zeta-1.0

Project Infinix

I — Zeta 1.0

His POV

• It’s all pitch-black.

??? (female voice)

• Don’t ever forget us.

??? (scientist)

• Heading to the connection station.

• His eyes open briefly, and in his blurry vision, he sees himself being transported in a stretcher through a corridor, surrounded by scientists.

???

• Reviewing summary:
  • Subject: “Ed”.
  • Age: 12 years old.

???

• Scanning crystal sample.

???

• Why are you crying?

Ed

• I’m…
• Uhh?…

???

• Installing neural interface.

???

• Iterating lattice configuration.
• …
• Piezoelectric charge at full capacity.

???

• We’ll meet again… in your dream world…

???

• Digital twin ready to be instantiated.
• Setting spawn point:
  • Hosting planet: Zetania.
  • Triangulating anchor at 41º08’ north, 8º37’ west.

???

• Subject ready to be put in stasis.

• His eyes open again, and he sees himself in a hospital bed.

???

• Anesthesia deployed.

???

• … Where there’s only you, me and the stars.

Ed

• Wh…
• What?…

???

• Establishing connection in…
• 3…
• 2…
• 1.

???

• You can wake up now.

1. Initializing Zeta Branch 1.0

• Initializing Project Infinix, Zeta branch 1.0.

• Ed wakes up in a strange room, and as he leaves, finds someone in a suit.

Riemann

• Oh, I see you’re already awake.
• Happy birthday, Sir. My name is Riemann, and I’m your personal holographic artificially intelligent assistant.

• Ed notices he’s inside a dome covered in glass, floating in space and orbiting an unknown planet. The view includes spaceships, flying monsters and stars.

Ed

• Where am I?

Riemann

• You’re in your Anchor Dome, orbiting Zetania.

Ed

• Well uh, I don’t really remember how I got here. How do I go back?

Riemann

• I don’t understand, Sir, go back where?

Ed

• Go back to… Hm… I don’t really know…
• Actually… What am I doing here?
• I don’t remember anything.

Riemann

• That’s an odd question. Allow me to read your memory files.

Ed

• My wha—it—ahhhhhhh!

• Ed briefly faints.

Riemann

• Interesting. You only carry memories from the last hour.
• May I initiate the ELI5 Protocol?

Ed

• The what?

Riemann

• It’s usually used to Miners affected by memory erasing abilities, so their life purpose can be re-acknowledged.

Ed

• Right…

Riemann

• Initializing ELI5 Protocol…
  • Displaying ID card…

Ed

Nyx Miner zeta#0237edff • XP: 0

Shell Sign Kernel Sign Energy TBD TBD TBD

Riemann

• Welcome to Zetania, Sir.
• Zetania is one of the 24 planets orbiting the Kernel star, the center of the Infinix Operating System.

• A visual presentation is displayed, revealing the structure of the Infinix System and Zetania.
  • Unlike the Solar System whose planets are laid on a disc in independent orbits with different distances from the Sun, the planets on Infinix are placed in a swarm layout, equally distanced from the Kernel. The layout of the planets’ positions resembles Earth, where land is represented by planets and the oceans are represented by the void / huge gaps between those planets.
  • The Kernel is shelled with a Dyson sphere and a set of rings in a ∞ shape.

Riemann

• The Kernel’s purpose is to concentrate Nyx Energy to power the whole System.
• Being one of the main hubs of the System, Zetania’s Lunarpunk landscape is filled with light violet sand deserts surrounding dense and tall forests; fluorescent rivers, waterfalls, waves and healing pools light up in the dark, and so do pink sunsets.

• Other planets appear quite big in the sky.
• Floating domes are common buildings, and people commute with flying devices like jet boots, jetpacks and hoverboards.

Riemann

• Just like most planets, Zetania’s fauna includes Nyx Bugs which are the main source of Nyx Energy. Bugs in Zetania are mainly quadruped so they can roam the vast deserts, but forests have their trees climbed by biped primates.

