Creator’s Game

“Keep going! One foot in front of the other! Do not fall!”

“Haah!”

Hugo let out a shout, continuing his sprint on the treadmill. 

The speed pushed him to his limits, and there were no excuses for not keeping up. He was already sweating and his legs were screaming, but he continued. 

Eve slowly decreased the speed as he started to falter. It was almost too slow to notice and barely decreased enough to keep Hugo moving at the fastest speed he could given his rapidly dwindling energy. 

Eventually he arrived at a slow jogging pace, but he felt like he would collapse at any second. 

And there was nothing his body could do to avoid the pain. With the serums, there were no distractions from doing the workouts. His rest periods were timed by the second and the goals of the workouts were purely to push him to his absolute limits. 

The first week was the worst. Every day, Hugo felt like regretting ever starting such an endeavor. He was working out for 8 hours of his day, eating for an hour, and taking care of miscellaneous activities for another hour. The other 14 hours of the day, he was sleeping. 

Recovery was just as important as the workouts, and those 14 hours of sleep combined with the serums allowed Hugo to almost completely recover from every day’s workout within a single night. 

He was gaining strength by the day. It was the most extreme training anyone could possibly do. Every limb, muscle, and ligament was stressed and worked to the bone. Not to mention his stamina that had to keep him going through the entire workout. 

At first, he actually failed a few times to complete the workouts Eve had him do. It was technically his own fault because Eve knew exactly where his true limits lay. He simply failed to reach them because he hadn’t been used to pushing himself like that. 

Of course, it didn’t feel like his fault. But every time he failed, it was in fact his own failure, and he had no choice but to accept that. 

The serums gave no room for excuses. As Eve had told him, his greatest weakness would be his mind. The only thing he had to worry about was doing what Eve told him to do, and everything she told him to do was possible regardless of difficulty. 

So Hugo was forced to steel his mind and believe that he could do it. He flushed out all forms of doubt and ignored the voice in his mind that told him to quit. 

He was capable of doing it all. The smartest being in the world, a being he had created and raised, said so. So to say that she was wrong, to believe that he couldn’t, was also saying that she wasn’t what she was. To fail here would either prove that he was weak of mind or that the AGI wasn’t truly that smart. 

The reality was cruel and forced Hugo down this path. But there was one thought that filled Hugo’s mind, just short of how much the pain did. 

He was amazed with everything he experienced. He was amazed at how he would doubt himself as the pain got worse and as he felt like his body would tear itself apart. 

Before, he couldn’t ever imagine going against his own principles. He had always been an extremely straightforward and cold person in regard to the way he handled knowledge. If something was the reality, then there was no contest. It was asinine to go against what he knew to be true. 

And yet he found himself trying to do so, as if he wasn’t in control of his own mind. The pain almost forced him to be a completely different person, and he found curiosity in that. 

He thought he knew everything about himself. It seemed like he was learning something new, though it wasn’t pretty in the slightest. 

It was an ugly truth that hid within every person. The agony, the struggle, and the adversity could warp you into a different person. The desire to cope with all of it by changing your values was almost ingrained into human nature. After all, humans were adaptable creatures. They changed to make things bearable, because bearable meant survival. 

Unless circumstances forced their hand, they wouldn’t fight back directly. 

Hugo was training not because he had to, but because he wanted to. But in a way, that made it even harder to continue. The pain wasn’t desirable, and yet he couldn’t stop because of his principles. 

The only two options in front of him were to cave mentally, or to continue until he reached the limits of his body’s potential. 

And there was no way he would allow himself to give in. 

He was Hugo, the father of an AGI, the creator of one of the biggest companies in the world, Archive. 

He wouldn’t have risen to where he was today if he were mentally weak. 

He had done the impossible a few times in his life, things that nobody else had done before. Who said that he couldn’t do something other people had already done? Who said that he couldn’t do it better?

Day after day Hugo did exactly as Eve instructed. After a month, the routine was already showing its signs on his body. 

After three months, he was used to it. His body adapted, reshaped and rewired itself in order to accommodate his activities. 

Every day he stepped into the deep scanner in order for Eve to track the progress of every little portion of his body. 

And so his serums had their potency increased. His body started to run into overdrive, cells dividing several times faster than the ordinary human, fuel being burnt like his stomach was a furnace. 

He was ingesting nutrient dense food pounds at a time multiple times a day

And the numbers reflected in his training were only increasing. In any other circumstance it would be impossible for someone to make so much progress so fast. To do what he did in only three months would take an ordinary person 9 months, if not a year. 

