Chapter 276 - Interlude: The Imminent Demise

The world was a cruel place. The brighter you shine, the faster you burned. 

"Boring!" With a sigh, she tossed her link bracelet on the floor. A thin strap, beaming a constant beat.

Her body swayed. She was in link for almost a decade now. Just a decade here and there was nothing to her.

But after all that time, just walking around felt cumbersome. 

Her vision was slightly blurry and her senses felt weird. They were working properly but to her, it felt weird. 

"Why did I even come out?" Her voice was slightly broken. 

Around her was her room. It's been the same for over a century. Wires here, screens there. There was no furniture, however, the room itself was a furniture of sorts made of nanobots: black bots. Everything could change its shape to anything. 

Anything reasonable that was. 

It wasn't a big room. Maybe two meters wide?

Everyone got a room like this the moment they were born- seven million years ago. 

The girl- if she could be called a girl looked almost human. But she wasn't. 

She had all the features of a human: arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, and a mouth. Unlike humans, however, she had three hearts, four lungs, and two brains. And yet, she looked nothing more than just a slender girl with pink luscious hair.

Her skin was translucent and if one paid close attention they could easily see all her veins and arteries through just her skin. But since her muscles weren't that see-through, her internal organs weren't on full display. Besides, she was wearing Holo-clothes, so stop paying so much attention!

She yawned, she sighed but, in the end, she just sat on the ground, searched for her link bracelet and put it on again. It was too taxing to walk around anyway. 

Maybe she'd postpone her once-a-century body checkup for another decade. 

She didn't need to eat, she didn't need to sleep, and she didn't even need to go to the lady's room. 

The moment she put it on, reality changed and everything in front of her disappeared into whiteness. Her discomfort was gone, like it never existed. 

She swayed her hands in the air and food appeared. A table full of gourmet food, red fermented beverages, rare fruits from across the galaxy, and a chair for her to sit on. The chair was made from the bones of her strongest opponents- or at least it was modeled after those. The table, however, was made from a branch of fine Trenxia woods: the largest grove in the known universe. 

Naturally, these were digital food but- if she consumed them, she'd not only be able to enjoy their taste but her body would also gain the nutrients, as the nanobots on the ground would directly inject them into her bloodstream.

All the necessary information was already in the directory- all she had to do was think- and it'll be there. Even the smell, the feeling, the very definition of reality was recreated to perfection. 

And because of those nanobots, she didn't need to no move even for centuries at a time. 

But even now, the girl was bored. The food was good but she was bored of it. 

In here, her body didn't sway, and if she wanted, she could just make her body release more and more dopamine and serotonin-like compounds to artificially feel happy. But even that felt old and she was over it. Instead, she swung her hands and watched what was new. It had been a long while since she looked at the trends. 

A sort of short video played in front of her. All her senses were linked to the individual inside the video. And it was almost like she was in it herself.

"Commander Zelfique retreats. UM23-13 wins the second round as well?"

She was in deep thought. Where did she hear the word? For the last century or so she'd been living through a serotonin-rich dream of how she conquered the backwater world of Vilex through swords and spears. 

'UM23-13?'

She searched the word in the directory and came upon pictures of earth and its inhabitants. 

'Oh!'

She remembered. She remembered it well. About eighty years ago one of her friends said things how about something amusing was happening in a faraway planet but she just avoided all that. 

After all, what the army and the government did was of no concern to her. Who cared?

She sure didn't. 

But defeated not once, but twice?

The commanders were the pride of Xanard. If they were defeated then- then, things were going to get very interesting. 

The girl's face twisted as she grinned. 'Then maybe-'

The inhabitants of Xenard, the Xenes were a free race. Anyone could do anything; anyone could become anything. Of course, there were some limitations and if two wanted to be the same then the more intellectual one would win and there would be nothing more and nothing less. 

They were virtually immortal, so holding grudges wasn't a thing. 

The post of a commander, however, was open to all. People just didn't find the idea of traveling quadrillions of lightyears, just to have a bit of fun conquering stuff they could just do in digital worlds, that fun anyway. Besides they needed certain criteria to fill first. 

'But this might be worth it.'

She'd been searching for that euphoria for a while now. No matter how many digital worlds she conquered, no matter how much dopamine-like compounds she ingested, it wasn't enough. Long ago- she encountered a man and after a very short battle, she won. It was short- a mere ten-minute battle. Yet, just thinking about it made her hands shake, the feeling, the fear, the burning of her chest- it was euphoric!

Ever since then- she sought for the same pleasure- but alas, it was never the same. 

That's why, as she watched the battle of UM23-13 with her own eyes, she felt it.  The man- no, boy she just witnessed through the link- yeah, she saw potential. 

"End Link."

The link ended and she found herself on the floor again. 

She groaned and pulled herself up. 'I hate this.'

But she also made sure to breathe and pull herself together. The central was just ten seconds away. But she had to present herself properly for the job.

And she knew just the way she'd do it. The plan was grand and there was no chance for blunders. 

The snot on her face wasn't part of the plan though.