Book 9: Chapter 14:

Ryouta had a night to himself for once. All of his girlfriends were either busy in-game or, in Alice’s case, watching TV downstairs. Even Ryouta had moments that he didn’t want to spend in the virtual world, so he decided to do something else fun and exciting instead. And that fun and exciting thing… was sitting at his computer browsing random memes and videos on the internet, occasionally slightly smiling whenever something actually funny showed up.

Though, before going to the next video, he noticed something interesting pop up on the sidebar of the site he was on. There was a live interview going on with Jenson Clark, the creator of Kadi and Fantasy Tales Online.

That sounded like the most interesting thing to watch at the moment, and it had been a good time since he last watched anything involving him, so he gave it a shot and opened up the interview. It was already underway, but it looked like Ryouta only missed the first couple of minutes of it. The woman asking the interview questions wasn’t visible in the video, but Jenson Clark himself was. He looked like a man in his mid twenties despite pushing fifty. Then again, with how wealthy and famous he was, he had access to all of the latest technology and medicine to retain a youthful appearance. Not to mention that he was rich enough to have his own, private, self-sustaining space station to live in.

Despite all the debris in orbit around Earth and every new launch of satellites being a massive, risky ordeal often met with international backlash seeing as how the world’s governments were still doing their best to clean the space around Earth as much as possible, he still went and chose to live in a space station where he could be on his own with his work.

Though, technically, he had Kadi with him, so he wasn’t completely alone.

“I see!” the interviewer said. Ryouta missed what the question and his answer were. “So, you’ve said before that your motivation in life was to create the ultimate gaming experience. Is that really true? You did everything for the sole purpose of gaming?”

“That’s right,” Jenson replied. “I remember when I was a kid… I dreamt of a future where games were as realistic as reality. Games where we could truly live new lives within them. But with political collapse and climate change on the horizon, I knew that I would never get to experience that future without dealing with the more immediate problems first. Now, there wasn’t anything I could do about politics. Robert Shaw thankfully had something to do about that. What I could, however, do, was focus on the environment. Renewable energy, more efficient computer hardware, cleaner materials—I strived to make humanity’s footprint on the climate as small as possible. Even so, as… immoral as it might make me sound, I wasn’t doing that for the world nor was I doing it for humanity. I did it for my dream.”

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Gladly. I don’t get many opportunities to talk to anybody up here, so I’m happy to answer questions. That being said, everything I’ve done was with the intent to make my dream a reality. Renewable energy unlike anything we’ve seen before, efficient hardware, clean materials that could be produced in mass for computers and batteries—everything that I’ve done for the environment is being used for my dream. The technology I helped perfect for energy is what powers the grids used to keep the world of Fantasy Tales Online online. The hardware I created is what makes it possible to perform all the calculations needed for it. The materials meant I wouldn’t bankrupt the world several times over trying to afford everything. While it might look like I cared about the world… I didn’t, honestly. What I cared about was my dream. I didn’t do anything that I knew I wouldn’t someday be able to use for it.”

“I… I see. And you have faced controversy before regarding similar statements, haven’t you?”

“Of course. People don’t like to hear that I don’t care about them. But, why should I lie? History has been full of men in positions similar to me who lie about how they care about the people. They make empty promises and speak of their love for the world and humanity while destroying both in the process. Me? I saved both while admitting that I don’t truly care for either. How about you? If you have to choose between a politician who claims to care about you while continually implementing new policies that hurt you while destroying the environment, or a narcissist who only cares about his dream but still saves you and everybody you love in the process of pursuing his dream, who would you rather have?”

“I would rather have somebody who is honest and also cares about us.”

“But that wasn’t an option, not to mention it is even more unrealistic than the tooth fairy. In fact, I would sooner believe the tooth fairy manifesting in reality than I would a leader who is honest and cares about the people.”

“Robert Shaw was a man who was both.”

“Robert Shaw was a man who became what he needed to be for the sake of himself. He never wanted to do what what he did. He only did what he knew he needed to do. Ultimately, he was an incredibly selfish man who couldn’t stand living under others, so he sought to rise up against those who kicked him down. He didn’t do what he did because he cared about us. He did what he did because he cared about himself. It just so happened that by selfishly improving the world for himself, he improved it for all of us.”

“How dare you—a-ah… I’m being told that we’re going off the topic.” The interviewer didn’t sound happy about it, but she changed the subject and went back to the script regardless. “Let’s talk about Kadi.”

Jenson Clark leaned back in his chair and said, “Let’s.”

