Nick was inside the Enlightened Ones' base below Crimson City.
He was inside the biggest hall he could find so that he could summon the gigantic machine in front of him.
The machine was over 20 meters high and was beyond complex.
Nick didn't know how it worked, but he knew what he had to do.
He assumed the guise and body of a human, isolating his Specter Core from any of the damaging effects of Star Energy or Pure Energy.
Then, Nick pulled out one of the many Seeds he had gathered.
He let his Zephyx wash over it, wiping any data from the previous user.
After that, he put the Seed into a bigger contraption.
Several tubes were leading from the contraption to the gigantic machine.
He put the contraption inside, and his body closed around it.
Now, it looked like there were several tubes coming out of Nick's body.
One of the tubes led to a smaller machine, which Nick had strapped to one of his wrists.
He activated the machine on his wrist, and it gave off a low humming noise.
This was a small Star Energy generator, and it filled the insides of the contraption with Star Energy.
The contraption isolated the Star Energy from Nick's body so that it didn't accidentally travel to his Specter Core.
Finally, Nick went to the gigantic machine and activated it.
There were over 100 Star Energy generators strapped to it, and they all started to hum at the same time.
Then, the machine itself started, and it was insanely loud.
Tiny bits of blue energy shot out of the machine and entered the contraption through one of the tubes.
CLINK!
The tube disconnected itself, and the machine deactivated.
Pure Energy was difficult to transport, and over 99% of it had entered the tube itself, making it stronger.
But the remaining bit of Pure Energy successfully entered the Seed.
Nick's senses focused on the Seed, and he could see that it was slightly shimmering.
His perception came into contact with the Seed.
The next moment, something appeared in front of Nick.
It was a beautiful woman with white hair. Her body was half-translucent, and there was an ethereal quality to her.
Surprisingly, she looked almost exactly like Aria.
"Welcome, User," the woman spoke. "You have received a new Seed. Do you want to start the setup process?"
"Yes," Nick said.
He seemed calm on the surface, but Nick was excited deep inside.
Finally, they managed to make one of the Seeds run!
"Please tell me your name," the woman spoke politely.
"Nick Dusk," he said.
"How do you prefer to be called?"
"Nick."
"Okay, Nick," she spoke politely.
After that, she asked for several more bits of information.
"Which branch were you assigned to?" she suddenly asked.
Nick furrowed his brows.
"I do not know what you're referring to," he said.
"Branches are your assigned career and life. The Empire assigns you to one before you receive your Seed," the woman said.
'Empire, huh.'
"The Empire doesn't exist anymore," Nick said. "Over ten thousand years passed since the Empire was destroyed by the enemy."
"Please, wait a moment as I contact the Greater Collective," she said.
Then, she fell silent.
"Unable to find the Greater Collective. Rerouting to emergency network."
Nick waited.
"Unable to find emergency network. Protocol Future is in effect now. Provide the password for Protocol Future," she said.
Nick furrowed his brows. "How do I get this password?"
"If the Empirical Era has truly ended, you can find the password the same way you learned how to reactivate a Seed," she said.
"I should ask the suppressed Adversary?" Nick asked.
"Unable to reply."
Nick proceeded to walk to the Adversary.
But there was a problem.
In the past, he turned into mist to get through the crack, but now, he couldn't do that.
Luckily, there was an easy solution.
Nick grabbed the sword.
His ability was still active since the Seed wasn't categorized as a living being, and he managed to lift it.
It was extremely heavy, and he definitely couldn't wield it in a fight, but he could move it well enough to cut through the floor.
After making a hole, Nick contacted the Adversary.
"I reactivated one of the Seeds," he transmitted by creating vibrations on the wall.
"Excited: Amazing! That means I finally can get some food again!" it transmitted back.
"I am in the process of creating a new user, and Protocol Future is in effect. I was told that you could tell me more about it," Nick said via vibrations.
"Ah, that," the Adversary said. "Yeah, I know the password."
The Adversary gave Nick a string of 200 different words, which he spoke to the translucent lady that was following him.
"Password accepted," she said. "Protocol Future has successfully been activated. You have been granted administrative privileges over the fallen Empire and all its resources."
Nick's brows rose.
'Administrative privileges over the entire Empire? That means I can access every single machine as long as it is working.'
"Delivering message," the woman said.
The next moment, the woman vanished, and a tall and stalwart man appeared in front of Nick.
"If this message reaches you, it means that we have failed and that the era has been reset," the man said. "The Empire has fallen, but humanity has not."
"The Empire is dedicated to the future of mankind and its freedom. The Empire might have failed, but we hope that a new emperor can make use of our ruins to become even greater than we were."
"All our resources and knowledge are at your disposal. If you can make a machine work again, you can use it."
"Sadly, due to the Information Threat, we can't store our knowledge in our machines. The era reset will wipe all the stored information."
Nick furrowed his brows.
"But that does not mean that our technology is lost."
"We stored all of our accumulated knowledge in the bodies of our most powerful Specters."
"You may use these Specters however you wish. They will be willing to teach you our secrets in exchange for Zephyx."
"The Empire is at your disposal."
"We just hope that humanity is as valuable to you as it was to us."
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