Potential and reality.
The relationship between these two concepts was the very basis of Zephyx.
It was similar to the concept of potential energy and kinetic energy in physics.
If a ball rolled down a one-meter-high incline, it had the potential energy to roll up another one-meter-high incline.
But that never happened because of interfering factors.
Wind resistance, friction, and so on.
All of these things used up the kinetic energy of the ball.
The difference between potential energy and actual kinetic energy was widened.
The ball lost part of its potential.
If things were better, it could reach its true potential.
But things were not better.
This was how things were.
In a strange way, this gap between potential and reality could be used to create Zephyx.
It wasn't easy for Nick to wrap his mind around this concept since it didn't conform to the physical reality he understood.
Potential wasn't real.
It was just a made-up term.
Only reality was real.
However, the more advanced research became, the more surreal reality became.
There were particles that just randomly popped into existence before colliding with an opposite particle just to vanish again.
There were particles that could be in two places at the same time.
One particle could interfere with itself like it was a second particle.
These things made no sense.
And yet, one couldn't deny their existence when looking at the evidence.
In the same way, potential apparently was a very real concept.
This reality and physical existence of potential also validated the existence of suffering as a real thing.
Suffering was generally described as an emotion.
A feeling of distress, maybe pain.
If someone cut off the branch of a tree, would the tree suffer?
Of course not.
Trees didn't have nerves, sentience, or feelings.
In the emotional sense, that tree couldn't possibly suffer.
But in a physical sense, it suffered.
The tree had the potential to have another beautiful and big branch, but that potential had been cut off by reality.
This loss of potential could be harvested and moved into something else.
Just like how an air conditioner moved temperature from inside the house to its outside, the creation of Zephyx moved potential from one thing to another. ＲãΝố𝐁ЕS̈
Prephyx didn't have the potential to become Zephyx.
It was Prephyx, not Zephyx.
But by taking the cut-off potential from one object and putting it into Prephyx, its potential increases.
With more potential, Prephyx could now become Zephyx.
To put this into more concrete terms, one had to look at an Extractor.
An Expert had a ton of potential.
They had so much energy that they could defeat over 99% of all living things, and they could also live for 200 years without issues.
Such a person could have everything.
Money, status, power, freedom, happiness, love.
And yet, what was the life of an actual Extractor?
Their potential was so great, but every day, they suffered immense torture for hours on end.
Was such a person happier than an average worker who gathered fruits every day?
That worker would probably not want to live that Extractor's life.
They were fine with spending a couple of hours harvesting fruit so that they could go home and relax.
And yet, the potential of an Expert was so much higher than the potential of this worker.
Due to this immense difference in physical potential, Specters produced much more physical suffering and, in turn, Zephyx by torturing Extractors instead of normal people.
In order to make Zephyx, potential had to be reduced, and the difference between the original potential and reality was physical suffering.
This physical suffering represented a transfer of potential.
Now, how did the Zephyx generators of the Ancient Ones and the Enlightened Ones work?
They used the same principle.
The reduction of physical potential, which was physical suffering. This physical suffering was then put into Prephyx or Star Energy to make Zephyx.
But where did that suffering come from?
They weren't torturing humans or animals in their generators.
The suffering came from the surroundings.
It came from life itself.
The Zephyx generator absorbed the potential of life from its surroundings.
Plants died.
Animals became sick.
Soil became barren.
Humans in the surroundings suffered.
Machines stopped working.
After a couple of days of activating the generator, the surroundings would become dead and lifeless.
And when everything was already dead and lifeless, there was no more potential, and the generator would stop working.
If extrapolated to a planetary scale, the generator would turn a planet filled with life into a dead husk.
It would produce a lot of Zephyx during the generation, but that would be it.
As soon as the planet was dry and dead, there would be no more Zephyx.
One needed to find a balance.
Instead of stealing the potential of life itself, one could focus on stealing the potential of something that could regenerate with time.
Feelings.
A person strived for happiness, but if one took that person's happiness, one stole their potential.
However, that person could recover their happiness after some time.
One Protector could live for about a thousand years.
They were on top of the world.
And yet, how happy was the average Protector?
They were miserable.
Pressure, fear, responsibility, torture…
Their lives were ruled by negativity.
Despite all that, almost everyone strived to become a Protector.
Ambition, hope, and power were what drove them to seek the miserable life of a Protector for themselves.
Humanity's hope drove them to increase their own potential just so that the aliens could harvest that potential.
If one had no hope of ever being happy, why should one try to become happy?
There had to be hope.
There had to be a reason for humanity to increase its potential.
Aegis was that hope.
And for the members of Aegis, the progress in their fight against the Specters was their hope.
They had to become stronger so that they could free humanity.
They had to suffer and contribute more so that Aegis could stop the Specters.
With time, humanity's potential would increase, which also increased Zephyx generation.
All their suffering would pay off in the future.
They suffered now so that they could be happy in the future.
And just when they were about to achieve their goal…
The era would reset.
The failure of the current era would be forgotten.
The new era would believe they had hope.
And everything would start from the beginning again.
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