Evening settled gently over Aurelion, softening the hard brilliance of its architecture into something warmer and almost intimate as the last light of day slid across glass, alloy, and stone. From the balcony of his residence, Magnus Alexander Greywald looked out over the capital in quiet stillness, his hands resting lightly on the railing while the city breathed beneath him in measured, unhurried rhythms.
It was peaceful in a way that still felt faintly unfamiliar.
Below, the Japanese district glowed with a quieter kind of life than the rest of the capital, its streets lit by lanterns and modern lighting alike, its architecture holding onto memory without feeling trapped by it. Further out, beyond the denser pulse of Aurelion's central districts, the American neighbourhood had begun to settle as well, rougher at the edges, broader in layout, but no less alive for it. People moved there now with something resembling routine rather than survival, and that difference mattered more than most would have understood.
For the first time in a long while, nothing demanded immediate correction.
No fragile system hovered on the edge of collapse. No mission timer pressed at the back of his thoughts. No wounded world waited for him to decide how much of it could still be saved.
And perhaps because of that, the thought returned more sharply than before.
Saeko. Saya. Shizuka. Rika.
Their names moved through his mind not as abstractions, not as titles in some structure he managed, but as people whose presence had become so natural within his life that imagining their absence now felt less like speculation and more like the shape of a wound waiting for its time.
He had changed too much to pretend otherwise.
His body would not age. His physiology no longer answered to the same limits that governed ordinary human life. Illness, exhaustion, decay, the long erosion of time itself—those things had already begun to lose their authority over him. Each mission layered something new into his existence, and every reward pushed him a little further from the fragile baseline he had once shared with everyone around him.
But they were still human.
Not weak. Not helpless. Not temporary in any small sense. Yet human all the same, and humanity, however strong or beautiful or beloved, was still bound by time.
The thought had lived quietly in the back of his mind for some time now, surfacing only in moments like this, when there was finally enough calm for fear to speak in a voice soft enough to be mistaken for reason. He could save cities. He could stabilize worlds. He could reshape planets, restore seas, and give broken civilizations a second chance.
But none of that answered the simpler question beneath it all.
What happened when the people he wanted beside him reached the edge of a life he no longer had to fear losing?
He drew in a slow breath and let it out just as carefully, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the sea and the sky met in a fading band of gold.
"I can move worlds," he murmured, the quiet irony of it not escaping him, "but this is the problem that matters."
The words vanished into the evening air almost as soon as he spoke them, though the truth behind them remained. He had put the question aside before because he had needed to. There had always been more urgent things, more immediate dangers, more practical uses for his attention. But urgency was a poor excuse for avoidance, and the more stable his empire became, the less that excuse protected him.
He wanted time.
Not for himself.
For them.
A soft crystalline chime broke the stillness.
Alexander did not move at once, but every part of his attention sharpened immediately. The sound was familiar enough now that it no longer startled him, yet it had never become ordinary. A moment later the system window unfolded before him, translucent and precise, hovering in the air with that same unsettling mixture of neutrality and inevitability that had accompanied it from the beginning.
A new mission.
He looked at the interface without opening it right away, and in that pause there was something more than caution. It was expectation, perhaps, though not the kind that came from greed or impatience. Rather, it felt like the quiet intuition that sometimes preceded a turning point, when some part of the mind recognized significance before the conscious thought fully caught up to it.
He let his gaze linger once more on the city below him, on the lives moving there in peace that had been bought through too much ruin, and then he confirmed the notification.
The text unfolded in front of him.
<< New mission is available: The Void [Rimworld]
You will be sent to a distant planet in the Rimworld universe. That planet is on the verge of being overrun by the Void.
Disrupt the link of the void node to complete the mission.
