Agent047

891 - Confirmation

“Starting tomorrow, we will begin providing the mana stones for the creation of the first semi-permanent wormholes and assembling the planning committee. We will spend a year in VR accelerated time to finalize the plans based on the maps you must submit within the week,” Masmibi said, addressing the Conclave representatives. With those words, the long-standing negotiations had finally concluded, leaving only the implementation ahead.

For the past three months, the Empire had been lo...

890 - KGHH!!!! BAM!!! KWACK!!!! BWOOGH!!!! CRACK!!!!

KGHH!!!! BAM!!! KWACK!!!! BWOOGH!!!! CRACK!!!!

“Arghhhhh!!!!!!”

A pained scream rang out, cutting through the brutal symphony of fists landing, bones cracking, and flesh being pounded inside the practice room of the enforcement forces building.

The one on the receiving end was the interrogator, now unconscious, sprawled on the floor, his chest rising and falling in sharp, uneven breaths, a result of his internal injuries making it difficult for him to breathe.

“H...

889 - Negotiating a Deal

BAM!
The interrogation room door burst open as a formation of guards marched in, splitting off with practiced precision. Each moved to a corner of the room, securing their positions, while two remained at the entrance, stepping aside and standing at attention to allow passage.

Dreznor didn’t flinch. His eyes stayed closed, his expression calm, as if the sudden intrusion meant nothing to him.

A man in richly adorned garments entered, his posture regal, each st...

888 - Interrogation

Three Months Later

From the silence of space, a single ship could be seen descending into the atmosphere of a large, grayish planet, aligning itself with the traffic heading toward the largest port on the surface. It joined one of the seven tightly regulated lanes, each filled with ships maintaining a few hundred meters of distance, moving in perfect coordination.

As the ship drew closer to the planet’s main port, a breathtaking scene unfolded: tens of thousands of vessels parke...

887 - Briefing

{He is currently in a transit period and should arrive at his destination in about three months,} Nyx reported, her holographic form flickering slightly as she finished delivering her update to Aron, John, and Youssef—some of the few individuals aware of the operation from the start.

“What plans and objectives do you have for him? What is his theme?” Aron asked, leaning forward slightly. He knew full well that there was a reason Dreznor had been selected the moment the ship confir...

886 - “From stardust you are made, and to stardust you shall return”

As he sat there, replaying the conversation in his mind, he began analyzing whether anything important had been overlooked during the heated exchange between the four holograms. It didn’t take long before he noticed a flaw in Hologram Four’s logic, one that hadn't been addressed during the debate.

The oversight? Hologram Four had failed to consider the possibility that the Empire might resort to using their black hole bombs if pushed into a corner. Any attempt to dominate or provoke...

885 - Decisions

After gathering every last body from the wreckage and laying them in the hangar, Dreznor finally broke the silence.

“Do you have any way we can cover them for burial?”

{I can print them for you if you want,} Little Protagonist replied gently.

“Please do so,” he said, his voice subdued as he turned back to kneel before the body of his son, small, still, and cold, with a gaping hole in his chest where the energy round had ended his young life. Dreznor lowered his head ...

!!!Announcement!!!

I'm currently having a headache, so today's chapter will be released once I'm feeling better. At the latest, it will be tomorrow, which hopefully will be two chapters.

884 - Watering the Seed

“I understand your reluctance, but my proposal doesn’t violate the restrictions placed on you,” Minister Youssef replied calmly, the confidence in his tone making it clear they had already considered such limitations. “Our side won’t receive any wormhole technology, we’ll simply provide mana stones for their operation. Your side would handle all technical aspects. We’d share the profits as business partners.”

He leaned slightly forward. “Think of it as us being shareho...

883 - Lacing it With Temptations

The fleets of the Astral Conclave civilizations, carrying the exchanged mana stones, departed a day after the trade was completed. This time, the process was far smoother than before, as the exchange had taken place inside the Trade Hub itself. Their representatives, along with their close entourages, remained behind, unsure when their negotiations with the Empire would conclude, but aware that the importance of the talks warranted their continued presence.

