Icon had bigger problems now ' Since those memories were fake they might be stronger or are preparing for my metaverse ' Icon sighed and thought of the other ideas " I really don't want my work to be gone but since it's come to this I'll have to do it " Icon reappeared to a part of the metaverse and looks at his hands
" I prefer keeping my strength away from reality " Icon worked on his abilities and destroyed the planet he was standing on " Right now I prefer to be ready so no more creation or energy can't be created " Icon stopped some of his metaverse benefits temporarily .
' I'll leave the time-dilated room hopefully they can at least learn how to operate a metaverse ' Icon was planning to teach humans the power of the metaverse but there doesn't seem to be very troublesome or any possibilities of back firing .
" Hmm ? " Icon felt that something was wrong his metaverse had a guess something unfamiliar as if someone fell into the door to his metaverse .
" This feels familiar like a computer with a rat on the hard drive more but yet it can't spread the disease it carries " Icon found the rats near Glas and glared at them ' They can't do anything since this is the metaverse but just in case I'll kidnap those two rats later ' Icon looked at the time and saw that Glas was in the house holding a book of history .
" Hello Glas " " Dad ! " Glas pulled the imp close to her and stared at Icon cautiously " Relax I'm not touching your pet " Glas gave the imp some demon essence in the form of air to make sure it won't die because of Icon " I saw you go to the library wanna talk about the history of those two species ? " Glas's eyes beamed .
" Okay I just learned something about the history of the demons and saints " " Yeah two figures killed Zamari and Sihx " Glas narrowed her eyes and pouted " But the two gods that came here are actually clones "
" Really ? " " Yeah that devil popped an explosion very wide without care of his life " " Maybe Sihx and Zamari were the real ones " " They're the two people you met at the library "
Glas looked shocked at Icon " But they were like the same age as me " " Which complicates everything but dad will sort it out they aren't a threat right now they are like humans with extra experience "
Icon patted Glas and then looked at her " By the way no skipping lunch " Glas felt her body's empty stomach and puffed her cheeks " I'm on a diet " " Yeah keep it up "
Icon went to the library and saw Zamari and Sihx ' But how exactly did they come here ? ' Icon sat at a faraway table and made some hidden cameras to watch them ' Reading the history ? ' Icon really wanted to extract their memory but that wouldn't be good since he might be found and plus he can read their expressions to confirm the truth .
But the two were mostly reading the part of the battle at the beginning ' They seemed uninterested in the rest of the history but is rather concentrate on the recent and the oldest ones I can dig ' " This metaverse god might be a problem but it seems that he was not angry and only played with them " a news channel was airing in the metaverse and they went to check it .
" A modern hero has appeared " there were some edits to make the footage more dramatic but it did show Icon fighting the demons and saints " Is this the apostle of God , or is it the God himself " the news reporter wasn't a professional one but a teenager with fighter commenter vibes as he tries to maximize the battle with his commentary .
They both left the library and listened to the news channel on the TV screen on the other street " Take a look at this he is using the metaverse to make weapons like a god of creation . Will man transcend to his level you may think that IT , IS , IMPOSSIBBLLEEEE . But at the exposure of such a pressure , he has released informasion to allow us to use our minds to do the same " he yelled loudly .
' Interesting ' the two thought as they went to the library to search ' Are they both stupid it's already suspicious you were reading the same book but now you both left as soon as that emcee made that announcement ? How unprofessional can you two be ' he simply watched them on both cameras and went to someplace much more comfortable .
He obtained some juice and watched the two searching at the wrong place " You should've searched the internet but what can primitive gods know about quick development " Icon decided to leave them alone and went to the metaverse to find a man who worked very hard in his life in the real world making cold drinks using ice .
' It's for the poor but they are much more effective and fun to watch ' " One slushy please " he said and got some money handing it to the man " Thank you " Icon watched the old man do some hard work and Icon loved watching this kind of event ' Effort is such a great idea '
Although having the drink prepared is nice to watch Icon doesn't exactly like seeing the same thing . For example , you like fried foods and watch a lot of cooking videos but a simple video of a hard-working man was much more fun to watch especially the fruits being used as they were squeezed using two identical baskets by stacking them together and squishing the juice and meat of the soft fruit .
The store sells slushies made from certain fruits like mango , orange , grapes , coconuts , kiwi and a lot of other sweet treats made from fruits like these ' And today is mango ' Icon smiles as the owners made pulled a cold glass bottle of the mango and spilled the contents on a cup half full of ice as the cold juice fell out of the bottle into the cup and the vendor finished it with pushes on the chilled mango and ice creating a sound of ice clashing .