Rewards on accepting mission: One Experimental Archite Xenogerm - This Xenogerm basically was a try to contain all positive Genes available in Rimworld. Normally the metabolic efficiency is so bad that this Xenogerm would kill any person that uses it almost instantly. But you being a plane lord existence and Self-Sustaining Physiology that is able to adapt and internalize all powers will allow the Archite metabolism to evolve to a Godlike Archite Metabolism that allows all positive genes to work together without going haywire.
Rewards on completing the mission:
The Rimworld planet in question together with it's associated solar system. A computer containing all Rimworld tech equivalent to what was available for research in-game. A cache of Rimworld special items: 4 Vanometric power cells;1 Infinite chemreactor; 150 packs of Glitterworld medicine; A set of Archotech limbs (2 eyes; 2 arms; 2 legs); 40 Polux seeds; 10 Archean seeds; 20 Gauranlen seeds; 10 Harbinger seed; 1 Anima tree; Eight (8) Archite Xenogerms - The Xenogerms contain the Achite genes: Scarless, Perfect immunity, Non-senescent, Ageless, Deathless, Archite metabolism, Breathless and some positive normal genes that are covered by Archite Metabolism>>
He read through it once, then again, more slowly this time, not because he had failed to understand it the first time, but because the implications demanded more than a glance.
This was different.
The RimWorld planet and its solar system were valuable in their own right, as were the research archive, the advanced items, the infrastructure potential, and the technological leap such a mission promised. He understood all of that immediately, and under most circumstances that alone would have made the mission worth serious consideration.
But the real center of gravity lay elsewhere.
It was there in the acceptance reward, and even more so in the eight xenogerms granted at completion. Not merely enhancement. Not simply survival. Biological rewriting at a level beyond anything he currently possessed access to, shaped around longevity, restoration, resistance, and the suspension—or outright rejection—of the ordinary decay that waited at the end of all unmodified life.
His eyes did not leave the screen, but something within him settled with sudden, dangerous clarity.
This was what he had been waiting for.
Not consciously at first, perhaps, not in the sense of expecting a specific mission or a specific solution, but the want had been there for longer than he had admitted. Every quiet fear he had pushed aside, every moment in which he had looked at the women he loved and known that his own future had already begun diverging from theirs, found its answer here in potential form.
Not immortality handed over carelessly.
Not a miracle without cost or consequence.
But a path.
A real one.
He let the thought unfold carefully, almost defensively, because it mattered too much to rush. Xenogerms meant modification, and modification meant risk. Consent would matter. Compatibility would matter. The difference between extending life and changing a person beyond what they would willingly accept mattered more than any reward the system might dangle before him.
But those were questions for later.
What mattered now was simpler.
For the first time since gaining power beyond what any ordinary life should have touched, he was looking at a mission whose reward he wanted not because it would make him stronger, richer, safer, or more capable of conquest.
He wanted it because it might let him keep the people he loved beside him for far longer than biology would otherwise allow.
That realization did not come with triumph. It came with a quieter, heavier certainty.
He looked away from the system window at last and let his gaze drift back over Aurelion, over the districts below, over the world he had built and the people within it who had given that world meaning beyond scale and achievement.
Saeko, with her steadiness and the sharpened grace she wore like a second skin.
Saya, whose mind cut through confusion faster than most people could form questions, and whose approval mattered more than he would have once admitted.
Shizuka, whose warmth softened places in him that strategy and war had hardened.
Rika, whose realism never dulled into cynicism, and whose presence had become something he trusted in ways deeper than habit.
He could already imagine what each of them might say if he told them. Saya would ask for data first and emotion second, though both would be there. Shizuka would worry about the risks before the benefits, even if she smiled while doing it. Rika would insist on understanding exactly what kind of change was being proposed and under what conditions. Saeko would listen quietly, watch him rather than the system, and decide from there whether she trusted not the process, but him.
He did not fear that conversation.
But he understood its weight.
This mission was no longer an abstract challenge presented by an indifferent cosmic mechanism. It had become personal in a way that made the decision almost unfairly easy.
He closed his eyes briefly, drawing in a measured breath while the night air cooled against his skin.