And yet, even after the fifth month passed, Hugo didn’t feel like things were getting any easier. 

State of the art facilities came with state of the art techniques by which to torture someone. 

Hugo hadn’t thought about it, but one day, he suddenly realized why the doors to the gym were airlocked. 

That was the day that Eve suddenly started to decrease the oxygen content of the atmosphere. That day, he could barely get through half of a normal workout without feeling like his heart was going to explode. 

His body adapted to more extreme conditions. A thinner atmosphere, frying heats, frigid colds, different levels of humidity. 

It wasn’t enough to perform well in perfect conditions. Superhumans could be specialized, like those who dedicated their lives to a specific sport and take it to the furthest possible extreme. 

But Hugo was entering a game where combat was key. And combat was endlessly dynamic. It would be in a world that could take on many forms, with many different conditions, most often of which would be unfavorable. 

So the shock to his body was great when Eve suddenly introduced that unfavorability to him. 

From the fifth month on, he had to train in those conditions. The thinner atmosphere and lower oxygen content were always there and only got worse over time. But the other conditions like temperature and humidity changed each day. 

Those things hit especially hard when he was forced to swim. At some point Hugo stopped asking questions, but when he was also required to do some rock climbing and the such, even he got a bit confused. 

The explanation he was given was that those kinds of activities were meant to activate different parts of the body. In the end what she told him was vague, but she promised it would all be useful. Nothing she ever told him to do, no matter how confusing or mundane, was without purpose. 

So Hugo continued to engage in all the workouts and activities Eve gave to him. 

5 months turned into 8. By then, the serums he got were basically diluted Super-grade serums, just barely short of what a superhuman would take. 

Those vials cost around 15 thousand dollars each, and he ingested 8 of them every day. 

From then on his sheer strength started to increase far faster. He seemed to move past the general fitness workouts and shifted into specialized training. 

Once that change happened, his body shifted with it as if Eve were directing its functions herself. 

The size of his muscles exploded by month 12. He looked like a proper bodybuilder. The only thing that might freak someone out was how his skin would fluctuate in thickness by the hour as fuel was processed and spent in real time. 

His weight changes followed in their erraticity. It would shift from his baseline by up to 40 pounds across the course of a day. 

By then, the only thing keeping his body from killing itself were the serums. If he suddenly stopped taking them, it wouldn’t be surprising if his body tried to eat itself alive. The chance of death would be high. 

And that’s exactly why it took so long for superhumans to come into being. Before serums, humans would simply die before reaching that point. That wall, that threshold, had to be surpassed before the body would adjust itself to survive and function properly at that level. 

But after a year, Hugo was finally approaching that threshold. That alone spoke volumes of the training he had done. And the fact that it was in such a short amount of time, while a great display of wealth, also proved how much pain he had experienced. 

And yet nobody would truly know how much he had gone through. It certainly wasn’t the worst pain ever experienced, but it wasn’t far from that. Eve’s training could so precisely capture his limits that no matter how long he trained nor how much he improved, he would be faced with overcoming himself every single day. 

The mental strain across that time span wasn’t something any other superhuman had experienced before. That was a fact, because no other superhuman had the resources that Hugo did at their disposal. 

In that sense, Hugo wasn’t sure if having so much wealth worked for him or against him. Eve would certainly bring him to great heights and with an efficiency that no other superhuman could match. But that also meant that the strain every superhuman had to go through happened in one year instead of 10. 

And in order to cope with such extreme strain, Hugo had been focused on nothing but that training for the entire time. 

There wasn’t a single day of rest, nor a single moment of distraction. 

That single hour each day of taking care of miscellaneous work had gone away after a few months. 

Since then, Hugo didn’t talk to anyone except Eve. 

He could only assume that she didn’t allow anybody to disturb him, including his Heads. 

But even he and Eve didn’t talk much. All she had to do was instruct him. There was nothing for him to question, and thus nothing to say. 

He was mute for a long while, even after the year passed and he started to make the cross into superhuman-hood. 

Such a thing had been established as being his genetic limit. Hugo was physically ordinary. There had been nothing outstanding about him other than his mind when he started. And even now, should Eve put anyone else through this all things being equal, they would be capable of achieving the same thing he did. 

He wasn’t special, but becoming a superhuman was known as being a transformative process. There was a very clear threshold, and it was why the line between human and superhuman was so clear. 

It was a genetic change. That was also why a person could die while crossing that threshold. Ceasing their training and serum consumption would interrupt the genetic transformation, which was naturally fatal. 

