Chapter 25- Universe Lore Part II
It was only half an hour later that both Marco And Polo woke up. First was Polo to wake up, following him just a couple of minutes later was Marco. Seeing both excitement and confusion on their faces Oliver knew that there were still many things that were out of their understanding. After all, not everybody had the privilege to get isekai'd to another planet.
But on second thought... he was not sure if that was also true or not.
"How about this, we take some time digesting all the information that was giving to us and then meet later to discuss about what to do from now on? Either way, the shop will be closed till master comes back, so we should at least get as much information as we can from AI's before he comes back. Then we can discuss with him what we know." said Oliver
"Sigh, you are right there are still many things I don't understand and I guess it's the same with you two. How about we sleep over it and talk tomorrow?"
Both Oliver and Polo nodded to Marco's suggestion.
They finally finished their meal in quiet and went to their respective rooms.
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Back in Oliver's room, Oliver was sitting on a chair next to the table while a quill in his hand. Of and on he would scribble something on the paper.
"Tell me Nana, what more can you tell me about.... well everything?"
//Hmmm, let me think where to start.//
"Try to explain from as far back as you can."
//Ok, but let me warn you first, because of your authority level at 0 most of the information is not available to me thus only the most common information that is available to everyone, is the only thing I can tell.//
//As for the authorization stuff, I will explain later.//
"Hmm, I understand."
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//It is said aeons ago when the universe was made, the first to come to be were the Gods, the firstborn. The all-powerful beings who could create or destroy worlds themselves. They were the supreme beings that governed the very essence of the universe itself.//
//Universe continues to grow, more and more with each cycle of time more and more races were born. The Dragons, the elves, the fairies, the giants, one after another were born. They grew, they reproduced, they created, they prospered.....they hunted, they killed, they destroyed, they languished. But never did the Gods interfere.//
//Billions of species and races came into existence. But never did the Gods intervene... Until one day, when they finally bestowed the power of karma to the supreme races.//
//You see Karma has always existed in our universe. It was, even before Gods were not. Just like the universe, it always grew, more and more. But except the firstborn, no one knew how to use the most primordial power given to us by this universe.//
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//And then came the great ruination... I have already told you what happened after that. All the killing and destruction, till the Gods interfered for the second and the last time, and bound the supreme races through the power of God of Oaths.//
//This era was known as the dark era.//
"Wait wait wait... hold on a second. The God of Oaths? There is even a God of Oaths?"
//You need to understand that every concept will or can have a God for it. The God of Wealth, The God of Luck, The God of Oaths and many others just like them. But that is not something that you should not worry about right now. After all, you might not have anything to do with Gods your entire life.//
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Oliver got a bit depressed knowing that his existence meant nothing in this vast universe, just like an ant on a roadside or maybe worse.
//Sigh, Oliver you don't need to be depressed. You are not an exception, humans overall are a very tiny and insignificant race in our vast universe. Humans come at one of the bottom feeders in the hierarchy.//
"Is it that bad? I mean how long have humans been present in this universe? With the greed of humans', I doubt they would have liked to stay at the bottom for much longer. They would have clawed their way up either by hook or crook."
//Yes you are not wrong. Human's greatest strength is their greed and their ability to adapt to any situation. But you see human race is just barely a couple of billions of years old. After all, they were not born from this universe.//
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Seeing the confused look on Oliver's face Nana knew that she had to further elaborate.
//From the start of this universe billions and billions of species were born. Some survived... and some did not. But humans, they were not originally a part of this universe.//
//Humans were created. A couple of billions of years ago by the Goddess of Time. When this happened, all of the supreme races were shocked after all Gods usually didn't participate in the universe, especially this intimately.//
//When all of them asked her why had she done such a thing, she didn't reply and just said not to eliminate humans from existence.//
//This piqued the interest of the supreme races in humans. Thus resulting in humans becoming slaves and experimental subject. But humans had disappointed the supreme races extremely.//
//Humans neither had strong bodies nor were highly intelligent, they could not even use karma. In fact, it was as if they lacked the affinity for karma. Karma produced by humans was scarce in comparison to all other races. After concluding that this might be because humans were not originally born from this universe, they lost interest in humans and left them alone to survive.//
//After all, even as slaves humans weren't much valuable. Nor did they have much on their bones to become livestock.//
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Initially, Oliver just shocked. Listening to the history of humans and about their origin.
But as the story progresses, the slow forming frown on his face turned into full-blown rage. Even if he was neither patriotic nor devoted to anything in particular, he was still a human. Even if he didn't care about more than 99% of humans, just the feeling of being an insignificant piece of trash in the eyes of these so-called 'supreme races' royally pissed him off.