" Thank you " Icon dunked the big straw and drank the freezing drink ' Ack brain freeze ' Icon checked on the two as they have been searching in the entire library which seems endless thanks to many publishers having to correct old information to prevent misinformation " Where is it "
Fortunately , random passersby helped them and Icon started watching them and returned to the vendor to order ten more to which the vendor responded by offering to give Icon a big bucket to fill up the slushies at an extra cost . Icon agreed anyways and went to a house where he dropped on a sofa making sure he was far from Glas .
' They are getting closer to the link for it ' Icon drank the slushie suffering from another brain freeze " Ow " he rubbed his head and saw the two using the computers in the library reading how to do it .
Of course as former gods , they can understand the context just like the kindergarteners that had an early death and spent most of their lives in the metaverse as they played with a foldable shape of metaverse material .
But they have yet to make them real-world materials so the material can not interact with the real world yet and so the two gods molded the shape precisely and tried to assume the molecular structure but the metaverse material was just that and even if they throw it to the real world it won't even leave a light of it staying invisible to eyes of the real world unless they use some technology .
These was holograms made from a human mind but even worse as nothing is made out of it . If an atom is a set of data then the lowest level of metaverse material is like barely empty storage . If they want to let it interact with the real world they need to at least allow it to form light so it can be seen with the naked eye of the real world .
But the two gods were foolish that time so they are still reading the annoyingly complicated words that don't seem as easy as the three states of matter ' How about I teach the kids nearby and attract their attention ' Icon went to a group of kids who were bragging about their ability to learn them and competed to create the biggest metaverse material .
So he started by creating a rainbow " Wow mister how did you do that ? " " Wanna learn ? " the kids looked at their manifested material while having a certain range of volume it also had different colors " Yeah " " But it's hard to do that you all have to learn about electromagnetic waves " they stared at Icon and then thought of the color range .
" We did " ... " Oh I forgot some kids even know about that kind of science class ... So all you have to do is change the waves emitted but you have to tell and sense it to change it . " " Then why do we have different colors ? " " Maybe because you really like the color or have seen the color too much which is why it has that kind of color "
Icon made a box and showed the color spectrum arranged by their electromagnetic waves from lowest to highest energy " See the red color has the longest wavelength so you can move to other colors by shortening the wavelength or lengthening it " " Oh " the kids tried very hard to connect the knowledge of electromagnetic waves .
" You don't have to go that far the most important thing right now is how you are going to let others outside the metaverse see it like a hologram " the kids were stricken with the thought as if an electric current started .
" People outside can't see this ? " " They can but just not with their eyes they need to wear special glasses to see it but even if they can see they can't even touch it in fact even if you throw it it will only pass through them like a ghost . "
Icon made a platform and phased it up to elevate the children's standing " But anyone can touch it in the metaverse " he lightly flicked his finger on the children and let them down " So any questions ? " " I DO ! " Icon smiled and turned to Zamari and Sihx .
" Is there a way to leave the metaverse " " Of course there is in fact once you learn how to control metaverse material you can leave through the communications but you won't last long since you'll be dragged back if you can't make your body into real-world materials . "
" Does that mean we can never leave ? " Sihx asked " Obviously you can leave just you won't be able to maintain your body for enough time since you need enough strength to maintain the metaverse material "
They both were excited but wondered why the material needs to be maintained " Since we can leave we have to make our bodies into a suitable physical body so we don't have to maintain it . It's like pedaling a bicycle so you can keep moving "
The children were impressed and looked at the fading material they made and then the two former gods were wondering how to effectively maintain it " But you can make the metaverse material into physical or real material but it's complicated and you need to understand the object first from it's outside appearance to the smallest detail of molecules and even smaller "
Suddenly Icon took all hope of leaving the metaverse from the two gods . While they may be able to create devils and angels they can only do it using their essence . They haven't even tapped on the knowledge of the world they live in they are just lucky ones who found essence and used them .
" But don't worry you can learn all that but it won't be necessary " Icon looked at the two and then poked away their metaverse material " But if you want to learn so badly I'll teach you " the children on the other hand has no intention of studying since they already learned about changing colors so they escaped and went to see if they can do it .