• Nyx Bugs are animal-like and animal-sized creatures with bug heads

Riemann

• As a Nyx Miner, your Nyx Cell lets you harness Nyx Energy.
• To gather Nyx Points (XP) and to contribute to the data-mining for the System, you must harvest Nyx Energy by slaying Nyx Bugs.

• Ed is given Orion’s staff (a bo staff) and jet boots so he can land on and fly from the surface.
• Ed notices a small rift in the sky.
• Ed is tasked to go to the surface and slay small hostile Bugs.
  • Still getting the hang of it, Ed manages to slay some small Bugs.
  • A bigger than usual and aggressive Bug starts charging towards Ed, until a girl with a whip comes to rescue him.

???

• Having trouble?

Ed

• You could say that .

• The girl, presenting herself as Marie, manages to slay the Bug.

Marie

• I see you have a Nyx Cell.
• What’s your guild?

Ed

• What?

Marie

• Nyx Cells are usually only earned at guilds after months of training, and you’re in no condition to be out here in danger.

Ed

• Well, actually I don’t remember anything.
• By the way, what was that?

Marie

• That looked like another abnormal Bug.
• Some of them have been showing lately, and no one knows why, but most of them are way too strong, even for high XP areas, so it’s even weirder that one would show up here.
• But I’m pretty sure it has to do with Aether.

Ed

• Aether?

Marie

• Born from Nyx, it is said to be the pure essence that the gods breathe, filling the space where they lived, right from Alphantia.

Aether

In Greek mythology, Aether is the primordial deity of the upper sky, light, and the pure celestial air breathed by the gods. Born from Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), he represents the bright, radiant atmosphere that exists above the mortal world. In ancient Greek natural philosophy, aether was also the fifth classical element (quintessence), distinct from earth, water, air, and fire. It was believed to fill the heavens and compose the celestial bodies, serving as the divine substance of the cosmos beyond the earthly realm.

• It’s believed to be a source of Nyx Energy we have yet to harness, the one that may be the System’s ultimate goal on data-mining, and what may reveal so many secrets regarding It.
• And I believe it’s what’s powering these Bugs.

• Marie starts teaching Ed the basics in fighting Bugs.
• At the end of a tiring day, Ed returns to his dome.
• The rift got bigger.
• Ed looks at a neighboring dome and notices a strange agent-looking man - an Overseer - staring at him.
• A light beam comes from the rift and destroys Ed’s living dome.

2. Nyx Energy

• As Ed, passed out, falls from the dome, Marie rescues him by catching him mid-air.

• Marie tells Ed for him to point where the light beam came from, and he points to what seems to be, according to Marie, Alphantia’s orbit path.
  • She tells him that beam has to come from Aether, so she tells him to follow her to join the Holo Guild. She also says that Lena can give him the answers he needs.
• On their way, Marie introduces Ed to the civilization of Zetania.

Marie

• Zetania is home to lots of people, and all of them depend on individuals that hold a Nyx Cell - the Nyx Miners.
• Nyx Miners are tasked in protecting and powering their homes and tools.
• Everything you see, everything that provides, and everything that flies, are the product of a very powerful type of energy that lits up the Kernel and powers the whole System - Nyx Energy.
• Nyx Energy is harnessed through slaying entities that emit this type of energy.
• Nyx Bugs are the most abundant source of Nyx Energy so that’s where us Miners usually work with, and that’s how we feed the System to keep it running.

3. Holo Guild

• As he approaches the guild’s gate, Ed meets Jake who challenges him to a duel.

Jake

Nyx Miner zeta#0c6e5a93 @Holo Guild

• The duel is interrupted by Prof. Lena, who leads the guild.

Lena

Professor zeta#1ea134ad @Holo Guild

• Jake becomes Ed’s rival.

• Ed meets the guild’s trainees including Bella, PS, and others.

Bella

Nyx Miner zeta#b42d9f10 @Holo Guild

PS

Nyx Miner zeta#3f8a1c7e @Holo Guild

• Marie tells Prof. Lena that Ed’s dome was destroyed by a light beam.
• Ed talks to Prof. Lena and says that he doesn’t remember anything before the other day.

Ed

• Marie told me you could help me find some answers.