When he opened them again, hesitation was gone.
Not replaced by recklessness, but by resolve strong enough that he could feel the shape of it inside himself.
He looked back at the system window.
"Accept," he said quietly.
The interface pulsed once in acknowledgment, and even that small motion seemed to carry more weight than usual.
Somewhere beyond his universe, a distant planet stood on the edge of being consumed by something called the Void. Somewhere on that world waited a solution he had wanted long before he had words for it, and now that the possibility existed, he found that he could no longer tolerate the idea of leaving it untouched.
For the first time in several missions, urgency returned to him—not the urgency of survival, nor the pressure of empire, but something more intimate and far less negotiable.
This time, he was not going because a world needed saving.
He was going because the future he wanted for his women had finally become reachable, and now that he had seen the path to it, he had no intention of letting it slip away.
But before accepting, he asked the system to expand on the genes included in the Xenogerm he would get upon accepting the mission. While he was strong, he remembers that the entities from Rimworld were a nightmare when he played. In real life they will be more then than, since the game limitations would not exist. And this was not a mission he wanted to fail. Not with what was on the line.
<< Genes Included in the Experimental Archite Xenogerm:
Archite metabolism -> Evolved to Unlimited Archite Metabolism: Carriers of this gene have special archites in their cells that facilitate and optimize metabolism. This improves overall genetic and metabolic quality. The special archites can self-replicate to sustain all genes the carrier has.
Ageless - Carriers of this gene have archites in the bloodstream which continuously reverse the process of aging. Starting at the age of 13, carriers begin to biologically age slower. By 18, the aging process stops completely.
Deathless - Carriers of this gene have archites in the blood which will sustain their life processes no matter what. As long as the brain remains intact, a carrier of this gene will never die.
Perfect immunity - Carriers of this gene have archite-enhanced immune systems which intelligently destroy invaders. They are totally immune to most normal illnesses. Carrier has a naturally powerful immune system. Carrier will gain immunity considerably faster than a normal person would, and can survive illnesses that would kill others.
Scarless - Carriers of this gene have a special type of regenerator cell which can heal old wounds and chronic illnesses like bad back.
Non-senescent - Carriers of this gene do not go through senescence in the normal way. They never get chronic age-related diseases like cancer, bad back, cataracts, or dementia.
Breathless - Carriers of this gene can store concentrated oxygen in their bodies. Their cells consume much less oxygen, meaning they rarely need to breathe. These adaptations make them immune to the harmful effects of space, as well as environmental toxins, tox gas, acidic smog, and rot stink.
Super psy-sensitive - Carriers of this gene are much more psychically-sensitive than most. Carrier's mind is like a psychic tuning fork. Carrier is extremely sensitive to psychic phenomena.
Animal warcall - Carriers of this gene can perform an animal warcall, using a powerful bellow and psychic connection to call an animal to fight for them.
Tox immunity - Carriers of this gene are totally immune to toxic buildup from all sources including polluted terrain, toxic fallout, tox gas, and direct attacks with venom or injected poison. They are also not bothered by acidic smog. The carrier's biochemical pathways are modified to route around interference from nearly all known toxins. Along with enhancements to the kidneys and liver, this keeps carriers comfortable in even the most toxic of environments.
Superfast wound healing - Carriers of this gene heal from wounds four times as fast as normal.
Superclotting - Carriers of this gene have extra-power coagulating factors in their blood, and will stop bleeding very quickly when wounded.
Fire resistant - Carriers of this gene have special fast-acting sweat glands and heat-resistant skin. They only take 25% of the normal damage from fire. The chance of them catching on fire is also drastically reduced.
Very fast runner - Carriers of this gene move much more quickly than normal. Carrier always moves with a sense of urgency, so much so that others often fail to keep up.
Very happy - Carriers of this gene are highly predisposed to optimism and not at all inclined to think negatively. They'll have much higher mood than others. Carrier is naturally upbeat about life. It's hard to get the carrier down.