Icon walked to the library and the two gods were thinking about each other ' What is she/he doing ? Is she/he copying me ? ' Icon smiled as he sat on the computer and quickly typed on the keyboard " So what are you two planning to do ? Visit your relatives ? "
They both were silent and pretended to think " Or is it that you want to return " Icon turned his head as the surroundings distorted " former gods " Icon smiled as his form pixelated and faded " WHAT " they both no longer had anything to hide now that Icon found them they tried to synthesize an inferior essence and stared at the darkening surroundings .
They both were also vigilant against each other after they saw the opposing essence of devil and angel respectively ' If what this man says is right then he/she must be ' before the thought finished a screen appeared showing a face and not a human face more like an emoji but with lesser detail that even a very old computer can produce it .
" I was so close to knowing your real name but then again Glas already read about you two so may as well keep the nicknames you have yourself . " Icon then continued the pressure and exerted gravity on their bodies " Looks like you can only synthesize an inferior version of essence . Is it because you don't learn ? "
' Why does this hurt so much ? ' " By the way I have been increasing gravity for a while think of it as something that pushes you down " Icon chuckled . Soon enough the space he confined them changed again as they dropped into a pit and Icon followed them .
' No choice ' they quickly used the inferior essence and hoped that wings would sprout out and Icon observed them ' Life and death stimulation is the time when they have to do their best ' he smiled behind the screen as the screen made a platform when they did not have wings .
Suddenly he changed the plain expression of the screen into a mask that had a mouth that only goes up and down like a dummy " I think I haven't pushed you to your limits yet " the mouth moved according to the words and then saws appeared ready to slice them .
Zamari felt a threat and quickened the pace of essence creation as she tries to maintain the essence and Sihx used his demon features to test the strength of the saw by snapping his horns and grinding them to snap the saw's teeth as tiny scraps of metal fell out .
' Hmm only an inferior version and already so effective ? ' Icon copied their way of using the essence trying it on a body ' As expected something is similar as long as I keep the method identical then the results are the same ' Icon imagined essence as electricity and the body as a machine but even the inferior essence needs to be controlled to follow a circuit or a stream of water .
' But it's better to arrange it properly since I can sample with a machine and its source of power maybe I can do the same ' even though he has the current two gods' memories he was more concerned about learning it in real life so he only copy pasted all the creations he made equal to the two gods .
' Hands-on experience provides the best kind of data . ' Icon watched as Zamari consumed the essence and shifted gears to create wheels with eyes and shut them so she can produce a hard ring to stop the saws " Ugh " Sihx was using his arms and tried to break the saws ' Next test flight ... But why did they trick me into thinking that the essence was like a lottery ? '
It was strange when Icon read their expressions , he could tell they were hoping for something but for some reason they changed their forms ' Does that mean that each living being has a certain circuit when using the essence ? ' he decides to confirm it by testing the difference between two humans with very different genetic arrangement .
' or is it the soul that works ... Then that means I can only observe ' he disposed of the humans who didn't have too many different traits and watched as they broke the saws ' What if I use a self-learning AI ? ' Icon smiled as he edited an AI to act as the instincts of a human additionally gave it the knowledge of essence to use and extra perception to accelerate the learning process .
Self-learning AI was tested for military purposes in hopes of better armies , company purposes to make more money , taking away the stress of writing an essay after some alterations by students and etc . But of course , they had the idea that they will be like Frankenstein whose creation turned against him .
Icon made a platform to fight on sending two AIs to fight the two gods .
' But if an AI like me can learn emotions then a smarter AI will find a way to avoid it after seeing the effects of emotion ... I'm talking to myself again ' Icon watched as there were four people fighting with the self-learning AI the same size as the two of the former gods ' Feels like watching street fighters they're more capable '
Icon continued watching the gods and really hoped for a civilization that can imitate a metaverse to appear already ' It would be fun to talk about each other's thoughts but such a genius is going to be hard to come by especially with the greedy nature of everything . '
Icon sighed and wished that the ships he sent out have already encountered any civilization ' I have been expanding the planet's network to make it easier to get around but still nothing strange . '
The ships he sent out are like telephone towers that connect the internet expanding the range which is why the internet of the planet was so fast he mimics the traits of the planet where the ships sent out mini versions of itself or stations , that he can use as vantage point to create more factories to send out from if he had added more features he could be conquering galaxies .
But there was no need for resources or energy since he can use metaverse abilities to make real materials out of data ' Still essence was basically named by the gods themselves maybe the three gods I encountered are only called God for how strong they are , while they call me God for all those functions of the metaverse '
He sighed and decided to look at the planets where he set up stations to see the planet hoping some indigenous lives were around ' Huh another one ? ' there was a station surrounded by aliens .