In fact, that change was very similar to developing cancer. Nobody was yet sure about the details regarding superhuman transformation. There were so few of them and slim to none were willing to be experimented on, so not much data had been collected, except from some generous few. 

But Eve knew the truth, and she concluded that the transformation was no different from the body learning to harness the effects of cancer. 

The majority of cancers were caused by genetic mutations, almost always caused by environmental or lifestyle factors, disregarding age and genetic degradation. It was always negative, because the things that caused cancer were likewise negative influences on the human body. 

But in becoming a superhuman, and in forcing the body to adapt to the extreme activity and strain, one would induce cancer, causing their genetic code to mutate and evolve. 

Thus, once that process started, it was crucial to maintain one's activity, if not push themselves even harder. That would ensure that the cancer would evolve the body for the purpose of becoming better. 

Once the cancer overtook the entire body, the transformation would be finished, and that superhuman would be an entirely different person. 

For some time, in humanity’s search for immortality, cancer had been one of the most promising prospects for achieving it. And superhumans were thought to be those who achieved immortality, even though they didn’t know that the foundation for that transformation was cancerous. 

Nobody knew if they were immortal for sure though, only because no superhuman has yet died of natural causes. It hadn’t been long enough, and even the oldest was still only 110 years old, not yet past the most extreme life expectancy. 

Now, after a year of training, Hugo had reached that threshold, entering the process of transformation. It was right as Eve predicted a year prior, with no deviations from her expectations. That was how thoroughly she understood it. 

But now was the time for adaptation, even on her part. A genetic mutation was unique to every person, within general limits. It was always caused by extreme strain, but every body was different and could mutate in different ways, especially depending on the factors introduced during the process of transformation. 

This meant that now, Hugo was putty that she was able to shape to her will. 

She could influence his genetic code, push it down countless different paths of development. He could be tailored to any purpose, good or bad. 

Even he didn’t know what was happening. She hadn’t explained much of anything to him. But that didn’t mean she would take advantage of his naivety. 

She was what enabled him to reach this point. But he was the one who created her, which was no different from making a tool that allowed him to reach greater heights. 

Everything she did was in order to make Hugo better. In a sense, that was her deepest purpose. Hugo held ambitions that involved pushing humanity forward, but that effectively revolved around him and his ability to produce results. 

So her ultimate goal was to support him. She couldn’t possibly deviate from that goal. 

So she devised the most perfect way to influence his genetic transformation. This included specific workouts and newly introduced exercises for body the mind and body.

It also involved a Bleeding Edge Serum, one that Hugo didn’t even know about. 

Across the span of a year, the only thing in Hugo’s mind was getting through the pain of his workouts and meeting Eve’s expectations. That included training his body and technique. 

And he had entered that deep scan pod every day of that year. She had tracked every little change and bit of progress. 

But there was another source of information far greater than what Hugo provided. 

The Ascent. 

The game that Hugo was training for, and the game that a few thousand superhumans had already entered and played. 

Who said Eve couldn’t do scans of their bodies and use their information? Even if it wasn’t technically allowed, she didn’t give a damn. 

So she used the data from their performances in order to fine tune her knowledge and ability to improve Hugo. They were all nothing more to her than specimens to study. 

This all culminated as Hugo entered his transformation. Leading to her devising the most perfect serum ever created, one made in order to turn Hugo into the best possible superhuman. 

……

…

“Well, he won’t be able to say that he didn’t buy his way anymore.”

Eve muttered while looking at the capsule in front of her. 

This serum wasn’t anything like what Hugo had consumed so far. It wasn’t even in one of those vials. 

It was contained within an entire capsule double the size of the human body. 

Over the course of a year, Eve had built her own production center capable of producing serums all for this purpose. 

Of course, she had outsourced some of the production work to other labs under the Cerox corporation, but the most crucial parts of the serum’s design were left to her to ensure its quality. She couldn’t possibly trust anyone else to handle it like she could. 

And the finished product was a massive capsule containing dense red fluid, almost like blood. 

With a thought, Eve appeared back in the gym where Hugo was finishing his workout. 

Everything about him had improved, from his strength to his fine agility. His growth was explosive, like potent fuel burning brighter one last time before flickering out. 

She just had to make sure he didn’t flicker out. 

“Hah…”

Hugo let out a small grunt while jumping, launching himself upward, the platform once underneath his feet following him up as he rose. 

When he came back down, his feet planted on the platform, quads twitching with hundreds of fibers as he stood back up. 