Prof. Lena

• What did she tell you?

Ed

• That they can be found in Alphantia.

Prof. Lena

• You can’t reach Alphantia.
• That place is locked for Miners who don’t reach a certain amount of XP. And it would take decades for you to earn it.

• Prof. Lena tells the trainees that farming XP is the way to data-mine and produce Nyx Energy for the System.
  • XP unlocks abilities, strengthens current ones, and it can be used as currency.
• Jake doesn’t get why Ed has a Nyx Cell without having earned it, which pisses him off.

4. Debugging

• Ed learns the main types of Nyx Bugs:
  • Soldier Bugs - the Bugs that have he has been slaying; a hostile type that inhabits rural and wild areas (forests, deserts, oceans, etc.); usually a type of invasive species that the System encourages to be cleared up.
  • Worker Bugs - usually inoffensive; these Bugs are usually used for carriages (like horse-like creatures) and other working/supporting tasks.
  • Bait Bug - may or may not be hostile; these Bugs are mostly used as a source of food.
  • Guardian Bug - mostly hostile, these Bugs are rare but huge, usually inhabiting caves leading hives protected by Bug Soldiers.
• After being shown the guild’s farms for Worker and Bait Bugs, some Soldier Bugs are put in from of the trainees to be slain.
• Although Ed is still struggling, he never seems to give up.
• Marie speaks with Prof. Lena alone.

Marie

• What if he’s the one?
• Those abnormal Bugs seemed to be targeting Ed particularly.
• And that light beam was struck from Alphantia, so it seems to be from the same source.
• What if he’s also powered by it?

Prof. Lena

• He doesn’t have it.
• I’ve seen him fighting.
• And his Nyx Cell is definitely powered by one of the four.
• The Quintessence does not flow through him.
• He’s got heart, though, and there’s a big mystery surrounding him.
  • Maybe he’s the key to find it.

5. The Four Elements

• Ed has recurring cryptic dreams throughout the season, usually featuring voices that seem to be from the hospital room that put Ed in coma; some voices seem to come from Overseers.
  • Sometimes his dreams feature an unknown female silhouette.

Ed's dream

???

• Did you guys see this?

• Prof. Lena teaches about elemental energy - Earth, Water, Fire, Air - which are harnessed by slaying Nyx Bugs and are the type of Nyx Energy that Miners are able to cast, however each Nyx Cell can only store and harness one type of elemental energy, genetically attributed to the Miner, just like signs.

Ed

Energy Earth

Marie

Energy Air

Jake

Energy Fire

Bella

Energy Water

PS

Energy Fire

6. The Quintessence

Ed's dream

???

• What’s so special about him anyway?
• Do you guys really think he’ll be able to find it?

• Ed talks to Prof. Lena alone.

Ed

• There’s a fifth, right?

Prof. Lena

• What do you mean?

Ed

• I’ve seen them with my eyes.
• We can’t harness any of the four types of Energy from them.
• There’s something else, something divine, something that comes from Alphantia.

Prof. Lena

• Uh… Alright…
• We haven’t had any solid proofs, but it’s something that has been hinted by the System.
• Some Miners have heard of it from strange individuals with strange suits, and others reported to have received the ultimate quest to find it, right as they finally earned the necessary XP to reach Alphantia, but none have reported such quest’s completion.
  • Some have returned without their memories, but most were never ever seen again.
• And these Bugs that have shown up, they are unlike anything we’ve ever seen, for they don’t produce any of the four elemental types of Nyx Energy, and we have reasons to believe they are powered by Aether.
  • But something about them doesn’t make sense.
• Nyx Energy was developed from four elements which were subject to change, decay, and corruption, for they were obtained through the reaction of slaying Nyx Bugs.
  • Although it has yet to be witnessed, the System has led us to believe there’s a fifth element - a Quintessence; one that would be:
    • Born from Nyx,
    • Eternal and unchanging,
    • Pure and incorruptible,
    • Composing the stars, the core of the Kernel, and the foundation of all planets,
    • And be more perfect than any other type of matter.
• Ed, I have reasons to believe you might help us unveil the Quintessence.
• That light beam struck you for a reason.
• If you want to reach Alphantia, you must work hard for it.
• Are you up to the grind of your life?

