The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 64: Layers

The Lord’s expression shifted, surprise evident in his eyes. "Max, why would you choose Earth over Coelus? The knowledge and resources there far surpass those of Earth. This decision is perplexing, to say the least."

"I don’t understand why you don’t see the reason, which is clear to me," I responded, frustration edging my tone.

But then anger surged within me, and I declared, "I refuse to be led by the nose any longer. You must explain to me why the cluster would experience starvation, or I won’t provide assistance, no matter what."

I had a feeling that he would make me help them even if I didn’t want to.

The Lord glanced briefly at Therion, who wore a somber expression, then shifted his gaze back to me and sighed. "Max, you may have already experienced some of it — the COVID, the global warming, an issue that Earth citizens perceive as their fault, and it’s half-true. The higher rates of mental and health problems, these are all interconnected."

With sadness in his eyes, he said, "Quantum Pathogen," and continued with visible disgust, "I told you before that The Zytherians are already making progress. They want to take over all the clusters, and they attacked our and the Ulthar’s cluster with an unpredictable pathogen."

I pressed further. If he was lying, maybe I could make him stumble, "Tell me... what is this Quantum Pathogen? What does it do?"

The Lord began to explain confidently, with his deep voice, "We haven’t precisely determined its effects. At the very beginning, it appeared to induce rapid and unpredictable quantum mutations in the genetic code of viruses, bacteria, and living organisms across the affected universe. It resulted in new, highly virulent strains of diseases and unpredictable changes in the behavior of various life forms."

"Our cluster’s civilizations lean heavily upon stable and predictable agricultural systems to feed their people. The pathogen disrupted crops and agricultural organisms, causing mutations that rendered some of them toxic or inedible."

"Until a couple of years ago, its influence stopped there. However, in recent times, it has extended its influence to non-living elements. Soil composition, water quality, and even atmospheric conditions changed."

"Currently, it affects the quantum structure of the entire universe", he concluded.

I sat there for a while, thinking. Trying to comprehend all of this, "I see... when you’re talking about the universe, do you mean all the clusters?"

"Actually, I used the term ’universe’ because that’s what you call it on Earth. In truth, what you call the universe is just one of the clusters. The cluster in which we are now."

"And is it as vast as scientists have predicted with Bayesian statistics? 250 times bigger than the observable universe?" I inquired, a tinge of excitement in my voice. freēnovelkiss.com

"Beyond the view point of Earth, the expanse extends to 286.12 times the magnitude discernible from the terrestrial perspective. Their estimations were commendably near. But it doesn’t matter, because to approach the boundary, one must journey at speeds surpassing that of light. Otherwise, the expansion would persist uniformly in every direction, impervious to the observer’s stance,", The Lord replied.

I nodded, "I’m curious. Why is solving this Quantum Pathogen issue so hard? You said that your knowledge is far beyond what we have on earth."

The Lord responded, "The most brilliant minds have dedicated their intellect to it. We can alter the quantum state of quarks and manipulate their interactions. We have explored techniques such as dilution of time, observing and quark capturing, pseudo-radiating, modifying, solidifying, subtracting, or adding strong energy—and these are only a fraction of the methods, the ones whose potential you can at least partially understand."

He continued with a note of somber gravity, "However, none of these methods offer a viable solution. The pathogen mutations appear to metamorphose in a temporal measure beyond our understanding. You remember the way we got here, Max?"

"By traveling faster than the speed of light...", I answered.

"Indeed. Time exchanged places with space. Time remained stable. However, when we traverse with the mutating compound in such a state. The mutations persist. They continue to change."

After pondering over all of this for a while, it felt compelling.

Therion sat there with a serious demeanor throughout the explanation.

"I’m willing to help," I said, "but the idea of heading to Coelus right now seems inefficient. You mentioned my intelligence being below average there, so being left behind until it hopefully improves doesn’t sound like the best plan. Instead, I feel returning to Earth during this time might be a more practical option."

Therion interjected, "Max, I don’t understand. There isn’t much you can learn from the material available on Earth. You would just be losing your time to rediscover what is already known elsewhere."

Turning towards Therion with a smile on my face, I proposed, "That’s precisely why you should be my mentor. Just a while ago, you said you wanted to teach me stuff..."

Therion sighed, placing his hand on his forehead and rubbing it. "Yeah," he admitted, "but I didn’t sign up to be your babysitter. I was just here to introduce a couple of concepts."

"And what else do you have to do, Therion?"

He responded, "I have a lot to manage in the labs we have here."

"Oh, right, I’ve seen some of the labs. The biological one, for example. What’s it for?" I inquired.

I was getting pretty pumped. Back when I was scrolling through the papers on Earth, they felt like a total snooze. A real waste of time.

This felt different.

Exciting.

"We’ve been working on coherence stabilizers there. You’re familiar with the Zeno effect, right?"

"Yeah, trying to slow down the mutations by keeping an eye on the cells frequently enough?"

"Something like that, but it’s way more complicated," Therion explained.

The Lord stepped in, "Alright, that’s enough for now. You will have way more time for that later. Therion, I hope you can teach the boy. Time is short, so do your best. We’ll discuss the next steps when he’s ready."

We conversed briefly, then Therion and I both stood up. Therion extended his hand, and I shook it. That marked the beginning of the mentorship.

I spent the next 24 hours or more in that place, asking questions and absorbing the answers.

They positioned the lab we were in at the edge of the cluster, farthest from the Zytherians.

One revelation was the existence of three planets with life in the Milky Way.

K2-18b, the planet where we on Earth discovered signs of life, was among them, situated 124 light years away.

Another more distant planet lay 60,000 light-years away in the Carina arm of the Milky Way.

Both with only primitive life forms.

Therion shared that after thousands of years of teaching experience, not only on Atar but in various other civilizations, it’s been understood that teaching through practical examples or by explaining the outcomes of experiments is the most effective method.

That’s when he introduced me to the concept of layering and the way they organized it.

Understanding specific examples and experiments, he explained, leads to a comprehensive grasp of an entire layer of a particular scientific field.

We kicked off with Layer One of Quantum Physics, diving into the experiment that proved leptogenesis.

A theory I already knew back on Earth.

It explained the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe.

Therion nudged me in the right direction and provided materials for me to learn from.

With that, I was ready to return to Earth.

The material Therion shared with me was presented on a small holographic tablet.

When I requested it to be transferred to a USB drive for use on my PC, The Lord got flustered. However, he assured me that it would be delivered to me, along with something more, soon.

As I was about to leave through the wardrobe, I remembered about something. "Do you happen to have any more of those regenerating pills? I might need one,"

The Lord, intrigued, responded, "Oh? What do you need it for?"

"My mother had a blood clot in her main retina vein."

The Lord considered and replied, "It might not be sufficient. While the regenerating pills can restore blood flow, the complexity of cells around the eye region is not something that can be easily resolved with them."

"Hmm. I would still like to take one," I insisted.

The Lord magically produced a red box out of nowhere, and inside were a couple of red pills.

Handing one to me, he stated, "The Quantum Observer is set for the house you bought."

After entering the wardrobe and closing the doors, I experienced nothing. Yet, when I opened the wardrobe again, I found myself in Boston.

I had no idea that the moment I vanished, the Lord glanced at his watch and a smile spread across his face.