Utopian System

The comfortable banter continued until Nala made what she thought was an innocent observation. 'You handle everything with such levity. Even being trapped here, separated from your life, from Elio...'

The mood in their shared consciousness shifted instantly. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

'Don't,' Zara's presence suddenly turned cold. 'Don't talk about him like you understand.'

'I merely meant…'

'You meant nothing to me! You're the reason I'm trapped here, the reason I can't be with him!' Zara's emotions flared with unexpected intensity. 'You took everything from me and now you want to analyze it like some study project?'

The outburst caught both of them off guard. The comfortable dynamic they'd developed cracked, revealing the deeper hurts beneath.

'I...' For once, Nala seemed at a loss.

'Do you know what I wanted?' Zara's presence trembled with suppressed feeling. 'Before all this? Before you decided to use my body for your games?'

The question hung between them, heavy with unspoken pain.

'I just wanted to be with him. To fight alongside him, to help build something better. I didn't ask to be part of some divine plan or ancient game!'

'Zara...'

'But you 'gods' had to prove your point to each other, didn't you? You had to show how flawed humans are, how unworthy. Well, congratulations! You proved you are selfish pricks… Guess it was hard to see that we can be hurt, that you made us lose everything we care about!'

The bitterness in Zara's thoughts was raw, unfiltered. All the humor she'd been using as a shield to keep her 'cool and rough' facade fell away, leaving only the truth of her pain.

'I'm not just some vessel for your divine purposes,' she continued, her presence aching with emotion. 'I had dreams, hopes... I wanted to see what we could build together, how far we could go in life.'

Nala remained silent, feeling the weight of Zara's words through their shared consciousness.

'But you wouldn't understand that, would you? The mighty goddess, so above human emotions, human desires. Tell me, in all your divine wisdom, did you ever stop to think about what you were taking from me?'

The silence between them grew heavier. In their shared mind-space, memories flickered, moments with Elio, dreams of future possibilities, all the small hopes that had been interrupted by Nala's intervention.

'I've been making jokes, playing along, because what else can I do?' Zara's presence softened, though the pain remained. 'Trapped in my own body, watching you judge humanity while using me as your tool. It's easier to laugh than to face the situation your lack of empathy got me into.'

[SYSTEM ANALYSIS: 50.002% COMPLETE]

The progress notification seemed trivial now, meaningless against the raw emotion filling their shared consciousness.

'Your father may have shaped you into this, I get it,' Zara said quietly, 'he may have made you believe you had to prove humanity's unworthiness. But you chose to take my life, my future, my chance to be with the person I love.'

The words hung between them, stripped of all pretense, all defensive humor. Just the simple truth of a heart that had been forced to watch its dreams slip away.

Nala, for the first time since their sharing began, had no response. In their shared consciousness, she felt the full weight of Zara's pain, the depth of what her actions had cost. She was forced to empathize.

The comfortable banter they'd developed seemed shallow now, a thin veneer over deeper wounds. As the analysis continued its methodical progress, both consciousnesses retreated into thought, processing truths that no amount of divine dignity or protective humor could hide.

Sometimes, even in shared consciousness, the hardest revelations came not from system analysis, but from hearts finally speaking their truth.

♢♢♢♢

The two million opponents in level 31 would grow to thirty-two million by level 35, but Elio's understanding of elemental interactions had transformed his approach to these massive battles.

His enhanced perception let him see how existing elements in the environment could be used to create persistent chain reactions throughout the deposit chambers.

Each explosion wasn't just an isolated event anymore, it was the beginning of a cascade, each reaction feeding into the next in an ever-expanding web of controlled destruction.

What had once required direct power now needed only careful guidance, using the natural flow of elements to maintain devastating effects long after the initial trigger.

Still, even with these enhanced capabilities, level 31 had taken two full days. So level 35 would require almost a month at this rate... or so he thought.

When he emerged from the challenge, he found his companions waiting with their divine-enhanced invocations. Their news about the artromus battle - a perfect execution of overwhelming force - brought a smile to his face.

"Five more spheres each," he offered, watching their enhanced forms shimmer with growing power. "For safe transport."

After they departed, Dionz's expression turned unusually thoughtful. "You've mastered the wolf's abilities quite well now thanks to the corruption. Perhaps it's time for something more... complex."

"What do you mean?"

"Look for a second synthesis amulet in the shop," Dionz suggested with a mysterious smile. "I know the description isn't very clear - definitely needs a user interface update - but it'll let you combine two already-combined invocations. Just like in chemistry, things can get more... interesting with additional bonds and complexity."

Elio checked the shop and found the double amulet. The description was indeed vague, but the implications were clear - he could merge two of his enhanced combinations into something more powerful.

And therein lay the dilemma.

His three current companions had served him perfectly: Emberg (Oxygen + Helium) provided explosive mobility, Poison Stinger (Boron + Phosphorus) created strategic control zones, and the Corrupted Sentinel Wolf (Zinc + Sulfur) enabled devastating chemical reactions.

"The key is still finding combinations that complement each other," Dionz explained, creating holographic models of element interactions. "Think about how their properties could enhance each other in unexpected ways."

Elio studied his options. Merging Emberg with the wolf would create explosive potential beyond anything he'd achieved so far. The oxygen-helium mix combined with zinc-sulfur mastery could generate chain reactions of unprecedented scale.

But combining Poison Stinger with the wolf had its own appeal. The boron-phosphorus barriers enhanced by zinc-sulfur control could create zones of persistent reactivity, turning entire chambers into carefully managed reaction spaces.

"Both choices have merit," Dionz noted, watching Elio's contemplation. "The question is: what kind of symphony do you want to conduct?"