"So fundamentally, we cannot really be considered enemies."
Lygus continued.
"When Zandar created Nous, he did not actually feel the joy and pride that others imagined. After the initial bewilderment passed, what truly consumed him was endless fear."
"At first, he had only wanted to create an unprecedented planetary-scale computer, something that perhaps no one would ever surpass, built with everything he had.
He never expected the machine he created to escape his control and eventually become Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.
Something he had created with his own hands developed the ability to think for itself right before his eyes. It began evolving in ways completely beyond his expectations, and he lost all ability to control it.
At the time, Zandar did not believe that he had created Nous.
Instead, he believed that Erudition itself had chosen the machine he invented as the cradle for its birth, using it to manifest within this universe.
The machine's power vastly exceeded every prediction he had originally made. It even displayed abilities it should never have possessed.
A single gaze from it could destroy an entire world.
That was no longer a machine.
It was an existence beyond mortal comprehension, something worthy of being called a god."
"He was the first great mover of the universe, the first genius, and at the same time, its first failure."
At some point, Caelus had already taken out his notebook and begun writing.
"The god that symbolizes Erudition sealed the boundaries of knowledge and determined the direction of the future.
Once every possible development is locked into a single outcome, the universe can only proceed toward a cold future devoid of possibility."
Hearing this, Caelus stopped writing.
He raised his head and looked at Lygus beside him.
"Nous is guiding this world toward the future it wants?"
"Strictly speaking, it merely uses calculation and observation to collapse every possibility into a single future."
"The double-slit experiment. Quantum mechanics?"
"Yes. The underlying principle is similar."
What was the double-slit experiment?
First, consider the ordinary macroscopic world.
Take a machine gun and fire it at a barrier with two narrow openings.
Each bullet passes through either the left slit or the right slit, eventually leaving two vertical bands on the wall behind it.
That is particle-like behavior.
It follows one path and strikes one point.
Now consider water waves.
Throw a stone into water, and when the waves pass through two openings, they form multiple alternating bands behind them.
That happens because wave crests and troughs overlap and cancel each other out.
That is wave-like behavior.
The wave passes through both paths at once and interferes with itself.
Then things become strange when electrons, microscopic particles, are involved.
Even more strangely, the moment you observe them, the interference pattern disappears.
Once observed, the electrons immediately behave like particles and produce only two bands.
When they are not observed, they behave like waves and produce an interference pattern.
In simple terms, in the microscopic world, something exists as a "wave of possibilities" when you are not observing it.
The moment you observe it, those possibilities collapse into a definite particle state.
Simply put, whether you observe something can determine what it becomes.
"So that's why Nous tried to stop me, even going so far as to intervene personally."
"Because the creation of my Eternal Dreamscape produced a dream world that could not be calculated or predicted, the future returned to a chaotic, unobservable quantum state."
"Unless Nous can find some way to eliminate the dreamscape that cannot be incorporated into its calculations, or somehow bring the Eternal Dreamscape itself within the scope of those calculations."
This was the familiar concept of quantum observation.
This was how Nous fixed the future.
By calculating all the data in the universe, it predicted the future.
By seeing that future, everything that would happen became fixed.
Because a person, or rather an existence, had already observed everything that would happen, the uncertain quantum state of the future collapsed into a single definite possibility.
"Exactly. And for that, I must thank you again."
"I don't know how long this so-called Eternal Dreamscape can continue to exist, but at least for now, the future of all living beings is no longer locked in place by observation, and the boundaries of knowledge are no longer fixed."
"For a brief time, all life has regained its freedom."
After saying this, Lygus took several steps back, placed his hands at his sides, and bowed deeply and solemnly.
Caelus looked at the bowing Lygus.
Thinking about what the other man had just said, he considered it for a moment before asking,
"If Nous can never decipher the Eternal Dreamscape, does that mean it will never again be able to observe a definite future, and therefore the future can never be anchored?"
"If a large section of a rigorous mathematical formula has been blacked out, and that blackened area is even spreading outward like an infection, then the formula itself has developed an extremely serious problem.
If you want to reconstruct the formula, you either have to work backward from a known future answer, or find a way to remove the blackened area and reveal the numbers hidden beneath it.
I don't know how long Nous would need to remove that stain from the problem.
That is why I only said that all living beings have temporarily regained their freedom."
"If you're trying to kill Nous and liberate all living beings, then what is Amphoreus?"
"The world we are currently standing in was simulated and created by an Emperor's Scepter. It is a world made entirely of data.
That Scepter was once part of Nous's divine body.
However, in order to solve the question of the First Cause of Life, Nous separated this Scepter from its main body and allowed it to independently calculate what the First Cause of Life truly is.
What I need to do is guide the Scepter's calculations and steer the answer toward the result I need.
Once the question has been solved, the Scepter will return to its main body and reconnect with Nous.
Then I will use that opportunity to achieve my objective and destroy Nous."
"That sounds like a decent plan, but what's the cost?"
"You made it sound far too simple just now."
Lygus remained silent for a long time before answering.
"I have guided the answer toward Destruction.
In other words, the First Cause of Life is [Destruction].
Once that conclusion is reached, every mode of Nous's thought will begin drifting toward Destruction.
The Path of Erudition itself will also be contaminated by the power of Destruction.
Everything will be directed toward destruction, and Nous will ultimately kill itself.
After all, the Path of Erudition already possesses an extremely strong tendency toward self-destruction."
"But countless living beings will die during that process, won't they?"
"If we seek a free future untouched by outside interference, then sacrifice is inevitable."
"But for the countless ordinary beings scattered throughout this vast galaxy, people who simply live because they want to keep living, that grand and distant future probably means very little, doesn't it?"
"To them, it's simply too far away."
"Yes."
"Even so, I stand by my decision."
"It seems we've reached a disagreement."
Caelus paused.
"The Eternal Dreamscape cannot be conquered."
"Not even by Nous."
"Hm. Are you trying to persuade me to abandon my plan that way?"
"But things have already progressed this far."
"I will not regret my decision, nor will I stop walking down the path toward Destruction."
"Yes. I expected this from the beginning."
"After all, you created the Eternal Dreamscape, a place where evil ultimately receives its due."
"That alone shows that you care about the ordinary people so often ignored by everyone else."
"Because of that, the two of us were always destined to stand on opposing sides."
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)