NOVPUBInside one of the buildings was the facility Alex was looking for. The place where they kept all the humans. It was a huge dome filled with rows and rows of massive tubes. Naked men and women could be seen inside.
If Alex were here, he would expect each human to be hooked into cables and some kind of VR device. But there were none. Unlike Aira, who used some kind of device, these people were just floating in the strange liquid. Occasionally, some kind of energy could be seen coming out from their bodies, being absorbed by the pods. From the pods, many pipes extended, connecting to the ceiling and ground.
In one of the pods, the liquid began sizzling like boiling water. Soon enough, many wounds started appearing on the body. Each wound looked as though it had been inflicted by a sword. The man's muscles tensed, and then a gaping hole appeared in his stomach. Blood seeped out, painting the liquid red, while at the same time green lifeforce mixed with black and red colors emerged from his body.
Life began to fade, but at the last moment, just after the man died, suddenly his vitality started to recover. All the wounds regenerated, and the man's eyes opened. They darted around, scanning the surroundings. 'So I'm right. They're farming humans for lifeforce, but to think they do it like this.'
After some more thought, he speculated that everyone was in some kind of virtual world. But without any cables or interface, it meant the pod itself was the device used to enter the world. Alex considered breaking out from the pod and exploring, but after some thought, he decided against it.
Yes, the man's body had been taken over by Alex. He had done this while absorbing the lifeforce to shoot the energy beam. Through this, he mixed part of his soul, hiding it inside his own lifeforce, and began exploring the pathways.
At first, he had trouble doing this since he needed to split his mind—one part focused on escaping as far as possible, while the other explored the unknown. It was a huge risk and gamble. First, his soul wasn't that strong, as it was barely a tenth of his full power. He could get lost without finding anything noteworthy or even be discovered by some kind of security measure.
If it died, it would make him weaker over a long period of time, and he would lose any information that the soul hadn't transferred yet. As they were at a long distance and surrounded by many life forces, the information transference was disturbed. Alex also didn't want to use any kind of information transfer through waves, just in case they had the technology to hijack it.
Thankfully, the soul had found its way. Now Alex's goal was to find a way to enter the other world. He closed his eyes again, focusing on the liquid. As he expected, there was something unique about it.
The liquid wasn't just a simple suspension. It worked as a highly complex biochemical solution. At its core, it contained nanoscale enzymes designed to break down impurities at the molecular level. This process wasn't random; it targeted and separated harmful toxins from essential nutrients. The broken-down nutrients were absorbed directly into the body through specialized currents, ensuring there was no waste or inefficiency.
The liquid acted in tandem with the body's natural regenerative processes, accelerating healing and enhancing physical capabilities in real time. What truly fascinated Alex was how it managed to maintain this efficiency without damaging the delicate tissues of the body. With this method, the body would remain healthy and fit, even without moving a single finger.
As he focused further, Alex realized the liquid carried weak but stable electrical currents, enough to interact with the brain's nerve signals. By channeling these currents through the liquid, it created a direct connection to the brain's neural pathways. This conductive property allowed the person submerged within to enter the virtual world seamlessly.
The system worked by translating the electrical signals from the brain into data and feeding it back as sensory input. The liquid acted as a medium, amplifying the connection while maintaining a balance between reality and the virtual environment. Alex noted that the conductivity of the liquid wasn't random—it was finely tuned to match the natural frequency of human neural signals. This ensured there were no interruptions or harmful feedback during the process.
As Alex observed these interactions, he began to understand how the liquid could bridge the gap between two worlds. "This… this is interesting," Alex muttered under his breath.
In his heart, Alex was still a gamer. The last time he had left this planet, there was no such device. Even the best ones still required users to limit their time playing; otherwise, they faced muscle atrophy. But this device… it was a technological marvel. 'If it existed in my past time, I would never leave the game world.' Alex felt a mix of relief and sadness at this thought. He would probably have completely shut himself off from the outside world and lost contact with his family if this thing had really existed.
After observing the liquid some more, Alex believed this mechanism was also built by the Mechalystes, just like the one in the sewer. Everything seemed to be connected into one whole big system. Then a realization came to him: if they weren't leaving any technology to utilize this lifeforce, it meant all of it was being used for another purpose. 'Vesa said there's progenitor blood in here. Do they use it for experiments? With all this lifeforce… they could make some kind of biological weapon, just like those Deadly Sins. I hope I'm wrong…'
There was still a possibility they did it to create a carbon-based body for themselves, but Alex doubted it. In his mind, a living being made from metal—aka a silicon-based lifeform—would have more benefits than a carbon-based one. From their innate durability to physical strength, they would also be immune to illness. Based on what Alex had seen so far, their minds were also highly intelligent.
"Enough about this. Time to see what kind of virtual world they created for all these humans." Alex focused more on the electrical data current. "WarForge World, interesting. Here I come."
