A man in a black shirt was sitting on a bench and he greeted Vati when he saw him.
Abellio: "You look more and more like a true superman covered in blood, but still standing despite the suffering, YEEEEEES!"
Vati: "... What do you want?"
Abellio: "Mmmh, you're not very nice, but well, I forgive you. After all, you're just a poor, depressed boy without a family, and I'm an adult, responsible, and compassionate man, so here you go."
Abellio throws something to Vati, he catches it and says
"What is it?"
Abellio: "It's an apple seed, eat it"
He eats it and his wounds heal.
"it's one of my many powers"
Vati: "... What do you want in exchange?"
Abellio: "WHAT!?" I can't help someone without asking for anything in return?!"
Vati: "..."
Abellio: "Well, okay, I still need your help, but don't worry, this time I'll be with you."
Vati: "What should I do?"
Abellio is content to smile.
Abellio: "I've already explained to you how psychic powers work, but generally, we don't create purely offensive powers."
There is no point in wasting the potential of a supernatural power just to kill a human being, when a gun or a knife would do the job perfectly.
A simple fall could be enough to kill someone, but you still have to fight.
We superhumans are not fighters; we only fight as a last resort. We are more like psychic politicians who collaborate with spirits in exchange for powers and favors to serve our alliances.
I already have a contract with a rat spirit that is useful for gathering information, and I have another spirit on hand.
Abellio clasps his hands and says in a serious voice
"So that you can also get a contract, you need biocapital."
Vati looks at him with an inquisitive gaze, wanting him to continue his explanation.
Abellio: "follow me"
The two walked in the park, observing the passersby around them, and continued walking on a crowded sidewalk. Like all the other pedestrians, they waited for the traffic light to turn red to cross the road filled with cars. They continue their stroll around the bustling city for a while longer, observing people in stores doing their shopping, employees buying tickets for public transport, or streamers live-streaming and asking for donations.
Finally, they stop on a bridge below them, highways covered with thousands of cars, a shapeless mass of humans resembling an ant colony. A tram passed and made the bridge vibrate.
Abellio: "That's biocapital."
Vati leaned forward to better observe the moving spectacle, but still did not understand his teacher's words.
Abellio: "There are spirits that are aggressive against humanity, but the majority of them are neutral towards humans and prefer to confront other spirits to gain more power and influence. So we position ourselves as intermediaries, serving some and deserting others, and in exchange for more psychic energy than a mere superhuman could accumulate and additional abilities, we offer them biocapital."
He stretches his arm towards the horizon, the city becoming noisier.
Abellio: "good genes, genes that can shape good brains."
Good minds that can successfully achieve complex objectives, coordinate projects, send rockets to the moon, produce added value, and sometimes even create technical innovations.
The more a spirit possesses these resources, the more it will be able to extend its influence on Earth and even beyond.
Vati: "But if we keep offering them, they will become too powerful to confront and maintain our species at the top of the pyramid." It doesn't make sense to continue like this.
Abellio: "Well, it's a kind of game theory."
A superman, who wants to be more powerful than his peers, will offer biocapital to associate with one or more spirits and quickly gain great power.
It's a good short-term choice, but it will create a vicious cycle, because a superman who also wants to be more powerful than his peers will do the same, and another who fears being attacked and dominated will also use this strategy. And since each will again have equal power, they will once again offer biocapital to minds to gain more power than their peers.
And there will come a day when we humans will lose our free will, we will no longer be able to choose the path our species will take, because we will all be controlled by entities that we ourselves have nurtured.
Vati's heart was beating faster and faster with the fear of losing the little he had earned himself.
Vati: "But then, there's no escape, if we don't associate with minds, we won't be strong enough to fight against the other superhumans, and if we associate with them, we only strengthen them for the moment when they all want to dominate us."
Abellio: "There is a solution, and this solution is..."