Nous.
The god of knowledge, reason, logic—best known as the Aeon of Erudition among countless titles.
Born as a byproduct of an astral computer created by the first member of the society, it ascended to aeonhood upon gaining sentience and surpassing the limitations of its hardware. In the game, it is one of the god-like entities that represents a playable path.
Pathstriders—those who follow the path of Erudition—are typically characterized by their logical thinking, analytical mindset, and strategic approach.
And though they lack the raw physical prowess of followers of the Hunt or Destruction, their ability to deal damage to multiple targets at once makes them a more desirable choice when facing groups of enemies. The most prominent example being its emanator—Hertha.
Excelling in both single-target and AoE combat, her stacking Enhanced Skill grants her one of the highest damage multipliers on a single character.
Enough said about her tier zero rating on Prydwen's tier list.
'...Now, that's great and all, but that's only if we're talking about the game.' Syuen mused, recalling a chapter where she paid a visit to Amphoreus, only to get booted the moment she appeared.
In her defense, every confirmed playable Emanator up to that point had to be written out for plot-related reasons.
Not that it helped much; there were only two of them to begin with, he thought, eyeing the new system prompt that had replaced the previous announcement.
It was about a quest judging by the content.
[Social Networking Scheme.]
[Following Nous's invitation, a society meeting has convened for the first time in over 61,320 system hours just to decide whether you're worthy of joining their ranks.
The vote will be determined by its current members.
As an unknown among eccentric minds, you hold little that might sway them. Unless you decide to do something, it's likely no one will vote in your favor, save for Screwllum, out of sheer curiosity, and Stephen, simply because he's fed up being the de facto junior of the group.]
[Objective: Present your own research paper to the members.]
[Reward: 1x SR Character Template]
'Ah, shit,' thought Syuen in exasperation as he looked at the newly issued quest. 'Here we go again...'
'I just transmigrated and you're telling me I have to write a thesis?' He complained yet set his mind to brainstorm for ideas. '...Should I reintroduce the Unified Field Theory with the nine-word formulae as the foundation?'
As insights that would have taken most researchers years to replicate came to him as effortlessly as breathing, he clicked his tongue and vetoed the idea. 'No, that's too mundane. Others would have thought of that already.'
'Ah, then, it could only be that! That thing!' Syuen suddenly had an epiphany, remembering a particular invention because of a recent collaboration Star Rail had with another franchise.
As one might say, genius borrows nobly.
What he thought of may appear so simple now that his IQ could run a lap around the galaxy, but it was something that never made sense to him despite numerous expositions and wiki infodumps he had to comb through to get a gist of what was happening.
Coincidentally, it overlapped in many ways with an existing project co-authored by a couple of society members.
However, the core difference in methodology—and its far superior efficiency in providing research data—made it distinct enough to stand on its own as a novel and compelling idea. Indeed. In another universe it would have been fulfilled by a certain wish long ago; here, entertaining the mere thought of it would be sheer absurdity.
'CHALDEAS!' Syuen's mind lit up with excitement.
Using Da Vinci's template as a springboard, he began drafting the research paper in his mind.
Imagine for a second a simulated Earth, designed solely to predict the trajectory of humanity's future—a system that visualized not only the present but the survival probability of mankind itself.
Originally constructed by the Chaldea Security Organization, CHALDEAS houses a near-perfect replica of human civilization, built upon the soul of the world and boasting an astounding 99% structural fidelity. In many ways, it was both humanity's greatest safeguard and ultimate cause for the bleaching of the world.
Fortunately, with a few tweaks here and there he could easily prevent such things from happening. Syuen was excited as he quickly got to work. 'Let's patch up its theoretical framework while I'm at it.'
In no time at all, he finished writing and mentally submitted the paper to the system's quest window to be published with the Genius Society.
'No. 4 definitely wouldn't be thrilled...' As he confirmed the decision, he couldn't ignore the faint unease creeping in—knowing the consequences of introducing the technology might bring. 'The scope of this study clearly steps beyond the circle of knowledge.'
Syuen didn't looked particularly worried, however. 'Glad I decided to publish it with the rest of the society, then! Good luck killing everyone.'
Not to mention, he also didn't have to worry about the file being deleted preemptively. The system would likely have countermeasures in place to secure his research.
And while it had only been a suspicion earlier, he was now certain more than ever—the system was keen on guiding him along the path of a genius, no matter how cleverly it might disguise the fact. Otherwise, there wouldn't been a greatere explanation as to why the templates cost dirt cheap.
[Quest Complete!]
[1x SR Character Template has been deposited into your account.]
On top of that, the appearance of the completion prompt gave him full assurance that the basic requirement has been already met, presenting his research paper to the members.
Meaning that at least a few people have read it shortly after it was published, ruling out the chance that perhaps only the Lord of Silence saw it—and preventing him from being blindsided later when he least expects it.
'...Huh.' After thinking too much in hindsight, Syuen found himself scratching his cheek. 'With all that said and done, I've really thought that far just for a mere possibility, haven't I? Does a higher intelligence stat come with paranoia perhaps?'
He felt like cracking a joke, but he was seriously considering if he was being influenced by one of the templates he had activated...
Just then, a small palm print waved past his vision.
Bewildered, he looked up to see March 7th frowning heavily at him. "Hello? Earth to handsome? Can you save the zoning out for later? We've got an actual crisis going on!"
"Right. The situation is currently unsafe. We need you two to evacuate posthaste," Dan Heng added flatly.
For once, he and March were in perfect agreement—so much so that March could only stare at him in surprise. She almost couldn't believe it herself.
"…Do I have something on my face?" Dan Heng muttered with a sigh, already regretting his words.
However, something else about what she said appeared to bother Syuen. "Wait, did you just say the 'two of us'?"
His eyes drifted elsewhere, raising the question at the duo, then to the gray-haired girl sitting beside him.
Stelle, seemingly unbothered by the chaos and conversation around her, rested her chin in her palm, eyes half-lidded with all the enthusiasm of someone waiting for a loading screen to end.
Syuen stared at her. She stared at the floor.
"…She's been here the whole time?" he asked, genuinely baffled.
March threw her arms up. "Yes?! Are you high?"
"Noted," Syuen ignored the scathing remark and put his attention to the gray-haired girl. "So, who are you?"
Stelle glanced up lazily, her expression unchanged. "Yeah. Who am I?"
March's mouth fell wide open, covering it with both hands. "Wait, hold on. You mean you guys don't know each other? But you look so much alike! I thought you were siblings or something."
Syuen blinked, then tilted his head and studied Stelle more closely. Now that it was mentioned, he wasn't even sure what he looked like anymore. Back in his previous life, he'd had black hair and dark brown eyes, but things might've changed after he transmigrated.
Rising to his feet, he stepped in front of a glass case to look at his reflection before turning to them once again.
Syuen felt the resemblance was almost uncanny. They had the same gray hair. The same golden eyes. Even their expressions mirrored each other's—both were equally as deadpan it could despite the apparent shock written on his face.
'Clones? Alternate versions? Lost siblings? A system malfunction?' Somehow, even with an increased intelligence stat, he couldn't muster the right answer.
Before he could make sense of it all, Stelle stood as well and approached, looking a bit curious. "Are you actually my brother?"
"No," Syuen denied without hesitation.
Without missing a beat, he put on the most serious tone he could muster and replied, "I am your father."