CHAPTER 144: WORLD DOMINATION OR EXTINCTION

"Out of time.." Ethan repeated, logically thinking about it, based on everything the system had just shown him, there was only one logical possibility.

The Krylins had somehow found out that the cube had sent a part of itself out into the universe.

But then again, that raised the question, "how did they find out?"

The system looked at him before moving its eyes back forward.

[A signal was released at a wrong time.] It said confusing him a bit but when the scenery changed, he realized exactly what it meant.

They were now in another familiar place...his hotel room in California.

He saw himself laying in a pool of his own blood, coming directly from within his ears and moments after, the door was opened by both Aria and Lillian who had been knocking for a while now.

They immediately panicked when they came up on him but Ethan...his virtual self, paid no mind to the as he could see visible waves rise from his body into the ceiling.

Neither Aria nor Lillian seemed to notice it.

[I didn’t expect it to happen so soon,] the system started, [but when you manually upgraded your knowledge, I also upgraded to version 2.0 which gave me a small window to send a signal to my source.]

[But that signal was intercepted by the Krylins.] It completed, [that’s how they knew about me.]

Ethan was silent, his fist clenched.

An advanced alien species had found earth and was coming for it, all because of his system.

Earth was in no way ready to face any kind of extraterrestrial life, let alone one that massively dwarfed them in terms of technology, there was no chance of survival at this encounter.

But he had to be logical, so he calmly thought about it before asking.

"How long until they find earth?" He said.

[Based on my estimates....] It paused, [ four years.]

Four years?

That wasn’t enough to prepare earth for what was coming, not in the slightest

He exhaled slowly, forcing his brain to focus, to analyze, to calculate. "Explain," he said at last.

[The Krylins will first send reconnaissance vessels to confirm the location of the signal source. Once verified, they will deploy an advance fleet to extract or destroy what remains of the Tech Cube’s fragment—me.]

Ethan’s expression hardened. "And they won’t stop there."

[Negative.] The voice was calm, almost eerily so. [They will assume your planet has made contact with higher technology and will seek to neutralize all potential resistance. It is their standard containment protocol.]

"So, four years before extermination," Ethan said flatly, his mind racing. "How long until reconnaissance arrives?"

[1.5 Earth years. Approximately eight months.]

He pinched the bridge of his nose, unable to give a proper reaction at the information, eight years was short but a year and six months?

"Damn it..."

He looked up again, eyes sharp now. "Can we block their detection? Jam the signal? Anything?"

[No. The Krylins’ detection devices operates across quantum frequencies. Once they’ve locked on to my unique pattern, it cannot be masked.]

"So, the only way to stop them..." Ethan muttered slowly, "is to outpace them?"

[Exactly,] it nodded, [that’s the reason for the latest mission issued, the only way earth can win against them is to create technology that matches or outclasses theirs.]

There was a pause on the system’s end, wait for Ethan to completely absorb its words

[But that’ll be impossible if you have humans that try to get in your way, while you try to save them,] the system finished.

"And the solution is world domination?" He concluded.

[Correct,] the system affirmed, [with complete global control, you can unify Earth’s resources, centralize progress, and accelerate development exponentially.]

He figured, else there’d be no reason for the tech influence points in the system screen. That had been its goal from the start....only, it had been forced to implement a lot earlier.

"So," he muttered, pacing slowly through the recreated room, "because of one mistake in transmission, an alien race knows where we are — and in less than five years, they’ll be here to wipe us out."

[Correct.]

"And the only way to stop them..." Ethan looked up, eyes narrowing as thoughts clicked into place like puzzle pieces. "...is to become strong enough to destroy them."

[Or prevent them from ever reaching Earth.]

"I see," he nodded in understanding.

[To achieve that, OmniTech must transition from development to dominion. The next stage in your progression is Global Technological Supremacy.]

There was silence between the two for a while , as Ethan thought about it, the System’s goal aligned with his perfectly...

