Chapter 37 An early bird always gets the thick, juicy worms
At this point, Alex was able to faintly realize why his Main Mission was the destruction of the World Diagram.
It seems like Alex was actually here in the Simulated Esper World to help the residents, and not to harm them.
But Alex has to make sure that Lord Gallius was not lying to him at all.
Hence his next question.
"How?" Alex mouthed this word out of his mouth, and Lord Gallius perked up after hearing this. "How was the World Diagram able to restrict you guys from ’transcending’?
"Sigh, for me to answer that, I have to give you the full explanation..." Lord Gallius run his fingers through his hair, visibly showing his frustration.
"First, you need to understand that this world is considered to be a risk by the ones who created it..." Lord Gallius started to pace around the room too as he began to lay out his words.
"However, within that risk also lies the payoff of gaining Star Espers like us... So, they used a variety of factors to stimulate and regulate this world."
"Do you still remember that lizard that you fought a week ago?" Lord Gallius mimed some slashing motions, probably to demonstrate the lizard’s grisly death. "That lizard is an Intruder, and Intruders are not exactly the same as the one portrayed by everyone."
"Oh..." As usual, Alex managed to catch on what Lord Gallius was talking about. "So you are telling me that Intruders are sent into this Simulated Esper World in order to create conflict?"
"Exactly." Lord Gallius replied, looking not surprised at Alex’s sharpness anymore. "Without conflict, the rate that the Espers got stronger was slow. Only when there is trouble and conflict that the Esper’s potential will be forced out."
"..." These words made Alex remember about what happened during the World War 1.
That war did not only have an impact in terms of military, but also in technology.
There are lots of things discovered and created during this war, and some of it helped usher the improvement of the world.
There is the Cold War too, which pushed the creation of new technology to the limits.
"Conflict is always the best way to push everything to its limits." Alex said while nodding in agreement. "However, there cannot be too much conflict, or else everything will go apes**t."
"I do not like your choice of words, but I understand your sentiment." Lord Gallius said as he closed his eyes on concentration.
"So I get it that the Intruders are the ’stimulation’." Alex said as he adjusted his neck. "As for the World Diagram... it is the ’regulator’ of this world, right?"
"I already gave you clues for that earlier, so for you to realize it is not a surprise too." Lord Gallius mumbled to himself as he let out a sigh.
Lord Gallius then looked at Alex’s eyes as he slowly said,
"Contrary to the prevalent belief, the World Diagram was not something that was created recently. It was a powerful program that had been here since the start of the Simulated Esper World."
"Its task must have been fairly simple then." Alex wistfully said as he looked above him.
Lord Gallius nodded as he continued on talking.
"The main task of the World Diagram is to monitor any abnormalities in the Simulated Esper World and fix it, except for the Intruders of course. It was also tasked with making sure that everything works perfectly fine in this world. The World Diagram also has the task to help any Star Espers that will appear, guiding them towards the Real World."
"Now that is weird..." Alex replied as he cupped his chin. "If those things are the tasks of the World Diagram, and that it is supposed to be hidden, then what the hell is happening to it now?" Alex restricted the urge to raise his hands in exasperation. "The World Diagram that I see right now is way different from my expectations."
"Well... everything is fine with the World Diagram, until the first Star Esper appeared." Lord Gallius replied, with anger apparent on his features.
"The first Star Esper? Can you care to elaborate?" Of course Alex knew that there is no need for him to say these words, as Lord Gallius started to continue talking.
"From what I know, when the first Star Esper managed to access the real nature of this world, the first thing that this Esper did was to seize control of the World Diagram. I do not know how this Star Esper managed to do it, but the World Diagram easily fell under this Star Esper’s control."
"And once that happened, everything proceeded as what everyone knew." Alex replied as a helpless smile formed on his face.
"The appearance of the 1,024 Esper Cities, the ’quantum computer network’, all of these things were made to fabricate the lie that the World Diagram was a man-made thing, when it actually wasn’t." Lord Gallius was back to angry mode at this point, and Alex felt that he will just continue on getting angrier.
"But do you know what was worse?"
"Well, tell it to me then." Alex weakly replied, bracing his ears for the worst.
Even though Alex had prepared for it, he was still rattled by Lord Gallius’ angry shouts.
"That first Esper used the World Diagram to tie down everyone!" Lord Gallius shouted as he almost banged the walls behind him.
Lord Gallius certainly did not look happy as he controlled his breathing. "After the first Star Esper took control of the World Diagram, he used its control over the whole world to prevent other Star Espers from leaving this world. Not only that, but the power of the World Diagram was also used to restrict any new Star Espers!"
"That... is really one selfish move." Alex replied as he realized why Clint was so helpless against the restrictions of the World Diagram.
"Wait... aren’t you a Star Esper too?" Alex noted as he pointed his finger at Lord Gallius. "Are you allowed to talk to me about the World Diagram even when you are restricted?"
"The restriction of the World Diagram on us varies on different levels." Lord Gallius replied with a wince in his face. "For Star Espers like me, the restrictions only prevent me on participating on small-scale battles. As for Espers like your current teacher, their restrictions will be much harsher."