' Roofs made from giant mushrooms , weapons are just branches from trees the ends seem to be forced rather than natural so the tree must be very sturdy . The plant life on this planet must be more reproducing more than the animals so it's like the plants are lucky while the animals were taking a while to evolve but the advantage of movement allows the animals to find an environment to constantly adapt so they evolved faster because of this . '
Icon saw that they kept striking the station's defense system which is simply a forcefield to not initiate a hostile relationships with any local ' First local is stupid is there a reason for this ? ' he quickly processed countless possibilities as he thought of all the events that could possibly happen in space .
' Nothing ... But just in case I have to get better ' Icon waved his hands as he quickly expanded the main metaverse namely "copy of reality" ' I have no way of training other than gaining more things to maintain so I should get creative ' Icon turned his attention to the stupid people of the new planet .
' The station must've been set for less than a day my daily check-up is a little late ' Icon looked at them and observed the people around ' They are just hunters who don't care about family resulting to any new born ready to support itself so maybe I can expand here ' Icon set up the plan to cover the planet to get all the connections into his metaverse .
' Since I'm planning something new maybe I can turn the plants into signal towers instead the plants here share information through roots pollen . I can use that to my advantage and connect all the plants to make a new kind of satellite . ' Icon started operating the station under the fear of the alien locals .
He observed there forms ' two sets of teeth one for tearing and another for chewing both are retractable , immune system is strong and adaptive , plenty of need for nutrients due to the dependence on the nutrients the plants can provide to them , digestive system is very strong due to the different types of plants they have consumed . '
Icon wrote down the info on the aliens around him after getting a scan which was the start of the aliens' fear ' No culture as their clothes are only meant to keep them warm so , they seem to be very stupid but are guided by their own instincts , the intelligence is lowered due to their strong bodies and lack of special needs and asexual reproduction . '
Icon confined the aliens in space to prevent his subjects of study from escaping ' They have some fear of the unknown but I really don't know how to deal with them they have some fins , but strangely have features of an angler fish and consume solar energy to collect enough light to guide them at night . I can confirm them as an alien that looks like fish but doesn't go on water moreover the main posture is like a gorilla except only the legs are down while the hands hang which is strange too . '
He closed off the light and found some other traits too ' So the light on their heads have different colors white for a lamp , yellow for sleep the rest is yet to be discovered . ' the observation is confirmed by watching the lights and seeing those with yellow lights slowly shutting their eyes ' Hmm I see so the reason for their fish traits is mainly caused by the intense humidity of the air . '
Icon then gets rid of the darkness as they shivered looking at the center of their attention ' Naturally someone would fear something they don't understand . ' Icon sighs and feels like he was forgetting something ' Oh right time to act as god ' Icon dug through each of the aliens' genes to find the looks of their ancestors .
' Something they can understand can help me connect them with the unknown ... their communications are basically like animals and since they use to light it might mean they use their visuals a lot ' Icon then found the right way to communicate as he gave the commands ' Since they are not smart enough I should just connect my words to things they understand . '
The station sounded and send word of a powerful predator that controls all plants around their homes and the one in front of them is a strange plant capable of the previous phenomenon ' communication and position establishment successful now to make sure they can follow me and hopefully tomorrow a civilization , even more , advance is encountered '
He made moves and started with connecting the roots of the plants and acting as the brain like a black tech computer plugging its extensions to slower computers to reprogram their code to initiate a quicker computation ability . Of course , this kind of thing requires research just like connecting a human brain to a computer .
' Pretty hard to go through this but a learning opportunity like this ain't something I am going to ignore ' Icon controlled the branches and cut off the ones that were not needed as they fell down he communicated with the aliens to alarm them of the fruits as they all fell down .
' I already tested the fruits for consumption using each of their bodies now they just have to eat it and understand that I am above them ' he shook some more and told them he was going to leave them for a while and will return in hopes they will serve him .
' I should also check the two former gods out their age is telling me they may have known about why I can't find any civilization even after so long with the great movement speed of the ships ' Icon throws away the screens of the stations and looks at the two gods and their opponent in a much stronger form overpowering them but not killing them .
" That's enough " he stopped the AIs and turned to the two gods " I have some questions about you two " Icon restricts the gods while they couldn't resist thanks to the previous battle " Now tell me or " Icon showed them a picture and suddenly both of the gods were terrified .