Ed

• If it is what it takes to unveil who I really am, I’ll fight for it.

Prof. Lena

• We might have to set you up to better sources of XP beside slaying Bugs, and see what you really are capable of doing.

• The trainees get a dueling training session, where each one fights another trainee.
• A new mechanic is introduced to Ed — Sandbox Mode:
  • Safe System-protected battle mode used in competition and training.
  • An HP bar is assigned to each battler. HP is depleted when getting attacked. When HP reaches zero, the battler is knocked out and loses the battle.
  • The system protects the battlers from serious and permanent injuries and death.
  • After being knocked out, the system gradually heals the battler outside of the battle.
  • On a battle with more than two battlers, if someone is knocked out, they’re teleported out of the arena.
  • Battles may grant the winner a huge amount of XP, depending on the competition.

7. Farming

• The trainees go on a quest to farm XP by slaying Bugs.
• Ed notices that sometimes he keeps being observed by an Overseer at a distance briefly.
  • This will keep happening randomly throughout the following seasons.

8. Written in the Stars

Ed's dream

???

• Not even… death… could… tear us apart.

???

• Can someone find out who this is?

• Ed learns that each Nyx Miner has a pair of signs - Shell sign and Kernel sign, both based on constellations.
  • Shell signs are based on constellations of human/human-like figures (Andromeda, Perseus, etc.) and define the expertise and fighting style of the Miner.
  • Kernel signs are based on creatures (Scorpius, Ursa Major, etc.) and define the spiritual and mystical abilities of the Miner.

9. Orion the Hunter

• The trainees’ Shell signs are revealed.

Ed

Shell Sign Energy Orion Earth

Orion

In Greek mythology, Orion is a giant and skilled hunter, renowned for his strength and bravery. He is traditionally depicted wielding a club or sword, symbolizing his role as a formidable warrior and hunter. He was placed among the stars as the constellation Orion, one of the most prominent and easily recognizable constellations in the night sky, identified by the three aligned stars known as Orion’s Belt.

Marie

Shell Sign Energy Auriga Air

Auriga

In classical mythology, Auriga represents the Charioteer, often associated with Erichthonius of Athens, a legendary king and skilled inventor. He is depicted as a master of horsemanship, standing in a chariot and wielding a goad or whip used to control horses. Auriga was placed among the stars as the constellation Auriga, recognizable in the night sky for the bright star Capella.

Jake

Shell Sign Energy Böotes Fire

Boötes

Boötes is often identified as a herdsman or plowman, sometimes associated with the figure of Arcas or the inventor of the plow. In astronomy, Boötes is a large northern constellation best known for containing Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and is traditionally depicted as guiding the Great Bear around the pole.

Bella

Shell Sign Energy Coma Berenices Water

Coma Berenices

In classical history and mythology, Coma Berenices (“Berenice’s Hair”) refers to the story of Queen Berenice II of Egypt, who vowed to sacrifice her beautiful hair to the gods if her husband returned safely from war. When her hair was dedicated in the temple and later disappeared, it was said to have been placed among the stars by the gods. In astronomy, Coma Berenices is a faint northern constellation that represents this “hair,” and it contains the Coma Star Cluster as well as many distant galaxies, including those in the Coma Cluster.

PS

Shell Sign Energy Hercules Fire

Hercules

In Greek mythology, Hercules (Heracles in Greek) is a divine hero renowned for his extraordinary strength and for completing the Twelve Labors, a series of seemingly impossible tasks. In astronomy, Hercules is a large northern constellation representing the hero, notable for the Keystone asterism and several globular star clusters, including the famous Messier 13.

10—11

Ed's dream

???

• Sir, we have a match.

???

• It can’t be. This girl???

• Abnormal Bugs seem to have system-breaking abilities. Not only have Soldier Bugs been affected but also the other types, becoming extremely hostile as well.
• Although injuries from regular Bugs are usually easily healed, these abnormal Bugs seem to cause serious damage.
• Although they’re still rivals, Jake becomes Ed’s best friend.
• In one of his quests, Ed spots a very skilled Miner who wears an X-shaped mask and wields dual bo staffs.

