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Sighing, Zaphreal listened with dependence to the conference. Held bi-annually as a way to share progress and keep the company on track. It had rolled over once again.

\'I really wished I could convince them not to give their demonstration...\' Zaphreal thought, resting his head in his right hand as he grimaced at what was to follow. Luckily, he had already talked with Eldrian. The anomaly that he is, should rather stay far away from this.

"Our initial attempts were rather simple. We aimed to enhance a diverse group of microbes, be they bacteria, fungi, archaea, or protists." They had left viruses alone, at least at temporarily. Their first goal was using fungi, then archaea. Bacteria and protists were later attempts after gaining (moderate) success in the former two.

Zaphreal knew this all. Thanks to Julius, he was well informed about what the two presenting their findings had been up to.

"The first attempts were simple, and fungi readily proved compatible with mana—once enhanced to be capable of interacting with the ethereal matter." The how, Zaphreal was not sure on. Naturally, the two, Denis and Ludwik, kept that close to their hearts. Afraid someone might steal the glory from them.

"However, it also became apparent that fungi was too compatible. It mutated without end and we were forced to abandon the project. That was, until we received some news about ANW."

Tunning out their story, Zaphreal observed the crowd. Trying to determine how much interference he would need to run to keep things \'safe\'.

\'I hope we can remain civil about things, but...\' Zaphreal understood well just how crazed some of the people at this convention could become. Whatever their motives, many were willing to die to see their dreams realized. Sadly, Ludwik and Denis were among these kinds of people. Their dream was perhaps admirable, but their lack of care and foresight was chilling.

\'As long as they agree to follow the safety measures the company has agreed upon when releasing ANW, it should be fine.\'

"Finally, we though, \'but what if we remove normal matter from the equation?\' I know, crazy!" Here came the problem. Well, it all was a problem.

What they were about to reveal was simply insane. Not because the idea was outrageous, but because all previous simulations with this approach had ended in failure. The concept had been considered flawed, even if it had potential. \'Why are we ignoring those warnings?\'

"Naturally, this isn\'t an easy feat. But thanks to our findings, we now knew how to weave lifeforce into a broad surrounding."

"Normally, the powers of our bloodlines are well contained. But with this method, we diluted it to where all power disappears and only energy remains. Aimless and directionless, it remains."

\'Such a crazy plan. I can\'t believe that that was how they made the microbes interact with mana.\'

"With the energy there, all we had to do was give it some direction. Some goal. Just enough to manifest magic, but not enough to form spells or even a simple cantrip."

"Naturally, with how complicated the system managing this is, failures are to be expected. However!\' The hologram standing behind the two, which had up till now shown all their data, now showed something completely different.

Empty air.

"But this isn\'t just any empty air. Thanks to the achievements of the ANW team, we can now observe mana in our surroundings. Observe." With this calm statement, the air in the hologram became alive. Flickering lights flying around.

The entire convention stirred. Naturally, some held suspicions that this might be fake. Those who knew the two giving this speech, they held no doubts.

Now, to be clear, the flickering lights were certainly present. But compared to the near infinite mist that one would find in ANW —on Gaia— when using any type of mana observation skill. It was lacking, severely so.

Still, compared to what was normally present on Earth, there was a clear increase. However, things were not that simple. Sure, there were flickering lights. But they were not the size of mist vapor. They were the size of normal raindrops. In fact, some were even larger than that.

"Elementals! That is what we call these lights." Ludwik declared.

"The AI, GAIA, said it was impossible. That living creatures of pure mana would destroy the balance! But was that true? Or had they simply wanted to keep this astonishing revelation from us?"

Things were certainly more complicated than that. The living creatures GAIA mentioned weren\'t simple collections of mana, but actual living entities made of mana and mana alone. They were called spirits, and they had been sentient.

As the two went on to explain, they suspected this might be another possibility. Zaphreal could only shake his head as he heard the excitement in the room.

Sure, it might work. But at what cost?

There were several reasons why the usages of spirits were ultimately considered non-viable. Creating them had certainly been one of the biggest reasons for the research\'s abandonment. But another was the nature of such creatures.

\'They have simply not realize it yet.\' Zaphreal thought. It was so simple, staring everyone right in the face. Yet, no one saw it.

The AI were spirits!

Perhaps not microscopic. Heck, they could be. After all, the AI could split themselves endlessly. Keeping their consciousness as they did and each split identity capable of functioning like the original.

You could consider them the collection of spirits if you went about it opposite to how things became reality.

Naturally, this in itself was not a problem. The problem was twofold, and both problems were the same.  The AI were sentient. They had wants, desires, needs.

Spirits, well, whether they were fully sentient, weren\'t clear from past simulations. However, they acted on a completely different basis than normal \'beings\'. Irregular was the best description for their actions. There were literal tones of notes speculating why, but the truth was never found.

Up until recently, living entities inside the simulation required a material body for this same reason. The lack of one caused common sense to falter. And while those avenues could lead to discoveries, if these discoveries did not apply and aid humans, then it was ultimately considered useless.

"And since these elementals cannot exist without the lifeforce field we deploy, we have complete control over their existence..."

\'This is sounding incredibly similar. Naturally, I wasn\'t at the original  meeting. But this is precisely how they sold the AI and the simulations. Before ANW was even a success, before Gaia. Back when GAIA was the only one.\'