamlessly integrated into the simulation."