The Genius System-Chapter 98: Legacy of a Dead World
For those who did not understand the chapter Secret I and Secret II, it talks about the origin of the system I tried to explain a little in this chapter
Enjoy
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The days passed ... Slowly ... Mechanically.
Lassen's life had ended up becoming monotonous, almost calm. The nuclear project, the fruit of weeks of relentless work and global manipulations, was nearing completion. The first prototypes were stable, the tests validated.
As for the city of the future, it was also taking shape. A titanic construction site supported by the greatest powers, who built without truly understanding what they were building. Under the directives of an intelligence they had never seen, for a goal they would never dare to question.
And during that time, he... he watched. From his room. From his silence.
He read. He thought. Sometimes he slept too much. Sometimes not at all.
And then one evening, without warning, as the city lights twinkled in the distance through the bay window, the voice of the system echoed in his mind.
[Host]
He blinked. Usually, the system only interrupted him when he summoned it. This wasn't normal.
"What?"
[We need to talk.]
He sat up slowly, placing his book on the desk. There was something in the system's voice. An unusual tension. An almost human gravity.
"What's with the dramatic tone? Talk, I'm listening."
[Not here]
Before he could respond, his environment vanished.
The room disappeared. The armchair, the light of the lamp, the glass of water on the bedside table, the city behind the window. All was swallowed in total white. Neither dazzling nor comforting. Just… empty.
And in the middle of that nothingness, a silhouette.
Humanoid. Floating. Blurry.
Without a face, without age. Neither man nor woman.
"You're!?"
[Surprised? Were you expecting God? Or maybe a sexier version of yourself, wiser and more muscular?]
Lassen raised an eyebrow. The irony, he hadn't expected, but it almost reassured him.
"I don't know, I was thinking of an old bearded man in a white toga, not... this."
[What you're seeing is just a projection. I chose to skip the toga, it would've been a bit cliché. And credibility-wise, well…]
He crossed his arms
"So, you bring me into a white interdimensional void just to crack jokes?"
[I thought I'd lighten the mood. But if you prefer a cold, clinical lecture, I can switch to boring professor mode.]
"I prefer sarcasm, reminds me I'm alive."
[Cute. But no, really, we need to talk. Seriously.]
Lassen sighed and took a step in that nonexistent dimension. There was nothing under his feet, yet he didn't fall.
[I am the system, yes. And what I'm about to tell you now… you will never be able to forget.]
He answered without hesitation
"I've already died once. I guess I can handle one more cosmic revelation."
[Very well.]
The silhouette straightened slightly, as if breathing for the first time.
[Before being a program in your head, I was a man. A king. The ruler of an entire world.]
The void around them seemed to tremble. Slowly, images appeared, blurry at first, then increasingly clear. Continents in flames. Immense armies. Imposed peace. A unified civilization.
[My world was on the brink of extinction. Nations were collapsing, systems devouring each other, people living in fear. I decided to take everything. Centralize everything. Power, technology, resources, decisions. One throne. One will.]
"Yours."
[Yes. And against all odds, it worked.]
The scenery changed again. Resplendent cities. Flying machines. Children laughing in streets paved with pure energy.
[We knew peace. But the universe, it doesn't forgive. It ages. It dies. And one day, the laws themselves began to mutate.]
The light started to flicker. As if unsure whether it should exist.
[Gravity distorted. Time duplicated. Light slowed. Reality became... soft.]
A silence.
[And we could do nothing.]
Lassen clenched his teeth. He didn't know why, but he felt something. Like a dull pain. A sadness for a world he had never seen.
[So I did what no one dared. I sacrificed my body. I emptied my mind. I coded my consciousness. And I launched the system into the chaotic flow of possibilities. Not to survive. But to warn.]
The silhouette turned toward him.
[And you're the one who found me. You who woke me up. Because you died in a world that gave you no way out. Because you broke a law without meaning to.]
"And now what? You want me to be the new you?"
[I want you to understand what you carry. What you've become. And what you'll have to face.]
A silence.
"So I'm supposed to save the world, is that it?"
[No... You're supposed to choose whether it deserves to be saved.]
Lassen squinted.
"Nice. And if it doesn't deserve it, what do I do? Recycle it? Reboot it?"
[You can ignore it. Watch it fall. You can also transform it, piece by piece. But you need to know one thing.]
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
The light around them darkened. It was no longer a white void; it was a gray sky, heavy with ash. A world collapsing in silence.
[You are becoming the convergence point of this world. The initial error, your return, has already begun to distort what surrounds you.]
"And that's bad, is it?"
[Not necessarily. But the rules you think are fixed... are no longer. And the entities that maintain balance are starting to notice.]
"You mean there are other… systems?"
[No. Not like me. There are fragments. Remnants. Protection protocols embedded in the very fabric of reality. Things no human can perceive. But you, you're no longer entirely human.]
Lassen let out a joyless chuckle.
"Great. So what am I then? A tool with a bit of free will? A future god on antidepressants?"
[You are an heir. Of a world that no longer exists. Of a will that refuses to vanish.]
The wind blew through this illusory world. Fragments of ruined buildings floated in the air, slowly disintegrated by the void.
[My world is dead, Lassen. Nothing remains of it but me. And now, I am within you. Not as a parasite. As a foundation.]
"And if I refuse this responsibility? If I just want to stay in my room, read my novels, and ignore all this?"
[Then I will remain silent. The world will move on. Perhaps toward ruin. Perhaps toward another future. But you will know that you had a choice.]
