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[Today on the network, there is a man with long blue hair. Ordinarily a grouchy fellow, today he looks calm and thoughtful.]

...So. We're all told when we get here that we're needed in order to provide power for a world in crisis, a world that can't survive any other way. We're drawn here from many worlds, across time and space, for that purpose: in order to keep this world alive until such time as it can sustain itself.

My question to you is this: what does your world use as power? My world has a great tree which produces energy known as mana, upon which all things rely to live. And indeed, we've only recently managed to end a prolonged crisis regarding the death of that tree and the need to sprout a new one. The actions that we took in the interim, to keep our world alive, could only have been regarded as desperate.

Have any of you faced similar crises in your own homes? What happened, and if it has been resolved, how?

And one other thing.

[Here, he narrows his eyes, and his tone grows colder.]

Why haven't the maintainers of Saeng Seong asked you about it, to gain from any potential knowledge you might have, rather than merely using you as a battery?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Are you suggesting they could want to take something-- perhaps a seed of mana-- from one of our worlds in order to solve their crisis? There is no guarantee that what we have struggled to achieve would be helpful to these people in any way. In fact, I'm surprised that whatever energy this city runs on doesn't react violently to the differing energies of the people living here.

[I feel like there should be some desk slapping here. Alas, wrong canon. We are not lawyers.]

Isn't it possible that there are cities besides this one? The city doesn't have the feel of being the last bastion of humanity, so there must be another reason why there is no communication from other parts of the world.

I don't know if that would be a solution or not. But surely they can't have reviewed all the possibilities so thoroughly that learning about other worlds straight from the source would be of absolutely no benefit. At this point in time, no one knows our world and the way it operates better than we do, and I doubt they've contacted you for an interview either.

Maybe there is communication from other parts of the world, outside the limited network provided to us. We are entirely dependent on our captors for information right now. [One look at his face could tell anyone in the world how much that chafes at Yuan, let alone someone who knows him as well as Kratos.]

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If discovering alternate methods isn't their goal, then there must be a reason. It might hold no benefit to them to solve it any other way. But why?

[There are usually multiple ways to solve a problem. If they're forced to relieve the power situation using outside help, then perhaps--]

We need to know what caused this so-called energy shortage. If there is a clear solution, then there is a clear problem that we haven't been told about.

...You're right. We have to find out more. I want to try to find a source outside the official channels, but... [Where would they even start looking, in this unfamiliar world?]

I'm not sure that's an option.

[He is to the point, as always.]

Perhaps we need to ask them the right questions. [He's not sure it'll work, but...] If there are many of us, we'll be difficult to ignore.

It's a start, at least.

[He sighs.]

This is so frustrating.

We must try all avenues before we escalate the situation. [It would feel wrong to draw their weapons. Their captors have never shown any real aggression.]

... I know. This is entirely different than what we're used to dealing with.

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