Chapter 138
The real world, Earth. And the virtual world, Earthclear. Earthclear was created by making the worst tragedy to befall Earth never happen. It was where humanity—unable to live on Earth and left with nowhere else to go—slept. It was also humanity's last hope: a place where they dreamed of one day living on Earth again.
When the worst tragedy struck, humanity came to understand its own powerlessness. At the same time, it began to hope for humanity itself. That was because the strength of evolved humans had overwhelmingly surpassed the weapons of science—the culmination of human wisdom—which had been utterly powerless against the tragedy.
At the time, the evolved humans collectively known as superhumans—called mutants, heroes, New Humans, or Transcendents—bravely faced the worst tragedy and fought well.
In the end, the superhumans were defeated, but the way they fought gave humanity great hope. And so Earthclear, as it exists today, was born.
Earthclear had originally been a virtual world created by people who foresaw that life on Earth would soon become impossible and wished to survive, even if they became nothing but memories. But humanity used this virtual world to build in a system for evolving humankind.
Even if they created artificial humans whose bodies alone had evolved, those bodies would lack the intelligence and mind needed to control them. They would either rampage, fail to function at all, or crumble away, too fragile to last.
That was because the people who were created didn't know how to use their bodies—or why they were there in the first place.
But Earthclear could evolve the body while reflecting its changes onto the mind-and-memory self within Earthclear, teaching that self how to control the body.
Even so, if the body changed too drastically, the being within Earthclear, made up only of mind and memories, couldn't keep up with those changes and would break down.
Also, to create an evolved body, it was necessary to administer drugs that promoted evolution and then inflict damage on the body. Just as building muscle requires grueling training, there were many ways to promote the body's evolution: making it use its muscles, inflicting intense pain, deliberately injuring it to encourage cell regeneration, inducing fatigue, or administering poison to build resistance. Humans continued to evolve and grow stronger by overcoming that pain and suffering.
But if pain and fatigue were suddenly inflicted within Earthclear, the mind still couldn't keep up with the body's pain, and would break down. To synchronize body and mind, a person's choices and actions had to affect and change the body.
That was why Earthclear was designed so that choosing to become stronger would lead to the most comfortable life, while monsters and demons were created as threats to spur people on.
But even then, there was still a problem. Even if all ten million people stored in Earthclear were evolved, it would be impossible to send them all out onto Earth.
There were two problems. Earth no longer had enough food or living space to support another ten million people. And humans raised in Earthclear needed a special drug to survive in Earth's environment. Without it, bodies that had never even been exposed to the outside air would collapse, unable to withstand the sudden change in their surroundings. The drug was scarce and took time to produce.
That was why they couldn't use the drug on people who had barely evolved. To ensure it went only to those chosen for their outstanding abilities, they created two final goals: defeating the Demon King to prove one's strength, and obtaining a ticket worth 10,000 gold to demonstrate talents beyond combat.
Those without talent could live in peace, as originally intended, while those with talent were encouraged to fight of their own free will. The very best among them would be summoned to Earth.
"That... is the full truth about the Earthclear you lived in."
After hearing all that, everyone fell silent. They had never imagined that they had been fighting monsters to evolve their own bodies.
"Why...? If we're residents of a virtual world... then we don't have to die, do we? Why... why did you kill us? You could've stopped it, couldn't you?!"
Parna stepped up to Kurusu, her face sorrowful. Having lost someone dear to her, she now knew that the world she'd lived in was one where only the mind was active. Even though she knew that person would never come back, she couldn't help asking.
"As I said earlier, body and mind need to be brought into alignment. Besides... the amount of damage it takes to kill someone varies from person to person. More than anything... it's impossible to save all ten million people when they reach the brink of death."
"Why not...? You could've done it! If the damage to our bodies was inflicted automatically, then... you could've automatically saved people who were about to die!"
"We could certainly have added such a system if we'd wanted to. But no matter what we did, Earthclear couldn't create more than ten million people... Creating new life requires someone to die. Earthclear doesn't kill people with the Villager role simply for being Villagers because it was originally created as a sanctuary for humanity."
"What are you talking about...? I don't know any of that! I don't know!"
"If you fear death, all you have to do is live a life removed from the risk of death. I don't know who you're saying this for, but if they chose to take on something that risked their life and died, isn't that only natural? If you're objecting simply because they ended up dying, then you're barking up the wrong tree."
At Kurusu's blunt words, Parna's expression clouded, and she fell silent. Kurusu was right. Her master had died as a result of taking a risk. The fact that the world was virtual had nothing to do with it; it was her own fault for taking action despite knowing how dangerous it was.