CHAPTER 178: LET’S SIMULATE

Ethan stood with a hand under his chin as he looked at the results before him.

To say he was satisfied, would be an understatement, he was thrilled, ecstatic even.

The readings on TDI’s screens held a flat line so perfect it almost looked like the machines were malfunctioning.

They weren’t.

Everything was perfectly steady.

He had finally achieved it, infinite power, no, infinitely sustainable power, all contained with a single core.

His eyes moved to the numbers being displayed on the holographic screen before he muttered,

"That’s enough to power a city."

[A small one,] the system confirmed [but with an upgrade, it could hold enough energy to power an entire country.]

Ethan nodded in satisfaction, this would send the world into chaos if he ever decided to reveal it to them.

Every single individual, coperate or not, whether they belonged to the government or not, would want a hand in it.

Maybe that’ll successfully be the spark for the third world war.

Luckily, Ethan only intended to use it for his side projects for now...which might seem like a waste to anyone else who heard of it.

The infinite energy cores would come in handy in the future, but for now, he was only going to use it for his personal projects.

***

The next four hours quickly disappeared in the way it only could when you were doing something you genuinely enjoyed.

Ethan moved like he had done this a million times over...well, because he had, maybe not a million times but the lab gave him just enough time to make sure it was basically second nature to him.

He had basically practiced

Now he was doing it for real.

He made constant adjustments, flipping between physical tools and the TDI generated blueprint.

The air produced waves due to the heat from his micro-lasers and the zaps of energy while he worked.

The core was small, almost disappointingly so, barely bigger than a clenched fist. Yet the energy signature it promised, if he hadn’t built it himself, even he wouldn’t have believed it.

Like that, an hour passed.

And then two.

Before finally, Ethan attached the last stabilizer ring. The core clicked softly, as the light on it powered on.

It was... alive.

A soft, stable, impossibly perfect hum filled the room. There was no energy spike, bleeding or any loss of energy from the readings he was currently getting.

It just worked.... perfectly.

"Athena," Ethan said softly, "run a verification scan."

A green line appeared on the screen by his table when he said those words, it was proof that the core was working.

Ethan chuckled as he beheld the results, "beautiful," he muttered.

The moment he reached out and lifted the core from the cradle,

The system let out a chime soon after.

[DING!]

[Host has successfully created a Zero-Point Energy Stabilization Core.]

[This achievement is unprecedented for this technological era.]

[Rewarding host accordingly.]

Three new screens materialized before him.

[+ 2500 SP]

[+ 30% tier 4 Quantum Engineering knowledge and proficiency points]

[First skill gained: Quantum Field Manipulation (Locked)]

[+ 1 Blueprint Unlocked: Quantum-Resonance Energy Shielding (Level 1)]

[Bonus: Passive title gained: "Innovator of the Impossible"]

Ethan looked at the screens on surprise, "quantum field manipulation? That sounds broken."

[Host may unlock this proficiency upon reaching Tier 5 knowledge and proficiency.]

"Then how is that considered a reward if it’s just locked," he muttered with a chuckle, "couldn’t you just wait give it to me when I reach tier 5?"

[That’s possible,] the system responded, [but this will act as motivation for the host.]

"I see," he muttered in understanding before he turned and looked down at the glowing core in his hands, the light reflecting off his eyes.

For the first time since regression, he felt something close to awe.

He really was creating the future.

This was just a step towards all his plans, both in preparation for his planned world dominance and their incoming visitors from the stars.

And this core?

This was his first true key to rewriting the reality that this world once knew.

Maybe even use it to power that time machine....well, in the future anyway, when he found a way to anchor this timeline to himself and vise versa.

"Now then, let’s get to work," he said turning towards the second project.

He pulled off the covers that was on the chair...yes, he was still calling it that. He intended to come up with a better name but for now, he’d go with chair.

He tapped on the arm causing it to open and reveal the slot he had created for the core.

Gently, Ethan lowered the core into the circular battery base. The last thing he wanted was to drop it and cause a city wide explosion....that would be a problem.

Though, there was a chance he might survive it thanks to the shield he bought from the system, the others...not so much.

The moment the core was in place, a low hum was heard as the lights on the chair powered on.

He tapped on the screen that was on the armrest, pulling up the energy stats being displayed.

According to the data, the core was running exactly as desired. There was zero bleeds, wasted energy or even lost energy.

"This is perfect," he muttered with a smile, "let’s see how long it would hold on for this time."

With that he took a seat, relaxed and let the helmet cover his head.

The moment it did, he found himself in the empty white space again, but unlike before he wasn’t naked.

He was in a dark blue suit and Athena, standing across him with a smile was wearing a similar formal wear.

{Welcome back Ethan,} she said with a smile on her face.

"I see we have clothes on this time," he answered with a small chuckle.

{That’s because your preference of wearing clothes had been set as default,} she answered.

"Great," Ethan said, "now then, load the data you currently have."

With his words, the white world around them started gaining color just as it had been the last time.

Again, they were both in the sky with the people moving about above them. They slowly descended before reappearing in Ethan’s office.

"Alright then," he muttered, "let’s see what this thing can actually do."

Hopefully, the system didn’t interrupt like it had the last time....which it seemed to have no intention to, this time.

{Simulation is stable, the power supply is also holding at 99.9 percent efficiency. You may begin whenever you want.} Athena who was by his side said.

"Perfect," Ethan said, leaning back against the desk behind him, "let’s test a few scenarios."

He lifted his hand, and a transparent holographic screen appeared before him.

Athena stepped closer, {Which scenario would you like to explore first?}

He tapped on the screen and entered a couple of inputs.

"Let’s start with something small," Ethan said. "Simulate the release of a VR game."

The office dissolved, replaced by a montage of news feeds, social reactions, stock charts, and technological projections.

The simulation immediately started taking place and Ethan watched as everything play out in real time...just that it seemed someone was fast-forwarding the events:

– Scenario A: VR game released quietly.

Result: Moderate adoption. Tech enthusiasts praise immersion. Sales grow slowly but steadily.

– Scenario B: VR game released with OmniTech branding.

Result: Massive hype, total market disruption. Competitors start to scramble to keep up.

– Scenario C: VR game released with full transparency about neural-link capability.

Result: Hype, Multiple ethical debates, Investigations, rapid regulatory pushback.

"As expected," he muttered, "anything involving neural-link is a PR nightmare."

Athena nodded slightly, {humanity is not yet ready for that level of technology just yet.}

Though this was the perfect way to farm tech influence points, after all, the whole world was full of gamers, whether casual or not.

People that didn’t play games were few and far between....so he shelfed this idea for now.

"Good," Ethan said. "Next scenario."

He tapped on the screen again, inputting the next simulation he wanted.

"Simulate Vitaband’s early release."

The cityscape below flickered into view. Ethan watched as the world below him changed in specific ways:

– Hospitals scramble to get it in their systems.

– Doctors argue on national television about data access.

– Stock prices skyrocket.

– Three pharmaceutical companies immediately begin plotting counter-campaigns.

– Two insurance giants demand negotiations.

– Foreign governments send quiet requests for limited access.

– One Middle Eastern medical conglomerate attempts to bribe a mid-level OmniMed employee.

"Interesting," Ethan muttered as the simulation played out, besides a couple of push backs here and there, everything basically went as he planned.

Though, for now, this data wasn’t exactly completely accurate, since Athena’s data sources were only restricted to the Internet, users of Sentinel and most recently, the few patients uploading their data to the OmniCloud for the Vitaband.

But it was good enough, the gaps were not something that couldn’t be filled.

With a smile on his face, he muttered, "let’s keep simulating."