While discussions around the ...

882 - Our Conditions

“Should we accept your requests, what are the conditions?” the Elara representative asked, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the room. The air was thick with contemplation as each delegate weighed the enormous implications of the offer before them.

They all knew this wasn’t the meeting where a decision would be made. The stakes were far too high. Instead, they were here to gather the full list of demands, terms, and potential benefits, enough to return to their resp...

881 - Resumption

The meeting that had initially been postponed for just one day ended up being delayed by an additional four days at the request of the representatives. They needed more time to inform their governments, allow them to fully digest the implications of the technology, and formulate a new approach before presenting their decisions.

Though five days might have seemed excessive at first, the time passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. When they reconvened in the same meeting room, the ...

880 - Nyx's First Action

“Looks like this is what he was talking about,” the Trinarian prince murmured as he removed the VR device from his head. The thin, metallic trusses, designed to automatically and comfortably adjust to any head size or shape, felt strangely underwhelming in his hands, considering the sheer magnitude of what they were capable of.

He stared at it, already dreading the thought of going back to a life without this technology. Now that he knew it existed, how could he? More importantly, h...

879 - I Need a Moment of Peace

One Hour Later

“Then we will take an hour-long break for him to update you on his findings,” Masimbi announced, pausing the meeting just as Cravath logged out. Without hesitation, he and the other human representatives stood up and left the room, granting the others privacy to discuss without fear of prying eyes.

The moment the doors closed behind them, Cravath wasted no time.

Without a word, he pulled every representative into his mental network, no warning, no reques...

878 - The Zelvora Scapegoat

“Would you like to test it?” Masimbia asked, his tone calm and measured. There was no point in further explanations, he knew their minds were already racing with doubt. Instead of arguing over the validity of the technology, he would let the results speak for themselves.

Silence.

None of them answered immediately. Their hesitation was obvious, their expressions guarded. Trust between them and the Empire was at its lowest, this was nothing more than a transactional relationship...

877 - Dreznor II

For hours, Dreznor spoke, recounting every memory that surfaced. His voice wavered at times, thick with emotion, but he pressed on. He told Little Protagonist about his past, the life he once had, and the chains that had bound him ever since he was fifteen.

His civilization had lost a brutal war against a neighboring power, and the terms of surrender had been merciless. Anyone who had played a role in the war—whether as a soldier, a medic, a logistics officer, or even a mere clerk in ...

876 - Dreznor

He didn’t have much time to think. The sudden appearance of the hologram had momentarily halted his descent into unconsciousness, but it was only a brief reprieve. The weight of his injuries and exhaustion soon resumed their pull, forcing him to act quickly.

His gaze lingered on the lifeless forms of his family, their bloodied bodies forever frozen in time. He had nothing left. No reason to hesitate. If revenge was possible, then he would seize it. And if this was nothing more than a ...

875 - An Offer

"Although the suggestion is good, unfortunately, I cannot make a decision on this matter. I will need to report back to my government so they can decide before I can provide a conclusive response," said the Elara representative the moment Masimbi concluded the introduction and explanation of the first agenda.

"The same goes for me," added the Valthorin representative.

As if a dam had broken, nearly every other representative echoed similar statements, citing the need to consult th...

874 - A Dilemma

Over the next two days, the Astral Conclave representative and their entourage found little excitement, spending most of their time within the space station. Workers meticulously organized their inventory, transferring cargo from their ships to storage, while those with free time explored the station, some out of curiosity, others to analyze the empire’s design philosophy and compare it to their own.

Concerns about being spied on had been dismissed early. Upon arrival, their security ...

873 - Trade Hub

"Now that's strange," the Yrall Coalition representative thought as he reviewed the basic information about the Trade Hub, which had been included alongside the docking details shared moments ago.

He was certain that the empire hadn’t possessed this space station during their last mana stones exchange. That left only two possibilities: either construction had already begun at that time, but the station had been too small to be detected from their previous vantage point, or, far more a...

872 - The Second Coming

Time waited for no one, moving forward unbound by the events of the universe. Finally, the day of the second mana stone exchange arrived.

