Utopian System

"I need another core," Lila said, standing before Lucien in his study. Her voice carried the weight of recent revelation. "I want to try something."

Lucien looked up from his documents, noting the determined glint in her eyes. "This has something to do with Elio?"

"That day when Emberg possessed his body..." She hesitated, still somewhat embarrassed by the memory. "If Elio could transfer his consciousness into his invocation then, maybe... maybe we can learn to do the same."

Understanding dawned in Lucien's eyes. "And you think this might help us know wherever he is?"

"Something like that..." Lila's hands clenched with conviction. "He's found a way to act without his physical body."

Lucien leaned back, considering the implications. If they could replicate this technique... if they could all learn to separate consciousness from form...

"The others will be reaching level twenty soon," he mused, reaching for his storage. "Once they get their potions, they could attempt the same transformation." He withdrew another core, holding it out to her. "This could change everything about how we approach the rescue."

"So you'll let me try?"

"Yes. But," he fixed her with a serious look, "I want you to report back as soon as you have results. Whether it works or not, understanding this could be crucial… Don't rush things."

Lila took the core, already planning her approach. This could be the key to reaching him.

♢♢♢♢

In the memory, young Elio gathered his courage and spoke, his words carrying the weight of genuine feeling.

But Memory-Nala's reaction was immediate and severe… a rejection that seemed to physically pain her to deliver.

'Oh no,' Zara's consciousness whispered as they watched. 'He confessed to you, didn't he?'

Nala remained silent, watching as her past self retreated from the hurt in young Elio's eyes, practically fleeing the scene.

The following memories showed a stark change.

Memory-Nala returned to her self-imposed isolation, shuttering herself away in her house once more. But this time it wasn't the calculated observation of before, this was escape, pure and simple.

The vibrancy that had characterized her time with young Elio vanished, replaced by the cold, clinical distance she'd maintain for millennia to come.

'You didn't just reject him,' Zara realized. 'You rejected everything he made you feel.'

The memory continued to unfold, showing Memory-Nala watching through her window as life in the city continued without her, as young Elio's visits to her door gradually ceased.

Current Nala felt something she hadn't experienced in eons… regret.

♢♢♢♢

The memories showed Dionz visiting Memory-Nala's house with increasing frequency. Their conversations, though heated, seemed to center around her isolation and choices.

"You're being ridiculous," Memory-Dionz could be heard saying during one visit. "This wasn't the point of living among them."

Then one day, Elio returned.

In his hands was something that made both current Nala and Zara gasp, a gift that shouldn't exist, couldn't exist at their current level of advancement there.

'It's so beautiful… Did your father help him get that?' Zara's consciousness prodded.

'He must have,' Nala replied, watching her past self's reaction to the gift. 'There's no other way he could have obtained it.'

The reconciliation that followed was tentative at first, but soon Memory-Nala and young Elio fell back into their old patterns of interaction. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Yet there was an undercurrent of urgency now, only a few days remained of her hundred-year sentence.

"You're interfering," Memory-Nala accused Dionz during one of his visits.

"Just ensuring the 100 years experiment stays valid," he replied with suspicious innocence.

'He was playing matchmaker!' Zara realized. 'The almighty god was trying to set you up!'

'Be quiet,' Nala responded, but there was no real bite to it. They both felt the weight of what these memories implied.

They watched as Memory-Nala and Elio spent their remaining days together, each moment precious because they knew it was limited. But something else was building too, a decision that would change everything.

♢♢♢♢

Outside the portal, Dionz floated restlessly.

Since removing his chains and accepting whatever punishment might come from the subconscious divinity, he'd been consumed by thoughts about the note and his missing memories.

Something wasn't adding up.

The system's lack of response was the most troubling part.

Neither his nor Nala's subconsciousness had activated to punish their blatant cheating. His "patches" to help Elio, her direct intervention, both should have triggered immediate consequences.

He pulled out the cube containing the note again, reading it for the hundredth time.

The handwriting was definitely his, the tone unmistakably matched his way of thinking. But why warn about memories? Why insist on waiting for Elio to reach maximum level?

"It doesn't make sense," he muttered to himself. "The system should be stopping us. Unless..."

A thought began to form. If they succeeded, if they actually managed to create a utopia with Elio's help… they could theoretically maintain it forever.

This was the final game if they lose after all.

But without resets, without the need to start over...

"The outcome wouldn't matter," he realized. "As long as humanity survives, who cares if we're about to lose? We could just... keep going forever."

But that just raised more questions. How to avoid extinguishing the artromus and a reset?

How to beat Nala at max level and almost 1 billion artromus at the 1000 years mark?

And…

Why weren't the system's safeguards activating?

They'd been put in place specifically to prevent gods from interfering too directly. Yet here he was, actively helping Elio break the rules, and nothing was stopping him.

It was as if the system itself was turning a blind eye. Or as if something about these circumstances was different from all previous iterations. But what had changed? What made this run so special that even the fundamental rules seemed to be bending?

Dionz looked at the book where Elio was fighting. Something bigger was happening here, something that went beyond their usual game of gods and humans. He just couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing a crucial piece of the puzzle, one that his own note seemed to know about.

♢♢♢♢

"I need to tell you something," Memory-Nala said, her voice unusually serious. They were in Elio's garden, the same place where they'd spent so many afternoons.