Ambitious Beings

“Humans are so ambitious…”

Those words echoed through an empty space.

A girl sitting at the center of a floating platform looked up and alas, in front of her was a huge holographic screen that looked like a monitor in a surveillance room.

She peered through it without batting an eyelid, “Humans are so ambitious and yet, so mundane and predictable.” Then, the screen disappeared, and her environment was revealed.

The platform she was on was surrounded by millions of crystal-like objects. From above, it looked like a glowing labyrinth. But from the inside, it resembles a castle hall gleaming in sheer white light.

She picked up a piece of crystal and stared at it for a little while.

The girl sighed. “Those beings have gone too far. A threat is coming! I need to act fast.”

As she returned the crystal to its place, it slowly turned red and affected the other chains of crystal, like a drop of blood dyeing the entire river.

“Perhaps, among these humans, I could seek help from someone.”

… someone as ambitious as him.

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Project Sophos.

Is it some kind of idol production stuff? Or is it some sort of video game to be released? Or a television series to be produced?

No.

The circumstances of this world gave birth to the most ambitious nation of Altair. A century ago, at the end of a world war, Altair chose a poor port-and-valley village to be its capital and restructured it into an unbelievably majestic utopia.

And it happened after forty years, a humble village transformed into Himalia, the City of Technology. A community once dreamt of by scientific visionaries of the past. It's a paradise for researchers and citizens alike.

Altair wasn't called “the most ambitious” for nothing. Himalia adopted a policy of absolute efficiency. Fueled by insufficient manpower as a consequence of the previous war and its vision of empowered humanity, thus the birth of what's called Project Sophos.

It is the name of Himalia’s mandate to create a generation of Sophos, “humans” with superior intellect that surpasses their predecessors in most aspects if not all. It was set in motion by Encrypt Laboratories, a conglomerate of research institutions controlled by the state. Once launched, they're expected to join the different sectors that power the nation – research, industry, academia, to name a few.

At least, that's how the media and the government portray this grandiose project. Who knows about the truth behind the Sophos plan or whatever it is?! And there might be a handful of people who desire to take advantage of this technology for their own selfish plans. After all, humans…the real humans, despite showcasing the fruits of their intelligence in the past millions of years, are still an enigma.

No one knows the true intention of those who established the project. It's either a display of altruism or an act driven by ambition.

I just hope that Sophos won't fall into the wrong hands…

…Especially now that an unknown force starts to create turmoil in the city.

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