The creation of a Specter was surprisingly easy.
One just needed to manipulate Prephyx in a special manner to create one.
Of course, this special manner was incredibly difficult to find, but when the Pure One explained it, it sounded so simple.
Without a doubt, countless centuries of research had been needed to reverse-engineer Specters, but when the entire process was explained via voice transmission, it only took a couple of minutes to explain it.
After one knew how to create a Specter, one only needed to give it a personality.
Nick knew almost everything about the brain and how humans worked.
Because of that, creating a personality wasn't difficult.
After learning all of that, Nick looked at the Pure One in a new light.
'There truly is no danger in letting him roam around,' Nick thought. 'He has been perfectly engineered to stay loyal to humanity. His entire existence revolves around helping humanity because that is what he wants and desires.'
In a way, this felt cruel.
It was essentially taking free will from a living being.
'But free will is an illusion anyway,' Nick thought.
Everything a person did was preordained by their past.
Even the spiteful actions one would take when trying to prove to oneself that one had free will had already been dictated by the past.
The person's past had been like this, which was why that person would cut their arm at this point just to prove to themselves that they had agency over their life.
Everything was mathematics.
Emotions, feelings, logic.
All the neurological pathways had been created, and they would always fire in a certain way.
'Humans have agency over their lives. They can do what they want with their lives. They can choose what they will do.'
'But their choices and desires have already been decided.'
'My past has made me desire to free humanity. So, I choose to dedicate my all to humanity.'
'I do have a choice in that matter. I could decide not to help humanity.'
'But if I actually choose that, it means this choice has always been in my future.'
'If someone knew everything about me and knew everything that is going to happen around me, they would know if I would betray my beliefs, and if I actually did that, they could point out the time I would make that decision to a second.'
In a way, free will was a paradox.
One could do what they wanted, but one's wants were already set in stone.
One had free will, but one also didn't have true free will.
Time moved forward, and as long as time didn't move backward, the future was already set in stone.
The future dictated the present.
Hypothetically, if humanity freed themselves of the aliens, the being responsible for freeing them would go through tremendous efforts to achieve that.
The causality of time was reversed.
And yet, it also wasn't.
The time stream had been set in stone.
If Nick decided to drop everything and kill himself, there would have never been a future where humanity was free to begin with.
He was always meant to abandon his desires.
And if he succeeded, he was always meant to succeed.
These thoughts were not easy to swallow.
'But I can do what I want,' Nick thought. 'No matter what I do, I can decide to not go through with it.'
'I have agency. I have free will.'
'I just don't have the power to change the future.'
'The future takes my free will into account, and there is no uncertainty about it.'
After a total of about nine years, the Pure One finished explaining everything about biology to Nick.
It was done.
Nick had learned everything there was to learn from two of the four knowledge repositories.
'I can now deal with the issue of Consumption, but if I want to recreate humanity, I need the energy knowledge repository.'
'I can copy the Enlightened Ones, but that's not good enough.'
"That's it," the Pure One said. "That's everything. You now know as much about biology as me."
Nick nodded. "Thank you."
"I must remain here," the Pure One said. "If you fail, humanity needs another shot. I don't know what kind of contingencies you have planned, but the contingencies of the Empire need to remain intact for humanity's future."
"I understand," Nick said.
Then, the Pure One went over to the biological analyzer and ordered all recordings to be deleted again.
"There is one last thing I have for you," the Pure One said after deleting the recordings and deactivating the machine.
The next moment, the Pure One opened his mouth and put his arm deep into his mouth.
His arm reached into his stomach, and he pulled it back out.
Finally, he held his arm out to Nick, offering him something.
There was nothing there.
However, this action made Nick take a deep breath.
"Take it," the Pure One said. "You should know how to use it."
Nick carefully moved his arm forward and grabbed nothing.
He didn't feel anything.
It was like there was just air in his hand.
The next moment, Nick stretched his other arm to his hand.
And his arm vanished!
"It is empty right now. You are free to use it however you see fit," the Pure One said. "I have three of those in total, and all the machines in Deep Core Base should be enough for three eras."
Naturally, the Pure One had given Nick a Sanctuary.
With this Sanctuary, Nick could transport whatever he wanted, as long as it wasn't alive.
"Do not, under any circumstances, put it somewhere casually," the Pure One warned. "You will never find it again."
"I know," Nick answered with a nod.
"Only take what you need," the Pure One said. "I am going to go back into my room. If you manage to free humanity, you can come and get me out."
"Otherwise, I would ask you to remove the Star Energy and Pure Energy of the Containment Unit."
Nick looked at the Pure One.
Even after waiting in isolation for tens of thousands of years, he was willing to go back.
Nick didn't protest.
The Pure One was like Nick, Aegis, and the people in the underground city.
They were all willing to sacrifice their lives for humanity.
Their own happiness came secondary.
"I will free humanity," Nick said as the Pure One entered the Containment Unit.
"You have a better shot at it than the Empire," the Pure One answered. "I genuinely wish for you to succeed."
Nick nodded.
The door closed between them, and Nick retrieved the Star Energy and Pure Energy from the Containment Unit.
Now, the Pure One was stuck inside again.
There were only four paths in his future.
One, Nick would free him again, which meant he succeeded.
Two, the aliens would find Deep Core Base, and he would be killed.
Three, another being would free him, which meant that Nick had failed.
Four, he would be stuck here until Earth was no more.
This was the Pure One's future.
And he had chosen it willingly.
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