"What do you know?" the Sun's avatar asked.
The Amorphous Race had deliberated everything.
The three concepts that had remained at the end were…
Kill Nick.
Stop him from advancing.
Ask for more information.
Naturally, the concept the Strategist sent to the engineer was to ask for more information.
"I have learned a lot," Nick said. "I know that the humans from around 27,000 years ago succeeded or almost succeeded in destroying the machine."
"I know that this planet is used for profit. What we know as Prephyx is a waste product. It has almost no value."
"I know that what we call Zephyx is highly valuable and easy to transport. Prephyx is being turned into Zephyx via what I call suffering."
"We Specters are responsible for causing this suffering, which transforms Prephyx into Zephyx. The Zephyx is then harvested at the end of the era and brought away."
"As a Specter, I am pure Zephyx. Killing me is very profitable."
"Because of that, my actions have to bring more value than my Zephyx can bring."
"If I want to live forever, I need to remain profitable."
"If I hide underground, I will be harvested."
"Hiding underground is not safe for me."
"You are the owner of this planet."
"If I do not act in your full interest, I will not be able to live forever."
After Nick stopped speaking, the council of the Amorphous Race went into another exchange and refinement of concepts.
Countless possibilities were struck down by the Representatives.
One of these concepts was running a full analysis of Nick's abilities.
The reason why it was shut down was simple.
Wastage of resources.
Nick was wrong about one thing.
This Zephyx Mine didn't exist for profit.
It was not owned by a company.
It was owned by the Mother, and the Zephyx harvested here would directly go to her.
The Mother needed Zephyx.
The Amorphous Race was not the only race in the universe, and even more, the Amorphous Race was not united.
There were many tribes, and they were in a constant process of evolutionary refinement.
That meant war.
They didn't want the Zephyx.
They NEEDED it.
Another concept that they shot down was to reshape Nick's mind, and it was rejected for the same reason.
Resource wastage.
The only reason why Nick's abilities were still relatively secret was the presence of the Representatives.
The Sun was a gigantic machine, and using any of its abilities required a huge injection of Pure Energy.
Something like the Sun's avatar wasn't costly to create.
Granting abilities also wasn't costly.
But the remaining functions were quite costly, and the Mother couldn't accept wasting resources on that.
The Generators, which was what they called Specters, were designed to be safe.
Even if one of them revolted, the Sun could kill them very easily, and even if something happened to the Sun, the Generators were designed to die under the avalanche of Star Energy.
Additionally, the Generators were designed to value their lives above everything else, and destroying the Sun would go against their primary directive.
Lastly, destroying the Sun wouldn't give a Specter anything of value.
They could only grow stronger by working with humans.
Killing the Sun wouldn't do anything for them.
Therefore, using resources to make sure a Specter wasn't dangerous was a waste.
After another refinement of concepts took place, the Sun's avatar spoke up again.
"What can you give to us?" it asked.
The dynamic had changed.
The Sun had just referred to itself as us.
"As an Initial Adversary, I already had the capabilities to eradicate almost all technological progress of Aegis," Nick said. "As an Eternal, this capability will only increase in value."
"You do not need an Envious Researcher if I am present."
"I also have the power to kill any human weaker than a Savior already. My perception already covers half of the planet, and when I am an Eternal, it will cover all of it."
"I am also not limited by my intelligence or fixed presence. I can travel to places with light and without light."
"I can make autonomous decisions, and my decisions will be aligned with your goal since I know your goal."
"I might be a machine, but in human terms, I can also be an employee or a manager."
"You can communicate with me and give me complex orders. You do not need to change the Nightmare or the Null, which is probably not very easy."
"The only thing you need to do to make me do what you want is to talk to me. There are not many more resource-efficient methods of changing the planet."
"I can be your supervisor, and you do not need to pay me."
"I just don't want to die. That's it."
"I'm cheap, capable, and I can affect things all over the world. I know what you want, and what you want is also what I want."
After Nick finished speaking, another concept refinement took place.
This time, it ended with three concepts again, but the concepts were different.
Disallow Nick from advancing.
Allow Nick to ascend.
Ask for more information.
Yes, the concept of killing Nick was no longer there.
The Representatives had shut that down after Nick had stated his value.
Now, the decision was whether to permit his advancement or not.
"You can achieve all of that as a Peak Adversary already. Why do you need to become an Eternal?" the Sun's avatar asked.
"Because we are missing an Eternal," Nick said. "Nurse Alice will become an Early Eternal soon, and she will be very difficult to suppress."
"You need an Initial Eternal."
"As the primary suppressor of technology and power, I will be the primary target."
"I don't need to become an Eternal."
"But it would be convenient and cheap."
Another refinement of concepts happened.
This time, the Sun's Avatar remained quiet for only a single second.
The reason was simple.
The Representatives shot down almost all concepts.
They even shot down the concept of asking Nick for more information.
They were all busy, and the more time they spent with Nick, the more resources they were wasting.
The Strategists wanted to make sure that there was not some kind of hidden danger to them inside of Nick, but the stinginess of the Representatives made that impossible.
So, the Strategists were forced to make a decision.
However, the decision also wasn't bad.
After all, Generators were designed to be non-threatening to the machine.
The Strategists just valued safety much more.
But, well… they didn't have infinite resources.
They had to make do with what they had.
"We accept your offer."
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