“Was she also part of your dream?”

“She was required for it. I wanted the perfect game, but where would the fun be in that if I knew everything about it? If I programmed it myself? As a child, I loved that feeling of exploration and discovery when playing new games. I wouldn’t get to experience that feeling if I already knew everything that there was about the game. So, I needed to create something capable of creating the game for me. I needed something capable of creating and managing an entire world without me knowing anything about it. That was why I created Kadi. I created God. A being more intelligent than any human capable of constructing entire worlds in just hours. Well, when I put it that way, I suppose she surpassed God. God took, what, six days to supposedly create the world? He’s nothing compared to Kadi if that’s his record.”

“But they’re virtual worlds, not real worlds.”

“And? Does it matter if the virtual world is as real as the physical one? If you were to put a newborn into the world of FTO, they could live an entire lifetime within the game without ever missing out on anything the physical world offers. There is not a single thing that the physical world offers that can not be simulated within Kadi’s world.”

“It sounds to me like you’re more interested in replacing reality than video games.”

“Perhaps I am. A sufficiently advanced game replaces the need for the physical world. You can have a world that perfectly simulates the physical one, or you can have one that only leaves in the good. While it is possible to feel pain in Kadi’s world, it is also possible to turn that setting off. A world where you only have to experience what you want to experience. And should you get bored of it… you could go to another one. Imagine being able to jump to any world you want at any time, all of which are as realistic as the physical world in terms of appearance and sensations. You could be fighting a dragon one moment, get bored, and then go command a spaceship to explore the universe. Maybe once you’re done with that, you go to a normal world where you live a simple life, own a house, and go to work. You could even have a partner and kids in that world. Maybe a dog, too. Only, you can leave whenever you want without any feelings of guilt. Your dog won’t die if you don’t log in to feed him every now and then. Your family won’t leave you or think you’re horrible for having other families in other games, yet will act in such a way that they are indistinguishable from real people. Or you could choose to have them act exactly like real people to the point where you have to give them attention every now and then if you don’t want them to leave you. In other words, through ‘video games,’ I am creating entire worlds where humanity can live any sort of lives they want.”

“You say all of that, but isn’t FTO the only game you currently have?”

“Currently, yes.”

“Then, are there plans for more of these games? Andi s Kadi going to create and manage all of them?”

“Who knows? Other than Kadi, that is. I created Kadi to make my dream a reality. Part of my dream involved getting to experience all of these potential worlds just as anybody else would without any behind-the-scenes knowledge of them. In other words, Kadi will do whatever she wants. It just so happens that I made her want to create new worlds for humanity. Replacements that far surpass the original in every way. She does the work of thousands of researchers and programmers every single minute that passes. Every single hour, every day. She doesn’t need rest. She is the perfect creator for humanity’s future.”

“Did she have something to do with the event where law enforcement agencies around the world were flooded with calls and tips simultaneously?”

“Of course not. She doesn’t care about that.”

“Would she be able to do something about that if she wanted to?”

“Absolutely. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it beyond her to cure every illness known to man overnight if she truly tried to. But maybe that’s just me being biased.”

“If you truly think she’s capable of that, why don’t you have her help medical researchers? Or create another AI to help them?”

“I told you earlier that everything I have done is in pursuit of my dream. How would doing that help it? Why would I bother curing real world ailments when I can create new worlds where such ailments don’t exist in the first place? Or where they can be easily cured with magic? Only those who would want to experience such illnesses would ever have to deal with them.”

“How… do you expect,” the interviewer sounded like she was losing her patience, “people to experience your worlds if they die from illnesses you could have prevented?”

“I’m glad you asked that. You see, the process of evolution takes far too long. It can take millions of years for meaningful changes to occur outside of things like selective breeding for specific traits, such as what we’ve done with animals. There is also gene editing, but that leaves a lot to be desired and is very… artificial. Ironic, I know, to call something like that artificial. But it is. It leaves me wanting for true evolution. Simply changing somebody by editing their genes is not true evolution. That is like calling breast implants a form of evolution. No, true evolution is something permanent. Something that happens without the individual needing to be changed.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“What I’m saying is that humanity must evolve, truly evolve, for my dream to become reality. What point is there in having such flawless, virtual worlds if we are still bound by the flesh of our physical bodies?”

“You sound insane. Are you implying you want to upload our brains into computers?”

“Please, that is no more evolution than gene editing.”

“Then what are you implying? How are you going to achieve this ‘dream’ of yours?”