"Well well well, so my appearance in this world is actually a way to help this world huh." Alex thought to himself as he began to feel relieved. "It was a good thing that there will be no negative repercussions if I destroy the World Diagram."
"However..." Alex frowned as his thoughts began to detect a problem.
"If the World Diagram is actually a program controlling the whole world, then how am I supposed to destroy it? And since the World Diagram is under the control of the first Star Esper, then there is no doubt that I have to face the first Star Esper before I can destroy the World Diagram..."
Alex realized by this point that the truth about this world had made his plans go awry.
"Well, I still have 8 days left before my lifespan runs out... so I can still change my current plans..." Since he was at this point already, Alex decided to ask another question to Lord Gallius.
The question was painfully obvious.
"Lord Gallius, do you know who the first Star Esper was?"
Since the first Star Esper is the one controlling the current World Diagram, then Alex should know who this person was if he wanted to complete his mission.
But to Alex’s dismay, what he only got from Lord Gallius was a slow shake of his head.
"I have no idea on who the first Star Esper was." Lord Gallius replied with lamentation in his features. "The first Star Esper used the World Diagram to hide his identity perfectly. Because of that, nobody in this world knows who the first Star Esper was, well maybe except for Lord Ergo and the WEO President."
"Oh, so those two guys are the pawns of the first Star Esper then?" Alex replied as he tilted his head.
"Obviously those two are pawns." Lord Gallius replied with a snort. "For Lord Ergo and the WEO President to acquire the parts of the World Diagram, they must have some sort of connections with the first Star Esper."
"That is not a good sign for us right now." Alex hesitantly said as he looked around him warily .
"It’s not a good sign indeed."
With their moods heavy, Alex and Lord Gallius spent the remaining time talking about more miscellaneous effects of their current dilemma.
***************
Back to the present time.
"So, did that afro guy tell you about the first Star Esper hijacking the World Diagram?" Alex asked Alina as Alina stretched her lithe body.
"He actually did." Alina replied honestly. "He even told me that it was the first Star Esper who gave the afro guy the access to a part of the World Diagram."
"Huh, I did not expect him to be that honest." Alex replied as he looked confused. "I thought he would want to hide the fact that he is close to the first Star Esper..."
"Well according to him, he was just forced to accept 50% the World Diagram." Alina replied humorlessly. "I am sure that he had some dark plans for many people, but I can say that he was telling the truth about him being forced to accept 50% of the World Diagram."
"Again with that lie-detection technique of yours."
"....."
"Well in that case, we should only worry about Lord Ergo." Alex replied with a sigh as he sagged his head forward. "From what I heard from you and others, it seems like this Lord Ergo is an extremely unstable and toxic person."
"You might be surprised to find out that the description you gave right now is just a tame one." Alina replied with a snort as her eyes seemed to have narrowed greatly. Well, her mask was back, so there is no way to know. "Lord Ergo... is not a person that you should get close to, unless you absolutely need to. If it were not for my sister, then I will stay as for away as possible from him."
"Now that is a great way to introduce a villain." Alex noted as Alina shook her head helplessly. "You just managed to make him as a compelling but also an entertaining villain. Just like that certain clown-faced villain."
"I have no idea what you were talking about." Alina said as she crossed her arms. "What we should discuss now is whether we should leave or stay."
"Of course we will leave." Alex replied quickly. "There is no way that I will want to stay here after everything that I heard."
"I see." This time, Alina looked calm as she looked at Alex with a serene disposition. "Well in that case, I shall gladly help you to find a way for us to leave. There is no way that I can stay here too, as I know that they will not help m regarding my sister."
"You will help me? Now that makes me happy." Even though Alex was not sure on why Alina was so intent on helping him out, Alex felt that Alina was being honest to him right now. "Well in that case, I will bring you out to another date once we get through all of this."
"... I hope you will fulfill that promise." Alina replied, with her voice much weaker compared to before.
"Hehe." Alex grinned for a full 5 seconds before he started to let out a deep breath. "Now that we have decided on what to do, let us lay out our first ste-"
But before Alex could elaborate on his plan, both him and Alina stiffened as they felt a powerful presence quickly approaching their location.
No, not their location, but the whole compound that they are in.
"How could this be happening!" Alina suddenly shrieked as she jumped up angrily. "There is no way this is happening!"
This was the first time that Alex saw Alina being this angry, so he knew something bad was coming up. "Do you know who or what that incoming powerful presence was?"
"Of course I know! After all, that powerful presence is the person that we are talking about earlier." Alex’s heart sank as he heard this sentence uttered by Alina.
"Don’t tell me..."
"Lord Ergo, my current master, is here already." Alina said as her hands started to tremble. "Th-th-this should not be happening, since the afro guy told us that Lord Ergo should arrive here in 6 hours, and I know for a fact that the afro guy was telling the truth!"
Alex’s only reply to that was a light sigh, as he also found it hard to accept what happened.
"We are so f**ked!" Asteria shouted out of nowhere, as she waved her hands in exaggeration. "No wonder that afro guy looked so smug earlier, he had had you two playing in his palms all this time!"
"....."