A welcoming fleet stood ready in an empty patch of space, patiently awaiting the arrival of the representatives. This was both a customary gesture and a security measure, though this time, the fleet was more than four times larger than at the last exchange. The reason was simple—the exact number of arriving ships remained unknown, but the empire was...

871 - A Quest

"Anything you're seeing that I’m not?" Aron asked, turning to Henry, who was closely examining a piece of the FOL material inside a transparent box.

Henry, having already discovered some of his ocular abilities, focused on the material, his enhanced vision revealing details beyond normal perception. Even with his abilities, the most distinct feature he observed was the presence of ultra-thin mana threads weaving through the FOL material, holding it together.

"I don’t know what...

870 - Heading to the Lab

With the next two weeks included, this month had been one of the most chaotic for them. They underwent numerous procedures, followed by deeply emotional reunions with their families and friends. These reunions were further highlighted by the emperor’s welcoming speech, delivered in their presence alongside their loved ones, just hours before their return home. The program was carefully scheduled to conclude mere minutes before their ships docked at the space elevator, allowing for long-awai...

869 - UPDATE IV

‘Looks like he’s a monster in combat as well,’ thought an awakener among the select few combat personnel who returned with the fleet.

‘This level of strength wasn’t even in the training simulations,’ he added, watching in disbelief as Aron moved at an inhuman speed toward a specific location. Every awakener in ARES—now called, the Imperial Military—had undergone rigorous combat evaluations, much like the infamous Reaper’s evaluation. Their tests simulated battles again...

868 - UPDATE III

“.......”

Amir and everyone else in the room sat in stunned silence, unable to even clear their throats, let alone speak. What they were witnessing was so shocking, so utterly beyond belief, that it rendered them motionless.

For people who had already experienced the impossible, the creation of new life shouldn't have been this overwhelming. Yet, none of them displayed the composure or understanding one might expect. The sheer scale of what they were seeing, and the completely...

867 - UPDATE II

"Due to the diversity of worlds and the broad range of participants, everyone could find something they enjoyed, making SFGS the dominant force in pop culture and entertainment. Each story runs until it reaches a satisfying conclusion, at which point the impact of each real human participant is calculated. Their final reward is determined by multiplying a base sum by their impact score.

The highest payout to date went to Sony Hayas, who achieved an unprecedented impact score of 300,000....

866 - UPDATE

“How was your evaluation?” Ramsey asked as he dropped into a seat beside Amir in the massive, theater-like hall. The room was slowly filling up, with more individuals materializing every few moments, greeting friends nearby before settling into their designated seats. A low hum of conversation spread through the space, resembling the anticipation before a movie screening.

“Mine was fixated on an asteroid I was exploring,” Ramsey continued, shaking his head. “They kept pressing...

865 - Giving it a Name

“But didn’t they give the material a name?” Aron asked, realizing that throughout the report, it had only been referred to as "the material."

{Due to its significance, they decided it would be best if the emperor named it,} Nova replied, materializing another hologram displaying the meeting notes where the decision had been made.

“Mh…” Aron hummed thoughtfully, considering possible names. A smile spread across his face as he settled on one. “How about ‘Fountai...

864 - Mental Evaluation VI (Do They Know?)

“Why stop at fourteen? And why only test on humans and not other conscious species?” the evaluator asked, his tone shifting to one of analytical curiosity. From a rational standpoint, halting at just fourteen when there were still numerous variables left unexplored didn’t quite make sense.

"While Adam’s brain was undergoing the organification process, an ethical meeting was convened to revise the empire’s research ethics code to address this unprecedented situation. Although w...

863 - Mental Evaluation V (Was it Luck?)

“So, what happened to the brain after it fully transformed into an organic one? Did it continue to sustain itself with mana, or did it require normal human nutrition?”

Amir didn’t hesitate this time. “During the transformation process, it remained sustained by mana. But the moment the conversion was complete, the brain started showing signs of an energy crisis. Its cells began running out of energy, which triggered an emergency response from the monitoring AI. To prevent irrever...