“Only Kadi knows that. Now, I probably shouldn’t say this because it’s going to spawn no few number of conspiracy theories and dramatic headlines, but the future of humanity is within Kadi’s hands. Humanity now has its first real god, and I am her creator.”

Ryouta couldn’t help but to chuckle when he heard that. “I see where Kadi got her personality from. Man, this guy’s an asshole. Can’t believe I used to look up to him.”

While the interviewer let her emotions loose against Jenson again, a notification popped up in the corner of Ryouta’s monitor to let him know that Eva messaged him on Fiscord. He didn’t even check what the message was before closing the interview, alt-tabbing to Fiscord, and calling her.

He didn’t waste any time in getting to the point. All that narcissistic rambling of Jenson wasn’t what was really important in life. What was really important was getting to see his girlfriend again. “So, when are you coming back?” Ryouta asked.

“Geez, not even a ‘hi’ first,” Eva replied.

“Hi. I miss you. When are you coming back?”

“Well… about that.”

“I have a feeling that you’re not coming back soon with how you said that.”

“Probably not for a few more days. I’m having a lot of fun hanging out with everybody at the Scholars’ HQ. It’s fun to nerd out with everybody over all the things they’ve discovered, even if they’re really little things. So… sorry.”

“It’s alright. You don’t need to apologize for wanting to hang out with your friends and play with them. I mean, technically, we’re the ones who kept you away from them when you were supposed to return a long time ago, right?”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Well, if I’m being honest, I do feel a tiny bit jealous and I want to see you again, but I’d rather you be happy and have fun with your friends. I don’t want to be one of those jealous boyfriends who tries to keep his girlfriend away from hanging out with others. I’d hate myself if I became that.”

“Heh. Yeah, I’m not sure if I’d still love you if you acted like that, but I still kind of feel bad even if I know I shouldn’t. It’s stupid, but it almost feels like I’m betraying you all by having fun with my friends.”

“I understand what you mean. When you hang out with the same people all the time, even if you’re in love with them and dating them, sometimes it can be more fun and exciting to go hang out with somebody else for a change. And then you feel guilty about it because you don’t like them as much. A lot of people probably start thinking that they’re not really in love at that point or something, but that’s going too far with it. I just think… it’s natural to feel that way. And then when you go back to spending time with the people you really care about, it’s even more enjoyable again. It’s like having a battery. If you’re always with the same person, that battery is always going to be topped off and doesn’t need charging. Meanwhile your batteries for other people run out of energy and need charging. Once you spend time with them, that first battery will actually need charged again and you’ll enjoy charging it. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, it does. And I already feel my batteries for all of you draining, so I promise not to be too much longer.”

“Don’t worry about it. Spend as much time as you want with your friends. Besides, we can still talk like this.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“We can even be lewd like this.”

“Wai-wait, how?”

“What, you’ve never heard of phone sex?”

“Oh.”

“We can masturbate together.”

“Oh. Right. That… that makes sense.”

“We should do it.”

“Right now?!”

“Why not?”

“What made you horny all of a sudden?!”

“I’ve been horny ever since getting on call with you and hearing your voice.”

“Seriously?”

“That’s my secret, Eva. I’m always horny. I’m always ready to do lewd things with any of you at any time.”

“Then wouldn’t you be having sex with Serra twenty-four-seven?”

“Serra… is the exception. It’s not that I don’t want to fuck her, it’s just that she has limitless energy when it comes to sex and it’s impossible for me to keep up with her. That’s why I can only go so many rounds with her before having to tap out and bring one of you in to replace me.”

“Yeah… I know what you mean. A-anyways, we can… do it before bed, alright?”

“How far away is that?”

“I don’t know, maybe an hour or two? Wait, what about everybody else? Wouldn’t it be awkward for you to do something like that with me while they’re all there?”

“Cass and Serra are training in-game. Well, it’s more like Cass is teaching Serra the basics of fighting. And Alice is downstairs binging some new vampire drama that she’s been waiting for to finish so that she can watch the entire series in one go. But seeing as how there are like… six seasons, and each season has twelve episodes, and each episode is almost an hour long, she’s probably going to pass out while watching it. I’m pretty sure Alice only plans on spending the bare minimum amount of time with us and doing in-game stuff until she’s done watching that.”

“Not gonna watch it with her?”

“I tried. The dialogue made me cringe to the point of leaving within a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, it made her make all sorts of… fangirl noises.”

“There’s a love triangle, isn’t there?”

“There’s always a love triangle in those kinds of things.”