Maybe almost too perfectly, but that didn’t bother him.

For now, their paths were the same. And he already had the perfect place to quickly achieve it....well, relatively quick.

"A year and six months," Ethan muttered, stopping right in front of the system wearing Athena’s body, "I think we’ve got a bit more time.."

His blue eyes locked with empty gray ones with no emotion within.

For a moment, he thought he saw a small smile on the system’s face through Athena but it disappeared so fast that he doubted it.

But before the system could say anything in response, a holographic screen popped up before them,

[Warning, energy core unstable.]

"Well, I guess that’s as much as it can take," he said, looking at the screen before raising his head and looked at the system, "do you mind giving Athena her body back?"

[Sure,] it responded before closing its eyes, the next moment they opened, they were no more the same dull gray.

Yes, they still looked a bit emotionless but they were a lot more expressive than the system’s.

"Hmm?" She looked a bit confused until her eyes landed on Ethan.

"What—" she began, but stopped mid-sentence when she realized something felt off. "Was I just... offline?"

Ethan gave a small nod, his tone casual. "More like borrowed for a bit."

"I see," she nodded, and without asking anything she turned to the holographic screen before Ethan, "I guess the core couldn’t hold up any longer?"

He gave a small smirk. "It’s still a prototype. I’ll refine it."

"Hmm," she nodded, looking at his expression, she knew something was up.

But she didn’t ask, if he wanted to,he would tell her, but for now they had to get out of the virtual world before it fried Ethan’s brain.

[Logged out]

When he finally stood, his muscles protested. Hours of stillness had left his body stiff, his mind wired and buzzing with too much information.

He unplugged the chair’s primary power conduit, watching as the light faded out from the console and the edges of its handle.

He then took the orb out from the side, observing that the metal had completely burnt to crisp.

"Another prototype fried," he murmured, shaking his head and letting out a small chuckle."That’s getting expensive."

It didn’t really matter, because of two reasons.

One, he made enough that the price of the materials wouldn’t phase him and two, Irina.

At this point her courting tactics had gotten so bold that Ethan suspected they might start working.

Yes, he always made sure to pay back whatever he owed her but Irina wasn’t the type to take no for an answer—at least, not when it came to him.

She had started small. Covering minor expenses, sneaking in equipment deliveries ’by mistake,’ sponsoring lab upgrades under her company’s name instead of his.

Then it escalated — she’d begun ’investing’ in OmniTech’s peripheral suppliers, giving her indirect leverage and access to him whenever she wanted.

Ethan sighed, placing the burnt orb down on the worktable, its charred surface still warm,now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

The end of the world was still imminent and he had to prepare first.

Now, did this mean that there’d be a change in his plans? Not in the slightest, everything will progress exactly as it had previously been... The only difference being that maybe he’d speed them up a bit.

Which meant the doctor in a box couldn’t wait a few more months

He opened the door, stopping briefly at the entrance.

"One mistake," he whispered to himself, gaze distant. "And now the clock’s ticking."

He suddenly gave a small smile before adding, "guess that proves aliens are real... Can’t wait to meet one."

As if a way to say it agreed with him, the system let out a ding and the holographic screen unfolded before him.

[OmniTech System has successfully been upgraded to version 3.0]

[System Library Unlocked.]

"A library?" Ethan asked, a bit confused.

[Yes,] The system responded through the holographic screen, [The System Library is a repository of technological blueprints, research data, and theoretical constructs derived from all known civilizations — both terrestrial and extraterrestrial.]

[But unlike knowledge I directly upload to your brain, this allows you to slowly study an absorb knowledge at your own pace.]

"I see..." He muttered, "continue."

[New System mission added: [Project Aegis]

Objective: Develop a global defense network capable of withstanding extraterrestrial or quantum-scale invasions.

Time Limit: 1.5 Earth Years.

Failure Penalty: [Extinction Event]]