//Listen Oliver, I am not trying to rile you up, but this is the truth. This is the real situation of humans in this universe. Humans as a race are always struggling, but at least they are true to their nature. Their endless hunger is always pushing them forward on a road much longer than they can fathom.//
Oliver knew that although Nana was saying the truth, his heart wasn't ready to accept it.
He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm the boiling volcano inside of him.
Only after a couple more deep breaths did he say.
"You are right, there is no point in getting angry at things that are much out of my reach."
"But as much as I try, it is just pissing me off. Even though I know there is no reason for it, I can't help wish to beat the crap out of these 'supreme races'."
"Who the fuck do they think they are. Do they think they are gods or something? Fucking assholes."
//Yes, you are not wrong. They are gods to humans.//
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"Could you stop taking their side?"
//But it is as you just said...//
"God damn women let me vent for a single second."
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It was only a couple of minutes later when Oliver finally came back to his normal calm and carefree attitude.
//Are your calm now? You should not get angry much, it's not good for your health. Getting too much angry causes your body to release huge amounts of cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream, which over the long term, interfere with the body's ability to heal itself.//
"What now you are my doctor too?"
//Yes and on that note. You should cut down on the large amount of carbohydrates that you have been eating. Your diet isn't balanced at all, mostly due to all of the cooking you are doing for yourself. And although you won't get fat especially due to you practising the internal mana manipulation and all the exercise you do each day. It still isn't good for your body, you need to add more protein and more complex carbohydrates to your daily meal.//
//For tomorrow either get a professional cook for yourself, or I will make a proper diet chart for you and you could cook according to that.//
"Sigh, yes mom."
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It was then that Arthur that had been as if sleeping finally spoke.
{Tell me, since you know so much of stuff...}
{What about me? Who am I? What am I? What's my purpose?}
//The truth is I have no idea. I have no information regarding what you are.//
//This may be because Oliver's authority level is 0 and there is limited information related to you.//
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//Or you might be a unique existence itself.//
//I am not sure either way. As for who you are... You are Arthur.. arent you? I mean even if you are unique, does it really matter? Even humans don't have any identity in this universe but still are struggling to achieve something. Aren't you the same?//
//As for what you should do? That is even simpler to answer. Do whatever you want to, I mean I doubt Oliver would stop you.//
Arthur went silent again.
It was then that Oliver finally asked," Tell me Arthur, was this the reason why you here quiet this whole time?"
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{Since we came here... to this planet I have been wondering what my place in all of this is. As I saw you fit back into society pretty quickly, my doubts just grew. Even though I knew I am different from you I couldn't help but wonder what if it was me instead of you.}
"Sigh, Arthur you don't need to worry. Even if you are not a human, it doesn't matter. Nana is right, do whatever you want. I neither have the right or desire to control you nor stop you from doing what your heart desires. Even if you don't wanna stay, I won't force otherwise."
{Don't you get it, I am not the 'system' that we thought I was. At best I am just a talking machine that can think for itself. I won't be of any use to you especially since now you have Nana. She is better than me in every single way, I am just a waste.}
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"Listen Arthur, I don't care."
"I don't care if you are not a special system. Neither do I care if you are a human or not."
"I don't care if you are useful to me or not. I do consider you as someone close to me and it is not because you were some kind of cheat for me given my God or something to make me op as hell. This is the reality, not some webnovel and neither am I some kind of orphan mc... Well, maybe orphan but not the second part even if I got isekai'd."
"My point it is you are you. And you are Arthur, do whatever the fuck you want man."
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After a long moment of contemplation Arthur finally replied
{I see}
Even though it was not much, but his voice did sound as he had much of his burden lifted off his back.
Even though he didn't have one.
//Well not to ruin your bromoment, but even I have some things to complain about. First... 'just a talking machine'? Did you just say that Arthur... Do you know how rude as well as racist that was to an AI like myself? You say that, even though you have a true soul unlike me who just has an artificial one? Do you know how much it hurts?//
"Ok now calm down Nana. Arthur didn't mean it like that, I am sure."
//Don't bud in in this Oliver, I was talking to Arthur//
{Aaaa *sweating profusely* I didn't mean it like that Nana. That was not my intention...}
//Then what were your intentions HUH? what were you trying to say earlier that I am also worthless? Nothing more than just a Nokia 3310 with a speaker attached to it?//
{No no no... I definitely didn't say that.}
"Yeah Nana, Arthur didn't say anything like that."
//Oliver didn't I just tell you to shut up?//
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And then went on and on for one more hour.