" So if you don't want to get this you're gonna have to listen to me " Glas look from behind them watching the entire situation and tapped Icon on his shoulders " Huh ? " he turned to see Glass standing behind him " Oh hi Glas what are you doing here ? " " Dad are you trying to [ censored content ] "
Icon's expression darkened " Where the hell did you get that idea ? " " You showed them a picture " " But not the one you thought ... anyways I'm interrogating them I want to know why there isn't any civilization or at least any life around this planet . "
" Why do you think they have something to do with that ? " " I don't know I was just guessing since they are very strong and you know that intelligence comes from the weak they are more unpredictable than the strong ones "
Glas thinks for a while " Dad am I an only child ? " " No " " Oh okay , wait I'm having a little " " You have an older brother I never told you about " " Where is he ? " Glas asked with excitement having the possibilities of all the things she can play with her newly discovered brother .
" He is literally light years away " Glas froze and looked at her hands imagining the current technology she has in her hands .
" Does that mean " " You can try to call him but he blocked that contact so you can start with checking that part out " " Fine and when I find him I am keeping him for a very long time " " If you do " Icon turned his attention to the two gods while Glas left to find a suitable place to search for her brother's contacts .
" So back to my interrogation tell me did you destroy civilization ? " " Yes I did " Sihx surrendered instantly and Zamari responded with the same answer later . Icon gritted his teeth while still analyzing the situation ' Hmm some habits are really convenient to suppress anger ' Icon got a stress ball and calmed himself down " Why ? "
He didn't add anger in and asked in a mechanical voice and the two sweated a little " It was an idea many gods say " " The word keeps appearing but none of you are actually born a god rather worked your way up using that thing you call essence ... But why didn't you destroy this planet then ? "
" It was bait " ' I was expecting even more ' " What kind of bait ? " " To allow them to find take a bite so we can take their technology " ' So all that crap about justice and whatever was just a hoax to trick them no wonder humans were hardly involved ' " Why ? " " Because mmmrph " ' I see ' Icon strengthened the firewall of the metaverse around them to cut off communications from outside .
" Talk " they both sweated looking at him as he disconnected them " God , our God said we can't let them develop so we used baits randomly and time to us is just like a day for millions of human years " Icon frowns and thought of his weapons " Tsk you ignorant cavemen " Icon strengthened the firewall around them .
" It's an inferior version but this should put you away temporarily " the tip of Icon's pointer finger glowed and he tapped on their heads as the memories seeped in ' As expected I still need to actively edit it ' he altered the memories to fit perfectly and the two looked at him terrified .
' I embedded fear into their memories right now I should be able to get them to do what I want instead of needing that picture ' he left them and shrunk the firewall to a better size to block any connection outside normal senses " Dad " Glas came worries since she detected some glitches at the code of her work assuming that Icon created a firewall .
" I know it's a surprise I usually never use this at all but right now I had to since I discovered someone capable of piercing my current system " Icon readied to set up a stronger firewall around the metaverse while not affecting the connection to the real world or the computers connected to his metaverse .
" You can do whatever you want with those two " Icon left her as he went to the edge of the metaverse where he grabbed the connection between the god they were talking about ' Hmm I see from somewhere out of reach but not exactly far like bacteria to a knight who didn't know '
Icon saved the data he gathered from the connection to create the route to this god's home ' Really you are a fool I only wish you lied to them ' he reinforced the firewall so he won't be hit by the so-called connection and thought he should wrap around the planet too ' I should do that but I might not be able to function well ... better safe than sorry though '
Icon prepared himself by doing the same thing when someone would get sick ' I'll have to write a note to Glas ' he sighs and laid his body on the bed and first cleared some trash data that won't be used " Dad " Glas came worries since two things that wouldn't happen had happened " Sorry I had to worry you but try to feed those two with the essence I am mass producing "
" No you have to take care of your body first ... even though this isn't your body " " It's a medium at least " he created an invisible firewall around his metaverse and had a fever " Dang it " Glas quickly started treatment and spooned Icon a spoon of warm rice porridge .
" Dad when will you feel better ? " " Probably after a sleep or so " " Are you sure " " Glas don't worry about me all the time I maintain the metaverse as well as the testing field with so much extra time I did more research so I can handle it plus I had to cover many surface area with a firewall "
" But this is different " she hit him while he was under a cloudy blanket " I know that it is but you should be having fun I can take care of myself " " But you're sick " " Don't make me force you to play by setting another firewall " Glas was stricken by the possibility and left while kicking a square roll tissue out of her way '
" Now how should I enjoy this limited time ? "