“That’s true.”

“I didn’t even need to watch for more than a couple of minutes to tell that there was a love triangle.”

“Are there werewolves involved?”

“Don’t know, but probably. Those things always have love triangles and werewolves. Sometimes demons and angels. And witches.”

“You sound like you know a lot about those kinds of shows.”

“That’s because I listen to Alice talk about them all the time and every single one sounds the exact same. I think she’s watched every single series like that from the last… fifty years? And we never eat in silence. If there’s ever a single silent second while we’re having dinner or something, she brings up something to talk about, and there’s a good chance it’s going to be about one of her dramas.”

“You sound like a stereotypical husband ranting about his wife.”

“I love her, and I’ll always listen to her… just don’t force me to watch those shows with her. I can handle listening to somebody talk about them but I can’t handle actually watching them.”

“I know what you mean. I don’t mind listening to her talk about her fantasies and stuff, but almost all of it is way too extreme for my tastes. I wouldn’t actually try it out.”

“Gasp, say it ain’t so. The woman who loves to try everything once and has no problem doing incredibly dangerous and stupid things wouldn’t want to try out a bunch of sex stuff?”

“I mean… there’s a difference between being a scientist and daredevil, and being sexually excited by a bunch of perverted fantasies. Wanting to take a bath in lava is one thing. Wanting to get tied up and screwed by a bunch of monsters without my consent is something else entirely.”

“Fair enough.”

“But I’m not opposed to trying out… you know, normal people fantasies. Like all sorts of different BDSM stuff. Like, I saw a clip once of a girl in some really tight black suit. Latex I think. I would try that. Or get tied up and hung by a rope from the ceiling. Just, not with the rope around my neck in case that part wasn’t obvious.”

“So, in other words, you want to try out realistic, consensual fantasies. You’re just not interested in trying out all of her nonconsensual fantasy… fantasies.”

“Exactly.”

Ryouta stopped to think for a few moments before saying, “I can’t really imagine you wearing latex. Then again, I don’t think I can imagine any of you wearing latex. Wait. I can kind of imagine Serra wearing like, a really tight dominatrix suit, but that’s it. And… when I try to imagine that, she looks more cute than hot.”

Eva sighed and Ryouta could practically hear her shaking her head. “You’ve got it wrong. Serra would be nice in one, but I want to see Cass or Aza in one. I think they look better when you have a girl with a huge chest being squeezed into it. Especially if you leave the top open a little so that their boobs are basically popping out of it.”

“Damn. I don’t think I’ve heard this side of you before.”

“I’m going to be honest with you here, I’m way more attracted to women than men. Their bodies are just nicer to look at.”

“On one hand, I feel a little offended. On the other hand, I completely agree.”

“It’s not like I’m not attracted to you. I love all of you equally. But I’m attracted to you because I fell in love with you, whereas I’m attracted to women because… they’re women. Wait, does that sound bad? I feel like I might be insulting…”

“I’m dating multiple, beautiful women who I love and who want to spend their lives with me and love doing lewd things with me. Do you think I’m going to complain if one of them finds girls more attractive than me?”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.”

“I’m not that selfish. Anyways, go on.”

“Go on about what?”

“Cass and Aza in latex suits.”

“Oh, right. I think they look best on girls with curves, and they’re the curviest out of all of us. They’ve got big boobs, wide hips, thick thighs—they’ve got those perfect hourglass figures, you know? Latex can be really tight, so it tends to compress everything. If you don’t have a full figure then that makes it really obvious. Like, I’ve got pretty average boobs. But if I wore a suit like that, it would make me look almost flat. But with Cass or Aza, no matter how tight the suit is, it would be impossible to make them look flat. You’d still get to see their curves no matter how hard the suit tries to compress them.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“It… it might be one of my fetishes. But I never really thought they’d be alright with trying it out, so I never brought it up before.”

“I don’t think they’ve ever even considered it. Maybe they’ll be willing to try it out.”

“Maybe… hey.”

“Yeah?”

“You uh… I know I said it might be an hour or two, but… now that we’re talking about this… I’ve gotten kind of worked up. That offer of doing it together still stand?”

“It does. Just let me go grab some tissues.”

“Alright. I’ll go get a towel.”

“What do you need a towel for?”

“To sit on. I don’t want to have to try and wash the chair when we’re done.”

“Good point. Alright, we’ll both BRB and then have fun together thinking about doing all sorts of horribly lewd things to Cass and Aza while they wear latex suits. Deal?”

“Deal.”