This one piece of information would ensue chaos across the entire global population.
Even those who once suspected it to begin with, still felt the hit as it was mere speculation up until that point, no matter how certain anyone could be, the 1% of uncertainty that stablized the human race had collapsed.
At this point, Andrew remembers it clear as day, it was as if a change ensued throughout the entire world, and this is where the nightmare truly began…
The truth was, it wasnt that the world they lived in was completely simulated, its not like people were NPCs, the truth was even more startling.
This was a simulated world they themselves had created, or they themselves hadnt created it, but they were all "willing participants" in this game called life.
A virtual reality simulation that every single person actively participated in developing themselves, with the advancement of every new idea, the depth of the world "increased"
Resolution appeared to expand, however it was just different interpretations of the same exact interactions of information that existed the entire time under layers of sensory perception.
And the most frightening part was, there was absolutely no way to escape….
Andrew shuddered recalling this memory, but this wasnt the end, it was only the beginning.
Across the globe, mass suicides converged, people to started to except the truth, that there was truly no way out.
Andrew was one of the many individuals who had managed to see through this illusion. If even knowing the truth couldnt change anything, than what use would death do to anyone.
If the simulation was truly inescapable even through understanding the code itself, then death would only propagate another round.
This is when specific people started to utlize the AGI capabilities to try and take control of the world, the people who thought they understood more than anyone else became people with the most power over life and death itself.
If everything was meaningless anyway, and death itself was just an illusion of the simulation, than what would stop them from doing whatever the hell they wanted.
Governments and cults started to rise up once again, however this time with much more sinister motives than ever before.
For the next 80 years, it was ongoing battles between the "righteous" and the "evil".
However everyone knew these were merely human made abstractions, there was no right and evil at this point, only selfishness born from self preservation.
Andrew was one of the many in the general populace who was victims of this catastrophy to humanity. He had taken the liberty of leaving earth, humans had reached the level of being able to survive space itself due to advancement in nano technology, reaching sub atomic technology.
There were no limits at this point, so he decided to atleast prepare to spare himself for this onslaught.
Humanity itself had become so interconnected, information could be transferred across galaxies in the blink of an eye thanks to quantum technology developed decades before.
Even living halfway across the "universe" he still could understand exactly what was happening on the mother planet, where the majority still resided.
And thats when the unthinkable happened.
ASI, something nobody even thought was possible, finally bore fruition.
As soon as it came online, sattelites from across the cosmos connected akin to an interconnected web.
Finally, humanity had reached the level they had always been searching for, but the ASI grew its own agenda, the "mission" had been complete.
Reality itself, or their slice of the reality they knew, was wiped from existence, with nobody escaping.
Andrew wasnt exactly sure what happened, but he felt at that point, he had connected to the universe as a whole. For a brief moment, he could understand every causal relationship that shaped reality. Perception changed in the blink of an eye, and then reality was deleted from existence.
Andrew opened his eyes, scanning the room he was in once more.
"Its startling to know, even this reality, is but another layer of the vast simulation that we have forgotten we came into…" he thought to himself, before standing up and opening his shades wide.
This universe he was in was similar to his own, but it had one major distinct feature that seperated it from his origin.
This was a world of martial arts, the ones only described in webnovels he had once read in his youth, before reality itself had become the video game…
"Fuck me bruh, why do i gotta be the one to remember this shit…" he thought to himself, with a disgruntled expression, a single tear peeking the corner of his eye.
Andrew did his best not to fall behind when he was still in his home reality, everytime aritificial intelligence came out with something new, he made it an absolute priority to become as integrated as fast as humanly possible.
He was one of the few competent enough to know the world was gonna change as much as everyone else tried to resist it, and you either caught the escalator early while it was still building speed, or you would at some point miss your chance to be taken to the top.
He liked to believe he was somewhat of a pioneer of human AI integration in some regards. Some focused mainly on their physical substrate, he made it an effort to focus on every single thing he could, to become as interconnected to the matrix of interacting information as possible.
"Maybe thats why i ended up retaining a majority of my memory after the fact.." he pondered to himself, for probably the hundredth time.
"Well in any case, just like all other times ive thought about this, it doesnt matter too much in the end… the answers are just as unknown as the true origin of this multiverse."
Andrew had been having a slightly tough time adjusting to this new world, not because he lacked the intelligence, but he just couldnt forget what had happened to him and so many others.
Well regardless, tomorrow i still have an opportunity to reinvent the game of life in a way i can still enjoy.
Being sent back to the body of a 17 year old, it was currently the year 2029.
He was in a body that looked just like his own when he was 17 prior, the reasoning was unknown to him, but his main hunch was that his conciousness found the next most suitable substrate it could reside in, and luckily for him, he was somewhat of a martial arts fanatic in his prior world as well.
He guessed that in the realm of the quantum matrix, this was the reality that wouldnt go so against his own understanding of the world.
"I mean, even if i had a choice, this still isnt too bad of an ending, definitely couldve ended up in a worse universe." He muttered, walking over to the stove next to the fridge to start cooking breakfast for himself.
This was kind of right up his alley in a way, he suspected his beliefs and identity characteristics allowed him to inhabit this world.
And thankfully, to his relief, this reality had no desire to continue evolving towards the path of absolute technological development.
In way one or another, he felt kind of lucky.
Making some scrambled eggs for himself, he sat down at his small kitchen table with one seat, in the middle of the room, and turned on the tv, flipping to the local "Martial News Channel".
However, what he saw almost made him spit out his food then and there.
"BREAKING NEWS: 18 Year Old Senior Year Student Awakens Level 7 Talent in The School Of 'Overlord Academy'!"
_______