12. Null Energy

• Ed faces off multiple corrupted Bugs until he’s rescued by the X-shaped masked Miner.

X

• You’re looking for it, aren’t you?

Ed

• What?

X

• The fifth type of energy, the one that powers these Bugs.
• The Quintessence.

Ed

• So they’re really powered by Aether?

X

• I guess that’s what people started to believe, uh?
• Well, that’s a common misconception.
• Do you really think such immense ferocity could be something devine? Something coming from the heavens?
• An energy that infects and corrupts entities and surpasses the rules of the System can’t be something pure, much less something coming from the gods. Not even from Nyx.
• The Quintessence doesn’t come from above. It comes from below.
• And for that, we can’t really call it Aether. We call it Null Energy.

Ed

• Is it true that I can find it in Alphantia?

X

• That’s the epicenter, and the whole planet has been taken over by it, so you can’t really reach it.
• But if you want to reach the necessary XP, official tournaments grant huge amounts of it, so you should join the Rooster Tournament.

• Ed meets up with Lena.

Ed

• You knew it, didn’t you?
• Well, after what you said, it really can’t be it.

Prof. Lena

• What are you talking about?

Ed

• Those Bugs are corrupted and they’re breaking the System.
• Aether doesn’t exist.
• The Quintessence is Null Energy, and I must get rid of it to reach Alphantia.

Prof. Lena

• I hope you’re ready to face the truth once you reach there, for you might not like what you will find.
• Null Energy doesn’t only corrupt Bugs; it also corrupts people, so I hope you’re aware of the dangers you might have to face.

Ed

• I’ll grind my way there.
• There’s a big tournament coming up, and I need you to sign me in.

---

13. Rules of the Game

• The Holo Guild participates in the 1v1 Rooster Tournament, featuring the single elimination format and Sandbox Mode.

Ed's dream

???

• Are you sure you want to take her to that agency? Lynx won’t be happy about that.

14—17

• X is participating in the tournament.
• In one of X’s battles, Ed and his friends notice that X’s opponent seems to be way too injured for the displayed HP bar.
  • After getting defeated, it seems that the adversary is having trouble recovering.

• X is revealed to be nulled, and therefore, corrupted.

18. Hydra

• X faces Jake, with the former revealing his Kernel sign as he summons a two-headed Hydra hologram.

X

Null Miner null#

Kernel Sign Energy Hydra Null

Hydra

In Greek mythology, Hydra refers to the Lernaean Hydra, a monstrous serpent slain by Heracles as one of his Twelve Labors. In astronomy, Hydra is the largest constellation in the sky, representing a long water serpent stretching across the southern heavens, though it contains relatively few bright stars.

• During his battle against X, Jake’s HP goes down to zero. However, he’s not getting knocked out by the Sandbox Mode, which seems to be getting bypassed by X’s Null Energy. Eventually X lets Jake get knocked out, leaving him badly injured.

19—23

Ed's dream

???

• So, this is… the highest… dimension?

Ed

• Who are you?

• Ed and X reach the finals.

Ed's dream

???

• Why is he still seeing her? We have to get rid of her!”

• Ed’s cryptic dreams stop, for a while.

24. Clash of the Beasts

• Dragon vs Hydra - Ed learns his Kernel sign - Draco, summoning Dragon holograms to counter X’s Hydra.

Ed

Shell Sign Kernel Sign Energy Orion Draco Earth

Draco

Draco represents a dragon, often associated with Ladon, the serpent that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. Draco is a circumpolar northern constellation that winds between the Big and Little Dippers, symbolizing a dragon coiled around the north celestial pole.

• X beats Ed.
• X acknowledges that Ed is a very powerful Miner and invites him to join the Nulled.
  • Ed refuses.

Prof. Lena

• Ed, I need you to not give up on Aether.
• Null Energy is spreading, and it must not take over the real Quintessence.
• I can no longer help you, but you must reach Alphantia. Whatever it takes.