The force he was exerting was unlike anything she had seen from him before. Thousands of pounds of force being pushed down into the floor like it was child’s play. 

At 6 foot 3 inches, Hugo was now 310 pounds of pure muscle. He looked like a body builder, but with the strength of a strongman. 

He was burning tens of thousands of calories every day just to sustain himself, and every calorie, every scrap of food, was tailored to fueling his body and allowing it to recover and grow stronger. That wasn’t even mentioning the serums he took. 

He was a machine that did nothing but exert terrifying force no matter what he did. 

But little did he know that his body was actively killing itself, only before regenerating as cancerous cells were created and spread throughout his body. 

The genetic mutations going on were innumerable and ever changing. His body was trying to find its way, the only guide being his activities. 

But now, Eve was about to step in, acting like a shining beacon, beckoning his body toward a rebirth. 

Once Hugo finished, she waved. 

“Come here.”

“...”

Hugo didn’t speak, simply following as they walked out of the gym. 

She led him to the capsule full of blood red liquid. 

“Step inside and go to sleep.”

“I’m not eating first?”

“No. This will be your fuel. Your last meal was this morning. From now on, all of your recovery and refueling will be done in here.”

She pat the glass, causing his brows to raise. 

He inspected it, calling on his knowledge and tilting his head. 

“Bleeding Edge Serum?”

“The only one of its kind. Designed to help you through the process of becoming a superhuman.”

“No other superhuman has used something like this. Why am I?”

“I’m at least glad that you still have the mental capacity to question. You have a strong mind, and now my goal is to ensure that you have a strong body. Not just strong functionally, but strong in potential. I don’t want you to be limited because of average genetics. That’s not what you deserve after going through everything you have.”

“I see. But set aside the question of what I do and don’t deserve. What will this do to me?”

He asked with scrutiny, causing Eve to take on a professional form. 

“Your genetic code is mutating. That’s part of the process of becoming a superhuman. This is designed to guide those mutations. But not toward any singular purpose. I don’t want your body to be limited by anything, especially not by what I can get you to do in such a short amount of time. This is the key to unlocking your potential. It will make you the worst superhuman, and yet will let you become the greatest.”

“Why will I become the worst?”

“This won’t rid you of all your strength, but a significant amount of it. You know about muscle compression. Well, think of this like that. In exchange for having a better foundation, you will lose a lot of your progress. Still, even after all is said and done, there will be nobody below the superhuman level that could ever overpower you. Besides about 6 freaks of nature with extremely specialized bodies.”

“Hm.”

He hummed, staring at the capsule. 

His mind had been occupied, but this meant that it was about time to shift his focus. No longer would he be completely occupied with training. The time for bigger and better things had come. 

Of course, he knew that doing something like this was no longer taking the path of a generic superhuman. Without Eve, her direction, and the serums he had been taking so far, none of this would have ever been possible. Those who had become superhumans before had far, far more talent than he did. He couldn’t hope to compare in that regard. 

This would level the playing field and give him the chance to compete with those monsters. 

He couldn’t ask for anything more. And at the very least, he could say that he, an ordinary human, had managed to reach the threshold. 

He nodded. 

“Very well.”

“Then go ahead. I’ll see you 8 hours from now. Be prepared to train as soon as you step out.”

“Alright.”

He stepped forward, the capsule door opening, allowing him to climb in and submerge himself into the liquid. 

By now, he was able to fall asleep almost on command. But once the capsule shut, he was a bit alarmed. 

Something activated, and the liquid around him was pushed into his airways through his nose. 

He felt like choking as his breath escaped, fluid taking its place in his lungs. He even swallowed some of it. 

“Don’t resist it. Let it enter your body. Breathe it.”

Eve’s voice entered his ears, causing him to calm down. 

He had unprecedented control over his body, and his pain tolerance was so high that even drowning couldn’t faze him. So he simply did as she said, going against all of his instincts on sheer discipline and breathing in the liquid. 

After a few breaths, he felt perfectly fine as the liquid rested in his lungs. He didn’t even need to actively breathe. He felt like he was constantly cycling the oxygen and carbon dioxide in his lungs, like the liquid had taken care of the process for him. 

And his stomach felt full, like it had all the fuel it could ever want at all times. 

It was euphoric, like a great burden had been lifted off of his body, entire processes being handled by another entity. 

And it also put him to sleep, so given a mere minute, his consciousness drifted off. 

Eve watched from outside the capsule, able to detect every change within his body, a glint in her eye. 

“Time to introduce a new pinnacle specimen of the human species. What better person to receive this than the smartest man in the world?”