Chapter 11 World Diagram (1/2)
”Umm… is this a common occurrence?” Alex asked Clint as the announcement of the robotic voice went on.
”Well, if it is a weak Intruder, killing them will be just a piece of cake for the Espers, but for something like a Class-S Intruder, lockdowns are really necessary.” Clint said as he made a move in his board game. ”Hahaha! Wifey, let's see if you can still win now!”
”….” Alex fell into a silence as he remembered what Clint told to him about the relationship between the Espers and the Intruders.
According to Clint, around 1000 years ago, nobody that lives in this planet are Espers. All of the people at that time were all 'normal' humans.
But then one day, a powerful gamma ray burst went through the planet, and this gamma ray burst broughtcountless changes in the planet.
Majority of the living beings died, as the heat and energy inside a gamma ray burst were extremely fatal to living beings.
If the scientists in Alex's world saw this, they will exclaim that this gamma ray burst is a world-ending calamity.
But not everyone died from that gamma ray burst, including humans.
Even if they were few, some humans survived the initial disaster.
But for these surviving humans, something within them changed.
They were different from the normal humans.
They gained the power to manipulate the objects and even concepts around them just with their mind alone.
They were the first Espers.
With that power in hand, the humans were able to redominate the whole planet, and just after 1,000 years, they were back as the apex species.
Even their technology had changedas both Esper Abilities and Technology improved mutually with each other.
This prosperity in human power and level of technology ushered the Golden Age of Humanity.
However, that gamma ray burst brought in something else.
500 years after the gamma ray burst incident, a race of foreign beings suddenly appeared amongst humanity.
These beings have varying abilities and properties, but they all have one thing in common.
And that was that all of these beings wanted to kill the humans.
Up until now, nobody knows where these beings come from. They just spontaneously appear at a certain place before anyone could expect it.
Because of this and the fact that these beings wield powerful abilities too, most of an Esper's job usually deals with combat against these beings.
Because of the nature of their arrival, these beings were just called Intruders.
When the Intruders first appeared, humanity suffered a lot, since they were unable to anticipate where the Intruders will appear. Many powerful Espers died because of this.
But these problems were alleviated when the first quantum computer was created.
By pooling all the possible resources the humanity can use, they were able to create thestrongest quantum computer of all time, which was called the World Diagram.
The processing power of the World Diagram was so great that it can monitor the whole planet 24/7, 365 days a year with all of its cameras.
As long as an Intruder gets detected by one its cameras, the World Diagram will immediately take note of its arrival.
The World Diagram will then record this Intruder's location, and it will also estimate the Intruder's level of strength.
An Intruder's strength will be ranked in Letter System, with Class-F as the weakest, and Class-Z as the strongest
[F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, Z]
The World Diagram will then send a warning signal to the nearby Espers, telling them about this certain Intruder.
This efficient information-gathering system by the World Diagram had allowed the humanity to push back the unrelenting invasion of the Intruders.
When Alex heard about this part, he smiled wryly, as he realized that when he was brought to this Planet, the World Diagram must have mistaken him to be an Intruder.
And it actually treated him as a Class-S! Alex was not sure if he should feel proud of that.
It was a good thing that Alex changed his face before entering the Dragon Esper City, or else he might have been shot to death with lasers too.
But aside from defending against the Intruders, the World Diagram is doing other things too like weather forecast, business management, Esper training and many more.
In fact, one can say that the current human civilization fully relies on the World Diagram.
If the World Diagram somehow gets destroyed or taken, then humanity will surely take a hit.
This fact alone made Alex extremely angry.
After all, his mission was to destroy the World Diagram.
Won't the very act of him doing this lead to a catastrophic life for humanity?
Alex of course is not happy that his mission might lead to deaths of countless innocent people.
So much was his anger that he confronted Asteria about this fact last night.
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(Flashback)
”So what if many will die because of your mission?” Asteria said as she gave Alex an indifferent look. ”Your mission is to destroy the World Diagram. Nothing more, nothing less.”
”But the World Diagram is the pillar of the humanity!” Alex exclaimed as he glared at Asteria. ”Do you want me to just destroy it?”
”Well, if you don't want to destroy it, then don't do anything. But if you do that, you will be the one dying…” Asteria said as she closed her eyes. ”Well, its still up to you if you will do it or not.”
”...….”
”Fine. Then I will just solve both of the problems at the same time.” Alex muttered to himself as his eyes glowed with determination.
”I… will find a way to destroy the World Diagram and keep the humanity safe and intact at the same time! ”
”Wow, good luck with that.” Asteria said with her eyes closed.
”Just the act of trying to destroy the World Diagram is already hard. And now you want to find a way to keep the humans safe once the World Diagram is destroyed? You are just digging a grave for yourself!”