Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

That, in fact, was the goal of her entire life.

“I’m not sure what to call it or how best to describe it. It’s just that I always know where to go in order to find the right way. Sometimes I know that I’m going to be attacked and from where. Every time, it’s harder to explain to Roni how I know all that.”

It was her grandfather, the legendary personality that stood at the very beginning of Armadillo Industries and Lunar, the second human after Akashi. All she wanted was to hear how he saw the world.

“You’re unusual, Fiji. I noticed the first traces of that ability when we got to Level 500, but you recognized them not a week into Papilio. I’m sure you have hundreds of questions, so ask the most important one. This will be your personal test.”

“How?”

“Well done—you think quickly. The race of keepers is the only one we know of from tenth-order worlds. Each of them is something other than a single creature or even a colony; we call them supercreatures whose intellect is at least five orders higher than ours. Just imagine a person whose consciousness is expanded by a factor of ten thousand. Multiply that by the ability to exist in the primordial soup life came from; add a coefficient for growing in experience, intelligence, and intellect over all these years; and you have a keeper. There’s just one in every world, keeping track as the supreme being. We don’t know what their objectives are, though they do everything they can to ensure that the different civilizations in the universe flourish. I’m aware of what happened to Sagie, though the reason for that kind of behavior lies outside our understanding. After dying in the game, keepers lose their character and get sent back to their people’s base world. There’s something to be proud of there. Rumor has it that keepers have only been killed twice in the entire history of Talzeur, and that humans were the ones who killed them on both occasions. Once, it was someone from Earth. Although, I should make a side note here: people are a form of humanoid life that is widespread throughout the universe but humankind is just one sort. To get back to the keepers and what we can do, you’ve probably noticed that everyone in the Elmaro family has red hair, even if there are different shades. We’re almost all involved in planning and coordinating what other people do. Still, you and I are the only ones who received the guide ability.”

“What’s that?”

“We can see the future the keeper has for the game world. In its passive form, it manifests itself as the ability to see all the possible paths through locations, prisons, worlds, and everything else—all paths. But everything rests on the most important factor in human consciousness. And what is that?”

Fiji knew it from the very beginning.

“Mastery! It doesn’t matter what you’re talking about—it’s a universal indicator of how well someone is able to get their consciousness and subconsciousness to work together. The greater your mastery, the farther ahead you can see, and the better your chances of predicting the future. You understand key moments and details better. There aren’t any specifics, visions, or voices in the sky; you just start to understand which actions and details are important. Your consciousness operates using a completely different kind of logic.”

Miguel smiled and narrowed his eyes. The girl’s grandmother had told her that this was the highest form of praise he ever gave anyone—recognition.

“You’re a gifted girl.”

“Oh, grandpa, stop it. We both know there’s no gift or talent. It’s all about hard work and honing your mastery.”

The young man smiled in appreciation of the way Fiji thought.

“And you’re already outdoing me for the stage you’re at. Bravo! Everyone else in the Elmaro family just has an aptitude for data collection and analysis, while you’re going further to see that mastery is the key to everything. Nobody told you anything, nobody hinted at the connection between the consciousness and the subconscious, and you were still able to build a theory and progress it that far. You understand the way and how to make predictions! You’re right that mastery is the key to mastering the guide ability—seeing the way, knowing someone’s future and the trials prepared for them—all of that is part of the stream of consciousness belonging to the keeper that we have access to when we’re lucky. The ability itself occurs in one in a billion. And only half of one percent of those are able to take it from analysis to the ability to be a guide. Only two people in all of humanity have been able to acquire and recognize the ability: you and me. Do you see how important you are for Lunar and all of humanity now? You’re just at the very beginning of your path.”

Fiji had known that from the start.

“No, I’ve never known. I spent my entire childhood in a single room, only once in a while crawling out of my med capsule. Mom and dad logged out of the game to tell me how interesting life was at the Crossroads of the Worlds and how far my brothers had gotten. I listened to fairy tales, read the news, and collected information. Nobody ever taught me anything. I gave myself an education. When I turned twelve and the time came to decide which world I’d start in, I opted to boost my miserable heritage and go with Project Chrysalis. I’ve spent fourteen long years building my strength, getting excited about every achievement and every drop of strength I’ve shed blood for. So many hours of practice, working on battle mastery! But the only thing I regret is that you sent Sagie over to that damned Tanatos alone. I don’t care what humankind wants; I don’t care what Lunar wants. I was working toward a goal: to reach the Crossroads of the Worlds. I