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Chapter 14: What is a Youth? 3
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- 61
ArataHey... What do you think, Player?
Player...?
ArataDo these things even have any sense of intellect? They just eat and eat like crazy.
ArataWhat could their purpose possibly be?!
Familiar VoiceAllow me to answer that one for you.
ArataSuedou?!
ArataCut the crap, man! Always showing up whenever you feel like it! Are you sitting back watching this disaster unfold like it's a form of entertainment?
SuedouObservation and analysis are a researcher's duty. I go where I must. I am merely silent as I go.
SuedouYou also have a fascination with Eaters, I see... And you're researching them.
ArataDo you know what the Eaters are after?!
SuedouHehe... Yes, you are definitely fascinated with them. I thought if anyone would be, it'd be you.
SuedouThis may take some time, but out of respect for your intellectual curiosity, allow me to share my research with you to date.
SuedouBy the way, Arata, why do you eat? What is your goal in this act?
ArataMy goal? That's kind of random. There's no real goal in eating. If I don't eat, I'll die. I'm a living creature.
SuedouThat's right! We eat to live. Now, then, why do humans live?
ArataThat's easy enough. We don't want to die, right?
SuedouThat is just a biological instinct, riding on the sparks of emotion and logic. Think on a more rudimentary level!
SuedouCreatures live to save their progeny. This is why we adapt to our environments while passing down our genes.
SuedouIn other words, it is an evolutionary imperative.
ArataEvolution?
SuedouExactly. And in that regard, humans and Eaters are identical!
SuedouEaters parse and absorb what they've eaten as data. They have the power to overwrite that data, as well.
SuedouThis is the phenomenon known to you as the
"bugging" of data. This is merely one reaction to that ability.
"bugging" of data. This is merely one reaction to that ability.
SuedouBut the true power of Eaters lies not in bugging.
SuedouTheir true power lies in their ability to take the data they have absorbed and restructure it within themselves!
SuedouBy consuming their targets, they overwrite themselves and are reborn as new life!
SuedouAnd that, in other words, is evolution! Eaters are continuing to evolve as they devour their prey!
ArataSo they're eating in order to evolve?
SuedouThat's right! Life, for Eaters, is evolution. Only by continuing to evolve do they live on!
SuedouDon't you find that such a marvelous ability? This, this is what the study of life is all about!
SuedouFor Eaters, all existence is a chance to evolve.
SuedouTake the wall separating reality from the digital away. They don't care. To them, it's all just food.
SuedouAnd Eaters' ability to hunt down prey allows them to achieve in an instant what has taken man an eternity!
ArataYou allowed Eaters to eat the Dimensional Wall so they could evolve? What are you and Kishibe up to?
SuedouYes, I did work with Miss Kishibe, it's true. Our goals were aligned for a time.
SuedouBut that only extended as far as the collapse of the Dimensional Wall...
SuedouAs Kishibe herself put it, she wanted to open the Dimensional Door.
SuedouI was more interested in the Wall. Semantically they're the same, once you go past the abstract...
ArataWall, door, portal. It's all the same! Never mind all that. Are you saying you had another agenda?!
SuedouHehehehe... Once the Eaters erode the wall, the border between our world and the Digital World will be history!
SuedouThe real world will feel the effects of the Digital World as Digital Shifts continue!
SuedouIt will be a complete merging of the real and the digital! Think of what will be possible when that happens!
SuedouIt's not a question of *what* will be possible! Any and all things will become possible!
SuedouIt will be possible to modify the real world at will! Like overwriting a program in the Digital World!
SuedouUntil you achieve the perfection you desire! Over and over again!
ArataThat's your goal?
ArataIt sounds like you're talking about the very evolution of the human race itself.
SuedouThat's one way to put it. To gain new power. We could call that evolution, I suppose.
ArataTo gain new power?
SuedouIf there's something you want to be capable of... If you want to achieve Nirvana...
SuedouChow down on something with the power and rewrite yourself! That is the fundamental means through which evolution occurs!
SuedouOne would be remiss to bemoan his situation while doing nothing to change it!
SuedouAnd what about you, Arata? What will you do? What do you want? What will you become?
ArataWho, me?!
SuedouBy the way, Arata...
ArataWh-What is it? Is there something that--
SuedouYou had best be careful.
Arata...Huh?
SuedouBe... hind... you.
Player?!
SuedouThose who cannot evolve will be weeded out. You mustn't dawdle.
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