[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-kill-the-sun":3,"chapter-kill-the-sun-kill-the-sun-chapter-821":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Kill the Sun",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},665489,896,"Chapter 821: Physical Suffering","kill-the-sun-chapter-821",821,"\u003Cp>Potential and reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The relationship between these two concepts was the very basis of Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was similar to the concept of potential energy and kinetic energy in physics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a ball rolled down a one-meter-high incline, it had the potential energy to roll up another one-meter-high incline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that never happened because of interfering factors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wind resistance, friction, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of these things used up the kinetic energy of the ball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The difference between potential energy and actual kinetic energy was widened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ball lost part of its potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If things were better, it could reach its true potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But things were not better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was how things were.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a strange way, this gap between potential and reality could be used to create Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't easy for Nick to wrap his mind around this concept since it didn't conform to the physical reality he understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Potential wasn't real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just a made-up term.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only reality was real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the more advanced research became, the more surreal reality became.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were particles that just randomly popped into existence before colliding with an opposite particle just to vanish again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were particles that could be in two places at the same time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One particle could interfere with itself like it was a second particle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These things made no sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, one couldn't deny their existence when looking at the evidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the same way, potential apparently was a very real concept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This reality and physical existence of potential also validated the existence of suffering as a real thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suffering was generally described as an emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A feeling of distress, maybe pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If someone cut off the branch of a tree, would the tree suffer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Trees didn't have nerves, sentience, or feelings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the emotional sense, that tree couldn't possibly suffer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in a physical sense, it suffered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tree had the potential to have another beautiful and big branch, but that potential had been cut off by reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This loss of potential could be harvested and moved into something else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like how an air conditioner moved temperature from inside the house to its outside, the creation of Zephyx moved potential from one thing to another. ＲãΝố𝐁ЕS̈\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prephyx didn't have the potential to become Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Prephyx, not Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But by taking the cut-off potential from one object and putting it into Prephyx, its potential increases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With more potential, Prephyx could now become Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To put this into more concrete terms, one had to look at an Extractor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Expert had a ton of potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had so much energy that they could defeat over 99% of all living things, and they could also live for 200 years without issues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a person could have everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Money, status, power, freedom, happiness, love.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, what was the life of an actual Extractor?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their potential was so great, but every day, they suffered immense torture for hours on end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was such a person happier than an average worker who gathered fruits every day?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That worker would probably not want to live that Extractor's life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were fine with spending a couple of hours harvesting fruit so that they could go home and relax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, the potential of an Expert was so much higher than the potential of this worker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to this immense difference in physical potential, Specters produced much more physical suffering and, in turn, Zephyx by torturing Extractors instead of normal people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to make Zephyx, potential had to be reduced, and the difference between the original potential and reality was physical suffering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This physical suffering represented a transfer of potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, how did the Zephyx generators of the Ancient Ones and the Enlightened Ones work?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They used the same principle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reduction of physical potential, which was physical suffering. This physical suffering was then put into Prephyx or Star Energy to make Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But where did that suffering come from?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They weren't torturing humans or animals in their generators.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suffering came from the surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It came from life itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zephyx generator absorbed the potential of life from its surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plants died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Animals became sick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soil became barren.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans in the surroundings suffered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Machines stopped working.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a couple of days of activating the generator, the surroundings would become dead and lifeless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And when everything was already dead and lifeless, there was no more potential, and the generator would stop working.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If extrapolated to a planetary scale, the generator would turn a planet filled with life into a dead husk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would produce a lot of Zephyx during the generation, but that would be it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as the planet was dry and dead, there would be no more Zephyx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One needed to find a balance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead of stealing the potential of life itself, one could focus on stealing the potential of something that could regenerate with time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feelings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A person strived for happiness, but if one took that person's happiness, one stole their potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, that person could recover their happiness after some time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One Protector could live for about a thousand years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were on top of the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, how happy was the average Protector?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were miserable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pressure, fear, responsibility, torture…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their lives were ruled by negativity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite all that, almost everyone strived to become a Protector.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ambition, hope, and power were what drove them to seek the miserable life of a Protector for themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humanity's hope drove them to increase their own potential just so that the aliens could harvest that potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one had no hope of ever being happy, why should one try to become happy?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There had to be hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There had to be a reason for humanity to increase its potential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aegis was that hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for the members of Aegis, the progress in their fight against the Specters was their hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had to become stronger so that they could free humanity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had to suffer and contribute more so that Aegis could stop the Specters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With time, humanity's potential would increase, which also increased Zephyx generation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All their suffering would pay off in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They suffered now so that they could be happy in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just when they were about to achieve their goal…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The era would reset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The failure of the current era would be forgotten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The new era would believe they had hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And everything would start from the beginning again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u002Fuser?u=27791050\u003C\u002Fp>",1104,"2026-06-02T07:52:48.911Z",1,"novelbin.me","62baae071d9465b4e20ce428953e1ec3997a8d29601a3ae7e51f78d843547b3d","kill-the-sun-chapter-822","kill-the-sun-chapter-820",992,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fkill-the-sun-cover.jpg"]