Cold super-tolerant - Carriers of this gene are much more comfortable in cold temperatures.
Heat super-tolerant - Carriers of this gene are much more comfortable in warm temperatures.
Vacuum resistant - Carriers of this gene have skin that releases a waxy substance when air pressure is low, preventing vacuum burns and allowing them to survive longer when exposed to vacuum.
Dead calm - Carriers of this gene feel calm in every situation. Carrier's will is an iron shield. Carrier keeps going through thick and thin, when others broke down long before.
Strong melee damage - Carriers of this gene do more damage in close-quarters combat. Extra-strong fast-twitch muscle fibers make their strikes accurate and powerful. Carrier's accuracy is greatly increased in melee combat.
Robust - Carriers of this gene take less injuries than others from the same damage. They have thickened, densified bones, nearly-solid ribcages, and strengthened binding factors in joints and flesh.
Nimble - Carriers of this gene have remarkable kinesthetic intelligence. Carrier seems to dance around danger with preternatural grace. Normally a trait, archite tech was able to extract it as a gene and added it to this Xenogerm.
Reduced pain - Carriers of this gene feel half as much pain compared to a baseliner. Reduced neuron activity in the brain's nociception centers makes pain dull and faint. This can be advantageous sometimes, and dangerous other times. Carrier has thick skin, dense flesh, and durable bones. Carrier takes much less damage than other people from the same blows. Carrier is extremely hard to kill. Skin thickens and flesh density can be adjusted at will.
High libido - Carriers of this gene are more likely to engage in lovin' with their partner/s.
Attractive - Carriers of this gene have unusually symmetrical, balanced facial features and extra-clear skin which gives them a pleasing appearance. Carriers have a pretty face, which predisposes people to like them.
Strong stomach - Carriers of this gene have an extra toxin-filtering organ in their stomach and will never suffer from food poisoning even after eating rotten food.
Robust digestion - Carriers of this gene grow a multi-fold stomach, allowing them to digest raw foods more efficiently than baseline humans. In general, they get the same nutrition from raw food as from if it is cooked. They also don't mind the taste of raw food at all.
Dark vision - Carriers of this gene see well in low light and are unaffected by mood penalties related to darkness. They have a reflective layer behind the retina that amplifies their ability to see in the dark.
Pollution stimulus - Carriers of this gene get a chemical rush from being exposed to pollution. This makes them move faster and helps them think clearer. A similar gene is found in combat-engineered mega-insects.
Unstoppable - Carriers of this gene are not slowed down when taking damage.
Indoor dweller - Carriers of this gene have no need for the outdoors and will never feel cooped up no matter how long they stay inside.
Nimble longjump legs - Carriers have special stamina-powered muscle fibers in their legs which allow them to jump great distances. Carrier has remarkable kinesthetic intelligence. Carrier seems to dance around danger with preternatural grace. Initially a hemogen-powered trait. It was adapted to work for normal genome. This allowed the leg movement to become nimbler and offer a nimble instinct to the carrier, but the jump strength was reduced.
Alcohol, Smokeleaf, Psychite, Go-juice and Wake-up imperviouses - Carriers of this gene never get addicted to the listed substances.
Quick study - Carriers of this gene have excellent memories and grasp new ideas quickly. They learn faster than others. Carrier has a knack for learning. Carrier picks things up much faster than others.
Perfect memory - Carriers of this gene have outstanding memory, both in terms of retaining information but also muscle memory. Carriers skills will never decay. Normally a trait, archite tech was able to extract it as a gene and added it to this Xenogerm. >>
Ageless, Perfect immunity, Tox immunity and Never sleep were kind of useless for me since I had those powers in a different form, but Deathless and Superfast wound healing would help and reduce the chance of mission failure. Strong melee damage, Robust and Unstoppable are also very good. And the other are also not bad to have, together with my other powers, I should be able to beat the void anomaly.