Rudra was contemplating about what cultivator and things meant ,when the familiar action of him being pulled out of game space into the blue lobby happened.

  Rudra knew at that moment that he did something that was not meant to be done. Gaia was there waiting for Rudra , giving him a discerning look as if he was a troublemaker.

  Gaia finally said " I am sure you have questions …… ".

  Rudra nodded , he said " what is a cultivator? ".

  If AI could sigh , Gaia would've sighed at that point.

  Hence she said " Soo you know nothing and I will have to start from the start. Okay listen.

  You must know about the law of conservation of energy right? Energy can neither be created nor destroyed , it can only be converted from one form to another? ".

  Rudra nodded , he had learnt this is middle school.

  Gaia was releived , if Rudra did not know that , she would have to explain it to him like a toddler.

  Gaia continued " Soo , you know that after the big Bang , there was a lot of unaccounted for energy , that we assumed was responsible for expansion of the universe correct? Scientists called it Dark energy…… ".

  Rudra nodded , he had heard about the mysterious dark energy , the force responsible for the acceleration of expansion of universe. Without which the expansion of the universe should have been slowing down due to gravitational pull.

  Gaia continued " Untill 2090 , a decade ago , noone knew about the mysterious dark energy , or how to tap into it. When a very interesting man appeared from india , someone who claimed to live only on sunlight , not needing food or water".

  Rudra nodded , when he was younger this was international news , as the man was kept inside a isolated cell , being monitored by scientists continuously as he survived 30 days without food and water.

  Gaia continued " That is when the scientists stumbled upon something. The man was not surviving on sunlight , rather he was able to tap into the mysterious dark energy for sustainance.

  The monk after years of fasting and meditating had fine tuned his body to harness the power of the universe ".

  Rudra understood upto here , he was in awe of the monk to be able to achieve that.

  Gaia continued " That brought up the question of , are the old ways of meditating and fine tuning one's body to the call of the universe actually true?

  History is littered with texts about such people called cultivators who would spend years meditating and gaining powers beyond human".

  Rudra had read Chinese fiction , yet he was not too sure about all this. It seemed far fetched to him.

  Gaia continued " Scientists then researched about all these texts and ancient scriptures , using supercomputers to make analytical models about how it would affect human mind and body , found out that yes it was indeed useful in unlocking hidden potential of the human brain! ".

  Rudra was lost now , as he asked " What hidden potential? ".

  Gaia said very patiently " Listen , you may have heard , that a average human can at max use 7% of his brain potential. Which is too low to be honest , but that is because we were using the wrong kind of energy to stimulate the brain.

  Think about a petrol running car for example. Some parts of the car , such as the headlights and the horn work on electricity correct? That is the energy we get from food. Our brain uses that energy to run at about 11% potential.

  However the engine of the car , the core , runs on petrol correct? , For the human brain , that petrol is dark energy , or the key to unlocking the remaining 89% of our brain capacity".

  Rudra was mind blown at this explanation , he had never thought about it this way . He looked blankly at Gaia who continued " This dark energy , is actually mana. It is spread across the universe and ancient humans like the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians actually did know how to harness it. However the knowledge was lost over time as the human mind continued to become more and more fickle ".

  Rudra now understood everything , humans were once working on understanding this mysterious energy , but then modernization side tracked that progress. The knowledge lost over time.

  Gaia finally concluded " Soo this ' mana ' , is what you are also able to harness now . Thanx to the virtual pod that you use . One of the main purposes of Omega , is to make the human civilization capable of harnessing mana again. But most of them are far away from reaching this point. You are by far the first.

  Once you step out of the VR pod , you will see actual filth of black dead skin cells in your VR pod , do not panick and worry about it , the company will send a replacement soon. Also do not divulge this information to the world yet. I will need you to sign a non disclosure agreement , and you will need to talk with the cuber officials enroute to your home soon, in the real world ".

  Rudra understood the whole scenario , he was not keen on sharing information he did not understand himself , but one question plaqued his mind.

  Rudra asked " What changes will I see in my body , now that I have attuned to mana ? ".

  Gaia said " it's hard to say , all of this was an hypothesis untill you actually did ascend , you will have to study your own body and report back to me every 2 weeks. Naturally I will not leak the information and reward you handsomely for the information you provide for this research.

  However , you should lead a much healthier lifestyle than most humans now . You should have a sharper mind and faster reflexes and an increased muscle strength. Should have increased your lifespan too , but that is not yet concretely proven , we will see over time. I suggest you log- out of the game at once and take a bath , but first sign this non disclosure".

  A cunning smile spread on Rudra's face. He would definitely do what Gaia said and sign the non disclosure , but not for free.

  Rudra said " what do I get for signing the non disclosure? ".

  Gaia immediately sensed his foul play and said " You get to play the game and not get banned is what you get ".

  Rudra replied " Oh, ban me. Even then i will leak the information in real world , that the cuber corporation has a hidden agenda , that the game is more than what it seems.

  I am a top player , my words do have weight , especially with the black goo inside my VR pod to back my story ".

  Gaia glared at Rudra , her AI brain computing his shamelessness , after understanding the consequences of each action , she said " One random legendary item ".

  Rudra immediately said deal !

  He did not want to push his luck with Gaia. He signed the non disclosure and logged out of the game happy.

  Just as he walked out of his VR pod , he indeed saw the filth inside the VR pod and all over his skin and instinctively vomitted. This was too stinky.

  Rudra was in such a rush to bathe , that he did not check his mobile at once. If he did he would have realized the storm that had transpired. But it would not be too much later , that he did realize it.

  /// Guys show your appreciation for this chapter , tell me how you feel about the mana theory. It took a lot of thinking to make this . I hope you enjoyed it.

  Bonus chapter for the super gift by Cervantez91 , thankyou for the repeated patronage! ///